Wednesday, December 8, 2010

strawberry fields forever



“Why is there talking?” Ms. Nguyen said. “There should be no talking.”

“Do I have to play?” asked the boy.

“Do you want to pass summer school?” Ms. Nguyen answered.

The boy asked if it was O.K. to push people to get them in the right order.

“This is your third warning,” Ms. Nguyen said. “Do not speak out in my class.”

Thursday, November 11, 2010

contingent

http://www.torontorslsubbranch.com/COLONIAL%20PERIOD.html

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/contingent

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

on the ball aka F@#!¿@ BRILLIANT!!



On the ball

Meaning

To be alert; in command of one's senses.

Origin

Some authorities have suggested that 'on the ball' originated in the sporting arena, and alludes to runners being on the balls of their feet, eagerly ready to run a race. This has some similarities with being 'up to scratch', which derives from boxers or runners being ready at the starting line. It is a plausible derivation, but has nothing to recommend it beyond that.

A more commonly advocated location for the source of 'on the ball' is the Royal Observatory at Greenwich. This is where the oldest surviving and best known time-ball is sited. The Greenwich time-ball was installed in 1833 to signal the accurate time to passing ships. It was, and still is, raised just before 1pm each day and falls as 1pm strikes on the observatory's clock. Captains needed to have their ships' chronometers set accurately in order to navigate correctly, hence they needed to be 'on the ball'. It's a nice story and there are any number of tour guides around the observatory who are all too happy to repeat it. Unfortunately...

Need I go on? It isn't true.

The phrase 'on the ball' did actually originate in the sporting arena, but relates to the eyes rather than the feet. It is a contraction of the earlier expression 'keep your eye on the ball', which advice has been given to participants in virtually every known ball game. For the source, we need to look to early ball games. The phrase is recorded in early records of cricket, golf, croquet and baseball and many people regard baseball as the origin. Well, that appears to be almost true - the earliest citation that I can find in print comes from the English game of rounders. The English novelist William Kingston wrote 'books for boys', and in 1864 published Ernest Bracebridge, or, Schoolboy Days, which includes this scene:

Ellis seized the bat with a convulsive clutch... Remembering Ernest's advice, he kept his eye on the ball, and hit it so fairly that he sent it flying away to a considerable distance. "Capital!" cried Ernest. "Run! run! - two bases at least."

American readers will recognise the similarity of the rounders terminology with that of baseball. For those not familiar with rounders and/or baseball, suffice it to say that they are essentially the same game, but that it is easier to imagine Sylvester Stallone playing baseball. There's no consensus on this but there's a strong case to be made that baseball is in fact an English game, being merely a beefed-up variation of rounders.

In 1744, which is certainly before anyone is known to have played baseball in the USA, John Newbery, an English publisher and a man with a reasonable claim to be the originator of literature printed specifically for children, produced A Little Pretty Pocket-Book, intended for the Amusement of Little Master Tommy and Pretty Miss Polly. That title sounds entirely suitable as the source of the rules of the game of rounders, which is played nowadays by children. Nevertheless, the book includes a graphic labelled Base-Ball, which shows men playing the game and which is accompanied by a rhyme that pretty much sums up the basics of both rounders and baseball:


The ball, once stuck off,
Away flies the boy
To the next destin'd post,
And then home with joy.

Baseball may or may not have been the origin of 'keep your eye on the ball', but it did take over the use of the phrase. As well as as the batters 'keeping their eye on the ball', the pitchers were also said to 'put something on the ball', i.e. they imparted some spin or curve on it. This usage dates from the start of the 20th century, for example, this piece from The Indianapolis Star, April 1910:

Graham put something on the ball that fooled even Bowerman.

The figurative version of the phrase 'on the ball', i.e. with the meaning of being 'alert or apt' in a context where no actual ball is present, began later still. In 1989, W. C. Williams and J. Laughlin published Selected Letters, which contained an extract from a letter written Williams in 1939:

The novella by Quevedo... [is] right on the ball.

