Lindsay marks first assignments, is disappointed.

I am marking my first set of Grade 9 assignments today and I am not impressed.  

(it turned out that this was fewer than 108 duotangs.  Read on)

The task was to choose three questions from a list of "get to know you" questions.  All work was to be placed in their Writing Portfolio and submitted no later than Friday.  I talked at length about being courteous to teachers (read:  me) and allowing them to get their work done (read:  my marking) in a timely manner.  

They had class time to make sure they answered these three questions.  They were free to complete the work at home if the time given was not sufficient.  I figure they probably had 25-30 minutes once I was done yapping.   We're talking about questions like "What is your favourite movie and why?".  Not "Solve this differential equation using a theory you developed and explain your thinking process".  

I had one student come to me yesterday and explain that he'd forgotten his portfolio at home.  To me, that's taking some ownership and showing respect to one's teacher.  I appreciated him for doing this.  I reminded my classes that I was marking their assignments on the weekend and that they were responsible for getting their portfolios in to me.  No one else came forward.  

Thus, when I marked my first class set of assignments this morning, I was a bit dismayed at the fact that six of the thirty duotangs were not in the pile.  By the end of the marking experience, I had also recorded four zeros:  students who had put their assignment sheet in their portfolio but had not answered any of the questions.  Two students also did such poor work that I couldn't justify giving their work a passing grade.  

I am pretty discouraged right now.  To me, this assignment was a gimme.  It contained some different choices for students to pick from.  There was adequate class time given to complete the work.   They were reminded ad nauseum that this first assignment was due and that it counted for marks.  So why did I only get 18 acceptable assignments?

If you're in Alberta, you have probably heard about Lynden Dorval.  I'm not condoning his insubordination and defiance.  However, I would personally enjoy my marking responsibilities a lot more if I could just sit down and get the job done instead of knowing that I now have to speak with twelve students from just one of my four Grade 9 classes about missing and unacceptable assignments.   Instead, next week assignments will trickle in and I'll spend time filling in the highlighted blanks in my gradebook.  It might not sound like that big a deal, but it takes time.  Don't forget that the next batch of assignments will come in and I'd like to mark those in a timely manner.   It's irritating to know that additional work is being created needlessly.  

And what do I do with what they hand in?  Do I  mark for outcomes only and give them the same opportunity to get a mark that reflects the work they did?  Is that fair to the students who got their work in on time?  Do I take off an arbitrary percentage for each day it's late?  What's enough?  What I'm leaning towards is adding a code in my electronic gradebook that says, "This assignment was handed in late".  When I e-mail reports home, parents will see the code and be aware of their child's habits.  If I track it and see a trend, I could include information about this in my anecdotal comments on the full report card (not til January this year).  

Coucous salad

This is too yummy not to share.  It's good at room temperature or cold and keeps well in the fridge.   I made this earlier in the summer and then again yesterday.

Veggies
1 English cucumber, chopped
1 1/2 cups of bell pepper, diced
1/3 cup red onion, minced
1/2 cup of parsley, tough stems removed (I didn't chop it)

2 cups of dry couscous - prepare according to package directions.

1 cup of almond slivers, toasted in pan
1/2 cup of dried cranberries

Let the couscous cool before you mix everything together.  Make a dressing of salt, pepper, 1/4 cup lemon juice and 1/2 cup olive oil.  Don't be afraid to use as much salt as they do on Food Network - it really needs it.

I topped mine with parsley and extra toasted almonds.

Tada!

Chicken Parmigiana

On Monday night, I was watching Hell's Kitchen and the challenge involved making Chicken Parmigiana.  It looked good.  Really good.

I have made Mario Batali's chicken parm from scratch.  It involved making a tomato sauce that included carrots and three kinds of fresh herbs, butterflying and tenderizing chicken breasts and a host of expensive ingredients.

I wanted chicken parmigiana.  I did not want a Mario Batali or Gordon Ramsey experience.  Here's what happened next.

