Sunday Night...

Where did the weekend go? Back at it tomorrow, after a sunny day, a little work, a little walk, and a little church. I am relaxed at last, and there was pleasant company to be had the whole time.

We finished watching There Will Be Blood, which my bride had never seen before-she thought it was pretty weird, and it is intense for sure. Another of my students got to play with our smart board today, and he seemed pretty geeked by the whole thing. I think that we will have fun with it in the months to come.

We have a couple of water samples to look at in the microscope, and a few other things to do tomorrow. It shall start the week off in style.

Steamy Goodness...

Finally got to get back for maqiq tonight. Joe said it had been a month since he had used his. we burned a pair of rubber boots as well...it just felt good to be back there-I missed it. Now I am relaxing at home, after enjoying a piece of Sara's lemon meringue pie. Yummy. We had dinner over there after hosting them here on Friday night. Joe called just before dessert, and asked us down. Our new kid, Sean, came along as well, and acquitted himself well.

Yesterday we had some more fun inservices. Enough already, only there is another in two weeks, and another in three weeks. I am inserviced to the hilt. Better left unsaid.

Got my new smart board in my classroom yesterday, and got it up and running today. Pretty neat. I need to do some focusing, but other than that, I can't complain, and some of the kids who were in for wrestling were able to get on and play some cool math games on the Everyday Math website. I think it will be fun to use this piece of technology. My apple computer is kind of tempermental since the new image was installed. It won't let me update, and it won't install and run iTunes properly. One of the tech guys took a run at it the other day, to no avail. I have heard a suggestion that it is again a matter of the image that the district chose to run, but I certainly have no way to confirm that personally.

Time for bed-I need to pick out reading books and do AKT2 stuff in the morning. It was a nice day...think I will turn in for the night with my honey...

The End Of A Good Week...

Eat, drink, and be merry, for today we inservice...Yes, it is that time again...and it will be again and again...I guess that is the life to which I have consigned myself.

No complaints today. We are training in positive behavior management in the classroom, which should be the next step in my progression. As the weeks have gone by, I notice that my classes and I are moving more in concert. The tune may not always be perfect, but it is getting better. My mentor is out here, and was gracious enough to comment on the change that she has seen. We could discuss the reasons for the change, but I believe that the biggest one is that the kids and I are seeing and understanding each other more. We seem to read each other more easily. Even the last period science class has improved.

Now, I want to start making the next step, to a more proactive management approach that emphasizes positive input instead of just reaction. We are already beginning to do that, and I believe it is part of the reason for the fact that things are going better in the classroom. Today's inservice will focus in more depth on that process. Structure plus intuition-that seems to be the pathwway to success.

It has been nice to see Betty, my mentor, even though it means that she has been the seventh observer in my classroom in the past two weeks. That part is getting old, although she always is good for participation and communication when she is in there. I suppose that there is no avoiding it in the long run.

But today I think that I am going to avoid bitching any more about the complicated parts, and just enjoy the afterglow of a good week...

Not Bad...

An all around OK day. The kids were pretty good, and there were no major traumas. I finally am getting to the point where it feels like fun to go to work. I am not perfect, and not everything always goes according to plan, but it feels better. I feel as if I am beginning to have a slightly more intuitive feel for this group of students to the point that I can make some changes as the situation dictates. That was not often the case last year, and it has taken some time to get there, or closer to there, this year. More to come on this subject as the year progresses...

My mentor is here for two nights this time around. She will be helping our new rookie as well, so she will have two subjects with whom she can visit from now on.

There was snow in the air today, and there is some suggestion that there may be accumulation over night. Excitement is in the air, because as soon as there is snow, someone will get out a snowmachine. Once the river freezes, we will again be able to access the world of Bethel and $30 fajita dinners. Unfortunately, one of our favorite Bethel locations will be no longer, as I understand it. Shogun has been sold to new owners and its fate will remain unknown, at least for the time being. Bummer. If I had known, I would have made it a point to go there the last time that I was in town. I actually have to go back in three weeks. Maybe the Greek place will still be open...

Substitute NYO Coach...

And boy, am I underqualified! Mostly, I just kept asking them if they weren't supposed to be practicing something. Their real coach was busy filling out paperwork for the Rose Urban-Rural exchange program. She and her husband have acted as host families in the past, and apparently are going to do it again this year. The reps from the program were out here to visit, and we will be exchanging this year again with Ben Eielson High School in Fairbanks. We had an entertaining group here last year, and there will be more visitors in November.

My wife is off steaming with the girls, which leaves me here with the dogs. Fortunately, they are behaving well-sleeping, mostly. Not much else is going on. It is pretty much another week during the school year. No special events that I can think of. We will be a day short this week because of, you guessed it, yet another inservice. Nothing like sitting in day-long meetings for two weeks in a row. We get to do it again in another two weeks from Friday. I would say, "enough, already," but the district is not likely to listen to me all that closely. Funny how that works.

It was a pretty good day, and I hope that tomorrow is another. Not much better that you can ask for.

It's Monday and I'm Tired...

Time to get some sleep-it's been a busy day. I was up at 5:30, a mistake that I do not intend to repeat tonight. The day went ok-no children were killed, and I am not in custody. Just kidding...well, it is technically true. All is well, and snow is in the forecast for Wednesday, and the rest of the week, for that matter. After all, the first of October is nearly upon us, and winter is on the way.

Now for a good night's sleep...

And An Evening At Church To Top It Off...

We hadn't been to church since we got back, so off we went this evening...we wandered into a long Sunday night service. I actually enjoyed it-we are both thinking that we want to go more often. I kept having this thought that these are the people among whom I have chosen to live, and I want to be a part of the community in a deeper way. Father Vasily invited us to come up and do veneration of the icons, which we have hung back from doing, mostly out of a sense of shyness of some kind. We talked about it afterward, and had to laugh at the warm feeling that we both get when we go to church. I am not sure where it all goes from here, but it will be interesting.

To top it all off, we had one of those amazing harvest moons tonight. I caught it a little late, but it is the best that I could do...