procrastination

To procrastinate, also to dally, defer, delay, loiter, postpone, prolong, stall, wait...
Note to self: current events may be important, and certain voices may even be articlulate and informed, but investigating last night's presidential debate is not the same as researching county housing and unemployment statistics for my Instructional Setting Analysis, due a mere four days from now.
Note to self the second: publicly chastising self via blog for procrastinating is still procrastinating. We all know it's true. Back to work now, before the kids wake up!

taking time to breathe before the fall quarter starts

It's a rare quiet weeknight tonight, one of the last for a while with a fairly light workload hanging over my head. Classes start in five days, and though there's a paper due on the first day of one of the four classes we're taking, there's not much else to do this week but turn up for the fall practicum hours in the classroom. I've been squeezing in some volunteer time at my daughters' school, getting caught up on the family's eBay business, and trying to give my two-year-old as much extra attention as possible after a month of being away forty hours a week!
I'm enjoying the peace immensely: my husband crashed out really early tonight after a long day of running all sorts of errands, taking my car to the mechanic, and putting the finishing touches on a rental house before the new tenants move in this weekend. I'm letting my ten-year-old be distracted from practicing her flute because the distraction at the moment is working with the seven-year-old to scrub clean the stairwell! Weird but true. And the two-year-old who spent all afternoon fussing and insisting on constant attention is making abstract art with her crayons, and actually on paper this time!
This week has been eventful in the sixth grade class where I've been assigned for the fall practicum (and where I'll begin student teaching in a few months). One boy in particular has been acting out like crazy: milking a minor injury (perhaps even faking a bit... I'm just saying...) whenever he thinks it might get him out of work, throwing fits and crying when he gets called on it or reminded to just do his assignments, and even pestering and kicking one or two classmates. I'm hoping to be able to give him a little attention when he's not being naughty; I told him the other day that I'd caught him being smart (I really had: he had some insightful and even almost philosophical answers to what could have been a super simplistic assignment) and that now I'd know what to expect from him!
Time for bed; got to manage the kiddos and be fresh in the morning!

Beautiful video

I found this video when searching for one described by my cooperating teacher for my student teaching assignment. Let's see how the embedding works: