I have been deliberately not mentioning an upcoming opportunity until it is final, but now I can share it with the world.
A couple of years ago, National Geographic Channel, Comcast and Discovery Network brought a marine biologist to the school to talk ecosystems with the kids. His name is Dr. Mike Heithaus. He remembered our school, and emailed our principal in January seeking teachers who might be interested in interning with his team doing marine research.
I applied for the position, working with a PhD candidate, capturing, tagging and tracking tiger sharks, sea turtles and other marine life. The spot would cover transportation, room and board, although I was warned the living quarters were a trailer on the beach, meat was not available more than a couple times a week, etc.
Where, you are probably asking.
The west coast
of AUSTRALIA.
I plan to be there for the month of June. Take a stroll over to http://www.fiu.edu/~heithaus/SBERP/pages/homeframeset.htm
That is the group I am volunteering with. In return, I will create lesson plans for use in classrooms that incorporate the research and such. So so so excited. Always dreamed of going Down Under, but never thought it would be a reality, nor in such a way.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
What a day!
Unbelievably, a lesson on Pythagorean Theorem was not a waste. In fact, the kids ran with what they had learned yesterday about squares and square roots and really got into making right triangles and seeing if the theorem matched their measurements. Wow! Accurate calculation, measurement, excitement all in one lesson. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't been there.
Beyond that, I have really been enjoying the OTHER series of books by Jim Butcher. The 'first' series is the amazing and wonderful Dresden Files. I highly recommend them. I mix of magic and crime solving, with a ton of humor and action. The second series he writes is called the Codex Alera, and is much more swords and sorcery type fantasy. But having just started on the fourth book they are equally as good, but quite different, as the Dresden books.
Starting to get a little excited about TV on Friday. Battlestar Galactica is super-dark as it barrels toward the finale. And now Fox has moved Sarah Conner to Fridays, too, to lead into Joss Whedon's new series Dollhouse. Fox and Joss and Friday have never been a good combination (poor Firefly) but it doesn't mean a lack of quality.
Beyond that, I have really been enjoying the OTHER series of books by Jim Butcher. The 'first' series is the amazing and wonderful Dresden Files. I highly recommend them. I mix of magic and crime solving, with a ton of humor and action. The second series he writes is called the Codex Alera, and is much more swords and sorcery type fantasy. But having just started on the fourth book they are equally as good, but quite different, as the Dresden books.
Starting to get a little excited about TV on Friday. Battlestar Galactica is super-dark as it barrels toward the finale. And now Fox has moved Sarah Conner to Fridays, too, to lead into Joss Whedon's new series Dollhouse. Fox and Joss and Friday have never been a good combination (poor Firefly) but it doesn't mean a lack of quality.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Little here, little there
Got the withdrawl papers on one of my students today - he is off to the prep-school and should go on to 9th grade next year. Hopefully it will help straighten him out, too. Meanwhile other "problem" students linger, and questions arise about others who may or may not have abuse issues at home. Never a dull moment at public school, nosiree.
Meanwhile, on the summer "job" front, I got this email update:
Hi Michael,
I just wanted to let you know that I haven't forgotten about you. I haven't had a chance to sit down with Mike (or even see for that matter...). However, as I am leaving Florida tomorrow, he has to sit down with me today, so hopefully we'll come to some decisions. I really hope to finalize our decision by the end of the month, so please sit tight.
I can only take that as a good sign, right? If I wasn't "it" I wouldn't get an email update, or be told to "sit tight." Right?
Meanwhile, on the summer "job" front, I got this email update:
Hi Michael,
I just wanted to let you know that I haven't forgotten about you. I haven't had a chance to sit down with Mike (or even see for that matter...). However, as I am leaving Florida tomorrow, he has to sit down with me today, so hopefully we'll come to some decisions. I really hope to finalize our decision by the end of the month, so please sit tight.
I can only take that as a good sign, right? If I wasn't "it" I wouldn't get an email update, or be told to "sit tight." Right?
Monday, February 9, 2009
Back on the Bike
It seems like a long time ago that I last rode. I have hit the gym a few times, so I am not completely out of shape, but it wasn't bad. In the 50's pre-dawn, and a lovely rose sunrise as I neared school. On the way home in the 70's, with a pretty strong wind. It seems easier than it was, muscle memory or something. And now I am basking in an all-over body tired.
