Category: Teaching

Sweet Taste of Success!

Given the fact that this past week marked my second week of Tuesday through Thursday insomnia,  I’m now well rested and ready for another challenging week at school. I also can reflect on last Monday when I first learned that my educational critique, “Monochromatic Butterfly,” had been published by the Texas Observer–three days earlier than I had expected. http://www.texasobserver.org/oped/monochromatic-butterfly

Through my sleep-deprived days following, I forwarded the link to friends, family and my writers’ group. It’s amazing to think that what began as my way of dealing with the angst of teaching under such an oppressive educational system that functions solely to prepare students for a high-stakes test, is now “out there” for interested people to read and get a small taste of what a creative, practing teacher is up against.

People assume that the students are a teacher’s main source of angst, but it’s truly the system, perpetuated by politicians and school administrators who keep me up at night.  They have the luxury of sitting remotely in their offices, far away from the students, and designing bureaucratic, nightmarish educational policies with disregard to how it will affect students in both the short and long term.

Common sense and logic should tell them that if a teacher is forced to focus more on an assessment than on content, then the challenge of students learning that content well will be much more difficult.  The overemphasis on generating “data driven assessment” opportunities continues to plague classrooms.

And yet, my glimmer of hope lies in the fact that my voice is being heard.  There are like-minded people who are in position of power and are willing to do what they can in order to help.  It’s going to take a network of such people to change the direction. 

Just last week, I heard a brief report on CNN about how the president was reevaluating No Child Left Behind.  The report mentioned how some things would change in order to help schools better serve the students.  This is the level that needs to start the momentum.  I just pray that it is a change for the better and not just yet another assessment in the name of educational reform.

Labor Day Weekend 2011

I cannot remember the last time I spent both a Friday and Saturday night at home…even during the two and half months when I first moved to Austin and was unemployed, I managed to go out to the free events.

Yet, after work on Friday, I swam laps, came home, warmed up dinner and finished watching a movie that I’d started the night before.

Saturday morning, I took a capoeira class, came home to freshen up and eat lunch, then took two tango classes. That was particularly touching since I’d taken tango lessons for over a year before taking a three-month break.  I stayed away long enough to miss it. Fortunately, I attended the second class and learned that one of our tangueras was returning to her native country, France.  So, I got to say good bye to her.

Then, I dashed over to my favorite nail shop.  Although it was a risk without an appointment during a holiday weekend, I was not disappointed.  There were three guys and two women ahead of me. They were all friends and since we had to wait, some of them decided to make a drink run.

They returned with two bottles of champagne, a bottle of OJ, and a bottle of cranberry juice.  And the best part, they shared! So, it was like being at happy hour in the nail shop. I sipped my chilled poinsettia (champagne and cranberry) while talking to them and thumbing through the magazine I’d brought.  By the time I returned home, I felt that I’d already met my social quota and it was only 7pm.

Of course, one of the things that I love doing the most is just taking a few hours to read. I never know what will inspire me to add to the story that I’m writing or in a future lesson plan.

As a matter of fact, I think the reason I’m much happier in the classroom this year is because I’m back to writing all my lessons.  The most I’ve used of someone else’s stuff is a quiz, which I still went through and modified some things.  I’m so fortunate to teach upperclassmen and have an elective course with no official curriculum.  That way, I have a creative challenge to keep me on my game.  The way I see it, I’ll save myself a trip to mediocre-ville if I’m actively engaged in the fine art of lesson planning.

Tomorrow, I’m going to a BBQ, hosted by my capoeira teacher.  I’d like to say that I instigated the whole thing although, truthfully, this group gets together on a regular basis.  It’s just that I’ve had the idea of making a cheesecake and decorating it with fresh fruit in the shape of the Brazilian flag for a couple of months now.  I baked the dessert today, but I’m waiting until tomorrow to put the fruit on it.  I’ve never done that before and don’t exactly know how that’ll affect it…I could always research it, I guess.

