State of the Union

"The President shall from time to time give to Congress information of the State of the Union and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient." Article II, Sec. 3, U.S. Constitution

Having grown up outside Washington, D.C., I always loved things like the State of the Union address and inaugurations and other state events. My best friend's father wrote for a major newspaper; he was actually named to Nixon's enemies list.

I love to watch the President enter the House of Representatives and see which member of the Cabinet isn't in attendance and watch the Supreme Court justices not clap during the address. I am just the biggest geek in the world.

Since it is time for the president to make the state of the union, I figure it is time for me to do the same:

My class has changed in composition about six times so far this year. I lost one male student and gained one female student today. (It's just my year in the barrel.)

We are taking Performance Series Tests this week; so far, I am not surprised by what I have seen in the Language Arts section: no one knows grammar. I am surprised, however, by what I have seen in the math test. I was surprised by many high scores by some of my students. Thrilled, to say the least.

Many of my girls ( and I hate to say it) cannot keep their mouths shut to save their lives. They would talk through the Second Coming. And to be fair, some of the boys have the same problem. They seem to view me as some kind of movie/video they can talk through. I have, on several occasions, reminded them that I am a living, breathing human being they are being rude to.

I have figured out how to include a video clip from United Streaming onto a PowerPoint presentation. (That is miraculous!!! If I can pull it off using the laptop and the LCD projector, it will be the coup of the century. ) These kids have no idea what World War I even looked like and now I can show them. I am still amazed I was able to pull it off. We'll see.

We are still trying to write; trying and trying and trying. Hope the state gives us points for trying.

BrownBear's SSAT scores came back and they were great. Now, all we have to do is finish (FINISH) that essay!!

Applause, anyone?