My Own Thoughts

from WeightWatchers

Ingredients
4 spray(s) cooking spray, or enough to coat chicken
1 pound(s) uncooked boneless skinless chicken breast(s), four 4 oz pieces
3 oz cooked lean ham, four 3/4 oz slices
3 oz low-fat Swiss cheese, four 3/4 oz slices
1/4 cup(s) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup(s) honey mustard
1/2 cup(s) seasoned bread crumbs, Italian-style

Instructions
Preheat oven to 400°F. Coat a baking sheet with olive oil cooking spray.

Place chicken breasts between two pieces of plastic wrap and pound to 1/4-inch thickness; remove plastic wrap. Arrange 1 slice of ham and 1 slice of cheese on each chicken breast.

Starting from shorter end of chicken, roll up breast into a tight pinwheel. Tuck in ends. Secure with toothpicks.

Place flour, honey mustard and bread crumbs in 3 separate shallow bowls. Add chicken to flour; turn to coat. Transfer chicken to honey mustard; turn to coat. Place chicken in bread crumbs; turn to coat.

Transfer chicken to prepared baking sheet and coat with cooking spray. Bake until chicken is golden brown and cooked through, about 40 minutes. Remove toothpicks and serve.

Wonder if I can make it without the green peppers?

Holiday Pineapple Cheese Ball
Serves 4-5
16 oz cream cheese
2 tbsp chopped green onion
2 tbsp chopped green pepper
¼ c drained, crushed pineapple
2 tsp seasoned salt
2 c chopped pecans
Soften cream cheese. Add onion, pepper, pineapple, seasoned salt, and one cup pecans. Mix well. Shape into ball(s) and roll in remaining pecans. Chill several hours. Serve with crackers.

from HeavyTable.com

Trees are sanctuaries. Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth. They do not preach learning and precepts, they preach, undeterred by particulars, the ancient law of life.
–Hermann Hesse

I used to read his stuff all the time. I wonder if that is where I got this feeling.

I have not been living with a grateful heart, despite the bounties I have been overwhelmingly blessed with.

100 Things I am thankful for:
my husband
cell phones
the house in A
the kitchen of the house in A
the chaise lounge
my oldest son
the fact that he likes the leather coat
my youngest son
the high price he was able to sell his stocks at
the four books I was given today (10)
the 29-Gift book I read this evening
the fact that my hotel room is quiet
having walked around downtown Seattle
the light rain
a good dinner
plugs and tables for blogging at MLA
fitting in my clothes
pcard to pay
having worked out a syllabus
having M as my friend, even if we don’t teach the same class (20)
hearing about picture books and comics
having the key to the hotel room work
feeling pretty when I looked in the mirror
the compliment on my hair from the presiding chair
my brother’s willingness to call me regularly
the pictures of my nieces and nephew
my new D-90
the camera lens
R’s birthday party–the fact that we can have one
time at home in H (30)
paid for home
my dog
a workshop in A
the garage in H
years of comfortable living in the house in H
DB, a new and fun friend, in H
lunch plans with EA on Tuesday
having eaten at Chuy’s with SJ
my sister coming to lunch with the boys, Dad, and me
lunch plans with my dad on Monday (40)
R having a part-time job in A
shuttle service to the airport
getting to be home tomorrow with my sons
water to drink
God’s graciousness in helping me give up nightshades
my health (which, amazingly, has gotten better over the last three years)
memories of my mother
grandparents who loved me x4
great-grandparents x3
Granny Smith Apples
cinnamon apples
sweet potato fries
Cheddar cheese
students who do good work (60)
a reason to read my book on werewolves
a reason to talk to my sons about superheroes
my New Year’s Eve experience
soft pillows
warm covers
solid rooves (roofs)
electricity
gas heat
a laptop
having completed the retrospectives
50% off the McFarland books
time to myself, alone
peace
colleagues whom I love
being able to get up and down the stairs without difficulties
the sight of the trees in red and white Christmas lights on 4th St.
medicine that stops vertigo before (and after) it starts
the fact that my dad still has all his own teeth
songs (80)
memories of singing in the car
joy in singing
the bang-up job my sophomores did on the extra credit
the good job my sophomores did on the music compilation
the amazing job my freshmen did on the commercials
the amazing job my freshmen did using Xtranormal
having blue eyes
being able to dye my hair red
laughter (90)
good memories of my boys
A and J coming from CA for R’s birthday
M and D coming for R’s birthday
bras and underwear that fit
being too small for some of my clothes–some of my clothes being too big for me
autumn
autumn leaves
sunsets
“I can see the lights of the city, 14 miles from home.”
my engagement ring (100)
comfortable boots
cute boots that I get compliments on
new socks (When I got to here, I thought I should count and see how many I had to go. But I don’t have any to go.)
hotel reservations in March
better plane trip here
R’s school is almost over
newbie has lots of listeners
God loves me.

