August 25, 2008: Back to School

Today was the first day of school, the day I most dislike. It is the day where I have to do ALL the talking, go over rules, procedures, grading, what to expect, and so on. It drives me crazy and by the end of the day, I am a bit horse. I usually have a good first day of school, and today was no exception. I have 1st period planning, which gives me an extra hour-and-a-half to get ready. Then I teach AP Economics. This class is challenging because of the content and the calibre of the students. They will be certain to ask me challenging questions that I may not know the answer to right away. The I have lunch, at 10:40am. It is more like brunch, but since I eat breakfast before 5am, it isn't a problem. Next is honors Civics & Economics. Another good class: intelligent and conscientious. And finally, I end the day with an average Civics & Economics. Another good class: polite and courteous. So this will most likely amount to a good semester. I will have to stay on top of some of the average students each day to keep them on task and caught up, but that is typical of an average class.

You may be asking why am I eating breakfast before 5am. Simple, I am going to the gym BEFORE school. As I previously mentioned, last week was an experiment to see if I could do it. It was pretty successful, so this week is the real challenge: to go to the gym and then be ready to teach. Today was OK, but by the time I got home, I was tired. Sitting in carpool for Evan doesn't help. I really get tired there. Another thing, my feet are killing me, already. I hope it gets better or else I am going to need to find more comfortable shoes!

August 24, 2008: Away We Go

This is it. Tomorrow the students arrive. Will I be ready? All that matters is if the students think so. Appearances are everything. There are two important bits of information I remind myself at the beginning of the year (and along the way too, of course):

1) The truth isn't important, it is what you can get them to believe that matters.
2) Teaching is 80-90% acting.

If I am not prepared but the students think I am, then I am prepared, and that is a good thing. On the other hand, even if I have the best laid plans, they sometimes do not work and it comes off as though I am not prepared. If they believe I am not prepared, then I am not. Plain and simple. Therefore, no matter what I must act as though I am prepared. I must act as though I am ready for the next situation, no matter what it may be. The students must have confidence in my abilities, if they do not, then it will be an up hill battle from then on.

So tomorrow, I must be ready when the students arrive. I must have an agenda ready to go once the bell rings. I must be prepared to handle the students who arrive tardy, and those who ask to use the rest room. If I do not have all these things, then my ship is already sinking. The tone must be set minute one of day one.

Am I ready? Mostly. Will the students believe I am prepared? Absolutely.

August 21, 2008: Adjustment Period

On Monday I mentioned how this week was going to be a trial period. As of this morning I have successfully arrived to work at the time I desired, 6:45. I will admit, I am getting pretty tired. All of this up at 4:30am is starting to catch up. I am trying to get to bed earlier since I am waking up earlier, and I have been somewhat successful in that, but I am still pretty tired. The difficult thing about it is that I am unable to tell if I am tired because I am getting up so early or because I am back to work (albeit, without students). But if you think about it, I am not up all that much earlier than I will be next week when the students arrive. Last semester my alarm was set for 4:51, not it is 4:30. 21 minutes should not make that much difference. But I guess if I am at a gym working out in the meantime, then that could account for it too. The other thing is food. I get up and eat a bowl of cereal by 5am. I get to work around 7. And by 8:30 I am hungry. I am not going to eat another meal, I am going to have to find a sensible yet filling snack. The good thing there is that I have 'A' lunch, meaning I eat lunch around 10:30. So the morning isn't too bad that way. The long stretch will be after lunch. I won't get home until 4:15-4:30 each day, I will definitely need something before that to tide me over enough that I will not binge until I get home.

August 18, 2008: Trial Period

I now have a would be scheduling conflict, gym or work. Well, obviously I can't skip work to go to the gym. Sure, I could go in the evening, but I am reserving that time for Michelle to go since she does not have the "luxury" of going before work. I, on the other hand, do have the time to go before work. That is, if I want to wake up and get there around 5am. So this week is my trial period. I am trying to get to work at the normal school time (6:45am for me) and still go to the gym before hand. If I can successfully pull it off, then I will continue to do it next week when the students come back to school. I will have to make few adjustments such as better planning in the evenings and going to bed earlier. I will have to do my school work right away once I get home instead of after Evan goes to bed since I will likely be going to bed at about the same time. Breakfast may be a bit of a challenge. When should I eat? Before I go to the gym or once I get to school? This will all work itself out. Another concern is that the workout I am attempting is six days, Monday through Saturday. What happens when I have softball the night before? Even worse, what if it is a 8:45pm game that won't end until 10pm? I imagine the next day I will be pretty tired.

