iSupport Haiti T-Shirts

Norma and I purchased "iSupport Haiti" T-shirts at school. They were $10 a piece an all the proceeds went to support Haitian earthquake relief. We wore them to school today. It was great to see lots of students and teachers with them on today.

Homecoming - Spirit Days 09

It is homecoming week at AHS. Lots of festivities.



This was pretty ridiculous, but we were very good Tacky Tourists!

Update about school/work

It's a funny thing when you are a teacher. You refer to your place of employment as "school." And it is a school... but it is also work. Most days I am having so much fun and loving my time with my students so much that I don't consider it work at all. Then the quizzes, homeworks, essays, tests, and projects come due... and I am absolutely WORKING. It is the toughest part of it for sure.

I do love the sense of accomplishment I get when a stack of papers are done, finished... and then in the gradebook. It is really a sense of accomplishment when you check out the computer gradebook and see a bunch of columns of grades. Finishing a six week's period, semester and the year is really a good feeling.

This week has been tough on me because I keep having that "I miss my students from last year" feeling. I already had them trained. They understood my silly jokes, sense of humor and trusted me that I wanted all of them to succeed and to learn. Starting over is hard. Kids look at me like I'm some kind of alien at first. But, slowly things melt and we really start to connect. Hopefully that will start to happen after our first project is in the books and they present to the class. I learn a lot about them through that process.

This weekend is going to be interesting. I'm heading up to Nacadoches, TX (2 hours north) for 2 days of fantasy football drafting. It should be a blast. I'll probably leave early, early on Saturday morning and then come back late in the afternoon on Sunday. I have a keeper league draft on Saturday and then I'll be defending my championship in the auction league on Sunday (although a year removed. Last year I was unable to attend the auction because of our car accident... can't believe that is 1 year ago!).

Hopefully I will get lots of great players and be very happy with the results. It is a lot of fun to be with the 8 guys that are in the leagues and I hope we have a great time. One of the guys I know well is my assistant principal at school. He got me into the thing. So it'll be fun.

Eagles Win First Football Game

Atascocita Eagles 16 - Hastings Bears 7 game story w/video: Eagles turn up heat in second half, get win
Transfer Carter
shines playing QB;
Bears still struggle
JENNY DIAL Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
Aug. 29, 2009, 2:23AM

Our Eagles won on the road Friday night. It must have been a very competitive game. Especially since the very controversial QB that transferred back to Hastings this week played the second half and was very good. Proud of the Eagles D for holding Hastings and that awesome QB to only 7 points.

Wish I could see the game next week, but I am heading to Nacadoches, TX for a couple of fantasy football drafts. I'll have to wait for the next home game.

My Classroom - it'll be full tomorrow.

This is going to be a great year.

This is my classroom for the new year. Tomorrow these seats will be filled (38 in my 6th period will do that!). I am so excited about seeing the new students that I will meet for the first time. And I am even more excited about seeing my former students and how much they have grown.

A look as you walk through the door. I am lucky to be back in the corner. Most people leave me alone. If you come through my door, well... you meant to do it. :)


I moved my desk to the back this year. I had it along that window there last year. It was hard to see the computer monitor and this gets more kids in the front of the class. I think that's a psych ploy by me to make them think they are better students. :)


Closer look at my desk. :)


A look at the front of the room. I am going to do more work with me teaching from the board this year. I know, old school. But, the kids get tired of power points and projections. We are going to add a little more light this year. :)

You can see my "Target Board" on the left side. It's where I post our learning targets, agenda, and notes to my 3 preps. Above the board are college pennants, hopefully reminding them of why we are learning what we are learning. This year I added a cut out of the Geiko "Money you would be saving if you switched to Geiko." I'll call it, "Money you could be saving if you prepare for a college education."


Our beautiful school. We are so lucky to call it home. Go Eagles!


Wishing a good first day to all the teachers and students out there.