I have SO MUCH to be thankful for. Thank you, God, for all the gifts you’ve given me recently, even –or especially– for those I haven’t noticed.

I am wonderfully blessed.

I was going to write “Stressed” as the title, but I’m not generally stressed. I’m just stressed right now.

M sold his stock and made $$$. He’ll have enough to pay for 2.5 years of grad school, if they don’t keep upping the price too much.

Our house was looked at twice this week, but we haven’t heard from them, so I am guessing that was a no. I’m still praying that it will sell at the right time for the right price.

I’m having a hard time being rational about money right now. I need prayers for that.

I haven’t done my syllabi. I guess I’m just going to go with Nancy’s for linguistics, since I’ve got no clue what else I would do right now and I don’t have the emotional energy to figure it out. (Or maybe I won’t. Guess I should look at it.)

Haven’t done any of my syllabi.

Have my paper for Saturday written. It’s not great and amazing, but I do think it has some good points.

My blog for my honor society isn’t visible. I haven’t sent the emails out yet. I need to do that, but I would like the blog to be visible, too.

I’ve taken more than a week off and now I am feeling panicked. Guess instead of being panicked, I should just work on the stuff I need to get done.

Jan. 4: Quadrantid meteor shower peaks

This meteor shower reaches its peak in the predawn hours of Jan. 4 for eastern North America. The Quadrantid meteor shower is a very short-lived meteor display, whose peak rates only last several hours. The phase of the moon is a bright waxing gibbous, normally prohibitive for viewing any meteor shower, but the moon will set by 3 a.m., leaving the sky dark for a few hours until the first light of dawn; that’s when you’ll have the best shot at seeing many of these bluish-hued meteors.

From the eastern half of North America, a single observer might count on seeing as many as 50-to-100 “Quads” in a single hour. From the western half of the continent the display will be on the wane by the time the moon sets, with hourly rates probably diminishing to around 25 to 50 meteors.

from Scientific American

Apparently there is someone out there blogging as Seth (perhaps Seth?) who is saying things I should have thought of or am thinking of or am glad to be pointed in the direction of thinking. Here are just a few of the more recent nuggets of wisdom.

A friend asked me the other day, “…given the sorry state of so much in the world, what’s possible to look forward to?”

The state isn’t sorry. It’s wide open.

from “The Chance of a Lifetime” at Seth’s Blog

As soon as you accept that just about everything in our created world is only a few generations old, it makes it a lot easier to deal with the fact that the assumptions we make about the future are generally wrong, and that the stress we have over change is completely wasted.

from “It’s Always Been This Way” at Seth’s Blog

Is the weather the only thing you can think to ask about? A great question is one you can ask yourself, one that disturbs your status quo and scares you a little bit.

The A part is easy. We’re good at answers. Q, not so much.

from “Q&A” at Seth’s Blog

How little can I get away with?

vs.

How much can I do?

Surprisingly, they both take a lot of work. The closer you get to either edge, the more it takes. That’s why most people settle for the simplest path, which is do just enough to remain unnoticed.

No one can maximize on every engagement, every project, every customer and every opportunity. The art of it, I think, is to be rigorous about where you’re prepared to overdeliver, and not get hooked on doing it for all…

from “The More or Less Choice” at Seth’s Blog

A wrapped present is transformed when it is opened. Anticipation turns into information, and frequently, one is worth far more than the other.

Too often, we overlook the value of imagination and dreams and the _____. We figure, as marketers or managers or leaders or engineers that all we have to do is meet the spec, fill in the blank and we can prove we did a good job.