Too bad spring, when I will want to be riding more, is also a rainy, stormy time. Well, the gym is always there, and I sort of realized something. I bulked up, muscle-wise, from the commute. Legs got pretty big and dense, when I would kind of prefer lean and slimmer. Maybe at the gym I can work on less strenuous but faster workouts. Worth a try.
Not like I am in training for anything....yet.
Too bad spring, when I will want to be riding more, is also a rainy, stormy time. Well, the gym is always there, and I sort of realized something. I bulked up, muscle-wise, from the commute. Legs got pretty big and dense, when I would kind of prefer lean and slimmer. Maybe at the gym I can work on less strenuous but faster workouts. Worth a try.
Not like I am in training for anything....yet.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Gardening, sort of
What I call gardening is usually killing whatever I don't want. Yesterday, with the temperature in the 60s, I ventured forth to pull up privet, honeysuckle, rogue baby trees, primrose and anything else that looks at me the wrong way.
I also spread the remains of a bag of CrabEx on the front yard...take THAT you rampant henbit. Then in the shady areas I tossed some shade tolerant grass seed under the trees where I have mostly dirt. Then pruning the butterfly bushes, which were also being choked by honeysuckle, and trimming the blackberry plants. Hopefully both of these will show some improvement, not that they were not growing, but I was kind of ignoring them.
I also spread the remains of a bag of CrabEx on the front yard...take THAT you rampant henbit. Then in the shady areas I tossed some shade tolerant grass seed under the trees where I have mostly dirt. Then pruning the butterfly bushes, which were also being choked by honeysuckle, and trimming the blackberry plants. Hopefully both of these will show some improvement, not that they were not growing, but I was kind of ignoring them.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Turning a corner
Boy, I was confused a bit this week. Somehow I thought my students had next Friday off - maybe because at least one of my children does, and I put our parent/teacher conferences there, also thinking Monday, President's Day, was a full holiday for us. Instead, reality made me cranky. Friday is a normal day, Monday is the conference day. Which messes me up, not just because of losing an imagined day off, but because I scheduled a doctors appointment Monday morning. At least I don't have to worry about a sub.
Aside from all that, this week was both exhilarating and troubling. It was interrupted by our awards program, which was fabulous, but ran 90 minutes and ate up two classes worth of learning. The prior day we had a practice writing assessment while the 8th graders did their formal TCAP assessment, and that ate up the first period plus half of the second. So we didn't do as much as was expected during the week.
During all this, several times I looked around the room and felt pride in my students. Not that they are all angels, or hard working, but that I was making a difference in their lives and it was showing in many ways. I am staying calmer, being more caring and they are responding, somewhat. I am hearing more students asking others to behave properly, to quiet down, when I am instructing. I am seeing a larger group offering answers, and correctly, than before. Even with disruptions in the routine, there are a large handful on task, participating, learning. It is a good and powerful feeling.
Another "fun" thing is the comments they make. Had one student ask me if I didn't get tired of giving the same lesson four times in the same day. Perceptive. We got talking, briefly, about acting, and if they didn't get tired of doing the same play over and over. Audiences are different, and that makes it new every time. Other students enjoy when I talk about different subjects still related to math. Many comment that I make science easy to understand...I can see myself teaching science and having a good time with it.
But with the good, there is the bad, or troubling. I have two students who have missed so many days of school there is no way they can make up 4 weeks of learning in the remaining two. And they missed, not due to sickness, but due to lack of concern on the parents' part. One girl doesn't live near enough to where a bus stops, so if it is cold, rainy, etc. her mother allows her to stay home. Not sure why there is no car, or why the mother can't get up earlier and make the 5 minute drive to take the daughter to school. The other failed 7th grade, and her parents lied during registration, and she was placed in the 8th grade. When the 'error' was discovered, she was placed in 7th grade, and resents it. Cuts classes to hang with her 8th grade friends, gets suspended, etc.
This week I have referred at least 4 students to Guidance. The counselor assigned to the 7th grade is a waste - elderly, often confused, basically holding on to a job waiting to retire. I think she may have health issues, so hasn't been seen in a couple of weeks or more. The blessing is that the 8th grade counselor has taken up the slack, and she is a miracle. Not a saint, but she straight talks the kids and doesn't hold back. One boy in my homeroom who, even after parent meetings and phone calls, can't seem to stop being a disruption, was referred. She found out he was a) over-age for grade and b) attending our school on a transfer. She gave him the choice of attending a prep school for over-age students and going into 9th grade next year, or attending the school he is supposed to be attending. No coddling - no trying to keep him around. If you are a problem, you are gone.
