Adteacher

Today in my classes I did a discussion and poll on "causes" that the students supported. The comprehensive list included over 35 causes. We had a vote and narrowed our listing down to the top six most popular causes to the students. They came up with these as top causes: Cause 1: Fighting for a Reduction in Drinking and Driving (Poor Decision-Making) There were so many more students who were passionately against the concept of drinking and driving than I had ever imagined. It was a very popular choice to support, with almost 100% of students vocally anti-intoxicant combined with driving. This was the brainchild of Hope Jackson, a student at LHS. Cause 2: Feed My Starving Children ( http://www.fmsc.org/ ) An organization of volunteers devoted to packing and providing food as humanitarian relief to children around the world. This was brought to the forefront by Hunter Haygood, from HHS. Cause 3: Keeping the Arts Alive in Schools... this was also a very popular cho...

Some days just really test you. Today I really felt tossed on a windy sea emotionally speaking. Sometimes you just want to help someone so badly and they resist. That's what happened today. Teaching is not the world's easiest way to make a living. There is a level of trust that must be present between teacher and student, and once it is gone, it is difficult to work through some situations. Otherwise, the day was just beautiful and wonderful. It is sunny and the trees are turning green in north Texas. I did find out that it looks like the enrollment in my classes for next year at the new CCE will be low since we are having two schools next year, but that it is around the same as it normally is for one school - perhaps slightly higher. It is going to be interesting to see if they will develop the attitude that they will go ahead with hiring another teacher or if they will wait until the enrollment builds. I have a feeling that they will hire another teach...

The trip to Corpus Christi for the State SkillsUSA Competition this year was fun and interesting. Conner did a great job as project coordinator and David was great as a stand-in skills contestant. Considering his past aversion to competititions, he was able to tolerate the experience and even got a few chuckles from the prompt after it was all over. We were very proud of how David and Conner represented us at the contest. They did not medal at State, but of course anyone that knows me well understands that is not why we go. We go to gain one more new experience, and that we did. The picture above was taken from the balcony at the Omni Bayfront Marina Hotel where we stayed. We were on the 9th and 10th floors, and this was a gorgeous set of days on the bay. Sunshine and temps in the high 70s or the 80s the entire time we were there, and NO RAIN! It was nearly perfect! Anytime you mix beaches and young people, the mood becomes joyous - this year was no exception. We were very happy t...