Gymnastics of Natural Disasters

This morning, I attended my usual 10 am bikram yoga class.  The instructor welcomed us to class and stated that we must have come to practice hot yoga in order to cool off! After completing yet another invigorating bikram class, I confirmed that today’s scorcher would top 100 degrees, the maximum temperature for bikram yoga. We’ve broken the 1925 record for the number of triple-digit days in one year.

As if going to bikram was not hot enough for me, I finished cleaning my apartment, got myself cleaned up and attended the Hot Sauce Festival. By the time I arrived, I was too hungry to wait in the long lines to sample the various hot sauces.  Instead, I scanned the food vendor area, saw the shortest line and jumped in it.  Fortunately, the vendor was an Ethiopian restaurant that I’d wanted to try since moving to Austin.

With my sampler plate of Ethiopian food and an electrolyte that scarcely suggested “lemonade,” I sat down in the shade, near the live music stage, to slowly begin my second major sweat of the day. I had impeccable timing since my friend’s band was setting up to play.

As best I could, I enjoyed the food, music and fact that I was not stressed out. I couldn’t help but think about the chronic droughts here in Austin.  In order not to throw myself a pity party, I thought about the poor East coast, which first had an earthquake, followed by a hurricane and subsequent floods in some parts.

I called my parents, who live in the central part of North Carolina, to see how hurricane Irene was treating them.  I became concerned when a recorded message informed me that the number I’d just dialed was no longer in service. That number had been in service since 1979 when my parents bought the house and was one of two land line numbers that I had committed to memory.

I called my mother’s cell.  To my relief, the phone was not out of order due to any natural disaster, but rather my parents, who are both in their 70s, had finally got Dad his own cell and let go of the land line.  Of course, I had to find all that out the hard way.  The last time I’d spoken with them, they were just thinking about doing that.  I did not think that in as little time as a week, they’d actually have followed through on the idea.  I expected at least a month or two of hemming and hawing.

Mom told me that the hurricane just brought some rain their way, but nothing serious.  As a matter of fact, the earthquake had been more dramatic, but not for her.  She had recently undergone knee surgery and had been doped up on percocet.  So when Dad asked her if she had seen things on the shelf shaking, she said, “Oh, I thought was just the percocet. I’ve been seeing things shake for a couple of days!”

And maintaining a good sense of humor is just one of the ways they’ve been married for 50 years. 

As we ease into the school year, I can only hope that none of the collective natural disasters interferes with classes.  I’m mildly concerned about water shortages.  Just walking down the unair-conditioned hallways breaks me into a sweat. Too bad I cannot put down a yoga mat and do 90 minutes of bikram with the students. 

Starting School

I’ve definitely ended my fantastic summer vacation the right way–by looking forward to the upcoming new school year with as much ease as I possibly can. My classroom is as decorated as I want it to be, I’ve got lesson plans for the first week and I’ve previewed my class rosters.  The most important thing is that I’ve not worked this weekend.

It’s always a wonderful thing to relax, destress and return to work refreshed and full of creative ideas.  Although I certainly don’t agree with some of the practices that are done in the name of the all mighty standardized tests (this year, we’ll have more assessments than “normal” since we’re phasing out one and phasing in another),  but I’ve written a handful of lesson plans already and I’m excited to get into that groove again.  Since we’re on block scheduling, I only have to write six lessons a week versus ten since I have two preps.

Last year, I hung up several pieces of decorative cloth that I collected from my life of teaching and traveling abroad.  I’ve decided to go with that theme again, but I’ve only decorated the front of my classroom so I can dedicate the rest of my wall space to student work. It’ll just be easier to display their creations without my decorations interrupting.

Some people were referring to this weekend as the last “free” weekend, but I disagree with seeing school as something negative.  I like vacation as much as the next person, but I also know that I can still have an enjoyable social life, especially while living in a happening town like Austin.

