1. The Advice I stood in the faculty work room making coffee. Day four of professional development was about to start, and my coffee cup was empty. He with the first empty cup makes the coffee. So there I was. I am new to this place, and had not yet made coffee. I looked down at the […]
Yearly Archives: 2018
I’ve Got This
Wed, 25 Jul 2018, 07:43 PM (-06:00)
They are watching, Jennifer Gonzalez tell us, and she suggests ten ways to lead for the students who are watching us. Number 9 in particular catches my eye: Geek out on the things students think are uncool. Ok, folks, for all the experience I might lack, for all the attributes that I might need to polish, […]
Real Teachers
Wed, 25 Jul 2018, 08:13 AM (-06:00)
Afterwards, a few of us stuck around and chatted: getting to know each other, sharing war stories, challenges, frustrations. I mostly smiled and listened, because although I was happy to meet them, I don’t have war stories or challenges or frustrations (yet). Then one of them said something that made me wonder. “You can see who […]
Vanilla Milkshake
Mon, 23 Jul 2018, 09:59 PM (-06:00)
Today was “day one”, except that it wasn’t. It was in the sense that I spent the entire day at the high school. It wasn’t in the sense that school hasn’t started yet. It was a professional development day. I took two classes related to some of the online tools we’ll be using. Today was hot. […]
Splayed Out Charlie
Sun, 22 Jul 2018, 04:38 PM (-06:00)
Once in a while when he’s running thru the house, we’ll hear Charlie wipe out. There will be the galloping sound of his feet on the flooring, a sliding sound, and then a crashing/wipe-out sound. It vaguely sounds like he took a corner too fast, except that often there is no corner involved. Sometimes he […]
Retirement’s End
Sun, 22 Jul 2018, 02:33 PM (-06:00)
I have been in pseudo-retirement for two and a half months. In late April I quit my job to focus on my alternative certification class. I had been struggling to find time for the class while I working and commuting. So I quit. Goodbye work. Goodbye commute. Hello pseudo-retirement. I found myself with plenty of […]
Barefootin
Sun, 22 Jul 2018, 11:45 AM (-06:00)
1. Fallen Arches Years ago on the streets of New York City, as the story goes, we were walking along the sidewalk, my brother, my mother, my aunt and I, and as was evidently par for the course, I was lagging behind. My mother used to call me the “Poky Little Puppy,” after the book, […]
What’s Up With That?
Wed, 18 Jul 2018, 11:26 PM (-06:00)
So I will have a job in the fall. Bastrop Independent School District. Cedar Creek High School. Hot dang, but that’s a good thing! Although I confess it will be with some sadness that I say goodbye to pseudo-retirement. And the dogs are sure to be sad, also. They seem to have adapted to The […]
Public Libraries
Mon, 16 Jul 2018, 08:34 AM (-06:00)
0. Bird Baths The Wrens and Chickadees are fluttering around the water I set out in the front yard, yesterday. Their approach is cautious, always cautious. What a lot of work, looking around, hopping from branch to branch before finally satisfying themselves that it’s safe to drink, only to look around some more from the […]
Cattle Drive House
Thu, 12 Jul 2018, 07:13 AM (-06:00)
There were oak trees by the Cattle Drive house. Live Oaks — a cluster of them shading a narrow walkway. But we knew there was a broad swathe of Oak Wilt ravaging the neighborhood back then, and we worried those trees were in its path. The prospect of them dying was painful. They were what […]