Ms. Taylor Says

My students and I have been practicing telling people what we think without telling them "I think."  It's been fun to watch them see how easy it is to sound more professional by simply leaving out the "I" in their papers.  In an effort to "practice" the other day, the bellwork assignment was to write 3-4 sentences answering the following question without using I think, I feel, or I believe.  (Side note--it was pretty funny to hear the kids who had been absent the day before say, "How am I supposed to do that?" and hear the other students reply, "Just say it.")  The question was: Should the voting age be changed from 18 to 16?  Several of them brought up interesting points--like the fact that high schoolers sometimes end up being more informed than their adult counterparts because teachers make them research, or at least discuss, current events.  But what really surprised me was how many of them were willing to admit that 16-year-old...

has lasted approximately two weeks. Now we are back to things that work better. We, as Americans, have chosen hope over fear. That is until one party is having a hard time getting some legislation passed. Then we go back to fear--because, let's be honest, it is a more effective technique. (Example: We must pass this bill now or the economy with collapse.) Okay--let me clarify something. I really am not associated with a party, and I really am not looking for our newly elected president to fail. I listened to Pres. Obama's acceptance speech and his inaugural address, and read the press on his first few executive orders. I was impressed; I was hopeful I would be pleasantly surprised with the new administration. I was optimistic that he would be different and truly attempt to make positive changes. Over the last few days I have been disappointed...not so much in his legislation as in the rhetoric he is using to get his legislation passed. He seems to be falling back...

I'm currently sitting on my floor, reading a fabulous book, and listening to the joyful giggles as the toddler that lives at the end of my hall runs up and down the hall.  It's one of those perfect Sunday afternoons...sunny and 63, I just got back from a great run, and now I'm in a bit of English-major heaven.  

I've been reading a TON of my students' work lately.  Grades are due in the next few days.  By far the most interesting reading has been my students' freewriting on who they admire.  We are currently working on the beginning of our research papers (I say we because I'm writing with them--I am becoming more and more convinced that this is something every teacher needs to do.  It helps me know how effective or ineffective an assignment is, and it gives me a serious dose of sympathy for my writers.  But anyway...back to the topic at hand...)  The research assignment is to come up with someone they think should go on the "Ms. Taylor's Wall of Fame."  They can choose anyone they want as long as they can find enough research on the person; I'm researching Frank McCourt .  They are going to have to write a persuasive research paper explaining why that person is worthy of the wall (they also have to come up with a title--mine is "Best Teacher-Turned-Writ...

Tonight at Bible study we were discussing God's love as discussed in I John.  One of the questions was about how our assurance of God's love changes us and how it affects the way we love others.  As we talked about the amazing power of God's love, I kept thinking about this little kiddo named Ankute .  He is probably my new favorite kid.  I don't actually know him, I just read his mom's blog.  Oh, but I digress.  Anyway, this little guy is a 3-year-old Ethiopian orphan who has recently been adopted by an American family.  His adoptive mom was talking the other day about how he sometimes worries about there not being enough food.  If others get seconds, he worries they will eat it all.  As he spends more time in his new home, he starts to believe that there will be enough food.   I think God's love works in a similar way.  All too often we are like Ankute and the food.  We are so worried that there won't be enough.  That our needs won't be met, that we w...

1. A man in a cowboy hat with a half-smoked, unlit cigar in his mouth, riding the metro 2. A duck. Yep, that's right. I saw a duck sitting on the sidewalk next to the escalator. Not really sure how a duck finds itself in the middle of DC or why it decides to sit with three homeless men by the metro stop, but Kelly and I both decided it seemed rather comfortable there. Not walking around, not looking for food, just sitting on the sidewalk.

This is by far my most memorable inauguration.  The wonderful people at my parents' congressman's office set me up with two tickets to the inauguration.  I invited my friend Todd (the biggest Obama fan I knew).  Here is my picture book of the last few days.   I went on Monday to pick up my tickets.  It was a peaceful experience for the most part.  The metro stop was a bit crazy.  It was actually so crazy that the metro person finally just started letting us all go without using our cards to make it go faster.   You can't really tell how packed it was...   I got to the house office buildings to find quite a bit of a line.  I called up to the congressman's office to make sure I was in the right place.  The awesomely kind person who answered the phone (aka my hero of the day...) offered to bring my tickets to me.  I think this saved me approximately 3 hours of waiting to get in. (Someone said that the news reported a 3 hour wait to get tickets.)  AWESOME!!! I was ecstatic ...