Randomness

There are many different concepts and ideas swirling around my head at the moment. The first one that has been going round all day is "how do you teach someone to think critically?" Essentially, that is the job of an English teacher when preparing students to continue on to other grades and prepare for the EOG (end of grade) test where they must show what they know. Last year's students did not have the basic skills needed to pass the test so the mission appeared much easier and clearer: Teach the basics! This year's students are a pretty good mixture of students who are meeting standards and students who are just below. I believe the key to helping both groups of students it to challenge them to think more critically. Which leads me back to the question of how to do this. I'm left trying to discern what my own teachers may have done to teach me those skills, research any possible ideas from my college days, and then look for other options online or in books. We'll see if I can manage it. I also think that my ability to think critically is something that grew and evolved as I did...so maybe I just need to get the ball rolling, I don't have to score the goal. Hmmmmm...

Another thing challenging me at the moment is the fact that someone finally told my car that Dave, aka Mr. Mechanic, is deployed. It all started the day I decided to wash my car inside and out. I went to start it the next day and it wouldn't. Well, the expensive stereo equipment drains the battery fast if there is an additional long term pull on the battery such as leaving the doors open. So, I charged the battery and it started just fine. Fast forward a few days to this morning when I went to leave for work. I turn the key and it won't start! Ugh!!! So I unload my five hundred bags (why I haul all of that junk back and forth every day I have NO idea) from my car to my friend Bynum's car so I can go to work. Luckily, I get to babysit Bynum's Mustang while he is gone and my job is to drive it. Well, today I did. I charged the battery tonight so we will see what happens tomorrow. Hopefully, I can get this mess solved by the end of the weekend. Not sure if it is the battery, the alternator, or something else not so fun. While I am capable of dealing with this situation and have done it several times prior with the car my sisters still drive it's like I told my mom..."I'm married, I shouldn't have to deal with this! Dave would tinker with it and figure it out if he were home." Hmmmm....again.

Last thing, Christmas is no fun. I have never really been a fan of Christmas (the secular parts anyhow). I never understood why I had to get up at the crack of dawn to open presents. If some fat man in a suit came down my imaginary chimney to deliver presents in the middle of the night those presents will be there whether I open them at 7am or noon. Then the 5 plus years in retail at Christmas time solidified the fact that I hate Christmas. Nit just dislike it, but outright hate it. Between crazy people looking for a specific gift that the store didn't have, to crazy mean people who chew you out because they are really just tired and irritated, to the horrid Christmas songs you hear on loop every hour or so, and then the extended shopping (working) hours. Not only did I have to deal with the working end, but the shopping end is even more irritable. I haven't figured out how I'm going to one day manage Christmas with children of my own...ugh it makes me tired and irritable just thinking about it. I'm thinking we'll be making up lots of new traditions and showing them that presents aren't everything...and they will NOT all be toys. Most likely they will include lots of books (hmmm, I wonder why?). This year is no exception to the hating of Christmas, although there was a fabulous Christmas two years ago with my mom, sisters, and Dave is Ohio which was the best Christmas ever. I think it was because we all had so much fun together. However, this year my silly husband is deployed and while I am looking forward to going home I just want it to be done and over with so I can hurry up and get through January to my husband's arrival back home. That is the single thought that floods through my mind day after day. Who knew I'd be so "dependent" on a man? Hmmmm...