Dry, for now
Indiana is still quite wet this week, but Jasonville isn't. We've had yet MORE storms even though many areas are still flooded from last weekend's downpours. Jasonville's water is still off while they work on repairing the water main broken last weekend. Estimates of when they will have water again vary from a few days to up to TEN DAYS WITHOUT WATER. Insane! Lucky for us, Mom and Dad and I all made it safely out of Jville on Sunday. Many state highways were (probably are even now) still closed from flooding or water damage (some roads collapsed, some bridges are out...), but the interstates we needed had reopened by then so they went west on 74 to Iowa, I went east on 70 to Indy. Now I am safe and dry in my second floor apartment (am so glad I don't live on the ground floor just now...Indy's not flooded yet, but just in case...) and my parents are safe with Grandma in Fort Madison. They made it to Grandpa Ray's funeral but had to leave the funeral home early from Monday's visitation because of rising water there too. Back home in Jville, the ceiling in the old nursery - a little room up some stairs that looks out over the auditorium, so one of the highest rooms in the church - collapsed because of a problem with a ceiling vent leading to water damage. So of course Dad is eager to get back home and take care of things at church...but Mom does not want to go back to a town without water and with no definite idea of when the water will be turned back on! I'm just going to stay here in Indy until I know for sure Jville has water, too. It is one of those things you don't realize how much you rely on it until you have to do without it!
I've been busy at the schools this week getting my classrooms packed for the summer. I worked at HSE on Monday and the JCL kids came to help me on Tuesday, putting things away, moving furniture away from the walls, and taking down posters from the walls, so that the wallpaper can be stripped and the walls painted. We were informed just a few days before school ended that this would be done over the summer. I asked for a clarification of what date they would start the project so I could make sure I had the walls cleared by then...because with two schools to go to on the closing day, there was no chance of me getting the room ready then. Never heard back. So on Tuesday when I came in to meet the kids and finish the room out, I was quite surprised to see the workmen already stripping the wallpaper from every other room affected by the project but mine! Guess it was a good thing we didn't schedule our JCL work day for later this week! Anyway, we got that done quickly once I had helpers, so then I took them to FHS to help with that room too. Had to pack everything up to move to a classroom just two doors down the hall, because the powers that be want all the spanish teachers next to each other and we have a new spanish teacher moving into the building. So she gets my room and I move to the Japanese teacher's room, and that teacher moves to the ENL teacher's room, and the ENL teacher moves to the next hall over. It's a bit bizarre. OK, very bizarre. Anyway, I had got most of my room packed up Friday after I finished checking out of both schools - fortunately I hadn't accumulated too much stuff there having only been in that building two years. On Tuesday, the kids helped me take down all the wall decor. Now I am just waiting for all three teachers who shared the Japanese room (she had it 3 periods, an English teacher had it 3, and a German teacher had it 1 period) to clear out their stuff and then I can redecorate. And of course once the HSE walls are done I'll have redecorating to do there, too. Maybe not quite as many posters as I had before, since odds are strong that I will only be here one more year, unless we can get Latin reinstated...
Yesterday I was at FHS again for teacher training on the new textbooks for French. I was the only French teacher there, plus about a dozen Spanish teachers from both buildings. None of the other French teachers were available for the training but I think they'll manage. We have Holt textbooks (the Bien Dit series) next year. I'm quite happy with the change, and very happy with the level of technology available for it - students can access the textbook online and all sorts of other useful things. There are online assessments and things that I hope will save me planning time, considering how many classes I have to plan for next year. Sorry, but what little creativity I'll have time for isn't often going to go to French.
Next year's schedule:
Per 1: Combined Latin 2/3/AP at FHS
Per 2: French 2
Per 3: French 1
Per 4: French 1
Per 5: Travel
Per 6 & 7: Latin 2 honors & Etymology at HSE; don't know which period each of them is, as yet.
Count them up: That's seven separate subjects to prep. And traveling during my only prep period. I think they WANT me to resign. Or they want to kill the French program as well as the Latin. It's a guaranteed recipe for ineffective teaching, anyway.
I've been busy at the schools this week getting my classrooms packed for the summer. I worked at HSE on Monday and the JCL kids came to help me on Tuesday, putting things away, moving furniture away from the walls, and taking down posters from the walls, so that the wallpaper can be stripped and the walls painted. We were informed just a few days before school ended that this would be done over the summer. I asked for a clarification of what date they would start the project so I could make sure I had the walls cleared by then...because with two schools to go to on the closing day, there was no chance of me getting the room ready then. Never heard back. So on Tuesday when I came in to meet the kids and finish the room out, I was quite surprised to see the workmen already stripping the wallpaper from every other room affected by the project but mine! Guess it was a good thing we didn't schedule our JCL work day for later this week! Anyway, we got that done quickly once I had helpers, so then I took them to FHS to help with that room too. Had to pack everything up to move to a classroom just two doors down the hall, because the powers that be want all the spanish teachers next to each other and we have a new spanish teacher moving into the building. So she gets my room and I move to the Japanese teacher's room, and that teacher moves to the ENL teacher's room, and the ENL teacher moves to the next hall over. It's a bit bizarre. OK, very bizarre. Anyway, I had got most of my room packed up Friday after I finished checking out of both schools - fortunately I hadn't accumulated too much stuff there having only been in that building two years. On Tuesday, the kids helped me take down all the wall decor. Now I am just waiting for all three teachers who shared the Japanese room (she had it 3 periods, an English teacher had it 3, and a German teacher had it 1 period) to clear out their stuff and then I can redecorate. And of course once the HSE walls are done I'll have redecorating to do there, too. Maybe not quite as many posters as I had before, since odds are strong that I will only be here one more year, unless we can get Latin reinstated...
Yesterday I was at FHS again for teacher training on the new textbooks for French. I was the only French teacher there, plus about a dozen Spanish teachers from both buildings. None of the other French teachers were available for the training but I think they'll manage. We have Holt textbooks (the Bien Dit series) next year. I'm quite happy with the change, and very happy with the level of technology available for it - students can access the textbook online and all sorts of other useful things. There are online assessments and things that I hope will save me planning time, considering how many classes I have to plan for next year. Sorry, but what little creativity I'll have time for isn't often going to go to French.
Next year's schedule:
Per 1: Combined Latin 2/3/AP at FHS
Per 2: French 2
Per 3: French 1
Per 4: French 1
Per 5: Travel
Per 6 & 7: Latin 2 honors & Etymology at HSE; don't know which period each of them is, as yet.
Count them up: That's seven separate subjects to prep. And traveling during my only prep period. I think they WANT me to resign. Or they want to kill the French program as well as the Latin. It's a guaranteed recipe for ineffective teaching, anyway.