Ingredients

Flattened chicken breasts, spaghetti, panko, flour, an egg, parmesan cheese (shredded), provolone cheese (sliced, leftover from Philly cheesesteak experiment) and Trader Joe's marinara sauce.

First step:  wine selection.

I took a risk on an Italian wine instead of Cabernet Sauvignon from the USA or Australia.  I will not be buying the 2010 Mandrarossa Nero d'Avola again.  I should just stick to what I like.

Second step... make a breading station:

From left to right:  flour+salt+pepper, beaten egg, panko.

Once the flattened chicken breasts were floured, egged and breaded, they looked like this:

I then choose canola oil to fry in and heated it in a non-stick skillet.  I had olive oil, but it seems to set off the smoke alarm.  I fried two of the pieces of chicken at a time.  Look at the delicious crunchiness!  I love Panko.

While that happened, I lined a baking sheet with foil and decided to use a wire cooling wrack on top of the baking sheet so that everything would stay nice and crispy.  Once the chicken was browned, it was time to add cheese.  

(one slice of folded provolone, one sprinkle of shredded parmesan) 

I refused to pay $2.50 USD for a tiny bag of croutons today.  Keep in mind, most bottles of wine, by comparison, cost about $6.99.  That's for the good stuff.  This purchase refusal resulted in me making les croutons (aka, I chopped white bread and baked it with olive oil and salt) for the caesar salad while I baked the chicken, boiled the pasta and heated the cheater marinara sauce.  TADA.  This means that out of the whole meal, the chicken portions and the croutons in the salad were homemade.  I rule.  

Final presentation:

(ooh, what an artistically fallen tomato chunk)

Our table tonight:

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

If I taught in a high school, I would probably teach the novel Speak.  I had the pleasure of reading it this year after a few friends recommended it.  Speak chronicles Melinda's first year in high school.  She was the infamous girl who called the cops at a summer party.  The reason she called the cops?  She'd been raped.  Anyway, I enjoyed the novel.  It's well written and poetic.  [It's also a movie starring Kristen Stewart... no vampires, though.  Who knew?  Also, did you know that Kristen Stewart was the diabetic kid in Panic Room? Weird.  Thank you, IMDB . Maybe one day I will divide my internet "research" time equally between you and YouTube. ]

Anyway, Laurie Halse Anderson wrote Speak and she also wrote Wintergirls, which I read today.  Yes, I read a whole book today.  It happens.  There were some really creative elements to it.  Its protagonist is Lia, a young girl who has been institutionalized previously for anorexia.  Lia's ex-best friend dies prior to the start of the novel from complications due to bulimia, and proceeds to haunt Lia throughout the story.  Some of the creative things I noticed were the way the chapters were numbered (001.00 through 065.00, like a scale), the hotel where the ex-best friend dies is called "The Gateway", the irony that Lia loves baking and knitting but struggles to eat and can never get warm.  There are more, but I think they would be spoilers to those of you who would like to read it.

I probably should get around to writing about some of the other things I read this summer.  Here's a partial list that doesn't include any of the readings for either of my two courses.

• Wicked (just getting into it)
• Fifty Shades of Grey (ashamed)
• part of a terrible Lionel Shriver one called Game Control
• The Weird Sisters - Any Shakespeare buffs reading?  You'd like it!
• Prisoner of Tehran, which was on the Canada Reads list?  Really?
• Committed by Elizabeth-who-wrote-Eat Pray Love - yes, I finished this one.
• Bachelor Brothers' Bed and Breakfast (yay, Mom! - good find)

And I'm going to throw this summer's television series in the ring:  Breaking Bad, how did I not know about you?  There might be some kind of Lost-esque ending in the works where we find out that the male characters are all parts of Walt's personality:  Hank is his sense of protection, Jesse is impulsiveness, Chicken-Man is the calculating side, etc.  And what is with all the purple crap at his sister-in-law's place?  She even wears purple most of the time.  Did I mention that I <3 Netflix?

