Tell it Like it Is

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I just love billboards that tell things like they are...

If I were running for any type of political office I'd ask you to vote for me. After all, three words and an American flag are all anyone really needs...

This + That = Oops

Pin It It was a gloriously wonderful idea.

It was so fantastic that I went out immediately and bought the fog machine from my local Walmart. You see, I was going to turn my classroom into a perfect graveyard of buried hopes and dreams for the school Halloween parade.

It would be simply brilliant.

I arrived early and plugged the fog machine in. In just a few minutes, beautiful plumes of ashen fog began to waft about the room.

That’s about the time the fire alarm was triggered; the warning bell screamed in the hallways and classrooms like an air raid siren.

The office immediately tried to turn off the alarm. For some reason, the number 4 button wouldn’t cooperate on the master control panel, therefore, the alarm continued to scream throughout the school and playground.

The fire trucks arrived.

Ah, the death of a brilliant idea.

Lesson learned.

I’m just glad that I tried my idea before the Halloween parade…


Oh, and don't forget that tomorrow is the last day to order your very own Joey Dosen't Like Kittys shirt.

Autumn Shoot #4

Pin It This past weekend between rainstorms, I had the opportunity to do a quick session of my longtime friend, Hazen, and his family. We only had a small amount of time due to the rapidly-approaching evening and break in the rain.

This is what we got...

Just on a completely unrelated sidenote…when we were getting ready to eat dinner, Hazen's youngest was asked to say the blessing on the food. As he prayed he added in, "And please help Teachinfourth get a motorcycle the next time he comes over so he can be tough."

Needless to say, we all laughed. I most certainly hope that God has a sense of humor…

Can I just tell you how much I love these boys, and how grateful I am for the time I have to spend with them?

Moments with Joey - The Invitation

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SCENE 1, INTERIOR. AFTERNOON, CLASSROOM. The teacher is having a book group with one student. This particular boy has been in the habit of reading far more than what the rest of his old group had decided and – after several warnings – was moved into a grouping of one. To help combat this boy’s tendency to read ahead and not follow directions, the teacher picked a book he thought the boy wouldn’t want to read, Anne of Green Gables, and told him that he can read as much as he’d like each night. After a week of meetings, the teacher realizes that his plan wasn’t working out quite as well as he’d anticipated.

As the teacher and boy meet for their daily group, the boy begins to excitedly retell what happened in the pages he’d read the night before. The teacher is a bit surprised that the boy has taken to the book so quickly; he decides to share something from his own childhood.

TEACHER: You know, when I was a kid, my sister used to watch Anne of Green Gables on the Disney Channel. I made fun of her because of it, too. But then one day I started to watch the movie and realized that Megan Follows was hot.

JOEY: [Surprised]. You were in love with Anne?

TEACHER: No, not really in love…but I guess you could say I had a little crush on the actress who played her. [Pause]. Anyhow, let’s finish talking about what happened in what you read last night.

[The boy continues to ramble on about a large chunk of the story, retelling it with remarkable accuracy].

TEACHER: Joey, just how much did you read last night?

JOEY: [Shrugging]. I don’t know, maybe four or five chapters.

TEACHER: [Surprised]. Wow, I guess you’ll have to send me an invitation when you and Anne decide to get married.

JOEY: The boy starts to laugh as he and the teacher finish up their book session for the day.

SCENE 2, EXTERIOR. NEXT MORNING, PLAYGROUND. The teacher is on duty outside before school starts. He is watching as students arrive, trudging toward the school in small groups or as individuals. The boy from his reading group approaches him, he has a sheepish grin on his face. The boy stops in front of the teacher and stands silent for a moment or two.

TEACHER: Good morning, Joey. How you doing?

JOEY: I’m doing good, Mr. Z. [pause]. I wanted to give you something…

TEACHER: It isn’t a great, big bag of money or a new car, is it?

