HARMLESS THOUGHTS

"Good judgment is usually the result of experience, and experience is frequently the result of bad judgment." ~Barry Waldman I wish this wasn't the case, but unfortunately for me... it is.

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit." ~Aristotle One of my pet peeves when it comes to teaching is the student who claims that this other student is simply "smarter" than they are. Now, I am not going to argue with anybody about people having different levels of intelligence, but I do have some words to say about this. In my experience, I have never had a student who performed well and made good grades on everything that truly didn't work. Some might say that they never worked or never studied, but that wasn't really the case. These "smart" kids were really just reaping the benefits of working hard for years . They had most likely been working hard at school since they entered school. As I observed these " smart " students, each time they would approach a new idea or a new topic, they would make sure that they really understood it completely before moving on, and they had been doing this fo...

I don't like the rest of American Idol, but I sure do love watching the auditions. It is truly amazing how many people genuinely think that they can sing, but they can't... at all. My wife and I look forward to watching these together every night. Although we spend most of the time looking at each other because we can't bear to look at these people making fools of themselves. The worst is when they start begging for a second chance. I just can't take it.

I don't really feel sick right now, but I just found out that I get 15 sick days in a school year. Which means that since I am only working a half of a year, I should still get at least 7 sick days. Now, I have never been one to "call in sick" unless I am on death's door. I just don't like doing it. Especially as a teacher, I would always get so far behind from just missing one day. Then there would always be a sub who knew nothing about Algebra or Geometry, who would end up confusing the students even more than they already were. But with this subject that I am teaching, and with these students, I think that I just might take those days when I feel sick, instead of trying to press through. In fact, I think I am starting to feel a little ill right now... :)

I am hoping to update the look of my blog, but I don't know if I will have the time to sit down and do it all at once. I will probably have to do a little bit at a time. Here is the new title. I need to upload it onto blogger, so I am just using a post to do this. What do you think? Too cheesy for a teacher? Any thoughts?

"Math and Love are very similar. A simple idea that can become very complicated." ~Author Unknown

I had a little excitement this morning. I was sitting in the teacher's lounge, minding my own business, and one of the assistant principals came in and asked me to help him out with something. I went to his office and saw this kid, just sitting there with that look on his face. (You know, the look that says, "... they know!") When I got in there the principal tells me that he needs a witness to be present because he needs to do a drug search. "No problem." I say, and then we proceed. I guess that the principal had received a tip from one of the other students that he might be carrying some today in order to sell. The principal told me later that Friday is selling day. I guess that all of the buyers are looking for some on Friday, to highlight their weekend. It wasn't as exciting as it could have been though. There were no illegal substances found. Only an extra large bottle of Tums. (I suppose maybe he gets searched often, and this causes some nervo...

Every day on my way to the school I pray. I ask for wisdom and discernment. I plead for patience. I ask God to help me to be motivated while I am there and to be happy and content with this job. But I always preface this prayer by saying, "Lord, if there is any way that you could relieve me of this... I would take it. But you haven't. So I ask for wisdom and etc., etc." So, today my wife gets a call from this guy in my church and he tells her that he is "looking for a truck driver," and "...would Matt be interested?" Of course I would! Get to be a truck driver and make some good money. Get to come home at night and not have to think about what I have to talk about tomorrow. Get to move some boxes around and not have to worry about them talking back to me. Of course, of course, of course I would... If only he would have called yesterday! You see, last night I signed my contract. Less than 24 hours before this call I signed my life away. Can ...

I have had many people ask me if I suffered from culture shock when I entered the public school, and I have to honestly say that I really didn't. At least, I didn't suffer any shock from this environment. Now, I would easily rank this environment as the worst that I have ever worked in, which is saying something considering all of the different jobs that I have had. These students have bypassed the warehouse workers and the truck drivers with their perverse, vulgar and hate-filled comments that I hear on a daily basis. But I wasn't in the least bit surprised by this. You have to remember that in our generation the big thing was the Simpsons, but these kids are growing up on such horrific shows like South Park. Why would anyone be surprised to hear those same things coming out of these children. There is one thing that I did find to be surprising though, you see, as long as I have been a teacher, I have seen those who have not been willing to work. That is just something to ...

In case you didn't know already, I started teaching again. (Maybe you didn't know that I had stopped.) I am trying the public school thing, not because I am on some kind of a mission, and most assuredly not because I recently re-watched Dangerous Minds or Lean on Me. My motivation to venture into the public school domain is purely financial. I needed a job. I am sure that this experience will produce many interesting new stories and thoughts that will make their way to this blog, but for now I just wanted to mention my favorite thing about being a teacher. Holidays.

I want to blog again, I really do, but I can't seem to get a post out. I sit down, I have good material, I start off well, but then... I fizzle out. I have several posts that I have started and not finished. I have saved all of them, and hopefully I will eventually post them. But I feel so blocked when I sit down to write. I am hoping that by starting and finishing this very short post, I will get past my writer's block and be able to share some things with all of you.