Junk Mail

Who'da Thunk? You can get junk mail posting a blog? I never had a problem like this last year, as all of the comments that I got were pertinent and interesting.

This year, however, I am getting more and more posts that look like this:

I love your blog.

I blog, too.

Come see my blog, please! The link is here:

Iselljunkoncomputers.blogspot.com

Blah!

There are a couple of things I can do about this. I can go in and delete each one, because they bug me. This takes time out of my life. This is what I have done so far, but it is getting old (I have already deleted 7 comments, 4 this morning!) I can set my blog so that nobody can post comments. We'll see how this goes. If the number of junk postings go up, I will just get rid of the comments altogether.

The Last Day....

Today was Friday. (Is Friday?)

My last day of relative anonymity at Highland High School. The next work day that I come through these doors, I will be followed by hordes (250-some) of students, all eager for knowledge.

That scares the living crap out of me at the moment. As I stated earlier in this blog, I do not handle nervous anticipation well. I can currently make myself physically ill just by thinking about Monday morning. I am sure that everything will be fine, but I just worry about it. A Lot. (See, Dave, I have learned to split that word into two pieces now!)

Today was a work day. My Lab is still a complete mess, with computers scattered about, old pieces and parts everwhere and nothing plugged in. I was assured that my Lab would be operational by Today. Now, the timeline says Monday. Hopefully.

This afternoon, I have finally gotten ONE computer in my room that works, so I have been able to put the finishing touches on my syllabi (due on the Principal's desk on Monday morning.) I still need to come back in sometime over the weekend to worry some more. No, actually, I still have some things to bring in and I want to try to make a final, last ditch effort to clean up the dead technology before Monday morning, if I can.

I put up all of the Lab artwork this afternoon. I think that it looks good! Most people that come in or through my Lab comment on how nice it looks. I am hoping that the Lab will have an inviting look that will make students want to be here (and want to work.)

Enough for now, I have to get home.

I Start Moving In.

Last night, I started gathering stuff. I just walked around the house and found things that I would like to take to my classroom. Like lamps, like pictures, like stuffed animals, like games, like plants.

I had a whole van full of stuff by the time I decided I needed to go to bed. I brought it in this morning and started putting it up. I still have more stuff to bring tomorrow.

Finally, my room is starting to look like a place to work. Not quite totally, though, because there are still computers, computer parts, cables, computer boxes and so forth laying all around. Spencer, the IT Guy, is still working on my computers and my network. He says that by tomorrow, I should have a computer available to use. I might have the whole network on Monday.

OK.

I am presently sitting in Mrs. McVey's Business Computer Lab next door printing some stuff and blogging. I don't even have a username on the district network.

I have faith. Everything will work out JUST FINE!

We had another quick meeting this morning to talk about Standards based stuff. I didn't listen very closely.

We also had a meeting with Randy (My Principal) and Julie (The Office Manager) and Chris (The Assistant Office Manager) about Important Things that New Teachers need to know. I only have about 1,000,000 questions. I got about 12 of them answered. That's OK, I guess. Apparently, they pretty much realize that first year teachers don't know anything and will screw up a lot.

One thing that they did mention, though, is that the Highland District needs Substitutes. So, if there are any of my friends and compadres out there looking for work and considering subbing, they want you here! Call the district office and let them know. We're nice people.

Ms. Lynne

Just a word about my friend, Julia Lynne. Julia was a member of Project Promise 16 with me. She is an English Teacher and is working just down the hall from me at Highland High School.

While I have met some very nice people at Highland and feel pretty well supported, I cannot possibly say how wonderful it is to have Julia at the school with me. She has gone through the same experiences that I have in Project Promise, she has a passion and a fire and an enthusiasm that is marvelous to watch. We can also get together privately and say, "What the hell were they talking about?" if we need to. It feels like I have my own little support system built in.

I am looking forward to having her around for the next 10 months...

Teaching Technology Without Computers

Thursday: We had an early Technology metting to go over the "Infinite Campus" application that we will be using to do Grading, Attendance, etc. this year. This is a new application for our district. Not all of the bugs are ironed out. Spencer, our IT Guy, has been working on getting my new lab set up (it isn't yet) and getting the Infinite Campus stuff going. He has been working very long hours recently (sort of like an accountant before Tax Day) and it showed when he tried to give a presentation to the staff on how to use the system. I don't think everyone caught on.

We also went through a building meeting, to start going over teacher stuff. Stuff like Staff Meetings, Lunch Duty, Class Sponsors, Concession Stands, Invoices, Announcements, Study Halls and a million other little things that happen everyday in a school that you don't think about. My head started swimming, just a little bit.

I don't have any computers in my classroom that work, so I haven't been able to check out the network, Infinite Campus or anything else. Other teachers are working on their computers, getting stuff prepared and I am rearranging junk. I threw out more junk today, old computer manuals, old science books, a notebook stuffed full of the old purple mimeograph copies of science handouts, the old T-Shirt Transfer press that doesn't work, stuff like that.

I am trying to get rid of all of the junk. It will take awhile, but I would like to get the classroom looking like a Technology Lab, instead of a garage. I hope to have numerous exhibits of student work on the walls and the shelves and the windows, showing visitors what we do in the lab.

For now, I would just like a computer that works, though...

Tuesday, I Throw Out The Trash

Today was the second day in the school.

