It's been awhile...

Well, it's been awhile since I've sat down to blog and there's been a bunch of stuff going on. Normally when I say there's been a bunch of stuff going on its got something to do with my kids. Not this time! This update is all about me.

Let's start with inclusion teaching. Last blog, I talked about inclusion and that it had started off much better and it has continued to flourish. In the 7 inclusion classes that I have this year I actually co-teach the class. In the 4 Math Models classes its working great. Some days I do the notes and some days I do the examples. We work great together and I hope that the school allows us to work together for many years to come. In my 2 Geometry classes, its not quite as smooth. The teacher I work with is great, but I don't know my geometry as well and its harder for me to teach it. I'm learning though and we are working well together. Given time, I can see the same success in Geometry as I have in Math Models. My freshman Algebra class is a whole other story. First of all, its freshman. Enough said. Second, its the last class of the day. WOW! Outside of that, the teacher I work with is phenomenal. He is super organized and is a great teacher of detail. I am really at ease teaching Algebra, but not in his class. He does such a great job of teaching the kids to use highlighters, using their calculators and ways to eliminate answers on multiple choice tests. I know the material and believe that I can teach it too, but not the way he does. I enjoy watching him work. He's good.

Let's move from high school to college. A mere 24 years after I finished my undergraduate degree, I had to do something about getting a Masters degree. I didn't want to do it, but I didn't have a choice if I wanted to keep my job at North Mesquite or work in the MISD. I wasn't sure what I was going to do, but I had to do something. I heard about a program that the district and Texas A&M Commerce were offering called the Secondary COHORT program. The program consisted of 6 COHORT classes and 6 electives in 3 years. The COHORT classes would be taken 1 at a time in the Fall and Spring semesters. Each COHORT class would meet 5 times spread out over the semester. The electives were up to me. One option for the electives was to bundle 30 hours of Professional Knowledge classes offered by the district. With a wife, 4 kids and my desire to be a part of their lives, this sounded like the best option for me. So, in January, 2008 I started on my graduate degree. Last Wednesday, December 8, 2010, I finished my degree. I am now the proud owner of a Masters degree in Secondary Education. It was a unique experience for me. I enjoyed the COHORT classes, the people I got to know in my class, the teachers and the knowledge that I learned that has made me a better teacher, but it was hard. I stressed over every assignment and struggled writing every paper. When I finally turned in that last assignment, you can't believe the amount of stress that left my life. I guess the good thing about all of the worrying and all of the stress is that I finished with a 4.0. Not bad for a guy that barely survived undergrad school!

I saved the best, er...the worst for last. Halloween weekend, I was having problems with my eyes and when I woke up Monday morning I had double vision. After a trip to the eye doctor, I went to a Neurologist who said I most likely had a diabetic stroke, plus my blood pressure was high. I didn't know I was diabetic nor that there were blood pressure issues. Went and had an MRI and MRA on Wednesday (That's another blog someday), Cardiologist on Thursday, Endocronologist on Friday. Basically, I was messed up! The good news was that if I took care of myself I'd get my vision back. The bad news was it would take 3 to 6 months. Until then I have to wear an eye patch. Well, that was 6 weeks ago. During that time, I have taken control of my diet, taken my medications, lost 20 lbs and started walking 3 to 4 times a week. Now its just a matter of being patient until the eye gets better. There's more medical stuff to tell, but this has gotten long and I'll save it for another post.