Disconnected to reality

Tomorrow starts the last week of school. Our school has started major renovations (I'll be surprised if they are finished come the beginning of the next year) before the year even ended. Tomorrow is supposed to be field day. The weather forecast calls for an 80% chance of rain. If it rains, I don't know what we will do for the day. They surprised me on Friday while I was at a workshop. I returned to my room to find everything gone, including the bag I brought with me in the morning. I had to climb over stacks of desks and cabinets to retrieve my personal belongings and papers that I would need for the next week. Anyone know an anti-rain dance?

The end of the school year also calls for a return my school laptop for summer maintenance. I don't have my own computer, unless I want to go back to my windows 98 machine that I thought I'd retired this past summer. My only connection to the outside world (ignoring actual, physical interaction of course) will be taken away from me for at least 3 weeks. I got the go ahead from my wife to buy a new computer, but as much as I like that idea, the actual process terrifies me. I want to keep the cost down, but I get so bogged down with the details about which processor to choose and how much RAM I should get that I find it almost impossible to choose. I've gone through most of the plausible permutations the Dell website and my paralysis by analysis is making me consider going to a store like Best Buy and picking one that they have already built. This would be so much easier if I were rich. Donations anyone?

Disappointment and Dragons (not connected)

I finally made it to the new bike shop in town. I swung by on Friday, but they were closed. I walked in today, but it seemed a little dark. I went back to the open door and looked to make sure it said "Open." It did. I figured they were trying to save on energy. I went in and was pointedly ignored until I asked a question. I asked if they sold used bikes. They guy simply said, "No," and that was it. Having worked in a bike shop and knowing other people who have and run bikes shops, I know that the key to a successful shop is service and community. I continued walking around the store to see what they had and never once did the guy try to engage me in any way. Now this is a new branch of a local shop that opened up in anticipation of a rail-to-trail opening within a half block. There is already one shop in town and it's not a large town, so you would think that this shop would be doing everything it could to get customers. As I finished my circuit of the store, the guy was at the formerly open doors and was closing them and turning the open sign around. No longer hidden was the sign showing the hours. I said, "Oh, you guys aren't open yet?" and he barely acknowledged my comment and utterly failed to win me over as a customer...ever. That made me very sad.

Our downtown area puzzles me. There is a good variety of shops, but at very few of them do I actually feel welcome when I walk inside. I don't know how some of them maintain business. As I was walking from the mechanic to the bike shop, I was struck by how pedestrian (and bike) unfriendly our community is. There is now safe/comfortable path to take along the major route through town (separate from the downtown stretch). Sidewalks are in bad disrepair and the pedestrian crossing system is so car-centric that it takes a very long time to get a cross signal and they are some of the shortest signals I've seen. Our community is currently deciding the fate of the high school. Our population is growing and our current schools are going to run out of room. We have the pleasure of a school right in the middle of the community and as I walked past it today I actually realized the benefit of having a school in the heart, rather than on outskirts, of the community. We need to focus on lessening the sprawl and making the community more of a cohesive integrated one. I'm not sure how that will happen, though.

It's been a great spring break so far and we had great weather for a little birthday party on Saturday. Yesterday I took my daughter to see How To Train Your Dragon in 3D. She was almost too small for the glasses. I kept pushing them up her face periodically throughout the movie. It was really good. I mean, given dragons and vikings, it's easy to do well, but this was a very entertaining movie. I have only one minor complaint. Why do the vikings have vaguely Scottish accents? Is it that difficult to do a Scandinavian accent? Vikings get so little screen time as it is that they deserve a more accurate portrayal while they are fighting dragons.

Fast run and test prep

Went for my first run after the Humdinger last week (felt like I needed some time for the bleeding to stop). Knowing there were no killer hills made me feel lighter on my feet than I've velt in a long time. I ran the fastest 5k since I started running again last year. It's anywhere near as fast as I used to run, but it was a step in the right direction (a bunch of them really and they basically led me in a giant circle...) and I didn't feel terrible afterwards. I just signed up to do a 10k trail run on the oldest rail-trail conversion in the country. This is a distance I've never run before. After my fast 5k I sort of wish I were doing that distance instead, but I'm interested to see what I can do with a longer distance without any rock climbing and foot-skiing along the way.

