I am at the school getting my supplies ready for an afternoon of lesson planning and housekeeping. I have learned the joys (!) of lesson planning at home...I just need to check and see what books I will need to plan reasonably.
Lots going on...we need to get grades ready by Monday morning, which necessitates weekend work. Fortunately, I have made grading a priority this semester, and the net effect of the deadline is minimal...I mostly have to get citizenship grades done for the nine week period.
On the home front, I want to get the apartment cleaned...the dishes are already nearly done, and laundry will have to await the neighbors.
We took a nice ride to Bethel last evening, and picked up some supplies and stopped for sushi at VIP restaurant, our favorite hangout. It was a nice night for a ride-the sun does not set now until nearly 9 PM, and the riding is good. Our sno-go was doing a strange thing a couple of weeks ago, so I applied the principles of Zen mechanics to it-I did nothing. When I started it as a test yesterday, it was not doing that any more. Genius!
It looks like a beautiful day for a ride today, but at $7.80 a gallon for gasoline, joyriding would seem to be out of the question.
Nine weeks from today, we will be on vacation. Seniors have placed the request with District Office for airplane tickets to Chicago, which means that we intend to come to Michigan. We just have to await confirmation.
Time to get back to work and stop goofing around. I plan to mix goofing and some last minute grading tomorrow morning...
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Monday, March 12, 2012
Baack At It on Monday...
Nine more Mondays to go...I get excited when the words go through my head...there is something about the fact that it is less than ten, I guess. If I had a better theory, I would share it, but that is all that I have to offer. The sunlight is beautiful, and has been for the past couple of days, and it lasts now until after nine o clock. The great daylight savings time swing has happened, and it happens here with a vengeance. We are gaining nearly six minutes of daylight each day, which means that sunset and sunrise move nearly three minutes. By the end of the week, we will have an additional 40 minutes of daylight. The spring madness is upon us, even if the spring temperatures are not.
There is a talent show here on Thursday, and I am contemplating reading one of the blog posts from the distant past that I think is kind of funny, but I haven't made up my mind as yet.
The building has become very quiet after hours now that the basketball season has ended. I suspect that it will be that way until the intramural league starts up. I am not sure when that is supposed to begin. I kind of like the peace and quiet, but it is also a little sad around the edges. This place is probably meant to be full of noise and life.
Time to go brave the cold and tend to my pups. Think I will kiss my sweet wife goodbye before I go-she is staying here for Study Buddies...
There is a talent show here on Thursday, and I am contemplating reading one of the blog posts from the distant past that I think is kind of funny, but I haven't made up my mind as yet.
The building has become very quiet after hours now that the basketball season has ended. I suspect that it will be that way until the intramural league starts up. I am not sure when that is supposed to begin. I kind of like the peace and quiet, but it is also a little sad around the edges. This place is probably meant to be full of noise and life.
Time to go brave the cold and tend to my pups. Think I will kiss my sweet wife goodbye before I go-she is staying here for Study Buddies...
Friday, March 9, 2012
Friday...
The drummers are drumming and singing in the gym. We have a half-hour of Yup'ik dancing every Friday, and that is where "my kids" are, whether they be junior high, which I just sent there, or the 5th grade math class, which I will go and gather at 11:30. Junior high is working on research papers, and 5th grade is going to either work on survey results or play math games. After that, I will send them to lunch and this part of the day is done.
We are going to dine with the folks across the hall tonight, and I understand that lasagna is in the offing, as well as something called pizza soup. Sounds interesting. One of our friends graced us with a big fillet of halibut recently, and that became fish tacos the other night. The rest will likely become halibut chowder this weekend. Yum.
The weekend looms, and our responsibilities go no farther than grades and lesson plans. No travel, no tournaments, and I believe no fundraisers. Ok, I could be wrong on the last one...the seniors are still working in earnest to come up with money for the senior trip, and need to seize any chance that presents itself.
Time to go get some kiddies...
We are going to dine with the folks across the hall tonight, and I understand that lasagna is in the offing, as well as something called pizza soup. Sounds interesting. One of our friends graced us with a big fillet of halibut recently, and that became fish tacos the other night. The rest will likely become halibut chowder this weekend. Yum.
The weekend looms, and our responsibilities go no farther than grades and lesson plans. No travel, no tournaments, and I believe no fundraisers. Ok, I could be wrong on the last one...the seniors are still working in earnest to come up with money for the senior trip, and need to seize any chance that presents itself.
Time to go get some kiddies...
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
A Little More Up To Date...
Since the last installment, I have gotten my eval, the basketball tournament has taken place, and a change or two is in store...
I apparently am not too big a stumbling idiot, and I did ok on the last eval. Next year, I will have tenure, and I will have one formal evaluation each year, like everybody else. My principal is given to more frequent less formal evaluations, which makes some sense, and keeps us reasonably sharp. It will be nice to be one of the big kids.
The tournament went by in a whirl. I was unfortunate enough to finally fall victim to traveling viruses for the first time during this school year, which is at least a pleasant contrast to the track record of previous years. It caused me to watch a couple of games, including the championship game, from one of the classrooms at the school. They are broadcast throughout the school system on a closed circuit system that we use for distance education and conferences. Our boys made it to the championship game after a tight struggle with last year's champion school.
Unfortunately, they met a larger, and more experienced team in the finals. They played hard, but could not close the deal. We were disappointed, but proud of our boys for what they had accomplished. One of our fans started a fan club on Facebook, and there were lots of positive posts showing support of the team and our coach, who has led the school to one third place finish, two second place finishes, three district championships, and one state championship during the time that he has been teaching and coaching here.A pretty good record, I think.
