Dingos are tricked into the treat of running in October! - Page 8

[JayGee]

kerc ~ now that sounds like a fun afternoon of running!  Enjoy!

Geo ~ cram away.  Nice job on the 11.

bec ~ that Boot Camp class sounds great!

All of you are making up for the working out I am NOT doing!  If only it were transferrable....

Real ~ I may need to pick your brain about school bond issues.  We have a district meeting on Thursday night to come up with ideas to balance the budget (which, thanks to the state not paying us for the last 3 years, is running a 2+ million deficit).  I am decidedly NOT happy with the "cut PE, music and computers" plan, or the "reduce the school day to 4 hours" plan.  I'd be happy to pay a little more each year to keep that stuff (and maybe staff the library and hire an art teacher again).  Unfortunately, our area is heavily populated by military retirees who no longer have kids in the system and don't want to pay any more than they already do in property taxes.  I can't say that I blame them, because the property tax rate in our county is among the top 10 highest in the nation, but still....

RR ~ PT today.  They changed the focus to my gluteus medius, which is apparently partially torn at the greater trochanter (top of the femur).  Therapeutic ultrasound, lots of stretching, lots of clamshells, and a torture session with the chiro and it actually feels a tiny bit better.  I am holding on to the vaguest shred of hope that someday I will run again.

NRR ~ Mega soccer weekend coming up.  DS's team is playing a tournament AND has two games of regular league play as well, so a minumum of 5 games, with a possibility of 7 if they go to the semi-finals and finals in the tournament.  Go BFC!!!  Throw in DD1's horseback riding and DD2's gymnastics and it looks like a lot of hauling kids around on my schedule.  Eating well and getting lots of sleep is keeping me sane, in spite of the lack of exercise.  Thank goodness.

[MelW]

Rest day to recover from coughing all night long. Bronchial elixir, tea, emergen-c and a morning cuddling with the laptop getting prep done.

I've been thinking about the impacts of childhood and community histories related to degree of "free-ranging" our kids are allowed. I grew up in a house without a lock on the front door and the only fence was around the garden. I had a pretty free range of the neighbourhood from about age 8 or 9 onward, including a forest and beach. We would occasionally be reined in after cougar sightings, but otherwise free to play. My younger siblings were allowed farther at younger ages because I would watch out for them. There was a local brutal rape/murder of a young girl when I was a teen that didn't have much impact on our "freedoms" because of our age at the time. It had a much bigger effect on my husband's family because his mother was the therapist for the murderer (a 16 year old boy who babysat for the girl) before it happened. Strangely, he's more relaxed about free-ranging kids than I am, though perhaps from the recognition that by far most of the abuse happens not from strangers.

I lock our doors and we have a fenced backyard where the kids mostly play. I let the kids bike around the block together without me, and the oldest in a few block range on her own. I'd feel comfortable letting her go a bit farther with a friend, but there isn't anyone in the neighbourhood who she plays with who wants to or is allowed. My youngest, as you may remember, made it 12 blocks to the park by herself on her 3rd birthday. My oldest is far more nervous/sensible and would probably never want to get that far on her own, even at almost 7. I suspect I'll have more challenges deciding about free-ranging as the youngest gets older- I've already said no to biking around the block on her own- not because of safety/strangers but because I don't trust her to come back.

[MelW]

Quiet day.

I'm still coughing, but have been doing some circuits at home.

Took my youngest with a group of other toddlers/preschoolers to the residential care home to sing and take gifts of Hallowe'en art. So, so cute.

[1jooj]

Hope you're on the mend, Mel. 

My family had a potluck farewell for us tonight, and Reb came with her girls, too. Pumpkin carving and hot cider out in the garage. It was really nice. The kids are tearful. We'll hit the road early Sunday morning and should be in Morocco by early Monday morning, and back in UAE on November 4. We get to fly first class ORD to JFK. Not the long leg, but I'll take it.

I have zero RR to report. I am OK with it, but my legs hurt. Maybe will sneak off to cycle tomorrow. Dd has completed a quarter's worth of work and ds is close behind. Should not have a lot of makeup to do once we land and unpack.

[Nickarolaberry]

Congratulations to Alex (Zubeldia) on the birth of her new baby boy last night! 

(incidentally my friend who is an L&D nurse said her unit was hopping last night...change in barometric pressure?)