As a matter of fact, on the evening of the first day of school, I’m going to an interesting potluck dinner hosted by some local artists I’ve not seen in a long time, meeting a friend for dinner at one of my favorite soul food restaurants later on in the week, going to hear the Buena Vista Social Club on Friday and going downtown to celebrate a friend’s birthday on Saturday night.

And whynot?  When I’m at school, I’m the picture of organization, creative energy and efficiency.  Outside of school, I must relax, recharge my batteries and interact with the rest of society. I get most of my best ideas when I’m either exercising, especially swimming, or attending a cultural event. 

At the same time, on school nights, I make sure I get to bed at a reasonable hour in order to get my 7 to 8 hours of sleep.  There are many delusional people who believe that they can do “just fine” with fewer hours of sleep, but I cannot think of anyone who suffers from that delusion and doesn’t get jacked up on caffeine and/or sugar in order to function.

At my age, 40.9, I stick to doing things the natural route since any shortcut I take as far as diet, exercise or sleep will negatively affect my lower back.  That has been a consistent source of pain for me. I hold stress in my shoulders, jaws and lower back.  I’ve gotten better about not hunching my shoulders, but I still have to wear a nightguard. So far, yoga and chiropractic treatment have just started to chip away at my cemented lo back–just in time for school.

Back to School: The Soft Opening

During the middle of the summer, I thought I would burst into tears when this day had finally come, but I’m remarkably at peace with going back to school tomorrow.  Granted, it’ll be orientation week, which means that I’ll be semi-vacationing without students. Plus, I’ll be able to enjoy at least an hour-long lunch, unlike the 38-minute lunch we teachers are scheduled once the students return.

Unlike any other summer vacation in the past, I spent this one as a full-time writer, complete with making a fact-finding trip to Utila, a Honduran Caribbean island, which is the scene of my second novel, The Adventures of Infinity and Negativa. Not spending the summer moving into a new apt, working or studying has truly allowed me to unwind and get the stress out of my muscles.  I’ve even started going to yoga twice a week to aid the process, but truthfully, my middle-aged lower back has been my biggest motivator for that!

As is the case with most things in life, I’ll miss the little things: mid-afternoon naps, a glass of red wine with my 1 hour lunch, and going to the bathroom whenever I feel the need.  As much as I joke about wearing adult diapers so I can “go” whenever I want to, I’m not sure that I want the hassle of wearing one.  Besides, I usually keep myself in a state of partial dehydration and retrain my bowels not to move so freely after eating. That’s the trickiest thing to readjust to.  On the one hand, it’s not healthy, but it is necessary.

I’m sure some of my colleagues spent this weekend getting their classrooms together, but I’m going to start the new school year off right by not working on the weekends.  Part of the reason stress overtakes some teachers is that they don’t take the time to de-stress, thinking that they have to get ahead or catch up.  After teaching for 15 years, I know that I cannot be at my best without properly rested and as stress-free as I can manage. 

The first thing that goes out the window when stressed is creativity, whether it’s creative lesson planning or creative problem solving.  I learned early on by mistake that when I swam, I immediately felt more energized and as an extra perk, I intuited good solutions to problems.  Years later, I read a book on genius and discovered that other creative people would swim, drive, run or otherwise engage in a physical activity in order to intuit ideas, which is another good reason not to work longer hours. I can exercise and come up with creative ideas to implement in the classroom.

Teaching public school here in Texas makes implementation of creative ideas quite tricky, but the students are worth the effort.  Being happy with my job is worth the effort.  I just have to stick with a regular exercise schedule to come up with the creative solutions to make it possible.

Monochromatic Butterfly

Since I’ve dedicated this summer to being a full-time artist, my main creative outlet has been writing since I work my second novel daily and nearly everything I read somehow flavors that manuscript. Additionally, I finally found the time to reflect on my first two years of teaching at an Austin public school, which has been the most challenging teaching situation I’ve ever faced.

