BIG-GI-O! BIG-GI-O! BIG-GI-O! BIG-GI-O …

Goodbye Craig. You had a hall-of-fame career. He will always be Mr. Astro in Houston. Biggio Goes Out in Sytle as Astros Win Finale

Sleep

We have really been struggling to get Aidan to sleep at night. For some reason he is a big bear lately. It has been a big battle. The last two nights were tough and it was ten before he was asleep.

Norma has a great idea and that is to create a chart that shows three straight nights of sleep for Aidan. When he accomplishes this, he gets a new toy. He loves these little Ben10 toys from Target that are actually pretty cheap. We are hoping it's a good incentive.

It is amazing to see how much he grows each week. Some days, I swear, he is bigger at 4pm when we pick him up than when we dropped him off in the morning at the sitters.

Journeyman

Check it out. Great stuff.

Kevin McKidd - great actor. Loved him in Rome. Almost cried when he died. Now I almost cried after I realized, "Hey! I love this new show and dude is back!" Very cool.

LOVED THIS SHOW. Watched it tonight on my DVR.
Journeyman on NBC

It is a Small World

It never ceases to amaze me what a small world we live in. Last week I was teaching class and we finished our projects early. I mentioned to students something about careers and how amazing technology is today. The Buffalo Bill's player Kevin Everett and his spinal cord injury was fresh on my mind. The injury had occurred just two days earlier.

I went on to mention the amazing treatment that they gave him as he was injured on the field. Then suddenly one of my students said, "Mr. D, that's my brother." I looked at her a little strange. I wasn't sure what she could have meant by that. Did she mean, like she is "Down with him..." and he is her "brother" - you know? She said, "Really, he is my blood brother. We have the same Mom, but different Dads."

My mouth about dropped to the floor. After apologizing to her because I had no idea and I did not want to upset her, she said he was doing much better than what they were reporting on TV. Sure enough the next day they said he was doing much better.

At the Teacher of the Year Luncheon this week all the people in attendance signed a big huge card to show our support to him and his family. I went up to the lady that organized it through the local Chamber of Commerce and told her how much his family would appreciate this and that I knew his younger sister.

Today they transported him to Houston and he is resting. His sister missed class to greet him. A very stressful time for the family, but his sister is in great spirits. To her credit you could not tell she was going through any kind of family trauma. She just kept plugging along all week and worked real hard.

It sure is a small world. The connections and people we meet.. amazing. It really is a 6 degree separation between just about everyone on the planet, isn't it?

TOY Luncheon

Today was the Teacher of the Year luncheon for the district. Very nice. That's me in the limo. Pretty sweet. I will write more about it later in the week. I have to be at the school until 9 tonight because of our National Honor Society Inductions. So it'll be a late night.

:)

Spider-Man!

Silly Video

I created this video during the first week of school to go over my rules and procedures for the year. It is a little silly, but it helped cut out some of the talking I would do to go over all the rules. The first couple of days the kids get really sick of all the "teacher talk." I hoped this would be something they would remember.



Welcome to World History from fordee on Vimeo.

Silly, but it was effective. My Rules quiz on the first Friday went very well.

Two and Ohhhhh!

WOW. Two wins to start the season. A week three matchup with arch rival Indy for sole possession of first place in the division. Does it get any better than this? It is fun to be a Texan.

Houston Texans No. 1!

Houston has the Texans,

The greatest football team,

We'll take the ball from goal to goal

Like no one's ever seen.

We're in the air, we're on the ground,

Always in control.

And when you say the Texans

You're talkin' Super Bowl. - John McClain, Houston Chronicle Writer

Yeah, Super Bowl is probably a bit pre-mature. But, who cares? We need to enjoy this. After 5 seasons of losing... Two and Ohhhhh! It's great.

They are calling our defense: "The Raging Bull D" -- I love it.

Bad Spiderman

Aidan wants to be Spider-Man for Halloween. Norma bought a costume off E-bay but it has yet to arrive. Today at Target we found a "Bad" Spider-Man outfit, as Aidan calls it. So we got it. Pretty cheap, but he loves it.

