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February 23rd — Today’s Good thing was getting through the first ACT prep class and feeling like the kids were listening and possible getting something out of it. (It goes so fast.)
February 24th — Today’s good thing was getting to go snow tubing with some fun kids and seeing those kids be good representatives of their school. Also, I was thrilled to see them Continue Reading…
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Today’s circular motion lab went pretty well. I tried to let the students work on figuring out the procedure and what to do and after some initial insecurity and confusion they got the idea without too much help from me and it pleased me.
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Today’s good thing was that I had two really good laughs in class today. I haven’t had any good crying laughs in class that I can remember since my first year at LZ when two students argues over who popped their collar first. I was very stressed today after being yelled at by my student for “ruining their lives” because we had to cancel our trip, so I think I was little giddy and that led to me finding these antics hysterical!
Well, first a student said finding the displacement was a “super-sneaky” way to avoid doing extra work when in fact this was the correct way to solve the problem. Some of the students who were confused about the problem didn’t find this funny at all, but the ones who knew what was going understood why I was laughing.
Secondly, a student who is not known for homework completion completed his homework the other day and after being assured he would receive credit for it he promptly put the assignment in the recycling bin. Today for his presentation he was convinced by his group mate that he would need his worksheet so he walked over and calmly dug the worksheet out of the recycling bin as if it was his personal locker. I found this far funnier than any of the students.
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Today I had a really mature conversation with a student about a problem I was having with this student and how we could address. I found out a little bit about this students’ fears and apprehensions about the future and I thought it was a really a nice conversation that helped me understand this student better. Hopefully it will lead to an even better relationship down the road.
For me it was a personal accomplishment because I am not always comfortable confronting students and I did and it went well.
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The judges on American Idol seem to be horribly inconsistent. We were watching the auditions from last Tuesday tonight, and they were picking on this girl who was like the best singer of the year. They told her she wasn’t super star enough and made her come back. I don’t mind that they did this inherently, but they needed to say something like, “Okay, you are one of the best we’ve heard, but we think you can be special so…”
I will do this in class sometimes if I am reading a good rough draft. I will say, “Okay this is good, but now I am going to be picky so we can make this great.” I just worry that the girl left the audition thinking she was bad.
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So, as many of you know, all of the 1st – 4th year teachers in Lake Zurich have been told that they will have no job next year. This is the case because the school board is anticipating a 4 million dollar deficit next year and they are releasing as many teachers as possible so that they can have flexibility when they start cutting programs and increasing class sizes. I get this policy on some levels, but it leaves me in a bad place. I just wish they would have taken the time to be a little more thoughtful about the process. Half of the science staff had been let go and I can’t imagine that was necessary.
What really makes me sad is that I am now going to have to go out and apply for jobs. When I am offered one of those jobs in the next few months, I am going to have to take because I need a job in order to take care of my family. So, won’t be able to tell a job that is guaranteed to me to wait until LZ figures it out in April, May, or even June. This really starts to get to me because of the time and effort and really parts of myself I have given to that job. I don’t work at half speed and I really have put myself into that job and I feel like I have been dumped.
But, in all honesty, the part that makes me the most sad (I actually even cried a little because I was so sad) is that I will most likely not get to see the bowling team through next year. I always told myself that minimally I was going to see one class through bowling to try and get the program established and then decide what I wanted to do. I got lucky and the group I have right now is amazing. I never thoght I would feel this close to a group of students, but then, BAM, it happened. There are times when I want to wring some of the necks, but I am really going to miss the fun times we have had.
I really worry that when I get to my new job, that I am going to be relunctant to get that attached to the people there. I hope I don’t end up that way, but that is how I feel right now. I felt like I finally found a district where I had a place and role. I was coaching, teaching, working with technology and then the rug got pulled out from under me. I would like to think that I will be back there next year, but I have no idea and have to proceed as such.
There are people who are worse off than me in this situation, and I wish the district could have gotten their money right the past couple years so that they would have had the reserves in place to handle this. Oh well…
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The bowling team won the Rockford Guilford Survivor tournament by 2 points. This was a very stressful event. Going into the 5 game we were down by 120. After the 5th game, we were up by 30 with 1 game to go and squeeked it out by 2 points! Phew…
We had one kid bowl a 289 (which means he missed 1 pin on the second shot in the 10th frame) that was also very stressful. Who knew bowling could be so exciting.
What makes it so stressful is that the scoring is not straight forward. If you are familiar with bowling scoring you know what I mean. You get bonus points if you bowl well after a strike or a spare, so you can’t always tell where you stand.
That’s all for now, the house is coming along, and the football team made state, so I will be down in Champagne for that.
Cheers.
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