Blogging in Context

I most often blog some rant about education or something I've read recently, but the thing that has most recently been impressed upon me is the old saying, "you must BE the change you want to see." After the dust settles, am I LIVING like Christ? Are my rants about education compliments of ravishing Christ following, or are they simply bubbles floating ethereally through the intellisphere, waiting to be popped? For those who think I'm simply playing foolish mind games and that I'll grow up some day, may I give you a bit of context from which I blog.

I'm a teacher with real students with very real faults, but they really give me energy for life.


Studying colonial America. (My Grandpa is a great resource:)



And these guys had never done leap frog races before!



Sometimes I'm energetic and love what I do.


Sometimes I'm discouraged and just feel like sleeping.


This message is brought to you by krriptonite. Photos, courtesy of ACS yearbook staff.

Z. Randall Stroope is one of the most active choral conductors and composers working in the United States today, with recent conducting engagements at the American School in Singapore, Canterbury Cathedral, England, Salzburger Dom in Salzburg, Washington National Cathedral, Vancouver Symphony, Lincoln Center, and Carnegie Hall. His compositions sell over 200,000 copies a year, and are performed regularly by esteemed ensembles throughout the world. Dr. Stroope has personally conducted/recorded 13 professional compact discs, and recordings of his music are heard frequently on radio and television broadcasts across the United States.

I have been listening to a lot of Randall's compositions recently which have grown on me immensely. His compositions range from quite modern pieces like "The Conversion of Saul" to more traditional arrangements like his "Invocation" for women's ensemble. Below are several renditions of one of my favorite excerpts from his "Passages" titled "Inscription of Hope" that I found at the Library while searching for music for my grade school choir. The words were taken from an inscription on the wall of a place of hiding used by the Jews during the Holocaust.

school room snapshot

One day recently when I was giving my students a bible memory test, one of my 7th grade boys raised his hand. Thinking he was most likely wanting a prompt, I grabbed my double edged sword and strode over to his desk. I was surprised to find that he wasn't looking for a prompt. No...in all earnestness he simply wanted to inform me that, "I know the next three verses, I just don't know how to word them!"

Haggles and Haggles of Geese

College kids soooo still need their parents! I’ve actually returned to the land of the living after a short week and a half recess due to sickness (Comparable to a year and a half). I must admit that the catacombs have a seductive lure to them….veiling death itself in comfortable shrouds of Nyquil, Tylenol, fevers, the chills, steaming showers, hot tea, nasal drainage, and the subsequent blissful slumber. Furthermore, I have perfected the sought after instinct, commonly referenced as “Nocturnal Wheezing” and the “Toss and Turn.” This particular combination is extremely effective and will consistently leave all bed drapery twisted into hopeless knots by the first signs of dawn. The sick mans prayer is that he will never need to leave his bed quickly during such intimate relations with his drapery. After extracting myself with much effort this morning, I wanted to get as far from my drapery as possible, so I hopped over to the local coffee shop this afternoon to do some school work. Unfortunately, there are several haggles of college kids here who don’t even know the definition of “Corner Coffee Shop.” It sounds like a flock of Canada Geese in here at best….and the most disconcerting of all, is the fact that I’m no where even close to Canada. Presently I’m attempting to recall which way geese migrate in the spring, and if migration is attributed to native instinct or simply a taught concept that involves a mother goose.
So this is what our educational system is producing? The haggles of geese are flocking out of our educational system, and sadly they may as well migrate to South America and Mexico along with the Monarch Butterflies. The only complication is that Mexico WANTS the monarch butterflies. Right now I’m looking at these kids wondering which one is in medical school? Which one will perform my lobotomy when I need one...I’m now breaking out in a cold sweat! That doctor who is attempting a triple bypass on your grandfather…well lets hope he actually knows something about cardiovascular systems, and didn’t simply CLEP his way through medical school.
What is my 8th grader (or his parents) looking for this year? Well….he’s looking for a good report card. What are our high school graduates looking for? Well…they hope they have a good transcript to show the academics advisor at the local college or their future employer. What do our college kids want? Well…they want a degree. A successful student will get what he wants. I wonder…may I redefine success? Oh….goodness…..who has time for such foolishness? Not me….I need to go pull some grades together for report cards.