How 'Bout We Ban Banning. Seriously!? Seriously!?

I just get so ticked off when people decide it's a good idea to start banning stuff in schools. I mean, really, where are we going? what's next? Check out this video:

Dedication and Will Power Win...Money!

Something teachers should always be aware of: students' home lives. I'm not saying we should pry into our students' personal lives, just like we wouldn't want them prying into ours, but to be in tune with what is happening around them will help us better understand where they are coming from.

Take Jessica Herrara for example. She basically proved that perseverance and dedication will always win...big scholarships that is! Check out Homeless High School Graduate To Attend College For Free for her inspiring and impressive story.

Dear Mr. Principal, Let 'em be!

I just checked my email and had a message from PostSecret wanting me to check out their Facebook page for upcoming tour dates. I found an interesting article about a high school principal that wants all this year's yearbooks entitled Truth Be Told to be returned. A new version minus all the PostSecret like confessions will be handed out at a later time. Fox News reported on the story with Response to H.S. Yearbook Confessions. Read the article or watch the video, both on the same page.Fox News talked to the copy editor, Kate Cummins, about the controversy. I applaud her courage and her ability to fight for what is right even amidst this controversy.

You've Got A Freakin' Dart In Your Book, Man.

GOOD.is presented an awesome, hands-on/mouse-on, interactive targeted books page. The Most Targeted Books lists 10 of the most pulled books from libraries for 2009. Always wanting to ruffle a few feathers, I'd most likely be the one who would intentionally introduce these books into a classroom or recommend them to others. I was also really drawn into this page because it features 2 of my favorite books ever: The Perks of Being a Wallflower and The Catcher in the Rye. To be honest, I have two copies of Perks sitting in my private high school office right now.

I was shocked that My Sister's Keeper was the worst listed book. I watched the movie a few months ago and didn't think it was anything too bad. While some themes are probably not ok for an elementary student, I believe that most high schoolers are mature enough for the content (assuming the book and movie follow some sort of the same plot and story line). I'm a firm believer in the "as long as the students are reading, who cares" philosophy.

None of these books, besides crappy Twilight, deserves to be on any banned book list!

(I wish I could take credit for this artwork, but I found it on Google Images.)

Fatty, Fatty 2x4, Couldn't Fit Through the Bathroom Door

While this research seems a little obvious, it's still important - especially for teachers, educators, and all the school yard/recess teachers. Thank you, Mrs. Bunch!

Yahoo! Health posted an article, Bullies Target Obese Kids, (duh!) showing that regardless of socioeconomic level, race, gender, or other usual suspects for name calling, being a lard ass is the #1 way to ensure an awful childhood. While I myself am a lard ass, you can see my obvious cynicism for this article by the diction and sarcasm that is ever present in this post. Any 2 second glance at a school's playground, a walk down the halls, or an eavesdropping ear will tell you the chunksters are most likely the targets...and maybe that's because it's easier to hit a bigger target.

My point is, learn some self-esteem. There is going to be one of two outcomes to bullying: 1) They win. or 2) You win. While I realize that not every overweight or obese kid will have as much confidence or cockiness or as big of an ego as me, I do realize these things are learned and fostered by others. I'm not saying we need to go watch Mr. Rogers, The Wiggles (who have the clap, btw), or Fragglerock to be told we're special in our own way. I'm saying, as educators, let's find what each kid is good at and let's help them become better human beings.

"As Stuart Smally says, 'I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and gosh darn it, people like me.' So now, I'm going to go be happy with myself...and my ham sammich."

Adam Sandler Sang It Best

Woke up in the morning.

Put on my new plastic glove.
Served some re-heated salsbury steak

With a little slice of love.

Got no clue what the chicken pot pie
Is made of.
Just know everything's doing fine

Down here in Lunch Lady Land.

I have always admired people who are willing to put themselves on the line in the name of political activism. A teacher, dubbed Mrs. Q, kept her own blog about eating school lunches every. single. day. to prove a point about the weak standards used in American school lunch programs. While I have yet to read her personal blog, I did come across a Yahoo! Shine article, Would You Volunteer to Eat School Lunch Every Day to Prove a Point? This Teacher Did.

Mrs. Q uses pictures and personal taste test stories to get her point across that American school lunches are not healthy or good tasting. The Shine article attests that the lunches served in schools all across the nation are teaching students poor nutrition and eating habits. I can attest to the fact that in my high school, if it was gyro (always pronounced ji-row not the proper "hero" way) day or riblets day, I would A) raid the vending machine for chips, combos, taffy, and Mountain Dew; B) drive home and make 2 grilled cheeses; C) drive to Cenex to grab a personal pan pepperoni pizza, a sub, or breadsticks and Mountain Dew.

More recently, I read an article in Fargo's High Plains Reader, an independent newsmagazine type of paper written entirely by its staff (never AP wires) and distributed in the Fargo-Moorhead area. I was sitting in the Broadway Erbert and Gerberts enjoying my turkey sub on wheat and chicken dumpling soup reading Of School Lunches and Socialism by Ed Raymond. This article compares American lunch programs to French ones. What a difference! (And no, the French kids don't enjoy a complimentary cigarette after each meal, either *ha!) It's a great read that I definitely recommend.


Going off of that article, I came across another HPR article, The Problem with Public School Lunch. This one deals with how vegan and vegetarian students aren't given choices in today's hot lunch lines. The author throws out a lot of information, stats about diseases, the USDA, and how food, mostly processed, gets on our fading yellow lunch trays.

Now, I just want a "slop, sloppy joe, slop, sloppy joe" on my fading yellow lunch tray!

The Sign is Arbitrary

As Dr. Bruce Maylath drills into his English 209 - Linguistics - class at North Dakota State University, "The sign is arbitrary." He didn't coin this expression, but some famous linguist did. When I found Slate's article The Big Red Word vs. The Little Green Man, I knew I had to share it. While it has very, very little to do with the English language or linguistics, it does have a lot to do with us (Americans) vs. them (non-Americans). While my superiority complex, gained by being a United States citizen for all of my 24.5 years, says to keep the red EXIT sign, I can see how people who don't know English would fail to "EXIT" a burning building.

The author claims that the red color of our exit sign signals danger (red = danger or stop) but the green running man tells people to go or signals safety. I say do as sheep do and just follow the other running, screaming, highly obnoxious people ahead of you.

Which do you prefer?

OR

Becoming the next Eminem is easier than ever...

I just discovered StumbleUpon after multiple people were singing its praises. I finally gave in to the highly addicting, very popular site despite my known hatrid for all things viral. Well, I'm a believer. Here's a little ditty I found that would be quite useful in a classroom's poetry unit. Its called writerhymes.com. It does exactly as the name implies: writes rhymes. Basically, type in a line, then option click on the word you want it to generate rhymes for. Easy Peesy, Lemon Squeezy (see, I've just done it!). I've actually incorporated it into a poetry unit lesson plan I had to co-create for a class this semester. Enjoy.