Three Happy Things

Sometimes I think the universe throws me a bone to make up for a bad time.  Like when I’ve had a disappointing doctor visit and get in my car, and turn on the radio, and “Black Horse & the Cherry Tree” is playing.  That song makes me smile no matter what.  And, if I’m ever in a movie and have to confidently push open the door into a bar as I walk into the scene, I want that song to be playing.

Anyway…what was I saying?  Oh, the universe.  So today, the GRE folks made up their minds (quickly!) that I can have water while I take the GRE, so I can call and get that scheduled.  Yay!  Then the library let me know they had not one, but two, of the “House M.D.” DVDs that I was on the waiting list for.  Yay!  And I got a ticket for the NCAA regional gymnastics championships meet next month — got a seat in exactly the part of the arena that I wanted too.  Yay!

So, thanks universe.  I needed that.

Happy Weekend!

Teaching Thursdays #29b

All I could think of to say yesterday was that it’s no fun to teach when you’re sick!  That wasn’t very interesting or enlightening.  But, actually writing about what I liked about my favorite teacher may suffice as a post about teaching.  So I’ll try again.  I cannot really choose one favorite teacher ever, but here’s a much abbreviated list of some of the more memorable ones during my K-12 education.

Elementary Music Teacher — We had the same music teacher throughout elementary school (which was a huge treat), and I remember all good things about her.  She was patient and fun, and she taught us a lot, had high but realistic expectations, and took on a huge project every year to put on a school musical with a bunch of squirrely 5th and 6th graders.  She also encouraged me a lot and gave me great opportunities for solos and larger roles in the musicals than what I tried out for.

All of my gym teachers — This one surprises me a little, as I hated gym class with a passion.  But, my gym teachers were great, fun, understanding guys who knew I had little athletic ability but that I was trying really hard, and that was enough.  The main reason I hated gym was probably because of my classmates teasing me.  The teachers made the classes survivable (and even fun sometimes).

4th Grade Teacher — Although I liked most of my elementary teacher, this was the one who liked math and who taught us about computers.  I always remember feeling really safe and at-home in her classroom.

8th and 9th Grade Math Teachers — Both of them really encouraged me and were such good role models as females who excelled at math.

12th Grade Calculus Teacher — He was the one who got me turned back on to math after a dreadful teacher prompted me to quit math after 11th grade.  Every day when he walked into class, we’d all say “Norm!” (like on Cheers) even though that wasn’t his name.  *laughs*

12th Grade Marketing Teacher — How could I not love Mr. B who pulled me out of class repeatedly in 11th grade to tell me I HAD to take his class and participate in the academic games club he supervised?  I finally said yes to get him to stop doing that.  *giggles*  He was another one who really encouraged me.

So, there you have it.  I apparently never had an English or social studies teacher who I thought was super, which was probably why I didn’t like those subjects until I was in college!  Just goes to show you what a difference the teacher makes in a classroom experience.  One after another, what I remember most about my favorite teachers is that they somehow “got” who I was and believed in me and encouraged me.

Teaching Thursdays #29

*cough, cough*

The teacher is still kinda sick, so if you could give her some slack and write this post for her, that would be great.  *smiles*

Here’s two questions (answer one or both in the comments if you wish):

1) What would you like to know about teaching?

2) What did you like about your favorite teacher ever?

Go!

The Other Diabetes

I was so excited to hear my hydration disorder mentioned on “House M.D.” last night!  Of course, Dr. House ought to have actually done tests to diagnose the girl, but it’s just TV so we don’t have to worry about malpractice.  *giggles*

I rarely call my hydration disorder by its given name (diabetes insipidus) anymore because it confuses people.  Even after I give my short, eloquent description of diabetes insipidus, people always ask, “So do you give yourself insulin shots?”  NO!  It’s not THAT diabetes, it’s the other one.  (But yes, I actually do give myself shots.)  People in the general public and even nurses sometimes just get it in their head that they know what I have once they hear the word “diabetes.”  It’s a thousand times easier to just say I have a hydration disorder or that I’m missing a hormone called vasopressin that regulates kidney output.  Thirteen years of experience have trained me to skip the D word!

