Miss Rixie's Goals for the Upcoming School Year

1. I will leave no child left behind ... except those who blatantly refuse to keep up by not doing their homework, yeah, they're so getting left behind. It's like those kids who won't get back in the car at the rest stop when Dad stops to go to the bathroom, and then he has to drive away to teach Kid a lesson so that it won't happen again. Well, I'll be the one teaching those idiots a lesson: You snooze, you lose ... but beyond that, I will leave no child left behind. Unless they really deserve it. Obviously. Okay, will leave a minimal amount of children behind.

2. Will do a minimal amount of study guides and instead try to find a more engaging way to teach students.

3. Will not allow Scary-Mary from next door to torment me by blazing in the door in all her glory to yell at students to keep noise down and glaring at me from behind her glasses only to mock-apologize the next hour. Will simply explain that I, unlike her, do not choose to teach by making my students keep their noses in their books five days a week without ever discussing what they're reading or doing activities to keep them engaged.

4. Will write a kickin' choral reading script for speech season beginning in November/December. My choral reading kids will not be subjected to Scary-Mary's "I am a better speech coach" attitude because they will be too caught up in what an awesome job they are doing putting it together.

5. Make choral reading more of a student-led event. Instead of having me do everything (write script, figure out poses, etc.) will encourage the kids to figure out how they want to stand, what they want to do, how they will be grouped, etc. Yeah!!

6. Will not allow self to feel intimidated by scary/psycho members of staff such as scary gym teacher who looks me up and down and could be my grandfather (well, a really young grandfather anyway) and Bitchy-Brenda and Bragger Barb and, obviously, Scary-Mary. Will introduce self to new student teacher since I know how it feels to be a young woman on staff in a building full of middle-aged men who haven't been outside small town in last two decades.

7. Be tougher when grading--make my students have to work for it. But also motivate them by doing kicking activities that stretch their critical thinking and application skills.

8. Will concentrate on reading skills and improving reading abilities in classroom by doing research, practicing different reading strategies with students, and generally, becoming Queen of the Reading Pool of Knowledge.

9. Will not allow self to get roped into doing things for other teachers such as stage or technical manager or director, etc. Will be strong and stick to my guns. Will be self-confident and self-assured. Mean what I say and support what I mean.

10. Will kick Iowa Standards and Benchmarks of Teaching in the ass, rock my Individual Career Development Plan into orbit, and make my Reading Strategies rule all. As Esme said, I will kick pedagogical ass.

Miss Rixie Recommends... (3rd Annual Book Review Part II)

1. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
Weeks after I finished reading it, I cannot stop thinking about it. This is one of those rare books that, when reminiscing about it, I remember the emotions I felt while reading it more specifically than the actual events in the book. What a rare gift to be able to conjure up such powerful emotions in a reader, but Rowling has done just that, and in doing so, Harry joins the likes of Atticus Finch and Jay Gatsby and Anne Shirley.

2. Molly Moon's Incredible Book of Hypnosis by Georgia Bying
While only halfway done with this book, I couldn't resist putting it on the list. There's no other word for it--not only is Molly's book incredible, she's incredible. What a fun heroine!

3. Sing a Song of Tuna Fish by Esme Raji Codell
She never disappoints...

4. Eleven on Top by Janet Evanovich
Hilarious as ever. Evanovich keeps cranking out the Stephanie Plum adventures and, amazingly, they keep living up to their reputation. Miss Rixie recommends reading this one while lying on the beach if at all possible.

5. The Princess Diaries VI by Meg Cabot
This woman is talented!! Read anything by Cabot and you won't be disappointed. I'm convinced she's actually six women posing as one because she cranks out so many books in a year and updates her blog all the time. If only I were one-tenth as productive. Sigh...

