What's On For Tomorrow?

So, it's finally time for dinner and lesson planning for afterschool programming for tomorrow. I think that giant vocabulary games are going to be on tap. I went to my first union meeting tonight. A fair amount of anxiety was on display. The district is pushing the SIOP implementation project pretty hard, and a number of the staff is having a hard time keeping up. Above that, the local management has decreed that structured group instruction is mandated, and has ordered its implementation without a whole lot of preparation. There are a few other issues that I will not go into. Kind of an unhappy staff, on the whole. Too bad.

I just agreed to put my name in for nomination to the NEA delegate assembly in Anchorage in January. No sense being here if I can't be a troublemaker. Maybe the negotiation team next. Just kidding. Not really...

Finally...

After school program starts tomorrow, and I am in it. I didn't even know there was extra pay involved when I first said yes. There is, however, no set agenda or schedule yet.

I am working on a new approach to maintaining distance between me and school. I do not check my school e-mail after I leave the building at night. Downtime is important, and administrators out here have a bad reputation for crossing those boundaries with some frequency/impunity.

I am working on a possble spinning bike order, although the shipping cost alone may get me to opt for a trainer and my 29er bike. I can ship that bad boy a lot of times for 499+shipping...

An Interesting Day

Many inservicings and things of that nature today. Stories of various interesting natures. News that I did not previously possess. Now it is the evening. Tomorrow we get students back, and I am kind of looking forward to it, even though they drive me nuts occasionally. Thursday night, I leave for Bethel and a promise of a homecooked meal and -gasp-alcoholic beverages, and two days of learning about digital storytelling. I have lesson plans for Friday done, along with instructions for the sub, and I hope that they will serve to be adequate for the actual half day of school that I will miss. This is shaping up as the breather that I needed.

Hell, if I miss the little buggers, it must mean that I got the breather that I needed.

NYO Video-Hope Ya Like It...

Inservice Fun

That's what we did for our day away from students. We get to do more tomorrow. I was struck by the fact that when it came time to group up to discuss, I kept getting pushed toward the junior high, despite the fact that I work an equal number of hours in the high school.

It bothered me for a while. I have the idea that I am going to get pushed into a totally junior high role. I didn't necessarily ask for it. I'm not sure how much I like it. My feelings were hurt. Wah wah and all that stuff.

After a while, it occurred to me that the move is probably inevitable. I might as well get used to it. I would still like to teach some history/government stuff in high school, but if not, no big deal. Maybe I would even get my own classroom and stuff, and I could fix it up the way that I wanted to.

It is probably the wave of the future.

Tomorrow, I apparently get to show people how to incorporate learning structures into their lesson plans, even though they probably have not read the book on the subject, and were told that they didn't need to. Hey Rock, watch me pull this rabbit out of my hat!

Up Early

My mind is active this morning, seeking a solution to the dilemma that is the junior high. It is my Gordian Knot. I keep hearing that it is a problem years in the making, yet I feel pressure to solve it now, and I have not a clue. Cooperative groups, chunking, PBS, some sort of mix of all of the above...beats me right now...

Just Checkin' In...

Sort of a nothing day. I did enjoy the extra hour of sleep quite a bit. I also was amused by seeing both Father Vasily and Joe go flying by on 4 wheelers at what was really 8:30, but would have looked like 9:30 if you had not set the clock back. There were services scheduled at 9:30. I assume that they worked it out.

The rest of the day was pretty blah. I am stumped and stymied by lesson planning for jr high. Some sort of edict is supposed to be forthcoming, I hope in the next two days, so that I know what it is that I am supposed to be doing.

Everything else, including directions for subs, is done. The room reservations for Thursday and Friday night are made. We just need the plane tickets.

And that, ladies and gents, is my Sunday in a nutshell...have a great week.