Taken for Granted

Yesterday, I was starting to get overwhelmed. I know what you are thinking, it’s the summer and you are feeling overwhelmed? I thought teachers don’t do anything over the summer? A good teacher will be as busy in the summer than in the school year. It’s time to review, evaluate, and adjust.

In my case, it’s more difficult. I have 5 different preps and four of my lessons became obsolete. Partially, because we are getting new, professional level software; partially, because I’ve learned more about my subjects. As stated in a previous post, I was never taught what I am teaching. So I have to learn it all. I’m not complaining; in fact, I love learning this stuff. It’s just the amount that I have to learn at the level I want to learn it. I could easily have my kids learn FrontPage or Publisher and have them create websites and desktop publishing products from them. However, anyone can do those things using those products. Plus, those products don’t allow you total control which is a problem to someone who actually knows what they are doing. They are great programs for the home user. I want my kids to think of computer commercial art as a possible career.

Well, I decided to take yesterday off. I bought a book on The Replacements, my favorite band of all time. After basketball, a friend and I went to eat and then went watch Ironman. Both good choices.

Today, I woke up to some good news. My marketing class is eligible for a grant of $5000 dollars. I received the grant but I had some trouble with it. If you have ever written a grant, you know you have to allocate all the money and spend it as you said you would. Well, I had it done down to almost the penny. Then it happened. Everything I purchased was on sale. If this were my money, I would be ecstatic. But I ended up saving over 1000 dollars. To make matters worse, I was doing this will limited amount of time. Last year’s grant was due June 1; this year it was due April 15. I figured this out the week before Easter vacation. I was able to get everything in time for my final report. I then received an email saying I could spend it on paper. This is a great thing for my class. But when I went shopping, you got it; I got most of the stuff half priced. So, I spent more. My car actually got lower from all the paper. Today, I get an email from the grant committee. They actually said of all the grant proposals mine was the best and they want to use it as an example of how to write a proposal. HA! Smoke and mirrors, my friend, smoke and mirrors.