The Class to Nowhere

I had this "training" last night on the new Skills Tutor website that the district purchased. It is a great idea and can be used as a diagnostic tool and give students challenging work dependent on their ability. Phenomenal idea. I am 100% behind it. The only reason I went to this training, to be honest, is that I got a stipend for going. And they fed us pizza from Milano's in town. Good stuff.

However, the training could probably have been boiled down to one hour, not four (originally scheduled for five hours but I think the guy ran out of things to talk about so how they came about the five hour mark beats the hell out of me). It's a web program and was quite easy for me. I didn't need to waste almost two hours "playing around" with the little lessons and tests available. Oh well...I got paid.

And it brings up a very interesting problem. Now I have to worry about scheduling computer lab time...around everyone else that will be trying to use this fantastic system. I have to schedule all my eighth grade (and then seventh grade) sections on the same day or then it becomes a nightmare as to where one section is compared to another section--of the same class! It all comes back to incorporating technology. I want to do it--I will do it--it just now becomes a little hectic with logistics. And Nome Public Schools have more and better technology than I have seen. It's remarkable how far advanced they are and how much we have. Unfortunately, until every single student has a laptop (a great wish, I know!!), there will always be this little hassle. I'll work around it. I think kids would rather play on the computer than do worksheets.

Yesterday at school, we were on an early release schedule because we all went out to see the first cross country track meet of the season out back. It was wet and muddy and for some reason we got out at 2:00 pm and had to wait around for the buses until 3:50 pm. (Luckily, I got to go to the training at 3:00 pm, another apparent bonus to the training.) Have you ever watched a cross country track meet? We don't have a track--they run along the road that leads up to Anvil Mountain out back. You only really see them for ten seconds at a time...when they start and when they finish. So the kids were bored for almost two hours. It was like a block party in the mud.

At home, our apartment complex, the Beltz Apartments they are called locally, had a pot luck. Amy made these awesome beef barbecue sandwiches. It really feels like the dorm life here, but with kids. It's kinda neat. The kids all play in the hallways and in each other's apartments. Morgan had two of her friends from the complex sleep over last night. Madison has Lupe right across the hall. I think there are a total of less than 20 apartment units and most of us work for the school. I remember the dorms. That junior year I roomed with Britt in Heninger Hall and then the next year I was solo in Tanner Hall and Hennigar and Ortlieb were on the same floor. Here, it feels more cozy. I guess it is the factor of growing up.