back to the grindstone

School started back up yesterday. After two weeks off, it felt like the beginning of the school year all over again. On one hand it was great, I was able to do some things completely over that didn’t work for the first three weeks and I was able to start over with a few students who were behavior problems and affecting my mood in the classroom… on the other hand, it was hard starting all over. The beginning of the year is tedious, investing students, getting them involved in big classroom goals, management, procedures… I was impatiently waiting for that period to be over so that learning and instruction could take place. We had finally gotten to the learning part when Ike hit. To my wonderful surprise, yesterday went very well. All of my students showed up to school (there was an understandable fear that we might have lost a lot of kids due to how transient our students are and when they evacuated, we feared they may just as well stay where they fled to). My kids came very eager to see me and begin learning again. School is stable for them with the structure and support that many of them need. In a sense, coming to school to see Mr. Street was comforting and a relief from the chaos that Ike brought. My kids lost a lot… some roofs, some holes in roofs, some flooding, and all without power.

The power is still a huge issue in Houston. There are about 500,000 still without power two weeks after the storm. Last night, on my drive home, I saw a caravan of at least 50 utility trucks driving down the freeway. Crazy! For some reason the caravans of ambulances, police cars, S.W.A.T. vehicles, and now utility trucks that this hurricane has brought, intrigues me. Life seems to be returning to somewhat of a normal state. The city is still a mess in parts, especially south in Galveston and surrounding areas (40 miles from Houston).

In order to make up for the loss of school, I think the school board is going to vote to extend the school day 1 hour for the remainder of the fall… school from 7:15-4:00 seems crazy to me, but the students need it.

I am coming home in a week to run the Portland Marathon. The hurricane put a little bit of a damper to training but I am not going to let that stop me. I have been dealing with shin splints in my left leg. I am excited to be in Portland and excited for the marathon challenge.

Working at the running store has been a lot of fun! The customers are fun to talk to. I am learning a lot about the mechanics of running and feet and various shoes and technology that can be used for the variety of problems runners and walkers face. I really enjoy it.

I have been thinking a lot about next year and am really indecisive as far as to what it is exactly that I want to do. I am going to apply to another graduate program and compare it to the Boston College program. In addition, I think I am going to apply at a few places in the Northwest and work for a year or two until I know what it is exactly that I want to go to graduate school for. One idea for next year is to work at the admission office or development office at Whitman and gain some experience working in higher education. Another idea is to apply to work at Oregon Episcopal or another Portland area private school (I can’t teach public as my Texas license won’t transfer without three years of teaching experience in Texas). Another idea is to work in the business sector for a few years in either PR or HR and see if business is something that I may want to go into. There are a lot of options; I am trying to figure it all out.