Asthma is coming under control, made it out for a good run this morning. The past few days have been physically rough but slowly getting better.

Teachers/professors: if you give a test which the entire class more or less bombs (highest grade 81%) would you:

a) throw it out and give another test

b) allow an extra credit essay to add points to the test

c) re-weight it so it only counts as a quiz or assignment

d) something else

Bearing in mind this is an AP class, I was pretty shocked. But when I looked back at the test, I realized a lot of the MC questions were ambiguous (I took them however, from old AP exam question banks on the subject matter we covered for this era). 

I don't really know how to do a curve well (math dorkus).

Anyway, have a great day mamas!

[Geofizz]

Curve. Easy curve: add 19% to each grade. Harder curve: add back points for all questions you now feel are ambigious. Best curve: decide what you think the median/mean should have been. Calculate the mean, add the difference. If all questions are from actual AP exams, though, consider leaving it.

I think it's good in an AP class for them to see that they are not performing on the instrument that they will be evaluated with at the end of the year. If you do curve, then consider passing the exams back with the orginal score to give them 30 seconds of terror. Then explain that this is how they would have performed on the exam, but for grade book purposes, you've recorded the grade + curve.


RR 3 miles was hard last night.

NRR considering launching back into knitting to make some Griffendor scarves. Sadly, I only have yarn of the appropriate colors in fingering weight. This would require purchase of new yarn.

[JayGee]

Nic - I liked Geo's last option. Especially the 30 seconds of terror part!

Jooj - safe travels!

Alex - congratulations on the arrival of the newest Dinglet!

NRR - DD2 came into my room this morning and promptly vomited on the floor, so we are spending the day at home. Tonight is the first community meeting to discuss the cuts/taxes/bonds necessary to balance the budget next year. Real, thank you for your PM! Lots of good ideas on the website.

[Geofizz]

Also consider spending some time teaching them how to cope with ambiguous questions.  Ambiguity is a fact of these exams, and there are skills you can use to sort through it.  Maybe pick the question you feel is most ambiguous, have them give their answer (or present a tally of their answers from the test), and deconstruct it to show how this is ambiguous but also something they can figure out, and will have to figure out on the exam.  This was, after all, an example test question.

Multiple choice sucks.

[Plady]

Multiple choice does suck, but I agree that if these questions are more or less the same that they'll have to face for their final they should see their real scores.  I don't really see the value of grading with a curve, they got what they deserved after all, but I really like the idea of deconstructing the questions so they can learn what to look for and how to deal.  Then maybe have a do-over if it's really so big a deal that they all sucked out?  Of course that all takes time out of whatever else you had been planing to do.  Honestly, I am constantly struck by how much time outside of actual in-front-of-students time teachers must need.  I am spending hours and hours a week outside of rehearsal time on a play.  That's not even real life! 

And that said, I'm out of time.  Off to boxing, my one and only workout these days. 

Congrats to Alex!

[kerc]

agreed with what geo said. but also adding: you're dealing with AP class in high school. So you probably have a number of students who will *freak* out if they get a low grade. So I would totally add points. But not so many they don't work hard for the next test.

Also: I have MC tests for my online students. I generate a GIANT test bank (Thanks to the textbook publisher + my own questions) and write a dummy, optional multiple choice quiz for them to take to prep. They can take it electronically as often as they like. And then I draw 50% of my points from there and 50% from other places (like essays, or different MC questions or diagrams or whatever). It helps to alleviate issues like ambiguous questions. And I can see who did it electronically so when they tell me they studied super hard for the m.c. part I can call their bluff.

[MelW]

I test almost exclusively MC to prep students for a completely MC licensing exam. When I've had tests where they performed poorly, I have re-evaluated ambiguous or overly challenging questions to allow for 2+ correct answers. It usually helps the class curve, but doesn't reward total guesses (meaning I give credit for reasonable choices, but not things that are obviously wrong/dangerous options). If a class does poorly on a test, I will review all of the questions and deconstruct them to explain "best answer" selection.

Also, if I have a class struggling with MC as a group, I'll do a few MC review questions at the end of every class. I usually throw them up on powerpoint or project from word and have everyone work on them before talking through answer selection. I'll reuse some on the exam. My other "trick" is that questions that were challenging on a midterm get recycled to the final exam. Because I'm mean that way

Congrats to Alex!! I wasn't working at the hospital last night, but had three calls to come in for workload. They were obviously busy in L&D here, too.

