Googley Goggles

Whew. Another week has flown by. Can you believe I've been here a month already? So my students were quite the bunch this week!

One student thought it'd be funny to call me "baby." Thus he did. I asked him not to and corrected him with "Ms. Daniel" every time he said it. A few days later he did stop. But his parents came to parent night Wednesday. They said their son can be a bit of a smart-aleck...so I told them what he's been calling me. They were embarrassed, to say the least. But the other parents found it to be quite amusing. Yeah, parent night. Not too many showed up. I was surprised by the number of single parents. Apparently I'm "perky"- that's what one dad said to his wife who works at the school. haha. And then there was this one odd parent that met us and asked "Do you get donated equipment and not use it?" What kind of question is that? And he also asked me what I thought of the polygamist trials. I didn't comment. And this same dad emailed me like five times the next day asking what his daughter needs for the class. He sent me a copy of his ebay bid for a couple TI-83 calculators and told me he's going to donate them to our classroom. His daughter informed me that he always does this and to just ignore him. haha.

Goggles! So, BYU-education program emphasizes using "Inquiry" methods for teaching like all the time. You're an awful teacher if you don't, apparently. But I have realized that you cannot do inquiry with these kids. They lack the basic knowledge to go out and figure things out on their own. A lab is somewhat inquiry related. But it becomes direct because they have to have the steps repeated like 100 times and can't figure out what they're doing at all. They barely can follow instructions. I love them, so I am patient. at least I try. But they do not keep their goggles on!!! I had to tell SO many kids to put their goggles back on. Like it's a joke! Some kid did say "Safety never goes out of style"...I was surprised by his support of goggles but happy nonetheless. I might just make them wear goggles at their desks as a punishment if they don't wear them in the lab. Seriously. We can't do labs with these kids. I will keep trying.

You remember that annoying coordinator lady we have? Yeah, well somehow I managed to be on her good list. She's even understanding of my sleep-issue when she totally isn't with my other roommate! Odd. I did get blood-work done this week (I almost fainted. lack of H20). There's nothing wrong with my insides. So it might be the meds I'm on. We shall see. I'm still "perky" so everything is fine.

I went to the National Cathedral this week. Very beautiful. It's right down the street from our high school. Neat.

There are a lot of little lakes around here. Yesterday I got to go kayaking and canoing! Our friend's aunt and uncle have a place near a lake and have the kayaks and canoe! So Brian and I went with a couple others and had a wonderful afternoon on the water. We saw a bald eagle, woodpeckers, turtles, jumping fish...all on the serene beautiful lake!

I started and finished "The Memory-Keeper's Daughter" this week. Amazing. A doctor delivers his wife's babies- twins. A boy and a girl. The girl he notices has down syndrome and so he sends her away with the nurse and told her to bring her to a clinic/institution. He tells his wife the girl died at birth!!! The nurse raises the girl in another city. It's an amazing book. Captivating. It's crazy what that one secret would do to the family.

Well, on that note...I'm off to church. Another week of adventures in chemistry to be continued...