What In Tarnation?!?!?

My math classes have started my favorite math unit: Geometry. It is just fun to play around with shapes, solids, angles, lines, flips, turns, and slides and get away from the computational drudgery of subtraction with regrouping and multiplication. (I know subtraction with regrouping sounds easy to you, but believe me when I say that it is drudgery for my classes.) There is a shift when we move on to geometry. Students have to memorize all kinds of vocabulary words. They have done that in math class but not in the quantity that the geometry unit requires. I do all kinds of activities to try and help the memorize the terms. We do geometry aerobics, geometry Simon Says, and we make study cards that students can take home. Before I the unit began I sent a note home with every one of my math students asking for a set of 3 by 5 index cards. I didn’t care if they were lined or unlined, florescent pink or white, I just wanted them to have cards for the beginning of the unit that we could make study cards.

As I expected, there were a number of students who did not have index cards for the first day of our unit. I let those students who did not have index cards use some of mine. I told them that they would need to replace those cards in the near future.

Most students brought index cards to replace the ones that they used the next day. In one class I had one student who gave me a whole pack of index cards. I told him that he only owed me 12 cards, he could take the rest of the cards back. He told me to keep the whole pack, his parents had gotten him two packs. I thanked him and announced to the class that no one owed me any index cards because a student gave me a whole pack which was enough to make up for those students who still owed me cards.

“Cool,” said one of the students who didn’t bring any cards in. “So you mean I don’t owe you any index cards?”

“Right. Henry gave me enough cards to cover the cards you owed me,” I replied.

“So I owe Henry now?”

“That’s up to Henry.”

“Nah. I have plenty of cards.” Henry said.

“I don’t owe any cards to anyone then?”

“Nope,” I replied. “If I were you, I would thank Henry, that was very nice of him.”

“Yeah! That was cool! You don’t see that everyday.”

“That depends on where you look,” I said.

A moment of silence passed as they pondered that little truth nugget.

“Thanks Henry,” said the cardless student after a few seconds.

“You’re welcome.”

I bet the kids weren’t expecting a lesson on grace with their lesson on solids. I wasn’t.

Class dismissed!

Since Jen did it, I will too. (Cause I am a lemming.)

Heart of Crystal

In accordance with the prophecy…

You are Charlie Brown!

Which Peanuts Character are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

and…

You are Kermit the Frog.
You are reliable, responsible and caring. And you
have a habit of waving your arms about
maniacally.

FAVORITE EXPRESSIONS:
“Hi ho!” “Yaaay!” and
“Sheesh!”
FAVORITE MOVIE:
“How Green Was My Mother”

LAST BOOK READ:
“Surfin’ the Webfoot: A Frog’s Guide to the
Internet”

HOBBIES:
Sitting in the swamp playing banjo.

QUOTE:
“Hmm, my banjo is wet.”

What Muppet are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Class dismissed!

I have not eaten anything since this morning at about 7:50 am. The 30 hours have begun and I am a little over 8 hours into my fast. And I’m starting to feel it.

I almost made a boo boo right after school but I caught myself. I reached into the Box ‘O Fun and Happiness to get a Mini Peanut Butter Cup (the sugar filled variety to avoid anal leakage) and then realized what I was doing.

The times that I feel the hunger really getting strong I think about the sacrifice that Christ made for my benefit. I meditate on that for awhile and then go on with life.

Please pray for my youth group as we embark on this journey together.

Question: Does a Blow POP sucker count? That’s not really food…

Class dismissed!

Found at the Frog Blog.

The Rules:

Step 1: Open your MP3 player.
Step 2: Put all of your music on random.
Step 3: List the first ten songs it plays, no matter how embarrassing.

