#dean 1

Today was a bit nonstop, but it wasn't bad, and, amusingly, I was doing it all in my pajamas since that was today's spirit week theme. This is the kind of thing my friends who have office jobs never get to do.

Heh.

But yeah, it was busy from the get-go. Dean 1 caught me right after the bell rang to ask me to do an update to my department's draft for the program of studies; it took me all of about two minutes, and I think he forgot how fast I am because he was super surprised. I certainly didn't mind the praise for it, though.

I had about half an hour to get prepped for my classes and decorate my door for our annual door decorating contest. Then some APGOV students come in to make up work since they have open blocks in their schedules. A few more came in during flex time, which was good. They're happy to get the zeroes off their grades, I'm happy to get them off my gradebooks!

In Global Studies, students presented projects to wrap-up our unit on major belief systems. They were either comparing a religion/philosophy we had learned about to one we hadn't, or they were explaining an aspect of one of the religions/philosophies we'd studied in greater detail. So I heard presentations about different religious sects, holidays, dietary rules, worship customs, central beliefs, the art and architecture of holy sites, the involvement of different groups in current affairs, and more. It was really cool, and I was proud of everyone who got up and shared their knowledge because it's not easy to do that. There are a handful of students who will present on Monday because they were absent (yes, we have school on Monday and Tuesday), and I'd figured there would be so I planned for that.

Meantime, my APGOV students wrapped up their latest test with some FRQs. I've graded about half of them and will do the rest Monday during my prep time. So far, I'm very pleased with their efforts. Since I've been teaching about civil liberties and civil rights, I plan to spend the two days next week tackling the state of things today- it might not be on the test, but it's important for them to talk about as citizens- and then starting the final unit after vacation.

And we're back after a long weekend! It took me two tries to get to work because I left a folder I needed on my counter at home, but I pulled myself together after that. mostly.

I did make one rookie mistake of handing back graded essays to my first section of Global Studies students right away, which then distracted them from the actual lesson. They sometimes don't get the idea that revising work or completing late work is meant to be done on their own time; there's still classwork to do in class. So I had to redirect a few before giving instructions for today's assignment, which was to conduct a bit of research to find out how the cultural groups they wrote their essays about are working to address major world issues (callback to previous classes, our study of the UN's SDGs etc...). We discussed their findings after about twenty minutes. I made my point that all cultures are important. and everyone can work to make the world better. Then we discussed tomorrow's unit-ending content quiz, and I gave some pointers about preparation.

Having learned my lesson with the first section of students, I waited till the end of the block to hand back essays in the other two, so everything went more smoothly with them.

In APGOV, we started by catching up on political news (the shutdown, the national guard deployments, etc, etc...). Then I taught about congressional elections- with many tangents, some more useful than others- and had students read a Brennan Center article about gerrymandering. More on that tomorrow.

It wasn't a particularly difficult day- it went pretty well, actually- but I was tired by the end of it, and my throat was a bit sore. That's what comes from getting three whole days off, I guess. And I couldn't just go home because it's a PLC meeting afternoon, but that was fine. Dean 1 came and talked to us about setting dates to proctor the USCIS test, we discussed changes to next year's course offerings to comply with new state minimum standards, and that was that.

Here’s a thing that sometimes happens in teaching: you have a great rapport with a student, and then suddenly you don’t, and you have no idea what happened. And it could’ve been a lot of things: a miscommunication, a reaction to your class’ increasing difficulty, peer pressure to rebel, something unrelated to you entirely... I’m currently experiencing this with two of my ninth graders; one’s just stopped coming to class, the other has become disruptive in class. Both of these things suck, and it’s frustrating because I don’t know how to fix it. 

But I’ll keep trying!

Aside from that, things are good. It was another very serious day in APGOV: tackling Birth of a Nation and the revival of the KKK, the lynching of Leo Frank, the Red Summer of 1919, the Tulsa Massacre, the Johnson-Reed Act, Father Coughlin, the America First Committee, the Nazi rally at Madison Square Garden... It’s bleak, but it’s important for students to understand that white supremacy was violent and had a pretty broad impact on popular culture, politics, and policy during that time period. If they don’t understand that, they won’t understand how significant the Civil Rights Movement really was. 

