When they come back to visit

Yesterday was the last day of workshop week. I didn’t get as much done as I thought. I am in charge of the lockers for the school and I spent some time fixing a few combinations that hadn’t moved ahead. But the most interesting part of the day came when a former student stopped by.

Occasionally students come back to get transcripts because of applying for college later than right after high school. This student had served 5 years in the Marines and was now going taking classes at a community college. He was applying for the major university in town and needed a high school transcript. So while he was at school, he wandered around to see if he could find any of his former teachers.

I was one of the teachers he found. When he came into my room he said my name and then started to introduce himself. He wasn’t assuming that I’d remember him, which was nice. (I actually said his name before he got it out – so this one I did remember and recognize.) When you’ve had hundreds of students, it’s hard to remember each and every one of them.

So we talked about what he had done since high school. He had been stationed in Kuwait, but did not have to go into Iraq. We talked about what he was doing now that he was out of the Marines. And then at the end of the conversation, something completely caught me off guard.

Student: I hope you don’t think this is too forward. But do you think I could have your number and we could get together for coffee sometime?

Me: Uhhh… Do you have email? You can just reach me that way here. …  It was nice seeing you.

How do you respond to that? Is he thinking this is just coffee or a coffee date? To me, it sounded more like he was fishing for a coffee date. Umm… yeah, you’re definitely more confident than you were in high school, and your acne has cleared up nicely. But you’re FOURTEEN years younger than me. I’m flattered and freaked out at the same time. I could be completely wrong. But in my experience, I’m pretty good at reading people.

As a teacher, you never know who or what will walk through your door. But you do know that it’s never predictable.

Quote of the week

“Can she be successful if she takes Calculus and Pre Calculus out of sequence?”

Just because you don’t understand doesn’t mean you can’t DO it.

Do I really have a clue about how computers work and how to set them up? Nope. Am I able to get them to work and make a few good guesses about where to plug in cords, etc? Yep.

I just set up my new wireless modem so I can use my new MacBook from home. I really don’t know what I’m doing. Those people that make the pictures on the quick set-up guide are pretty good. I follow the directions on the pictures and presto: it worked. Of course, I did call to find out the code so I could access my wireless from my laptop. Uh… the code is printed on the modem. Yeah, I felt kind of dumb. Oh well…

I think I’m going to tell this story in class. There are a lot of things that you don’t actually know how to do. But if you give them a try, they just might work. I recall many times when I was a student, following the pattern of steps in a math problem, not understanding what I was doing, and somehow magically getting the correct answer. The point is that it doesn’t hurt you to try. And heck- you just might get it right!

Ridin’ the Roller Coaster

Today was the first day back for teachers. I wouldn’t say I was super duper excited to get back, but I wasn’t dreading it. After going to the workshop last week and getting my new MacBook, I was pretty excited. I was thinking about how I could use my new found knowledge in teaching Trig and Pre Calc. So all in all, I would say that I had a good attitude and was pretty upbeat.

Is cheerful really that hard to do on day one? We all know that we have a tough road ahead. Our kids are coming in less prepared every year. We’re newly designated title 1. Enrollment is down. The microscope under which we all work, is turned up. I needed a little inspiration today. I needed a little, “The road ahead will be tough, but we can do it” kind of talk. Did it happen? Nope.

We did have a guy talk to us about making AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress). We did in reading the last two years, which is great. Math is another story. And as a Math teacher, you can’t help but feel like you have a bulls-eye on your head. Some college could probably write a semester long course about how to understand the NCLB law and how everything works. In order to understand how they calculate AYP, AYP-Safe Harbor 1, AYP-Safe Harbor 2, etc. I think you need to be a statistician. The man who coined the phrase “fuzzy math” sure had his peeps figure out some math that’s way beyond the average bear.

So I’m ridin’ the roller coaster of emotions. I was up, then I was down. I got on my treadmill and ran off some stress to get part way up the hill again. I’m tired of people telling me the problem and not offering any solutions. It’s my nature to problem solve. I don’t want to hear the down side. I already know it. Give me something to keep my hopes up and help me to try to fix the problem. I operate much better under those conditions. Maybe the district Math meeting will give me some hope on Wednesday. If not hope, at least some ideas of how to work in this situation.

Now that I have it, how does it work?

I went to a workshop this morning. I’m part of the high school technology initiative in my district. This is the sixth year of the program. It was originally going to be a 3 year program, but they wrote another grant and got money to extend it. They started with 4th grade teachers and have worked their way up through the grade levels.

Each teacher gets a MacBook computer with an LCD projector for their use in the classroom. We have a variety of workshops that we can go to throughout the school year. We only have to go to two. We also meet with our technology coach for 3 separate 1 hour sessions. We attend a showcase in May and we also participate in an on-line forum and keep up some sort of site.

This is the coolest thing that I’ve done in several years. Yes, it’s very cool to get a laptop for free. (I can’t seem to stop using the word cool.) But the possibilities of learning and doing neat things in my classroom are so exciting! I want to take more than just the two required classes. We’ve got iPhoto, iMovie and a whole host of other programs that I have no clue how to operate on these things. There’s also subscriptions for online resources that the district has for our use that I’ve never looked at. I haven’t even mentioned that we can run it as a PC with Windows XP or as a Mac. I’m used to a PC. But there are so many cool things that can be done with a Mac that I want to get used to this in Mac mode.

There are 165 teachers participating in this program. The theory is that since they started this with 4th grade and worked their way up, we should be getting some of those kids whose teachers already went through the program. I have no idea if any of mine will have had exposure to it. But I can tell you that I’m going to take full advantage of what I can do with this!

Too Late?

