Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Sported Out

This has been a really hectic time around our place. Our second daughter is playing tennis on both the Junior Varsity and the Varsity teams. She usually has one or two matches a week, and this week goes for the two day regionals, with the three day State tournament next week. Number three daughter plays on the Junior varsity and sophmore volleyball teams, again usually with two matches a week, and she has regionals coming up in two weeks. Number four is playing volleyball, but luckily usually only plays once a week. The two youngest boys are playing soccer, with a game every Saturday.

Between the games and all of the practices, I've just about had it. I can't wait for the season end, except then they all start basketball. How many days until schools out?

Take care. Stay sane. Stick.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Hand cartin'

My wife and I have recently been asked to represent out church group in an activity to re-inact the handcart pioneers. This required us to go to Martin's Cove in Wyoming and train over this last weekend. We hiked a little over 7 miles for this training--something that was no problem for me, but turned out to be a bit of a challenge for my wife. I did end up a little stiff the next day, but worked out the kinks fairly quickly. My sweetie had a little more trouble. She had acquired a few blisters, and sore feet, so was moving a little slow the next day. We both realized that we will need to really work to be ready for this trip.

I won't go into the details here of our training, but it was very good. I worked for a program like this for youth when I was in college, so this training brought back many memories--things that I never wrote down anywhere. It has really inspired me to go back and work on my journal. I want to write down as many of those stories as I can remember.

I also met one of the other trainees who had also been a staff member with the same youth program that I had been invovled with. He and I talked for some time, reminiscing over those events.

Take care. Write it down if you want to remember it, Stick.

Friday, September 5, 2008

Woes of the first week of School

I teach a middle school class designed to help students who are below grade level in reading or math, bring those skill levels up to where they should be. These recovery programs are designed for students who are not special populations, but still need help. They are all based on computer learning where the student works at his, or her, own speed and level. We develop a plan of lessons for each student after giving them an assessment to find out where the deficits in there learning are located. All of this is done on the computer.

Unfortunately, my computers have been down all week. I have not been able to do the assessments. I cannot get my students working on the programs needed to help them. I have no lesson plans outside my computer programs. The teacher who has administrative access to add my students into the computer porgram is out of the office. In other words, I have been winging it all week. The first day we introduced ourselves and the class. The next day, we discussed class rules. Then we played a trivia game. Today I copied some worksheets out of an old textbook. I hope that by Monday My computers are all working. If not, my stress level may go up.

Take care and stay calm under pressure. Stick.