RISD: first things first

My role as a substitute teacher allowed me to see a good deal of the
district. I subbed in every high school, every junior high, the
alternative school (CMLC) and some elementary schools.

I had days with delightful kids and days when kids were taken away by
the police. Classrooms where I would want my own kid to be and
classrooms where I would never, ever consider placing my kid.

I had small, easily-managed groups and class sizes that were out of
control. Hint: when the teacher's note says "there are not enough
desks for the students so some sit at my desk or on the floor" it is
safe to say that class is too big. I had a 9th grade social studies
assignment at Berkner where there the largest class was 42 and the
smallest class was well into the thirties (38? 36? don't remember). It
is common to have more students than textbooks.

I spent time in schools that were nurturing and healthy (North JH, for
example) and schools that felt like a street fight or rioting minimum
security prison (Forest Meadow). How /do/ 7th graders get tattoos, anyhow?

I believe RISD is still a very good school district and is facing some
real challenges. I'll address this in a weekend post.

My next post will be about school might be different now compared to
when I (and maybe you) went to school.

posted by offline email

Upcoming: RISD retrospective

Because of some dramatic changes in my work life I have been unable to
make any real updates lately.

Short version: the continued implosion of the national and state
economies has caused stresses on the ISDs. This resulted in hiring
freezes and attrition scenarios. It is a Bad Time for folks who were
subbing until they could get hired as a teacher. I subbed for RISD
until I ran completely out of resources. Sometimes dreams are deferred
and we have to man up about it.

I did successfully land a non-teaching job which allows me to pay my
bills and keep the house. I am grateful to have a job in this
craptastic economy. Anyhoo.

This may be a good time to take a look back on my experiences in RISD.
I've got a few posts sketched out; I hope they are interesting or at
least informative. I may ruffle some feathers, and I am conflicted
about how to constructively present some of the more challenging and
delicate issues. Hopefully I can shed more light than heat.

posted by email

Voted at the old red schoolhouse

I was the only voter there at the time. Three determined and good-spirited volunteers worked the polling place. Two of them were fighting the wind to get the "no signs past this point" marker to stay in place.

The touchscreen on my machine was a bit stubborn for both myself and the volunteer who did the setup. But my stubbornness surpassed that of the machine and I gamely pressed and pressed until it took the input. It was accurate, just unwilling to take input. I suspect the digitizer needed to be recalibrated.

Review - Favorite Yogurt in DFW Chinatown

Dear Wife and I checked in at Favorite Yogurt there in the 400 N Greenville strip. Modern space, clean, machines in good order, and all but one or two flavors frozen and ready to serve. The fellow working there was genteel and accomodating. Recommended, although it'd be pretty easy to go over $5 for each person.

I had:
original tart (why am I so late to this game? Awesome!)
vanilla - the most 'usual' flavor there
taro
green tea
lychee
blueberry

Wife had:
green apple
strawberry
orange

All the flavors were well done, which is not to say I think all those flavors belong in yogurt. Green tea was spot-on perfect flavor but not something I'd do again, though I like that same flavor in soy "ice cream".

Joe Bob Briggs would say "check it out".

Those weather radios

I found one of those $40 automatic weather radios at a garage sale for $4 and snapped it up. I don't think it had been used.

The basic idea is that you can turn it on to hear the NOAA weather forecast, or let it automagically come on with an alert if a warning/watch is issued.

This works because in addition to transmitting audio that humans hear, NOAA transmits data that consumer (and emergency services) radio gear listens for. This data includes a few things:

1. the type of hazard (tornado, freeze, volcano, nuclear, chemical, etc)
2. expiration time
3. the county affected by the alert, identified by a SAME code.

If you opt for the alerts you can either say "trigger the radio when it receives any alert" or "trigger the radio when it receives any alert in the counties I have defined." I plugged in the Dallas and Collin county codes and, as designed, it was triggered by the severe thunderstorm watch this afternoon. Good stuff, Maynard.

If you haven't picked up one of these I'd say it works well and is worth the time/money. If you are frugal or economically challenged you can grab one used off craigslist, eBay, or (like me) a garage sale. If you have one and haven't programmed in the SAME codes, I'd encourage you to do it: it's only painful once, as long as you have a battery backup in there.

$3.63 is the cheapest in town

Here's the current listing.

I don't remember what gasoline got up to a few years back, but I think it was around this territory. It spiked to ~$3.65 at the station near where I worked in Dallas but the most I'd paid during a fillup was ~$3.45.

I suspect the freak-out point will occur when we start seeing $4.00 for regular around town.

Dear Shouty McRedshirt

Please don't yell and curse in our candidate forums.

We wouldn't shout and curse when you're playing on the golf course (or at the Eisemann with cronies), so extend us the same courtesy.

Thanks.