1. I had my first angry parent encounter this week: someone not happy with one of my assignment policies. Sample from the conversation: "I think you're being very unprofessional.""How so?""You have a very poor attitude.""Can you tell me how?""You're too terse." An unpleasant experience, but an inevitable one. In any case, the policy still stands … Continue reading Saturday Flotsam: More History and ‘Who Goes There?’
Teaching
Friday Flotsam: Sick Again, Snow White, and RIP James Earl Jones
1. My cold returned with a vengeance this week. I ended up having to go get prescribed antibiotics and taking two days off from work right in the middle of the week. But I'm recovering (again) and at least I was able to go in to work today. 2. Part of my class schedule is … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Sick Again, Snow White, and RIP James Earl Jones
Friday Flotsam: Rand, Tucker, ‘The Crow’
1. Have a much-needed four-day weekend ahead of me. I'm starting to get more into the routine of teaching full-time, at least so that it's less like I'm building a railroad as the train is rolling over it and more like I'm building it as the train is within sight. 2. In my US History … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Rand, Tucker, ‘The Crow’
Friday Flotsam: Mongeese, Kiki, and Computers
1. First full week of teaching. I feel like I'm starting to find my feet and it's becoming less stressful and uncertain. 2. I'm still waiting for Alice in Wonderland to arrive, so my sixth graders are reading short stories while I pretend this was the plan all along. This week was Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, which was … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Mongeese, Kiki, and Computers
Friday Flotsam: Teaching, Napoleon, and Oz
1. Well, I made it through my first week of the new teaching job. It was overall easier than I expected; it felt like slipping back into a somewhat familiar routine, the same sense of just standing up and talking to the class. 2. That said, it did feel a bit like building a railroad … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Teaching, Napoleon, and Oz
Saturday Flotsam
1. I seem to be missing Friday Flotsams quite a bit lately. These are confusing times. 2. My first year of teaching has officially concluded in a chaotic rush of a 'center cleaning day'. It was truly a life-changing experience, and I've learned an enormous amount even in a single year. I feel that, at … Continue reading Saturday Flotsam
Saturday Flotsam: Hodge Podge and Northern Lights
1. My first school year is almost done; just one more day of classes, then field day and a few odds and ends. It was certainly a learning experience, and I'm glad to have at last found a job that I feel I could make an actual career out of. The big test, of course, … Continue reading Saturday Flotsam: Hodge Podge and Northern Lights
Friday Flotsam: Various and Sundry
1. The weather is warming up, which means my middle schoolers were extra rowdy this week. I am increasingly convinced that children are, in truth, reptiles. 2. For recreation I started re-reading The Ball and the Cross for the first time in quite a while. Chesterton's way with words is of the sort that is … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Various and Sundry
Friday Flotsam: 26 to 48, America Lists, and ‘Godzilla x Kong’
1. First and foremost is some pretty big life news: after much searching and many applications, I've been offered a full-time teaching job with a traditional Catholic, classical education school. The only slight catch is that it's, ah, rather far. I live in Metro Detroit, and the job is in Phoenix, Arizona. Which means that … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: 26 to 48, America Lists, and ‘Godzilla x Kong’
Friday Flotsam: Caesar and ‘Scarlet and the Black’
1. Starting a much-needed break for Easter time. Don't have much time left in school after that; only about ten or twelve class days. It's rushed by faster than I thought, and I've really enjoyed my first year teaching. Right now the plan is to figure out a way to keep doing it and earn … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Caesar and ‘Scarlet and the Black’
Serpent's Den 