Re-Evaluating the Situation

Well, This week I had my last full-class-period observation by an administrator as part of my teacher evaluation. Since my teaching goals this year related to AP Computer Science, that was the class in which I was observed. It went great. I had a good time, the kids got to do an activity that hopefully gave them better insight into the topic at hand (sorting algorithms) and the administrator posted encouraging comments. Sorting (and searching) is the last topic left to cover before the national exam. We have a mock AP exam April 24 that is their actual final exam in the class. That's right, the final exam in APCS is 4 weeks away. The national exam is 2 weeks after that. (Since the score for that exam doesn't arrive until July, it cannot be included in the student's course grade). Holy Smokes! The end is in sight.
A couple weeks ago my principal came to my classroom and showed me an advertisement for an astronomy teacher position at Pine View. He wanted me to read it and see if there was anything they might have overlooked. I couldn't find anything. It was pretty thorough. He said they were going to advertise in some national journals and astronomy organizations for my replacement, since astronomy teachers are hard to find. They are hard to find, in part, because there are very few positions for them. According to Larry Krumenaker, the editor of The Classroom Astronomer, a magazine for K-12 astronomy educators, fewer than 5% of high schools offer any astronomy course. My situation is exacerbated by the fact that I teach astronomy with a dual enrollment option, so students can get college credit. That requires an advanced degree in astronomy. Most of the few high school astronomy teachers have degrees in some other field and even fewer have an advanced degree in the field. I am a little concerned that the program I have built at Pine View might not endure for long. It is out of my hands, but it concerns me nevertheless.
In other news, the Pine View History Club is sponsoring a school wide simulation on the Renaissance April 7. They sought teachers to portray significant individuals and I chose Galileo Galilei. I have a week or so to work on it. Should be fun. I'll post a report after the event.
This past Thursday, I had my astronomy classes meet in Starlab. Now, my wife, Bonnie, often asks me how my day was and whenever I say we had Starlab that day, she knows it was a good day. I can't help myself. Sitting in the dome under the stars, listening to great music, learning about the sky, is a great way to spend a period. It is definitely one of the aspects of my job I will miss. There are only 2 more Starlab days left.


The big announcement I have will come in 2 weeks. Really. Stay tuned.

Odds and Ends

This week started as a normal week (I know, define normal) but ended as a very 'different' one. All my classes were pretty typical, except for astronomy, where we are talking about pretty unusual things that form at the end of the life of a high mass star. Things like neutron stars, pulsars and stellar mass black holes. This is just one more reason why I love teaching astronomy. This stuff is crazy. As an example, a neutron star is so dense that if you took one teaspoon of it, it would weigh (have the mass of) a mountain.  I used the terms 'wild, wacky, weird and wonderful' when talking about these things.

The week ended by me doing something that I dislike doing very much. Friday, I missed a day of school. I really don't like to do that. I feel that the students signed up to take these courses with me and I am the one most prepared to teach it. But I had to schedule a medical procedure that required me to miss an entire day. You see, several years ago I was diagnosed with Barrett's esophagus. I have suffered from acid indigestion (heartburn) for decades. Rolaids were with me at all times. After the Barrett's diagnosis, I was prescribed pantoprazole and it has made a tremendous difference. Barrett's is also know to be pre-cancerous. Now when I heard the doctor say that, I became more than a little concerned. But is really means that it is not certain that it will result in cancer, but it needs to be monitored. Hence the missed school day. The procedure I had was a colonoscopy. The procedure itself requires anesthesia, so it doesn't hurt a bit. The preparation that I had to do the day before was the unpleasant part. I will leave it to your searching the Internet if you want more details.

In other news, Friday was a new moon, a total solar eclipse and the vernal equinox. That was a big deal for northern Europe. We had the equinox (the astronomical start of spring), but not the eclipse. Reports are that much of England was clouded out. (Twitter rang with the tag #anticlimax) Ireland got reasonable views of a partial eclipse, but only those people in the Faroe Islands and Svalbard got to see the total eclipse from land. A total solar eclipse is a truly spectacular sight. More on that at a later date.

