Love/Hate Relationship With "BAMBI"

I grew up with The Wonderful World of Disney; "Bambi" is one of my favorite movies. However, lately, I've been pissed off with "Bambl" and his friends. Last year we had our yard landscaped. We have had more than 2000 flowers planted and 65 trees. The winter was unseasonably warm. As a result, the bulbs started budding early. Now that spring is here, new life is popping up all over our yard and I'm so excited to see what the yard will look like this summer. But "Bambi" has got to go! He and his friends have eaten many of my tulips before they can bloom and my gardener says they will grow but will not flower this year.

I went to Home Depot and got a bottle of "DEER OFF" and sprayed my yard. The problem with that is - every time it rains, you have to respray - at $20.00 a bottle that's no laughing matter. I know "they" were here before we were and actually we're probably the "invaders". But "they" live here freely and have no regard for " neighborhood beautification" (even though, they are quite beautiful, when they're not tearing up my yard). I need a tax credit for providing deer rations. :(

"Can't we all just get along!"

My gardener gave me a cheaper remedy - cayenne pepper. I mixed that with water and my husband sprayed the solution all over the yard last night. We'll see how good that works. Also I went online (I tell ya, the internet is fabulous when used for the right reasons) and found the same advice about cayenne pepper. I also found a product called Liquid Fence Deer Repellent and another one called Hot Pepper Wax Deer Repellent.

THIS IS WAR!! If I win, I will take pictures and share.

(Sidebar)
Somewhere in my mind, I'm thinking I wrote about this already. If I did, sorry for the redundancy.

If anyone has any other advice on this problem, PLEASE SHARE! Thanx

No Day Off For Me

I may as well had been in school today. I woke up this morning around 9ish, said my prayers and had all intentions on going walking. Instead, I stopped by the "office" (my third bedroom) to check my blogpage. Three hours later, I'm still in the "office". I received a comment from someone I'd been thinking about for awhile now and felt I had to respond right away.

You know, since enrolling in this class, I've been more zealous about checking my blogpage and others in the class as well, than my own email. Hummmmm!
I do check my email, but I seem to be more interested in what my colleagues have to say about what I have to say about our class and the world in which we live...and that GREAT!
Enjoy your weekend.
Four-day work week, next week! Yay!

Check out my MySpace page

Check out my pix at my MySpace page.
Will post more once I learn how to do a slideshow.
www.myspace.com/jazzygirl70

YouTube

I can sum up my take on YouTube in one sentence: Everybody wants an audience!


However, I know I should probably say more, so hear goes.

My first experience with YouTube was quite recent (within the last year). My husband (who has a sick sense of humor) wanted me to see some 'silly thing' on YouTube. I think it was a video from "JACKASS" or of people performing "Jackass-like" stunts. Also, occasionally, my email buddies have sent me links to various "YouTube productions" (if you will). Some are quite funny and good and some are just plain stupid, awful and lack creativity.


Months ago, if you were to have given me the equivalent of the Rorschach Inkblot Test and put the words, You Tube in my face, my first response would have been, "young bored white kids". But in such a short time, it appears that EVERYONE, except me of course, is on YouTube. Just this morning, there was a news story (I watch Channel 2 - The Early Show) on YouTube and presidential candidates. It seems the candidates are all using YouTube as a way to reach the masses. However, like everything in life, there are pros and cons to this 'new literacy'. One of the problems with YouTube is - you can be videotaped and put on the internet without your knowledge or permission. This was, apparently, the case with the recent video of Senator Obama. His camp claims the recent YouTube video (though not damaging in any way) did not originate from the Senator. However, on the other hand, if marketing yourself or a product is your objective...or if you're a 'frustrated artist' as many of us are... or just have something to say, YouTube could be the way to go.

Hopkin Green Frog

My "Google" husband has been telling me for some time now, "If you want to know something...Google it!" So I Googled "Hopkin Green Frog" in the presence of my husband and son. Both of whom laughed so hard and continue to laugh even as I attempt to complete this blog, that it is becoming difficult to complete it.

Anyway, while at first glance, this seems to be a utterly ridiculous story-and assignment, I might add. Knowing that this story is about an autistic person puts a bit of a different spin on the matter. Apparently, Hopkin Green Frog is a lost toy of a 16 year old autistic boy. Being a special education teacher, as soon as I looked at the handwriting and read the note, it reminded me of some of my students. The loss of this toy occurred approximately 4 years ago. And?