JayGee, good luck with your meeting. I hope the vomiting is short lived, too.

Geo, I taught my daughter to knit last month and have been enjoying relearning a bit myself.

RR- Another day of circuits at home. Cough, pushup, pull-up, cough.
 

[kerc]

Whew. I think I'm ready both for lab at 8am and a camping trip. Oh my.

[Realrellim]

Zub--congrats!!

Nic--maybe something else? The AP tests, iirc, are not easy so it's better for them to have the experience--though perhaps not this early in the year when they'll put more energy into freaking out about their grade rather than freaking out that they might not pass the test.

Geo--Have fun knitting scarves! I knit DH a Ravenclaw one a few years ago. I'm going as Hermione to R's school's fall carnival, but I bought a scarf because I don't have time to knit one. (I would be a Ravenclaw, but that requires too much explanation. And it's an inside joke from the mill/bond campaign.)

JayGee--hope the meeting went well.

kerc--camping!

Was briefly considering running for school pick-up tomorrow, but now am thinking not. DH walked the girls to a playground in our neighborhood today and even he commented that it's very quiet and a bit freaky. There's usually tons of people out, especially on a nice sunny fall day like today. Instead, he saw some guy who he thinks was undercover police or FBI walking around our neighborhood school (which closed a year and a half ago and is just sitting empty), looking in all the windows. I asked whether he'd reported this, but he said no, he thought it was undercover police who looked like they were wearing body armor. I hope he's right, because if not it's just another lunatic to add to the growing list (for more on apparently random lunatics, search for Ari Liggett). I'm thinking I'll go south to run this weekend, because I don't want to stay cooped up.

[kerc]

Originally Posted by Realrellim 


Was briefly considering running for school pick-up tomorrow, but now am thinking not. DH walked the girls to a playground in our neighborhood today and even he commented that it's very quiet and a bit freaky. There's usually tons of people out, especially on a nice sunny fall day like today. Instead, he saw some guy who he thinks was undercover police or FBI walking around our neighborhood school (which closed a year and a half ago and is just sitting empty), looking in all the windows. I asked whether he'd reported this, but he said no, he thought it was undercover police who looked like they were wearing body armor. I hope he's right, because if not it's just another lunatic to add to the growing list (for more on apparently random lunatics, search for Ari Liggett). I'm thinking I'll go south to run this weekend, because I don't want to stay cooped up.

gah. I hate this kind of feeling. The Denver metro area seems to be particularly hard hit of late.

[bec]

Totally non RR related, because I have been struggling with a cold or allergies or something.  Anyway, I had my interview today, and nailed it.  So, November 4, I'll be a new part time manager responsible for stock!  If the position works out the way the DM wants it to, it may become a permanent position!  This is the first time in my life that I have been promoted, so I'm pretty excited about it! 

I'm hoping to get a run in tomorrow.  And my husband comes home tonight!  WOOT!

[Realrellim]

congrats bec!

tjsmama--if you were me, where would you go running this weekend? I'm contemplating Cherry Creek or the Platte (well-populated trails, easy drive). Clear Creek west of Wadsworth is another possibility, but I have no idea what's on the stretch between Wads and Anderson Park. I'd love to run North Table Mtn again, but there are not many people on that trail and a lot of places where you're not visible to anyone. Also, it's just off of Hwy 93 (read: too close to perceived danger), so that's on hiatus for a good long while too.

RR: there's finally a north metro winter running series! It's taken them three years to get it together. Unfortunately, the first run takes place in Superior, all around the subdivison where Jessica's backpack was found, and irony of ironies, ending at Purple Park. (Her favorite color was purple, and people have been wearing purple ribbons and clothing in her memory. Last Friday, before they officially ID'd her, the school district asked everyone to wear purple in her honor and in hopes that she'd still make it home. ) So...I don't know if I can run that 5K or not. Maybe it will be cathartic? The other two runs I've done before: the Yeti Chase 10K and the Ralston Creek 1/2. Then again, I don't know that I can run around the Ralston Reservoir without thinking of her either. Or my neighborhood or any of the open space around here without thinking of her for that matter, so it's probably just a matter of adjusting to the new normal, whatever that is.

