Other Duties Call

specialeducationI am finding less and less time on my hands to blog or to follow the many blogs I enjoy following.  Why?  For one, I’m way out-of-town right now (I scheduled this post beforehand) at my son’s baseball tournament for 5-days and 4-nights.  He is a very good catcher on a good little league team; they typically go far in tournaments.  Summer is pretty busy when you have kids.

Another minor reason is because of the remote location I am temporarily living:  far southwest rural Texas has few choices for internet providers. Their streaming data packages are either very limited or if not “limited,” very expensive.  Hence, if it’s not all closely monitored, data uploads and downloads can snowball and quickly get expensive.  And as some of you tech-savvy and internet-savvy bloggers may know, most websites and browsing can DEVOUR data speeds, streaming data limits, etc, etc, like an angry momma bear defending her cubs!  That’s one reason my internet per diem is fixed and not unlimited.

spec_ed-enabledThe other reason, the main reason, is my upcoming licensing exam in July to be certified in Special Education Early Childhood through 12th grade (EC-12).  The preparation for this exam is critical because I already have at least four school districts (and growing) who want me to pass it and work for them.  And so I must pass it…for a number of reasons.  Not long after acquiring the certification, I will have to prepare and move to my new job location.

Therefore, this is my quick simple bulletin that I have not become disinterested in blogging or following your particular blog, but that my personal priorities for the next two months dictate I give more time to a very significant goal/license (and expansion of future opportunities) and less time to things not as significant.  One universal truth that will never change is 24-hours in a day.  No matter how you slice it up, no matter how you shift this or that, there will never ever be more than 24-hours.  Technically, and for health reasons, we have only 17-hours per day — about 7-hours of sleep doctors agree is required for the body to recoup.  Boom.

quiet-everyone-studyI will try to blog and follow blogs as my time allows now and for the summer, however, as August approaches many educators are busy gearing up for the start of the school year, and in some cases – like me even when I’m not preparing for a licensing exam – they start in July.

There are many, MANY posts I’ve started, some I’ve almost completed, and others that are merely in the concept/idea stage that will all eventually get posted/published on here.  For example, these are a few in the works and not in any order…

After Dark – Part 2
Exiting a Wing-suit in Mid-flight
L’absurdité de la Guerre
“For the Kids”
Chasing the Golden Mortarboard
Phi –What?
(none of you steal my ideas here! *wink*)
Fecal Pushers
You Have To Come Home
The Holy River
The Collective Imperative
I Want You
and The Major Sex-Ed Problem in Texas to name a few…

…so I will not be disappearing.  Just not posting or visiting as much until my schedule has more flexibility.

This is therefore a See You A Little Less, and not goodbye.  Feel free to email me (professor(dot)taboo(at)gmail(dot)com) if you would like.  I check emails daily.

One More Short Week!

We Are Outta Here, and We’re Not Waitin On Anyone!

You may not guess who is ready to pop a wheelie off of campus.  Better yet, according to most of our staff, it’s probably everyone that is ready to get the bus ‘outta here!  Four more days until that day:  School’s Out For Summer!  Then it’s some serious R&R before all the exams and professional development hours have to be done by July.  Grrrrrr.

Nonetheless, I do hope to post some over the next two and half months.  I emphasize HOPE however.  My summer is not exactly empty for frequent ‘adult times’…sadly.  Don’t get me wrong, I do love my work; the challenges of Special Ed kids has its non-monotary rewards.  There are five of my 27 SpecEd students that are nothing like they were when they first arrived.  They are my poster-students, if you will, of success and works-in-progress.  I am so VERY proud of them!  Several others still have much work ahead of them, but show potential.  My 8th graders gave me a nice funny compliment yesterday.  They said that if they have to they “will fail 9th grade Social Studies just to get back in my class.”  They put a big smile on my face.

This short update blog, however, is just to let friends know that my 60 – 70 hour work weeks and weekends will soon be over.  I’m sure that I will be traveling between Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio to visit and ‘play, dance, and laugh’ (big grin).  I will indeed see all of you soon!