I fired up iTunes and this is how it came out:

1. Overture - Jesus Christ Superstar (1996 London Cast) - Andrew Lloyd Weber/Tim Rice
2. T-E-A-M (The Baseball Game) - You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown - 1999 Broadway Cast
3. Crucified With Christ - Favorite Songs of All - Phillips, Craig, and Dean
4. Presentation of the Dishes/Ending - Iron Chef
5. Bus Driver - Caedmon’s Call - Caedmon’s Call
6. In the Secret - Traces of Rain Vol. 2 - Mercy Me
7. Climb On (A Back That’s Strong) - 40 Acres - Caedmon’s Call
8. Shout to the Lord - Authentic - Chris Tomlin
9. Learn Your Lessons Well - Godspell (2001 National Tour) - Stephen Schwartz
10. He’s My Lord - Soul Thirst - Jami Smith

This is fun. Ten bonus songs for my faithful WIT?!?!? readers.

11. Clouds - Snoopy! (Original Cast) - Larry Grossman
12. Classical Gas - Performed by Eric Clapton - Mason Williams
13. To Every Nation - Live Worship from the 268 Generation - Passion Praise Band
14. (Whoops how did this come up? I should have stopped at ten. *Blushes*) Mother, Mother - The Burdens of Being Upright - Tracy Bonham
15. Looney Toons Theme
16. Monkees - The Monkees
17. G.I. Joe Theme Song
18. Going Through the Motions - Once More With Feeling (Cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer) - Joss Whedon
19. (Aww crud, I really should have stopped at ten.) I Don’t Want to Wait - Songs from Dawson’s Creek - Paula Cole
20. Musik Fur Kinder - Musica Poetica - Carl Orff

Now go and tell me you first 10 (or 20) random MP3 songs.

Class dismissed!

Other MP3 Lists:
- Mr. Webel

I’m back. I finally got my desktop computer back up and running. Evidently I paid $35.00 to find out that there was nothing wrong with it. I don’t know what is going on with it but it is working right now. Oh well.
____

I have a backlog of ideas for entries… none of which I can think of right now. I do have a note, the first one of the year, that was passed while my class was with the Science/Social Studies teacher.

A little background info before I share with you the note. I have a Kaitlyn* and a Kaitlin* in my class. At the beginning of the year, for some reason, I called them Kaitlyn with a y and Kaitlin with i. It stuck.

The note is somewhat jumbled, this is my attempt at making sense of the whole thing. My thoughts and comments in italics.

do you love me!!!

kinda

pick yes or no

kinda

you can’t pick yes or no? I love you.

why!!!

This is Chester* do Kaitlin with a y (Teehee, he spelled it with an i. I don’t think he gets it.) like me?

what?

why did you pick no!!!!

i picked no?

Chester wants to know if you are going out with Trent*. Yes or no.

I think?

I think what. yes or no, pick one!!!!!!!!!

Does Trent really really like me?

no he really really likes you !!! for really you can’t brack up with him!!!! he loves you.

Ok I’ll go out with Trent.

does Kaitlin with a y like me ask her from Chester.

I’ll ask her why? u like her?

(Here’s my favorite part) u just want a girl? man! you ar kinda weird.

I find this note funny and disturbing at the same time. This class seem really preoccupied with this kind of stuff, unlike my first two years. After these notes were discovered I sat the class down and we had what I have dubbed “Life Lessons with Christopher.”

It went something like this: “You cannot have a boyfriend or a girlfriend in this class. You are too young. You will have plenty of time to deal with that mess later in life. Just take my word for it. Are we clear?”

“Oh, and any more notes, I will read and act them out in front of the class, names and all! Nod your head yes if you understand.”

Everyone nodded yes.

You may call me the anti-cupid.

Class dismissed!

*All names changed.

As a companion to my Top 20 Movies list, WIT now presents some of the worst movies of all time.

1. Congo (1995)
2. The Time Machine (2002)
3. Any Given Sunday (1999)
4. Titanic (1997)
5. Psycho (1998)
6. Matrix Revolutions (2003)
7. The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
8. Batman & Robin (1997)
9. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)

I don’t have a bunch of movies that I hate because I try to be certain that I am going to like or at least not hate a movie before I go see it by reading reviews and talking to other people.

