Starting at Rangeview was a new start and a new challenge. I was working with a new staff and learning new systems. The first thing I discovered was that a staff of almost 150 is very different from an elementary school.…
Category Archives: Retirement Journal
Day 53 November 2, 2022 Interview
Yesterday I talked about meeting Marc Stine at my Aunt Dorothy’s funeral and the winding way I put in for a transfer. Today is about the interview process. I had mentioned to my principal at Montview that I might not even get an interview.…
Day 52 November 1, 2022 High School?
I am moving into high school. I will still do an elementary story now and then but it is time to transfer to Rangeview High School. I will be using my experience in several areas as the basis for these stories.…
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.…
Week 10 Musical Interlude
Some Sam Cooke to go way back. It was all about love!
…
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.…
Week 9 Musical Interlude
Rock and Roll High School by the Ramones
…
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!
…
Day 36 – September 30, 2022 Teaching Battlegrounds
Reading and writing is a battleground upon which all elementary teachers toil. It sounds so civilized when said that way. It is a conflict that teachers face every day. Often the battle rages beyond our classrooms. Most cases pit modern or progressive ideas against “I learned it this way and so can my kid.”Day 35 – September 29, 2022 Jesus & Moises
Names are fun and they can have some humor. One day almost thirty years ago was particularly challenging. A problem that Montview has is the transiency rate of the school. We often had 50 or more kids rotate through our class in any given year.…
Day 34 – September 28, 2022 Bob Villa
On day 33 I spoke of a poor role model. I want to now speak of a wonderful role model from the very same conference in Las Vegas. One of the speakers was Bob Villa who was on the show This Old House at the time.…
Day 33 – September 27, 2022 Character Matters
One of the most important lessons we can teach kids is how to act. I do not mean by constant reprimand but by example and mentoring. I saw something many years ago in Las Vegas that proves my point. I mentioned the trip to Las Vegas for the NSTA conference earlier.…
Week 7 Musical Interlude
A little upbeat Chuck Berry as we get into the rhythm of school for this year.
…
Day 32 – September 26, 2022 Elementary Science
Teaching in an urban school presents challenges to teaching natural sciences. Luckily we were about 4 blocks from Bluff Natural Preserve. It was easy to take them those few blocks without a bus or any other transportation issues. There was one unique touch to our walk to Bluff Lake.…
Day 31 – September 23, 2022 First Parent Conference
I had a cooperating teacher that was very savvy when it came to training me. Student teaching is always stressful but parent-teacher conferences can be the worst. Barb decided I needed to do some of them alone while she sat and watched.
Day 30 September 22, 2022 The White House
Presenting in large groups to other teachers is always fraught with danger. You have those in the room who are already experts and attend just to show up the speaker. Others attend who have no idea what they are getting into.
Day 29 September 21, 2022 Get Involved
Get involved. I stress this to every new teacher. I also caution them about picking what to get involved with. Ask about time commitments and extra work. Sometimes working on school or district groups requires nothing except attending the meetings and some review work.
Day 28 September 20, 2022 Lighten Up!
I believe that if you take yourself too seriously, others won’t take you seriously at all. That is a bold statement to take about teachers. Many teachers suffer from the “too seriously” bug. They know that their job is pivotal to the success of a community, state, and country.…
Week 6 Musical Interlude
This one is special for Homecoming Week. Once a Raider, Always a Raider!
…
Day 27 – September 19, 2022 Early Web Design
One of the challenges of being the “Tech Guy” is that everyone wants advice or work for free. I have undertaken those opportunities over the years. Usually, because someone else dragged me into it or asked too nicely. I have started websites for several education groups and schools.…
Day 26 – September 16, 2022 Book Orders
The importance of reading can never be under stated. Today I am going to talk about one of my most stressful and rewarding times as a student and seeing the same in my students. Book orders were one of the best memories I had as a child.…
Day 25 – September 15, 2022 Pre-Teaching
Bureaucracy and red tape fill every profession. My first encounter with it in education was as a candidate for a teaching license. I thought it would be pretty straightforward. That was my first mistake. I was toiling away at my classes, weekly observations, and working full-time.
Day 24 – September 14, 2022 Greed & Ignorance
I have been blessed in my career to know some amazing and influential people. But as with anything, I also learned about the worst people can bring to our society. The most frustrating occurrence was surrounding science and getting students the tools we needed.…
Day 23 – September 13, 2022 Pantyhose
You may be looking askance at the graphic accompanying this post. Believe me that by time that I am finished you will understand why it is so important for me to tell this story. When I started teaching in the early 90s, it was still expected that if the women teachers wore skirts or dresses, they wore pantyhose.…
Day 22 – September 12, 2022 9/11
Working on 9/11 in a school was a difficult undertaking. All of the obvious questions swirled in our heads. Do we tell the children? Do you interrupt teaching to view it? Not every classroom had a projector or TV so do we show them anything?…
Week 5 Musical Interlude
This is a message I wish I could get across to all students. It does speak about teachers and school at the beginning but the full message is in the chorus.
…
Day 21 – September 9, 2022 Always Learning
Teaching has given me opportunities that others might not have. One of my favorite was serving as an exhibit interpreter for the Imperial Tombs of China at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science in the mid 1990s. It seized on my desire to learn anything I can.…
Day 20 – September 8, 2022 Mrs. Truman
Recently I did a post about the cafeteria manager who got teddy bears for students. I want to now tell the story of the “Book Lady” that kids loved. Mrs. Truman lived down the block from Montview and had lived there for many years.…
Day 19 – September 7, 2022 Racism
Facing blatant racism was a new experience. I had witnessed racism daily as a kid but I never expected to see it when I was teaching. I now know that I had a very naive outlook. I believed people had enough class to keep some of their opinions to themselves and let the rest of the world go on. …
Day 18, – September 6, 2022 Would You Consider
I have had good luck with serendipity during my career. The first example was how I started working in Aurora. I had an interview with Montview and with Rock Ridge in Castle Rock. Rock Ridge was the school where I student taught.…
Week 4 – Musical Interlude
This is a perfect description of the turnover that happens in school administration I have been through five superintendents and seven principals. The lines around 7:45 of the song are particularly poignant.
…
Day 17 – August 31, 2022 Teddy Bears
I have had the opportunity to work with some people that worked tirelessly for students. I was always impressed with those that could find a unique way but touched every student’s heart. Montview had a couple of folks that changed lives for a tough demographic.
Day 16 – August 30, 2022 Network Technician
Teaching during the start of this current information and internet age was a blessing and a curse. We often had the freedom do what we wanted to do because nobody was sure of what it was we were doing. Networking equipment was one of the first big hurdles.
Week 3 – Musical Interlude
If you read the lyrics closely, it does express life and profession well.
…
Day 15 – August 29, 2022 Second Jobs
It has been a long tradition that teachers will often get a second job to make ends meet. I was no different. What can be helpful is to find a position that assists your teaching. When I was getting started as a teacher, Barnes & Noble was coming into the Denver market.
Day 14 – August 26, 2022 Teacher Sticks
The influence of a teacher is far-reaching with their students. Administrators can also have an extended impact. There is some debate about whether an administrator’s effects are positive or negative. I have been fortunate to work with some excellent administrators. There is one that stands head and shoulders above the others.