Today is the last day of summer school. It was probably better than sitting around the house every morning, but I miss my bike rides. (Maybe I would have skipped out on lots of days, though, with the steam coming off the asphault.)
Next week, I get my summer back, or what's left of it anyway. I'm already working on job applications. The file is active for a year, so doing the paperwork and legwork now will make me eligible to apply for jobs for next fall when I'm busy in the spring. However, I'd really like to be teaching somewhere this January since I'll have to be student-teaching anyway. As a math teacher, I have a shot at getting a job if someone quits in the middle of the year. With experience, I think I'd be picked before other candidates who are student-teaching like me. So, getting my applications done now will put my name in the system in case something opens up.
Also in the next two weeks, I hope to do some website design for the Christianity Department. I created the site that is there now, and it is in serious need of some updates. It'll be a little bit of extra cash, too.
Maybe I can ride my bike in the next two weeks, too?!
Finally, I'm going to work on my grad school portfolio. It looks daunting, and I know some people who waited too late to start and ended up stressed out at the end of last year because they couldn't get it done. While I've got time, I'm going to tackle some pieces that I can do already. Keith thinks I'm crazy when I say I'm going to work ahead on a project, but I guess it makes me feel like I control my schedule instead of "them." "They" already control plenty about my life for the next 10 months.
So much for getting my summer back, eh? Classes start two weeks from now, so I guess it'll be fall then. If nothing else, my summer has been productive. :)
7.29.2010
7.28.2010
the wind chill factor for July
If you live in the south, you've had some heat lately. The weather reporters have all sorts of words to describe the degree of heat: "scorching" or "sweltering," for example. The heat index has been well over 100 degrees, and the Weather Center has issued heat advisories every day for the last several days.
My poor husband has to work out in this stuff--I don't even like to walk through a parking lot to my car in it! He does like the heat much better than the cold of winter, though.
When I was a child, my mom called the "feels like" temperature during the summer the "wind chill factor." Somehow, just naming it something different made it feel a little cooler. I don't know if we used "heat index" for winter, too, but I think about the wind chill factor every summer when the temperatures are sweltering hot....and somehow, it helps for just a second.
My poor husband has to work out in this stuff--I don't even like to walk through a parking lot to my car in it! He does like the heat much better than the cold of winter, though.
When I was a child, my mom called the "feels like" temperature during the summer the "wind chill factor." Somehow, just naming it something different made it feel a little cooler. I don't know if we used "heat index" for winter, too, but I think about the wind chill factor every summer when the temperatures are sweltering hot....and somehow, it helps for just a second.
7.26.2010
Our weekend was busy
PO and MO are moving in town, and they asked us to help.
On Thursday, I went to the old house to help with more packing. Friday, Keith and I got rolling early so we could move some of their plants to the new house in Keith's truck. Friday was also "moving day" with a moving truck, so there was lots of excitement and activity. Saturday, we went back to get the last load of plants, and we got some more stuff from the house as well. Keith cut the grass at the old house on Sunday. With three mornings of work outside, we were shocked at how hot it got later in the morning!
Later on Sunday, we went to visit our friend, Ginger, and her dog, Pepper. We played games, worked on puzzles, and went to dinner. We were also unsuccessful at puzzle shopping, but Ginger found the puzzle we want online and told us where to get it.
Whew! It's a good thing Monday got here!
On Thursday, I went to the old house to help with more packing. Friday, Keith and I got rolling early so we could move some of their plants to the new house in Keith's truck. Friday was also "moving day" with a moving truck, so there was lots of excitement and activity. Saturday, we went back to get the last load of plants, and we got some more stuff from the house as well. Keith cut the grass at the old house on Sunday. With three mornings of work outside, we were shocked at how hot it got later in the morning!
Later on Sunday, we went to visit our friend, Ginger, and her dog, Pepper. We played games, worked on puzzles, and went to dinner. We were also unsuccessful at puzzle shopping, but Ginger found the puzzle we want online and told us where to get it.
Whew! It's a good thing Monday got here!
7.19.2010
Teaching after learning
Teaching again has been good so far. Summer school is a different experience, which I've seen parts of before, but this is a new course for me to teach. Today, my students learned again about imaginary numbers. Oh, the jokes that are born from the name "imaginary"!
Honestly, I feel for them, my students. In my graduate courses in June, I was in class from 5-9 most nights, and we almost never stayed until nine o'clock. In summer school, we started out with six weeks of 9am to 1pm every day. I was in my own graduate classes at the time, so I empathized with the students I would teach later (a colleague of mine taught the class while I was still taking my own classes). Then, my colleague told me that the students wanted to have Fridays off, so he agreed to have five hour days starting at 8am. Ouch! Five hours of math every day for people who don't like it makes for a painful day for the students and a challenge for the teachers.
During the first two weeks of my graduate classes, I had to create lesson plans for a unit that I might teach. Since my colleague and I had already decided who was teaching which sections, I chose to plan a unit for the last week of summer school. That will happen next week, so I'll get to see how the concepts that we learned in graduate school actually work out in the classroom. I figure, if it works here, it has a good chance of working somewhere else. We'll see how this all turns out....
Summer school ends at the end of next week, and I have two weeks "off" before grad school starts again. I'll be doing some website design and learning about the application process for several counties around us. I'm also hoping to work on my portfolio that will be due in April as my final project for my degree.
