Posting

It has been quite awhile since my last post. I have been ridiculously crazy busy with life in general. First and most important, my grandfather passed away on April 10. I received word earlier that week he was getting worse by the hour and if I wanted to see him, I needed to go. I left Saturday the 9th and spent his last night on this earth talking to him (he was confined to bed and sedated) and watching old western movies (which were his favorite). He passed away surrounded by his family on April 10th at 12:07pm. I have never witnessed God calling a person home before, least of all my Papa Jim. It the most sadly beautiful moment I have ever witnessed in my life.

I came back from the passing of my grandfather sick with viral bronchitis which did not get better for 2 weeks! I was sick as a dog the week immediately following my Papa's passing, then had the funeral that next weekend followed by double shifts at the golf course, more teaching, my birthday, then Easter. Time has flown by.

We are now down to the last 2 full weeks of school and counting! I have 10 more lesson plans and finals to give and then it is adios to my first year of teaching. At this point, I still have not landed a teaching job for next year. Every one keeps freaking out that I haven't started applying to other schools yet, but I for some reason am not as worried about it as I probably should be. I have narrowed my districts I will be applying to down to 3. The district in the town where I live, Scottsdale, and Mesa. All districts within a 20 minute drive from my house. This would be heaven compared to my hour long commute each way every day.

The irony of my situation is most of my students who gave me the hardest time have been PDP'd (Pending Due Processed) out of the district. This means they are expelled from school and the district and cannot come back. Ironic because I spent so much time documenting and attempting to intervene and at the end of the day, they were kicked out for doing other things. Really haven't figured out what the whole point is of all this documentation - but I am still glad I do it on a regular basis.

Things are winding down for the kids academically (so they think) and their behavior is going crazy! They are literally bouncing off the walls. Literally - break dancing in the classroom off the walls. I guess I do need to work on my classroom management.

This week BIO is dissecting. They have taken dissections out of my curriciulm and I couldn't be more p.o.'ed about it. How can they expect to get kids excited to learn about life science if they can't cut anything open?!?! Seriously. So - I found a whole bunch of animal specimens (crayfish, frog, worm, grasshopper) and I am having the kids dissect all the specimens I could find. I offered them extra bonus points for coming in after school to help me gather all the materials. I had to go to 4 different labs to find the dissection trays, tools, lab aprons, and safety gear. Ridiculous. But, got it done.

I have started tutoring a student from a private college prep school here in Phoenix. He is a low-income student on scholarship and really struggling in BIO. I tutor him through a non-profit company for a $25 visa gift card each day. Not a bad deal. He is really sweet and it helps him just talking through the material. Having a conversation about the blood pathway and drawing it out on his notebook laptop computer complete with a stylus pen! This kid has the hook-up! It is awesome. The screen of the laptop disconnects and turns in to a note pad and the stylus pen is uber-sensitive and awesome. Everything is digital and I would be in teacher heaven if I could teach like this! For now, I get to tutor with this and I am really enjoying actually teaching. That is the biggest reward ever. Maybe I need to pursue a school that really focuses on academics? Hmmm....