Often, though, the story a person tells herself is worth more that the object itself.

from “Gift Wrapped” at Seth’s Blog

[T]he purpose of an elevator pitch is to describe a situation or solution so compelling that the person you’re with wants to hear more even after the elevator ride is over.

from “No one ever bought anything in an elevator” at Seth’s Blog

Reason Number 10,541 to homeschool:

NYPost:

Would it bother you to know that the federal Centers for Disease Control had been shown your daughter’s health records to see how she responded to an STD/teen-pregnancy-prevention program? How about if the federal Department of Education and Department of Labor scrutinized your son’s academic performance to see if he should be “encouraged” to leave high school early to learn a trade? Would you think the government was intruding on your territory as a parent?
Under regulations the Obama Department of Education released this month, these scenarios could become reality. The department has taken a giant step toward creating a de facto national student database that will track students by their personal information from preschool through career. Although current federal law prohibits this, the department decided to ignore Congress and, in effect, rewrite the law. Student privacy and parental authority will suffer.

How did it happen? Buried within the enormous 2009 stimulus bill were provisions encouraging states to develop data systems for collecting copious information on public-school kids. To qualify for stimulus money, states had to agree to build such systems according to federally dictated standards. So all 50 states either now maintain or are capable of maintaining extensive databases on public-school students.

It bothers me. And my kids are grown now.

Think about it.

I woke up wondering why I was smelling smoke. And wondering. I finally decided there was a reason and it wasn’t because someone was smoking outside my house. (Which is sometimes the reason.) So I got up and opened the bedroom door and the living room was filled with smoke.

I don’t know why the smoke decided to come into the house instead of up the chimney. Did R close the flue? But the living room was filled with smoke. I woke R up, throwing him a robe as I did so.

He didn’t move quickly nor was he terribly coherent.

I went to the front door to open it and he asked me what I was doing. I said I was opening it to let the smoke out.

Smoke damage ruined more of my mother’s things in the Jersey house (where they lived before it caught fire) than the fire itself. I also pulled a fan out to push it out the front door.

The living room is now fairly clear, but the kitchen still has smoke.

A bit more excitement that I was looking for this evening.

from astronomers

This from Boris Štromar:

Boris Štromar photo of the path of stars shown on the clouds

My husband and I stayed up till midnight, not because we needed to go shopping, but because, as empty nesters, we wanted an adventure. When we arrived at the mall at 12:15 and saw the lines of cars backed up trying to turn in, we decided to take a spin around the neighborhood and head home.

This morning bright and early we made a genius appointment at the Apple Store and headed to a different mall. At 8:30 a.m. the mall was only as full as normal. We finished our business, got help (or didn’t), and wandered the mall for a bit, eating parts of a stale pretzel and looking at gadgets.

By 9:30 the mall was crowded and we headed home, a nice roundabout drive that gave us time to talk.

Lunch was leftovers (cheese dip, not turkey) and then we went to work. DH studied for his exams this week and I began frantically working on the chapter I thought was due at the end of next month, but which is due next week.

We broke for a two-mile hike through the green belts in weather that was about 72 degrees. Then DH went back to study and I cooked supper for the four of us–both boys are home from college.

Everyone cleaned their plates, and the dog licked the bowls, so I stuffed the dishes in the dishwasher and went to check my mail. I got an email that might mean (maybe) that my poem was published. But I’m not sure it meant that and I haven’t really been able to find out.

I guess I will spend a few bucks to order the book and be sadly disappointed if I managed to miss another publication.

Now it is back to my chapter writing and revision.

xylophones and xrays
experts and expats

you
yellow
yawns
yards
youth
young
yodels
yarns

zingers (the orange/yellow ones)
zoos, especially ones with trains you can ride around in
zeros, easy to grade

V:
violets
violins, especially when they are fiddles
violas
volunteers
Vues (Saturn Vues)
views, out the window, of the world, of the sky and moon and trees…
variables, so that not everything is the same
variety (see above)

W:
windows
willows
weeping willows
weeping cherries
Wonderland
Williams family
warriors
women
wilderness
welcomes
winter
whispers
whistling
whirling
washtubs
wonder
wandering
whittling
worship
worshipping
will
work
whales
wheels
whole wide world
wishes
wishful thinking

T:
thanks
toes
today
tomorrow
toilets
trucks
toys
tea
teal
turquoise
Tandy
Thomas
totes
turtles
truth

U:
umbrellas
undies, especially lacy, frilly, feminine ones
uncles, for me and my boys
unicycles and memories associated with them
universities, esp. mine and those my sons attend
umber
USA
USAirForce
USArmy
USNavy
USMarines
USCoastGuard
unicorns, and books about them
Ur, and the fact that Abram left it
undecided majors
unique gifts

I can honestly say that I don’t love grading papers, but I don’t think most people do. However, when I was reviewing the papers to see what students might think of their improvement over the class period, I don’t think they will see it. Many people did the best on the first essay (which I let them write over) and did not do as well on the in-class essay (which I would expect). But then they didn’t do as well over the next major paper either, because I did not allow rewrites.

