What a week! I haven't managed to get a post in sideways in over a week because everything has been crazy. I am feeling very good about how buying groceries and eating is going. My last measurements at the gym were fantastic. I may have finally passed the turning point on weight loss, but we shall see. One thing is for sure, I need new pants!!
On the teaching front, I just had to fix a big kerfuffle with the parents. I've been assigning projects every week as homework, and I wildly misjudged what was an appropriate amount of homework. The parents were up in arms, almost in tears, very frustrated, and not even at all happy. The reports kept coming in, "My student loves you, loves your class, thinks you are a great teacher, BUT THERE'S TOO MUCH HOMEWORK!" It was mostly from parents of students who aren't doing so hot, so I figured it was something I could fix in a later unit.
Then the Class Liaison got involved and sent me an email with a rather stark version of the situation. Students were spending 6-7, sometimes 10 or more hours on the assignments. They are NOT supposed to take that long, but this is all new to them. The homework load is supposed to average out at 2-2.5 hours per week per class. I messed up. The assignments were far too difficult.
That spurred me to action. I completely revamped the homework that is due next week. I didn't change the actual projects, just how many were required, what they were worth, and what they involved. They have to do 45 total points instead of 60, I upped the point level of two projects, cut out large portions of other projects, and offered two ways of getting bonus points (one for this assignment, one to apply to previous assignments). In short, I am bending over backwards to try to fix this. We'll see how this new assignment goes over.
Two students looked over the homework before I posted it and tell me if it sounded more reasonable. Then I grabbed every freshman I could find and told them to spread the word about a changed homework load. Two or three (one of whom belonged to some parents who had sent me emails) came in looking VERY worried. I have no idea what they were worried about, specifically, but they were worried about something regarding the new homework. As soon as it was explained, relief washed over them. All the students have sounded very happy about the reduced load.
Next week, I'll poll them again to see if this level of projects is better and re-adjust if needed. Next week should be much easier on me. All I have to do is write an exam. Monday and Tuesday is review. Wednesday is Community Service Day (I'm doing park cleanup with the freshmen), and Thursday/Friday is the exam. I start Electromagnetism with the AP students next week, so that should be interesting. RHR all over the place!!! That will give me a chance to catch up on my mountain of grading and get ahead a bit on planning. OR just unpack and enjoy living in my own apartment. One of the two.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Successful Week
This week has been amazing. Just from one end to the other.
Monday, I worked out for an hour and a half. Melissa made me do pushups to muscle failure THREE TIMES. And it hurt, but it was awesome. It left me super sore on Tuesday and especially Wednesday, but it was worth it. After the gym was the discussion group where we (folks from the gym) talk about our successes and challenges and support each other through trying to get healthier habits around food and exercise. After all that, I went home and made my weekly grocery list and meal plan, set up the crock pot for chili to use up more pantry items, and went the hell to bed.
Tuesday was exhausting, but worth it! After a full day of labs and activities, it was shopping time. Not just grocery shopping, but also buying 120 kids worth of ice cream making supplies for my and the chemistry teacher's labs for Wednesday and Thursday. In a complete coincidence, both classes were making ice cream at the same time by the same means. My lesson was on phase change; hers was one colligative properties. Worked out well!
I got groceries for meals to cook this week, although the plans have changed a bit, so I think I will shift things around a bit. The "being prepared, both professionally and at home" thing is awesome. The meal planning and shopping really aren't big chores at all. The "preparing lessons and grading papers" is a giant chore, but worth it. Oh, so very, very worth it! I'm a bit behind this week for a few reasons, but luckily this weekend is free and clear for all of packing, cooking, grading, and planning.
Wednesday was Day 1 of ice cream. It was a bit of a disaster. Whooooo, buddy! I made the mistake of grouping together two students, neither of whom have particularly strong executive functions. It was messy. But it worked out, I made additions, and it got better with every class. As soon as school was over, I updated and changed around instructions on the lab sheet to make things more clear. I think I will need to separate it out into one sheet of directions and one sheet of questions. It's too much to fit on one sheet.
After school, I took a walk/job around the block after work as part of my new plan. It hurt like all get out since I was still so sore from Monday, but I did it. And I will do it again next week. That evening we had dinner with a friend (in the plan!) and talked for a long time. It was nice to have that time talking and laughing and visiting, while also discussing some important and difficult issues. It was tough, but necessary.
