Best posts made by silverfox

@saosmash

Some things are worth not-dignified tantrums.

I feel like you can make a false accusation without being a bad actor.

If you are triggered by a specific behavior it is really hard to stay calm and in perspective.

The last two weeks have been a bit rough in my classroom. My kids just have. not. been. doing. their. work. They've been talking, out of place, on the wrong websites, etc. So we had a class meeting and they suggested we use a clipchart to track behavior over the week and they can earn 'free time' on Friday if their clip is on 'focused' or above. Then I put some rewards in place if they went above and beyond. (Positive note in planner, and positive contact home (phone/email).)

Not only has it improved the amount of work AND QUALITY OF WORK my kiddos are putting in - but it feels damn good to hear a parent's tone of voice just LIGHT UP when they hear that their kid has done something awesome at school.

I'm glad I'm doing this new system, even if it's a crap-ton of work to keep up with. It is forcing me to do what I'm not comfortable with - calling people on the phone - making parents happy, and motivating the kids to work.

Also, it's a great way to end the week.

I love failing rolls.

So. freaking. much.

My spider plants threw out a bunch of little babies this year and I actually managed to capture them, soak them in water for long enough, and now plant them so that I can give a few kids some baby spider plants to take home!

I'm super excited about this because my Third grade teacher gave me a spider plant that I kept all the way up till 5 years ago when my husband (love him, will never forgive him for this) threw it away in our move to our current state in favor of keeping the vacuum because he thought that the vacuum was more important (it wasn't). Thankfully my parents had a child of the original plant still that I'd gifted to a sister before college and I was able to get a baby of that plant. So the plants my students are getting will be the great-grandchild of the original plant.

TLDR: 9th year of teaching and I finally get to pass on a tradition from when I was my student's age. Warm fuzzies.

"Authors also create lovable, friendly characters—then proceed to do terrible things to them ... This makes readers feel hurt and worried for the characters. The simple truth is that authors like making people squirm. If this weren’t the case, all novels would be filled completely with cute bunnies having birthday parties."

Brandon Sanderson, Alcatraz and the Evil Librarians

This is also why I am so bad at fluff scenes.

I LOVE playing father-type-characters. I feel as proud of Adalyn player/character right now like we are related and it just makes me SO HAPPY.

And also @thesuntsar for being silly with me!!

My Zoya group photo fell onto the top of the lamp and the effect was so cool I centered it and now share.

@GreenFlashlight

What they said, but in academic terms.

"Resistance to equitable funding for schools has also been supported by several belief systems about the causes of poverty. One of these, the ideology of individualism, holds that success and failure result mainly from individual effort rather than social circumstance. The people of the United States are known around the world for their strong belief in the power of personal effort, but this can lead to associated beliefs that blame impoverished persons for their lack of success in life (see Kluegel & Smith, 1986).

A second belief, essentialism, has it that less-privileged groups (such as African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, or women) inherit genetic characteristics that account for whatever lack of successes they have experienced. This thesis has appeared repeatedly, in Europe as well as the United States, for more than a century. Advocates such as Arthur Jensen (1972) or Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray (1994) still promote this theory today. When applied to the poor, essentialism asserts that poverty results from intractable genetic flaws.

Another belief system, the culture of poverty thesis, argues that minority persons fail because of inappropriate traditions in the subcultures of their homes, communities, or ethnic groups (see Moynihan, 1969). When applied to the poor, such beliefs suggest that persons in impoverished communities fail because they possess only “limited linguistic codes” or are handicapped by lack of appropriate “cultural or social capital.”"

I went on a rant elsewhere not long ago about absolute inequity of education funding in our country and how it has its some roots in racism.

(Source: http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/may02/vol59/num08/Unequal-School-Funding-in-the-United-States.aspx#:~:text=Funding in the United States,between wealthy and impoverished communities.)

Shelter got a call from a woman about a kitten that was stuck in a fence and that she could see bone. No one else could go out. So the two head people are the shelter went out and rescued the kitten. Several vets wanted to euthanize the baby because the injury was so severe, but the shelter people weren't going for that. They had seen kittens hurt worse and pull through, plus this one despite the injury was fully active and engaging with them.

Found a vet that was willing to take the risk and check the baby out. Since the wound hadn't gone septic (I think that is the word?) they are going to do what it takes to get the baby to a point where they can amputate the leg. Since the kitten is so young he will do just fine growing up with the right home on three legs.

***=Baby Miracle (image contains bandages and tubes, nothing graphic.)***

click to show

The person who called about this baby also said that there were more kittens running around, so the shelter set a trap and caught four more (with maybe more to be caught.)

They are with me until a long term foster with fewer cats in the house comes back from vacation. They are very feral and will need lots of close love and attention to get over being afraid of people. ATM I won't handle the larger two without gloves.

Here is the only one that would let me take a picture.

I don't know if this is allowed, but the first kitten is going to cost between 7-10 thousand dollars to get back on his feet. If you know of anyone looking to donate, let me know, and I'll shoot you the shelter's donate link.

I put the tree in today after cleaning because it has been out a month since our last litter so hopefully all surface germs have died.

This is how I found them when I went in a second ago.

I live 1000ish steps away from my school. Today I just felt the WEIGHT of our staffing problems (we've had to cover someone, and 5 someones today all but two days for the last month) and so decided that over my shorter plan period I needed a brain break.

So I went home.

And cuddled kittens.

10/10 mental health yes.

A PSA for all parents, guardians, or anyone else.

If your child has an IEP, 504, READ plan, or any other kind of formal accommodation plan please please please don't assume that it'll get into the right hands. There are SO MANY hands that care for your child at school. Make sure you always have a copy and personally hand/email it to EVERY teacher that they are in contact with.

11 weeks at school and it was just TODAY I realized that one of my kids has a severe vision issue. It just.. never came up. Usually in my class they're not looking at stuff on a board so seeing any amount of distance is not an issue. Today they did. As soon as the kid brought up vision as an issue I emailed mom.

Mom says there is a plan in place.

I don't have this plan.

We fucked up.

This is on us.

So please - please - please. In this one thing, don't trust us. Get us all of these things.

I'm a little down so here is Sugar mid yawn that made me smile. May it make one of you smile too.

Soooo

Little Sugar had her Spay on Friday and they had to shave her belly for it. Last night it got really cold and we didn't turn on the heater when we usually did. This resulted in her being a shivering ball of freezing kittenhood. Wouldn't eat breakfast and just wanted to sit on my warm knee and shiver not eating. Gave her some warm pets and we turned on the heater but then I had to leave for work.

Fast forward to about eleven when husband goes in to do lunch. Sugar has crammed herself into a tiny space for warmth and again has zero interest in dinner. Husband calls worried, so we decide to have her go into his office and put a heating pad under a blanket for her.

30 minutes later this is what he texts me.

I want the ability to be that blissfully happy.

(And she ate once she warmed up.)

Husband is getting a face to face interview!!!

She managed to get more cute.

THE CUTE IS TOO MUCH I CAN'T HANDLE IT.