The end of the week came today. After doing some yard work, Bonnie and I went to the Sarasota County Fair. We go every year and enjoy it very much. In fact, in my opinion, if you live in Sarasota County and have never been to the fair, you need to go. It is part of the local culture and has many things to recommend it. There are the carnival rides (Nadia loves these), the midway with its games of skill and chance, the animals, the shows, and the food. There isn't much in the way of exotic fair food here, but plenty of good eats. Ears of corn, steak and cheese, fresh lemonade, Amish doughnuts, fried vegetables, frozen bananas, bar-b-q, Suncoast Church Strawberry shortcake booth, and elephant ears to name a few. This is a great place to people watch. A real melting pot of humanity. There is Crackerland (old time Florida) with its forge and wrought iron items being made and its music shows, the Old West gunfight, the Rosaire Pig Races, the bear show, magic show, musical acts and more.

Next Wednesday, March 25, marks the end of 3rd quarter, so my next post will be made during my final quarter of teaching. Oh and it won't be much longer until my big announcement. Stay tuned.

Spring Break

There is no school this week. I find that spring break is the least standard of all holidays taken by schools in the USA. Ours is a little earlier than some. Some wait until Easter Week, some a little sooner. Every school district has a formula or history that dictates when it happens. In any event, ours is this week.
Just before break, our grade level team (grades 11 and 12) had our regular meeting and we got to discuss some student awards to be presented at the end of the year ceremony.. The school has its own awards to recognize students who distinguished themselves in a variety of ways during the year. (Yes, I realize that the year isn't quite 3/4 over, but we have a pretty good feel for the students by now). In addition, colleges have adopted a way of promoting themselves while giving an award. They give a book to a worthy junior. The particular student is chosen by the faculty. That was our job last week and we had a bunch of then to figure out. This is a great time of faculty interaction. The greatest benefit for me is as follows: since the high school classes have around 200 students, it is not possible for a given teacher to know all students in a class. That means the decision must be reached by consensus using the input of a given student's teachers. In so doing, I learn about some great students that I have never taught (and will never teach). I also get to share info about some of my students that other teachers have not had. In this exercise, it really comes home, what great kids we have at Pine View. For the school awards, in particular, this is a problem. There are few awards and many deserving students. We do our very best to chose the best, most representative students as recipients of these awards, but inevitably, some who should be recognized aren't.
There are some things that are a fact of life at schools

The Saturday, March 7, Bonnie and I took our granddaughter camping for 5 nights. Several years ago we purchased an Aliner trailer to go camping with her. It has been a great investment. And I must say that Florida state parks are generally of very high quality. We have now camped at 9 different state parks and one county park. We have gone to several of these more than one time. This time we camped at Anastasia State Park near St. Augustine. We camped with some friends, so it was a great time. The first night was cold, plain and simple, dipping into the 40s. We had a big fire to ward off the chill and a little heater in the trailer that kept us nice and warm for sleeping. Sunday, the beach was nice, with some big (for us Gulf Coasters) surf. There was a motorcycle event in the area that included 5 parks, ours was one. So there were tents, displays and music that afternoon. We left and explored the town a bit in the afternoon. St. Augustine is celebrating 450 years as a town. During our time at the park we biked, kayaked and explored a terrific nature trail. We also had smores every night. (Nadia does not think it is camping without smores.)

Just before break I changed my school password for the last time. For the past several years we have had to change our password every 90 days. More final events to come. I can feel the end of the year rushing towards me.

I am getting closer to making that big announcement I keep mentioning. Stay tuned.

Getting in the Spirit!

This was a happening week, abbreviated though it was (4 school days thanks to President's Day). Every year my school has a fundraising event commonly called a jogathon. Well, at Pine View it is Peramathon. It is held on a Friday in February (this year that would be this week just past) and this year it was COLD, the coldest peramathon anyone could remember. I did not participate but many did. The campus was filled with parents and other family members volunteering to keep track of all the laps run and funds pledged, bottles of water and help with the general organized chaos. Lots of people. Good times.

On that same Friday the high school classes have a dodge ball competition. This is the finale to Spirit Week. Each day students are to dress according to a different theme (e.g. superhero, tacky tourist, and similar). Many choose not to but enough do that it is definitely noticeable as you walk the campus and see the students as they enter class. The learning environment is slightly altered but you adjust.