I wrote an essay, called “Monochromatic Butterfly: How Teaching to High-Stakes Testing Leads to Teacher Mediocrity.” Although I started working on this essay a few days after school was out in early June, I did not finish the first round of editing until The Fourth of July.  I thought that was an appropriate time to email what was essentially a two-page protest about my current teaching situation to about 30 friends, the majority of whom were educators or had been. I requested that they email me their reaction to the essay. I made a special request to friends who happened to be English teachers and/or writers to edit the essay.

My goal was to send my polished essay with the AISD superintendent and Lloyd Doggett, but a few friends suggested that I send it to a few major newspapers as an op-ed piece.  One friend, a journalist, recommended that I interview other teachers and throw in some stats.  I laughed at the latter suggestion since I know that people lie with statistics all the time.  I don’t want to adulterate myessay with that deviltry!

In the meantime, I was amazed at some of my friends’ passionate response to “Monochromatic Butterfly.” I emailed them back, asking permission to add their unedited reaction to my essay in its entirety.  This would at least give other educators’ voices, chorusing in harmony with my main point: high-stakes testing leads to mediocrity, both among students and teachers.

With so much emphasis on the test, students mainly prepare through rote memorization and the “new strategy” that my school tried this past school year was to standardized the lesson plans as well.

I was horrified that things had worsened.  My love for teaching had only lasted this long due to my freedom to be creative in the classroom while teaching the curriculum. Take away creative freedom and I might as well do some other less stressful job that pays more. (I know a few passionless accountants who make more money and have less stress than I do!)

Whatever happens as a result of “Monochromatic Butterfly” at least it has provided me a creative outlet to vent and share my opinon. Sometimes, just getting things off my chest is just the thing I need to continue pursuing happiness.

Lost in the Days/Daze

I love the part of summer vacation where I start to lose track of the days.  Thank God, I have a smart phone where I can input all the things that I’m going to do on a calendar! I made up my mind not to work, study nor change apartments over the summer; so now I have a wonderful routine of daily writing, and going to either yoga, capoeira or swimming–along with going out dancing when there’s a good venue to do so.

Everyone who knows that I’m on summer break always makes some jealous comment about hating teachers’ summer break, but I gently remind them that they don’t envy us the other 9 1/2 months! After teaching for 15 years, I finally understand how to use these weeks of unstructured time wisely.  There’s always this tease of studying, working and or moving during the summer because “I have the time,” but this is the first time in a long time that I’m using my summer vacation for something that I normally leave town and go on vacation for: reading.

I know I sound like the typical nerdy teacher, but I’ve got lists of books that I’m determined to plow through and the maddening thing is that the more I read, the more books I put on the list.  Even when I try to curb myself, I still think that now’s the time to do so since “I have the time.” One interesting thing that I’ve noticed in my concentration of reading is how many times I run across the word “struggle.”

That may not seem significant, but one of the characters in my latest novel is named Struggle.  I never outline the chapters of my story or even the overall outline of the book, which would be a wonderful and logical thing to do, but it’s just not ever worked for me.  What has worked very well is writing every single day.  That way, no matter how little or much I write, I’m advancing the story.  I like to humor myself that I’m coming up with the advancing chapters “organically,” but now that I have a serious reduction of stress in my life, I can make even more connections between the various things that I’m reading, which spans a wide range of interests from the Bible, theoretical physics and sexuality, especially women’s sexuality.  In all of those topics, there’s a mention of “struggling.” I never pondered how struggle was such a universal theme in life.  I guess it’s pretty ironic that Struggle is the most laid-back character in the book so far.

I’ve not organically come up with an ending to the story yet.  That’s sort of the gift of my approach to writing fiction.  When I finally reconcile with my subconscious about some new insight, it’s the most amazing feeling.  It’s not often I get to surprise myself in everyday life, but I do increase the frequency through writing.  Occasionally, when I have something stressful weighing on my mind, I go swimming and intuit a solution. Yet, when I write, I never know where the story’s going to take me.

