icarusancalion

There are days when my students make great progress, or even if not, they're doing their best.

Then there are days when they do their work, even if it's not their best work.

Then there are the days when a student or two, one in particular, has made it his apparent goal to avoid any effort and waste my time, his time, and his parents' money. And is pleased with himself when he has done so.

He has a deadly combination of arrogance and laziness, and intelligence misdirected at finding ways of slacking off. He's proud of himself when he does it, too. A lot of good that quality's going to do him.

Okay folks, my buddy Isaac is having a crapola Labor Day.

The boy can dance (the Russky in black, in the middle).

Send him some tunes here!

Working on college apps today, one of my students talked about running a race. She used the phrase "my body bouncing."

I winced. "Well, if the person reading your app is male ... I'm not sure you want that visual. I mean, I don't know how that'll go. It could be good."

The other girl made a check mark in the air and says, deadpan, "Accepted."

We laughed.

"Yeeeaah, I don't think you want to go there."

LOL!

Friday weather report: Sitting in my little flat, the rain has tapered off. Tornado warnings didn't phase the kitty boys who purred next to me, their eyes half-lidded.

I have things arranged so that I look at the tidiest, most well-decorated corner of the room. A brass music stand. A prim table with lace tablecloth I crocheted myself holding a glass vase with pampas grass plumes. Very pretty. I can ignore the half-finished projects scattered around the rest of the room.

Kiddie report: I had one student make tremendous progress this week. So proud of him. Last Saturday, after a year of public school World History classes, he couldn't even tell me about the river valley civilizations. By last night, he could recap all of world history. Was it enough to pass the test?

His parents want a guarantee. My boss wants a guarantee. He has the general picture, yes. But it's a tough test. Does he know enough detail? I can only say that he's done well, but a week isn't much time to learn the entire history of the world. My boss doesn't like that answer. :/ She's afraid his unrealistic parents (who don't seem to understand he's not in a good school district) will yell at her if they don't get their good score. What he needed most was time management, which was something they can help him with.

And now, fandom report: Ta-da!

I'm pleased to announce that Colls has posted her podfic of...

Title: Collisions podfic! (story here)
Fandom: SGA/SPN crossover
Pairing: Gen, with obligatory slashiness
Rating: PG-13
A/N: Did you know it takes 12,000 words to make a 1,000 word ficlet make sense to two fandoms? Thank you to Rabidfan, Skinscript, Amalthia, Mecurtin, and Wordwitch, who put it through the wringer until it worked for both SGA and SPN fans. Written for the Help Haiti fundraiser and soooooo late. Story sponsored by Somnolentblue who made a donation in exchange for said "ficlet."
Summary: The engine gunned and they caught up, moving alongside the red car long enough for Sam to catch a glimpse of a guy in a bomber jacket and Aviator glasses, his generous mouth in a hard line – until the guy smirked, and cut Dean off at the next turn.

Also, I've posted a new SGA ficlet:

Title: The Scientific Method
Fandom: SGA
Pairing: Rodney/Radek
Rating: PG-13
A/N: Thank you to Rabidfan, IvoryGates, and Sian for the beta help. By way of explanation. I missed the SGA Smooch deadline, and I'm too impatient to wait for a whole week to post. I've starved you guys long enough.
Summary: "Don't do the clock! I hate it when you do the clock!"

I have a student who has a shot at the merit scholarship, though I'm not quite sure he made it. (Darn, those PSAT scores take a long time.)

Anyway, this student (who shall henceforth be known as Mr. Wit), out of blue mentions:

"Have you ever noticed that all the side effects of cold medicines are cold symptoms?" He added, "And the side effects of antidepressants are symptoms of depression."

He gave me a dry, wry smile.

It's supposed tomorrow. Not flurries, like might see in Michigan around, say, November 15th. But total, all-out, full-blown, three to five inches of snow.

In October.

And I work tomorrow. With all the kids' college applications essays due November 1. Or maybe not, if the snow's bad enough.

Have a vignette from work:

I was in a session with a 12th grader who whinged, "Can't I read something easier?" when I assigned him Frankenstein.

"Sure!" I said.

I got up, marched across the room and fetched him Dr. Seuss.

"Yeah!" he said, and started reading it aloud. "Left foot, right foot...."

Foiled!

"Noooo!" I said. "I was kidddddinnnnng!" But he held onto the book and kept reading. Laughing, I managed to pull the book out of his hands.

And he still has to read Frankenstein. (Okay, I might relent and let him read The Three Musketeers instead.)