Some people call me Maurice
Tomorrow late morning we're loading all 180ish 7-12 students onto buses (provided the buses arrive on time, which...we'll see) and taking them to a mountain resort for two nights and two and a half days of Character Building Camp.
Last year's camp was held at a seaside resort, which while it was incredibly pretty, I have to say I'm glad there's no added stress of potential student vs. ocean dangers. It should be a fun, if exhausting, couple of days. And, as several of my students and I discussed, it will also help the time between now and Friday night, when we can go see the new Harry Potter movie.
One tradition of CB Camp is the talent show, which is held by class (there are between 2-4 classes per grade, with about 18-24 kids in each class) and is kind of reminiscent of Spring Weekend performances at Concordia, only with much more teen angst...though approximately the same number of tubby guys in drag.
Travis, being the drama teacher, is kind of in charge of this part of the camp. He instituted a new rule this year-all non-live music had to be submitted ahead of time for approval. This was mostly to avoid what happened last year, when a group of very nice but very unfortunate 11th graders had a skit, and its soundtrack included the non-radio edited version of 50 Cent's "In Da Club." Oops.
The new system seems to have worked well so far, and we've had some lessons about just exactly what "radio edit" versions of songs are...though not all songs with explicit lyrics are edited for radio here because they're in English. It does mean, though, that Travis has had the pleasure of sitting and listening to burned CDs of all sorts for several hours.
During lunch today, we sat in his room screening music. Most was typical high school fare-some angsty pop rock, some hip hop, some Hillary Duff and Lindsay Lohan...and some was really, really weird. One group had a CD that was all instrumental music, which obviously would be safe from the "no naughty words" rule. After listening to one particularly trippy Rainbow Brite on acid tune, though, we were starting to wonder if we should have added another stipulation: no music that either contains naughty words OR makes Mr. Travis and Mrs. Erin want to scream naughty words.
The agreed consequence for submitting inappropriate music was having your CD returned to you with 24 hours to resumbit it free of profanity. My suggestion for further action if there was still inappropriate music was to force the students to perform their entire skit with either "Little Spanish Flea," "Girl from Ipanema" or "Final Countdown" as their background music.
Unfortunately, we weren't required to take further action, so I'm going to have to keep this idea in my head for next year.
********
I tried at least five times to post this last night, but apparently my computer had gotten the memo that said, "Hey, it's Everything Sucks for Erin Day, join the fun!" So here it is...a happy gram:
I had a record-breakingly craptastic weekend, which led to a fitful night of sleep last night and a very groggy, crabby E this morning.
Upon my arrival at school, I entered the staff lounge to hear one of my least-favorite people (possibly ever) blathering on about how he is an expert on (insert various things here) and is writing a book. "Several books, actually."
Unable to control myself, I mumbled "Oh for (expletive) sake," then went back to my classroom to fetch my iPod and some schoolwork, thinking that while I would look unsociable, at least I wouldn't be talked at.
Stupid Erin.
I went back into the staff room only to have this particular individual beckon to me with one finger. This gesture is a no-no in Indonesia, culturally, as it is generally how one beckons a prostitute. I'd not be bothered by it, but this individual considers himself to be an expert on all Indonesian culture, to the point where he is always lecturing people in a pompous manner about how they're doing things wrong. He also writes everything in red ink…another cultural no-no.
He talked at me about something for a while, I pretended to listen politely and then came up with an excuse to go elsewhere.
I believe my excellent excuse was, “I…have to…um…go.”
Later in the morning, I found a yellow note in the folder outside my door that said "Happy Gram!" I perked up momentarily; I thought maybe someone noticed I was having a less-than-stellar day and was sending me a smile.
No.
It was a note from the leader of our accreditation stuff, asking why I hadn't come to see her yet today to update her on how my committee was doing, and could I please take the time to do so today? I hadn't been to see her a) because I was doing my job…you know, teaching, and b) because I was doing that ALL DAY. I teach all but basically my lunch period and visiting her is not top priority even on a non-busy day, as she really only shows up to our school once every month and a half or so.
Happy gram indeed.
I had a tiny bit of time where I could have met with her in the afternoon, but instead I used that time to put blue refill ink into a red whiteboard marker to make purple.
