Is this what it feels like to blog?  It has been a while since I last blogged because life has been so busy lately at home and at work that I have often gone right to bed after arriving home from work.  Well, that is only after I get a few moments of television watching in since I usually fall asleep on the couch. 

Work has been buys, taking standardized tests, dealing with personnel issues, and spending 8 hours each Friday at the Central Office interviewing possible teacher candidates.  I have found some great matches for our campus for next next and a few of them will come from Teach For America.  I am anxious to get some energetic teachers in the building next year and the possibilities are limitless!  I will even arrange for some of our new hires to take part in summer professional development, especially a course called “The Skillful Teacher.”  I have a vacant space for participation in this program that I intend to fill with a new hire.  That will mean three of my teachers, one from each grade band, will be represented at this course.  What a great resource that will be!

Of course there have been some rather interesting interviews and those are the types that are painful to sit through knowing that you could be doing so many other more productive things!  I can go on and on about some of the strange characters who have come in to interview – and that means passing a telephone screening call – like the woman who, thirty minutes into the interview, proclaims how she does not want to be a teacher.  Strange, that’s what we are here to interview for, but I suppose she just got tired mid-way and left.  Other people I have met should just not work around kids and other are super fit for the job.  You never really know until you start to ask questions, and some of the answers are just comical!

I asked a candidate to share with me her reflections on a lesson she taught that was just difficult for the students to understand and how she compensated for that.  She told me about a genetics lesson she taught that just had some really challenging vocabulary words, particularly heterogeneous and homogeneous.  She said “well, I just told the kids…you know…hetero means straight and homo means gay…and that helped them understand it.  No offense, or anything.”

Really?

Are you serious?

The interview ended shortly after her reflection on this lesson and we parted ways.  The most awkward part was me telling this story over and over to the other principals coming in and out of the conference room and everyone laughing, having a good time listening to me tell the story.  As I was leaving the conference room after eating lunch together, the candidate was still sitting waiting for her ride in the waiting area and she had to have heard me tell this story over and over.  Awkward!  But its still funny…

Last weekend I went for a beautiful 10 mile run along the C & O Canal in DC which resulted in a bit of a sun burn on my forehead, then wandered around the Dupont Farmers Market later that afternoon where LC and I met up with his friend AB for lunch.  We waited a really long time to get an outdoor seat but it was soooo worth it.  Sitting along P Street, not only did we get some good food we also got some nice sights to look at!

This weekend is set to be a rainy one, so LC and I are going to the theatre tonight to see a production of Annie.  Yea, totally gay, but we’re not going to sit home!  A few trips to make, we will be out and about today trying to get some things done so tomorrow can be a total rest day.  We got a head start on the lawn mowing last night taking down what looked like an overgrown mess of grass!  With all of the rain we have been getting it has been hard to keep the lawn looking manicured – but that is fixed now, thankfully!  Not spending my week at the house has been a challenge with cleaning and maintenance of the lawn, and condo living is so nice in Foggy Bottom that I am kind of spoiled with not having to do yardwork in DC and coming back to Cheverly each weekend presents the suburban tasks of home ownership.  At least LC does all of the gardening and yard work so why am I even complaining!  I usually bake or watch tv whie he is out pulling ivy or clearing the yard.  OK, enough blabbing.

I am back – back to blogging and back to blabbing.  Can’t you tell?