Spider-Man is a huge part of this (almost) 3 year-old's life. He just goes crazy for Spider-Man. It is pretty much 24-7 with him. We rented an old series of Spider-Man a tv-series cartoon that I used to watch when I was a kid. We brought it home and I totally remembered the theme music and everything. Awesome.

The bad part was that Aidan picked up the final set of episodes from the third season. I read tonight on Wikipedia that the show was basically bankrupt and the episodes are almost unwatchable. I can attest to that! So we will have to pick up the first season of it. I remember watching those episodes well when I was a kid! No wonder the little guy likes Spider-Man so much.

School Board Meeting

Tonight they presented the Teacher of the Year plaques to the teachers at each campus at our board meeting. It was nice. I had never been to a board meeting before. Very high tech. Lots of mini-microphones and big leather chairs.

The plaque is very nice:

A real honor to represent my school there. Especially being the first person at my school to ever win. I also had my name announced last... right before the district award winners for the District Teacher of the Year. In a way that was nice, I didn't have to stand up there the whole time. But, it was a reminder of how close I was as a district finalist to actually winning the whole thing for the district.

But, I have no regrets on that. Actually it is going to be nice to enjoy the Chamber of Commerce luncheon on Tuesday of next week and not have to worry about delivering a speech.

Before the board meeting began I had a chance to speak with the winner at Humble High and talk about AVID. She does AVID as the elective teacher at her school. So we had a chance to compare notes a bit. Things are going well with the program, but it is still so early.

The beginning of the school year really knocks me on my butt. This week has been especially tough. So tonight was nice to spend a few minutes being recognized. I realize it's a once in a lifetime thing. And I realize how lucky I am. There are so many great teachers at my school... to think I was chosen among all of them is really something that makes me have to pinch myself to believe it.

Feelin Better

Aidan is feeling a lot better. We had a nice weekend. In this picture he's in his Houston Texans' football jersey. It was pretty funny this weekend. He was very into football. He'd yell, "Foooft-BOWL!!!" And point at the TV. It was neat.

On Monday we stopped at Burger King on the way home and he was all excited about getting a football jersey in the happy meal. There were these little minature ones. It was hysterical hearing him pronounce "Drew Brees" -- "Deeeew Beeeeezzzz!!!"

Tonight he took Norma's hair spray and shot a nice quarter sized spot of hairspray right on the top of his head. It's always something - every day! :)

Little Bugger

Aidan is feeling a little sick. He passed out tonight after a trip to Target in the car. That was about 6. Norma took him up to bed and he's been out ever since.

School is chugging along

Second week... feels like about the fourth week. We have been chugging along with school this week. Gave my first quiz today and first test is friday. First project is due on Monday. So my World History kids are getting into the swing of things.

AVID is another story. This new class for me is basically a college prep class. I will have these kids from freshman year through graduation. For freshmen the first week of school is a blur. So we didn't accomplish too much last week other than getting the kids used to our crazy bell schedule, finding their classes and getting their heads screwed on a little straight.

This week we have made a little more progress. Tonight was our district meeting for AVID and it was great to see teachers in other schools and share stories about the program and how it is going for them.

We have one more tutor to hire and we interview her tomorrow after school. It has been great because over 1/2 the tutors we have hired I have had as students in my World History class. I know they will do a great job tutoring our AVID kids.

It has been a real exciting adventure so far... and we've only just begun.

Sweaty Boy

This is a picture from a few weeks ago when Aidan and I went to McDonalds together. He got a toy inside his Happy Meal, which he actually calls the meal a "Happy Toy." He gets right to the point.

Aidan had been playing in the kid's zone and was super sweaty! McDonalds in Atascocita has the biggest PlayLand I have ever seen. It is amazing. Four or five slides. Tons of tunnels. Lots of things to climb. The thing goes the whole way to the top of the 2nd floor.

A week later I had stopped to get breakfast at the Shipley's across the road and glanced over... no more McDonalds! It was leveled to the ground. I asked the guy in Shipleys and he said, "They are building a bigger Playland." Couldn't believe it.

How cute is he?

Love this picture of Aidan. Astros hat, Spider-man shirt.

Tonight when he was in the tub, he put his index finger to his head and said, "Me's always thinking..." and tapped his finger against his head. I just busted out laughing. He's so crazy.