This is truly a vacation.

Summer Vacation’s Here!

My last day at school was this past Thursday and despite sitting through a “never-ending” full faculty meeting (something which hardly ever happens, given the size of our faculty), I managed to complete my checkout process after the meeting by 10:30.  And just to show that I cannot stop being a teacher “cold turkey,” I’d already planned a full day for myself: swimming, grocery shopping, dancing. 

My first postschool activity was somewhat thwarted since the branch of the gym where I normally swim only cleans the pool on Thursdays from 11 to 1.  There was no way I was going to just hangout until after 1; so I went to another branch of the gym.  Not my favorite location since there always seems to be robberies in the locker room, it has a smaller swimming pool and the facilities are not as clean.  But I figured, what the hell, at least there’s a grocery store close by so I can kill two birds with one stone.

I ended up being the nearly killed bird! Even though the water looked a tad cloudy, I swam my usual 21 laps (3 sets of 7 different strokes) and as soon as I’d finished getting dressed, I had a sore throat.  I was mildly concerned since I had a reading at BookWoman on Friday.  The fantastic thing was I didn’t have to strain my voice doing something like teaching a full day of classes, for example.

I happily shopped at the closest grocery store to that gym, which I normally don’t go to, but the biggest treat was the vast selection of good chocolate.  I found one of my favorites: dark chocolate with chilies!  I got everything else on my list and started to feel a little more run down.

By the time I got home, my throat was dry and throbbing, prompting me to make my usual headcold/sorethroat remedy: I boiled fresh ginger and cloves, let it stew and then strained it into a mug of pure, local honey with freshly squeezed lime juice.  The heat from both the temperature and the ginger made my throat feel instantly better.  Despite taking a nap, I still felt too run down to go out dancing, but since I had a good movie on DVD to watch, I called it a night.

On Friday, I still felt sick, but figured bikram yoga would make me feel better.  The sore throat was nearly gone, but my new issue was “progressive diarrhea.” I don’t know what the technical term for this brand of diarrhea was, but everytime I ate anything, I had to go soon after.  I still blamed the cloudy pool water since inevitably, I swallow a bit of the pool water anytime I swim.  As far as oral-fecal contamination is concerned, just a drop will do you in; so when I made myself lunch, I also prepared a margarita (fresh lime and tangelo juices, cream of coconut and two shots of tequila shaken over ice and strained) since I believe in the healing powers of tequila when it comes to digestive issues.

I took about an hour long nap, then got myself together to trek to BookWoman.  The best part about that dreadful trip north on I-35 was that UT was out for the summer and I zipped and made it to BookWoman quite early.  I set up my sound equipment, help set up chairs and chatted a bit with some customers who happen to be there.

The reading went well, considering how drained I felt.  There’s something about performing that makes me rise to the occasion.  Afterwards, a small group of us went to a Cuban restaurant.  Although I was invited to go downtown, I wanted to take my equipment home.  I also knew that I once I got home, I was in for the night.  I slept so soundly that I know it was the right call.

I’m glad that my Saturday morning volunteer opportunity had fallen through since I just had a luxurious time painting the whole morning before being picked up by a friend later that day to listen to 5 bands play at a nearby “pool party” sponored at an apartment complex.  Although some of the bands were good and others could definitely change their names to “Constant Headache,” I enjoyed the extended opportunity to people watch.  I’d worn my bathing suit, but only sat on the edge, dangling my lower legs in.

I was just getting over a pool related illness.  I knew I’d surely get something with all those little kids and increasingly drunk adults in the pool! Besides, I was busy studying everyone in order to use it in my current book.  The more I can observe real, live people, the easier I can make my fictional characters seem real.

So tonight, 4 days after being on vacation, I’m finally going out dancing!  I’ve even got two places lined up just in case the first one, which is a new venue for me, turns out to be a dud.  I love vacation schedules.