Definitely going to hit the treadmill today. I've been poking around on a forum that's been discussing this case, and the disappearance of a 47-year-old Arvada woman (one who lived alone and also enjoyed hiking, maybe also running) in May has been pointed out. Someone else found a cold case involving a woman in a different part of the metro area whose remains were found, dismembered, in Glenwood Springs a couple of years ago. Both of them were short, like 5' or shorter (like me!). Could be total coincidence. The Arvada woman liked to hike alone in the mountains and could have been eaten by mtn lions (also rare, but it happened in Idaho Springs sometime in the past 20 years). Still, no use tempting fate. Plus, the police are trying to look more into a possible connection between her murder and the attempted abduction of two women jogging alone at the reservoir in that neighborhood (one on Memorial Day, one two years ago). Again, maybe nothing, but still. Bleh.

[Mel38]

Welcome to Alex's new baby boy!! Congratulations! What a lovely baby he is

Farewell Jo!! I can't believe your trip has come and gone. I really wish you all the best in this new apartment. The schooling is going so well!

Congratulations Bec! You will rock that new job!

Lisa, I hope you stick close to home or run with a group. Personally, I couldn't handle the 5k just yet. But it would be good to see the area full of people for something positive like a race.

Nick & Mel, feeling better?

I just visited my orthopedic dr. about my latest bout of knee pain. Diagnosis is early stage osteoarthritis. But it's not terrible yet, there is still space between the bones visible on the xray. Once it gets irritated, though, and swelling starts, I will have to stop running until the swelling/pain are gone. He wants me to phase out the running and concentrate more on non-weight bearing exercises.

But for next weekend's MCM, he said "do it"! According to him, the worst that can happen is that I won't be able to finish, but running it or not running it will not make a difference in the long-term as far as my prognosis goes. He said, if it were him, he would run it, have fun, and then go buy a bike and learn to swim. Still, I feel encouraged. At least I can give it a try next weekend and then focus on shorter runs.

Now off to a conference with DS's first grade teacher. Have a great weekend everyone!

[tjsmama]

Make. The babies. Stop. TOO MANY BABIES. Seriously, I do not know how it's possible that there are still pregnant women to go into labor in the metro area, because I swear we have delivered every one of them this week. It's out of control. When I left yesterday morning, there was one OB room open between our two floors, and it was a triage room. The other three triage rooms had actively laboring patients and postpartum couplets. There was a straight up delivery in triage (actually, I think the baby was born in mom's pants!). It is out of control, and I am so glad to be off for a couple of days. I love my job, and the past three shifts have flown by because they were so busy, but I am TIRED. Three babies in 10 minutes the other night, and then last night we had four or five within an hour and a half. I think we decided yesterday morning that there had been 31 babies in 30 hours. And that doesn't count the babies that went to the NICU.

real~Maybe too late, but I'm doing a birthday trail run in the morning at Deer Creek Canyon. I know that's way south for you, but I would love if you joined! Brunch to follow! I also need to run 12 on Sunday, and if you can handle my molasses pace, I would love company. Totally flexible as to where, other than I would prefer pavement because I need to get a true test of my Adrenaline 12's in. LMK...you've got my #!

bec~Congrats!!

CONGRATULATIONS, Alex! And welcome, baby Toast!

And now, I am heading to bed at 9pm. I met a friend for lunch today, so I only got 3 hours of sleep after working the past three nights. I was doing great until late afternoon, and now I am utterly exhausted. Birthday trail run with friends in the morning, followed by brunch! And I don't know how many of you remember a year ago (exactly) when my friend wanted to set me up with a guy at her murder mystery party...well, another friend has decided that SHE wants to set me up with the same guy...and all three will be at the run and brunch in the am. Could be interesting.

[JayGee]

Gaye ~ that's funny about the babies.  Now that I think about it, I have heard about 3 babies being born in the last 2 days on my FB newsfeed.  Hmmmmm... what WAS going on last January?!  Have a great Happy Birthday run and I can't wait to hear about this guy everyone is so eager to set you up with!

Mel38 ~ a tough diagnosis to receive, isn't it?  If it makes you feel any better, I was diagnosed with mild-to-moderate degenerative joint disease in my left knee way back in 2007 and went on to run my best ever 1/2 marathon the next year.  Have a great race at the MCM!

