The Origin

Workday - (none)

It's time for another post about the blog. Today I thought I'd discuss the origins of my blog. While I believe I touched on this subject in my first post, there are likely details I'd missed.

I started this blog at the urging of my friends with blogs. At the time (and, ok, even now) I was not a fan of blogs. You might even say I really, really, really disliked them. I wasn't one to assume people care about the boring details of my life. If I (and, in my opinion, anyone) was to have a blog it needed an angle.

I decided I'd write exclusively about my job as an educator, and not about my personal life. I knew there were other "teacher blogs", but I figured I had some stories of interest. Other teachers could read and relate, or regular people could read and see what we actually go through day-to-day. Actually, now that I think of it, I remember having friends who gave teachers quite the stigma at the time. I had also started this blog to shut them up.

I chose the name "Ms. Smartypants" knowing I'd need a pseudonym. I was thinking of that "Little Miss" book series and wanted the picture as an icon, to boot. I discovered there wasn't an actual "Little Miss Smartypants" book, unfortunately, so I looked for any other brainy character. Strangely "Little Miss Brainy" and "Little Miss Wise" didn't look very nerdy, and I ended up using the "Little Miss Busy" picture.

One day, several months into my blog, I decided to Google it to see where the page came up (see previous entry for more on that subject). I then discovered there happened to be another blog by a person of the same "last name". Since then, I also discovered this other blog was long-standing and quite popular.

And so, I'd just like to clarify that I didn't mean to step on this person's name when I chose mine. I certainly didn't plan to "capitalize" on her fame, or anything. I generally have zero interest in blogs and definitely had never heard of Mimi Smartypants. If you haven't either, then apparently you're living in a bubble too. She's huge, or something. Good on her. I wish Mimi much success.

For those of you who had known of her blog -- and were perhaps secretly wondering about any of the above -- you now know the origin of mine.

Hello Google?

Workday - (none)

Why am I posting during the summer break? Well, because I'm bored. I created this blog solely to discuss school-related issues and stories, and I refused to make the site about anything else.

School's out, now. So, I'm going to take this opportunity to discuss subjects extrinsically-related to this blog. Like tearing down a fourth wall. Can blogs have walls?

This entry's topic is Google. I don't think it took long for my blog to appear on Google (I think I had friends in the right places linking me). I noticed my top referring phrases were "corny jokes" and "inappropriate touching" -- not necessarily the best words to describe the website, but I'll take whatever hits I get.

If you've read my earliest posts, you'll understand why I'm getting these hits. Closely next in line with those phrases is "how to write a letter of reference". I think a lot of people need help with that. Unfortunately, I'm not the one to give it to them.

The problem is, I've been dropped.

I don't know how Google works, and I don't plan to look into it. However, I'm completely gone from the Google search engine, which is definitely going to affect getting any new readers.

I'm not in this "game" to get major readership or anything. But if I don't attract any new lookers then I'm bound to be writing this blog for only friends and family -- and that's, like, 5 people. So I'd really like to get back on Google, albeit legitimately. I know people tweak their websites specifically to rank higher with Google. I guess it was already sneaky of me to "re-post" all of my top referring phrases.

Facing reality, though, I'm sure I only made it to Google because of a referring website. Ideally, I'd like to be listed for my own doings. Until then, I'm Googleless.

That also means if you're reading this right now, you found me on Yahoo, as a link from another website, or from a bookmark. Whichever is the case, thanks for clicking!

Summer Again

Workday - (none)

I guess I didn't post enough in June to bother with a countdown. I really didn't have very exciting stories, and it all went by so fast.

Everyone passed in my grade 11 class (which is good, because a few people were borderline, and that's such an easy course). The grade 10 course is much more difficult, and I expected plenty of failures. I just feel bad when someone who's already taken it a few times fails again. I only had one of those (whom I could have felt bad about), but she skipped off the last week of class when we were doing crucial review. She also would have gotten her tests back that week to study from. She also would have found out about the formula sheet and its due date. She (and one other guy) came in during the exam with formula sheet in-hand. I had to confiscate them. I told them it was due before the exam, as I made it quite clear I wouldn't accept any the day of.

Naturally, her exam was a disaster and her already-plummeting mark plummeted further. She didn't even show up on the date to find out her final mark. I guess her lack of caring and effort near the end makes me feel less bad.

I could go on about some mildly interesting stories. Such as the V.P. whose lazy and forgetful actions created a train wreck in that grade 10 class' exam. Or the one student who was fairly insistent that I change his grade to a pass.

As for the latter story, it seemed I couldn't say anything to get that guy to give up and go away. I could have been more firm and just walked away, myself. Had it been another student, I may have tried that route. Unfortunately, I knew this guy had some "friends in gang places". I wasn't going to pass him because of that fact, but I certainly wasn't going to piss him off either. I knew I had to settle in a way that kept him content. And, eventually, that I had.

At this point, it's nice to know that semester is behind me. It was my most difficult yet, and I hope not to repeat it. Next year's timetable doesn't look great at the moment, but everything changes so much before September that I'm not worrying.

I'd been pining for the summer since April, and it's finally here. No summer course to take this time around. I'm planning to do some specific (though minimal) work, but mostly relax.

Cheers, folks! 'Til September.