As to whether the phrase originated in the USA or the UK, on present evidence, I'd call it a 1-1 draw.


source: http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/on-the-ball.html
click on comic to make bigger.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

o.m.gee's















in answer to the comment: the top left is from a comic book about obama and mccain, clockwise is a painting by jean michel basquiat. his paintings and drawings accompany a poem written by maya angelou, "life doesn't frighten me." last is a gee's bend quilt created by loretta pettway. why are they all here together? i'm not sure yet; unaware, as you put it. i'm still learning.

the post above, on the ball, is an educational supplement; an accommodation. it accommodates the need i had to satisfy my curiosity about what "on the ball" really means; and the need students have to look at the world in different ways. learning can be fun. mr jackson created the comic for a high school 'behavior room.' i keep going back to it. i think it's on the ball.

am i using semicolons correctly?

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Monday, September 13, 2010

spitting image



i was reminded of a trip to chicago when i heard a story recently of an (alleged) exchange of body fluid between a student and teacher.
advice for the classroom: "don't forget your umbrella."

chris ware is from chicago.

Monday, September 6, 2010

my leg really hurts




"it has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues." - abraham lincoln








this morning the neighbor's dog came into the yard and grabbed our groundhog in her mouth, shook it side to side and left it for dead. it wasn't really our groundhog, so to speak, but it was always in the yard cleaning the fallen apples. groundhogs are pretty cute to watch, but now that one's dead. later, on a bike ride, my leg became increasingly painful with each mile i pedaled, like it was caught in a vise that was being turned slowly. during my five hours in the emergency room, i thought about how one of the best tools in the shop is the vise. i never stuck a groundhog, a dog, or any animal for that matter, in the vise when i was younger, but i did stick, on several occasions, inanimate objects in there to be beaten mercilessly by a hammer. i wish the neighbor's dog would come chew my leg off.

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Monday, August 30, 2010

day one



in a presentation on classroom management, the first two slides were comic strips.

very interesting netop.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

fake if it weren't so real



"going down is optional. going up is mandatory." -lns

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

all my mite















from the phylum arthropoda.
everyday.3,5 kids prefer candy over fancy green salad.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

lunar myth



there's only a few reasons you might be reading this: you stumbled on (most unlikely). i have some connection to you (most likely). you're a potential employer (most curious). thank you all for stopping by.

the comic above is by peter bagge @ 2001. (that's copyright 2001).
i would include this page (edited strictly for learning purposes, if need be) in a lesson on the moon and lunar myths. you can click on the comic to make it larger for reading. please feel free to look around while you're here.

for a moon of a slightly different phase look at http://schoolbogs.blogspot.com/

Thursday, July 15, 2010

v.a.c.a.t.i.o.n.




consider this my postcard to you.
hope everyone is healthy.

Friday, June 4, 2010

june 4



i was talking magnets. i watched this video and swear i see my grandmother. today is her birthday.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Friday, May 7, 2010

like to see

kind of sums up the whole shebang. but, i believe i'm better off for what i've been doing since the original slog. and i'm sure that most of those who chose not to participate can't make a paper hat either.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

http://irmacomics.com/11801.html



actually, there's no defending this. but my portfolio, that's a whole other story.



have you heard the one about the fork?

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

big shoes @ local noon


preparing to catch the 319 out of town. it's been a fun visit. wondering whether or not i'd want to live here though.


Wednesday, March 31, 2010

portfolio blues (courtesy of mr. hopkins)












huh!? what!?

that sinking feeling sinking in yet?
almost at the gate and suddenly realize you can't find your ticket?
what about 10.2 and 5.3?

Friday, March 12, 2010

Saturday, February 27, 2010

dunce and cornball, attorneys at law




well, i guess i missed the first child slog celebration. i know i'll be forgiven, though. a day late i give you dunce and cornball. what's the difference between rule of law and justice? does this question even make sense or is it like asking what's the difference between pasta and spaghetti or between trial and error or between dunce and cornball?

Sunday, February 7, 2010

extra extra (but not nearly enough)






the front page of the wrap-up project. but what does it all mean and what learning took place other than i know someone who can put a nice newspaper together? (in fact, we're married. thanks mrs b!) i've learned this teaching involves a lot of work. also, these important lessons never end:

• planning
• planning
• being prepared
• planning

if graded on these lessons right now, my rubric would read barely developing. nonetheless, the kids seemed to have liked seeing their feature articles cleaned up and published.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Friday, January 1, 2010