Then Friday evening we had a fundraising concert to benefit Jamie Myers, a senior who is battling brain cancer. I did not attend but from videos posted online and descriptions from students in attendance, it was a great time. When the things we take for granted every day are suddenly taken, we take a closer look and if we are made of the right stuff, it draws us together, uniting our hearts and spirits. Jamie has done that for his class and our school.

As full as it already was the weekend was not over. Saturday evening we had Astronomy night. The astronomy classes have star gazes regularly throughout the year, but once a year I open it up to the Pine View family and friends. This is scheduled months in advance and all I can do is hope for clear skies and decent temperatures. Well this year the temperature was great. The skies were less cooperative. There were several objects of interest to see in the sky: the crescent moon, Venus and Mars is conjunction, Jupiter and its 4 main moons, the Orion nebula and other lesser lights.

Saturday started clear but clouds moved in as the sun was about to set. As the skies darkened, we were struggling to find clear spots between the clouds to glimpse the heavens. With a great turnout I was hopeful that they would be able to see something. We did have minutes when the clouds parted enough to see the moon, Venus, Mars and Jupiter, but not much else. After an hour or so of this, a clear spot appeared low in the south (thank you, Steve Dacey, for spotting it first.). That was good news, since the clouds were moving north. It took 20 minutes or so for the hole to pass over head and as the skies cleared, a cheer went up from those who had been able to stay. We had about 20 minutes to a half hour of clear skies. Many had left but those who remained were rewarded with excellent views through the seven telescopes and viewing stations we had set up. At the very end, as I started to take down the equipment, a particularly enthusiast boy ask if there were any other planets we could see. Yes, Uranus. But I warned him that it was not big and bright like Jupiter or Venus, or even Mars, but he was insistent.  I set the scope on it and it was there: a tiny (3 arc seconds in diameter), faint, pale blue-green dot, twenty times as far from us as earth is from the sun. Not much to look at but I told everyone there that now, when they talked to their family and friends, they could say that they have seen Uranus. It got a small laugh.

I was so happy we had not been shutout. This was my final Astronomy Night as a teacher and it ended well. Many thanks to those who came and for the students who helped setup and take down. Also to Mr. Steve Dacey for manning the big dobsonian telescope. M42 was a grand sight through it.

My final thoughts revolve around this blog and the future. Another mark along the way. If you look at the main page of this blog, it has a countdown clock. As of today, Sunday, February 22, 2015, I am down to double digits left in my teaching career: 99 days. As I like to say, Tempus fidgets. The other thing is my upcoming big announcement. Stay tuned.

Thanks for reading this.

My Last Valentines Day

Today is Valentine's Day. Yesterday was the closest school day to it , so I celebrated it in my classroom. Since this was my last Valentines Day as a teacher, I went, what is for me, all out. I adorned my room with 18 valentines that I had gotten in an email from a physics teacher a few years ago. I don't know the original source of these, but each one is devoted to one scientist and makes generally bad puns in a stretch to make their work applicable to the holiday. So this is a nerdy homage to Valentines Day. If you don't get the reference, I am sorry, but you will have to ask or look it up. Most of my students enjoyed it or were very polite in ignoring it. To top it off, I printed small versions of these and gave one to each of my students (unsigned so they could pass it on to their valentine)

In addition, I stole (borrowed?) a poem that I include here:
Emission nebulae are red,
Reflection nebulae are blue,
The universe if expanding
As my love for you.
This was set on a background of these two images

I also had heart shaped Sweetarts to increase the student's sugar level. I had fun doing this. I hope the kids enjoyed it as well.
Next Saturday evening is Astronomy Night, 6:30 to 8:30, at Pine View. It is open to the whole community. Come bring family and friends. There will be telescope set up for you to look through and students to help you understand what you are looking at. Featured objects will be the crescent moon, Venus, Jupiter and it's moons, the Orion Nebula, and more. It will be on the service road by Lake Largo on the south side of campus.

Remember, I will be making a big announcement in a few weeks. Stay tuned for that.

Variety Is the Spice of Life

Friday evening I escorted my wife to this year's version of the Pine View Variety Show hosted each year by the sophomore class as a fund raiser. I am not sure when the variety (sometimes called talent show) started but it was after I came to PV and before we moved to the new campus, so that would make it between 1989 and 1994. There may have been occasional shows like it prior to then but that would be before my time there.

