Scary Stuff

The world has become a very scary place in the past few years.  I'm not talking about terrorists; I am talking about local folk.  Last Sunday during prayer request time in church, an older friend of mine asked for prayer for a friend of hers.  The friend of my friend was sleeping in her home, which happens to be near my school, after visiting her husband in rehab for surgery, when people broke into her home, threw something over her, told her not to move or they would shoot her, and ransacked her house.  There has been a rash of burglaries and break ins near my school.  The homes are mostly middle class or upper middle class homes.  The break ins happen usually during the day at times that indicate the homes are being watched.  This area is not where I live, but any area is susceptible.  My area also had a couple break ins this summer. For someone who lives alone, this information is very scary.  I have been locking my storm door, double checking that all doors are locked, putting my cell phone next to my bed at night, and thinking how grateful I am that Maggie has a big loud bark.

I am recovering from a heart tuneup.  Wednesday I had a pulmonary vein ablation which lasted 5 hours.  I had atrial fibrillation which was pretty constant so they decided to cauterize the nerve endings to my atria that make my heart beat fast.  I was told the dangers (mainly stroke) and the hopeful outcome of no more arrhythmia and cessation of the drug therapy I was using to slow down my heart (which was really slowing me down).  I chose to have the microsurgery instead of a lifetime of heavy cardiac drugs.  I was not prepared for the complications of the procedure.  My heart is good...back to the old normal rhythm...but I have second degree burns on my back, and because of the two tubes that were put there,  my throat is so sore when I swallow that I can't eat.  I live alone so I can't change the dressings on my back. I had to be at medical appointments that were scheduled during the time I was not supposed to drive. Luckily, my daughters were with me and became my medical advocates.  They were there when the doctor came to talk to me.  They learned how to change the dressings.  They were able to ask questions that I was not able to form because I was on pain medication.  My point is...whenever people have major medical procedures, they should have an advocate with them to listen to the doctor and nurses.  I can't remember all the doctor said, but they can.  They knew the questions to ask.  They also were quite upset at the complications. 

My daughters have taken turns staying with me until next week when I can drive and resume my normal life again.  I was told I would feel just fine in 24 hours; well, I still can't swallow without pain and the blisters are still draining.  My nearest daughter lives 1 1/2 hours away; the other lives 3 hours away.  It is difficult for them to be here.  One had to take time off work; the other has a two year old.  Next week the wound care goes to my best friend who will have to come over once a day to change the dressings, bless her heart.

It is difficult for single people to have serious medical procedures, but they should always have someone with them who can advocate for them: ask the necessary questions, learn the necessary procedures; schedule the necessary appointments; and, if necessary, chastise the medical community when there are problems patients were not prepared for.

It is getting to be Back to School time in all the store advertisements.  School begins for me with meetings in less than three weeks.  The students return a week after that.  I was sent my schedule yesterday.  I have five classes of American literature in a row, lunch, two planning periods, then a class of sophomores.  It is pretty much a rotten schedule.  I hate teaching so many classes in a row.  The energy level necessary is huge.  At my age, the energy is waning a bit.  Then I have about two hours of down time, during which I plan, grade, meet in my PLC  (Professional Learning Community) group, and run the English department.  The worse part of the schedule is firing up again to teach those sophomores, a large class of mostly male nonreaders.  I also have a student teacher first semester that I am mentoring.  It lessens the grading but increases the planning.  I hope she is a take-charge student teacher so I can learn new things from her just as she learns old things from me.

This year there is new technology to learn in that we have an online school site where I will have a page on which I put assignments, schedules, information, etc.  I will have to keep that page current all the time.  I also am thinking of signing up with an online plan book site.  We already have computer grading and are signed into an online plagiarism checking site.  My computer is wired into a large screen TV in my room so I can project websites and information directly to the kids.  Our school is in the process of equipping rooms with smart boards and projectors so everything can be shown on the large white screen.  In my room is stationed the laptop computer lab cart.  The new textbooks have online student and teacher copies so we don't even have to take books home anymore.  There are online quizzes and lesson plans as well. 

I love what I can do with technology in the classroom, but I see technology changing the way kids learn.  They don't think they have to know anything anymore because they can always look it up...even from their cellphones.  Students live in a world filled with bits of information on TV, in video games, and on the Web so their attention span is quite limited, and they need to be entertained while they learn.  Many students stay up so late with visual stimuli that they easily fall asleep at their desks during school.   We also have to be careful of electronic cheating, both by consulting cell phones, taking pictures with cell phones, and plagiarism by online cut and paste.

Education is changing so much in the 21st Century.  I'm glad I am part of it but also glad I will soon be old enough to retire and leave all this newfangled stuff to the youngsters.  I wonder if I will get a smartboard in my room before I retire.  Chalk and the old green board are so outdated!!

I have found the AARP games.  I try the game first because I really learn by doing.  But I hope I will have better scores when I learn the rules.  I am not a fast player, which is bad because some of the games I like are word games against a clock.  I just feel that they are exercise for my old brain and I have to just forget the score, but I learned too late where the button is to turn off the reporting to my site.  So since I can’t remove my first scores, I disregard them.  I am using the score section as links to the games, and I have turned off all scores since then.  I used to do well on sight and memory word games, but then I used to do a lot of things I can’t do well anymore.  Such is the way of life.

OK...so I can't find the score turn off on some of these games. 

Before I get busy with my day today, I have to tell you about Maggie's new trick.  This past weekend I noticed Maggie was chewing on a chew stick.  I figured that she found an old one she had hidden because I had put the bag away.  You see, the sticks were not moving through her as well has they used to and were sometimes causing her to vomit her food.  Anyway, I noticed several times that she had that chew stick in her mouth and was surprised she had not finished it.

Sunday I was talking on the phone with my sister when I saw Maggie leave the living room and come back with a chew stick.  I was surprised.  When she finished chewing the first stick, she left the room and came back with another.  She had found the bag, opened it, and was taking sticks from the bag one by one, like a big chew stick dispenser.  Who says old dogs can't learn new tricks?