I went to my favorite big box store today. I had my list. When I arrived, I remembered that I was going to check out their school supplies. I can’t resist buying my share of paper, pencils, pens, markers, etc.

It’s only August 19th. School doesn’t start until September 2nd.

They were out of pencils.

Pencils are the one school supply that I really need. I’ve got enough scratch paper from over the years to deal with kids that don’t have paper. But pencils? How can you do math without a pencil? I always get a few boxes of pencils so I have enough for the entire year. The pencils seem to walk away pretty easily. But then again, I don’t really worry about it. If I can furnish them with a 2 cent pencil, it’s fine by me.

So… now I’ll have to go other places to find my pencils in bulk. It will be kind of a pain, but I’ll do it. I just wish they weren’t so gung ho on selling school supplies so far before school starts. Or at least look at a calendar of when the local schools start.

Drew Cartoon

I have thoroughly enjoyed watching the Olympics. I’ve been an Olympic Junkie since the 1980 winter games.

While in Colorado I had a really good laugh from a Drew Litton cartoon in the Rocky Mountain News.

I guess that makes me almost 51!

(Please click on the link above to see the cartoon. I don’t think I should post it due to copyright laws.)

To see any more of his cartoons click here.

Three Words

In August there are three words that I really dislike. Do they really have to remind me that summer is coming to an end? Vacation over? Nope. All of those sales, pushing pens, pencils, notebooks, new clothes, backpacks, calculators, etc. signal that the end is coming.

The good thing is that by August I’m pretty well recovered from the last school year and am ready to go back. It may sound strange, but I don’t feel like a normal human until about the 4th of July. It’s hard to explain, but it takes me awhile to “come down” from the school year. I don’t really feel like I have the energy to be productive until I’ve had about 3-4 weeks off. My massage therapist can tell when I’ve been away from school because the knots in my shoulders (Ernie and Bert) have significantly released and are almost manageable.

There’s something that happens when I flip the calendar to August. I don’t think I’m consciously doing it. But I’m starting to mentally gear up for school. I try to push it off as long as possible. I’m lucky in the fact that I work in a district that still has the students start the day after Labor Day. I just got back from Colorado and they are starting this week and next. Yikes!

This year will be an interesting year. It’s our first year being a title 1 school. My class sizes look pretty nice so far. I’ll be able to focus more on individuals and what they need. I’m also taking part in a technology initiative where I get a MacBook and training. I’m quite excited about it. I need to spruce up my teaching. It’s definitely easier with several years of experience, but we all need to change it up as we go.

So as the summer comes to an end and we go back to school, it is a good thing. I need a schedule and need to get back to being creative and trying to witness those light bulb moments. I do miss the kids. That’s what it’s all about. But I certainly need the big chunk of vacation to gear up to do it all again!

Gives me the willies…

While here in Colorado, I’m reading the Rocky Mountain News.  In Monday’s paper there was this photo with the caption:

“Making sure beach volleyball players have applied the proper amount of sunscreen. Hey, it’s my job to protect the American people!”

Ick.

If you go to the site, there are several pictures with made up captions that are pretty funny.  So hopefully this one is also a made up caption.

Rocky Mountain High

I’m on my annual trip to Colorado to visit friends right now.  It’s always a fun time.  I arrived early Saturday morning.  So far I’ve only had one altitude headache – and it wasn’t bad.  I’m used to 800 feet above sea level. 

It may seem strange, but I come here every year.  I’m lucky because it’s a great place to visit.  But the reason why I come is not the location. 

My very first job out of college, I met this woman.  I was only 22 and she blew me away.  She was 7 years older and so sure of herself.  She was always doing something and living life to its fullest.  We joke around about my reaction when I first met her.  I was probably just stunned by her.  She told us the story about planning her wedding in a week.  (yes, 1 week).  She was the first woman I met who knew that she didn’t want to have children.  I don’t know why, but this seemed like such a foreign concept to me.  And to top it off, she’s beautiful.  And I mean gorgeous.

A few months after she was hired (this was in my previous life working in business), her husband was transferred to San Antonio.  So while he was getting started there and finding housing, etc. she was by herself for a few months.  As a result, we’d do things after work and on weekends.  She’s from Arizona, so she didn’t really know many people in my town.  We even went to hear a Rockabilly band in a kind of sketchy area of town.  My parents raised their eyebrows at that.  “Do you know what neighborhood that’s in?  Be careful.” 

She moved to San Antonio and for the next few years I’d go there for some long weekends.  In San Antonio is where she taught me how to golf.  She and her husband had leaned how to make custom clubs, so one visit, I tried a variety of clubs and they made my set. 

After a few years, family circumstances made it so they moved to Colorado Springs and then to a town between there and Denver.  At this point, I had become a teacher and could take time during the summer to visit.  Each year we usually do some touristy stuff.  Royal Gorge, Garden of the Gods, Winter Park, Celestial Seasonings, Molly Brown House, downtown Denver, Boulder, Glenwood Springs, and the list goes on.  We always seem to shop, eat well and golf. 

The reason why I keep coming back is not for the location.  It’s the friendship.  You have people that make a difference in your life.  No matter how many miles separate us, we’ll always be friends.  In the age of cell phones, we talk a few times per week.  Whenever I come to visit, it reminds me to make the most of my time and try new things.  Now that I think about it, just knowing L and being around her all of these years has probably helped me be more confident in myself.  She’s probably helped shape that shy 22 year-old more than either of us realize. 

So I have a weekend left, here in mile high region.  We’ve already done most everything on my “to do list.”  But that’s not the point.  The point is that everyone needs to have friends like these.  It enriches your life and helps you be a better person and live your life to the fullest.  In this age of email and text messaging, we need to make a point to have real connections.  They’re completely worth it.