A Summer Update!

 It seems like an eternity since I blogged last!   I guess I have been busy with things and simply have not had time nor had the pictures to add to the blog.   But I find myself with an open Saturday at the moment.   The heat is pretty bad today, with 100% humidity!  ( That is what the weather channel says.. and it certainly feels sticky.)    Time to catch up on the blog and all of the things I have been up this last week and a half...  

Well,  the school thing has been getting more real every day.   I have been working on lesson plans and strategery for what I aim to accomplish for the kids.   I am teaching two subjects at the moment and most of the lesson plans have already been done for me.   I simply cut and pasted them into my plan book and now have a scaffold to work with.   That does not mean I have every thing wrapped up and am ready to rumble.   It simply means I can now build and work with something as I familiarize myself on what previous teachers did in the past.  If that makes sense...

Science can be rather boring if you stick to the book and stay in the class room.  And as much as I would love to play with fire and explosives out on the athletic field... You simply can't do that every day.   So I am trying to find the proper pacing to keep things real while still being fun.  After all,   Science is sparked by human curiosity!   And I want to make it my job to get that curiosity roaring so they can advance to the AP courses later on and have a focus and drive to help them through the boring math and calculations. 

So as I comb the you tube videos and national geographic archives looking for cool things to build and blow up,  I find that time seems to move faster without me realizing it.  I guess this is called "flow"  when you are in tune with your subject and methods.   I find that with Origami and blogging I can achieve the same thing.   However, that does make time slip by faster.

Getting a handle on the tech and software side of things is a bit of a challenge for me.   Most of the other teachers have been using these programs and tech for a while now.   I have not been in a classroom since  2000!  And MSU had the cutting edge of tech back then.   Now, things have warped by at light speed and I feel like I am playing catch up with a Saturn 5 rocket. Heck!  Even rocket tech has evolved past the point of science fiction! 

But enough about school!   Last weekend I spent with Cheryl beach combing and running in Milwaukee.  It was fun!   And we certainly scored on the beach glass!   Finding a new beach during a rough and windy day,  we scored nearly 2 lbs of glass!  Lots of fun!

That particular beach also had a beer garden and we were able to takes breaks and eat fish and chips while sipping draft beer.   Kind of cool!  

Dave is finally home now.   But before he got back,  he found the Painted Bolete somewhere near Cadillac Michigan.   He also found some very beautiful mushrooms that were not safe to eat.  But still an exciting find!  I have not been in the forest much at all this week, so the mushroom hunting has taken a back seat...

To Fishing!   

Although I don't have any pictures of fish to show... I have been having fun catching small green sunfish and crappies at a local pond.   And a Bonus!  They had live music there last Wednesday!  I think it may be a summer thing so there will be a new band there next week.  I'm guessing the music changes with each band.  But the music they played was my kind of groovy.  Rhythm and Blues mostly.   

I have been helping folks out while fishing at the pond.   Sometimes young kids ask me why I'm catching so many and other times, Dads or Moms ask for help in getting their 5-7 year olds into fishing.  I find many young kids don't have the patience for fishing if the fishing is slow.  But luckily, the pond is filled with small voracious sunfish...  which are easy to catch if you use light line and small baits. It find it almost more satisfying watching kids catch the fish rather than just catching them myself.  

Of course, to fish with small flies, I have to tie my own.   And I was fortunate enough to find a fly tying vice for cheap at one of the local fishing stores.  (Racine)  I'm not sure what those people in California do with their vices, but apparently they cause cancer there.   Good thing I live in Wisconsin!

And finally,   little by little,  my new teacher Uniforms have been showing up.   Gone are the days of safety vests and zebra patches!   I now get to dress like I had always wanted to... A Math Teacher!  

Well, not exactly.   Science is close enough I guess.   Math teachers wear brown suits and wide ties.   My ties will be a little less tessellation and more outdoor artistic.  I still have to buy several shirts to go with them, but I have a few weeks to gather up the rest of the package.  

And that is all.  Summer is nearly over and I have yet to do any chalking!   The last time was the 4th and that seems like ages ago!   But with all the rain that is even now predicted for Sunday,  I don't know if I will ever be able to smudge up any sidewalks soon. 

Time moves so quickly!  And with every day, I find my anxiety being replaces with excitement for the coming school year.   I hope and pray that it is everything I have ever wanted teaching to be.   Not only for myself, but also for the kids!   Because I was once sitting in those desks and listening to teachers, both good and bad!   And I found that the best ones were the ones who made learning fun and engaging.  To do that almost requires a touch of divine intervention and a bit of magic.  But with God on my side,  how can I possibly fail?  

The fields are ripe and time is fleeting!  And every second counts!