Chop Suey (from Eat, Shrink and Be Merry)

I love Chinese take-out but usually do not have much success with recreating things like chicken chow main or ginger beef.  This recipe is an exception.  It turned out really well and I definitely will be making it again.  I had to use a can of bean sprouts because I couldn't find fresh ones at my grocery store but will be using fresh next time.  Here's how I made the recipe:

Make a marinade:  1 tsp corn starch, 1 tsp chopped garlic, 2 tsp grated ginger, 1 tbsp soy sauce and 1 tbsp hoisin sauce.  Mix together in a medium sized bowl that will hold your meat.

Add 1 medium pork tenderloin, cut into strips.  (I think it would work with chicken or beef... maybe even tofu).   Stir the mixture to coat the meat evenly with the marinade. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Make a sauce of 1/2 cup broth (I used chicken), 3 tbsp hoisin sauce, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tsp grated ginger, 2 tsp corn starch, 1 tsp sesame oil and 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes.  Whisk and set aside.

Chop an insane amount of veggies:

1 small container of mushrooms, sliced
4 ribs of celery cut on diagonal
1 cup onions, chopped
1 head of bok choy, sliced (couldn't find baby bok choy, sadness)
1 red pepper, sliced  (Randall's addition.  Otherwise everything was going to be green and brown)

You will also need 1 small package of snow peas, 1 can of bean sprouts (drained) and 1 small can of water chestnuts (also drained).

Take a break and have a glass of wine.   You can also compulsively tidy your too-small/too-hot kitchen if you're me.

Heat your Ikea wok until the smoke alarm goes off.  Deploy your husband to fan the smoke alarm with a dish towel while you comfort the cats.  Finish your glass of wine.  Start with the meat and cook it most of the way through.  Remove it from the pan to a clean bowl and wipe out your pan.  Add 1 tbsp oil and the mushrooms, celery and onions.  Cook 5 minutes.  Add bok choy and red pepper and cook an additional 3-4 minutes.  Re-add your meat and the sauce you made earlier.  Throw in your water chestnuts and bean sprouts.

Garnish with chopped green onion and shredded basil.  Leftovers are excellent the next day.

Mango-Chicken Curry

Yesterday I was ambitious after vacation and dug out the cookbooks.  I found a recipe in our Crock-Pot Cookbook and tried it out.  The sauce was a little thin, but we enjoyed it, and it was EASY.

Spray the slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray.  Add the following ingredients:

3 chicken breasts, cubed
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 cup mango, chopped
1/3 cup dried cranberries


Combine the following in a bowl:
2 tsp minced garlic
6 thin slices of ginger
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne
1 1/2 tbsp curry powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 tbsp cider vinegar

Pour liquid and spices over the chicken.  Cover and cook for 6-8 hours on low.

Top with cilantro and plain yogurt if desired.

This was made even easier by the fact that our grocery store sells 1 cup servings of pre-chopped mango.  The recipe calls for defrosted frozen mango chunks, which I couldn't find.  Fresh is best, right?

We had ours with basmati rice and whole-wheat naan.

Reading Fail Post

Because I waited far too long to allow myself to enjoy the literary pulpiness that is Twilight, I decided to get on the Fifty Shades of Grey bandwagon early.  My book club is also discussing this particular novel in September.   I also thought that it would be something mindless that would contrast against scholarly readings that I am doing for my current course.  So there are three reasons why I downloaded something classified as an erotic novel to my iPad.  Actually - I just thought of a fourth reason.  I thought I would "flush" if I had to wait in line at Chapters to buy something from the erotic novel section.

I also shamelessly enjoy series of books.  Stieg Larsson's The Girl Who __________ ?  Devoured in summer of 2010.  The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay?  One weekend this fall.  And the before-mentioned Twilight, Eclipse, New Moon Breaking Dawn?  Not only did I barely sleep the weekend I read those - I don't think I showered.  More Edward.  Less hygiene.

