Woo-hoo Wednesday & the Carnival of Education

It’s Woo-hoo Wednesday and that can only mean two things:

#1…It’s time to find one nice thing to say to somebody and preface your compliment with a woo-hoo. For example, “Woo-hoo! Joanne Jacobs did a marvelously fine job of hosting this week’s carnival!”

And, #2…Yep, you guessed it. It’s Wednesday and the Carnival of Education is out. There’s lots of great things to read. My post “Melancholy, Journalism Day & A Few of My Favorite Things” was included, but you don’t have to go there to read it here.

But you know the drill. If you want to know what’s buzzing around the EduSphere, you really need to go there and see what everyone else is saying.

Next week’s carnival is being hosted here. You can use this handy dandy form or email me at mybellringers@gmail.com. Deadline is 7 p.m. CST on Tuesday. Don’t be late! You know how us journalism types feel about deadlines.

Woo-hoo Wednesday, Carnival of Education and Voting

It’s Wednesday and you know what that means! It’s time to Woo-hoo and time to head on over to the Carnival of Education hosted this week by Right Wing Nation. So zip on over there to see what’s going on in the EduSphere. You know the drill. My post “Holiday Endings, Soreheads & Billboards” was included, but you don’t have to go there to read it here.

Also, before I forget, if you get a chance, I wish you would head on over to two locations and cast a vote for my sister M.H. Bonham and her two books–one is an anthology, WolfSongs and the other is her novel, Lachlei. If you haven’t had a chance to read them, Jeez Louise what in the world are you waiting for? I can vouch for Lachlei. WolfSongs is in my ever-growing “to read” pile.

So vote for Lachlei by zipping on over here and vote for WolfSongs by beebopping over there. The instruction are easy. Hails Bails, even I could do it!

Carnival of Education, Stressful Jobs & Super Secret Chocolate

Well, there are three things you need to know about today…

#1…The Carnival of Education is up and running over at Leading from the Heart. Over there you’ll find everything and anything happening in the EduSphere. You know the drill… My post “Scanners, Mowing Lawns & Things You Just Shouldn’t Learn How To Do” was included, but you don’t have to go there to read it here, but you really need to go there so you’re in-the-know (and you want to be in-the-know, don’t ya?).

#2…Perhaps some of you have already seen this. Teachers, my friends, were listed as having one of the Top 8 most stressful jobs by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Really? Hmmmm. As if we needed verification or validation.

As if.

That definitely explains how half a bag of that Emergency Chocolate ended up in the Super-Secret Emergency Chocolate Drawer instead of over in the original Emergency Chocolate Drawer (ECD) over in the publications room, and it also explains how half that Super Secret Chocolate somehow ended up not-so-super-secret on my hips.

#3… It’s Woo-hoo Wednesday. Surely, you can find something to Woo-hoo about!

Mondays, Morons & Me

Week Number 4 down and I’m already to count me out.

Somehow I managed to ruin my weekend before it even started. I carted home photography projects to grade which, according to my higher level math skills, gives me 210 pieces to shuffle through, divine a grade for, mark the rubric and smack myself upside my head for being such a big, fat… (nope, you’re not going to get me to say that. No siree, Missy.)

Earlier I mentioned we had our first official “Tiara Tuesday.” Yep, the call came out from one of our computer teachers to proudly dust off our tiaras and wear them in honor of surviving the first three weeks of school, the first issuance of progress reports and a general overall good work/attitude of the kiddos. Of course, I proudly wore mine and even lent out two spares --one to my hall-monitoring, chicken-loving health teacher compadre and the other to my counselor friend (who I always refer to as “The Other Carol” because she also is blessed with the same name).

Now, here’s an interesting aside--my students didn’t even blink when they saw me wearing my tiara. For them, well, it was just business as usual in Richie’s classroom.

Of course, that whole Tiara Tuesday got me to thinking, and well, one thing naturally led to another thing. And we all know how I feel about things, and with all that thinking (which btw made my brain hurt), I thought we couldn’t very well just have one day of the week with a fancy, schmancy designation.

No siree. We obviously needed something for every single week day.

So after Tiara Tuesday last week, here’s what I came up with (with, of course, some help from my first period journalism class and a few teacher peeps)…

Woo-hoo Wednesday… Sometime during the day participants had to find one nice thing to say to (1) a teacher and (2) a student. All nice statements had to begin with a Woo-hoo. For example, “Woo-hoo, you have nice hair today!” or “Woo-hoo, that’s a great question!” See how easy this is?

Thankful Thursday… Thank a teacher and a student. It’s quick and easy and goes like this… “Hey, thanks Mr. Principal for that $10,000 bonus check!” (Y’all got yours didn’t you?) Or, “Thanks for behaving today, John.” Or, “Thanks for that very interesting comment, Doris.”

Fiesta Friday… Find one thing to celebrate and rejoice in (as if Fridays ever needed a reason for celebration…)

Now, I just know you want to know what Monday will bring. Although my lunch buddy in the Art Department strongly advised me against it, I just have to set aside Monday as…can I pah-leese have a drum-roll?…Moron Monday.

Moron Monday… Now before you start hatin’ on me, let me explain. We all do, say or think something stupid. (I know I do, and I bet you do, too). So, I thought, “Let’s just devote the first day of the week to getting that stupid thing out of our system. Just think how cathartic it would be to run around saying, “Why that’s about the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard!” Or, “Stupid is as stupid does!” Or, “How moronic!”

You see, once we get rid of the stupid, well, we should be good to go, don’t you think? Imagine all the learning that could occur once we got the stupid out.

Well, that’s my theory, any way.

So now I'm looking at the 210 project pieces to grade, the stack of Journalism I journals still not read, the first yearbook deadline submissions, the upcoming newspaper deadline and my unfinished purchase orders. On top of that, I’m stressed over the we-must-launch-our-website-ASAP-or-bad-things-will-happen-to-me, and, most importantly, I just remembered that I forgot to replenish the almost empty ECD (Emergency Chocolate Drawer).

I don’t even have to wait until Monday to say, “What a moron.”