What are some of the worst movies you have seen?
____

I took my laptop to Best Buy today. The estimated completion date is March 4. That seems like forever away. The bright side is it won’t cost me anything right now because I purchased the extended warranty.
____

There is an after effect of seeing The Passion of the Christ that I just experienced today that folks who are considering going to see the movie might want to know about. I don’t think it is a bad one.

While driving to St. Louis to drop off my laptop I popped in one of the Passion CDs. Our Love Is Loud I believe. The first song on that album is a great one, Here I Am to Worship. I was singing along as I drove like I normally do when I came to my favorite part of the song, “I’ll never know how much it cost to see my sin upon that cross.” It repeats, I continue singing. The third time it repeats in this version of the song it gets more intense and passionate. As I was singing, images from the movie started flashing through my mind, very rapidly. The scenes that dealt with the cost, the pain, the torture. I started crying. So much so that it became more difficult from me to drive. I finally was able to regain my composure. The movie has affected me. I think now I will take songs about the cross, about the blood, and the sacrifice much more seriously. I think it is a good thing to understand a bit more the gravity of the cross. Somehow though, I have a feeling that I still can’t wrap my mind around it all.

And I think I shouldn’t be listening to those kinds of songs while I am driving for awhile.

I will probably continue to post about the Passion for a little while. It is taking me quite some time to digest the movie. I hope my earlier comments didn’t seem too negative because that is not my intent. Do I think Christians should see this movie. If they can stomach it, I think so, at least once. Artistically the movie was wonderful and hopefully I will find a time to write more about my thoughts on that aspect of the movie, but so close to my viewing of the movie makes it very difficult to separate the artistry from the pain of the movie. So as I have a chance, I’m sure I will be writing more about it.

Class dismissed!

I have seen this quiz at many blogs.

Am I a Yankee or a Dixie?

Living in Missouri, my score could go either direction. Southern Missouri has some very definite southern tendencies, however, St. Louis has some very northern tendencies. I live smack dab between those two areas and I have spend considerable time in both areas.

So what will it be? Who’s cuisine will reign supreme?

74% (Dixie). That is a pretty strong Southern score!

I was a little surprised at how Southern my score was. (BTW, it’s a soda.) What’s your score?

Class dismissed!

I’m back from my conference and my week of weirdness and trouble continues.

The conference was a great disappointment. I only got a handful of the sessions that I signed up for and only about four of them were worth my time and effort. The keynote speaker was… well, he was entertaining and that is about it. Nothing really to do with education at all. Instead he talked about 3-D visuals. Huh?

Since my desktop computer has been down, I have been relying totally on my laptop. Unfortunately, my laptop’s power plug in, on the laptop itself seems to have broken. That means the battery can’t be charged. I need to take it in to Best Buy to have it fixed. Until then, I guess I will not have a computer available to use at my house. I could use the computers at school, but I have always been hesitant about using the Internet at school in that way.

As a result, my presence here and elsewhere in the blogosphere will be greatly reduced for awhile.
____

In other news… I had an opportunity to see The Passion of the Christ today. I didn’t enjoy it, but I don’t think I was supposed to enjoy it. The film making was great, Mel did an excellent job with direction. The content of the movie was expected, but I still was not ready for it. Mentally, I prepared myself for the things I would most likely see, nails through hands and feet, crown of thorns, etc but I wasn’t ready. In trying to describe the level of violence in this movie to my parents, I think I described it as the first thirty minutes of Saving Private Ryan all done to one person for just about the whole length of the movie. After the movie, I was emotionally and physically exhausted. The youth group is schedule to see the movie this Friday. I’m not sure if I will be able to watch it again. Of course I guess I could try and watch it again and try to not close my eyes durning the most intense parts.

Class dismissed!