We spent the early morning getting a talk regarding CSAP scores and what they mean. (CSAPs are the federally mandated school accountability tests given to students each year to determine their progress in their subjects, primarily Reading, Writing and Arithmetic.) Apparently, Highland School District, in which I work, has struggled some in the past in demonstrating that students are proficient in their Writing, Reading and Math. To be honest, this is not all that surprising, given the number of students that are receiving Free and Reduced Lunches and are Migrant Workers.

However, the District, which includes only three schools, Highland Elementary, Highland Middle and Highland High School (my school) has made a pronounced effort to improve the quality of their teaching recently and was just today pronounced as a district that met AYP, the federally mandated "Annual Yearly Progress." For a down and out district, this is a major accomplishment.

After our talk, we had about 2 hours to do what we wished. I met with Jill, the Technology Teacher from last year, to talk about all of the crap in my room. Together, we went down to the Principal's office to talk with Randy Ward, who runs the place. He gave me full permission to throw stuff away. "If you don't need it and Spencer (The IT Guy) doesn't want it, throw it away!"

With Jill's help, I started piling stuff in the hallway for the janitorial crew to cart away. What a mess!

There was an ancient plotter stuck in the corner of the room. It hasn't worked in years and the last time it did work, it apparently blew up and sprayed ink all over the floor. Out it went.

There were 12 cases of the old green and white lined dot matrix continuous feed paper, 14 inches wide. I will bet money that there isn't a printer in use within a 30 mile radius of the school that uses that paper anymore. Out it goes (to the recycle bin).

There is a copy of an old Apple drawing program called Sketch or something like that. Copyright date was 1989. Out it went.

There was a whole shelf full (about 12 feet of shelf space) of boxes of computer programs. Most of them were strange, like "The Love and Relationship Test," or "Religions of the World." The weird thing, though, was that THERE WASN'T ANYTHING IN THEM! Box after box of nothing but box! Out they went.

There was approximately 30 shelf feet of piles of Xeroxed typing lessons, all stacked up nice and neat, with little tape labels. Typing hasn't been taught in the room for years. I recycled the paper and tore off the tape.

Apparently, someone had once upon a time, long, long ago, had to teach an Environmental Science/ Agricultural Economics class in my classroom, because there was a whole shelf full and two drawers full of books and pamphlets and study sheets of this stuff. All of it dated in the late 1980's. I threw it all away.

There are also boxes and boxes of Technology Crap. Old mice, old joysticks, old steering wheels, old robotic arms, old discs, old floppies, old cables, old printers, old user's manuals. None of it can be used. Most of it, I am throwing away.

Yikes!

In the afternoon, we had another presentation by an outside speaker regarding CSAP and Writing. He gave us a walkthrough of how the CSAPs are graded and showed us writing samples and grades and numbers and stuff. CSAPs and Writing appears to be a HUGE thing. Guess I'll have to make my kids write...

My First Day in the Building

Well, the first day is over. It was a day full of signups and paperwork and pep talks. We heard presentations from Credit Unions, Insurance People, Teachers' Union Reps, and so forth and so on. To be honest, after the first 5 hours, most of it was a blur. However, breakfast and lunch were free (amazing how generous some organizations are when they want you to sign up for stuff) and MOST IMPORTANTLY, I was being paid to be a teacher!

That only took 40 years!

After a year and a half of sitting in classrooms, student teaching, lectures, papers, presentations, evaluations and a million other things, it is very hard to overestimate the beautiful feeling of GETTING PAID!

I also signed my final contract and got my room keys. Yes, I have my own keys to my own classroom. How cool is that! We have all new computers in the Tech Lab and they look great, but don't appear to be hooked up yet.

I also met some new people, as you might expect. One of the new teachers at the High School, Nancy, I know from years and years ago in my Case Management days with Weld County. She is a very nice and very sharp person, now teaching Spanish. Cool!

After school, I headed over to CSU and the Education Building. I wanted to print some stuff, if the Computer Lab was open. It wasn't. I went down to the Project Promise Room, where I spent many of those hours preparing to be a teacher. There were new flags on the ceiling, new names on the board, new quilt squares on the wall. I was amused to see that the signup for "People Bags" is in full swing. It is so strange to think that last year, that was me.

And now I have My Room.

Wow.

First Day of School, Sort Of.

It is early in the morning, August 15, 2005. It isn't even 6:00 a.m. yet. I have been up for about 2 hours already, thinking, contemplating, planning, arranging, etc. I do this. I tend to be a nervous person beforehand. Usually, once things get going, I am fine, but ahead of time, Yikes!

Today is the first day of my life as a Teacher.

Well, not really, I won't see any kids until NEXT Monday, but this week, we are all in the building doing meetings, inservices, insurance signups, technology trainings, room decorations, etc. Nothing really to be worried about. Unless you are me.

Yesterday, I spent part of the afternoon at a viewing. One of my good friends and compadres from Project Promise 16 (my licensure program last year) went up to his teenage son's room last Thursday to find him dead of a gunshot wound. Can there be a more horrific scene in one's life? Not that I can think of.... It is uncertain as to whether he committed suicide because of depression or if he accidentally killed himself thrillseeking and playing Russian Roullette. Either way...

It occurs to me that as a Teacher, I will be encountering much more death than a normal person. Already, one of the students that I had last Spring as a Student Teacher at Berthoud High School has died in a drunk driving accident and now Jay's son is gone.

Kids are a lot more fragile than they think....