Friday, August 31, 2012

Have you sensed the transition?

Hm :\
One post is three days..... instead of three posts in one day !  HA.

Yes, yes.... the past two days, I have been at school for teacher-inservice.  The days were wonderful as wonderful can be; and the excitement of a new school year; the classroom coming together;  the technology bugs getting worked out;  all the coworkers faces; summer stories; new changes/challenges introduced for the upcoming year.

Many of the teachers are heading back in today to do final preparations;  and after 14 years of "Day 1 schedules," I've learned to go-with-the-flow; smile and high-five students; and the day will be a success.  This is the first year that I DO NOT have copies of my syllabus ready; this is the first year that I don't have any "real" lesson planned for the first two days of school..... the "wings" will sprout and I will be "going with the flow."

Just this morning, a friend posted this on Facebook, and I had a good ol' laugh!  I try to play-it-straight with the students if they ever ask me the classic, "When are we ever going to use this?"  I usually try to brush it off with "You probably won't,"  and then I walk away to avoid what they realllly want:  a distracted teacher.  HA!  Is that bad??    But why does math get the bad rap?  When will you ever need to know that Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States?  Or, .... maybe English, Science and Social Studies teachers also hear that infamous question???  Am I being biased to think it's only Math teachers who hear it?

To try to keep humor in the workplace, I forwarded this one to our Driver Education instructor; a REALLLLLLY cool dude!  And, I shouldn't have been surprised at this response (cuz he's kinda a mathy/sciency/safety nerd too)....  "Actually, Amy, it should be the squ.root of 625, which results in 25 MPH- the officialy school-zone maximum speed.  The speed limit shown in more that 26 MPH. That's simply too fast for the safety of our students."

LOL

I sure do appreciate the amazing staff I get to work with :)  In fact......


YAY!  I forgot I took this picture last week!!!!  The driver instructor is in the hat (he's also our "shop" guy), and the other two pictured here are my Matheliciously-nerdy counterparts.  They are part of the "cribbage crew" in the staff lounge during the high-school lunch period.  Therefore, I RARELY get to chill with them and a game of cribbage (I eat in the Junior High lunch period), so....last week, when we all were putting in some 'flex' hours, they let me know that "the game was on!"  {{Linda--shhhh!  I promised the guys 'no Facebook,' but I didn't say anything about my blog.  Tee-hee}}

Boy--working with great people sure makes a job nicer, huh? 

Alright;  cinnamon rolls are done (Cassie is getting to be a GREAT 'cook' around here).  Today:  Final school shopping detail.

Happy Friday Everyone.


7 comments:

Pokey said...

My students come next week, on Wednesday after Labor Day, which means I'll actually enjoy my Labor Day with the family!
Looks like a great set of friends, I'm not on lunch break with my besties anymore. Usually that means I work through lunch.
I like the Algebra quote. I tell kids that I use math every day, a reality for a quilter, but I don't tell them it is the BASIC math, lol ~
:-}pokey

Andra Gayle said...

Glad to hear that you are excited to start school! My kids have already been going for 2 1/2 weeks. Hope you have a great year!

scraphappy said...

Sounds like a positives start to the school year. Transitions are always tough, but I am sure you will find a new rhythm soon enough.

Linda said...

I am a retired English teacher and I used to show my students how to figure their semester grades by using a basic algebraic equation. [2(a + b) + f ] / 5 =G . Letter a is first quarter grade, b is second quarter grade, f is final exam, and G is the final grade. So there is one example of how Algebra is used in real life. Now Calculus ... ;-)

Linda Lee said...

My lips are sealed...These are three of the guys that I would definitely want in my corner!!

Most of the time I have to eat in my classroom with students. I have been offered a couple of offices to hide in when I need to escape!

Enjoy your weekend.

Andee said...

I hear ya....missed sewing and blogging all week myself! Came home from work and did all the teacher prep stuff for next week (with the holiday I only teach one night!) and the first day of the following week (first test!) so now I can focus on what I really want...sewing!

Ann Marie @ 16 Muddy Feet said...

Sounds as if it is all coming together nicely. Enjoy the holiday weekend, and let the next chapter in life start. I use to ask my history teacher the same thing, When am I ever going to need to know any of this stuff in real life? I hated history, and now I love watching the history channel, go figure! I was always a math junky, but Geometry was always my favorite.