Pix - not only was that guy shooting insults from well behind the shelter of not having to say things in your presence, he used his child's reflection form (which he should figure out is to help her convey to you her own experiences with the assignment, as well as thoughts, questions, etc. etc., not for his overweening egotrip) to do it. Obviously, he has been spending too much time writing comment posts to online newspapers and blogs like the crazy nutbar he is, and now thinks that any open feedback space is fair game for sharing his twisted worldview. I'm sorry he brought the craxy to you. Sorrier still that he didn't take the time to ask himself why you, an experienced teacher, might have thought so highly of your students and their intellectual process as to give a difficult assignment in the first place, and to ask them to reflect on their process and experience in the second.

t hearts Sox Thanks so much. You really made my morning.

Vortex, I'm sorry to hear about the stomach troubles. Also, what Sean said.

{{{{bonny}}} I wish you and Niki peace and strength and I'm sending health~ma to Gordon.

The school board has to approve the recommendation of the middle school committee to eliminate drama in favor of a double block of language arts for students.

ChiKat, I wish I could say I'm surprised, but I know drama goes on the cutting block far too often. It's so infuriating that the higher-ups don't realize how utterly vital the arts are to education! I wouldn't be surprised if this has something to do with test scores (&%$*&& Bush and his "No Child Left Behind" bullshit that ends up leaving LOTS of kids behind).

Thanks again to everyone holding O. and her family in your thoughts. Today is when we find out how serious this is. They had to cool her body down to 32C over the past four days to prevent any more major organ damage, and today they will attempt to raise her body temp and determine how severe the brain damage was and if she's ever going to recover. Miracle~ma would be appreciated.

I also will find out today what my grandmother's prognosis is later today if the biopsy they took last week was good. They may have to redo it if not.

Sounds like this is a big health~ma day all around.

Wow...that ~ma works fast (at least in part). My mom just called to say that it looks like this is not uterine or cervical cancer, so Gram is going to be okay. Phew! That's one worry down.

Now if it could just pay off for O. as well...

Oh that's such very good news, Kristin. I'm so happy to hear it.

It's so infuriating that the higher-ups don't realize how utterly vital the arts are to education!

I teach at a school called "The Urban Assembly School for the Performing Arts"

We're being told (gently, for now) that we may need to consider cutting arts teachers next year, thus (essentially) removing at least one of our performing arts programs. Even though "Performing Arts" is in our name.

"The Urban Assembly School for the Performing Arts"

So you may end up as The Urban Assembly for a Performing Art?

Note to self: Whenever you think, "Maybe I should be wearing gloves," WEAR GLOVES. Why yes, I did just cut the hell out of my hand.

Kristin, I'm glad the news for your grandmother was in the realm of good. Still sending ~ma for your student. What an awful situation for the family.

Looks like my school will be cutting a couple of programs too, although mine seems to be safe (for which I need to thank my lucky stars, given my small class size and lack of experience).

The thing that's so frustrating to me is that I've seen the double-block solution, and I don't think it helped. Kids who weren't getting it just got two hours of not getting it. Yes, extra time should help, but I haven't seen it do so.

My school is cutting programs purely for budget reasons, not test score reasons -- I seem to have lucked out this time and gotten a school with high test scores.

good news for grandmother !

Matt sent out a bunch of resumes last night. he just got a call from one of them . He's been worried because there don't seem to be as many positons out there as there were in October. I think he is still seeing the after christmas --huh, what , oh work , that's right --. Any way , I figure as long as he is getting calls - something will show up. and more calls -- the less time for worrying.

In only tangentially related news, I hate writing recommendation letters. I mean, once I get done saying he's a wonderful student, a joy to have, and a credit to any organization that'll have him, what's left to say?

Pix, I'm glad the news about your grandmother was good. Here's hoping that family from your school hears something positive soon.

what's left to say?

If you can talk about a specific assignment where s/he impressed you with a certain skill/insight/maturity/whatever and how it made him/her stand out from the rest of the crowd, those kinds of comments are generally the only ones I really remember when I read recommendations. Bonus points if it shows the student has a sense of humor (in my world).