It looks as if our upcoming classes in the middle grades are so big that we are going to have to split up the 5th and 6th grades next year. If my understanding of the numbers is correct, I will have even more bodies to cram into space next year than this. I am in the process of evaluating the differences in the classrooms, but it looks as if I may be changing my base of operations in the fall to a bigger room. There are pluses and minuses to the deal, but I suspect that it makes sense, on the whole.
We have ten weeks left to go as of Friday. Time to start making serious plans for the senior trip and what we will do in Michigan during the summer.
I apparently am not too big a stumbling idiot, and I did ok on the last eval. Next year, I will have tenure, and I will have one formal evaluation each year, like everybody else. My principal is given to more frequent less formal evaluations, which makes some sense, and keeps us reasonably sharp. It will be nice to be one of the big kids.
The tournament went by in a whirl. I was unfortunate enough to finally fall victim to traveling viruses for the first time during this school year, which is at least a pleasant contrast to the track record of previous years. It caused me to watch a couple of games, including the championship game, from one of the classrooms at the school. They are broadcast throughout the school system on a closed circuit system that we use for distance education and conferences. Our boys made it to the championship game after a tight struggle with last year's champion school.
Unfortunately, they met a larger, and more experienced team in the finals. They played hard, but could not close the deal. We were disappointed, but proud of our boys for what they had accomplished. One of our fans started a fan club on Facebook, and there were lots of positive posts showing support of the team and our coach, who has led the school to one third place finish, two second place finishes, three district championships, and one state championship during the time that he has been teaching and coaching here.A pretty good record, I think.
It looks as if our upcoming classes in the middle grades are so big that we are going to have to split up the 5th and 6th grades next year. If my understanding of the numbers is correct, I will have even more bodies to cram into space next year than this. I am in the process of evaluating the differences in the classrooms, but it looks as if I may be changing my base of operations in the fall to a bigger room. There are pluses and minuses to the deal, but I suspect that it makes sense, on the whole.
We have ten weeks left to go as of Friday. Time to start making serious plans for the senior trip and what we will do in Michigan during the summer.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Basketball Madness and Blackouts...
...not the neurological kind of blackouts, or those brought on by excess...the kind that come when a small village hundreds of miles from nowhere relies upon its own generators for electrical power. We are most definitely not on the grid here. In fact, we can likely be best described as perhaps thousands of miles from the grid as it exists in the Lower 48. Our grid is miniature and consists of the village of Napaskiak. Period. We are not even connected to Bethel, as there are no bridges or anything of the sort that could support repair vehicles until the river is frozen.
After the craziness of the junior high tournament, we went home to catch a few z's. A nap was most necessary after all of those hours of running around getting stuff for people to eat and drink. After that, we got up and began to prepare for the dinner that we were planning to host at 7:30 that evening. There were dishes to wash, and food to prepare. Not a whole lot had gotten done when the power went out. No problem, I could still wash dishes, and there were three hours to go before guests were to arrive.
The short version of this is that the power was not on at 7:30. Not at 8, or 8:30...my wife called our guests and said that we would have to cancel. I was very disappointed. I had not really gotten to celebrate my birthday because of the necessity of our volunteering for the seniors. Now, I was not going to get the rain check because of the complexities of living out here. Bummer...
We sat for a little while in the dark as it descended, but abandoned that for the hallway, where there are safety lights, and we could see. On top of that, it was beginning to get cold in the apartments. The neighbors were already out there with their newborn, concerned for her comfort. We opened the door to the adjacent furnace room, which let some more heat out into the hallway. Things began to evolve into the direction of a hall party. My wife hand-whipped the frosting for my birthday cake, and we pulled out a cooler to act as an impromptu table.
It was at that point, at about 9:30 in the evening, that the lights came back on. We had already been told that they were not likely to for the rest of the night, and maybe not the next day. Once we convinced ourselves that they were on for a while, we decided to make pizza and ice cream and have a proper little party after all. The whole thing took a while to set up, as it was all being made from scratch, but we got the heat going, and had pizza, carrot cake, and homemade strawberry ice cream by 11 pm. A truly memorable birthday after all...
After the craziness of the junior high tournament, we went home to catch a few z's. A nap was most necessary after all of those hours of running around getting stuff for people to eat and drink. After that, we got up and began to prepare for the dinner that we were planning to host at 7:30 that evening. There were dishes to wash, and food to prepare. Not a whole lot had gotten done when the power went out. No problem, I could still wash dishes, and there were three hours to go before guests were to arrive.
The short version of this is that the power was not on at 7:30. Not at 8, or 8:30...my wife called our guests and said that we would have to cancel. I was very disappointed. I had not really gotten to celebrate my birthday because of the necessity of our volunteering for the seniors. Now, I was not going to get the rain check because of the complexities of living out here. Bummer...
We sat for a little while in the dark as it descended, but abandoned that for the hallway, where there are safety lights, and we could see. On top of that, it was beginning to get cold in the apartments. The neighbors were already out there with their newborn, concerned for her comfort. We opened the door to the adjacent furnace room, which let some more heat out into the hallway. Things began to evolve into the direction of a hall party. My wife hand-whipped the frosting for my birthday cake, and we pulled out a cooler to act as an impromptu table.
It was at that point, at about 9:30 in the evening, that the lights came back on. We had already been told that they were not likely to for the rest of the night, and maybe not the next day. Once we convinced ourselves that they were on for a while, we decided to make pizza and ice cream and have a proper little party after all. The whole thing took a while to set up, as it was all being made from scratch, but we got the heat going, and had pizza, carrot cake, and homemade strawberry ice cream by 11 pm. A truly memorable birthday after all...
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