Arkansas Football

**UPDATE: By far the best part of my day Monday was when one of my students came into 3rd period and said, "Ms. Boyd, did you see the Arkansas game this weekend?" And we discussed the awesomeness of Ryan Mallet and my student's hopes that he'll be drafted to  his favorite NFL team next year. I'm just proud that he knew I was a Razorback fan!

Just one of many things I'm thankful for this year:


Although I'm more than a little jealous that both of my sisters will be in New Orleans the day of the Sugar Bowl.

Fall Concerts

This fall I have made it to a couple of concerts with my roommate:

First up: Kris Allen, gotta represent Arkansas. One of my favorite parts was that he covered so many songs. Yes, Kris you can play Michael Jackson for me anytime. Recently Frase blogged about 6 degrees of Arkansas. Not only does she connect me to Kris Allen, but also her husband grew up with Cade Mills, a good lookin' member of Kris' band.

Next Up: Darius Rucker and Brad Paisley (thanks Sean for choosing Harry Potter so I could go:)
Much to our pleasure Darius performed 3 Hootie songs. The teenagers next to us had no idea who Hootie is. Please tell me that is as shocking to you as it is to me.

Brad recently won Entertainer of the Year and certainly didn't leave us expecting more. Sarah and I are both big fans of covers, and I was SUPER excited to experience another cover of Single Ladies this fall. Here is Brad's version:

Waiting for Superman

The last few weeks have been really tough for me. I knew it was coming as graduate school assignments increased and I am teaching more and more. This break for Thanksgiving has been great so far, even with the homework and planning mixed in. My mom had recorded Oprah the week that two shows were focused on Urban Education and the documentary, Waiting for Superman that came out this fall. Watching the clips from the movie again and the interviews helped me to regain focus in depths of fighting for justice in urban education.


I don't always agree with Oprah, but fully support this quote: "To everyone who thinks, 'Well my kids are doing okay...' Well this is your country. So when other kids in your country aren't doing okay, you have to have the vision to understand when other kids in your country don't do okay, eventually your country won't do okay."


In his “I’ve been to the Mountaintop” speech the night before his assassination, Martin Luther King reminds us of the point of the familiar story of the Good Samaritan.  The question we often ask (often in response to fear) is “what will happen to me if I stop and help him?”  The point of the parable, says MLK, is that Jesus wants us to ask “what will happen to him if I don’t stop and help?” (Thanks to David Montague for the reminder of the relevance of this quote)


Jason Kamras said in Teaching as Leadership, “We cannot rest until each of us would be satisfied with randomly assigning our own children to any public school in the nation."


On Oprah, Newark, NJ mayor Cory Booker says that when American school kids recite "liberty and justice for all" every morning, it is not true. "Democracy is not a spectator sport - everybody has to be in the game and making sacrifices."

Disgusting Creatures

I have had quite a few encounters with the world's grossest insect lately.

1. One downside to MTR housing is the cockroaches. I am known as Virginia 'Slayer' Boyd and typically come to the rescue when my roommate discovers one in our apartment. I have even been called to come over and kill cockroaches at other residents' apartments. 

2. I came across the perfect gift for my roommate:

If only it didn't cost $40!

3. One of my students asked to go to the restroom, and I don't trust him to go straight there and back so I stood in the doorway so I could watch him go down the hall and come back. When he came back in he leaned over to one of his friends to tell him something and then walk back to where he was supposed to be sitting.His friend looked on the floor and said, "Eww" then someone else said, "There's a cockroach!" That student had picked up a dead cockroach and brought it back into the classroom, so I had him clean it up and go back to the restroom to wash his hands again. It is just part of everyday life when you are with 15 year old boys all day!

Split

Who: Ms. Boyd

What: Rips the seam in the back of her pants

Where: 4th period  Geometry class

When: 12:40 pm Tuesday, October 5

Why: She does not adjust her pant legs before squatting to help a student.

The ripping was immediate and audible. Thankfully I live close and there was enough noise in the classroom that hopefully nobody noticed.. Ten minute round trip and I had a different pair of pants on.

Fridays

Fridays are now the middle of my graduate school week. I have a paper due tonight and need to read and write a lesson plan due tomorrow morning at 8am.Will someone remind me what a weekend is after May?

My paper is on this great short movie called the Butterfly Circus. Check it out!

September Already?!?

My life is packed these days, and I haven't even had Saturday classes in the last 6 weeks! That ends next Saturday, so I am going to try to recap some recent events in honor of my last free Saturday.

Back in August, I had the amazing opportunity to go to a Sugarland concert with Cofer, Sam, and Krista. I have never sweat so much, but it was completely worth it to see them live! We ran into Martha and I got two awesome videos:

MTR represent at MCHS!

Our dear friends, the Curriers, followed God's calling to California a few weeks ago. So we had a  party for them before they left:

(Photo by Amanda Hill)

Labor Day weekend I got to make a trip to Fayetteville.It was so fun to see Martha having a blast and loving a place I love so much! We tried out a new pizza place with Brian:

And we got to pet a dog just like Hershey! We miss our Hershey pup!

I had the privilege of going to the Arkansas v Tennessee Tech football game while I was in town.

There were two very special things about this game. 1. My MTR friend Brittany's boyfriend is #52 for TTU, so we got to sit on the second row of the TTU section to enjoy the game! 2. The Covingtons moved back from Bulgaria just four days before the game, so not only did I get to see them, but they came to the game with me and represented the Hogs in the TTU section!

Arkansas won 44-3 and even the Blue Man Group was calling the hogs!

And last weekend I made a quick day trip to see this dear friend:

We had a fun weekend of shopping and grading papers:) Yes, I recruit friends to grade papers. Let me know if you are interested in being on the paper grading team!