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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I just finished watching Happy Feet and I really enjoyed it. The movie seems to be a cross between The Ugly Duckling and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Mumble is a duck whose egg is dropped during incubation. The most important thing in the life of a penguin we learn is to be able to sing in order to find a mate. Mumbles, we learn, lacks the ability to sing well, but he can really cut a rug (this is an old term for dance.) Well, Mumble is shunned from the penguin community all of his life because of his “happy feet” and isn’t allowed to officially graudate from penguin school.
While this is all happening the penguins and other antarctic creatures are going through a fish famine. The leaders of the penguins say that the great “guin” is angered by Mumble slacker ways and his dancing and is punishing them with no fish. Mumbles learns from a large bird and a treachorous encouter with a walrus (or possible a large otter) that “the aliens” (humans) are causing the problem.
After being exiled from the emperor penguins, Mumbles sets off with 5 penguins of a different breed to find the source of the problem and exhonerate his name. The travel a long way until they eventually find a large fleet of fishing boats that are taking the fish. Mumbles companions are content to turn back now because they have proven the Mumbles is not to blame, but Mumbles actually wants to help fix the problem. So, he jumps into the ocean and starts following one of the boats. He is briefly successly but ultimately ends up trying to chase the boat until he ends up in, what I assume is, Australia.
Here he ends up in a zoo and interacts with aliens. He tries to reason with the aliens, but they don’t seem to understand anything he says. He ends up becoming depressed and hullicinating about his family back home. Eventually one little girl comes up to glass and starts tapping a dancing beat and Mumbles starts to dance. This gets the attention of the whole crowd and Mumbles is ultimately sent back to his home, but he marked with a homing beacon. I’ll leave the rest for you to watch.
The animation in this movie is really good and they weave music and dance into the movie in a really fun way. The voice acting is good especially the role of Noah, the patriarch of the penguins, who is portrayed by Hugo Weaving (Agent Smith from The Matrix.) I would reccomend this movie for anyone who enjoys animated films. Towards the end the movie gets very emotional as Mumbles is temporarily separated from his family and we are not sure what is going to happen. The movie also tells a good story that could open a dialog for parents and children.
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Isaac is working through his first cold right now. He is a little more fussy than normal, which is too bad because it tends to mean that he gets less sleep when he really needs more. 
He is doing a better job eating consistently though so that is good. You can see here that he is quite unhappy.
In some ways he is still very small. Like when when I put him in his crib, he seems so slight. But when I hold him or put him in his car seat he seems huge! Gina referred to him as her little meatball the other day.
Today we had the football golf outing/fund raiser. It was a nice time outside. The biggest thing I missed while I was doing the Summer School Principal things for my internship was being outside everyday. It has been a nice summer for it so far. This last week has been rough in terms of humidity, but at least I am not in pads. 
In addition, I am still loving texting and in particularly updating my Facebook status whenever I want. I now have found that I can reply to my friends’ status on my cell. I find that this really helps me stay in touch.
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This is my new blog. I have flipped flop back and forth deciding whether or not I want to have a blog at all, and if I do, whether or not I want to host it myself or on one of the popular sites. Ultimately, I decided to do it on my own server so I can play around with the formatting a bit and because my school block LiveJournal.
My main motivation right now for blogging is to track the process that I make on my new house as far as the construction and remodeling goes. As time goes on I hope to be able to post more regularly than I used to and allow people to stay up to date on what is going on in my fascinating life.
Happy blogging.
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Posted in General 3 years, 11 months ago at 5:26 pm. Add a comment
Hello, my name is Peter Kupfer and I teach High School Physics.
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Posted in 3 years, 11 months ago at 3:11 am. Add a comment
Summer has begun and it is a little boring. I went to camp for a week which was nice. I did a lot of manual labor and came back 5 pounds heavier. I am telling myself it is muscle, but I ate a lot of food while I was there, so I’m not so sure. I actually bought new shows yesterday which is rare for me. They are of the slip on variety with no laces. Something new for me, but a fun little change.
While at camp I did a lot of hiking and some alone thinking and I am really being eaten up inside that I really pissed off a friend and I don’t know how to make things better. I am mailing a card now to that effect, we’ll see.
Next week I am off to my physics conference for 3 weeks with sweet, sweet dorm food. I get to learn about teaching physics using models. I don’t fully know what that means, but it is supposed to be pretty sweet. Then I return and football camp starts and then it is downhill until school starts up.
I am supposed to study for my GRE some time this summer, but I have been pushing that off. I guess it has only been 2 weeks since school ended, but it is going to fly past. Although, after this physics thing, I have very little else to do.
All for now.
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Posted in General 4 years, 1 month ago at 8:54 pm. Add a comment
Going to a high school dance is always an interesting sociological study. It seems that it is different now then when I was a kid. There is a lot more bumping & grinding and less slow songs. We were in the gym for the last 90 minutes of the dance and there were only 2.5 slow songs played. It was continuous techno after techno. Very strange.
The dresses were also pretty good tonight, not a lot of trashy numbers. There were a few, but overall very classy and pretty. (I think I am allowed to say that without being considered a sexual offender.)
Overall, I had a good time. A lot of students said hi to me and that makes me feel welcomed and accepted.
Hope everyone had a fun night doing whatever they did.
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Posted in Teaching 4 years, 5 months ago at 5:14 am. Add a comment