Today was a successful day of ice cream (of which I had NONE), and I got some excellent news at work. Life is finally on the track I've been after for five years. I have an amazing fiancee, incredible friends, a fabulous support group and fitness coach, soon my own apartment, and the job that I've been seeking for a very long time. It's all coming together and will only get better from here. Tonight is hours of grading and prep, some planning for tomorrow, and at least one celebratory beer. Life is all right by me.
Monday, I worked out for an hour and a half. Melissa made me do pushups to muscle failure THREE TIMES. And it hurt, but it was awesome. It left me super sore on Tuesday and especially Wednesday, but it was worth it. After the gym was the discussion group where we (folks from the gym) talk about our successes and challenges and support each other through trying to get healthier habits around food and exercise. After all that, I went home and made my weekly grocery list and meal plan, set up the crock pot for chili to use up more pantry items, and went the hell to bed.
Tuesday was exhausting, but worth it! After a full day of labs and activities, it was shopping time. Not just grocery shopping, but also buying 120 kids worth of ice cream making supplies for my and the chemistry teacher's labs for Wednesday and Thursday. In a complete coincidence, both classes were making ice cream at the same time by the same means. My lesson was on phase change; hers was one colligative properties. Worked out well!
I got groceries for meals to cook this week, although the plans have changed a bit, so I think I will shift things around a bit. The "being prepared, both professionally and at home" thing is awesome. The meal planning and shopping really aren't big chores at all. The "preparing lessons and grading papers" is a giant chore, but worth it. Oh, so very, very worth it! I'm a bit behind this week for a few reasons, but luckily this weekend is free and clear for all of packing, cooking, grading, and planning.
Wednesday was Day 1 of ice cream. It was a bit of a disaster. Whooooo, buddy! I made the mistake of grouping together two students, neither of whom have particularly strong executive functions. It was messy. But it worked out, I made additions, and it got better with every class. As soon as school was over, I updated and changed around instructions on the lab sheet to make things more clear. I think I will need to separate it out into one sheet of directions and one sheet of questions. It's too much to fit on one sheet.
After school, I took a walk/job around the block after work as part of my new plan. It hurt like all get out since I was still so sore from Monday, but I did it. And I will do it again next week. That evening we had dinner with a friend (in the plan!) and talked for a long time. It was nice to have that time talking and laughing and visiting, while also discussing some important and difficult issues. It was tough, but necessary.
Today was a successful day of ice cream (of which I had NONE), and I got some excellent news at work. Life is finally on the track I've been after for five years. I have an amazing fiancee, incredible friends, a fabulous support group and fitness coach, soon my own apartment, and the job that I've been seeking for a very long time. It's all coming together and will only get better from here. Tonight is hours of grading and prep, some planning for tomorrow, and at least one celebratory beer. Life is all right by me.
Monday, April 16, 2012
Teaching
Today was a really good day at school. We are studying phase change, so I started with my phase change concept map, talked about energy transfer, blew their minds by showing them that freezing and melting are warming processes, and got the new project sheet out. I spent almost all of Sunday (minus a few episodes of Psych) prepping for this week, and it is paying off so far! I made the homework project, AP prep sheets, homework templates for my AP students (who sent me on treasure hunts for problems and answers in the first homework they turned in), made a huge shopping list for all the labs this week, and graded every shred of paper anyone had turned in. It was a productive day.
On Mondays, I have a block of freshman physics, a block of AP, lunch, planning, and another block of freshmen physics. Tuesdays is three blocks of freshmen physics in a row, so I use that first block to test out my worksheets and fix any mistakes or misunderstandings or issues so that the other blocks run more smoothly. But! Today I did not have to make any changes! Everything went as smoothly as I had planned. The station switching is a little rough, and it's hard to balance the ones who write one almost-sentence and call it done with the ones who write a medium-length thesis and not have someone waiting around bored, but I'm sure it'll work out fine.
I just finished my grocery list and weekly meal-plan, so things are looking well-prepared for this week on the home front, also.
On Mondays, I have a block of freshman physics, a block of AP, lunch, planning, and another block of freshmen physics. Tuesdays is three blocks of freshmen physics in a row, so I use that first block to test out my worksheets and fix any mistakes or misunderstandings or issues so that the other blocks run more smoothly. But! Today I did not have to make any changes! Everything went as smoothly as I had planned. The station switching is a little rough, and it's hard to balance the ones who write one almost-sentence and call it done with the ones who write a medium-length thesis and not have someone waiting around bored, but I'm sure it'll work out fine.
I just finished my grocery list and weekly meal-plan, so things are looking well-prepared for this week on the home front, also.
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Healthy Habits!