Here's what my problem is with Fifty Shades of Grey.  

It's not any good.  Since it's based on Twilight fan fiction, I'll briefly defend Stephanie Meyer.  The Twilight series had a particular appeal to it.  I will admit this:  it was no masterpiece, but it had glimmers.  Briefly, here are some things that make me accept the series.  There were parts of it (the werewolf parts) that reminded me of Joseph Boyden's Three Day Road.  There were parts of it that had significant and interesting irony (Bella's father is one of Forks' finest.  Vegetarian vampires.  Jacob imprints on a half-vampire infant).  There were parts of it that made me laugh (specifically, the parts with Alice).  I would even watch the movie adaptations again.  

A friend of mine used her Kobo to count up the number of times the word "crap" appears in the first book of the trilogy.  93.  The word "flush"?   100 times.  Maybe the book was attempting some kind of self-satire?   Let's not forget the angst Ana feels while using his toothbrush or her repeated and constant insecurity with her appearance.  

Here's another thing.  What would I be watching, exactly, if Fifty Shades of Grey was on Netflix?  

I am off to peruse iBooks.  I'm not sure how I'm going to get through Book Club in September because I don't think I can talk about this book with people I work with.  

First Vacation Meal: Lazy Indian Feast

Last night Randall and I felt like having some curry.  I have discovered that bottled curry sauces are pretty good as long as you add some more flavours.

I am living in Philadelphia for the summer and my favourite grocery store here is Trader Joe's.  If you have never been in one, they are set up like markets.  The one in Suburban Square reminds me of Pete's Frootique.   Suburban Square is a neat place as well; it is the oldest "mall" in the US.  And it's within walking distance of the apartment.

Last night's bottle of sauce was a masala cooking sauce.  I added a serrano chile that I quartered, a chopped onion, a pound of turkey breast strips, some garlic and some more regular curry powder.  We had it with basmati rice and two of Trader Joe's side dishes:  spinach paneer and a chickpea one that I think was also a masala.  We had more than enough leftovers for our lunches.

I also tried a new beer.  Blue Moon's Summer Honey Wheat.  It might be Summer 2012's beer.

Nothing exciting for supper tonight.  We are hosting Quizzo at a pub called McShea's that is up the street.  Quizzo is essentially Trivia Night.  However, I will be making mushroom risotto, beef tenderloin and asparagus for tomorrow night.

What a [school] year! Here are some highlights

Balanced "full-time" course work through University of Calgary and teaching full-time.  Sounds impressive but if you read some of the course outlines you wouldn't think so.  Halfway to a Master's Degree!

First year as Grade 9 Team Leader (attending extra meetings, liaising between Grade 9 Team and administration, ordering supplies [the bane of my existence!], occasionally being teacher-in-charge of the building [not as exciting as it sounds], MCing showcase assemblies).  This wasn't as tough as I thought it would be.  Watch me next year as I actually get the hang of it.

Got to read with small groups of kids and see them progress exponentially.  Watching their confidence skyrocket was pretty cool.  There were way more giggles than tears.  By the way, did you know that Eric Walters' books are more formulaic than Shakespeare or Stephen King?  Maybe I could write some levelled adolescent novels.

Coached basketball without Randall.  Did you know that Grade 9 boys often fart during practice, especially morning practice?  I made them run laps based on how bad the gas smelled.  We still lost every game, but it's nice to give that opportunity to kids.  Next year, Grade 7/8 Girls.  I hope they have better control of their bodily functions.

GRADE 9 FAREWELL:  Working with parents and principal to take 120 kids to an amazing dinner and dance?  That was pretty amazing.  Yesterday we started preparations for next year so I guess it's here to stay.  I'm good with that.

