Sorry not to post much, I'm over committed and short on mental energy. I'm back teaching Monday nights at the puppy mill for some extra cash. I drive right by it on my way home so why shouldn't I stop and teach a little philosophy. I have a wired classroom and so I have been boosting my use of technology by developing power points for each lesson. I feel less like I am working for them and more like I am doing a self study in new instructional techniques. I had several great discussions tonight. After a day filled with crazy adolescents it can be quite refreshing to teach adults, who have some life experience to bring to a round table on ethical issues.

Over committed.

It's UMSL's spring break and Jes is off to visit Kelly in Florida. I don't get a Spring Break, but my term ends in early May. I would trade that early out for a ten day window to catch up on my grading and kill video game monsters. More later -k-

I had three interviews tonight with three different high schools in a single district. The most involved interview was for the school that I am least interested in. They are looking for a reading specialist and they shouldn’t hire me for that job. The first interview I did wasn’t really an interview. They already know me there because it’s where I student taught. The principal from that school excitedly ran to double check with someone that my paperwork was all in order. I would take a position there and be happy to get it. I have to admit that I really loved working there. I've also discovered that the salary bump over what I'm currently making would be surprisingly large, a helpful factor in easing my hesitance. I met with the principal from another school, the school that I am most interested in, and he told me that of eighteen applicants I was the first one he’d seen who was qualified to replace his departing AP teacher. He was blunt about my having made it instantly to the top of the stack. As with all big districts I am discovering that I will have several rounds of interview ahead of me if I make this initial cut, which it seems I have.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! I love my job. I have an interview tomorrow at another job that I might love…..it pays more…. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mike - I'll be in Columbia next week Wednesday for the ACT conference. Beer?

It’s Sunday, the one day of the week where I feel like me. Every other day I am either in the process of becoming exhausted or in recovery. Thursday was probably the most intense day of the week, so let’s take it as an example of what can happen. I got up early for school as I had a prom committee meeting at 7:45. Yes, I am on the prom committee. One is assigned a certain amount of "volunteer" work at my school that is simply expected.

I had missed a few prom meetings because I had been in other, more important Individualized Education Profile meetings for students with learning impairments, so I didn’t have a prom sub committee assignment. I was informed that in addition to general crowd control on the night of prom I will be expected to bring my tools and build stuff the day before the event. During the day following, I will be expected to clean and to dismantle whatever I built on the day previous. What I am going to be building has yet to be revealed. Prom is in six weeks.

I then taught a full day fraught with the usual highs and lows of teaching – planning – executing – evaluating - and I left school around three fifteen. I got to UMSL at four thirty and went to the classroom in which my grammar instruction class meets. I spent the next hour doing my homework, then I took a quiz over the homework and we reviewed for Tuesday’s test. After class, I raced to Lemongrass where Jes and her father were meeting me for dinner. Jes had pre-ordered the Vietnamese style curry chicken for me and it hit the table about a minute before I walked in the door.

I teach in a rural school district, so in addition to the meeting, class and work, I had also driven a little more than three hours during which I had been listening to Jane Smiley’s novel Moo. I finished the book during Friday’s drive and will start either Notes from the Underground or The Bell Jar on Monday; though, either of these books might cast a pall over the drive.

After dinner, we all went to Powell Symphony Hall to hear Michael Medved speak as part of the Mayville University Speaker Series. I was filled with more than a little trepidation at the prospect of the lecture, having discovered that morning that Michael is a now a conservative talk show host who got his start guest hosting for Rush Limbaugh. I scared Jes with my fears, so that we were both pleasantly surprised at his many centrist positions. Home, bed, get up and do it again. If your question is, “Where do you find the energy?” the answer simply is, “I don’t”.