hey all,
the first two weeks of school went pretty well. we were studying, the kids were learning stuff, and everything was alright. last week sucked. some teachers left for a conference for a few days, leaving us with just enough teachers to fill the classes, which for practical purposes meant empty classes and rowdy kids. when they came back, they seemed to have lost that working feeling, which resulted in more empty classes and rowdy kids. some of the kids really don't do well changing from the "waste time at school all day" gear to the "let's study math" one, and they make it rough on the teacher and the students that want to study. the other teachers didn't help -- they did things like scheduling all day, unbelievably unproductive meetings, interrupting my classes to ask me if they could use my periods to teach because they were getting behind on the things they needed to teach for the year, and (this pretty much capped it off) they left the school for an optional meeting, and took the chairs out of the classroom i was supposed to use.
it's been rough. friday i just left early and went home because i didn't want to interact with students while i was (basically) livid. now, it is sunday and i'm calmed down and going to go talk to some other teachers and see if i can constructively suggest that we be good teachers and work to have a good school. leaving town for the weekend and spending it with my girlfriend celebrating her birthday was exactly the right thing to do.
i've been a lot better of a science teacher so far this term. the syllabus that we teach to is pretty retarded (students must be able to explain why the wind is sometimes useful and sometimes a nuisance), but we've been talking about energy in grade 8 and acids and bases in grade 9. they love watching a solution change color when you add a drop of liquid, and gases bubbling off. the grade 8s like the energy stuff because they get it and they can see it outside of the classroom. my math classes have been pretty ho-hum. students are learning the stuff they're supposed to.
answers to questions you've asked...
the weather this time of year is pretty cold in the mornings (i'd guess low 40s F or so. by the afternoon it usually warms up to be a nice, sunny day. the days it doesn't, it is very windy and sand blows everywhere. it is easy to sweep a pound of sand out of our house after a windy day.
the running is going fine. i'm running 4 or 5 times a week, and trying to run longer on the weekends. i thought that i might be a lot faster now than i've been before, but it looks like i'm about the same speed. whatever. it is nice.
i fixed my new bike and rode it home from the girlfriend's house on what ended up being one of the windiest days this year. i didn't htink it was possible to go slower than i'd gone the first time, but it was -- i took 10.5 hours to go 100k, and walked a lot of the distance. when it was a tailwind (for just a few ks of the whole ride) i could coast uphill with the wind. the wind was way too strong to wear a hat.
it turns out that i can ride the bicycle out to the campground on the mountain in just over an hour, and be on the rim (although not the summit) two hours after leaving my house. it is a good thing -- because i can go after school now if i have a rough day or just want to get away for a little while. i really love that place -- i've still never seen a person there that i didn't take there, although i see them driving on the road to camp there sometimes as i'm going home.
we're still working on getting internet access in our town. we've pretty much given up on getting a land-line at out house -- the telephone company has been burned by volunteers leaving with unpaid bills before and isn't interested in us. it looks like one of the school's may get an unlimited access for about US$50 a month deal, that my roommate and i will actually pay for. i'd bet it will be at least a month or two.
ok, well that's pretty much it. thanks to those who've written -- i'm going to try to answer you now.
jon
the first two weeks of school went pretty well. we were studying, the kids were learning stuff, and everything was alright. last week sucked. some teachers left for a conference for a few days, leaving us with just enough teachers to fill the classes, which for practical purposes meant empty classes and rowdy kids. when they came back, they seemed to have lost that working feeling, which resulted in more empty classes and rowdy kids. some of the kids really don't do well changing from the "waste time at school all day" gear to the "let's study math" one, and they make it rough on the teacher and the students that want to study. the other teachers didn't help -- they did things like scheduling all day, unbelievably unproductive meetings, interrupting my classes to ask me if they could use my periods to teach because they were getting behind on the things they needed to teach for the year, and (this pretty much capped it off) they left the school for an optional meeting, and took the chairs out of the classroom i was supposed to use.
it's been rough. friday i just left early and went home because i didn't want to interact with students while i was (basically) livid. now, it is sunday and i'm calmed down and going to go talk to some other teachers and see if i can constructively suggest that we be good teachers and work to have a good school. leaving town for the weekend and spending it with my girlfriend celebrating her birthday was exactly the right thing to do.
i've been a lot better of a science teacher so far this term. the syllabus that we teach to is pretty retarded (students must be able to explain why the wind is sometimes useful and sometimes a nuisance), but we've been talking about energy in grade 8 and acids and bases in grade 9. they love watching a solution change color when you add a drop of liquid, and gases bubbling off. the grade 8s like the energy stuff because they get it and they can see it outside of the classroom. my math classes have been pretty ho-hum. students are learning the stuff they're supposed to.
answers to questions you've asked...
the weather this time of year is pretty cold in the mornings (i'd guess low 40s F or so. by the afternoon it usually warms up to be a nice, sunny day. the days it doesn't, it is very windy and sand blows everywhere. it is easy to sweep a pound of sand out of our house after a windy day.
the running is going fine. i'm running 4 or 5 times a week, and trying to run longer on the weekends. i thought that i might be a lot faster now than i've been before, but it looks like i'm about the same speed. whatever. it is nice.
i fixed my new bike and rode it home from the girlfriend's house on what ended up being one of the windiest days this year. i didn't htink it was possible to go slower than i'd gone the first time, but it was -- i took 10.5 hours to go 100k, and walked a lot of the distance. when it was a tailwind (for just a few ks of the whole ride) i could coast uphill with the wind. the wind was way too strong to wear a hat.
it turns out that i can ride the bicycle out to the campground on the mountain in just over an hour, and be on the rim (although not the summit) two hours after leaving my house. it is a good thing -- because i can go after school now if i have a rough day or just want to get away for a little while. i really love that place -- i've still never seen a person there that i didn't take there, although i see them driving on the road to camp there sometimes as i'm going home.
we're still working on getting internet access in our town. we've pretty much given up on getting a land-line at out house -- the telephone company has been burned by volunteers leaving with unpaid bills before and isn't interested in us. it looks like one of the school's may get an unlimited access for about US$50 a month deal, that my roommate and i will actually pay for. i'd bet it will be at least a month or two.
ok, well that's pretty much it. thanks to those who've written -- i'm going to try to answer you now.
jon