It's Time

Last year's assignment and target board
Today I took Aidan and went into my school to work on my room a bit. I got a lot done and Aidan had a ball. I got my keys, so I don't have to wait in line for that on Monday. I also unpacked my closet - which was jammed with everything that I need for my classroom. I also hung my college pennants above my assignment/target board. That is a lot of work getting those up and now it's all done. :)

Because we host summer school EVER freaking year, we have to take down all our posters, and pack up all our stuff for the summer. Kind of a shame. But, usually I don't mind because I have to move to a new room. This is the first year in the 6 years I have been in my school district that I am not changing rooms. Actually I have had 6 rooms in 5 years! I moved from a portable trailer the first year into a room in the school.

This year I am moving my desk back towards the back of the room. I haven't done that ever. The biggest reason is because it gives the students more room. I think it will be better to have desks the whole way across the front of the room, instead of having my desk to the side. It's completely ridiculous how small our rooms are. I will have to pair up the desks (something I have gotten used to and use in think-pair-share exercises) and I think it will end up looking pretty good.


Last year's desk arrangement. Another reason my desk needs to be moved is because i could not see my computer screen well with the glare from the windows.

We have a lot of time in our rooms next week during Teacher Inservice week. I am going to take advantage of it and get everything ready. It would be awesome not to have to go in on Saturday to get ready for the first day with kids - which I always seem to have to do!

I think I am more prepared and ready for this school year than ever before. My classes and schedule is great:

1st period - World History Pre-AP
2nd period - Planning in my room (at this point, they could put someone in there that period like last year again!)
3rd period - Planning and an English teacher will be in the room that period. Never had back to back planning periods before. I wonder if I will get more done, or less?
4th period - AVID 3 - it will be weird having my Junior AVID kids during 4th period. I have had them during 6th the past two years.
5th period - World History Pre-AP
6th period - World History Pre-AP
7th period - AVID 2 - I'll have my freshmen from last year in this class, looking forward to working with them again.

Football is on the tv... and the school is being prepped. It must be "Back to School Time!" :)

Learning Targets Presentation

Today we did a school "Gallery Walk." Teachers used presentation poster boards and highlighted new ideas that they have been trying for Assessment for Learning and other new initiatives. At first, I was worried I'd be one of a handful of teachers to participate. But, we had over 30 people. It was really great to see all of the cool ideas people had and what they were doing in their classes.

This is my poster board:

You can see the poster board more clearly by clicking on it.

My topic was "Target Sheets." The basics behind them is that it is a "unit plan" or "game plan" for what we will learn in each chapter. I pass them out on the first day of the chapter and on the sheets they have objectives (targets), vocabulary words, "big ideas," quotes to understand and possible essay questions on them. I also include the 10 questions from the chapter that are due for homework.

Students have liked them because they have a clear plan on the first day about what they are learning. It gives them a chance to see the "whole" before we put the parts together. I have seen some students achieve a higher level of with them this year. At first, I was sure it would be too much work for me to do. But, I was wrong. It really didn't take that much more time.

Now I have them for next year as well and I'll be able to tweak and change them and hopefully make them better. The presentation went over pretty well and I also had my laptop there while I played our fall video for World History. It highlighted all the cool projects we did (like the castle project, rock art project, and religion
project).

During the morning we had tons of people walk through the library and check things out, including our superintendents. As I walked around I was really proud of my school and all the effort the faculty has undertaken to improve instruction and learning at our school. I am really lucky to work there.

"Is it warm in here? Or is that my wallet?"

Yes, my wallet is burning up. We spent a huge chunk of money on a new furnace tonight. Took them about 5 hours to install it.

It seems like everything is wearing out in this house at the same time. Washer & Dryer, Microwave, Garage Door, Fence, Big Screen... all been replaced in the last two years. The saying, "They don't make 'em like they used to"... it is true!