I was covering some serious history in World, too- namely the aftermath of WWII (lots of questions about the UN and international law, which was cool) and the start of the Cold War. I focused in on some of the deadliest proxy wars that occurred: Congo, Angola, Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia (lots of questions about each of those conflicts, too) and on their long-term impact. Specifically, I mentioned the proliferation of weapons. When I said that we and the Soviets didn’t reclaim all the weapons we supplied various armed groups, one student in my Block 2 class asked, “But wouldn’t they end up being used in other conflicts?”

I said, “Sure would.” And, since it was right before the bell rang, I added, “I’ll tell you more tomorrow.”

You all know I love a good cliffhanger ending to class sometimes. That was fun.

AND WE’RE BACK! I mean, The Principal’s stuck in Covid quarantine for one more day (oops), but details, details! The rest of us are back, and we’re ready to put the past three years behind us and kick some ass. Pretty much every meeting we had acknowledged the fact that we tried to do our best throughout the pandemic, but it was tough, it was traumatic, and we were all in survival mode, so we all experienced what Mr. G called “professional slippage.” Some things fell apart. Now it’s time to put them back together, rebuild our school culture, help everyone reach their full potential. 

The Superintendent welcomed back the faculty and staff of the entire district, which he was delighted to do because, obviously, we didn’t gather everyone in the auditorium like that last year or the year before. He always does this thing where he asks everyone to stand, and to sit back down when he calls out our years of experience in the district (as this is my 18th year, I was standing for quite a while- and quite a bit longer than many of my same-age colleagues, who worked elsewhere before coming here). It’s cheesy, but it’s also really cool, especially when he gets to the last few people remaining and asks why they’ve stayed. So, yeah, he did that, and then set the tone for the year: vision, goals, all that. 

After that, the middle and elementary school folks left, and we had a high school-specific meeting. Our admin team has been restructured so that there’s not a vice principal anymore, but two Deans of Students (9th/10th and 11th/12th), one of whom is brand new to the district (and fresh off a decade in South Korea, so he’s very amused that my brain is full of kpop). Our schedule has also been revised to build in a more formal advisory program, so that was discussed, and we got instructions for completing state-mandated suicide prevention training online. We were sent off to do that, work in our classrooms, etc, etc... 

If you’re a longtime reader, and you’re wondering if I was playing Bingo at those meetings: yes, I was, and, yes, I got Bingo. Ms. H and Mr. F both got it before me, though, so they win. Note: I got six or seven people to play, and more to look on, because I’m a terrible influence and also an excellent one. Heh. 

What else? It was good to see my cacophonous friends again, and to get excited about the year with them. And we are all excited because there’s a real determination to move forward in a positive way, lift morale, foster school pride, all the stuff that’s been so hard to do lately. And we all believe we can do it.

Where: Wingman's pub

Now, the offer was official. For a little while now, there had been some talks with the owner and she'd considered it, but since it wasn't official, she'd pushed off the decision. Why bother if it ended up falling through? It was a big decision though. Financially, it meant a lot. Career-wise, it meant cementing it. It mean staying in Kismet Harbor. And well, there was another detail...

Sitting at the bar, she looked into her glass, took a sip and turned towards Dean. "Okay, I need your opinion on something," which may be something she should've brought up a little earlier in the evening but oh well. "Me buying a garage, good or bad idea?"

where: Surfing and Paddling Competition

One of Riley's friend was competing in the surf competition so they had to be there. They might have come here anyway. The beach and all wasn't necessarily their favourite place, as the sand was one of the rare thing they allowed themselves to fully dislike but they made the effort of leaving the asphalt behind. Standing around, they watched people getting ready to encourage the surfers, and the surfers getting ready to go into the water. They noticed nearby a familiar face and it took them a minute to place his face. As they did, they decided to approach him. Maybe he won't remember but that would be okay. "There are fewer weeds to steal here than at the community garden," they said with a smile. "You're competing?"