Friday and today we had workdays at school. That is no students, only teachers getting prepared for next week when the students come. It is cool to talk to my colleagues, but at the same time, I am finding myself less productive. Not to mention the meetings that, let's face it, must be conducted. I find myself in the same bind as I usually do, starting out the year. It is the first unit that baffles me, but after that I roll. So this week I am having a difficult time actually planning the first week. Tomorrow will be a "big" day for that. I would like to have the first week of all my classes planned and copies turned in before I leave tomorrow. Even better, I will have the first two weeks all planned and copied before I leave work on Friday. That is my goal. It can be done, but will it?

August 14, 2008: Bittersweet

Today was bittersweet. It was my last day before going back to work (for which I am not at all prepared). I passed on going to the gym today for two reasons, 1) I had a softball game this evening and I didn't want to get too tight, and 2) Evan had early release and I wanted a little time to myself at home. It was nice to hang with Evan most of today before I go back to work tomorrow, but it didn't go as planned. I spoke with Evan last night about going to lunch after school. He did not want to today, instead he just wanted to go home. I was a little disappointed. Then the day dragged on a bit. We finally finished putting together some Legos that we began last year sometime (it all got put away and we never thought about finishing it until Evan asked today). This evening, Michelle was going to take Evan to soccer practice for 6pm while I had a softball game for which I had to arrive at 6:15. Well, Michelle got held up at work so I got Evan all dressed and ready to go so Michelle could just pick him up and go, and I got myself ready for softball. I arrived at about 6:30. One important note here, Cary is too damn big! Tuesday I had a game all the way at one end of town (Middle Creek), about a 25 minute drive, and today I had a game at the other end of town (Thomas Brooks Park - USA Baseball Center), about a 20 minute drive. Cary keeps growing and it is getting on my nerves. By the way, we lost our game tonight in extra innings, 14-13. Oh well, it was a good game any way. I have been splitting time with other guys out in Right-Center field. I made a diving stop today that I thought might have been a catch but the umpire ruled it a trap. Its OK, the ball didn't get past me and they said it looked good - that's what is important, right?

I also found out today that the 6th Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will be opening July 17, 2009 instead of this coming November. Their reason was to take advantage of an open weekend in the summer schedule. I could understand if it was being put off because they were not finished or if it was only a week or two, but eight months?!?! This is ridiculous. It sounds just like NBC's coverage of the Olympics, think of themselves and their bottom line first before the fans. I am really getting sick of corporate America. Read the article:

http://www.wral.com/entertainment/story/3382426/

August 13, 2008: Much of Nothing

Another busy day. As with every morning, I took Evan to school and like most, went to the gym. I added a couple of things more to my workout and am starting to feel like I am actually accomplishing something again. After the gym, I came home and had enough time to eat lunch before my dermatologist appointment. I was glad to receive a clean bill of health and the doctor removed what amounted to a skin tag from the knuckle of my big toe, weird spot, I know. After getting a haircut, I went to pick Evan up from school. We headed over to the book store, then home, then to dinner. And here I am. Not too much really. A busy day but one without excitement.

Today I worked out with Aaron Ward, former Carolina Hurricane, now Boston Bruin. It was cool. Of course I am making it sound like more than it is. He always seemed to need the machine next to where I was already working. That is cool if he thinks my workout is good enough to copy, him being a professional athlete and all. Just kidding. But we were working next to each other a lot. It makes me feel more important if I believe we were working out together. So do me a favor, don't tell me otherwise. Thanks.

August 12, 2008: Now Batting....

It sure was good to get back onto the field today. We had our first softball game of the season tonight, and I had a few jitters. It has been two years since I last played ad I was worried about making a mistake now with a new team. I was flattered to find out that they had me batting lead-off when I have never played with them before. I guess Katie put in a good enough word that she convinced them I am good. A few things went my way, no one hit the ball to me, and both of my at bats I reached on errors by the second baseman (and I ended up scoring both times too). They did get to see that I can be an aggressive base runner and that I do have some speed. But most of all, the good news is that I think I am over the jitters and next game I should be able to go out and play instead of worrying that I will mess up. Another good thing was that since no one hit the ball to me I didn't have to throw the ball. If I had, I think they would have known my shoulder is still in bad shape. I am going to try and play through it and see if it will get better.

The weather was beautiful today. This afternoon I went out in the back to diagram the deck in the hopes of getting a permit. I discovered, much to my disappointment, that the deck, as is, is not up to code. My concrete footings are not big enough. Which means that in order to make it right, I will have to re-pour new footings. In order to do that, I will have to prop up the deck in order to replace some of the footings. I am not looking forward to that task. (I will add some deck pictures soon).

I also had a trip to the dentist today. Just a regular cleaning before we go back to school. And, as usual, a clean bill of health. It is nice going to the dentist because they always flatter me on how nice my teeth are, and how lucky I am to have inherited such strong teeth.

Tomorrow, on the other hand, I have a dermatologist appointment. I need to go because of the many spot I have developed over the years that should be looked at. I am anticipating at least a few being removed and biopsied. I am really not looking forward to it, on the other hand there are a few things I will be glad to be rid of.