That means that, if they are simply examining the trend, students are going to see:
highest grade, lower grade, even lower grade. I don’t think they are going to think that they learned much from that.

How can I talk to them about the fact that:
1. first paper was re-written for an average of the two grades, so is not indicative of first attempt?
2. second paper was in-class? This is a forced writing assignment with a single chance.
3. third paper was not re-written?
and make them see what they can/have learned from those situations?

I am not sure.

And I’m depressed about both that I don’t know and that the students will not see that their work may have improved over time. The assignments have gotten harder each time, as well. The essay I just handed back or am still grading (depending on which class you were in) is the hardest one we will do all semester. So I expect the papers they are working on now will have much higher grades. However, they won’t get these back until the final, which means they will not be able to use them in their discussion.

I guess the other option is to have them able to re-write the last paper and to choose to write the final over the revisions and what they learned from those.

That might work. But I haven’t finished grading them and they would barely have time to revise.

The final option (it’s a pun, I guess) is to have them read a big pack of paper and make guesses on possible topics from the packet and then answer the question from that for the final. I don’t really have time for that because of the schedule I have assigned. I didn’t know that most folks spend the last two weeks doing the readings and discussing possible final exam questions.

Could I tweak the final exam question? Could I give them a reading or a lecture or something on best ways to study (from StudyHacks or research) and have them apply what they have learned across their classes to the final?

How would I write that?

Reiterative practice (with or without feedback) is the most successful study tool in a student’s repertoire to help a student learn and master material, according to research. How have the classes you took this semester encouraged or discouraged the use of reiterative practice and in what ways might you, as the final arbiter of how you study, realistically improve your study habits?

This would give them multiple paragraphs. Simple version:
1. intro- reiterative practice definition and thesis
2. discouraged classes
3. encouraged classes
4. realistically improve next semester
5. conclusion

More elaborate version:
1. intro
2. class 1 – encouraged
3. class 2 – encouraged
4. class 3 – discouraged
5. class 4 – discouraged
6. class 5 – discouraged
6. realistic implementation 1
7. realistic implementation 2
8. realistic implementation 3
7. conclusion

Variation of more elaborate version:
1. intro
2. class 1 – encouraged
3. class 1 – discouraged
4. class 2 – encouraged
5. class 2 – discouraged
6. class 3 – encouraged
7. class 3 – discouraged
8. realistic implementation 1
9. realistic implementation 2
10. conclusion

Students could bring in a print out of their grades for different classes, assuming they are all on Blackboard.
They could write on those print outs notes about the assignments.
Simply having the grades would let them see which courses gave the most feedback. (And there mine would probably surpass them all.)

What would I gain from this revision?
1. The students would see where they might have learned more in my class than they thought.
2. The students would be critically analyzing both their classes and their study habits for those. (Maybe. But otherwise it would be teacher evaluation. Need to work on that.)
3. Students could have a take-away of a means of improving their grades in other classes.

What would I lose from this revision?
1. I would not be following the final everyone else gave. Thus, I am out of line and fit is jeopardized.
2. I might be seen as encouraging criticism of their other teachers. See fit again.

Okay, so how could I revise this and still have my students look at this class positively?

Revised topic: Reiterative practice (with or without feedback) is the most successful study tool in a student’s repertoire to help a student learn and master material, according to research. How has this class encouraged or discouraged reiterative practice and in what ways might you, as the final arbiter of how you study, realistically improve your study habits for English 112 next semester and/or all of your classes?

Simple version:
1. intro – reiterative, thesis
2. this class encouraged
3. this class discouraged
4. do X next semester
5. conclusion

More elaborate:
1. intro
2. this class encouraged: daily work
3. this class discouraged: daily work
4. this class encouraged: essay assignments
5. this class discouraged: essay assignments
6. do X next semester
7. Not do Y next semester
8. conclusion

Variation:
1. intro
2. daily work- encouraged
3. daily work- discouraged
4. discussion grades- encouraged
5. discussion grades- discouraged
6. essay assignments- encouraged
7. essay assignments- discouraged
8. do X in English
9. do X in other
10. not do Y in English
11. not do Y in other
12. conclusion

That still might lead them to teacher evaluation, but less than the other, I think.

