School Year #9 (Holy Cow!)

This year will be my ninth (!!!!) year of teaching--tenth if you count my second year at USM where I taught two classes each semester. It's funny, because it doesn't seem like it's been that long, but I know that when I have heard people say, "I've been teaching for ten years" or more, I've thought, "Wow, they've got some experience under their belt." Now I'm pretty much in that league. Wow!

Despite my years of experience (which is pretty cool and exciting when I think about it), I have long felt pinned to my textbook and distressed about the fact that I was taught as an undergrad and in grad school not to teach ABOUT Spanish but to provide a contextualized and communicative environment for the kids to learn Spanish. However, I have never really known how to do that. And even when I tried to do it as a grad assistant at USM and as an instructor at VSU, it was always contrived. It was still grammar-based teaching, pinned to a textbook, but supplemented with supposedly communicative activities. And that can be a painful way to teach and learn.

A couple of weeks ago, I went to a workshop where Dr. Stephen Krashen was the presenter. Besides providing lots of fascinating information and funny stories, he talked about the differences between acquisition and learning and how a class rich in interesting, compelling, comprehensible input is part of the key to helping students acquire language without striving to learn it. He mentioned TPRS as one of the best methods out there for providing this comprehensible input to students, and he modeled some comprehensible input for us. It was a really quick German lesson that he modeled, and I have to admit, I still remember the word for "eyes"--augen (although it may be misspelled). If I could get that in less than five minutes and still remember it two weeks later...that seems impressive. And I'll tell you, the more that I have read about TPRS and comprehensible input in the past two weeks, the more excited I have gotten about it.

I REALLY want to implement TPRS in my classroom. I am taking the steps necessary to do it. The hard part has been understanding the premise but not knowing exactly how to implement it. The very organized and controlling part of me wants to know EXACTLY how it's all going to play out and EXACTLY what I should do. I don't know that, though. So I am reading and trying to get as much information as I can about it right now. My next step is to figure out how to work out a grading system that will make parents, students, and the school happy while also being true to reflecting the students' progress. And the next step after that (or perhaps with that) is to figure out how to get this thing started. What should the first few lessons look like? How do I make this work with Spanish 2 and 3 students? Those students have had Spanish classes before, but never in this format. I am so excited and kind of anxious/stressed, and I just want to figure it all out!!!!! I can see how this method of teaching could provide some relief to me in the desperation I feel when I get frustrated that the traditional, grammar-based way of teaching students does not work. I can also see how it could transform Spanish class into an experience for students where they acquire a language, not learn a bunch of rules. Something where all students are engaged and successful. Have I mentioned that I'm really excited?:-) Anyway, I don't want to view TPRS and comprehensible input as a panacea for apathy or difficulty in the language classroom. But I do want to teach my students more effectively. It sounds like TPRS and comprehensible input provide that kind of an opportunity. So I'm moving in that direction. We'll see how it goes.:-)

(By the way, this post started as a reflection and then became kind of a confessional, mostly because I just needed an outlet for sharing all of the excitement and nervousness I feel after all the reading I have done tonight. Plus, I need to go to bed...and if I don't get these thoughts out, they may keep me up for a long time.:-) )

The Towns of Texas

Our high school girls basketball team made it to the regional semifinals this weekend, which meant I had to travel with the cheerleaders to New Braunfels, TX. Texas is, of course, a huge state, so it took us about five hours to get here. I really enjoyed seeing the landscape change as we made our way westward into the area known as the Hill Country. I also got a kick out of the names of some of the towns we saw signs for. Of course, I was curious about the origins of some of these names, so I looked them up. These were my favorites:

-Austonio -- A combination of (can you guess?) Austin and San Antonio

-Normangee -- Named for an important person in the county at the time whose name was (drumroll, please)... Norman G Kittrell.

-Dime Box -- Before this town got a post office, they had to deposit their outgoing mail, plus a dime, in a box at the local mill.

I love these fun stories! Unfortunately, our girls lost in double overtime last night, so we are headed home today. Perhaps I will see some signs that I didn't before and will have even more interesting town names to share.

Sunrise First Day

As a follow up to yesterday's post, I just wanted to say that the first day of school was great! I forgot to take pics of my classroom before leaving, though, so I'll post some shots of this morning's sunrise on the road to school instead.:-)

First Day of School -- Tomorrow!