Takes Two to Tango

Fire drill pranks…food fights…final exams. Yes, this school year’s coming to an end.  I was so anxious to be over and done with this school year, that I took it upon myself to write the final exams for both the science subjects that I teach–much to the surprise of the other teachers since we were supposed to divide up the work and all write a part of the final.  At times like these, I remind myself that if Moses was a committee, then the slaves would still be in Egypt.

Even though I’m bringing the 15th school year of my teaching career to a close, I still become giddy with anticipation of nearly 3 months of unstructured time.  I have big plans of finishing my second novel’s rough draft, exercising more, promoting my first novel through readings and business-card dropping and reading even more than I already do.

Beside my nightstand, I have a pile of books and magazines that I read through every day.  I no longer have the patience to simply have a pile of books that I’m going to get to. Actually, I still have THAT pile on my desk, but I’m referring to the pile of reading material that I’m actually reading through on a daily rotation. I’m sure there’s some neurosis that describes people who do that, but I like to humor myself as an eclectic reader who enjoys reading a wide variety of stuff on a daily basis.  At least I always have something interesting to talk about. Even if it’s the fact that for the past 6 weeks or so, my pile of reading material consists of the Bible at the bottom and another enlightening book called Cunt on the top. My ritual is to transfer the intact pile from my nightstand to my bed and as I read a little from each, I then place them back onto the nightstand.  I always start with the Bible, which is never taken out of rotation no matter how many times I read it.

Two things that are being temporarily taken out of rotation are my Spanish conversational and tango classes.  I love those classes, but the flip side of taking classes is that that time is always obligated to those activities.  So part of my stay-cation is doing some different things that I couldn’t do before since I was in those classes.  I’m so glad that I have a good Spanish grammar book, which is going in the reading pile (as if you couldn’t see that one coming!) and I’m at the point in my tango dancing abilities that I can dance competently at a milonga, which I plan to attend on a regular basis so my skills won’t languish.  One insightful thing I learned in my over-a-year studying of tango is the alternative interpretation of “it takes two to tango.” 

At first blush, one thinks of two people, the leader and the follower. Recently, I went to tango class after drinking a margarita and a glass of wine and danced very well.  So, I now think: it takes two (drinks) to tango.

Another useful piece of tango advice I heard while doing a grueling 3-day, 5-hour tango workshop was:  “The man will be the king when the woman becomes the queen.” Again, at first glance, tango appears to be the most chauvinistic social dance, but as all men, whether beginner or advanced, realize, he cannot accomplish anything without the woman’s cooperation.  And as in life, women are much more cooperative to the point of bending over backwards in sexy clothing and stylish shoes if she’s happy.  When’s the last time you heard a group of men talking about how easy it is to make a woman happy?  Such is life and so is tango. When it’s all the man’s responsibility to do something, then he gets all the blame when anything goes wrong.

The two classes I’m continuing are bikram yoga and capoeira.  As a matter of fact, now that I’m going to have 3 months of mostly unstructured time, I’ll have the chance to do yoga at least twice a week rather than just once as my busy, school’s-in-session schedule would allow. I marvel at people who are my age and older who don’t do yoga.  I don’t know how they manage to walk upright without constant back pain.

Now it may seem contadictory to practice capoeira if I’m concerned with back pain, but I love how capoeira keeps me in shape, especially my legs and butt although other women tend to notice my arms. I’ve heard from male friends that they notice too, but they claim they are not generally free to compliment a woman on her body since they run the risk of being slapped.  I think something’s definitely wrong with the world since we have so many bad words to refer to a woman, but hardly ever receive a compliment since a man is afraid of bodily harm.  Why isn’t the opposite the norm?

Fortunately, I’ll have plenty of time to contemplate that along with a host of many other questions I’ve not even thought of yet after Thursday!  I officially kick off my vacation with a reading.  Afterwards, who knows?