[The boy shakes his head and laughs for a moment, and then his face takes on a more serious expression].

JOEY: No. It’s this.

[The boy holds out a sealed envelope. The teacher takes the white packet and looks at it. There is no writing of any sort as to indicate what is inside].

TEACHER: Thanks, Joey.

[The boy stands expectantly for a few moments].

JOEY: So, are you going to open it?

TEACHER: That all depends…I mean it isn’t a mushy letter you’ve written to me full of nice things about how amazing I am, is it? I mean, I’m not going to get all emotional and start crying, am I?

[The boy shakes his head with a small grin].

JOEY: I don’t think so, Mr. Z.

TEACHER: So, should I wait to open it?

JOEY: I’d really like to be here when you do open it, Mr. Z.

[The teacher smiles and opens up the envelope. Inside is a folded piece of paper; he begins to unfold it and the boy gets more and more excited as the teacher does so].

[The teacher starts laughing out loud as his eyes fall on the wedding invitation the boy’d made on his home computer. Joey grins and moves closer to his teacher].

JOEY: You said you wanted an invitation when we decided to get married, Mr. Z. I wanted you to be the first to know.

TEACHER: Thanks, Joey. I’m honored.

JOEY: I thought you would be. Sorry she decided to pick me instead of you. You’re still a good teacher, though.

[The teacher starts to laugh and pats the boy on the back].

TEACHER: I think she made a great choice…Joey of Green Gables.

JOEY: Yeah…so do I.

Fade to black.

Media of the Week - What You Should Know

Pin It I found this little gem on YouTube a week ago.

Can I just tell you that I love it?

Since there are nearly 300 episodes, you'd probably be hard pressed to find something which doesn't floats your boat.



Could I just say that this one was pretty informative as well?



A few of my other favorites (that I've had the chance to view...I still have plenty go go) are this one, this one, this one, oh, and this one, too. I'm sure that I'll get others once I get the chance to view them all.

Hodgepodge

Pin It I wanted to tell you that I posted at Four Perspectives this morning.

I wanted tell you that I am planning a Hocus Pocus night on Thursday of this week but I don't want to come up with something creative like in years of yore. Why? Mostly because I lack the time and the creative energy right now.

But it will be fun.

We'll start out with a 'preshow' at 6:30 of It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown and then begin the feature film at 7:00. If you need directions, please click the ZMail link and let me know. I'll steer ya right…

I wanted to let you know that I have let the dishes pile up in my sink for four days. It's about time to wash them because I have no bowls left.

I wanted to tell you that I realized that I haven't run a Joey post for two or so weeks. I have several, I just haven't taken the time to write them up from my Joey notebook. I will post one later this week.

I wanted to let you know that I tried making caramel apples last night and heated the caramel squares in the microwave. When it cooled, it turned into a rock. I guess I lack the caramel apple skills and should hence leave that to the experts.

I wanted to tell you that I bought 20+ boxes of Sundried Tomato and Basil Wheat Thins on sale a week or so ago. I have been downing those things like they're going out of style.

I thought I'd tell you about Halloween this year and how I am undecided at how I want to dress up. Funny, this is my favorite holiday and I just can't seem to come up with what I want to be…after all, this only happens once a year.

I thought I'd tell you that I am planning to voice the first Halloween show at ComedySportz on Friday. Of course, I might not be doing it, but I hope so since I can't do it on my usual Saturday because I'm helping a friend at their haunted house.

I thought you might like to know that I bought a fog machine last week because fog machines are cool.

It rained for three days. The wind blew and caused a lot of mayhem. I love the rain. I didn't mind when the howling wind woke me up on on Sunday night.

I made zucchini bread a week ago and it was wonderful. I found the recipe here and added the crumble topping one of the commenters suggested; I discovered that it made it even more fabulous. I bought some more zucchini at the store last night to make another loaf or two.

I thought I should tell you that it's now 7:22 in the morning and I should have headed out to work seven minutes ago.