Well, it's finally here--the first day of school. I know that folks back home have been in school for nearly a month now, but here in Texas, school doesn't start till...well...now.:-) After a long day working in my classroom today, I can honestly say that I am ready and excited to get started! It didn't start out that way, though. After making a list of everything that still needed to be done, I had a meltdown (aka, a good old-fashioned cry). It was just so overwhelming! And I have to admit, I had some resentment, too. When I taught at VSU, I didn't have to worry about getting a classroom ready--I just had to walk in, present a lesson, and walk out! Of course, when teaching high school, room prep comes with the gig, so I don't have a choice. And feeling overwhelmed, I cried. After a few minutes getting my frustrations out and being greatly encouraged by Casey (who even made up little cheers for me like, "Go, Kim, Go, Teach español!" and "Win, Kim, win, es muy bien!"), I got on the road and went out to the school. I worked from about 11:15 until 7:00, but I got it ALL done. I am so thankful to the Lord for His help, because everything just flowed. And I am so thankful for Casey, who is so loving and gracious toward me, even when I'm weepy! So that was my day. I will try to post pictures of the school and classroom soon. For now, though, I have to go to bed. Gotta get up early tomorrow for the first day of school!

Standing in Awe

Tonight, Casey and I decided to go on a drive to plan out a geocache idea we have based on the solar system. (We're nerds, I know!) We started at the SFA Observatory, which is about 8 miles outside of town, and decided to park nearby and just look at the stars. There, I saw the Milky Way with my own eyes for the first time. It was breathtaking. I have wondered before why God would create so many vast galaxies besides our own. What is the point? They don't seem to be necessary. But tonight it hit me--He may have created them for no other reason but to point us to Him. To make mankind wonder and marvel at the beauty, complexity, and mystery that we see in space and to consider that perhaps there is a plan to everything. Perhaps this is not all an accident. Perhaps there is something bigger than ourselves that has created what we see. And if so, what does that mean for me? I certainly felt awed tonight looking at the wispy Milky Way, squinting at the brightness of the brilliantly full moon, then looking away and having to squint again to make out the tiny twinkling stars. I hope that when you look at space, you wonder, too, and you let yourself be open to the possibility that there is a Creator who made all this to point us to Him so that we will get to know Him and trust Him and have a relationship with Him. It is amazing.

When I consider your heavens, 

    the work of your fingers, 

the moon and the stars, 

    which you have set in place,

⁴ 

what is mankind that you are mindful of them,

    human beings that you care for them?

Psalm 8:3-4 (NIV)

Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding. -- Ephesians 1:4-7 (NLT)

Fun and Games: Under the Boardwalk

Anyone who knows us knows that Kim and I love board games.  There's just something awesome about sitting around a table with your friends and having fun.  Sprinkle in a generous helping of trash talking and a dash of unfounded cockiness and that is an absolute recipe for a good time. We've both at one point or another talked about how fun it would be to one day play games with our kids, but now I'm not so sure.

Tonight we're watching "Under the Boardwalk" on Netflix, a documentary about the Monopoly boardgame.  Kim LOVES Monopoly, and she's awesome... I on the other hand play like a sailor on a weekend bender and usually lose.  So first I highly recommend the documentary.  The history of the game is fascinating, but the people who are "professional" Monopoly players are WEIRD!  Some are so incredibly off-putting that you really develop a hatred for them over the course of the film.  One guy who is apparently a lawyer and perpetually sports Monopoly shirts made by his mom spends most of the film complaining about cheaters, rule breakers, people who don't take the game seriously enough, blah blah blah... There are others who have decorated their houses in a Monopoly theme, or have dreamed of being a Monopoly champion since they were in high school.  Some are teachers, others are psychologists.  As I'm watching the film I find myself questioning the mental stability of most of these folks.  One guy has actually hired a team mathematicians and statisticians to calculate probabilities while he "trains" to win the substantial $20,000 world championship pot.

Monopoly is actually pretty interesting and has a far more complex and multifaceted history than I ever realized. I think though that if my kids ever got a little too "interested" in it or any other game I think I'd have to organize an intervention before they started getting Monopoly-Man tattoos and playing in underground, black market games down on a wharf somewhere...

