Forest service

My heraldic colors (see my profile pic!) are blue and white, so that's probably what I would choose - though I might choose greens; I'm a Laurel apprentice, so I have a green belt. I do tend to go for shades of those two colors most of the time, even in modern clothes.

2,150 miles to Antlers, Oklahoma, where Mom's parents lived. Though at that time, it'd have been much longer, because the Interstates obviously didn't exist yet. I'm not sure where Dad's parents lived at the time - New Jersey or New York, but I'm not sure which and I'm not sure exactly where.

((Cracks knuckles))

🤬🤬🤬

Students are supposed to be able to choose the shape of their sails, so they need to make them, and the whole structure has to be solid enough to lift a load of washers ~60 cm. I could carve their sails myself, but that's 30 sails - potentially more, if the kids want more than 3 on their hub.

This is a district-wide curriculum adoption (Project Lead the Way), but I'll certainly bring it up.

Unfortunately, this is what we've got in the kits we were provided.

CTE teacher life: Writing a safety test for box knives, because your new curriculum has your 8th graders carving windmill blades out of balsa wood using them. 8th graders. Hashtag wtaf??

#EduSky

Budget office nominee Russell Vought has stated veterans' disability benefits should be means-tested—Sen. Blumenthal calls him out.

BlueSky user shanley tucci
@markpopham.bsky.social

Raw milk is one of those ideas that can really only take hold when people haven't seen a cow. if you see a cow from let's say ten feet or less you immediately understand the problem that pasteurization is solving

Certainly - that's why I cropped everyone out! :)

Uuuuugh!!! Oh, there are some real icks to teaching. I was half expecting it to be dried mucus or something, but mould is as bad!

For the first two:

Questionable choices
(E)xecrable behavior

😆 (but not really)

Poster says, "I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant." At the bottom is a drawn portrait of Martin Luther King, Jr.

MLK assembly at school today, and the Leadership kids made a huge poster. This may become my mantra for the next few years. (Student faces cropped out of the picture; that's why it's cut off weirdly.)

#EduSky

Got a survey from the WEA (Washington Education Association) today. For the first time, Bluesky was one of the choices when asking about social media I use. Woot!

A student asked me, "What are we doing today?"

I answered, "The same thing we do every day, Pinky: Try to take over the WORLD!"

Blank look.

#Where'sMyWalker

Department leads at district are encouraging us to use AI to help us create rubrics as we transition into Standards-Based Grading districtwide. But we know how much power & other resources AI uses. It's a time-saver, but what are the ethics of it?

Discuss.
#EduSky

Hot take that's actually not so hot, from a 27-year veteran middle school teacher:

Perfect attendance awards are ableist and encourage the spread of illnesses. Instead, reward kids for showing compassion, respect, and effort.

#EduSky

I haven't used this functionality in years, so I may be waaaaaay out of date (I now teach Career & Tech Ed), but I used to use Microsoft Word for this. If you have a subscription through your school district, it's effectively free.

Nana has the time and the facts.

Mood.

A gold book on a red background. Oathbreakers in red letters. In white letters - Our names, and the subtitles: The War of Brothers that Shattered an Empire and Made Medieval Europe. And a sword.

#Oathbreakers is "historical writing at its finest." -
@chicagorevbooks.bsky.social. A top-10 new release in history from Amazon Books.

It's got swords, sex, witchcraft, demons, betrayals, one irritating dude named Bernard, and the fate of Charlemagne's empire hanging in the balance. Out today!

Oh my God. If I facepalm any harder, I'll bruise myself. Among Us is now cosplaying assassins??

An electronic control board for a school scoreboard.

Teacher/wrestling mom life: running the clock for the home wrestling match.

A gray cat, asleep and stretched out. Next to her, an extremely long black cat, also asleep and stretched out.

This is 12-year-old Éowyn (gray) and SEVEN-MONTH-OLD Thorin (black).

I am uncertain of my initial belief that this is a photo of two cats. I suspect it's actually a cat and an incipient moose. #caturday

Dear self:

Repeat after me.

"Disaster movies are not scientific documentaries, and nobody wants to hear you explain why the science is wrong. Especially not your long-suffering, but beloved, husband."

Love,
Me

I managed to turn on my classroom Keurig WITHOUT the cup to catch the coffee today.

On the plus side, nothing was ruined that couldn't be tossed without a worry, and the room now smells like coffee.

On the minus side, I'm short a couple of ounces of coffee.

Sigh.