Why do we care? I, personally don't, really. The fact that this has gained national media attention is absurd. Our soldiers are dying in Iraq; most of our governing officials are corrupt. People are losing their homes in record numbers...and I have, yet, another week of testing! What I see are dollar signs, about a green toy, for everyone involved.

While I can be sensitive to the fact that the person from which this story stems is autistic, after reviewing other sites on this topic, I find the attention being devoted to this matter unnecssary and excessive. To me, this is another example of the "over-the-top" use of 'new literacies'.

GEPA EMANCIPATION!

YAY! GEPA is over...history.
I almost cried today when, while walking around the classroom, I saw my students using a format I gave them a few days ago for writing a persuasive essay and they actually remembered the components of a letter. I was so encouraged by that. For those of you who teach 'regular ed students' this might not be such a big deal, but as an educator of special needs students, this is HUGE! It clearly was a 'teacher moment'.
I went to the supermarket last night and bought so many snacks for them. I still have a few items left that I did not open . So tomorrow, I will treat them again. No matter the outcome, I'm proud of them!

Any hopes of a snow day tomorrow...probably not!

Next week - NJ ASK
Vegas -Take me away!

Escape from GEPA!!!

I'm dreading today and Thursday; can't wait until this testing crap is over.
I really feel for the students (special needs students) who really just can not do it.
But it is - what it is. Parents should have come in and demanded modifications to this exam.
Sidebar:
"LOST" better be good tonight because I'm losing my patience with THIS show!
It one of my few retreats from the doldrums of the work day - and "Grey's Anatomy" is airing repeats, already! DRAT!! Bought Cinderella III a few weeks ago. It was OK, but nothing beats the original story.

During one difficult (work) year, I would came home from work and watched "Beauty and the Beast" for about two months.
Hey! Whatever works!

Movie Weekend

We are all film buffs in my house and this past weekend was my husband's birthday. So we went to the movies. Friday night, we saw "300". We wanted to see it in IMAX format, but the tickets were all sold out. What I saw, (I fell asleep through parts of it because it was just too late at night) was pretty good. The queen killed the "sucka" that raped her and that was sweet! The king died and that was not! Sorry if I ruined it for anyone planning on seeing it but haven't as of yet done so. Saturday night, we went to see "RENO 911: MAMI". Both my husband and son have a sick sense of humor. And sometimes, I'm right along with them and sometimes, I'm just along for the ride. We all knew "RENO..." was just going to be utterly stupid; no thought-provoking value, just plain stupid!

I try not to get to deep where entertainment media is concerned. I go to the movies for entertainment. I've walked out of some movies and been outrageously entertained by others. Always wanted to be an actress, myself. Haven't given up on that one, yet. I find cinema fascinating, which is one reason why I probably would rather watch than read.

Well, that was my weekend. I'm going to bed now. Reality is setting in -GEPA tomorrow; gotta get up early.

READING

I really do not like to read. As a child, I assume, I was quite bright because my grandmother would always put me on display at family functions by asking me to spell very long words...and I would, flawlessly. School was never a problem for me and I don't remember having to study real hard in order to get good grades.

However, although I am over 45 years old, I am more of a visual person. I would rather experience a story on the silver screen than from a book. I have often beat myself up about this because, as an educator, I feel I should read more and have a greater desire to do so.

Though I have not read the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the last book I read happen to be the biography of JRR Tolkien. I wanted to know about the man that created such a great piece of literature. We have a subscription to the Wall Street Journal, which I read and enjoy far better that the regular newspapers that detail every horrible occurrence in our communities. I enjoy reading any 'home' magazine and I read the Bible. But it seems as though every time I pick up a book to read, I suddenly get sleepy and the next thing I know, Zzzzzzz .

I learn how to read through the phonetic approach. I feel this is what is lacking in our students' ability to read better, today. Someone years ago had the bright idea to teach kids the 'whole language' approach to reading. And as a result, in my opinion, a great injustice has been done to a generation of kids. We need to get back to some basic fundamental ways of learning. Many kids today have no decoding skills because they don't know what words are suppose sound like. They are not familiar with the rules that govern words and the formulation of words.