Fun Factoid: It turns out that the game was first created as an anti-capitalist game during the Great Depression.  It was designed to show the evils of private land ownership, but people loved bankrupting their friends and neighbors so much the game caught on like wildfire!

Joy and Pain

(Example of hairy poison ivy vine)

So, as you may have just read, my man has poison ivy. I have never had it, but it seems to be really miserable stuff! I hate that he got into it and is having to suffer.:-(

The title of this post may seem a bit cryptic, but it is referring to what we think is the means by which Casey contracted the dreaded P.I.--geocaching. On Saturday, we hid our first cache together in a wooded area. It is a really cool night cache that people will have to use flashlights to find, and it is hanging in a tree. Now, I don't think either of us touched any poison ivy when we were placing the cache (including a large hairy vine growing on one of the nearby trees, which we have since found out is actually a P.I. vine). We were also both wearing jeans, t-shirts, and tennis shoes, so only our arms and faces were really exposed to any possibly poisonous plants. The only itching either of us had at that point was caused by mosquito bites!


That night, however, Casey made a quick run to see what the cache was like in the dark...and he didn't change into jeans before he went. He also took a different route out of the woods than the one we used earlier in the day. All was well until yesterday afternoon, when he started to itch. So he must have contracted the P.I. on Saturday night. That's all we can figure!


So the poison ivy is the pain. But here's the joy--our cache is a success! A couple posted a log last night saying that they had found it and had really enjoyed the experience. Casey and I were super excited to hear their comments, although I do wonder...are they itching now, too? (I sure hope not!)

Itchy and Scratchy

(Not me... Either of these)

Ok, I've heard people say that God has created everything for a purpose.  Even the most annoying things have some purpose right?  I'm not sure I agree...  Fire ants, mosquitoes, Justin Bieber... These are SUPER annoying things that have no real purpose other than to annoy us so far as I can tell. The worst of them all, however, absolutely, positively, without a doubt has GOT to be POISON IVY!!!

Yup, I'm sure you guessed it... I am suffering from a nice case of P.I. As I suffer though, a couple things come to mind.  First, I believe we as men (especially those with significant others) store up pansy points that work thusly: Do something manly, earn a pansy point.  Suffer man-sized pain, earn a pansy point.  Arm gets cut off in an industrial lathe and you only allow a single tear to escape (because part of your arm got in your eye of course) earn two pansy points.  Generally, here's what it means.  As men with women we have to be strong and tough in enduring real pain so that when we are forced to endure pansy pain (say the common cold or POISON IVY) we may whine and moan and predict our own demise to our hearts' content.  A single guy may do all sorts of stuff when sick or covered in POISON IVY, but a man who is with woman will gladly share about his impending doom... It's how we're made ladies, we'll fight a wild wolverine with our bear hands, but then plead death from venomous vegetation.

The other thing that I've realized is just how much I HATE POISON IVY!  I mean there is no more excruciating circumstance for one to be in than to be suffering with poison ivy.  Sure, torture, hunger, Justin Bieber on the radio, they're all bad, but poison ivy is a special case.  The really terrible thing about poison ivy is that it itches like nothing else I know of, and if you scratch it it really REALLY does feel better, but then it spreads and itches more.  So you scratch, it grows, itches some more, you scratch some more, it grows some more until you are a human poison ivy rash.  Vicious cycle, I know!  The only advice people can give (and probably the best) is don't scratch.  Don't scratch. What kind of cockamamie advice is that?!?! Ya know what also might help? Not breathing.  Hard to scratch when you're unconscious right?  So you suffer, constantly wanting to scratch, scratch, scratch, but know that if you do you'll become Poison Ivy blister boy.  Not a pleasant thought.  Oh and the home remedies are WONDERFUL... Take a bath in baking soda, cover yourself in oatmeal, soak in some vinegar until you're a pickle, where does it end and who came up with all this? No me gusta Poison Ivy! Me gusta Kim y me gusta perritos, pero no me gusta poison ivy!!!!  So, if you are keeping score I have spouted my hatred of P.I. in two, count it, two languages!!!

Thank you, good night...