Friday, February 11

6:20 a.m. - Another Friday has arrived; apparently my cat Bella needs extra attention this morning.  I wonder what that means.  Yesterday was as expected...group projects mostly with half-assed effort from the students, absences that I know were more related to not being prepared than an actual reason for an absence, and just in general poor quality.  Oh well, I gave an effort to have a group project assignment.  Last night's games were both wide margin games, but working with Colin Mix was good.  I did receive a Sectional assignment from the IHSA, but it wasn't the assignment I was hoping for.  Maybe I'll get a boys regional and then call it a season.  It would be nice to get a boys sectional, but I don't see that happening either.  On the other hand, I have almost made it through the season, and while i know I have gained my weight back, I did survive it, and we did get a new crew with a year of experience.  Now I really need to focus on slimming down again.

Today I'm assigning what will likely be the final SAT essay of the school year.  I'm trying to plan it, so I can get back grades fairly quickly.  I'm then going to get the research paper in just prior to the training path presenter series, which will give me that time to score the research papers.  With the pandemic mess, the research paper is something I haven't done for a couple of years.  I want to get back to that...well, I don't really want to get back to that, but I need to do it.

This Friday should go fairly quickly today, leading to another wide margin game tonight.  Then I have a couple of regional games tomorrow - one at 1 p.m. and one at 5 p.m.

English III

• create the English III next day's agenda and schedule post to stream
• score assignments and record into Lumen as needed - n/a
• activate presentation scores Friday after school
• place remaining group video files in shared folder
• enter straggling scores for group projects
• enter scores for group projects from Thursday

Other Things To Do

• send email to Riverdale and Bureau Valley
• put videos in shared folder and share
• plan and schedule South Dakota trip
• fix door downstairs

Upcoming officiating/umpiring 

travel arrangements = https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KRJ5qpDZDvuEv-LahtrsNsmCt8sUBRrx8_cHvJewNls/edit

2022 

• • Feb. 11 - HSGBK - 7:30 p.m. at Davenport North with Marcus and ???

  • 40 min. to Davenport North 

  • Meet at Jay's at 5:30…Jay drives 

  • Feb. 12 - IHSA girls regional- 1 p.m. at United with Shawn and Clint Gingerich

  • - IHSA girls regional - 5 p.m. at West Central with Jason and Robbie

  • 60 min. from Edgington to United - Shawn and Jay drive separately
• Sunday, Feb. 13 - open
• Feb. 14 - IHSA girls regional semi-final at Varna Midland 7:30 (112 miles one way - 2 hour drive)
• Feb. 15 - HSBBK - 6:00 p.m. at Farmington with Shawn Cantwell and Andrew Teel
• IHSA girls regional semifinal games possible, but I don't think so.
• Feb. 16 - OPEN
• Feb. 17 - IHSA girls regional final game at Varna Midland 7:30 (112 miles one way - 2 hour drive)
• Feb. 18--OPEN - IHSA girls regional final games possible, but I don't think so
• Feb. 19--OPEN - IHSA boys regional quarterfinal games possible
• Sun. Feb. 20
• Feb. 21 --IHSA boys regional semifinal games
• Feb. 22--IHSA girls sectional semifinal games
• Feb. 23--IHSA boys regional semifinal games
• RTA Meeting with BOE - 4:30 p.m.
• Feb. 24 --IHSA girls sectional final games
• Feb. 25--IHSA boys regional final games
• Feb. 26 - OPEN
• Softball clinic Macomb 9 a.m.
• Jeff Dunham show 5 p.m.
• Sun. Feb. 27
• Feb. 28--IHSA girls supersectional games
• Mar. 1 --IHSA boys sectional semifinal games
• Mar. 2--IHSA boys sectional semifinal games
• Mar. 3--IHSA boys sectional final
• Mar. 5 - IESA volleyball regional at RR - 1 p.m.
• Mar. 7 -- RTA Meeting with BOE - 4:30 p.m.
• Mar. 23 -- RTA Meeting with BOE - 4:30 p.m.

Thursday, February 10

6:29 a.m. - I had a real nice time playing with grandchildren last night - a good ole fashioned birthday party for Brooklyn and Luke but with Rosie, Tucker, and Brinley also in attendance - presents, cake, food, pictures....ALL THE GOOD STUFF!  I needed a night like that.

