Monday 02 February 2004

I'm reminded tonight of two lines from the movie Trading Places....

This afternoon I treated myself to a shave and a haircut at Dean's Barber Shop downtown. There's something therapeutic about a shave and a haircut, and I always feel better about myself when I get one. For ages I haven't had the means to visit a barber and have been trimming my own hair. Now that I've enough to get by, today's visit was a special treat. I walked an inch taller the rest of the day.

School is taking up so much of my time. In addition to writing my textbook, I've taken on a database project as well. Last week first semester grades were due, and up until now teachers were typing their own report cards for each individual student from a Microsoft Word template. I wrote an Access database for myself with easy entry for grades and comments, then performed a mail merge that put all the information onto separate report cards. I hit the Print button once and all of 'em spit out. I probably took about the same amount of time as if I'd have edited them all separately in Word, but next time I won't have to worry about writing the database and my time will be cut in half.

I've already let Jody know I plan to expand the database for all students and teachers so that when report cards are next due in June, everyone can work with the same ease. Needless to say, I'm earning another feather for my cap.

Last week the insane mom got to some of her friends, and two more students were withdrawn from The Academy, leaving me with four third-graders and three in eighth grade. The individual attention I'm able to give each student with these small classes is remarkable, and very good learning is taking place among those who remain. Jody commented that now that the last of the insane one's tentacles are gone, things at the school are running much more smoothly. I suppose that's a good thing.

Now that I'm down to three girls in Algebra, a funny note struck me recently. Now mornings when I enter the classroom I say, "Good morning, angels!" They respond in unison, "Good morning, Charlie!" It's fun.

I've also taken my spare coffee-maker to school, and my classroom is starting to become a social center with other teachers stopping by to fill up a cup. After nearly a month, I'm getting to know more about my coworkers as conversations become more familiar, rather than who-are-you? Seeds of a couple possible friendships are being sown.

Every single day the events at school reaffirm what so many of my former students knew very well: This is what I was meant to do.