i knew this was gonna happen

mom and i were working in my classroom yesterday, just trying to make sense of everything. i told her on the way up there that i would bet money that teachers would come in and think she was the new teacher and i was her young daughter helping out. sure enough, a woman strolls into my room and starts talking to my mom. i had to step up and say "i'm martha mahan". turns out she's my mentor. sweet.

anyway, now the bet is how many times i'll be asked for a hall pass during the first month of school. i'm going with at least 3 times.

oh, and another thing i thought about this week. i've met a few of the members of the custodial staff who are really nice people. which made me start thinking....why aren't they afforded the respect they deserve by the rest of the staff? i would never call a fellow teacher by their first name in front of students, so why on earth is it ok to do that to a custodian? i mean, most of them are at least twice my age and they all bust their butts to help us out. so i'm going to make it a point to treat them the way they should be treated. "susie, please go ask mr. cross to bring the puke sawdust into my classroom."

teaching in 18 days

i visited with my department head yesterday, and found out some really good news.

*i will have a LOT of freedom in choosing what i teach. she told me that i can basically do/bring in whatever i want, as long as i use good judgment. this is a huge relief because i was afraid there would be some long approval process that involved me groveling before the school board and making pacts with satan. i also am happy they aren't doing scope and sequence like so many districts do. i like the idea of deciding what i teach and when i teach it, thank you very much.

*the things i am required to teach are good literature. our first novel will be animal farm and then i have to cover macbeth and antigone at some point. but actually, those are just kind of polite suggestions. i love it.

*our literature textbook is actually more than decent. we've got some tolstoy, octavio paz, americo paredes, katherine ann porter, confucius, david diop, jamaica kincaid, william carlos williams, alexandar pushkin, rabindranath tagore, edgar allen poe, chinua achebe, franz kafka....and the list goes on. lots of poetry my friends. there will be about 120 10th graders who are in touch with their inner selves running around plainview.

*my department head and i agree on the way i should teach grammar and vocabulary. it will be incorporated into my lessons every single day and we'll be having weekly quizzes. anyone who thinks this new teacher will be a pushover is gravely mistaken. :)

*i don't have to be at school until 8 (classes start at 8:30). this is absolutely fabulous news considering i thought it was going to be an hour earlier. so now i'll be getting up at 6 instead of 5. perhaps some of my sanity will remain in tact.

*i'm only required to stay until 4 everyday. although i'm sure i'll stay later most of the time, it's nice to know i can bail early if it's been a really long day.

*my room is on the hall where most of the fights happen. doesn't make much sense to me since i'm right next to the main office, but whatever. oh, and this doesn't really qualify as good news at all, but maybe it'll keep passing periods interesting.

so now the planning begins. i'm considering having my kids buy maybe 2-3 books for the year so that i can do at least part of my ideal curriculum. if that worked out, i'd be in new teacher heaven.

oh and one request, i'm not quite sure how this will work since most of the people who read this live at least 400 miles away from me....but, if you have any old books or magazines you'd like to donate to my classroom library, i'd love you forever. i'll take all genres, as long as they're appropriate for high school kids. i'll be down in college station 3 times this semester, so i could arrange to pick things up sometime then. anyhow, if you can help then please get in touch with me. that is all for now.

the week of really short posts

i've decided that there is one way to be certain i will end up doing something: if i explicitly state that it will never happen to me. which sucks, cause then i just end up looking like a jerk all the time. oh well. as a sidenote, i'm on a nelly furtado kick and LOVING it. if you're a chick, you should check her out. if you aren't, get in touch with your inner chick. real chicks will dig it. my suggestions: "try" "the grass is green" "shit on the radio". you are welcome.

all of the things we want each other to be

i love those moments when everything just clicks. moments like driving at night with the windows down, my new favorite song playing so loudly that everyone around me can hear, singing at the top of my lungs, hitting every greenlight and not a cop in sight. it still amazes me just how happy those simple times can make me.

so it turns out

i know manuel noriega's goddaughter. THE manuel noriega. crazy crazy stuff.

reason #12,576,981

why i will be a crappy teacher: my school called this morning to ask what size of staff shirt i want and i giggled.

JRM part III

as you may recall, when we last left our hero he had just found his first job. ha, ok that was lame.

anyway, in high school my dad worked for a monument company. he engraved tombstones and such. at one point he decided he needed to work on his car. being that he had easy access to/knew how to use a forklift, he wanted to use it as a lift for the car. so he pulled the car up into position and brought the forklift around. the only problem was that he forgot to lift up prong things (sorry, my technical knowledge about forklifts is very limited) and pierced the side of his car with it. i'm sure it was fun explaining that one to grandpa...

back from heaven

killing trees
Originally uploaded by marmahan.

the week in the mountains was wonderful, as expected. i couldn't have asked for better weather, although i did get a 2nd degree sunburn the first full day there. stupid high altitudes.

other than that, my days basically went like this: wake up at 6 or 7, eat breakfast around the campfire, do yoga with my aunt/mom/cousins/uncle, go hiking, eat lunch, take a nap, wander around camp, pet hummingbirds, read, play hide and seek, eat dinner, campfire, read, bed.

some of the original plans (like a side back packing trip with the sis and white water rafting) were ditched due to things like my sunburn. but all in all it was my ideal vacation. i've put up a few of the pictures on flickr if you're interested. just click on the picture above.

temporarily out of order

as of tomorrow afternoon, i will be in a blissful state in the mountains outside of taos. pictures and stories in about a week.

hey! i'm in lubbock!

....again. we'll see how this little experiment goes. thus far it has been filled with the normal random lubbock stuff.....old men hitting on me, people trying to beat up my brother and this lovely message left for me by michele:



michele's welcome home message
Originally uploaded by marmahan.

yesterday i was also fortunate enough to be invited to the social event of the year. kylie turned 1 on thursday and in turn was showered with more gifts than any small child needs. here she is making out with one of said gifts.....

open mouth kisses
Originally uploaded by marmahan.