Words of Wisdom

At the end of each semester, I like to give a survey to all of my students, which allows them to tell me what they liked and didn't like about my class. And I also get their feedback on what they think I need to improve on for teaching in the future.
I added a couple of new questions this time around: 1) What advice would you give to a future student taking my class and 2) Any additional comments?. I got A LOT of really great feedback. Students are very willing to be honest and I am definitely taking into account for next school year.

Here are some funny responses I got from several students:

Stay Swag

Ms. Ebberts has her moments. Her mental abilities go blank. She will be fine. And oh yea she has heat flashes, so just bear with her.

I love you beautiful creature

She gets excited which causes her to get hot sometimes...let her get some water. And...she has the "gremlin" thing sometimes.She's not crazy.

Don't get lost on the way to the bathroom because when you get back she will think you went to the cafeteria.

Laugh at her jokes even if they aren't funny. It helps her self-esteem.
(I got a lot of comments of students saying the did NOT like my jokes. I, however, will continue to tell them...)

If you want to be a teacher's pet bring oatmeal for her or a Bavarian cream pizza from CiCi's

Don't dance around her. She will dislocate your knee or send you to intensive care.
(i told all of my classes about my junior prom experience: i definitely sent a guy to the emergency room dancing to "I'm Sorry for 2004" by Ruben Studdard")

The Phantom of Pine Hill

Who knew the town of Emerson (where Ned Nickerson attends college) had so much history to it?! The gentlemen of Omega Chi Epsilon put on a pageant to explain the settlement of the Indians in the town. Ned even got to play the role of Chief (but does that surprise you?)

Here's the premise:
Nancy is asked by Mr. Rorick to come stay at his house because of some spooky happenings that have been occurring. You see, Mr. Rorick's, house keeper, Mrs. Holman, thinks there is a phantom who can walk through walls that has been disturbing the house. Nancy, who makes it very clear she does not believe in supernatural things, and Bess and George, set out to get to the bottom of it. Well, this mystery turns out to be more than what the sleuths originally expected. You see, the Rorick Family has missing treasure on a sunken ship, Lucy Bell, and well, you can bet your bottom dollar that the phantom wants to get in on the action. So, it is up to Nancy and friends to not only locate these missing treasures, but figure out who this phantom is!

Something interesting about this book: Mr. Drew was not in it at all. Usually, Nancy accompanies Mr. Drew on his cases, but not this time. I suppose it's because the girls were visiting the guys at Emerson. Also, her friends played more of a prominent role in the mystery. For instance, it's George who finds hidden money and Bess who traps the crook. Anyway, it's nice to see Nancy not in the spotlight every now and then, it helps me to remember that she is normal and not some super hero.

I just started the next one, let's just say I was scared, and I was only 4 pages in!
Oh, summer is just around the corner, so I'm going to be reading ND like crazy!

I'm still sick. Today my eyes were bloodshot and my head hurt. So this combination does not make teaching very easy. On the bright side, my students were pretty entertaining today, despite their lack of work.

My 3rd block got on the topic of me having facebook and twitter.

Here are some of the things that they say they I probably tweet about:
"Should I walk or run today?"
"I just ate oatmeal"
" I'm funna eat an apple"
"2 +2 = potatoes"


I also got asked if my "big black boyfriend" is a body guard. My initial reaction was "no." But then on second thought I answered, "yes, he is. and if you don't quit talking then I'll bring him in here." I may have also said something along the lines of injuring them, but I can't remember, there are a lot of things I say that I probably shouldn't...

Here's a conversation I overheard in my 4th block today:

"I can't believe you pooped on his car, Jimmy..."

Oh school.

So here's a story:
So, you know, I was out sick yesterday, well, there was not one substitute to cover my classes, so other subs were to take my 3 classes. Well, 4th block sub must of forgotten, because, well, they didn't show and my kids skipped out--and they had a test!!!! So, today at school, I run into a few of my kids from that block and they asked what happened to me and where I went. Then my kiddos I have today say, "Hey, Ms. Ebberts, we heard you didn't show up for class yesterday."


Today I got asked: "Do we have to take our test today?"
Me: "Yes, why wouldn't we?"
Student: "Because the world's ending tomorrow."

I got my haircut on Monday. My Geometry kids see me on Tuesday.
Girl: Oh my gosh! Look at your hair!!! I'm having a moment right now.

Getting ready to play a review game for a test, the task was to write a team name on a mini-white board.
Boy's response: Ms. Ebberts, will you go on a date with me?

sick day

I am out sick today. I woke up this morning and couldn't talk, I could barely open my mouth my throat was so swollen. My voice started going out yesterday, but I figured with a good night's sleep, I would be back to normal. But that wasn't the case. I've spent a good portion of today sleeping. I am just achy and tired. There are only 9.5 days of school and I can't believe it.

We had class award nominations in one of my Geometry classes earlier this week; I was nominated for 'Best Hair' and 'Most Likely to be President'

the clue of the whistling bagpipes

BORING
Holy SMOKES!! I've been reading that book for ALL OF APRIL AND HALF OF MAY. It did not hold my attention, but I couldn't bring myself to skipping it. I just had to read it. So, I don't really care to provide a review of this book.However, something I noticed: this is the first book in which killing is mentioned. The bad guys killed sheep and Lady Douglas' dog.

In other news, I just got back from prom! I saw of few of my students which was a lot of fun! I teach sophomores, so not many of my kiddos get to go, since it's by invitation only from a senior. It was a bit weird watching students grind to that nasty Rhiana song, "S and M" or something along those lines.

One of my girls was looking in her bag for something, then I hear all this laughter--she found a strip of bacon in her purse and she didn't know how it got there. So there's this strip of bacon sitting on her desk.

Also, I think I'm going to try out a new recipe this weekend. I volunteered to bring treats for one of my coworker's birthday on Monday, so I want to try something new.
Last week I made chocolate cookies. But instead of using peanut butter, I just used more chocolate chips. I froze 1/2 the cookie dough, so I'll be baking the rest of those. I am very pleased with these cookies. It was almost like eating mini brownies that weren't so dense, which is what I like. But I also want to do cupcakes, so I think I'm going to try some dark chocolate cupcakes. I also want to try to make my own frosting, but last time I tried, it was a complete fail, so we'll see...

May Day

I am trying out 2 new recipes right now. Both came from AllRecipes.com:

chocolate chip muffins (with brown sugar topping)
blueberry muffins with cinnamon coconut streusel

Not sure how either of these are going to turn out. This is my first time making muffins from scratch! The chocolate chip muffin batter was not overly sweet, hopefully, the chocolate chips will compensate for that. I went against making them CHOCOLATE chocolate chip muffins, seeing as I'm taking these to a baby shower brunch, and let's be real--they're really just cupcakes :)

I used (thawed) frozen blueberries instead of fresh. I'm a bit worried that the coldness of the blueberries will have a weird reaction to the batter and not fully cook, we'll see....
Making baked goods from scratch is SO MUCH FUN. It's nice to know what I'm eating and it's also a sense of accomplishment. AND, it's SO MUCH CHEAPER. I got 2 doz. muffins with each batch! And what's awesome is I always have flour, sugar, eggs, and butter on hand, so the only additional purchases I had to make were the blueberries and mini-chocolate chips!

I've realized that I need to start developing a recipe book. Yes, I have a stored one on-line, but I don't like needed my laptop with me in the kitchen. So, maybe this is a summer goal? In order for that to happen, I need: printer, camera, and binder?

I've had 3 cups of coffee this morning, so I'm a bit off the wall. I leave you with this:

HAPPY MAY!!!