Another frequent problem crossed the line this week too. He wants to act out, then get angry that he gets "picked on." Well, earlier this week he called me over and told me a girl was trying to stab him. When I took them both out of line to go to the office and report this to administrators, suddenly he acted as if he were in trouble and demanded to call his mother. When we got to the office, he admitted he knew she was "playing" and was angry that I believed him. I am confident that, if I had not believed him, he would have been angry that I didn't believe him. Anyhow, he has been disobedient and disrespectful since then, and our counselor cut to the chase with him over this. She knows what he is doing, and pointedly told him to stop, and stop imagining what other people are thinking or trying to do. In short, stop keeping score about what the teachers are doing to and with whom.
Hopefully the rest of the year will be smoother as a result of this.
Aside from all that, this week was both exhilarating and troubling. It was interrupted by our awards program, which was fabulous, but ran 90 minutes and ate up two classes worth of learning. The prior day we had a practice writing assessment while the 8th graders did their formal TCAP assessment, and that ate up the first period plus half of the second. So we didn't do as much as was expected during the week.
During all this, several times I looked around the room and felt pride in my students. Not that they are all angels, or hard working, but that I was making a difference in their lives and it was showing in many ways. I am staying calmer, being more caring and they are responding, somewhat. I am hearing more students asking others to behave properly, to quiet down, when I am instructing. I am seeing a larger group offering answers, and correctly, than before. Even with disruptions in the routine, there are a large handful on task, participating, learning. It is a good and powerful feeling.
Another "fun" thing is the comments they make. Had one student ask me if I didn't get tired of giving the same lesson four times in the same day. Perceptive. We got talking, briefly, about acting, and if they didn't get tired of doing the same play over and over. Audiences are different, and that makes it new every time. Other students enjoy when I talk about different subjects still related to math. Many comment that I make science easy to understand...I can see myself teaching science and having a good time with it.
But with the good, there is the bad, or troubling. I have two students who have missed so many days of school there is no way they can make up 4 weeks of learning in the remaining two. And they missed, not due to sickness, but due to lack of concern on the parents' part. One girl doesn't live near enough to where a bus stops, so if it is cold, rainy, etc. her mother allows her to stay home. Not sure why there is no car, or why the mother can't get up earlier and make the 5 minute drive to take the daughter to school. The other failed 7th grade, and her parents lied during registration, and she was placed in the 8th grade. When the 'error' was discovered, she was placed in 7th grade, and resents it. Cuts classes to hang with her 8th grade friends, gets suspended, etc.
This week I have referred at least 4 students to Guidance. The counselor assigned to the 7th grade is a waste - elderly, often confused, basically holding on to a job waiting to retire. I think she may have health issues, so hasn't been seen in a couple of weeks or more. The blessing is that the 8th grade counselor has taken up the slack, and she is a miracle. Not a saint, but she straight talks the kids and doesn't hold back. One boy in my homeroom who, even after parent meetings and phone calls, can't seem to stop being a disruption, was referred. She found out he was a) over-age for grade and b) attending our school on a transfer. She gave him the choice of attending a prep school for over-age students and going into 9th grade next year, or attending the school he is supposed to be attending. No coddling - no trying to keep him around. If you are a problem, you are gone.
Another frequent problem crossed the line this week too. He wants to act out, then get angry that he gets "picked on." Well, earlier this week he called me over and told me a girl was trying to stab him. When I took them both out of line to go to the office and report this to administrators, suddenly he acted as if he were in trouble and demanded to call his mother. When we got to the office, he admitted he knew she was "playing" and was angry that I believed him. I am confident that, if I had not believed him, he would have been angry that I didn't believe him. Anyhow, he has been disobedient and disrespectful since then, and our counselor cut to the chase with him over this. She knows what he is doing, and pointedly told him to stop, and stop imagining what other people are thinking or trying to do. In short, stop keeping score about what the teachers are doing to and with whom.
Hopefully the rest of the year will be smoother as a result of this.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
February
It is the shortest month, but only a few days into it, it feels like the longest. Not a whole lot to look forward to, except possibly President's Day, which is a longer weekend for the students (Friday 13th is a Parent/Teacher conference day). Days are cold and I am lazy - not riding my bike due to the cold and damp. Ice is not a friendly thing, especially pre-dawn.
Aside from that, not a whole lot is going on. Waiting on developments to announce here shortly, I hope.
Aside from that, not a whole lot is going on. Waiting on developments to announce here shortly, I hope.
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