Next up on Miss Rixie's reading list:
Dancing in the Dark by Mary Jane Clark
1-800-Where-R-U series by Meg Cabot
Molly Moon Stops the World by Georgia Bying
Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
Diary of a Fairy Godmother by Esme Raji Codell

Aesthetic Overload

My room is beautiful. I have five rows of desks, each row five deep. My desk is at the front, to the left of where you stand when walking in. I still have my desktop covered in magazine pictures, postcards, notes from students, etc. that make me smile and feel creatively tingly whenever I look at it. The front of my desk, where the students can see is covered in three posters. They say things like “Those who don’t dream, don’t dare” and the like. They’re colorful and brighten up the place. Around my desk I’ve hung little Christmas lights covered in these pastel boxes that I got in college and Natalie and I hung around our lofts. They’re the perfect size. On my computer desk which is next to my regular teacher desk, I’ve put an array of pictures: me, Kim, and Ashley in front of firefighter Herky our senior year; one of Nat and me (it’s actually at a bar, but you can’t tell); one of Kim, Ash, Ro and me on my twenty-first birthday (I’m holding the book [it’s a sex book, but you can’t tell], the picture frame they had engraved for me, and the camera they gave me as presents); and one of Brennan holding Darcy the first day I got her. I look stupid in the one of me and Natty so I’m going to change it, I just never remember. I also have Iowa pom-poms floating leisurely over the corner (I went all out on the Hawkeye—I was going to say merchandise, but propaganda might be a better word.)

Behind my desk our my three file cabinets. This corner was always an area of contention for me last year. It was ugly and plain and the posters were hung crooked. Now I have a beautiful poster of a bookshelf with four shelves. On the top shelf it says “Literary Genres.” On the following three shelves it says things like “Fables,” “Fiction,” “Nonfiction,” and “Drama” with pictures of books and the like. Next to that are two posters—one of Mark Twain and one of Maya Angelou, both hung neatly at an angle. (Never again will I try to hang anything straight!) On my file cabinet I have a lovely license plate that says Iowa Hawkeyes, my 2004 Graduate Beanie Baby, and my IHSSA speech mug that I won last year. On another cabinet, I have little dolls of Mark Twain, Edgar Allan Poe, and Shakespeare (Wills looks really scary, but they’re so fun!) courtesy of my mother. Also courtesy of her are the little finger magnetic puppets I have of Willa Cather (or is it Virginia Woolf? I think it’s Virginia), Shakespeare and Twain again, and Jane Austen. On the last file cabinet I have my hot pink flowery bucket filled with antibacterial handsoap, Bath & Body scented wipes, and lotion. It’s my own personal feel-good, smell-good spa corner.

On the bulletin board directly next to the corner and my computer is my “Ready, Set, Read!” board leftover from last year. It’s covered in bookmarks and I have to say, it’s still one of my favorite bulletin boards. Next to that, on the chalkboard square that’s partially covered by my computer monitor so basically rendered unusable are the 12 “Get Caught Reading” posters I got for $5. I mounted most on construction paper so they look especially beautiful. Around that I strung the Hawkeye lights I got at Iowa Book & Supply, aka Book n Crook, for $20. Whatever, they are worth every penny.

In the back of the room, near the door that leads into Kelli’s room, I covered the first of two bulletin boards with all the pictures of Agatha Christie I made color copies of (and ha laminated) for $25 at Staples. TWENTY-FIVE DOLLARS!!! RIP-OFF!! But it looks beautiful—I have to make sure I take a picture. I have an oversized sheet of notebook paper thanks to The Learning Post that I wrote the poem from And Then There Were None on last year. It has to be visible to all the kids because we talk about it every day before and while reading. Surrounding that is a list of every Agatha Christie book she ever wrote (but don’t be picturing a grocery list, it’s really cute with pictures of books drawn on and stuff). Below that are pictures of books made into movies, Christie as a young woman, Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot, and Christie in possible various disguises after her disappearance. I also found 20 different pictures of covers of And Then there Were None on google and printed it on pretty paper and cut with fun scrapbook scissors. Way fun!!

Next to that bulletin board is the another, oversized board that I did last summer as well. It’s my “Oh, the Places You’ll Go” board with pictures of covers of books like The Princess Bride, Holes, Wicked, and The Shawshank Redemption, to name a few. Next to that, I made tags on the computer that tell the places you’ll go, like Florin, Camp Greenlake, Oz, and jail. Also one of my favorites.

