Vacation

Today finally feels like vacation. We finished Friday. Saturday and Sunday were just another weekend. Then that holiday came along to interfere with our vacation. Finally, today, it was here. We went for a bike ride along the bosque this morning with good friends. My wife said, "I feel like I'm on vacation." And we all yelled, "You are!" Finally. I'll reflect on the past year in future posts.

Pomp & Circumstance

Graduation was yesterday. There was a bunch of marching up and down the steps of University Arena. I was assigned to guard one of the ADA seating areas.

This really makes the last couple of months worthwhile. The kids are so excited. One girl, a former student and aide, was standing alone with a strange look on her face. When I asked her, she said, "I'm scared." Then she grabbed hold of me for dear life. I told her not to worry. Even though this big, familiar thing that had been with her for 12 years is now gone, the new stuff coming will be exciting and fun.

Girls were hugging me with tears and laughter. Boys looked about to explode while they shook my hand. I love graduation!

Life without Seniors

Tuesday was the last day of senior finals. They're gone. Whew.

We've just dropped 500 in our student population. We're no longer overcrowded. Yesterday, we had 6 fights and an auto wreck. Today, none. The tension level dropped.

ISS has been full, but that's ditchers. The underclassmen need to find their balance. The staff is just breathing deep. We've still got a couple of weeks to go with everyone else. Snow days have pushed us out to Memorial Day. Coming soon.

First Day

Today was the first day of senior finals. It could have been better. I expected better. Instead, it was just off. They were panicky. I'd lost a weekend's worth of grading. Everyone and everything was on my nerves. And they kept asking me to sign their *@$%! yearbooks. I will tell you that I didn't write "GO AWAY!" in any of them.

This day finally ended. The good thing about the flex schedule is I always have a pretty good idea of what to expect on Tuesday. And therefore, I'll be better prepared to cope tomorrow.

When I finally got home this evening, I checked my laptop and found the grades. I hadn't transfered them to the stick drive correctly. The day got better.

Long time - short time

My father-in-law is in the hospital. He's been there over 1 1/2 weeks. This has been occupying our time outside of school. And we're tired.

The seniors only have two days of instruction left. They take their final next Monday and Tuesday. Then they're gone.

Of course, they have to pass first.

My Econ students have been having a terrible time with the Final Project I assigned. This was to take the place of a test. They would research a topic in macroeconomics and create a PowerPoint that they would present during their final exam period. I was afraid the project was too simple, too easy. They were struggling. The class valedictorian was struggling. Two other members of the Top Ten were struggling. Today, with two days left, I canceled it.

All I can say is that macroeconomics is too much for them. I forget from time to time that they're still kids. They only read the newspaper because I force them to do so. They never watch or listen to the news. All they know about economics is what they learn in my classroom. So instead of macroeconomics, we're going to do personal economics. I dugout an old project on buying a new car, reworked it some, and added the PowerPoint component. Then I lined up another day in the computer lab to work on this whole new thing.

I made this decision / had the epiphany / came to my senses during 6th period. When I told them what we would be doing (and apologized), there was a noticeable release of tension in the room. I think they'll find this new project to be fun.