Mosaic - Little bits about Lots of stuff

The end of the month is in site and, looking back over 2010 so far, I haven't had much to blog about. Between work and classes, I've had little time or inclination to do much else. It feels like I'm sort of suspended, yet time is still progressing.

My ESOL classes are going pretty well. Much of what we discuss/work on is stuff most of us already know. Like many of the professional development things we do, I think the collaboration is most useful.

So, I got the word yesterday that I'll be working full time for the rest of the school year. That's a good thing, but now the real work begins to put meaningful lesson plans together and to ramp up my role a little bit. Until now it's been sort of like subbing. That's got to change.

And speaking of work, today was conferences. I admit to having an intense dislike for secondary conferences. On the whole, turn out is low. I don't know if parents don't find them important, or if they believe no news is good news. It's really interesting. Anyway, for this round of conferences the district implemented "conference calling." We had to log so many calls to parents during our time. This worked really well for me since I (maybe) see one or two parents during the hours of sitting and waiting. Today I actually spoke with four, doubling my average! I also sent a couple of emails for those parents I know will respond. During this time I came to the realization that if I could email progress to all my parents, I'd do it much more regularly. I think that's going on my goal list for next year.

Haiti has been the big news for the last couple weeks. I haven't blogged about it on purpose because I wasn't sure what to say. If you haven't overloaded, check out Lisa's blog. Her dad's a doctor who spent some time with a medical team there after the earthquake.

Prison Visit

I know, sounds weird, but the Oregon State Correctional Institute has a program (D-Tour) for teenagers to meet and speak with a group of very carefully selected inmates about making good choices and thinking before your act. One of my colleagues has taken his sociology class for a number of years, and invited my class to come along on the latest visit. Since I'd never been, I asked for volunteers, and got just a handful of students who were interested. Let me tell you, I think the experience was really good. I definitely would like to take the rest of my students next year.

If you're curious and want to know more, check out the video at the DOC website.
http://www.oregon.gov/DOC/OPS/PRISON/osci_inmate_events.shtml#D_TOUR

I guess I wasn't busy enough....

I've been teaching half time this school year, and while I wasn't thrilled with the idea of fewer hours and less pay, I was thankful to have job, a regular paycheck and benefits. It took a couple of months, but I got used to the routine: Up early, work, run by the main office, hit the gym and home by early afternoon. I had time to put in on a DAR project, I scrap booked,read, cooked (sometimes). It was kind of nice. But, those of you who know me, know I like to stay relatively busy. I should be careful what I wish for.

Change of Pace #1 - Last month I answered an email from our curriculum director about some graduate level courses toward an ESOL endorsement. I don't have many second language kids, but the courses are grant funded (free is a very good price!) so I felt it was an opportunity I just couldn't pass up. I came back from our break on January 4, to an email that classes were starting on January 5. Okay. We've had two meetings. I've seen the syllabus. I'm going to be busy for the next few months.

Change of Pace #2 - On Wednesday I had a message to call our human resources director. "Hmmmmm", I thought, but I made the call. Another teacher in the district had made a request to reduce her hours and I was being offered the second half of her day. Again, it was an opportunity too good to pass up. I'll be tackling some new material. Of course I accepted. I've spent the last couple afternoons getting to know the kids and coordinating with the other teacher. On Tuesday, I'll officially be flying solo.

So, what does this mean? Up early, detour past the main office first thing in the am, teach my classes until noon. Eat in a hurry and jump in the car to drive to my new pm classes. Squeeze in the gym afterwards (hopefully), and on days I have class, I'll rush there for three hours of school work, working in dinner/snacks as I can. I'm having a feeling of deja vu. Didn't I do this schedule once already? Oh yeah, but I was a few years younger then. :)

Pondering Tennyson at Midnight

During the post Holiday Period, my brain gets a little weird. It's almost as if once the sugar-induced, present-shopping-and-wrapping, frantic-family-time euphoria wears off, other things start to crawl back into awareness with a vengeance. There's more to my theory, but that's a tangent I won't take right now.

So, last night while lying in bed, watching the clock flip from one post-midnight minute to another, "It's better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all." popped into the brain. Today I had to double check who wrote that, but again, that's another tangent. So, the quotation was chasing around my brain with "Right/Wrong? Right/Wrong?" I still haven't come to a decision about that, but I wonder if the statement can apply to other things like experiences, choices, secrets. Is it better to know all, see all, hear all, do all? Or can humans be happier living in the dark, unaware? Can you miss what you've never known if you don't know the outcome of what might have been had you experienced it?

A New Year

It's 2010 already? Where did the last ten years go? For that matter, where did 2009 go? It seems like the older I get, the faster the days, weeks, months and years just fly by. It's not fair! I want to go back to that childhood phenomena of "Are we there yet?" and "How many more days until...?" (fill in the blank with whatever major event is going on.)

But I guess I shouldn't dwell on the past. It's January 1, and looking ahead to 2010 means looking forward to the adventures that come next. It's 365 days until I write another "where has the year gone?" statement. Until then, Happy 2010!