Something Shiny!

I’d like to apologize to anyone facing a water or orange juice or lemonade shortage these days. It seems that I can’t get enough liquids to quench my deep and gorgeous thirst (The Philadelphia Story, anyone?). I drink and drink and drink and still wind up barking at the animals to get out of my way so that I can refill my water glass again. I have to confess, this was a side effect of pregnancy that I had NO idea existed! And yet, here we are. Can someone get me a glass of water?

I’ve said before that teaching can be the most rewarding but also the most frustrating undertaking. There are some students who are so eager, so diligent, so interested and engaged, that they are a joy to have in the classroom. But there are others who need to be brought along much, much more. They are the reason that teachers wind up teaching to the lowest common denominator. These are the students who, after you’ve announced something several times in class, will come up to you afterwards and ask for the same information again because they weren’t listening the first several times. They are the students who lose and/or completely ignore assignment handouts. Who perform poorly on tests for the simple reason that they didn’t read the instructions. Understand that I’m not talking about learning disabled students; that’s a different matter. The lowest common denominator is comprised of students who are otherwise perfectly capable but who just don’t try. These are the students, in short, who make me crazy, who make teaching frustrating, and who (particularly at this point in the semester) make me really look forward to finals week!

For me, the point of Christmas is not overloading people with things they don’t need or even want. So many of us already have everything we need and (I’m sure) we’ve all got people on our shopping lists who are impossible to buy for. (Don’t end a sentence with a preposition, I know, I know. But “for whom finding a gift is impossible” sounded weird, as if the difficult people themselves have a hard time finding a gift… nevermind.) In those cases, why not donate money in their names to a worthy cause? Without sounding like Sally Struthers, there are plenty of great charities out there who need our help, particularly in tough economic times. You can find a terrific cause to support through places like Charity Navigator, which rates charities on a 4-star scale. It’s a simple way to make a big difference!