I got a call from one of my old colleagues from the other side of the state last night. He wanted to know if I was available to sub for him today. I told him that since I was now gainfully employed 200 miles away, it would be tough.

I guess he didn't have any need for me last year...

For some weird reason, my body let me sleep for only three and a half hours last night. And I have a very long homecoming-related day at work today. Why are the penguins waddling up to me and asking if I can spare a cup of shortening? I didn't even think they liked to bake.

Labels: hallucinations

Aaaargh, me hearties! Today be International Talk Like a Pirate Day! And that be the last I speak on the matter!

School has gotten off to a decent start, and I think I'm doing a decent job teaching. I'm starting to really realize my own shortcomings, however, now that I'm teaching a lot of the same material again for the first time in my career. I also can't figure out how to crack the total indifference of my students. I'm not talking about the general lack of interest of most students, although I have to fight that, too. I'm talking about my Algebra II students. I had most of them last year in Geometry, and most of them last year were bright and put in the effort, and they are all quite capable. But this year there just seems to be a general malaise that I find really frustrating. There is very little effort at all. It's like they're going backwards. Oh, well, maybe the first test will snap at least some of them out of it.

The next two weeks are going to be extremely busy for me, so I will very likely be even less communicative here than usual. I'm one of the senior class advisers, and homecoming is coming up soon. This coming week is hall decorating, and the week after that I have to help make sure that the skit and float are on track. The senior class also is selling water at every home sporting event, too, and the fall sports season is now well underway, which means we have to be there at every home football, volleyball, and soccer match. Fortunately I recruited our new math teacher to be the other adviser. He's had a lot of experience with this thing before, and he's been on top of a lot of this stuff already, particularly when I was out two days with a nasty cold last week. Between the two of us, we should be able to handle it all, but it will also make for some very long days. To throw one more monkey wrench into the works, we have to give up one planning period a month to observe our fellow teachers, and my first one is Tuesday.

To make things even more interesting, once Homecoming is done, I want to start up a drama club. I've always enjoyed being in shows, and almost minored in theater in college. So when the opportunity came up to be drama club adviser, I signed up. There are a few students here who could benefit from this sort of outlet, and it will be interesting to start up an extracurricular drama program from scratch. The high school doesn't have a stage, but if we get to that point this year, we may see about staging a show at the elementary school.

And finally, that picture I promised:



I'm just really, really happy that it turned out so nice this year. And if I do say so myself, I look pretty good in it.

It was picture day today. Last year, I was so busy with the start of the new job and not-quite-moving and everything that I hadn't had a haircut for a few months. Apparently my students had nicknamed me Goku because of the hair. This year, a nice, sensible, short but somewhat stylish haircut. If you ask me really nice, maybe I'll post it here.

Labels: picture

I just corrected the first quiz of the year. It was ten multiple-choice questions just on the start-of-the-year stuff, plus an extended standardized test question and ample opportunities for bonus points.

Let's just say I have my work cut out for me. A lot of my students just didn't seem to understand that I was serious that there would be a quiz every Friday, including the first week. I hope this will jolt them out of that, at least. I also see why our standardized test scores are so low in this district. They don't even try. There is very little thought behind their answers, and most of them don't even try to show their work. But reading and writing scores are actually pretty high. If I can use that to show them that they need to apply their critical reading and writing skills to the math questions, they may do better.

Still, this was education for both my students and me, I suspect. We should all get something out of it. And everyone used a pencil! After seeing how many used pens last year, I thought I'd try to at least establish this habit, and it appears that I already have.

Labels: assessment

Only 179 days to go...

I went into school today to start getting ready for the new year. YAY! We don't officially start until tomorrow, and the students don't come in for another week after that, but I felt I needed to go in and start the process of tidying things up, now that all of my stuff is in my new room (YAY!). It also gave me a chance to leave Laura alone for a while so she could get some work done on her new job (YAY!). However, I left my keys at home. I was able to get into the room, but not the cabinets. Still, I got a lot of stuff sorted and put away, and even hung some of my posters up.

First big surprise of the year: Some students were in decorating the halls. One of them, who I taught some last year (and wasn't, shall we say, my most cooperative student), told me that she missed me, and that she'd wished she'd taken the third trimester of Geometry from me last spring. YAY! This is a good sign.

Today was not, however, my first day back at all this month. Over the summer, we lost our second-and-a-half math teacher (the plan was, he'd teach two science and two math classes this year) to another, larger, closer-to-his-home district. The district also found the money to hire both a full-time math and a full-time science teacher. (Essentially, our librarian who retired last June won't be replaced, instead of the librarian and math teacher who retired, which was the original plan.) So guess who got to help interview the new math teacher candidates? Yup, I was part of the team! It was odd, being on the other side of the interview at long last (YAY!), but not at all bad. I certainly had a lot of empathy for the two candidates we interviewed. It was tough, as they were both good, but before I left, we offered the job to the first candidate, who lives two states away and had to talk it over with his wife, and juggle the logistics. Apparently it didn't work out, because today I found out that the second candidate will be the new teacher. That's cool, as we all thought that either one would work. YAY!

Tomorrow, the school year officially kicks off, with the entire district faculty meeting in the school library (yes, that still blows my mind) and other stuff. I'll probably stick around a bit to do some more organizing, too. YAY!

Today's post was brought to you by the interjection YAY!

Labels: new year

Yeah, yeah, there went my ideas that I'd post a bunch over the summer and tell you what the last year was like. Best laid plans and all that. Besides, I'd rather look ahead to the future now, instead of dwell on the past. Last week, I got a call from one of my colleagues. He taught science last year, but was ready to move in and take some of the higher math classes this coming year, since budget constraints meant the district couldn't afford to hire a new math teacher to replace the one who retired. He called out of professional courtesy to tell me that he got a job in another district. It's closer to his home and, considering how long his commute was, I don't blame him. So now it's all in flux, and we will have to hire a new teacher, after all. Whether or not the new teacher teaches math, science, or both depends on who's out there. I was going to teach three section of Geometry and one of Algebra II next year, but now that's all in flux, depending on what the new teacher can do. I've told my principal that I'm flexible, and also that I'd be part of the hiring process if he needs me. So we shall see. I'll try to remember to keep all of my loyal readers, like you, up to date.

I came home the other day and started singing the old Alice Cooper song, "School's Out for Summer!" Which indeed it is. And for the first time in the twenty-first century, I'm not working this summer, which will be nice. I still have a lot of unpacking and arranging to do in the house, and I'll be at a summer math workshop in a couple of weeks, but overall it's a pretty laid back summer, which I really need. I'll also have a little time to actually update this blog, so I'll have a few posts this summer about how the year went and what I'm looking forward to next year (ooh, that still feels so good to say). But right this minute, I have to get showered and get ready for my day.

Yes, it's been a while. And it will be another while, as teaching comes before blogging. As there's only about a month left in the school year, it's getting busy. But I do hope to at least have a nice long year-end wrap-up post not long after that. But I have some excellent news that I want to share with you now.

I've just signed my first ever contract renewal!

Yes, I'll be back here next year. This time it looks like I'll be teaching Geometry (again) and Algebra 2, as opposed to the Algebra 1 I taught this year. But I hope I get a chance to tell you more over the summer once I have a better idea of what's happening.