I rule.
Cue my theme music.
Last year's camp was held at a seaside resort, which while it was incredibly pretty, I have to say I'm glad there's no added stress of potential student vs. ocean dangers. It should be a fun, if exhausting, couple of days. And, as several of my students and I discussed, it will also help the time between now and Friday night, when we can go see the new Harry Potter movie.
One tradition of CB Camp is the talent show, which is held by class (there are between 2-4 classes per grade, with about 18-24 kids in each class) and is kind of reminiscent of Spring Weekend performances at Concordia, only with much more teen angst...though approximately the same number of tubby guys in drag.
Travis, being the drama teacher, is kind of in charge of this part of the camp. He instituted a new rule this year-all non-live music had to be submitted ahead of time for approval. This was mostly to avoid what happened last year, when a group of very nice but very unfortunate 11th graders had a skit, and its soundtrack included the non-radio edited version of 50 Cent's "In Da Club." Oops.
The new system seems to have worked well so far, and we've had some lessons about just exactly what "radio edit" versions of songs are...though not all songs with explicit lyrics are edited for radio here because they're in English. It does mean, though, that Travis has had the pleasure of sitting and listening to burned CDs of all sorts for several hours.
During lunch today, we sat in his room screening music. Most was typical high school fare-some angsty pop rock, some hip hop, some Hillary Duff and Lindsay Lohan...and some was really, really weird. One group had a CD that was all instrumental music, which obviously would be safe from the "no naughty words" rule. After listening to one particularly trippy Rainbow Brite on acid tune, though, we were starting to wonder if we should have added another stipulation: no music that either contains naughty words OR makes Mr. Travis and Mrs. Erin want to scream naughty words.
The agreed consequence for submitting inappropriate music was having your CD returned to you with 24 hours to resumbit it free of profanity. My suggestion for further action if there was still inappropriate music was to force the students to perform their entire skit with either "Little Spanish Flea," "Girl from Ipanema" or "Final Countdown" as their background music.
Unfortunately, we weren't required to take further action, so I'm going to have to keep this idea in my head for next year.
********
I tried at least five times to post this last night, but apparently my computer had gotten the memo that said, "Hey, it's Everything Sucks for Erin Day, join the fun!" So here it is...a happy gram:
I had a record-breakingly craptastic weekend, which led to a fitful night of sleep last night and a very groggy, crabby E this morning.
Upon my arrival at school, I entered the staff lounge to hear one of my least-favorite people (possibly ever) blathering on about how he is an expert on (insert various things here) and is writing a book. "Several books, actually."
Unable to control myself, I mumbled "Oh for (expletive) sake," then went back to my classroom to fetch my iPod and some schoolwork, thinking that while I would look unsociable, at least I wouldn't be talked at.
Stupid Erin.
I went back into the staff room only to have this particular individual beckon to me with one finger. This gesture is a no-no in Indonesia, culturally, as it is generally how one beckons a prostitute. I'd not be bothered by it, but this individual considers himself to be an expert on all Indonesian culture, to the point where he is always lecturing people in a pompous manner about how they're doing things wrong. He also writes everything in red ink…another cultural no-no.
He talked at me about something for a while, I pretended to listen politely and then came up with an excuse to go elsewhere.
I believe my excellent excuse was, “I…have to…um…go.”
Later in the morning, I found a yellow note in the folder outside my door that said "Happy Gram!" I perked up momentarily; I thought maybe someone noticed I was having a less-than-stellar day and was sending me a smile.
No.
It was a note from the leader of our accreditation stuff, asking why I hadn't come to see her yet today to update her on how my committee was doing, and could I please take the time to do so today? I hadn't been to see her a) because I was doing my job…you know, teaching, and b) because I was doing that ALL DAY. I teach all but basically my lunch period and visiting her is not top priority even on a non-busy day, as she really only shows up to our school once every month and a half or so.
Happy gram indeed.
I had a tiny bit of time where I could have met with her in the afternoon, but instead I used that time to put blue refill ink into a red whiteboard marker to make purple.
I rule.
Cue my theme music.
posted by Erin @ 7:03 AM
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