I was closely involved with two of the shows, with the classes of 1997 and 2001. I was a class sponsor to each of those, so that would mean the Variety Shows of 1995 and 1999. They are huge undertakings. First, there has to be talent that auditions to perform. Then there has to be students willing to act as stage hands, sound and light people, program designers, schedulers, etc. For several weeks before the event, the auditorium is abuzz with activity rising in crescendo until the dress rehearsals and the actual performances of the show.

This year's effort was themed Hawaiian Luau. As one would expect, flowered leis were everywhere, helping to set the tone. One feature I particularly liked was the house band performing before the show began, during intermission, and again during a break in the program, when a performers track could not be found. The band, "The Flipside", composed of mostly (all?) sophomores, did a credible job throughout.

There were numerous issues with the mics and the sound system, but the show went forward and my wife and I both found it entertaining, one of the better variety shows that I have seen. There were many singers, both solo and groups. I'll mention a few. The Serteen club performed All About the Bass with two of the group signing the lyrics. Joanna Malvas sang She Was Mine accompanied on the guitar by her brother, Joe. I particularly enjoyed the singing of Arooj Khan. But for me the top act (I know, they were all great for getting up on the stage) was Claire Opal-Lavine who hula hooped. She was quite good and my wife and I commented mid act about how we were enjoying her performance, when the lights went out and the hoop lit up with LEDs and a multi-colored display dazzled us. I told my wife I wanted one of those hoops.

In addition, each class (grade) had an act. They were Pine View specific and had a lot of inside jokes that I am not sure parents and other family members fully appreciated, but I found many of them hilarious. The junior and senior class acts were videos. Here is a link to the senior video: http://vimeo.com/117727296.

All this brought to mind the variety shows I have been involved in. There are many good memories there for sure. I wonder if you have any special memories of a show. If you do and would like to mention it, this post is both on my blog and on facebook, to facilitate commenting. These events are fundraisers, sure, but they are also memory makers. I have found that you only get as much out of life as you put in. It takes effort and is not always comfortable, but is almost always rewarding. My thanks to all those who made the effort and took the time to participate in this variety show and those from long ago.

The Show Must Go On

One of the things I have enjoyed about being a grandfather of a slightly older child (Nadia is 9) is taking her to performances of various kinds. The school where I teach has grades 2 through 12 so many shows have children about her age in them. In the past few years I have taken her to a Variety Show, a chorus concert, and two plays put on by the school's Drama Club. Last year was Peter Pan. She and I thoroughly enjoyed that, especially the wire apparatus that allowed for Peter Pan to fly around the stage. Very cool. The student performers had worked very hard and the show was a definite success. It was so good that I wondered if this year's play would suffer by comparison (which is unfair but inevitable.) Well last weekend I found out. I picked up my date for the evening and we went, tickets in hand, to see Beauty and the Beast, a musical.

The music was a sound track, which was fine, but the singing was so-so. I don't think the soloists were miked and they were easily overpowered by the track. But that was the only problem I saw. The costumes were wonderful, over-sized creations that were just right for the size stage we had. The acting was generally quite smart. It was clear that the co-directors had done their jobs, and the student actors as well. I especially enjoyed the performances of Belle, Cogsworth and the Lumiere. Gaston was a great, inflated-ego bully of a man, just what was needed. The makeup for the beast was right on. The fight scene was full of action and great to see. The sets were of high quality for a high school performance. Nadia and I agreed that it was worth coming to see. Congratulations to the Drama Club, the directors, cast and stage hands. Can't wait to see what they do next. (Note: I am not a drama critic.)

On the retirement front, I have started my final semester of teaching. I am down to double digits in school days left to teach. But I am not prepared for it to end just yet. I enjoy my classes too much. AP Computer Science is just getting to the good stuff. Astronomy is wonderful. The students are a terrific lot. I am so glad they took astronomy. I hope they feel the same.

For the next several months, look west after sunset for Venus as the evening star. It is currently getting brighter and higher so it will be easily seen until June.

In the coming weeks and months I will have a big announcement or two that may be of interest to readers. I am working on something to do post retirement. Stay tuned.