Dr. House got into “the other diabetes” explanation with his patient too.  Hooray for some unexpected publicity/awareness!

Math News

The 2006 Putnam (math) Competition results are in, and Princeton placed first!  Their first top finish, I believe.  The way the university teams are ranked is a bit odd, but it’s a huge deal to finish first, so kudos to Princeton!  The median score (out of 120) for the competition/exam was zero across all 3000+ competitors — in fact, nearly 63 percent of the people taking the exam scored zero, which is even more than usual.  It looked like scores overall were relatively low, as one only needed a score of 14 to be in the top 500. 

Better

I’m not all the way better, but my fever broke around noon yesterday and it’s amazing what a difference that made.  In addition to just feeling so hot, fevers really challenge my hydration, so my body doesn’t deal with them well at all.  My chest is still kind of congested and my breathing is gurgly and a little wheezy (my asthma got kicked up by all this), but I’m hoping that just being up and around today will clear up some of that stuff.  I am at work and planning to teach.

Fever

I woke up on Saturday with a fever, sore throat, and chest congestion, which caught me really off guard because I usually have nose gunk before chest gunk, but not this time.  Fevers do slow me down, so I spent the entire weekend at home, even missing church (a rarity for me these days).  I read an entire book (a medical memoir called “Inside/Outside”) and did 20 crossword puzzles (I kid you not!).  I watched hours of the figure skating world championships on TV.  When I was going stir crazy yesterday, I sat on my balcony for a short time and then decided to take a short walk.  I was “good” all weekend in hopes that the worst would be behind me today.

And today?  I still have a fever, sore throat, and chest congestion.  *sighs*  I’ll e-mail my boss and tell him I’m going to lay low for another day.  I thought about going to the doctor but I’m already doing everything they’d probably tell me anyway (Tylenol, cough medicine, and fluids), and I don’t really want inhalers or antibiotics unless they are absolutely necessary.  I have to teach tomorrow so I’d like to be better tomorrow, but it’s unlikely that anything they give me would help that fast anyway.  So I will hold off on a medical consult.

There are signs I’m improving, in that I actually care about the internet today.  *smiles*  So I think I’ll be fine.  I’d just like to be fine by tomorrow please.

Just like Elmer

After hearing that I will probably be starting a PhD program, one of my friends said he’s going to start practicing calling me Doctor.  I frowned at that thought and told him please don’t, as that title sits really strangely with me.  So I started thinking of alternatives that honor the possible future achievement but suit me better.  Hmmm…I thought, if a person tried to pronounce PhD as a word, not letters, how would it sound?

PhD?  Sounds a little like…Fudd.  Aha!  That’s completely perfect!

Just call me Fudd.

Teaching Thursdays #28

When I walked into my classroom the other day, there was a pie on my desk with plates, forks, and napkins! There was a construction paper note shaped like an apple with a little paper worm coming out of it, and the note said:

An apple pi for the teacher!

Apple pi!  My students had Pi Day related projects due that day and I am quite sure one of them brought the pie, but they all claimed ignorance.  I cut it up and dished it out, and we all enjoyed that as a treat before class.  When I was cleaning things up, I took the little apple note and put it in my notebook and told them, “I’ll add this to my little Teacher Box.”  They said, “Awwww!”

My Teacher Box contains little mementos from class — notes, cards (including a birthday card from my stats class last fall), etc.  The first item in the box was actually not from a student but from a student’s little sister.  She sat in on class one day and drew a picture of me teaching and wrote on it: “Merry Christmas, Angel Teacher” And there I was, drawn with a little halo on my head!  That was definitely a keeper.

Accidental Whistler

I’ve heard that if people catch you humming or whistling and you’re totally unaware you’re doing it — but rather the music is just kind of absent-mindedly flowing from you – that’s a good sign that you’re content and joyful.  I’m glad that’s the interpretation, otherwise the guy at the bus stop might have thought I was insane this morning.  I think I was even dancing a little.  The music crossed my mind, and I apparently just went right inside it!

Oh, and the music, by the way, was “Human Again,” a piece that was cut from the theatrical-release of Beauty and the Beast (just due to time constraints) but it’s completely wonderful!  I’m so glad it’s on the re-release of the soundtrack, along with lots of other treasures.