Hey, guys. Long time no see. A lot has happened since we've lost shot the breeze. We have a new president, he's nominated a bunch of terrible cabinet appointees who have mostly been confirmed at this point (one of which wants to destroy my career field), and other stuff too.
So, you might (or might not) be wondering, "Kenneth, where the hell have you been?" Well, I've been working. Working my ass off, really. As my wife will tell you (if you ask her) I have a bit of an ADD problem (a little one), but when I focus in on something I'm hyper-focused, grinding at it. This has always how I've been with my writing (been harder this year with my new job), but this is the first year of me teaching that has really required me to dive in head first, sinking hours of non-contracted time a week planning and researching better ways to help my students. It's a tough job. And it's one that's so important I can't imagine doing it without dedicating myself to it. Doing it any other way wouldn't be affective. At school I often lose my plan (sometimes lunch) due to children throwing fits, so that requires me to stay late and get things printed out. Any phone calls to parents have to be made after school (I have no other time to do this), all the research I do over my kids specific disabilities (which are wide ranging) I do at night on the couch. I also spend time outside school hours cutting, gluing, and laminating educational games for my kids to play. I'm in my classroom at least every other Sunday catching up on my classroom "to do" list, which never, ever, has an end. When I find something new in my research that I think might help my students, I hop onto Amazon and see if I can afford purchasing it (I often do).
Now, I'm not by any means an a-typical teacher. This is the norm of this particular career field. It's populated by passionate, hardworking, women and men who are overworked and under paid. I now find myself among them, so if you don't see me for awhile, know that I'm probably off laminating some purple construction paper to make a more dynamic Magic E board game for my kids.