Pretty much the hardest thing I have ever done

3 months ago i decided that i would attempt to run a marathon. As a virile young man, i thought to myself, "how hard could it possibly be?" Well, as it turns out, it was pretty darn hard. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to train with a co-worker of mine who is a veteran marathon runner. She is disciplined enough to make sure that we followed through with our training, including grueling 15, 18 and 22 mile long weekend runs.

Besides enduring torture treatment from Jack Bower, running 26.2 miles could possibly be the most painful thing to do to your body. I was prepared for the chaffing and the pounding that results in blisters and bloody nipples. I was ready to be dehydrated. What i was not ready for was the mental and emotional exhaustion that slammed into me around mile 23. The thought of going 3.2 more miles became emotionally devastating. During our training runs, a 3 miler would be completed in 25 minutes with barely a sweat broken. Now it seemed an impossible distance.

Somehow Jess and I were able to finish. For her account of the race check out her blog (Jess Blog). At the finish line, a wave of emotion flooded through me. It was amazing to me that i was able to complete something that less than .1% of Americans have ever done. I quickly moved on to help Jess into the medical tent and then to the food tent to guzzle down delicious bagels and oreos.

In the hotel after it was all over, i laid on the bed barely able to move. In between complaining about soreness and pain, we discussed the high and low points of the race. Within a few minutes our conversation turned to discussions of upcoming races. I am proud to admit that i have already signed up for the Disney Marathon and am in the pool for the New York Marathon. Thanks Jess for getting me hooked.

Favorite part of my morning

Like most people, i have a pretty set routine in the morning. I like to wake up early, make my coffee and bring it with me to school. My door doesn't open to students until 7:10 but i try to get to school by 6:20. I will normally make some oatmeal and enjoy my coffee while checking up on news and sports updates. Before my day gets too crazy, I am sure to check my favorite website.

Like all real men, I cannot stand going to the mall or department store. It is unbelievable that people can just wander around a mall for hours without a purpose. I do as much of my shopping online as possible. There is nothing better than shopping around online and then 2-3 days later having your season one box set of Baywatch delivered to your house.

Back to my morning routine. If you like shopping online and getting great deals on electronics and other goofy stuff, check out WOOT. This website sells only one item a day. Starting at 12am (central time) they begin selling a new item. They usually sell out rather quickly. As soon as they are out of stock, the sale is over. The website is well put together and has some humorous descriptions. If you are lucky, you will catch the "bag o crap" sale, during which they sell random items in paper bags for 1 dollar (plus 5 dollars shipping.)

Be sure to check out woot. It will make a good addition to your morning routine.

The Cafeteria

I gotta admit that for many of my students, the highlight of the day is the 30 minutes spent in the cafeteria. It is the one environment in our school where students have to make decisions that will affect their social lives. They have the opportunity to not only pick what they eat, but also who they will sit next to. For the most part, there is no assigned seating in the lunchroom. This means our students have the freedom to pick whether they sit next to the smelly kid with dandruff or the overly mature cheerleader with the too short for school skirt. Many a hard decision is made.

During my stint in a Junior High school in upstate New York, i found the cafeteria to be the second scariest place in school (the scariest by far was the boys locker room). Our cafeteria was monitored by lunch ladies who had little if any control over the students that freely roamed and wreaked havoc among weaker students. If there was going to be a fight there was a good chance that it would occur somewhere in the cafeteria. At least once a month my lunch would be ruined when two meatheads fighting over the cheerleader with the too short for school skirt would come flying across the cafeteria spilling trays full of delicious school food. They would inevitably land on the end of my table launching my turkey chunks with gravy skyward and leaving my stomach growling for the rest of the day.

In order to prevent my students from enduring this same hostile environment in the cafeteria our team has made a point to remain in the cafeteria with our students. Our contract stipulates that we are entitled to a duty free lunch. This means that we could drop our students off at the doors and then enjoy our fiesta pizza in peace and quiet. As a team, however, we would rather have our students eat in a peaceful and safe cafeteria. Although it is an inconvenience, we enjoy fewer behavior problems than teams who rely on "lunch lady" monitors. I also get the satisfaction that my students will always get to finish their turkey chunks with gravy.

Field Experiences

For the first time ever I had the opportunity to go on a "field experience." Throughout my life i have gone on many a "field trip." They were always fun. We would go to the zoo or the planetarium or crappy amusement park and test crappy g-force tools. The highlight of these trips was always the bus ride and lunch. More would be learned during the bus ride over than during the whole trip itself. Usually someone would get sick and throw up on the way home. I always felt bad for the teacher who would have to put that pink kitty litter stuff on the vomit so that he could sweep it up easier. I felt even worse for the kid who would then have to ride next to barf breath who looked like he was going to ralph again at any moment.

For the most part, that is how almost every field trip would go. Even over the last two years of teaching, just about every field trip has ended with a pungent puke smelling bus pulling up to the school parking lot. Today, however, was the beginning of a new type of out of school experience.

Earlier this year, there was a push throughout our county to change the vernacular from "field trip" to field experience." "Field trip" apparently sounds too much like the thing you do with your family to Wally World during the summer. I thought this was amusing, because for the most part, students continued to take trips to all kinds of fun places. They got to go to amusement parks, the movies and even tropical islands. These are all fun experiences that all students should have the opportunity to take, however, they essentially are "trips."

This morning we loaded our students onto a bus and drove out to a large state park. Our students brought their lunches which i suspected i would be cleaning up with pink kitty litter as well as their composition notebooks. For the three hours that we toured the park, our students worked their butts off making observations and taking over 5 full pages of notes. These students had the opportunity to see what we had studied in class, but they did so in a very structured way. When utilized properly, a "field trip" can become a very meaningful opportunity. I now have seen that there truly is a difference between a "field trip" and a "field experience" and it has little to do with the amount of regurgitated lunch that i have to clean up.

Teaching Rocks

Welcome to simonisays, a blog about nothing and everything at the same time. I am a 25 year old social studies teacher working in Florida. When i started off college, i had no idea that i would ever enter the world of education. As a current middle school teacher, i must admit that i have never been happier in a job. Middle school students comprise an age group that is one of the toughest to work with. Students are not children but they are not yet adults. The transitional world that makes up middle school is full of growth spurts, mood swings and acne. While i never imagined myself in such an environment, for the time being middle school rocks. Students are still young enough to have a good time and not take themselves too seriously. They are also old enough to be engaged in meaningful conversations. Overall, I love my job and my students.