Heiress 's cancer returns

In January, a routine blood test showed elevated tumor markers. PET scan showed new cancer along the sternum/right breast as well as suspicious activity recurring in right arm. I have taken a leave of absence from teaching position and am back at VCI for treatment. Am struggling with nutritional changes and food choices that need to be made. Not the vegetarian type, really.
Bought a little motorhome to live in while here because of dog- can't really impose on friends. More later

Heiress Teaches Hoodlums Entry 9

I've had to change my plan from daily impromptu writing because the system at school doesn't allow blogs. I don't get home until 10:00 at night, often too weary to gather my thoughts for this blog. I didn't feel sincere calling day 12 day 8 so I've switched title to numbered 'entries'.
My students are more motivated as a whole than last year's bunch. Could be I'm more alert and on top of things. Last year students were given a syllabus of assignments, all independent work units, and were told to work at their own pace (that was the model I inherited when I joined the system). A few students were so far behind in obtaining enough credits to graduate that they indeed were motivated to work day and night to complete course early,enabling them to complete more courses in the school year. But, for the most part, our students were accustomed to not being seen in the big classes at main campus; they became experts at looking busy and doing nothing -
n o t h i n g. These students come to our school expecting to get away with same behavior - give them 18 weeks to do five units and they'll take 18 weeks! We don't allow our students to be invisible. Our classes are small enough to monitor each kid's progress and classroom activity. They don't get to stare into space - they're called on it and re-directed or they're put on an academic contract that risks an F for the course if they miss deadlines.

That said, I also brazenly changed the entire curriculum this year and spelled out weekly due dates for all 18 weeks. One day a week students work with me on composition while the other students work independently on literature and versa-vice.(Remember I have two levels of students in same class at same time) Students are adhering to the schedule and many are completing their independent literature studies early. The student motivation and progress are great except that we have composition lessons through the end of November. Hmmmm. What will the students do if they have no literature assignment to work on?? That was my dilemma yesterday. Problem solved. I added more literature assignments. The really good news here is that students are learning much more than they did last year.

Heiress Teaches Hoodlums Day 8

I always look forward to Mondays. On Sunday night when everyone has to get home early to be ready for Monday, I just smile because so do I have to be ready for Monday but not until 3:00!!! I enjoy my teaching but not necessarily the conditions under which I teach. If I'd never worked in the corporate world, I might be more tolerant of inefficiencies. For example, when you teach you lose the right to go to the bathroom whenever the urge hits; you cannot leave a classroom unsupervised so you either call for security to watch your class (and they're never quick) or you wait and race down the student-clogged hallway between classes. Most everyone knows that a teacher's work is not done when they walk out the door - piles of papers have to be graded and weekends are often spent finishing papers and planning lessons.We don't get nice relaxing lunches, either - they are spent eating on our feet while we patrol lunchrooms, hallways or outside play areas. During the course of any corporate business day, I might stroll over to another manager's desk and visit - not when you teach! There's no time to visit with colleagues. I thank my lucky stars that I have a room with a linoleum floor where I can see the dirt and sweep or scrub away; many classrooms have old filthy carpet that hasn't been cleaned properly in years. We all put up with technology - we stumble over heaps of cords that are shoddily installed, we dread the too often message that all systems are down, and we're grateful for technology as it is delivered. We are given a tiny dark workroom under the stairwell with no windows and inadequate lighting to work on our prep period. We're not allowed to work in our rooms because we most often share the room with another teacher; we must haul our papers, resource books, pencils, staplers, paper clips,and grade cards with us to the work room. Further, we're not allowed to use the copier in the workroom because it belongs to the day school. We must cart our papers from the workroom to the principal's office and use the very slow copier there. Large copy orders are sent to the print shop which helps when you're organized. For those impromptu lessons, just another teacher prevention barrier, I call it! The kids are what makes us love what we do. It certainly is not the salary or the conditions. A teacher needs a lot of dignity up front when entering the teaching profession as dignity is not nurtured inside the system.

Heiress Teaches Hoodlums Day 7

Uneventful. Really! I taught English 1 same thing as yesterday's English 1 students - using graphic organizers to expand topic sentence. Everyone behaved. I had Fancy, my standard poodle in class with me; students love her and she's well-behaved. At dinner break, Fancy and I went to the Dairy Queen for ice cream cones. Taught third hour and drove my 37 minute commute home on the I-10. That's it!

Heiress Teaches Hoodlums Day 6/Esprit Du Free!