As a final note, I thought I'd share this…however, some will consider it untasteful and you might want to consider this before pushing the button.

And don't say that I didn't warn you…

Autumn Shoot #3 (and feature)

Pin It So, to start it all off I should probably mention that I've been featured over at SnagOne. If you don't know what it is, you just might want to head over and check it out.

Other than that, I've been trying to keep up with shoots. Here is one of the latest…

 

 

  

 

Media of the Week - Passing the Test

Pin It There are certain videos that are awesome.

This is one of them.



So, did YOU pass the test?

Autumn Photoshoot #2

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Service, With a Smile...

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I am so about service…you can read more about last night's experience here.

Image shamelessly swiped from www.markrampulla.com

The Visitor - or Oddity

Pin It Updated at the end...
My class of fifth graders and I were in the middle of a lesson on literature responses when the oddity waltzed in through the classroom door; her brightly lit clothes seemed to match her eccentric behavior as she drew in an exaggerated breath, stood for a moment in muted silence, and gazed out at the tables of students.

A hush fell over the class as they stared at this girl who immediately began to babble on like a cretin. She asked whose birthday it was today in the room – it would just so happen that today was the day *Joey had selected to celebrate his unbirthday because his usually takes place during the summer. I figured that this girl was one of those paid performers who deliver singing telegrams and such, so I took a seat and let her go on – making a mental note to call Joey’s parents and let them know that they really do need to make a teacher aware of things like this beforehand so instruction time isn’t disrupted.

This girl immediately breezed over to Joey - which really unnerved him to be honest, as he is usually shy and reserved. She at once raised her ukulele and began to caterwaul something about it being his unbirthday. Of course she did it with gusto, and I guess that that was the most important part. The part that started to bother me is that she didn’t leave after she was done like most singing telegram deliverers do.

Joey cringed as she reached into her small handbag and pulled out a bag of chocolate chip cookies; he has a fear of people who make sudden movements close to him and I could only wonder why his parents would torture him like this; maybe it was therapeutic? She began waving this bag around and I could only hope that she’d bought them from a reputable bakery.

Joey just slouched in his chair a little and looked ready to bolt.

Still I waited for her to leave as she did this tiptoe floating thing around the room, every breath she took seemed like she were gasping for life because of her excitement; I could tell that the students were wary of that bag of cookies she practically thrust into each of their faces. I just know that the training each of their parents had given them about strangers with candy and motorists with puppies was now kicking into play and a few of them looked around apprehensively. I made a decision to chat with Joey’s parents about this type of unbirthday well wishing in the future.

I still waited for her to leave, but she didn’t. She began talking about secret places they could go to at any moment they wished and I began to wonder if this woman were really sent by one of the parents. I grabbed my camera and took a few shots to send to the police just in the event that she were a raving lunatic and they’d need to find her in the future.

As I rose to call the office on the classroom phone, the girl suddenly whipped out her ukulele again and played a departing song. She babbed on, saying something about living with rats (probably from living in a substandard housing development) and vanished out the door without a trace.

The class sat in stunned silence for nearly ten seconds, and then breathed a collective sigh of relief.

I had them start the next lesson of the day and made a quick phone call to Joey’s parents. They in turn let me know that they hadn’t sent his unbirthday treats yet, and would be in later that afternoon. I thanked them and made a call to the office, letting them know the whole situation.

My principal asked for copies of the photos I’d taken and quickly had some posters made for the neighborhood. He also set up a quick assembly with the school to talk about ‘stranger danger’ and what to do in the future in a lockdown situation.

I still wonder who that girl really was…

Update: BTW, if you haven't clicked here, you just might want to do so…it will explain some things. It is not too dissimilar to what happened last year and another time the year before...


*Not his real name.

Autumn Photoshoot

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Had the opportunity to whip out the photography skills earlier this week.

Enough said...