Apropos of Nothing

Because I'm a new teacher, my principal is supposed to, in the first 45 days, have a pre-observation interview with me, observe me in the classroom, and have a post-observation interview, after which I generate a plan for what I'm going to work on. He sent a note out a couple of weeks ago to me and a few other teachers to stop by his office THAT DAY, as early in the day as possible, to have the first meeting. I stopped him in the hall and we scheduled the meeting for the following day at 1 PM. I sat alone in his office until 1:10, at which time he walked in, asked "Are we supposed to have a meeting?" and told me he had a 1 PM observation of someone else he had to do. I left, saying that he should call me when he wants to reschedule. I haven't heard from him. Of note, we're now approximately 60 days into the year.

Meanwhile, he actually did an observation of me when the state poobahs were in town (don't know why), but I've gotten no feedback from him about it, and no paperwork of any kind regarding it.

My father

My father died yesterday.

Most of the traits I believe myself to have that I like are inheritances from him, including his facility for math, his quick wit and his sharp sense of humor. Every time I come up with some elaborate hoax to perpetrate on a co-worker or create some very personalized toy or trinket to give to a friend, I think of the similar things he did in the years I was growing up. I claimed never to have forgiven him for taking my "Gulf No-Knocks" horseshoes (a gas station giveaway back in the days they fought for your business with promotional items) when I was eight, promising to replace them the next time he bought gas, not realizing the promotion had ended. Secretly, though, I thought it was kind of cool he'd used the horseshoes as part of some gag on a friend at the office.

We weren't as close as I would like for a father and child to be. I don't know when, exactly, we stopped trying, but we did. I know he was disappointed with many of the choices I made throughout my adult life, and I was disappointed he wasn't more accepting of them, or at least more accepting of me despite the choices. I will undoubtedly err in the opposite direction with my own children, and their remembrances of me will be colored by their disappointment I didn't provide more guidance in their lives. I can live with that.

A minister came into his room at the hospice yesterday while my mother and I were there and asked us what we would like to pray for, for him. I chose peace. I don't believe he found much peace during his life, and it would be good if he could find some in death.

So, my father is dead. May he rest in peace.

Mea Culpa

So I'm getting irritated with my friends and family who haven't been posting to their blogs (what am I supposed to do when I should be doing lesson plans if you haven't updated your blog recently?) and I'm at least as guilty as they are. So here's a blog post.

Topics I should cover soon...

The state visit to each of the turnaround schools.
New teacher hired, and some kids moved from everyone's geometry classes into his.
"Unpacking" our data to differentiate our instruction.
The note sent to all new teachers, plus all teachers who are on double secret probation.
Parents wanting grade recovery.

we'll see...