matching tracksuits

Getting to Know You

Monday 28 August 2023

Relationships are what teaching is all about. Once you have a good relationship with the kiddos, almost anything is possible. The incorrigible become a little more compliant. The withdrawn start to speak out a little more. The insecure grow a little more self-confident. It's a wonderful thing to see.

In the past, I've concentrated on getting to know my students without really worrying about letting them get to know me all that well. Sure, they know a lot about me: they know I love dad jokes because I try to tell them one every day; they know I like to cycle because I ride to school occasionally; they know I love Poland because they see it in the pictures I hang all around my room and the customs I share with them during the year. But beyond that? Not too much.

So I hit on an idea and a challenge for myself: make a playlist on Spotify of songs that have I've loved over the years. The catch: I will never repeat an artist.

I've got a list made out already -- up to 96 songs, and I don't feel like I've gotten started...

Hoodie

Sunday 27 August 2023

I don't think I will ever understand the fashion of wearing hoodies -- with the hood pulled firmly over the head -- in the heat of summer. One of our neighbor's sons was doing yard work the other day wearing a hoodie. It was ninety degrees; it was a full, thick hoodie and not one of those fashionable cooling hoodies that have come on the market in the last few years. A long-sleeve, thick hoodie in ninety-degree weather.

I have students who, when they can't wear hoodies (dress code violation), wear sweatshirts in class. When my air conditioning in the classroom was out the first week of school, they complained about how hot it was. While wearing sweatshirts.

Journal

Sunday 27 August 2023

First Day of Soccer

Saturday 26 August 2023

The Boy played his first two games today: tied the first one.

And in the meantime, two idiots proved themselves to be such.

Planning

Friday 25 August 2023

Church

Thursday 24 August 2023

Revisiting Krakow Shot

Wednesday 23 August 2023

Caesars Head

Tuesday 22 August 2023

On the way to look at lots Sunday, we stopped briefly at Caesars Head. I didn't get a decent shot of it because of the haze, but I tried cleaning it up with Lightroom...

Start of the 2023 Season

Monday 21 August 2023

Tonight was the start of the 2023 volleyball season. As defending state champions, the girls have a lot of expectations on them: from the coach, from other teams, from parents, from fellow Mauldin High students, and from themselves. Each component of that list has different levels of expectations for the girls, but the most significant component is the girls themselves.

I guess it's a little inevitable that the girls put pressure on themselves. All athletes do that to some degree or another. There are likely some students putting pressure on them inadvertently with calls to bring another state trophy back to Mauldin. Some parents might be doing the same. And the other schools in the area? They're probably rooting for them to have a less-than-perfect season.

What are K and I doing? Making sure L knows we love her, we love watching her play, and we want her, above all, to enjoy what she's doing. I don't know if that will help with the stress she's probably putting on herself, but we can hope.