Summer musings

So here is kind of where we get to the "and more" parts of the blog as we're now out for summer vacation.  This will definitely be a busy summer as I'm moving schools, grade levels and districts.  I'm in some ways sad to be moving on, I met and worked with some great people and my three years at TMS shaped and molded me into the teacher I am now.  But I'm very excited about my new school, one I've actually been trying to get to for a couple of years now.  I recently found out that I'll be teaching AP World History as well along with World History.  Definitely stoked to jump not just up to high school but potentially AP.  I have to take the certification course, but it's a great new challenge.  So my summer will definitely be spent preparing for that as best I can.  Also and more importantly this summer, I've temporarily traded my somewhat stressful job with another job that is even more rewarding, challenging and stressful; and that's taking care of my twins, now 10 and a half months old.  For 7 weeks or so, it's just me and them during the day.  Hoping we all survive and I don't stunt their development too much.  So much of the posts over the next few weeks will deal with my daddy daycare side business.

So far it's been 4 days really, and so good.  First morning was a bit rough, my son is wide awake at 6 AM or so.  But we made it.  The biggest change is meals, I'll be honest, my wife has done so much with them, I still feel a bit lost.  Thankfully the kids aren't too picky and then love any and all fruits.  I of course, dislike most fruits, so I've had more interaction with peaches and pineapples than I had in my previous 33 years in just the past week now.  But we've got our little routine down, thank heaven our gym has a nursery and I have a jogging stroller that they love.  Other than that, I get to take them on errands every now and then and have people marvel as if I'm carrying something completely foreign.  Had 4 people say "got your hands full huh" at the gym today when we came in.  I get it, two babies.  It's not that uncommon, just tell me their cute and let me continue my grueling shoulder workout as I carry 30+ pounds of baby and car seat to my car.

And how bout the World Cup!  Makes it much easier to be hanging around the house with the kids.  Games have been awesome, I scared the crap out of my son when Michael Bradley's shot was cleared off the line and then Jones scored in last night's game.  Gut-wrenching tie for the USA, but with some perspective, 4 points after 2 games is a great place to be.  Hoping for a good result Thursday.  I also can't believe Spain is done.  One of my 8th graders told me that they weren't going to do well.  I thought he was crazy.  His rationale like most 8th graders is "they suck."  Which I found ironic since half of the team played for his beloved Real Madrid, but nevertheless, he was right.  And my World Cup winners were out after two games.  Good thing I don't bet money on this kind of stuff.  As of now, I see Germany over Brazil in one semi with Netherlands beating Argentina in the other.  The Dutch look really good, and my beloved USA will make the quarterfinals before losing to Messi.

Alright, that's all I got, more daddy daycare thoughts and revelations next time and probably some ideas I'm kicking around for the upcoming year.  Thanks for reading!

Quick end of the year musings

I'll probably write more in a week or so after the school year finally culminates, big news but have to wait until it can be officially stated and shared.  Last couple of weeks here are always bizarre.  We put so much emphasis it seems to our tests this time, that basically from mid-May through our final days, testing is what consumes us all.  And while I was able to spice up review a couple of times with different review games like grudgeball, the kids are so programmed to study the old-fashioned way that any deviation from it leads to chaos.  I've realized that it is obviously something that I need to establish from the beginning of the year as to how we will review.  Problem is, I don't have many tests or exams, so when we now change our focus, it makes it a bit more difficult to all of the sudden change from the status quo.  Definitely some things that I need to work on over the summer.

It has been a good year overall, I feel like I was able to bring in more engaging assignments and activities and I've learned a ton from my PLN on twitter.   Sometimes it is tough to look back on the whole year when you're crammed into the same room for 4+ hours with a group of kids that are testing or waiting while others or testing.  The boredom and the kids penchant to feel that they're already done with the year can be frustrating.  But there were a lot of really good things that I feel we accomplished this year, the March Madness project among others, and I'm grateful that my students usually went along with me whenever I felt like throwing something together last minute to try new things.  I wish them nothing but the best as most of them move onto 9th grade and my 7th graders move up to the 8th grade.  Hopefully they'll be able to look back on this year fondly and take some important lessons with them to the next grade and their next set of teachers.

As for me, I'm now just over six days away from the summer and the start of daddy daycare with the twins.  It'll be a whole new challenge and exciting times as I run around and chase them all summer as they're learning to walk, talk and all other things that 10 month-olds do.  I'll have more time over the summer, so I'll look to keep this better updated as I prepare for next year's upcoming changes and also have lots of out of the classroom stuff to discuss like playing with the kids, the World Cup and the anything and everything else.

Thanks for reading, enjoy the final days educators if you're not out for the summer already!