Category: Vlog

One Quarter Down.

~ jlrowse ~ Leave a comment

Friday was the end of the quarter, and I’m stunned. Where did the time go?

Second quarter always blows by in an instant–it’s mid-October now, and before I know it, I’ll be watching the Macy’s parade, writing a holiday letter, baking cookies, and BAM! It’s January.

Time seems to go faster every single day. I run out of time to grade, to work out, to write, to lesson plan, to spend time with friends and family.

Not quite sure what the solution is, if one even exists. But until I find one, I’ll just wake up in the morning, and show up to work, and refuse to settle for mediocrity.

And once a week, I’ll reflect on the positive with my friend Stueve.

How Did It Go?

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I survived my first deadline week. It all starts again tomorrow with story ideas for the next issue.

One of these days I will reflect and write a little more about how the year is going. About how teaching four classes isn’t going as well as I’d hoped. About how I can be really good at one subject for a day, but apparently not all four at the same time. And about how I keep trying new strategies in my classroom, see some of them work, and some of them fail, and what it all teaches me about where I need to grow.

But for now, just a vlog.

Deadline.

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This is deadline week. When I planned my weekly menu, I took this into account, and have healthy food options ready to schlep to school so I’m not tempted to binge on french fries (my go-to stress and comfort food). 

This is deadline week. My gym bag is already packed, and I am determined to start re-training for my 2nd 5K. I told my students we would not stay later than 8 PM any night this week. This means that no matter what time I leave school, before I go home, I will have time to hit the gym. 

This is deadline week. As soon as I finish this post, I am starting a grading marathon so I can start the week with nothing to grade.

This is deadline week. I’m smiling in this video…hopefully I’ll be smiling in next week’s video too.

Labor Day

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I know that Labor Day is supposed to be a day off, but it won’t be for me–and I”m sure it won’t be for many other teachers across the country.

Not that the New York Times or Fox News drives through school parking lots, begging to ask those teachers why they work on Saturdays, Sundays, or holidays…

That’s not to say that I’m finding ways to relax–I’m running my first-ever 5K, attending a family BBQ, binging on the NCIS marathon on USA–but eventually I will be in my classroom, setting sub plans for Tuesday, putting in copies for the week, planning lessons, and tackling the mounds of grading I’ve already managed to suffocate beneath.

It will be a day of labor, but by the end of it, I hope to feel invigorated and ready for a busy week.

Here’s Week 3 of our Adventures in Vlogging:

First Year: Week #3 from AE Stueve on Vimeo.

Adventures in Vlogging

~ jlrowse ~ Leave a comment

Sometimes, my friends can talk me into just about anything. Like documenting my first year as Newspaper adviser at Bellevue West High School in video form, for all the world to see.

And because I am a teensy bit narcissistic, I’ll embed the video here so you don’t even have to click a link to watch it.

But in all seriousness, I foresee this doing some good things for me. First, I’ll pay closer attention to what I do during the week so I have something relatively interesting to talk about on Friday afternoons. Second, it will force me to reflect on what I do as an adviser. And finally, it will (hopefully) give me a chance to laugh and commiserate with my good friend Stueve…and maybe someone else who teaches high school might stumble on our videos and find some solidarity and keep fighting the good fight.

First Year: Week #1 from AE Stueve on Vimeo.