Yahoo! Teachers

Yahoo! Teachers

Just signed up. Hopefully it turns out to be something cool and useful.

My friends new business

My friends new business
Originally uploaded by carignan.

The Art teacher at Palm Middle school is starting a new business. Brewing beer! Way to go Ryan.

They've all been bulldozed

It seems like almost all the Orange groves in the Inland Empire have been bulldozed to make room for all the housing tracts. It's such a shame that they are gone. I have such fond memories of walking to Midland Elementary school, in Sunymead through the groves, ambushing friends, beaning them in the head with Oranges and Grapefruit. Sunnymead used to have alot of groves. Oranges, Grapefruit, Lemons, and Limes. It's such a shame that everyone of them is gone. Now I live in Beaumont, some cherry, plum, apple, and peach orchards still exist but they are quickly being bulldozed also to make room for more housing tracts. A few months ago I was driving through San Timoteo Canyon on the way home from work, and I saw a couple posing for a photo by an Orange tree like it was something special. I guess now it is special since almost all of the groves are gone in the Inland Empire. What once was a Citrus Empire is now an Empire of just alike housing tracts. I just have my memories.

My place of work

My place of work
Originally uploaded by carignan.

Okay, I'm trying to have a positive attitude at work.

Kindness

“The kindness I have longest remembered has been of this sort, the sort unsaid; so far behind the speaker's lips that almost it already lay in my heart. It did not have far to go to be communicated.”

Henry David Thoreau quotes (American Essayist, Poet and Philosopher, 1817-1862)

Meetings at work

"Ideally, meetings lead to realizations that result as action steps assigned to individuals with deadlines. Realistically, most meetings are fruitless."

Izzy in the tub

Izzy in the tub
Originally uploaded by carignan.

My little Summer girl with her tan. Her and I had a wonderful Summer. Swimming lessons, Playdays at the park with friends, and the Beaumont Public Library reading classes for toddlers. I miss spending all day with her. But I'm back to work.
Saturday we went to church, I did my yardwork and we bbq'd in the evening. Chicken and Zucchini, it was a wonderful day! Today we played out in the backyard in our little inflatable pool with the neighbor girls, Aubrey and Kimmie. We bbq'd Carna Asada for dinner. I had another wonderful weekend.

My first three days back with the kids at school.

This year I'm teaching three 8th grade Social Studies classes, one 8th grade Remedial Math class and a Study Skills class (whatever that is). The kids all seem nice, but it's still in the "Honeymoon" period when they are still on there best behavior. My Math class is low and full of some knuckleheads that I'm going to have to keep my thumb on, but it'll all work out. I'm sure they'll be my favorite by the end of the year. why do I always seem to like the Knuckleheads most. I'll struggle with the Study Skills class since I never studied in school myself. How do I teach something that I've never done? We have a new Vice Principal, I'll have to wait and see how she works out. Our last VP that left was a disaster. Ryan's given up on blogging and that's a disappointment, so I have no friends that blog. It'll make it hard to keep posting when I have no one to talk to about it. Steve Oster, my friend and teammate last year left Palm Middle School to teach Science in Riverside, that makes it difficult because I have no one my really to talk to about problems at school. Ryan is a great guy, but he's not married with kids and alot younger, Hopefully he'll understand.

The first to days of the new school year.

Frustration and disappointment are the two words that have best described my first two days of school. The kids haven't arrived yet, they start tomorrow, but things are already a mess. Nothing seems organized and no one seems to understand that we need time to plan and prepare to teach. Both mornings have been filled with useless meetings that don't accomplish anything, but to frustrate me and cause me to get angry. I'm just going to have to let it go.

First day of school

I'm up early and getting ready for the first day back to school.

Stixy: For Flexible Online Creation Collaboration and Sharing

Stixy: For Flexible Online Creation Collaboration and Sharing

A new beta this morning for me.

Home again

It's nice to home and yet I already miss my family. I don't know how to tell my parents how much I miss them sometimes. I think my sister knows. My dad doesn't look well and that makes me feel both angry and sad. Sad that he that he can't play with Izzy and I. Angry because I can't talk to him and tell them how much I still need him. My Mom is in good shape and we had some nice walks with Izzy along the ocean. Kim, my older sister was a big help with Izzy and took the pressure off at times. Time for me to sleep. I have to be at work in the morning. Two days of meetings and then the kids show up on Wednesday.

My wife

I love my wife very much, it makes me sad that sometimes it's hard to tell her how much I love her and miss her when I am away.