The Humdinger was unbelievable this year. Somehow, they managed to fit more uphills into the course. There was a lot of snow of varying conditions all along the trails, and there were some downhills that were so snowy and steep, that we were actually sliding the whole way down. Gravity still works and was doing its best to take me down. It nearly succeeded once, but I tucked and rolled and came back up in stride. That felt good, considering it was about 5 miles into the race. My brother surprised me with a visit and ran it with me. He was nice enough to stay with me when he probably could have finished 10 minutes faster without much effort. The end of the race was a blast too. They covered a short, steep hill with plastic and snow and turned it into a giant slip-n-slide to the finish. That with beer and chili post-race was a great way to end it. I'm definitely going back next year.

Were' approaching that time of the year again - state testing. This year, in their infinite wisdom, the state has decided that 8th graders don't need to learn during April. Instead, we are having 3 tests in math, 3 tests in reading (concurrent with math), 4 tests in writing and 2 tests in science. That pretty much takes up the entire last 3 weeks of April, with the first week being our very abbreviated spring break. At the end of this week, we have about 2 class weeks left before the math tests start, so we'll be ramping up the test prep. Good times.

2 book reviews and one of the best commercials ever

I finally finished reading Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell today. That was a long read that had about 800 pages leading up to a great 100 page conclusion. I'm not saying that any of the first 100 pages was bad, boring, or even bland, but it never seemed to go anywhere. The plot moved along so slowly, that it often seemed like you were reading some things for no reason and the multi-page footnotes were in there to break up the monotony of the narrative. That being said, I'll repeat that it was not boring at any point. There are basically three separate stories contained in this behemoth, but I'm not sure than any one of them alone would be worth reading. It may be the case that the author actually needed that many pages to tell the story. I'm actually a bit confused by my experience with this book because although I kept wanting it to get over, once it was, I wanted more of what was written towards the end. The treatment of magic, while a fantastical entity in its own right in the book, is so mundane, that it doesn't feel like you are transported into a different world. I guess I'd say that it's a good book, but probably not one that I'll read again.

On the other hand, after I finished that first book, I got to read Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman. Even with a couple of kids running around, I flew through that book. It was really good. I really like nNorse mythology and Gaiman told a Norse myth. It read and and the feel of the various sagas and compilations I've read. He really captured the feel of the world and rhythm of the myths. I think I'm going to try to start reading it chapter by chapter to my daughter at night.

Finally, I just caught this post of Facebook today and it has to be one of the best commercials ever. All I can say is, "I'm on a horse."

Cell phone in classroom convert

For the past 3.5 years I've been on the front line waging war against students with cell phones in my classroom. From the accidental ring to the kid playing during testing, I've come to know the cell phone slouch very well. Much like the war against drugs, I'm starting to feel that it's a losing proposition. Rather than spending all of that time and effort enforcing rather unenforcible rules, I think we need to focus on education and productive uses of cell phones.

I spent the day at a CSIU workshop on technology in the classroom. The first couple of presentations were ok, but nothing exciting. The first wasn't even on technology, but reading. The second focused on using spreadsheets and web apps, again, nothing too exciting. After lunch, however, I met the man who changed my mind on allowing cell phones in the classroom. He made some excellent points about cell phone use and I'm not saying that I want kids texting and talking during class, but as proliferous and ubiquitous as they are, I might as well harness their potential. We saw some great polling sites (Wiffiti and Poll Everywhere) that can be used in the place of expensive classroom response systems that are free and use texting as their means of response. We saw other applications that turn the phone into a mobile podcast recorder (Yodio) that can be used to record presentations or other such things. Our school currently has a policy that cell phones are not allowed out of the lockers. I'm sure that parent pressure is going to end up changing that policy as well. Education is about attracting student interest and keeping them engaged. Anything that I can do to keep them actively engaged with the material is most likely a good thing. If that means relying on cell phones, I'm all for it.

On another note, I had a great run today. Healing from my nasty cut has not been fun. I now have a very thick scab on my left shin and just wearing pants and having them rub along it creates a very unpleasant burning pain anywhere the scab is touched. On Monday, I decided to see how running felt. Being too cold for shorts, I had to wear the running pants and I figured their mesh interior would really be painful. More than that, though, I was worried that the pounding would produce unbearable pain. I was very surprised that neither happened. I went for a brief run and went on to worry that I missed my training window for the Humdinger on March 6. I went for a 5.6 miler Tuesday and it felt a little rough. I went for a 7.2 miler today and it felt great. I did the return trip about 3 minutes faster than the out and I finished with an overall good pace and feeling strong. My goal is under 71 minutes and beating my former student again.

