Preparation

It has been a while since I have written about my job. Teaching is a roller coaster, lots of ups and downs and sometimes can be a bit scary or worrisome. This past week has been wonderful.
I started a new lesson with one class and I had a hard time thinking of something that they could be successful at and wouldn't take too long. I found an old lesson about Kandinsky and non-objective abstract painting while listening to music. I have found this lesson very calming for students in the past, there is something about music without words and watercolor paint. Normally I would have ran off my handouts, wrote the objective on the board and gotten the materials ready, cut paper, water container, brushes, paper towels, and Kandinsky images. Last week the administration team informed all the teachers that our boards need more information to be in compliance with the charter academy we work for. So, I needed to find the space on my boards to also post, the standard written in long form, the objective, essential questions, warm-up / drill, motivation, "I do", "we do", "you do", for each grade level I teach which is three a day. So in addition to the normal preparations, I was rushing around trying to get all these parts of my lesson written so that they could be read if an administrator walked in. Everything was ready on time, somehow, and just as I began the lesson my AP walked in to do a pop in observation. I was so relieved that I had made sure my information was up, and the students responded very well to the new lesson, they had been wanting to paint again.
What a relief.

My Dad

About two months ago my Dad informed me he has cancer. He reassured me that it was caught very early and he was confident that surgery could remove it. Regardless of his confidence, I have been afraid to talk about it. My dad is very important to me. Growing up he was the one constant in my life, the one person I know I could always depend on if I needed someone. The Monday before Thanksgiving he had surgery at University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, which is like Hopkins if you are not from Michigan. I am happy to report, the surgery was a success, the pathology report came back yesterday and they removed all the cancer, what a relief!
Now back to life as usual.