Happy birthday to me, by the way.  I am well on my way to 60 and looking for any senior discounts that are available.  

Since I and my students are working from home, I decided I had extra time to take continuing education courses for myself.  I am enrolled in 11 units, 12 would be considered full time.  So, I am a full time teacher, and almost a full time student.  My goal is to finish my courses as a student by the end of April.  I'll let you know if I succeed.

This is the way my classroom looks today.  This was taken at 8:41 am, this room should have been full of students hanging out between first period and second period.  There would be other adults in the room.  I have decided to keep a journal which can be found by pressing the button below.

I recently read a fascinating article by a college admission officer that made me think twice.  Perhaps you will too.  Read this. 

Want to Get Into College? Learn to Fail

I have been given the opportunity to volunteer in Ukraine this summer to help put on a one week summer camp for children in a refugee center.  Their families were forced out of their homes during the last two years due to war.  Their families ended up in Kiev, Ukraine where they are trying to find jobs and permanent housing.  There are approximately 80 children under the age of twelve.  The team I am traveling with will be targeting this age group of children but plan to have games and activities for the older teenagers in the afternoon, mostly in the form of games. 

During the last three years, most of the information American's have heard about Ukraine is the war with Russian separatists and annexation of the Crimea.  This turmoil has created a great need in Ukraine for kindness and compassion and I have accepted the call the serve the Ukrainian people this summer at the end of July. We will be assisting a refugee center being run by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and some other western, Non-Government Organizations. Others teams will be traveling to Kiev this year as well, one providing mental health services and training, and a second providing medical and dental assistance.

The non-profit organization I am volunteering for does not cover any of my expenses.  If you would be interested in assisting me with a donation to the non-profit to help cover the expenses, I would greatly appreciate it.  Please contact me if you have any questions.

Trying something new may be exiting, scary, uncertain, or exhilarating.  Sometimes we may not know how to feel.  Well, I tried something new this summer.  I am teaching a marine biology class!  It has taken me a great deal of time to decide what to included.  The class needed to be interesting to students and valuable to their parents.  I am teaching the class during a six week summer academy which parents pay for.  I knew I wanted to conduct dissections, take field trips, make observations of marine life, and instill a love for the oceans in the students.  I set high standards and so far the class is going well, I am in the second week. 

Trying something new can also be a lot of work, and this certainly has been so far.  The work is worth it.  That is the most important point.  President Theodore Roosevelt said, “Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty… I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life. I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well.”  I absolutely agree.  So, I will choose to do what takes effort, creates pain, and is difficult... because it is worth it!

School started on Tuesday August 21st.  I have two goals for this school year.  First, I want my students to increase their understanding of how technology can help them learn on their own and how technology can help them create products which will grab other people's attention.  Secondly, I want to learn from my students what best meets their needs.  During the this school year I will be blogging about my progress.  

A second goal was to take a group of students on a science trip that may change their lives forever.  I have shown about half of the students the video, I will be sharing that video with 8th grade students this week, and I will be meeting with parents next Monday evening.  

What are your goals for school?  List two and describe them.

Tell me about something you like and why.  It may be very hard to pick one item that you like so you may use combinations.  For example, cake and ice cream, swimming and diving, playing video games and eating junk food, going to the movies and the arcade, hanging out with friends. 

I like ice cream and cake, something like the picture on the left.  I also like adventure though, and I like adventures more so I'm going to write about adventures.

I like adventures because they usually take me to places I have not been to before, they introduce me to experiences that I have not encountered before and they make me do something or complete something that I would not have done if I had not been on the adventure.  For example, my trip to Florida to swim with manatee.

I have been snorkeling before, many times in many different places and continents.  I had usually gone snorkeling in places where the water was clear and deep.  The water where the manatee live is shallow and murky.  I was a little confused at first because I could see so little underwater. I could only see about 8 feet in front of me and made figuring out where I was a little difficult.  I was strange to have to pull my head out of the water in order to get my bearing, but this was an adventure that I would gladly repeat again, murky water included.

There are lots of other likes I have, what is one of yours and why?

One of my biggest goals is to compete in a triathlon by myself.  I have competed in a triathlon before but I was part of a three person team.  I rode the bike and the two other members of my team completed the running and swimming part of the race.  We finished third and that was fantastic but I would still like to compete on my own and have the satisfaction of completing all three parts with my own effort.

What is one of your big goals?

What is the biggest mess you every got into?  Maybe it was a real mess and maybe it was more virtual.  Let me tell you about a real mess I got into when I was 5. 

Just over the fence from where we lived was an empty field.  Someone was going to be building houses on the land so the jungle that had been there was cleared.  All that was left was dark brownish-red dirt what had lots of clay in it.

Since we lived in the jungle of Borneo, Malaysia, just outside of the town of Sandakan (see map below).  It rained almost every day, usually in the afternoon and usually for an hour or two.  I am sure you can figure out what dirt with clay and rain water combine to make...of course, mud!  This mud was thick, the kind that keeps your shoe if you walk in it, the kind that will never give it back either.

Well this huge empty, brownish-red, mud bath as just over the fence from our house.  And since no one else was using it, it was calling to be explored!  So my brother and I did exactly that!  I have no idea how long we spent in the mud but when we came back my mom would not let us in the house! We had to be hosed off out side in the back yard.  We had mud in our ears, our eyes, our noses, between our toes and fingers and covering our clothes.  Apparently our clothes were so badly stained that they were never the same. 

That is one of the biggest messes I have ever been in.