The first week is in the books

As I promised before, I will try to update this site more often. So here I am, one week later putting out another post. I do not have any pictures to add, so I will try to keep it short.

First: my first masters’ class is officially over. It was one of those deals where I did not have to turn in the final project to pass the course. I did turn it in and am expecting a 4.0 for the course. My next class starts on September 2nd. This one will actually be very useful. It is titled: Engagement Strategies and Classroom Management. These two things are the bread and butter of teaching middle school, so I am excited about the course.

Next: we are done with our first week of school (the kids did not start till Thursday). My classes are very interesting. I was told on Wednesday that I would be teaching an additional section of science, but my class would be all students that have native languages other than English. It was a bit of a surprise, but I knew most of the kids from last year and that makes the whole thing much easier.

I had been warned again and again that the eighth graders at our school were a terrible bunch. I was prepared to have issues from the first day. But teaching 13 rich kids is much easier than teaching a class of 30 students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Plus, I am very good at picking out the problem kids ( I once was one ) and squashing them as soon as possible.

My room has already gotten comments from students and teachers who remembered it from last year. The best compliment I received was that the room “looks like a real science classroom.” The kids I have are an interesting bunch. None of them have actually performed or designed an experiment. So I am sort of “in the weeds,” and starting from ground zero. So on Friday, I had the kids carry out an experiment. I love teaching science…

Cassie’s week has been a struggle. Her classroom was supposed to be built over the summer. However, in Ukraine, summer is the time everyone takes their vacation. Thus Cassie was not able to get into her room till Wednesday afternoon. At that point in time, there was insulation everywhere, no power, and no desks. These problems were not worked out till the afternoon of our second day of school. She has been a ball of stress…

I will update again very soon. Hope all is well with all of you out there…

August 2010

New things are upon us: we returned to the U.S. for the first time in a year, I started a master’s program, we visited Prague and Slovakia for the first time, and the new school year is fast approaching.

I know, I know… I have not made a post in months. I am terrible at keeping up on this and all communication in general. I understand if no one reads this. But I am going to make an honest attempt to start this thing back up and keep it up to date. My current plans are get a post up every two weeks. We shall see if this works out. Right now, I want to share pictures from the summer…

One of the first stops we made while home was Comerica Park to see the Tigers play.

After that we spent a week with Cassie's mom, her sister, her sister-in-law, and nephew. I am not a good influence on children...
Shortly after that we went down to see my Grandparents, Aunt Jan and her family. On the way we had a "Jumbo Slice" at a local Chicago pizza place (the dollar is there to give some idea of size).

We then went to visit my Uncle Bill and Aunt Sue in Pentwater. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera that day...

Overall it was a great trip to the States. Three weeks sped by insanely fast! Next year we are thinking about doing four weeks back in the States before we go back home.

When we finaly got back to Ukraine, it was way too hot. This summer was a crazy one for temperature. The daily highs here were in the 100s, that is closer to AZ weather than anything that most people have ever experienced here. Fortunately we were only here a week before we traveled to the Czech Republic and Slovakia (we like to visit all the old Soviet republics as they were during the good old days...).
Prague was great, but was full of tourists. The last thing anyone wants to do while touring is deal with tourists...
The best way to get over the mass of tourists is to drink some of the local beer. Eastern Europe is great for many things, but the fact that 1 liter of beer costs less than a dollar makes it completely awesome... Oh yeah... Cassie drinks beer now!
No matter where you go, somethings always remain the same...



After Prague we rented a car and drove to the Low Tatras in Slovakia.
Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that I now roll large. That's a Beemer parked outside our cottage in the mountains...

The main thrust of our time in Slovakia was hiking and just having a relaxing time before we traveled back home. Here are some random pictures of the mountains...






The trip was great. I hiked my butt off (seriously, my calves now have clefts in them). It was a resounding success.

Up next, we have the chaos of a new school year. I got into my room this week only to discover that last year's teacher lost her keys and no new keys had been made. So I was issued a master key by Sasha (our school's Godfather) and told that if I lost it he would kill me and put my head on a pike on the roof of the school. I am not sure if he was joking or not.

Cassie on the other hand does not have a room. The school was supposed to have a new wing put on it over the summer. Cassie was supposed to have one of the new rooms that was to be added. It has not been finished yet. There is a 50/50 chance it will not be ready by the time school starts. Needless to say, Cassie is stressed...

As I said earlier, I am going to do my best to update this thing at least twice a month. I understand if you do not believe me and I already see a problem with this plan, as I will be away at middle school camp in two weeks. Arggh!