Today it's presentation day...already this morning I've woken up to student questions...nevermind that the assignment was issued last week.  One thing that is wearing me down is these juniors eventually realizing that poor time management and immaturity and absences from class really does lead to negative consequences.  It's a battle of keeping my patience and emotions in check.

After a night off, I'm back to officiating...heading to Port Byron with Marcus to work Riverdale and Bureau Valley girls.  Our third is Colin Mix, and I haven't seen him in awhile.  He's a good dude and official, so it will be nice seeing him.

I heard from my last training path presenter I wanted to line up.  Gone are the electricians; in are the plumbers/pipefitters.  I still have to see what I can work out with ISAC, but if that falls through, it's not the end of the world.

English III

• create the English III next day's agenda and schedule post to stream
• score assignments and record into Lumen as needed - n/a
• print out score sheets for slave spirituals
• enter scores for Set 2 Khan Recommendations after 8 a.m. Thursday
• activate presentation scores Friday after school

Other Things To Do

• put videos in shared folder and share
• plan and schedule South Dakota trip
• fix door downstairs

Upcoming officiating/umpiring 

travel arrangements = https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KRJ5qpDZDvuEv-LahtrsNsmCt8sUBRrx8_cHvJewNls/edit

2022 

• • Feb. 10 - HSGBK - 5:30 p.m. at Riverdale with Marcus and Colin Mix

  • 45 minutes from Edgington

  • Marcus drives….picks up Jay at 4 p.m.

  • Feb. 11 - HSGBK - 7:30 p.m. at Davenport North with Marcus and Shawn

  • 40 min. to Davenport North 

  • Meet at Shawn’s at 5:30…Jay drives 

  • Feb. 12 - IHSA girls regional- 1 p.m. at United with Shawn and Clint Gingerich

  • - IHSA girls regional - 5 p.m. at West Central with Jason and Robbie

  • 60 min. from Edgington to United - Shawn and Jay drive separately
• Sunday, Feb. 13 - open
• Feb. 14 - IHSA girls regional semi-final at Varna Midland 7:30 (112 miles one way - 2 hour drive)
• Feb. 15 - HSBBK - 6:00 p.m. at Farmington with Shawn Cantwell and Andrew Teel
• IHSA girls regional semifinal games possible, but I don't think so.
• Feb. 16 - OPEN
• Feb. 17 - IHSA girls regional final game at Varna Midland 7:30 (112 miles one way - 2 hour drive)
• Feb. 18--OPEN - IHSA girls regional final games possible, but I don't think so
• Feb. 19--OPEN - IHSA boys regional quarterfinal games possible
• Sun. Feb. 20
• Feb. 21 --IHSA boys regional semifinal games
• Feb. 22--IHSA girls sectional semifinal games
• Feb. 23--IHSA boys regional semifinal games
• RTA Meeting with BOE - 4:30 p.m.
• Feb. 24 --IHSA girls sectional final games
• Feb. 25--IHSA boys regional final games
• Feb. 26 - OPEN
• Softball clinic Macomb 9 a.m.
• Jeff Dunham show 5 p.m.
• Sun. Feb. 27
• Feb. 28--IHSA girls supersectional games
• Mar. 1 --IHSA boys sectional semifinal games
• Mar. 2--IHSA boys sectional semifinal games
• Mar. 3--IHSA boys sectional final
• Mar. 7 -- RTA Meeting with BOE - 4:30 p.m.
• Mar. 23 -- RTA Meeting with BOE - 4:30 p.m.

Wednesday, February 9

5:46 a.m.  - Yesterday was deflating.  I think the end of my teaching position at RHS is nearing sooner than later.  This school year has really been a series of deflations all along; officiating basketball with a new crew and family has kept me going through these winter months.  Last night's officiating gig at West Central went better than expected, which was nice, and tonight I have a night off to be at home and celebrate some grandchild birthdays.  Plus, last night I got to see Carmen again, which was nice.  

Today is Free Read Wednesday, so maybe some enjoyment reading and a night off from officiating spent instead with grandchildren will be just the medicine for my condition.  I'll get through it.

Uncle Bill is in the hospital, and that weighed on my mind yesterday too.  He has been in poor health for awhile, and my mom took him to the hospital yesterday.  He's having some heart issues, and it may be the beginning of a downhill slide for him.  