Real ~ your "new normal" doesn't sound fun at all.  I hope they catch the monster who did this, and soon.  Have a good getaway run this weekend!

Alex ~ I adore the pictures of Raf and baby Toast on FB!  Such sweet, sweet sibling love.

RR ~ after PT yesterday, I went to the Y and ran on the track a little.  It felt so good, although my glute hurts this morning from it.  It's hard to not run right now.  I am at an ideal running weight (feel light and running is so easy when I am light), the weather is my favorite running weather, all around me people are training for fall marathons including the St. Louis RNR tomorrow.  I know I need to rest, but it's hard sometimes.

NRR ~ the school meeting sucked.  Here are the options they are looking at to make up the 2+ million shortfall in budget: 1) Cuts, to include 23 certified staff, 23 non-certified staff, increase student fees to $190/student each year, cutting all PE, music, computers, chorus, band, sports and clubs through 8th grade and increasing class sizes up to 26 for kindy and 32 for 5th grade. 2) another bond (there are already at least 3 bonds in the district for the 3 new schools they built in the last 10 years), or 3) rasing taxes by .39 which would come to about a $500 increase/year for our house at its assessed value.  It will probably come to a combination of #1 and #3, at least that is what the superintendent is pushing for.  And can I just say that the superintendent is a condescending a$$.  All in all, super-disappointing news from what was supposedly the "best" local school district just a few years ago. And I wouldn't mind raising taxes a little if I wasn't already paying $9100/year in taxes.

DS is at soccer game #2 of 5 for the weekend.  I'm heading to the stable with DD1 in an hour.  I really want to get a good walk in today too.

[Nickarolaberry]

Hi mamas!

Geo and everyone, thanks for the good ideas. What I did was:

*During our Thursday double-period (On school 'lab' day, I also get a 'lab' since I need the extra time for writing work) I assigned a straight-out-of-the AP DBQ question and told them it was worth 29 points and it would be added as a straight total to their test grade.

*I am re-doing the syllabus to account for more test-taking strategy time in the spring. I am also slowing down in the reading assignments because clearly we are going too quickly. They know this means they will have to do more reviewing on their own because there is simply no way for me to cover all the material in lectures in class.

*We are working on understanding nuances in questions, etc. (I knew they'd need help with this anyway, I just didn't realize how much).

*I am letting their original test grade stand, but with the DBQ as an addition. They all saw their grades. They are beginning to comprehend the seriousness of the class, and the fact that they can't slide by with the bull@#$% they have been able to in the past by virtue of their innate intelligence. Some of them 'get' this and others are really in the 'peacock' stage of teendom and are shocked when I hold them to standards (oh, like CITING sources, offering a new analysis rather than regurgitation, etc.). They are seriously floored that they can't get away with these shenanigans in my class, so that's a good wake-up call for them (in a nice way. I am never mean. I just say it the way it is with a smile on my face and a well-placed hairy eyeball when necessary).

So, in other news:

We are going to run a family 5K this Thanksgiving. Dh is on call, which means no trip to the family for Thanksgiving. This is sad in some ways but rather liberating in others, and so we will do a local 5k, drop by the food bank to give a donation, and come home and host a few people here. I am making a turkey (breast only I think, no one here likes the dark meat anyway) but mainly vegan side dishes, yummy style. 

Dh agreed to an anniversary 'marathon getaway' weekend. Our anniversary is Sunday May 26 which is also the day of the Vermont City Marathon in Burlington. We are going to go away for the weekend, and I am going to do the marathon (which was also the first marathon I ever did, on our first wedding anniversary in 1997). So now I am going to try and find a nice B&B, arrange for childcare, and make a training schedule. I know it's early but it's a good goal. He also wants to do things like...gasp..go on DATES! He suggested an evening out at Foxwoods (which doesn't appeal to me all that much but I'd go, just to be companionable) and I suggested a vegetarian/vegan restaurant I've been wanting to try and walking around Northampton, which doesn't appeal all that much to him but he'll go just to be companionable. And in other news: we might finally buy bookshelves. This is a big deal. We have almost no furniture that is not cast-off. So that's a good thing.

RR: None today. Going to walk a few miles today I think, between going to synagogue and then to a friend who lives about 2.5 miles away. Tomorrow a long(ish) run with my women's running group.