Old and New

     I can't believe how time gets away from you sometimes.  I had planned on commenting on a more regular basis about things as school goes on through this year as I progress towards the end of my career and retirement. 
     Right now May 21 seems a long, long ways away as I deal with too many deadlines and adults.  Right now I'm having a great time teaching but it's the adults that are getting in the way so I'm holing up in my classroom and making progress and getting the year off to a great start. 
     First hour is Accounting and the kids are really doing well and catching on, much to the chagrin of others.  They are not assumed to be academically good.  I'm working to prove otherwise.  Sewing is good and we're learning basic skills and fabric and patterns and are planning for our future projects.  Microsoft Office is a big class and it's been a bumpy start but I think they're settling in this week.  Keyboarding is so boring for me as a teacher, and add to that the majority of the class is ninth grade boys.  I'm sure you get the picture but I'm pleased and impressed and they are really digging in.  Customer service is small, only four students but we are having great conversations and good work.  So busy with all this that I haven't used my Web hour to get much accomplished on the school website but the list is surely growing.  I think next will I'll have to really settle in to that.
     I was looking through pictures that I had uploaded to my phone a while back and ran across a throw-back to the past and decided that I needed to have an update.  That is what you see here.  The top picture is my classroom as is looked 18 years ago.  Old IBM PS2s with either dual floppies or a small hard drive and a floppy connected by a token-ring network.  The bottom picture was taken just last week.  One computer probably has more memory than all of the old lab times two or three and no floppy drives and with flat screens.  Gone is the overhead projector replaced by a program to demo over the network.  Times have surely changed.  This lab is the fourth set of computers I've worked with in this room and the fourth upgrade of software so it's never been a dull moment.
     And only 128 days to go.
    

First Day with Kids

     First day with kids back in class for the second semester.  Should be a challenging schedule from the stand point that my two computer classes are full, mostly freshmen, mostly boys, but I'm optimistic that 3rd and 4th block will go well.  But 9th grade freshmen boys in keyboarding is not a recipe for the greatest buy-in that is for sure. 
     So the schedule for this, my final semester ever teaching is Accounting I, Sewing, Microsoft Office, Keyboarding, Customer Service, Prep Period.  Last period this semester is sort of another prep period but I'll be working on maintaining the schools website, teaching applications to teachers, putting together how-to lists and instructions for various people in school and creating a binder of all my local knowledge of what I do in addition to my actual teaching job. 
     And I have to continue cleaning out crud from file cabinets and cupboards that is my stuff to take home, stuff that I should have gotten rid of a long time ago, and generally leaving things really nice for who will be getting my position when I'm done.  That's just me.
     I'm going to try to remember to take a picture of my current computer lab so that I can post a picture of my lab in 1997 and one in 2015.  It is fun to compare and amazing at the same time how far things have come.
     So, only 135 days to go.

Fireweed

     This was taken on Pioneer Peak this summer when we took a hike up to the 2000 foot level.  There is a picnic table there where you can rest and eat your lunch.  The view is out over the Knik River and up the river to the Knik River Glacier.  We had a beautiful day and enjoyed our time before school started for me about a week later. 
     Looking forward to being able to do more of this on OUR schedule starting this summer after my retirement when our schedule will really be our schedule. 
     Fireweed has quite a root system and can be an invasive weed when it shows up in your garden so we usually pull it, but in the wild it's natural and can cover rolling hills.  It is especially prevalent after a wildfire and is one of the first bits of green to reappear.  It can be absolutely stunning.
     Only 139 more days.

Day 140

     Yep, only 140 days until I am retired.  Well, at least until the last day of school.  Technically and officially I won't be retired until July 1, but my last day is May 21.  After a bit over a year in banking and 9 years in hospitality and one year as a Kelly Temp and 25 years teaching, I'm hanging it up and will be joining my husband, who has been retired for nine years, in sitting back and putting the feet up.  So let the countdown begin.
     In the meantime, I can't believe that it has been over two years since my last post.  I keep thinking of this blog but never quite get to the point of posting anything.  Call it a resolution or just trying to calm down a bit and get some thoughts out, but I'm hoping to post something each day until the number 1 that is positive, interesting, amazing or a simple observation.
     So, off we go.