Canoes, and a Catch-up Post of Etc.

Last Sunday we went on a canoe trip for Tree, an environmental education non-profit who does this bi-annual canoe-with-dinner deal through Cane Bayou out to the lake. It was a gorgeous day, and good time.

In the genre of good times, there has also been:

-Bacchanal for delicious Birch Beer, food, ice-cream-cake, and good music.

-The tiniest amount of crafting (see: vermilliades + gold and copper wire + driftwood)

-Taking students to the Insectarium ("What's his name- Mr. P? I couldn't believe it when he ate that worm!")

Pictures to follow when blogger decides to be more cooperative.

Also: the Baby has been getting its exercise.

In school related news, I continually am frustrated by working with adults who see their entire jobs as an inconvenience (read: the counselor waving her hand and rolling her eyes at my suicide referral for a student who had written about it. Today she was much nicer. I think she realized she was in the wrong.... or the administration and technology coordinator who never respond to emails about anything serious), but my kids are generally more focused (and I have it more together) than in previous years. They are all-around not evil, which is a plus, and a statement I don't think I could have made in 2008. They are loud... and immature... and will put a ton of effort into getting out of doing anything but the minimum amount of work, but, they are fairly nice. None of them have threatened my safety. Some of them are even funny. A few tell me my class is their favorite. Many don't go that far, but do compare my class with others where they "don't do nothing. For real- we spend 40 minutes on the 'Do Now,' and then we just sit there and talk."

I am still as convinced as I was when I joined TFA that we need more accountability, training, and support for teachers. To deal with the realities a lot of our kids are facing, we need heroically hard-working teachers. I'm not an example of that lately, but I know lots of people who are. My baby-daddy for instance, and the folks he works with at KIPP. There are a lot of great things being done- on the small scale- in education. I hope they soon spread like fire.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't looking very much forward to the time I get to take off to be with the little one. As passionate I am about the ideas and work of education reform, I'm getting tired of the day to day. The kids aren't the most frustrating part. It's the adults. The laziness and ineffectiveness of the people in charge. We have a few friends who are taking a year off from teaching to do self-guided studies and just reflect and process their two years of teaching experiences. I envy them sometimes. So, I'll finish this year and then probably find something related but not the same for next. There's a lot about next year that's to be determined.