Finally overcame fear of Provincial Achievement Testing.  If our province wants to spent millions on a 2-part three hour test, have at 'er.   I'm going to keep doing Writer's Workshop, reading conferences, Credos, film and recording opportunities, cross-curricular connections and having fun.  

Going Paperless: A Teaching Post

I kill a lot of trees in June.  I probably photocopy more in the last three teaching weeks of the year than in the other nine months combined.  In all seriousness, I often go in on the weekend because I feel like a criminal for using the amount of paper my June lessons require.  Throughout the normal school months, I espouse eco-friendly paper reduction:  class sets of short stories or plays, showing notes on my SMART Board and posting them to our distributed learning environment online (D2L), and, of course, double-siding everything.  Students are encouraged to use the dropbox function of D2L to hand in assignments instead of printing them off.

However, when it comes time to review reading comprehension strategies, I revert back to highlighters and paper copies for each of my 109 students.  I find old exam questions and go through in minutia various strategies that might help my Grade 9s be more successful on the reading comprehension test that Alberta Education delivers to us to administer each June.  Why?  Well, this test is kind of a big deal.  It arrives weeks ahead of time and is locked up in a bullet-proof vault.    In September when I come back to work, I will be tasked with applying statistical analysis (stop laughing.  the math teachers help me!)  to the types of questions my students answered incorrectly, report this information to my principal and subsequently charged with adjusting my lesson plans to better address these deficits and writing goals for our School Development Plan that include student achievement on this particular test. If I'm really lucky I'll be offered AISI support to make progress towards these goals.  AISI support has to be saved for another rant post.  

Students with very specific needs (reading disabilities, English Language Learners and the mentally ill) can be provided with accommodations or in rare circumstances, exemptions.  Otherwise, everyone in Grade 9 in the province gets out a HB pencil on the morning of June 26th and answers 55 multiple choice questions on seven to nine readings.  

This year I used a blended approach that made me take a few beginning steps away from my serial June tree homicide.  I still photocopied the stories, poems, articles and cartoons and modelled how highlighters can be effectively used.  Together, students practiced elimination strategies, using logic to find the "most correct" answer and began to recognize the different types of questions (inferencing, vocabulary in context, synthesizing information).  Students are generally pretty cooperative with this because of the looming exam.

I had heard from one of my classmates at the University of Calgary that the SMARTboard clickers had become far less cumbersome to use.  The easiest way to explain what this device does is to refer to the game show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire".  When the contestant polls the audience as one of their lifelines - that's what a clicker does.  Each student holds a small electronic tool that interacts with the SMARTboard through a receiver that is plugged into a USB port.  The question is displayed on the SMARTboard and students are able to respond with A, B, C, or D.  Can you see how this might be engaging and useful to fourteen-year-olds in 2012?  Once the question is "closed" (you click a button that says, "close this question") the responses from the class are displayed in a pie chart or bar graph.  It's anonymous (at least the way I set it up).  It's formative because it gives the class a chance to debate two responses.  It would be hugely effective with the shorter pieces that students are tested on (poems and cartoons) because the SMARTboard is big enough to display a two-page spread (the text and the question could be up at the same time).  Unfortunately, longer pieces (short stories and articles) still need to be in front of students as they search for evidence in the text to answer the question.  If students had reliable and equitable access to netbooks or iPads, I would argue that I could do these June lessons almost paperlessly.  That's not likely to happen, but at least this is an option for shorter texts.

Maybe trees will be a little safer next June.

First Teaching Post - SMART Clickers

Okay, so last year I went to a series of workshops on SMART software and tools.  At that time, the SMART clickers were demonstrated in a few ways.  Most were cumbersome for someone who agonizes over setting up presentations (me) and who runs flat-out for ten months then sleeps for two (me).  I was reviewing some notes that I had taken at the workshops this week (okay, I couldn't sleep...) and remembered that I had jotted down "instant feedback".  Since I was working on Multiple Choice strategies and was out of ideas of how to keep kids engaged, I dug out our school's set of the clickers and copied my questions into a SMART document.