We as educators are so busy keeping up with all the mandates, that we don't have time to teach what the kids really need. What happen to sight words and syllabically pulling words apart and sentence diagramming????

At present, I am teaching reading using the America's Choice model. This model is really not meeting the needs of my special needs students. I can't remember the last time I gave a spelling test or taught students how to diagram a sentence. Because each DAY, I'm given something to teach; not something of my choosing.

Each morning we do a WORD OF THE DAY in my class. I would usually give the sentence after the principal has given the word over the intercom system. But our intercom system has been inoperable for about a month (if not longer) now. The students look forward to the WORD OF THE DAY; they are use to the "ritual and routine". :) (For those of you who know what I'm talking about). So I have continued with the WORD OF THE DAY. Instead of my giving the word, definition and sentence, I let the students do it. Invariably, when it is time for them to use the word in a sentence, they have great difficulty because they have little or no basic knowledge of parts of speech. I would like to spend a month on just grammar and grammar usage. After the all mighty GEPA and NJASK exams, I intend to do just that.

I love the English language; I find it fascinating. I enjoy listening to people who speak well and love words. My favorite professor in college was a linguistics specialist. Linguistics is something I always wanted to study.

Lately, it seems as if I don't have much patience for reading. In that respect, I feel sometimes, I'm as bad as the kids I teach. At home, when it comes to reading diagrams for putting something together or a new gadget, I let my husband handle it. It's all gibberish to me. I always tell him, "Baby, just read it and tell me what to do!"

Check out my new FACEBOOK page...

My son thought it was too dangerous for his 50 year old mother to be on MYSPACE.COM, so he told me to do a FACEBOOK instead, WOW!


http://www.facebook.com/p/LC_Bailey/831370572

I have tons of pix. I will share more, as I get better at posting on FACEBOOK.
PEACE

Catching Up!

Hi Everybody,
I am playing catch up. My internet service was down last week and I had to call CABLEVISION. We recently had an installation by DIRECT TV and so when the guy came from CABLEVISION, of course, he blamed the DIRECT TV guy for our problem. Nonetheless, I'm up and running again. I have seen quite a bit on TV that I will probably blog or discuss when we meet. Now that I'm taking this class, I see so much on TV either on the news on in documentary format that is so relevant to our subject matter.

Yesterday the news did a story on a program called Grammy School wherein DJ's from the east and west coasts visited schools and teach students the art of disc jockeying. The kids were so excited and at one school, the DJ's left several thousand dollars worth of equipment for the students. The administration is hoping that this program will not only help kids gain another skill but also build self esteem, foster good behavior and of course, better grades.

I also find it interesting that people are up and arms about the Daylight Savings Time issue. It puts me in the mind of the Y2K scare. With all this technology, you'd think they'd be able to get it right without "drama". There is a difference, however. With the Y2K issue, the objective was to fix a problem that had not been foreseen. The Daylight Savings Time issue is something our government has imposed upon us for ostensible reasons. They say it's to conserve energy, but in my mind, I'm asking, What's the real reason?"

The Matrix

The Matrix is interesting because it continues the
idea that humanity is afraid of the potential we have
built into our technology while we covet its
usefulness to us. This idea continues to be prevalent
in popular media, let me give you some examples:

Terminator
Dune
2001
The Matrix
I Robot
WarGames
Stealth

All of those movies deal with the idea that technology
will eventually evolve or by accident acquire the
ability to think for itself and then decide that
humanity is uselsss.

In addition, I perused a few websites and found the website, PATH OF NEO to be interesting. Apparently, this is a website for a game adapted from the movie. I found it interesting that to enter the website, you have to choose a country. The Matrix is an international phenomenon. I knew The Matrix was hugely popular, but it was shocking to me that its appeal is global. In my mind's eye, I simply saw it as a successful trilogy like: Lord of the Rings ( Lord of the Rings is my all time favorite work of cinema art!)

From the posts on the message board, I gather that people are having some technical problems playing this game. Many people have experienced a message that says, "error message". Others have responded with possible tech solutions.

I found it slightly frustrating that language was used that is unfamiliar to me. Someone asked, "Can I "res-kin" Neo?" I had to ask my son what "re-skin" means.