The Oh No Second

John Burroughs Middle School celebrated the Inaguration of our new American President, Barack Obama, in a festive mood during a 1st period assembly.

The aquarium album Her life was lived in the dimension of 48 inches by 18 inches by 15 inches, the confines of a 60 gallon aquarium. I purchased her in 1989 to grace my new salt water tank along with a rose anemone. In the intervening 19 years, she grew, and along with her, my rose anemone cloned itself into 28 separate beings. I learned a few years ago that these so called Clown Fish, ( Premnas biaculeatus ), could breed in captivity so I bought her a companion. She was too old by that time to reproduce but they were compatible. Also known as the spine cheeked anemone fish, these fascinating animals are immune from the sting of the rose colored anemone and wiggle, writhe, and finally relax as they sleep inside their hosts. One day I saw the anemone seem to tear itself asunder and there were two complete animals. Astonished, I consulted every aquarium book I could muster and learned that they clone themselves into colonies that dominate rock shelves in the Indo -Pacific ocean. I have ...

I suppose it was fortunate that I was teaching aeronautics to middle school kids when a teachable moment arrived with the quick thinking and heroic actions of a veteran pilot. New Yorkers have been in the midst of a funk about the collapse of the financial industry and the tales of scurrilous advisers who sank their portfolios, so it was good that they could rejoice in a momentary miracle. Captain Sullenberg's great skill and experience along with fate allowed him to ditch his airplane in the Hudson River. As it happened, two ferries, engines running and ready to go, plucked the 155 survivors off the wings of that sinking airplane, and the captain, checking the aisles one last time was the last to leave the ship. We all need teachable moments. My students, needing a way to understand how valuable their skills could be in a time of crisis, saw how good judgment and experience could avert a terrible disaster. Flying a plane is challenging and you may only have a short time to rea...

D ear School Board and concerned citizens, I want to address my concerns about the way the Microsoft settlement has been handled by our school district. A little over one y ear ago, I entered my new middle school classroom and beheld 40 Windows 98 desktops purchased in 1999.    I had been teaching 6th grade math and science the previous four years using multiple strategies including technology to further students' understanding of Earth Science.    I wrote a proposal to teach an aeronautics unit as a full elective, and California's State Assembly awarded me a small grant to buy computers, flight yokes, software, and books.    I subsequently agreed to teach technology full time, not quite aware of how poorly my room was equipped.   I began teaching one class in Aeronautics and four crowded classes of Introduction to Computers to 7th and 8th grade students in the Fall of 2007.  I managed to replace seventeen of the Windows 98 desktops by the end of December 2007, but struggled wi...

Work is Great! There is just too darn much of it. I reflect upon this thought while relaxing during my summer break. I am blissfully able to sleep late, indulge myself in idle pursuit, and follow my muse for a few weeks before I start the new semester. To be sure, I love teaching but it strikes me that there is never a good balance between the demands placed upon us and the time we need just to be ourselves. The last year seemed like a whirl of events, deadlines, grading, meetings, and filling out forms. Stop the merry-go-round, I wanna get off. Thankfully, we have summer break and I feel renewed or will after I spend some weeks camping in the wild of Colorado and resetting my internal safety valve.