It worked!  The kids were intrigued.  I was able to gauge not only how many students actually got the correct answer by using the pie chart feature, but also was able to engage some in debating why two answers were in contention for being correct.

For mine I really didn't need the keyboard style clicker but was still able to use the primitive ABCD function just fine.  Some kids would have liked to enter their own names to participate to see who answered what, but I think the anonymity of it allowed more to participate enthusiastically.

All in all, not bad for a lesson taught on the fifth last day of classes.

First Teaching Post

June in a junior high.

Maybe I will have more positive things to say after I have had a chance to sleep and recuperate.

First Cooking Post - Risotto and Salmon

Tonight I made risotto and broiled salmon for supper.  I always make this risotto recipe with the splash of white wine that it claims it doesn't need.

I am a big fan of making something complicated (the risotto) with something easy (the salmon).  There are a few reasons for this.

1)  flavours.  If I dusted my salmon with some complicated spice mixture then it might be weird with the cheesy and smokey risotto

2)  time management.  Yes, today is Sunday and I could make something complicated.  Inevitably that would create more dishes and draw out the drama of the cooking.

3)  calories.  Yes, salmon is delicious with aioli and if I was having it with a salad, I probably would do some kind of sauce.  But I'm not.  I'm having it with carbs, bacon and cheese.

I also decided that after making risotto many times, I could improvise.  I added some celery to the chopped onion and garlic.

Mise en Place

If you have ever made risotto you know how important this is.  This is what mine looked like.

Cooking Photos

Special risotto spoon.  I am pretty sure this is why my risotto is amazing.

Toasting the rice with the onion and celery.

Salmon with salt, pepper and olive oil.

Risotto with broth.


Final Presentation

I realize it is  just before 5pm and this is a grandparent time to eat.  But I am hungry...  all I ate today was breakfast at the Lazy Loaf and Kettle and some cherries.  So it is time!

Types of Writing I do

Being a classroom teacher I sometimes try to model the different writing techniques I encourage my students to do.  I outline essays, structure paragraphs, develop characters and settings.  The problem is once this instruction is over my efforts are pushed aside and I find myself cheerleading my reluctant writers.  If I could just get them to realize that paragraph minimums don't necessarily allow the full idea to be presented, I'd be happy.

When I come home at night I am a student through the University of Calgary.  I am enrolled in an M. Ed. program (almost done the first year!).  To be honest, when I signed up for the "Integral Curriculum" cohort I did not realize that my advisor would be leading my class through guided meditation during an online lecture (yes... that actually happened).  Integral Theory is a little more than I bargained for - if you're interested look up Ken Wilber.  However, one recurring theme is that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts - which I subscribe to.  I am trying to remind myself that this is half over and it has made me think more deeply about teaching practice.  Both of those things are positive.  Anyway - the types of writing that I do as a student are discussion forums, summarizing, connections and every so often longer expository pieces.

What I like to write is narrative but there is just not very much reason for me to do this type of work.  I would do the work for the joy of it but right now my time and energy is dedicated to surviving teaching full time, keeping up with the readings for my graduate studies, completing assignments and having some kind of balance doing two things that I don't consider work - cooking and reading.

That's why I think a blog is a good compromise.   Manageable lengths in response to manageable subjects.  Let's see if I can keep up with it.

Potential Topics

• recipes
• creativity
• teaching philosophy
• favourite novels
• favourite kid lit
• favourite picture books
• restaurants?
• movies?
• TV chefs
• themes

Jumping on the blog bandwagon

After discovering how much I enjoy reading my sister-in-law's personal blog, watching Jenna Marbles' weekly vlog, and my rediscovery of Tucker Max's website, I decided to give it a go.

When I started to think about what I enjoy I decided to name this blog Teaching, Cooking & Reading.  Those are the things I spend most of my time thinking about so it makes sense to write about them too, right?

Going to post this now and then start a list of potential blog topics...