I started this blog back in October, hoping to fill a void in my life with more communication, more reflection, and throwing words out into the great beyond and assuming no one would ever read it. Six months later, I'm in a completely different place. That void is gone, but I am on some new adventures that I would dearly love to talk about and reflect on.
1) I left my job as an analyst working in the Financial District of San Francisco. It was a perfectly suitable job, stable, good benefits, good coworkers, and left me feeling completely empty. After being offered a raise less than current inflation, so my new salary was still about $15k less than I feel I am worth, I started looking. I found an opening at a private school for a physics teacher. The contract isn't guaranteed for next year, so I am taking a MAJOR gamble, but teaching is my heart, my soul, my passion. I leaped at the chance and haven't looked back. I should find out within two weeks whether or not I'll be teaching there next year, so I am excited.
2) I am engaged to my life, my love, my dearest friend. We will be married this fall in the foothills of the Santa Cruz mountains. Wedding planning is whoa damn more complicated and difficult than I had any idea it would be. We both wanted a small, immediate family only, ~25 person affair. That lasted right up until his giant Jewish family got involved and demanded that "immediate family" include everyone. So, we changed plans completely and are having a 150 person potluck dance party. Should be a hoot, but gonna take a lot of work!
3) I am on a mission to get healthier. I am not on a mission to be any particular size by my wedding. I am who I am, and what will be, will be. I want to be stronger, faster, leaner, and build good habits. My most fabulous coach is helping me get there. I've been working on this since September, but things just kept happening, and I kept telling myself, "After THIS giant crisis, everything will be easier!" I was wrong. It's not easier, and it's not going to change if I don't change it NOW. So, now it is. I'm struggling with this one mightily.
4) I'm moving in two weeks to an apartment. My Husband Elect and I will be living by ourselves in a tiny studio with no roommates. Just today we spent all afternoon completely cleaning out the garage (filled with things from five roommates and a few people who don't even live here), pulling everything out, organizing it, and beginning the process of staging the things we want and donating the things we don't. This is probably going to be the least interesting portion of this blog, but it's a big thing right now and for the next six weeks, at least.
I'm sure more major things will come up, as they always do. I will post my trials, tribulations, experiments, setbacks, epic failures, fabulous successes, and everything in between. I've tried starting this thing a couple times, and it hasn't stuck yet, but I really do want to record my thoughts again. It's all about creating healthy habits, and that is the goal.
1) I left my job as an analyst working in the Financial District of San Francisco. It was a perfectly suitable job, stable, good benefits, good coworkers, and left me feeling completely empty. After being offered a raise less than current inflation, so my new salary was still about $15k less than I feel I am worth, I started looking. I found an opening at a private school for a physics teacher. The contract isn't guaranteed for next year, so I am taking a MAJOR gamble, but teaching is my heart, my soul, my passion. I leaped at the chance and haven't looked back. I should find out within two weeks whether or not I'll be teaching there next year, so I am excited.
2) I am engaged to my life, my love, my dearest friend. We will be married this fall in the foothills of the Santa Cruz mountains. Wedding planning is whoa damn more complicated and difficult than I had any idea it would be. We both wanted a small, immediate family only, ~25 person affair. That lasted right up until his giant Jewish family got involved and demanded that "immediate family" include everyone. So, we changed plans completely and are having a 150 person potluck dance party. Should be a hoot, but gonna take a lot of work!
3) I am on a mission to get healthier. I am not on a mission to be any particular size by my wedding. I am who I am, and what will be, will be. I want to be stronger, faster, leaner, and build good habits. My most fabulous coach is helping me get there. I've been working on this since September, but things just kept happening, and I kept telling myself, "After THIS giant crisis, everything will be easier!" I was wrong. It's not easier, and it's not going to change if I don't change it NOW. So, now it is. I'm struggling with this one mightily.
4) I'm moving in two weeks to an apartment. My Husband Elect and I will be living by ourselves in a tiny studio with no roommates. Just today we spent all afternoon completely cleaning out the garage (filled with things from five roommates and a few people who don't even live here), pulling everything out, organizing it, and beginning the process of staging the things we want and donating the things we don't. This is probably going to be the least interesting portion of this blog, but it's a big thing right now and for the next six weeks, at least.
I'm sure more major things will come up, as they always do. I will post my trials, tribulations, experiments, setbacks, epic failures, fabulous successes, and everything in between. I've tried starting this thing a couple times, and it hasn't stuck yet, but I really do want to record my thoughts again. It's all about creating healthy habits, and that is the goal.
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