I am still jazzed at my discovery on Sunday that I was able to drive my 5-speed Miata one-armed. I hadn't tried since three years ago when my arm swelled up so with lymphodema and it stopped working all together. I sat in my little dream car and twisted my body every way possible to try and get the key in the ignition. I just couldn't bend enough around the steering wheel so sadly I determined my Miata days were over. It has sat in my garage collecting dust ever since. Sunday, I was nearing a bittersweet opportunity to sell the car - how I hated parting with my symbol of top-down-music-up road-esprit du free! "I better just make sure I can't drive this car before I let it go," I thought to myself. Well, low and behold, three years later, call me more limber and a little bit slimmer - I got the key in the ignition! Started like a charm. Next step - take it around the block. Gingerly I let off the clutch, pressed down the gas pedal and purred out of my driveway in first gear. With a blink of an eye, my hand left the wheel to shift into second. Hand back on the wheel and we're cruising down my street. Into neutral for the stop sign, then a quick pop back into first, deftly into second gear - no fear! Third was a stretch of the rib cage and not pretty but I made it. I can't scoot the seat up as closely as it needs to be in order to fully engage the clutch, making third gear a little tricky. Onto the freeway and into fourth gear and we're cruisin'! What a thrill to be back in the seat of my little white rumble car!

Long story short, I decided not to sell the Miata (dah!) and instead drove it to work Monday, top down music up! I lilted up the sidewalk to get ready for a meeting with the Superintendent. For the first time in three years, I actually read my contract instead of just signing it and I discovered they were only giving me credit for 32 hours - I was sure I had more graduate hours than that so asked for a review of transcript. Turns out there has been an oversight of 40 more credit hours - so happily I moved two steps laterally which gives me a little pay raise of about $4,000.00! Too bad I didn't pay attention these past two years!

Anyway, I taught with high spirits on Monday. My English 1 kids learned how to use three different graphic organizers to expand a topic sentence. Rachel's mom came in fore a performance conference during third hour. Rachel dresses goth, keeps hair over her face which is so covered in piercings that she looks like she fell into a tackle box;she sits at a front table by herself, and writes very lightly in pencil; this girl does not want to be noticed. Last week, I took some graded work back to her and commented on what a good job she had done. Since then, she has been contributing - albeit very quietly- just loud enough for me to hear- but she has become engaged in class. So I was able to report to her mother, in front of Rachel who was at her mom's side, that her daughter was doing well and was demonstrating some excellent writing skills. Rachel beamed.

Heiress Teaches Hoodlums Days 4,5

Thursday my English 2 students were asked to take a test identifying components of good writing; topic sentence, supporting detail,specific details, organization, coherence. This gave my English 1 students time to read their literature assignments. But Bernardo took out his cell phone to answer - an automatic F for the course- so I had to take time to write up grade card and referral to ISS - in house suspension. Then I found Sam drawing instead of reading - so I had to write up another referral to ISS. Burgandy threw up at my doorway shortly into the class period. Seems her dinner didn't agree with her. I knew I was saving that toothbrush, toothpaste and mouthwash in my drawer for something - came in handy. Remarkably, she cleaned up, came back to class and was productive. Janitor was there right away to clean up floor. Students were compassionate - wanted to make sure Burgundy was all right. Cesar finished his assignment early and volunteered to rub on a vinyl saying above my door - " If music be the food of love, play on" by Shakespeare. Travis and his girlfriend Cassandra insisted on holding hands and laughing out loud, disrupting the other students so I moved them outside to a picnic table on the patio outside my back door - they had to finish their worksheet or they would be referred to ISS.
I play soft jazz during class - students like it. I keep fresh flowers on my desk at all times and candy in my drawer for little rewards. I also keep a supply of band aids, hand lotion and hand sanitizer - all of which the students really appreciate. Esai brought me an apple, smiling sheepishly as he put it on my desk. We didn't have school on Friday. It was a good week

Heiress Teaches Hoodlums Day 3

Over the summer I re-wrote the English curriculum. Now students know each week what will be covered and what is due. In the past, if we gave students 18 weeks to complete one assignment, they'd do their best to take 18 weeks, daydreaming, drawing, being absent, disrupting - whatever it took to avoid doing work and string things out 18 weeks. No more! Further, I broke each week's work up into 2 components-composition and literature. Remember, I have level 1 and level 2 English classes in the classroom at the same time. With my new curriculum plan, on Mondays I actively teach composition to level 1 students while English 2 students work independently on their literature packets. On Wednesdays, the reverse is true: English 1 students work on their literature packets while I actively teach composition to English 2. Keeps all students accountable for completing weekly work. Our students need immediate feedback so senior students receive a partial credit to be my aide; they help me correct objective tests and file all students work for parents to review during their monthly visits. Now that I have provided this overview, I will begin sharing specific anecdotes.