I’ve been slacking heavily in the blogging department. I find that I tend to go through spurts of it here and there, then trail off for awhile, then back into it. My free time has been very well spent lately, so I’ll update on that along with some other things that have been going on.

The biggest of recent events is unfortunately a sad one. A couple weeks ago, a first-grade teacher at my school died suddenly. It caught everyone off-guard. From what I’ve heard, she had trouble breathing that morning, was rushed to the hospital, then her heart stopped and there was nothing they could do. At this point the school is back to a somewhat normal functionality, but for a few days it was a strange feeling. On one hand, it was very sad and tragic. There were both teachers and students hit hard by the loss, and it was a noticeable one. On the other hand, it showed a beautiful side of people. During an all-school meeting, it was amazing to see children hugging and comforting each other, really caring about one another. For a little while, we were a lot less of a school, and a lot more of a big family. That’s by far one of the things I like the most about where I work.

WrestleFest has come and gone, not without it’s own drama. JC was worried about the attendance the whole time, but I assured him frequently that it’d be fine. I don’t know how I knew, I just knew. The turnout was good, and the crowd itself was great! They were very much into the whole show. My return match was decent, and my “death” sequence was cut short. I was disappointed at the time that it didn’t play out how I would have liked it too, but myself and Volpe have already figured out a work-around that’ll make it work. Lots of work to do in the off-season, including several creative meetings and making entrance videos for everyone.

There’s a craft fair in Rochester coming up on Dec, 6th (I’ll post more specifics about the event soon). Every year several teachers from the school participate by selling one thing or another. After some discussions in the lunch room, I was asked to participate and sell the chocolates that I make around Christmastime every year. I’ve thought of selling them in the past, but never actually got around to it. The fair gives me a good opportunity to start that process. Maybe I’ll get into making different stuff around holiday seasons year round. I’ve already gone out and bought about 58 lbs. of chocolate, so I’m gonna be a busy guy between now and Christmas. I started production the other night and made about 50 peanut butter cups in 2 1/2 hours. I’m a machine!

That’s a long enough post for now I think. Stay tuned, I’m sure there’s more on the way.

This morning I was giving a reading test to a girl in the second grade. After the test was over, I asked her if she knew her way back to class and she said, “yes.” As she was getting up off her chair she said to me, “I want to give you something first.” Then she comes over to me and gives me a big hug. With the way I’ve been feeling lately, I kinda needed that. How do kids know?

Knowing my previous video experience, my principal asked if I could teach a video production class to one of the 4th grades in the school. Our task was to create a video tour of the school to be posted online. We spent half the year working on the result below. My main task was overseeing the project and teaching the kids the steps and techniques they would need. They were responsible for directing their own segments, writing their interview questions, and filming with the camera. For a 4th grade class taking their first shot at video, I’m pretty happy with the result. I realize this is probably pretty boring for most to watch, but I’m posting it anyway cause I’m proud of their efforts.

Wednesday night (April 30th) is the annual RMS Art Show. Myself, the other art teacher, and some parent volunteers have been busting our asses for the last two weeks covering the halls of the school with student work. We’ve been trying our best to put up 2-3 pieces per student, and there’s around 600 students in the building…so that’s a crapload of artwork to hang. The show is open to the public, so if you’re bored, are curious about what kids are learning in art these days, or just want to see my smiling face you’re welcome to come by. There will be light refreshments.

RMS Art Show
6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Rochester Memorial School
16 Pine Street, Rochester, MA
via google maps