Let's see if I can get back on a roll. It is that time of year, Christmas is in the air, 24/7 Christmas music on half the radio stations, crowded malls and parking lots, traffic galore, and it is going to be 80 degrees this week. Nothing quite like it! And the good news, businesses are trying to get that holiday spirit to last longer and longer each year by pushing up the date of the "holiday shopping" season. Soon, we will be Christmas shopping in 90+ degree heat on our way back from the pool with songs wanting to "Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow." And if they are successful, we will enjoy the throngs of shoppers and tangles of traffic for 3 or 4 months out of the year. How exciting!
On the other hand, I guess I should consider myself pretty lucky that it is going to be so warm this week considering our heat doesn't work. It doesn't seem likely that it will be repaired but will have to be replaceed. The unit it so old that any label with a date, serial number, or part number is totally blank. The first repairman says the unit is about 18 years old (guessing it was from 1989) while the second estimates it to be about 22 years old. Either way, it is well past it's life expectancy. The problem will be convincing the home warranty company that it cannot be repaired because they will not be able to find a replacement part without a part number. These warranty companies and the local companies they contract the work out to are trying to cut their costs. In fact the local company will make less if they accept a contract from these warranty companies. As a result, they will want to get the job done it in the quickest and easiest way possible.
Speaking of that time of year, it is that time of the semester. The "honeymoon" period is definitely over inthe classrooom. Teachers have to now resort to their "bag o' tricks" in order to get the students on task and to keep them motivated to learn - which is not all that easy when you consider that the teachers are usually not all that motivated at this point either. I guess that is why I took a "mental health" day today! It becomes a downward spiral. The students, being teenagers, act as anybody can expect them too, as teenagers, their interests lying outside of the classroom. When the teacher must "fight" to keep the students working and paying attention and completing their homework, the teacher begins to feel like they are putting in more effort than the students and will want to cut back. This is usually accompanied with a lack of enthusiasm on the teacher's part which is easily noticed by the studnets who will like show a further lack of interest, and so on, and so on. Two things make this a little better: 1) the holiday spirit makes it easier to tolerate each other; 2) the semester is almost over, only about 20 days of instruction left with this group of students (or 20 days left with these teachers!) making the end in sight! Any way you slice it, the upcoming weeks are always interesting and challenging in the classroom.
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