Reminder of how long the old girl has been at it

Last Monday night, my new Valic advisor came to the house. I wanted a face-to-face conference to review the pro's and con's of launching my stock-based retirement. The lock-in feature I auspiciously signed up for in July 2007 assures that the 5% will be based on the pre-Crash amount, rather than the pathetic face value. My feeling was, why not start taking it now? I'm old enough,and with the market in the shape it's in, the face value will never re-reach the lock-in value. Why not use the money now, while I'm still working? We can stockpile it now. Anyway, the man began to review my working history. I mentioned having worked at Georgia Southern for years. He stared at me for a moment, and then broke into a smile. "I think I had you for English! I was at Southern in '91, and took a World Lit class with you. I still remember Beowulf and Song of Roland! I really enjoyed that class!" 1991, my third year at Southern. Eighteen years ago! To be honest, I wasn't sure I remembered him. That was about five-thousand students ago. But I was tickled that he remembered me and even liked the class. I also experienced the Rip Van Winkle Effect, the shock wave that ripples through one when one is reminded of how much time has passed.

After school on Thursday, I decided to pull down the "Most Dangerous Game" movie posters and replace them with the schmaltzy Romeo and Juliet cards created by last semester's students. They had been assigned to find any poetic quotation from R & J, copy it onto the front of a construction paper greeting card, and write a cute modern-day punch-line inside. The current class is reading R & J, so the cards would be timely. As I stapled them onto the bulletin board, I read the punch-lines. One of them jokingly mentioned a "couple" in last semester's class: Wesley and Stephanie. Again, the Effect. Wesley and Stephanie and all the other students from last semester suddenly seemed so far, far back in time; yet the school year has not stopped feeling new to me. But it's not so new anymore. The students' state-mandated End of Course test is April 27 and 28, just a month from now. The school year ends May 22 (with a few teacher planning days after that). I look forward to summer, to renew myself. I'm excited to realize it's sooner than I thought.

An unexpected fiasco occurred at the School Board meeting last month. Some newly elected Board members voted to retire the Superintendent, much to everyone's surprise. Gossip has it that the parents in the county wanted a Supt. who was more sports-supportive. This morning, an article in the newspaper said that her contract buy-out would cost around $200,000, including the paid vacation days, and the Acting Supt. was quoted as saying that "we'll probably have to fire about 18 teachers to pay for this!" Naturally, I worry.

L. is doing very well in his job. His evaluation was superior, so he is to receive the full bonus that city employees get. Despite his back pains, he gives 110% to the job, and fortunately, this is recognized by the powers that be. When L. oversees a project and the project is completed, he has a tangible park or road to show for it. It's hardly the same in teaching. Every day, I can give my 110% but have no idea whether I've made any impact.

That's why I love encounters with people like the Valic man!

Paul has been on spring break this week. Shawn continues to work at A.C. Moore, but is feeling discontent with his supervisor and the way she runs the store.

The television has just issued a tornado watch for the rest of the day.The weather forecast predicted thunderstorms all day. Right now, the weather looks fine to me. In fact, I wish it would thunder furiously. It makes me feel cozy when I'm inside on the couch watching the rain splash down outside.

Return of the frogs

A few nights ago, I noticed the first (huge) frog of the season sitting at the edge of the pond. The second sighting occurred this morning, just for an instant. I blinked and it was gone, leaving a rippling across the water. They are now awakening from hibernation, it seems, even though the weather is much colder than it should be for mid-March. Today it's rainy and gloomy. I'm glad to have the day off tomorrow. I'm seriously burned out. I've probably been too intent on doing a good job which for me, translates into lots of planning and lots of activities, which translates into lots of grading and paper shuffling.

Today was a teacher planning day. Grades were due at 11:30 this morning. The biggest obstacle to getting them in was the scantron problem with the Nine Week's Exam, which I'd given on Thursday and Friday. We're required to give Nine Weeks' Exams, as well as final exams. Last fall, for the first Nine Weeks Exam, I created a pedagogically sound test with open-ended questions. Big mistake. With seventy-some students, it took me two weeks to grade them, while the other teacher in my room had her multiple choice tests done within the hour. Reluctantly, I switched to multiple choice. I created this recent Nine Weeks' Exam using the Exam Pro software, which allows three versions of the test, for cheat-prevention. Since I also have seven or eight SPED students, they had to have a modified test, so I made that too, creating two versions with the software. Then I had to fill out five 150-question scantron keys. When I scanned the scantrons on Friday, I knew something was off. The machine was beeping excessive mistakes for some of the brighter students. Then I discovered that the Exam Pro had spit out inaccurate answer keys, which meant I had created inaccurate scantron keys. Luckily, this only occured for both of the SPED versions. This morning, I had to hand grade a pile of these tests to make sure I had the correct score.