I finally saw Avatar last weekend. It was the most expensive movie I ever saw. Not only were tickets an extra $3 for the fashion glasses, but we also had the $30 for the babysitter. I liked it. I'm not sure it was worth $50, but I liked it and 3D has really come a long way since the last movie I saw. I'm not sure if every movie needs to be 3D, but it did make things a bit more immersive. The best part may have been the Clash of the Titans preview.

Rough week, no action

To celebrate my birthday, raise some money for a good cause, and reinforce my image, I participated in the Lewisburg Polar Plunge last Saturday. It was great! We had a big snow the night before, temperatures were below freezing, and all was set. We got there a little late - children are very good at causing that, so instead of being part of the mass plunge, I was part of the slow post mass plunge trickle. It was so slow in fact that I was the only one entering when I went in. I rushed in the mighty Susquehanna and reaffirmed the force of gravity as I plunged in up to my neck. It felt good though. I got up and then felt a bit silly as I was the only one in the water surrounded by people in wet suits with the shore packed with all of the voyeurs. Being the only one in the water, and feeling said silliness, I walked out. As I walked out I look down at my leg and noticed a long scrape, apparently from a helpful river rock that decided to stop me from falling all the way to the bottom of the river when I first went in. It didn't seem bad and I figured I'd have quite a bruise. As the circulation in my legs restarted, more and more blood started finding it's way out of my body through what was clearly not a scrape, but rather a nice gash. By the time I got back to the car (running behind the stroller as my son let everyone know how displeased he was with being strapped in), I had a nice blood trail on my leg.

It's still a very ugly, red, painful blemish on my shin and I haven't run for a week. I could handle a week off if the Humdinger weren't in 3 weeks now and I was just hitting my stride increasing my mileage to be ready for the 7 mile trail run. I have to start running this week, regardless of how much it hurts. It really only hurts when something bumps it, which my daughter kindly pointed out to this evening with a well-placed, albeit accidental, kick; it still throbs. But because it doesn't hurt from the stresses of moving, I think it will be ok.

We finally had some decent winter weather this week as well. Not only did we get a good snowfall last Saturday, we had another Tuesday night and an actually justified snow day on Wednesday. I got my son on his first sled ride that ended with a good face full of snow.

Tears a'plenty

I was bombarded with three separate cases of tears today. On the best of days, I usually don't deal well with tears in my classroom and, compassionately, ask if the person would like to go out in the hall (or stay in the hall) for a bit until he/she feels ready to return to the room. It's not that tears actually bother me, rather they don't bother me to the point that I don't want to seem callous and just push on through them without acknowledging them - which is what I'd rather do. This seems a better alternative.

Case 1: We have a group of Marines come in and give demonstrations with gear and MRE's (it ties in with endothermic and exothermic reactions being covered in science). One student came in and was overwhelmed by emotions seeing the soldiers there. We'll call this student Chris (identity and gender anonymous). I took Chris out in the hall, but Chris was able to return and enjoy the presentation. I was not the source of the tears.

Case 2: I kept a student at the beginning of lunch. We'll call this student Pat. Pat has not been the best of students and has been doing very poorly from apparent lack of effort. I guess I stuck in the conversation long enough, trying to get a response that had a semblance of authenticity, when, much to my dismay, the crying began. Pat is not the student that I would suspect of turning on fake tears to get out of a tough discussion. If that was the case, Pat really sold it with actual tears and bloodshot eyes. I guess I was a bit of the cause this time.

Case 3: Report cards came out last week and it would be an understatement to say that grades were less than stellar. This year and marking period in particular seem to come as a surprise to 8th graders who have never had to put in any time outside of class before and it takes many the rest of the year to adjust. At least they do before hitting high school. This student, we'll call Sam (short for Samson or Samantha?) did very well the first marking period, but went quite a bit down the second. Sam came asking what Sam could do (Sam did not actually refer to Sam's self in the third person. Sam is not obnoxious) to bring up Sam's grade. I may have exaggerated a bit because there may not have been actual tears, but Sam was on the verge. I hope Sam does better this marking period.

Three cases of tears in one day. I'm not sure if this compares to my friend in grad school that made a parent cry (you know who you are and we'll see if you read this post), but it was quite a day.

The Humdinger is approaching and I'm thinking of shooting for 63 minutes. That would be about 9-minute miles. Last year I did 11-minute miles and that was tough. I think I'll be in better shape and better prepared for the tough course this year.