Honestly, I feel for them, my students. In my graduate courses in June, I was in class from 5-9 most nights, and we almost never stayed until nine o'clock. In summer school, we started out with six weeks of 9am to 1pm every day. I was in my own graduate classes at the time, so I empathized with the students I would teach later (a colleague of mine taught the class while I was still taking my own classes). Then, my colleague told me that the students wanted to have Fridays off, so he agreed to have five hour days starting at 8am. Ouch! Five hours of math every day for people who don't like it makes for a painful day for the students and a challenge for the teachers.
During the first two weeks of my graduate classes, I had to create lesson plans for a unit that I might teach. Since my colleague and I had already decided who was teaching which sections, I chose to plan a unit for the last week of summer school. That will happen next week, so I'll get to see how the concepts that we learned in graduate school actually work out in the classroom. I figure, if it works here, it has a good chance of working somewhere else. We'll see how this all turns out....
Summer school ends at the end of next week, and I have two weeks "off" before grad school starts again. I'll be doing some website design and learning about the application process for several counties around us. I'm also hoping to work on my portfolio that will be due in April as my final project for my degree.
7.15.2010
We're proud Braves fans
Our boy, Brian McCann was the hero of the All-Star Game on Tuesday night. We turned off the TV after the 6th inning because it was already late, and he batted in the winning runs in the next inning. For the first time in over a decade, the National League won the All-Star game. Just in case we get there, the win on Tuesday will give the Braves home-field advantage if they play in the World Series.
We've gone to lots of Braves games this season already, and there are more on our calendar. We rarely pay full price for tickets, though. Keith's mom sent us some buy-one-get-one-free coupons. Later, a friend told us that college ID gets us half off the tickets we buy most often, and I certainly have one of those now. We still have difficulty avoiding "convenience" fees because we buy tickets on the same day of the game. (who thinks THAT'S a good idea?! if you buy your ticket at the gate on the day of the game, they add $3 on top of whatever the fee is supposed to be, so even half-price gets $3 added! I just think that's ridiculous!) Lately, though, we've invented a scheme that gets us the chance to see lots of baseball for the best price. We plan two days in the same weekend that we want to see games, and we buy all of our tickets on the day of the first game. That means we pay the convenience fee only once. After all of that, our game tickets together are almost as low as our parking fees.
In June, we saw an ad for free Braves tickets if we spend $100 at Home Depot. We needed to spend the money anyway, so we just sent in our receipt with the appropriate form. We found out this week that our free tickets are in the mail, so we should be getting them soon. By the time we pack our sandwiches, snacks, and drinks then have free tickets, we'll only have to pay for parking and gas to see good baseball.
Who knows, we might be witnessing the development of a post-season run all the way to the World Series!
We've gone to lots of Braves games this season already, and there are more on our calendar. We rarely pay full price for tickets, though. Keith's mom sent us some buy-one-get-one-free coupons. Later, a friend told us that college ID gets us half off the tickets we buy most often, and I certainly have one of those now. We still have difficulty avoiding "convenience" fees because we buy tickets on the same day of the game. (who thinks THAT'S a good idea?! if you buy your ticket at the gate on the day of the game, they add $3 on top of whatever the fee is supposed to be, so even half-price gets $3 added! I just think that's ridiculous!) Lately, though, we've invented a scheme that gets us the chance to see lots of baseball for the best price. We plan two days in the same weekend that we want to see games, and we buy all of our tickets on the day of the first game. That means we pay the convenience fee only once. After all of that, our game tickets together are almost as low as our parking fees.
In June, we saw an ad for free Braves tickets if we spend $100 at Home Depot. We needed to spend the money anyway, so we just sent in our receipt with the appropriate form. We found out this week that our free tickets are in the mail, so we should be getting them soon. By the time we pack our sandwiches, snacks, and drinks then have free tickets, we'll only have to pay for parking and gas to see good baseball.
Who knows, we might be witnessing the development of a post-season run all the way to the World Series!
7.13.2010
We'll do better, we hope!
Recently, I've learned that more people read our blog than I realized. The joke was, "Keith has been swimming in the ocean for a LONG time!" Well, I hope we'll do better with writing updates and telling our stories.
Jennifer finished her first semester of education classes two weeks ago, and she is teaching summer school algebra two for three weeks in July. Keith has recently had his work schedule compressed so that he doesn't work on Fridays except in unusual weeks. We went camping a few weekends ago for the first time, and we really had a great time! We stayed at Red Top Mountain State Park just north of Atlanta, and that put us close to three different Braves baseball teams, which all had home games. Jennifer has also been riding her bike regularly, and she's put nearly 1100 miles on the bike since she got it last year.
So, that's our quick update, and we hope we'll do better in the coming months. Thanks for continuing to read about us and be interested in our lives.
Jennifer finished her first semester of education classes two weeks ago, and she is teaching summer school algebra two for three weeks in July. Keith has recently had his work schedule compressed so that he doesn't work on Fridays except in unusual weeks. We went camping a few weekends ago for the first time, and we really had a great time! We stayed at Red Top Mountain State Park just north of Atlanta, and that put us close to three different Braves baseball teams, which all had home games. Jennifer has also been riding her bike regularly, and she's put nearly 1100 miles on the bike since she got it last year.
So, that's our quick update, and we hope we'll do better in the coming months. Thanks for continuing to read about us and be interested in our lives.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
Posts