Above the chalkboards and bulletin boards on that side of the room, I have five other posters that are all very colorful and say things like, “You look at something and say ‘Why?’ I look at something at say, ‘Why not?’” or something along the lines of that. There’s also my Martin Luther King, Jr. banner and a cool drawing of Stratford-on-Avon someone donated to me and I had laminated. It’s done on scroll-like paper and makes me feel Renaissance-y when I look at it or touch it.

In the back corner of the room, opposite my desk and file cabinets, is my big poster of Mark Twain (which I had laminated and now looks beautiful) with one of my favorite quotes that something to the effect of he was sorry to hear himself named as one of the great writers because they have a habit of dying off. “Chaucer’s gone, Shakespeare’s dead, and I’m not feeling too well myself.” Next to that is another poster, but I can’t actually remember what it is right now. Then there’s the Communications 12 bulletin board which I have my white board we have to use for lesson plans stapled to. My table is there too with close to 250 textbooks piled on and the AR computer which I have done nothing about yet.

Then there’s my closet—pretty much the same as last year. I added Kelli’s “Here is your brain, here is your brain on books” signs and my “Books are the carrier of civilization” sign to the Shakespeare and language posters I have there. Next to my closet is the door to the hallway. I have my favorite poster of all time hanging on the door. It’s a Lord of the Rings poster with a picture of those horses that chase Liv Tyler and rolling across the bottom in flaming words, it says, “Moving words create moving pictures.” How appropriate! Below that is the reading strategy poster—right where no one will ever look at it. Oh well, I could tape it to my forehead and I’m pretty sure no one would read it. Hell, *I* barely I wanted to read it, and I read the nutritional label on cereal boxes at breakfast just so I have something to read.

Kelli donated a “don’t censor yourself” posters with pictures of banned or controversial books (including The Giver) and I hung it next to the poster I have with the word “Read” on it in many different languages including sign language. Actually, come to think of it, that might be my favorite poster.

That’s next to the bulletin board of “Before it was a movie…” where I put pictures of book covers right next to the movie poster it was turned into. For example, there are pictures of the book and movie of Master & Commander and The Princess Bride. My favorites though are: the picture of Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? next to The Odyssey, and the picture of Emma next to Clueless, and 10 Things I Hate about You next to The Taming of the Shrew.

Next to that is the ninth grade chalkboard with their whiteboard where lesson plans go. Above that is a new poster that has suggestions for more descriptive words on it. There’s something else there too, but I can’t remember what. Above the next chalkboard is my READ! banner, and next to that is the poster with the butterfly on it. That’s above where my history will be.

There’s there the most boring bulletin board in my room (well, not counting the communications one): the one with all the charts and stuff to keep track of how much they’re reading. Above it is a poster that says “Don’t forget to read” with a bow around a finger. It’s stupid, but too fitting to toss. On the board there’s a poster with Readers’ Rights. The right to read, to not read, to skip pages, etc. In front of that is where I’m gonna have to keep my TV. Next to it are three posters, one for high school awards, Teen award, and Children’s award. Below those posters is my white bookshelf with series and nonfiction and Miss Acton’s Recommendations on it.

That brings me to the front of the room, my favorite area. When I walk in the door and see that front wall, I just feel happy! There’s my little table (currently covered in piles of papers to be passing out the first two days to my two classes). There are two bookshelves lining the front wall filled with my own books on one shelf, dictionaries on another, Holocaust literature on a third, and then regular the regular fiction takes up the rest of it. Above the first bookshelf are all my Romeo & Juliet posters arranged at an angle and looking very lovely. I also have a poster with instructions on how to check out a book from me. I also have little labels on the bookshelves which are new and done in fun fonts. Then I have one of those spinny bookshelf things where all my mystery/horror/suspense type books are. And then we’re back at my desk and filing cabinets.

I’m sorry, but my room ROCKS!!! As Esme said, I feel bad for any teacher who’s not in here. Wait, Esme totally did not say that. Esme said she feels sorry for any kid not in here. Well, that too, but seriously, have you SEEN the science and math rooms? I would be so depressed if I were in those rooms!! I totally kick!!