So although life at home has been a little crazy (Aidan has slept with us for the past week because it's been too cold for him to be upstairs in his room without heat), school has been amazingly great. We had 15 visitors come in from Klein school district yesterday to visit and observe our AVID classes. It went great. At the end of the day we had a meeting with them and they discussed what they saw. Their curriculum director said, "I have toured and visited schools that are up for National Demonstration status in AVID, You guys are KICKING THEIR BUTTS." I almost fell out of my chair.

It was a very cool day. I will take it where I can get it. :)

Today I gave two finals and just felt so thankful all day to have the kind of students that I have in class to work with. I am a very lucky guy. (even though my wallet is a little lighter tonight)

The Week

What a busy and crazy week. We had a lot of weather problems all week long. In fact, Tuesday and Wednesday were a wreck at school. A student deceived the news stations in town by sending email and calling to tell them that our district did not have school on Tuesday due to the weather. News casts actually ran the report and many students did not come to school. It was wild.

From the Chronicle: Other districts that stayed open reported higher-than-usual absences. Humble ISD saw 23 percent of students out of class — about the same as the day before, when an e-mail hoax convinced some students class had been canceled.

The next day the cold and icy weather did come into town, but we had school. It was surprising because most districts around us canceled school. So that meant a little less than 1/2 of our students elected to stay home. Some students stayed home both days. It was a weird week.

Tonight Norma, Aidan and I went to Kingwood High School (our neighborhood school near our house) to see the Atascocita Girls Baskeball team play. Aidan and I had a good time running around through the school. Norma and I switched off watching him... he couldn't sit still in the stands long enough to watch much of the game, but he had fun running through the hallways.

It is amazing to think that Aidan will go to high school there someday down the road. He's so little now and only 2. I found myself imagining how things will be then when he is in high school. Who knows what we'll be dealing with in life then. But, hopefully he will be a happy young man and eager to enjoy his time there.

The school is really a dump. It's a wonderful school and highly rated for it's academics and athletics, but it is old and worn out. They are renovating it now and over the next 3 years it will basically be completely rebuilt. It needs it!

Tonight I am working on a presentation that I will be giving at the University of Houston for our Advisory program. The presentation is next week. I kind of got elected to do it, although I am no expert on Advisory. I will just do my best during the hour to explain what our Advisory program is like (it's a very glorified version of "homeroom" where we work to develop students social, emotion and academic development over a 4 year period. We have the same kids from fresh-senior year). Plus I will be using a photo movie with music and a powerpoint to try to give them an idea about how AHS does things. I showed the photo movie today to our Advisory coordinator and she said she cried watching it. So that made me feel pretty good and I think she got the point of what I was trying to convey. Advisory is all about the individual student needs and making relationships with the kids. :)

I am looking forward to a nice relaxing weekend at home with Norma and Aidan. It is going to be cold and rainy. Norma and I are finally going to catch up on 24 and watch some football on Sunday. A nice relaxing weekend! Whew.



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School Pictures

One of my former students send me these pictures tonight. I have been asking people for a copy of them for weeks. The first is of the father-daughter dance at the football halftime a few weeks back. You can find my post on it here: Me Dancing? Yep.



It's funny how these girls look so much older with so much makeup on! Crazy. This was just after we were done and we had come off the field. My smile is one of relief! Whew... we are finished. As you can see there was a packed house there that night.



This picture is at the very historic and first ever AHS NHS induction ceremony. National Honor Society is not something that I could have been inducted into during my high school career. So when Joe (pictured) asked me to be his co-sponsor, I jumped at the chance. When else could I have ever said in my life that I was "in" NHS? :)

The two girls pictured are two of my very favorite students from last year. They are now juniors and were inducted that night. They are also a part of my very favorite class of kids that I have ever taught. A WONDERFUL group of kids. I am proud to be their sponsor because I know that there is literally nothing that they could do that I would not want to be a part of - they are awesome kids.

So those of you that have been wondering, where are all the posts? Why doesn't David get some things going on this blog lately? Well, I have been busy with great kids like these. Yeah, I guess I am a pretty lucky guy for that reason, too.

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