Tornadoes & Technology

I’m not a gadget person.  I don’t rush out to buy the latest geegaw. On the other hand, I don’t have to be dragged kicking and screaming to the latest technology.  Something just has to breakdown.  That alone is enough to motivate me to toss my technological dinosaur into the tar pit (acutally the proper recycling bin) and get the latest evolved gadget that I can afford, knowing that it’s probably outdated when I walk out of the store, but at least it works.

Within a three-week window, I made two important upgrades.  The first was my phone.  I knew the contract was about to expire and so was the phone itself.  Nowadays, things aren’t “Teresa proof” since my seemingly tame lifestyle demands more things that can withstand being dropped.  Even though my cell is usually turned off while I’m at school, it’s still a high frequency used item and subject to many mechanical stresses, riding around in my form-fitting, but not grossly tight pants is the gentlest of the stressors.

I happily upgraded my cell for a sleeker, thinner model that replaced the arthritic trackball with a neat, raised square touch pad. The vendor even hooked me up with a cheaper calling plan since I didn’t use nearly as many minutes as I’d paid for and I wasn’t previously getting the teacher discount.  Technically, I wasn’t a teacher when I bought my cell two years ago since I was unemployed at the time despite the fact that I’d been teaching for thirteen years .

I dashed away from the store after the guy finally finished transfering all my contact information from the old phone to the new phone.  My palate demanded a glass of red wine, but I delayed gratification in order to charge my phone first, which only had 15% battery.  Tearing opening the box and avoiding the contamination of touching the instructions, I got the cable to charge the battery. I astutely noticed that one end connected to the phone and the other connected to a computer. So, I grabbed the accompanying CD to load the software onto my computer.

Tech problem #1: my netbook doesn’t have a place for a CD.  For the sake of smallness, the CD drive was eliminated.  No problem, I’ll just get my attachable floppy disk drive, I thought through a haze of food and wine deprived logic.  I plugged it into the USB port and thrice attempted to put that circular CD into the square floppy disk drive before realizing with maniacal laughter the stupidity of my attempt.

After securing a glass of red wine, I then took my work laptop out of its case, inserted the CD into the proper drive and charged my phone.  About 5 days passed before I found the time in my busy life to read the basic instructions, including the wonderful feature that the USB end of the cable can be inserted into an AC adapter–a technological innovation that eliminates the need for two separate cables.  DUH!

The following week, my capoeira group performed for an event at my school.  I handed my camera to a friend, who enthusiastically took many pictures–none of which could later be downloaded onto my computer, tech problem #2.  This was truly baffling since I’d used that camera, memory card and card reader many times before.  Overuse in the form of “corrupt files” was probably the problem.

First, I took the memory card in and had the files transfered to a USB.  Well, the USB didn’t have enough space for all the pictures (#3).  So, I bought a new memory card although the person didn’t think that the old one was corrupted. When I got home, I put the new memory card into the card reader and it still didn’t work(#4).

So, the second trip I took to the camera place, I took the new memory card and the card reader.  Another guy helped me.  Not only could he not see the pictures on the new memory card, but he didn’t think the card reader had any problems(#5).

Today, I’m taking in both old and new memory cards, the card reader and the netbook.  I’m not taking any chances this time.  I’ve learned my lesson: never presume where the technological breakdown is occurring.

This past Thursday morning, we had a tornado drill and I had to usher all my students into the hallway.  I grabbed my personal possessions, including to my work-issued laptop that could connect to the internet wirelessly.  I figured even if a tornado came, I’d still have to write my finals, right?

I braced  myself psychologically for the internet going down.  I planned to work on my finals while babysitting my students out in the hallway with the other teachers and their classes.  Miraculously, the tornado never hit us and the internet never went down.  After teaching in Tegucigalpa, Honduras for three years, where the internet went down more often than a $20 hooker, I superstitously believe that any change in weather will interrupt service.

Once the tornado drill was over and we returned to the classroom, I had the brilliant insight that technological problems where like tornadoes in that you never  can predict where and when one was going to hit. All you could do was brace yourself and bravely see it through.