Yesterday, I had a student tell me he was intentionally doing nothing in class and then planned to take credit recovery.  I know there is an interest in school districts to find alternate pathways for students to complete course credit after failures, but when the pathway motivates a student to intentionally do nothing during the semester, I question the value of my existence.  What the hell are we doing as an educational system if we have a system to permits a student to just waste his/her/my/other students' time and energy?  And what if that earned credit recovery appears to be the same course I teach on that student's transcript?  And if students are just allowed to miss school whenever/however they want and then permitted to make up work, what are we teaching?  I honestly just feel like an overpaid teenage daycare teacher...I feel like many folks just want a place for their students to go - unless they are taking a vacation or playing softball or volleyball or football somewhere during the school week - and have the teachers provide a few little easy activities that are then scored with a bright shiny "A" to make sure the children all have beautiful GPA's.  And then through those easy activities, parents want to make sure their students aren't getting any schooling that might involve "bad books" or topics that are critical of white people.  And then I here on the news that some schools are looking into cameras for every rooms so parents can see what is being taught and schools can provide transparency.  What in the hell is all of this leading to? Well, like I said above...maybe my end is sooner than later.  Maybe I just don't have the patience and trust and love and energy anymore.

On the other hand, maybe I just need to stop feeling sorry for myself, collect my paycheck and stop fretting over all this stuff.  If the school district want to continue to make me a highly paid teenage daycare provider, why should I worry about it?  In fact, maybe I should instead be thankful and appreciative that I get paid a lot of money to do what I do?  Maybe I just need to roll with it...not care if we continue to decrease the value of an education, not care if we are turning out more and more underskilled immature arrogant teenagers in the world and let someone else deal with them.

Ugh.

English III

• create the English III next day's agenda and schedule post to stream
• score assignments and record into Lumen as needed - n/a
• print out score sheets for slave spirituals
• enter scores for Set 2 Khan Recommendations after 8 a.m. Thursday

Other Things To Do

• send IHSA email to Wethersfield and West Central
• plan and schedule South Dakota trip
• fix door downstairs
• finalize lineup for training path series
• if not next week QCETC, then go elsewhere.

Upcoming officiating/umpiring 

travel arrangements = https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KRJ5qpDZDvuEv-LahtrsNsmCt8sUBRrx8_cHvJewNls/edit

2022 

• • Feb. 9 - OPEN 

  • Feb. 10 - HSGBK - 5:30 p.m. at Riverdale with Marcus and Colin Mix

  • 45 minutes from Edgington

  • Marcus drives….picks up Jay at 4 p.m.

  • Feb. 11 - HSGBK - 7:30 p.m. at Davenport North with Marcus and Shawn

  • 40 min. to Davenport North 

  • Meet at Shawn’s at 5:30…Jay drives 

  • Feb. 12 - IHSA girls regional- 1 p.m. at United with Shawn and Clint Gingerich

  • - IHSA girls regional - 5 p.m. at West Central with Jason and Robbie

  • 60 min. from Edgington to United - Shawn and Jay drive separately
• Sunday, Feb. 13 - open
• Feb. 14 - IHSA girls regional semi-final at Varna Midland 7:30 (112 miles one way - 2 hour drive)
• Feb. 15 - HSBBK - 6:00 p.m. at Farmington with Shawn Cantwell and Andrew Teel
• IHSA girls regional semifinal games possible, but I don't think so.
• Feb. 16 - OPEN
• Feb. 17 - IHSA girls regional final game at Varna Midland 7:30 (112 miles one way - 2 hour drive)
• Feb. 18--OPEN - IHSA girls regional final games possible, but I don't think so
• Feb. 19--OPEN - IHSA boys regional quarterfinal games possible
• Sun. Feb. 20
• Feb. 21 --IHSA boys regional semifinal games
• Feb. 22--IHSA girls sectional semifinal games
• Feb. 23--IHSA boys regional semifinal games
• RTA Meeting with BOE - 4:30 p.m.
• Feb. 24 --IHSA girls sectional final games
• Feb. 25--IHSA boys regional final games
• Feb. 26 - OPEN
• Softball clinic Macomb 9 a.m.
• Jeff Dunham show 5 p.m.
• Sun. Feb. 27
• Feb. 28--IHSA girls supersectional games
• Mar. 1 --IHSA boys sectional semifinal games
• Mar. 2--IHSA boys sectional semifinal games
• Mar. 3--IHSA boys sectional final
• Mar. 7 -- RTA Meeting with BOE - 4:30 p.m.
• Mar. 23 -- RTA Meeting with BOE - 4:30 p.m.