100th POST! (Cue the balloons!)

I tried to post yesterday, but was thrwarted by a unstable Internet connection (when you're "borrowing" unsercured wireless, you can't be too picky). I was annoyed, but now think it was fate b/c I have the BEST story to share with y'all in honor of my one hundredth post!

No vaginas please, we're Floridians. You think I'm kidding, but I am SO not! I was out this afternoon and my friend mentioned that he'd heard of a town trying to rename The Vagina Monologues so as not to offend the delicate sensibilities of their residents. Then I signed onto one of the many networking sites I belong to and someone had blogged about this very thing! Check it out and see if you are as disgusted and amazed as I am. I especially love the very last line. No wonder the rest of the world views Americans and incredibly prudish.

In other news, I am pretty overwhelmed at work. In fact, as I type this I have two Economics books and a variety of papers spread over the kitchen table. Ostensibly, I am working on my curriculum map. A curriculum map outlines the sequence of your course, in this case, spring semester. I have the units down, as well as their general length and the standards that they cover, but I need to hash out assessments for each, as well as the essential questions each will answer. I've never been happy with my Econ course and I'm hoping I can make it better this year, using some of the material I learned in that grad school course I took last spring. We'll see. In addition to that, I'm also in the midst of preparing a 3 week research project for all seventh grade students that is slated to begin after Presidents' Day. And I'm still working as a behavior management coach and teaching AP and leading a small advisory group of seventh grade boys. It's a good thing I like what I do, right? :)

Some gems from my students as of late:

1. One of my students got in-school suspension for forgery. I caught him b/c I am SO clever. When he showed me his daily point card at the end of the day, I said, "D, the card I signed first period was purple. This is yellow. And that is not my signature." To which he replied, "......?" The future of tomorrow, I tell ya.
2. In AP class the other day I asked the students to respond to this prompt: "Does the prevalence of a particular demographic group endanger the quality of representation provided by Congress?" The students wrote furiously and when one student finished, with a look of triumph on his face, he turned to me and asked, "Ms. Miller, can you explain the question to me? I'm not sure I understand it." Uhm...okay. Isn't that a question better asked BEFORE you write your answer?
3. In the middle of a conversation about the presidential candidate nominating process, A raised his hand and asked, "Ms. Miller, what would you do if someone shaved your head?" Seriously? Glad to see you're paying so much attention. (For the record, I said I'd be sad and I'd probably look kind of funny.)

Back in January, I did a polar plunge with my high school friend Kara, her husband Chris and a few of their Coast Guard friends. It was to raise money for Special Olympics Maryland and we had a great time. I recently added a number of photos from the day to my Facebook account. Regardless of whether or not you have your own account, you can view the pictures in this album. The pictures are at the end of the album - enjoy!