Then PowerTeacher, the new grading software, refused to cooperate, even though I was following the printed directions. The printed report kept listing different grades than the ones in the cyber-gradebook. I finally talked to the Registrar, and she told me to print the reports and write in the correct grades, and she'd figure out later what was wrong.

I'm not sure if I can put a finger on why I sometimes feel out of sync with the other teachers at work. Part of it, of course, is because I'm older than most of them, though a few are in my age range. Part of this feeling, too, is because I'm new at the school. I think the biggest difference is that I'm so totally absorbed in the curriculum and the best delivery of it, and I don't get the impression that the other teachers stress themselves out over lesson plans and activities as much as I do. I also don't sense that they yearn to talk to each other about what they're doing in class, ask questions, share ideas, or anything of the sort. I do. I want to talk about what I'm trying and whether it's working. I want to learn what they are doing that works. I have that hunger for learning more about teaching 9th grade, but I don't think they have it. This is probably because they've been doing it longer than I have. I'm beginning to think that I'm just too serious a person overall. I wonder if that's something I can work on, lightening up and not taking everything, including the job, so seriously.

I'm reading Revolutionary Road, the story of a 1950's couple who feel dissatisfied with their boring, job-filled rat-racey lives in the suburbs, and believe that life should offer more substance and enrichment. They want to break away from society's expectations and "find themselves" by moving to Paris and living off their savings. The wife will get a job while the husband stays home and figures out what he wants out of life. I don't know what's going to happen because I'm only halfway through, but I like the universal theme of wondering if there's another path besides working at a traditional job. Breaking Bad, anyone?

American Idol season has begun again. Paul is thoroughly obsessed, and of course, the rest of us enjoy the show too. I kind of like Matt, the guy who sang "Georgia" during the early competition, and also Scott. Those are the two who get to me. Paul's top two favorites are 1)Danny Gokey and 2)Adam Lambert.

Shawn's friends from Maine are supposed to visit for St. Patrick's Day tomorrow. He's set up the sleeping bags on my office floor. People have asked if I'm going to the Parade. I'm ashamed to say, I've lived in Savannah for 20 years and have never gone to the St. Patrick's Day Parade. I just don't care for huge drunken crowds and noise. Maybe if that drunken crowd were standing around the Louvre or Buckingham Palace, or if it were the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade or New Year's Eve at Times Square, I'd feel different and would be eager to join them, but I just haven't gotten into St. Patrick's Day with the intensity that many local people do.

Fishing at Tybee

On Friday, the weather warmed up from the cold snap, and by Saturday it was beautiful, with azaleas popping out, and the temperature in the 70's. Because it was supposed to be gorgeous on Sunday, and because Liberto and I both needed to rid our minds of the constant work-related crap that whirls through our heads, we decided to drive out to Tybee beach, where Liberto and Shawn could fish. On Saturday, L. and I went to Outdoor World and bought a pole and some gear, and this morning, the four of us headed out. The films above capture segments of a great day.

This past week, one of Liberto's colleagues, a man in his fifties who appeared to be in good health, died suddenly. Just keeled over without warning. He had started with the City the same year Liberto did, in 1990, and they saw each other every day. Liberto has been feeling blue about that. In addition, his father has been weak and unenthusiastic about eating, despite Mama's and the muchacha's good cooking. L. is feeling apprehensive about Papa's condition; L. knows what a blow it will be if his father passes on.

We both needed to get out of the house and clear our heads. But...time to get ready for the work week. At the end of the week, the students will be taking Nine Weeks Exams on Thursday and Friday. On Monday, a teacher planning day followed by a day off for St. Patrick's Day, which is almost like a mini-vacation. The real spring break isn't until April.