When This Was?

One of my students is from Africa. English is his first language, but he speaks with an accent and is sometimes hard to understand. Periodically I post their grades on the wall and he was curious when I had last updated the wall.

After school during tutoring he pointed to the grades and, complete with his accent, asked, "When this was?"

Another girl in the room started laughing and unabashedly added: He just said "when this was."

I refrained from reacting until he responded, "What? Why is that funny?"

Relativity

I saw this at a friend's house and wondered how long it had been sitting there.

Thought of the Week

If there is no struggle, there is no progress. --Frederick Douglas

Flames

She was on her way to my house for the evening. I lit the three candles on my bedside table to help create a romantic and pleasant atmosphere. We had been dating a while now so things were relaxed and pleasant.

The two of us made are way to the bed and things were progressing nicely. Neither of us were paying particularly close attention to the arrangement of the bed’s pillows. All the sudden in the dimly lit room there was instantly a significant increase of light to my immediate left.

I don’t know why but I noticed the light before I noticed the heat. As I looked over my left shoulder I saw my pillow had quickly gone up in flames. I don’t know how big the flame actually was, but it looked huge. I immediately jumped up and grabbed the flaming pillow and ran into the bathroom. I threw it into the tub and turned on the water.

That was a mood killer.

She follows me into the bathroom laughing all the way. I admittedly was upset about losing my favorite pillow (the expensive one with the hole in the middle I bought from my chiropractor) and my matching pillow case. I wasn’t laughing.

In the end there was a slight mark on my bedside table, a slight stain on the bathtub, the loss of my pillow and pillow case, but the damage was minimal.

We opened up the house to let out the smoke and smell of the fire, and I don’t recall any more romantic activity continuing that evening.

The next day I considered cutting off the burned pillow and trying to salvage it, but I dropped it in the trash and bought another.

Pic of the Week

I found this flyer in the parking lot near my car.

Thought of the Week

It is not easy to find happiness in ourselves and it is not possible to find it elsewhere.
--Agnes Ripplier

New Teacher Stamp

Mid-year Student Feedback

So every year just before Christmas I give my students feedback forms and reflection forms. This gives me feedback on the class and also forces them to think about their own interactions. I will provide the prompts and some of their responses.


My favorite part of the class is:

I like how Mr. Burrill picks on people. Another one is when Aaron isn't here to upset Mr. Burrill and get him angry.

How has your behavior and participation in class been? What motivated you to act that way?

I think my behavior is good and I'm your favorite student, and what motivates me is knowing I'm your favorite student.

On a scale of 1 to 10 rate your effort in the class.

5 or 7.

(Definitely not a six; that would be ridiculous.)

Overall my feelings about the class are:

Pretty good class. Talking here and there... Needs a little more work, but yeah, good class.

(Thank you so much for the compliment)

I don't really like math, but in this class it sorta makes sense.

How has being part of the AVID class helped you with your English skills?

How to right better sentances.

The vocabulary helped me seem more pretentious when talking to Mr. Boone.

In general, what really helps me in the classroom is:

I like that everyone gets picked on to answer problems, so that way you have to know what's going and that makes you wanna learn more. Because if you don't you'll look like an idiot.

having a good teacher that cares, want to help, and is funny. Kids don't show it very well, but not all of them are ingrates.

I have the most difficulty in Mr. Burrill's class when:

We learn new things and he doesn't explain it very well, or he explains it and it becomes even more complicated.

Tell me 3 things about yourself that are either interesting, important to you, or something you would like me to know.

I love swimming even though I can't swim.

I have the fear of getting staticly shocked (hormephobia).

Well, I like it when Mr. Valentine teaches (not saying your a bad teacher or anything like that) but Mr. Valentine is a teacher with more energy.

I like guns. I did third grade 3 times, and in K-3 I was getting A's in math.

I love reading. I'm a good drawer. I'm a good shot with a gun.

I'm not sure what to tell you but I don't like a lot of hw because it's difficult for me. I also have AdHd so I get distracted easy and I'm bipolar so I can frustrated easy. Oh and I like purple and neon green.

I have four pets: 1 dog, 2 cats and a bearded dragon.

My biggest bet peeve is the word portfolio.

I am easily... oh a puppy!

And my two gun children are in the same class. Just to make sure you know not all of them are ingrates I will share two more.

Everyone is this class is awesome! And even the hard problems get easier after an hour of learning.

Thank you for teaching me the ways of life. I will be sure to use them if I move. I wont' let myself down or my foster mom.