Monthly Archives: October 2022

Week 11 Musical Interlude

Some good old Folk music. It is a part of my war protest music and is a very fun song with a serious message. It sometimes gets lost on people who don’t understand satire but I hope you enjoy it.…

Day 51 October 31, 2022 Frog Fiasco

I have a few thoughts on teaching elementary that I want to share. This is my last post for my elementary years and I still have a ton of stories. I want to say that teaching for nine years in elementary was the best prelude to teaching high school.…

Day 50 October 28, 2022 Technology Leader

Accomplishments are important and I am a believer that if my accomplishments help others, I have been successful. In the mid-90s we were writing out report cards for every student. Your hands would cramp up and trying to find ways to say things briefly became an art.…

Day 49 – October 27, 2022 Sharing Ideas

Today I landed in Orlando, Florida getting ready to present at the PLTW Summit for the next three days. I have been to many conferences in the last 30 years. This weekend will be the last one as an APS teacher.…

Day 48 – October 26, 2022 Financial Fiduciary

I am a big fan of planning. There exists a group of people that spend money like there is no end and that they will always have money. The other piece is that people often look at the new shiny toy and feel the need to have it.…

Day 47 – October 25, 2022 Early Adopter

Microworlds and Logo programming was my first step into programming with kids. I was doing this with students in the third, fourth, and fifth grades at Montview. As I compare to students coming into my class today, those elementary kids were miles ahead of the high school kids I see now.…

Day 46 October 24, 2022 Breaking Up A Meeting

Welcome back from Fall Break.

Today is one of the ways to break up a staff meeting. Any teacher who has been to a staff meeting understands. Unfortunately, they can’t be leveled like we are asked to do in our classrooms.…

Day 45 – October 13, 2022 Sheltered English

I think every child ought to visit Disneyland. It really is the happiest place on earth. I have many stories about Disneyland and they will come up when I transition to high school. My first time at Disneyland was as a teacher at Montivew.…

Day 44 – October 12, 2022 Mentors

Teaching has given me the good fortune to meet many influential teachers over the last few years. One of my favorites was meeting and talking to Donald Graves. Donald Graves was a leader in the reforming of writing. His books stand out as beacons of light as a way to instruct young writers.…

Day 43 – October 11, 2022 Interview Intervention

It is not what you know but who you know. This will be a repeating theme in my story. On September 6 or Day 18, I spoke about getting hired. This is about the interview before getting hired. The first time I encountered this was while getting hired at Montview.…

Day 42 – October 10, 2022 Chrysalis not Cocoon

Opportunity and flexibility are important in elementary classrooms. Too many teachers teach their lesson plans and often don’t teach their students. You sometimes have to seize an opportunity and let the planned lesson fall by the wayside. These are often the best learning days.…

Day 41 – October 7, 2022 Thematic Phones

In the words of that great philosopher Kermit: “It isn’t being green.” Most elementary teachers use themes to enhance their rooms and build the sense of family. My first few years saw me use a frog and green theme. It was at this time that cell phones were starting to become more common.…

Day 40 – October 6, 2022 Work Wife

Usually, businesses and other organizations make sure not to have spouses working together. In our case at Montview, we were looking to hire a special education teacher. My principal asked me if it was okay to hire my wife away from the private school where she was working at the time.…

Day 39 – October 5, 2022 Know Your Audience

One of the important things for a professional is to measure their words. We have all opened our mouths and placed our foot directly in. This is even more important to be aware of if you open your mouth and insert your foot and potentially offend a supervisor.…

Day 38 – October 4, 2022 Persona Non Grata

I was a member of a small group of innovators that started technology specials in elementary. In our district, we had Carl W, Andy Y, Randy W, and me. It was the opportunity of a lifetime to create something exciting and new.…

Day 37 – October 3, 2022 Sarah

I had the joy of starting a technology special at Montview. It was a perfect rotation for a year-round school and kept the specialists on a similar schedule. I had kindergarten through 5th grade all year long. I had to develop lessons and work for every level.…

Week 8 Musical Interlude

With the advent of vaping we are back to this mess. A little old school from Brownsville Station. I like the Motley Crue version but let’s go the the original!

…