So, daily work encouraged: lots of it, related to writing
daily work discouraged: lots of it, hard to see relationship sometimes
discussion grades: encouraged, related to the conceptual elements throughout
discussion grades: discouraged, ?
essay assignments: encouraged, prewriting, rewriting, peer review
essay assignments: discouraged, in-class essay, rewriting not feasible for all assignments

Maybe I could revise it this way, which I think is closer to what the Director of Comp was thinking:
Reiterative practice (with or without feedback) is the most successful study tool in a student’s repertoire to help a student learn and master material, according to research. How has this class encouraged or discouraged reiterative practice related to the Conceptual Age elements? Where do you think you most appropriately used the Conceptual Age elements and where might you have added them in, with the benefit of hindsight?

For major papers: We used the Conceptual Age elements in the visual rhetoric paper (design, play, narrative), the def/illustration paper (narrative, empathy, symphony), the digital presentation (design, play, narrative, symphony, innovation), the evaluation paper (design, symphony, narrative, meaning), and the proposing a solution paper (design, play, innovation, meaning, symphony, empathy, narrative).

For discussion: Six-word autobiography posts required design, play, narrative, and meaning. Comments could have elicited empathy. Lecture attendance/notes/essay required analysis of conceptual elements.

Okay, I feel a little bit better.

But it does mean I want the students to revise the essay that I haven’t turned back yet. When can I assign that? Not Nov. 29, since they have the present essay. I guess Dec. 5 as a due date. Final essay due then AND the revision. Not good for my grading stack, but I could turn the revision back on Dec. 7 and they could use it for the final.

Then I have the problem of… I have too many As in my classes. 31 out of 47 students are making As. They have done TONS of work.

Maybe I should have them critique their final grade to date. If they have an A, how have they earned that? Or whatever grade? Attendance, homework, daily grades, major essays, revisions when offered… All of those are ways they could argue they did or did not earn the grade they have.

Got to think about that. But first I need to grade the next essay for those students who need them back… Well, I guess since they aren’t going to be due till Dec. 5 I don’t have to, but really I don’t need them hanging over my head. If I can finish one class today and one tomorrow, that would be good.

I am thankful for Ron, my amazing husband.

Also, other Rs:
roses
rain
romance
romance novels
running
restaurants
return policies
Romanian children
roofs (or rooves, as I prefer, despite the incorrectness)
roll-ups, from when my kids were little

S:
me, Suzi
suitcases
sandwiches
Serenity
sunshine
swords
solos
Saturn
the Son
soda pop
silence
sleep
students
stories
stamina
steel
stones
stores
stoves
studs (Got Ron in the list twice.)
shopping
sofas
salads
snicker doodles
Sundays
Saturdays
somedays
soon
sisters

Remo Savisaar is an amazing photographer. His landscapes are amazing and his birds are even more stunning.

An example of landscapes:

P:
people
popcorn
porcupines, since they are so amazing
partners
palaces
pink, especially hot and neon
purple, any shade, though royal purple is my favorite of the purples
posies
poems
poetry
poets
passion
participation
principles
portability
promises, especially those which are kept
pumpkins and pumpkin cheesecake made by Bolivia
paint
paintings
painters
pals
pen pals
pets
permission
pens
pencils
prequels

Q:
questions
quotations
quotes
queries
quacking noises
quarters
giving quarter
fourth quarter (esp on games I don’t want to watch)
quarts
quintuplets (and their mothers!)
quill pens
Quixote
quaggas (though I wish they were not extinct)

N:
noodles
noggins
noise
names
Northern Lights
Nellie Bly
notions, particularly the actual word
Nancy

O:
onions
Oreos
Orion
oranges
outside
oolong
only children
okra, but only because my daddy loves it
oceans, because they are beautiful
orgasms
olives, because the B-berry family adore them

L
love
laughter
learning
loneliness, because it teaches how much joy there is in others

M
my sons, especially my son M
marriage, especially to my beloved husband
mothers, especially mine who is now dancing in Heaven
miracles
mercy
make-believe, because we can create
marveling, because we should never lose our ability to be amazed at God’s goodness and creativity
music
movies, because my husband loves them
March, because I was born then. So was my favorite (and only) nephew.