It's been a couple of years since I have taught an on-level world history class. Thus, it's been a little while since I've presented an "Artifacts Project" to one of my classes. This is a lesson that I found and used for the social studies class that I was student teaching way back when. I've used it as an opening lesson for a variety of both history and English classes over the years, but I started using it exclusively for my on-level world history courses over a decade ago. 

As I begin my world history class by talking about "prehistory" (the time before writing), I ask students to consider how we came to know what we know about that time period and those people. I talk about how archeologists look at the relics left behind and try to piece together what kind of story those relics tell. I then ask for them to consider what artifacts that they might have which might tell their story.

The directions are as follows: Students are to choose five artifacts from home that they will use to describe who they are. The items should all be able to fit in a normal sized grocery bag (paper or plastic). They should not be overly expensive, valuable, or breakable. No text other than names (e.g the name of a product or title of a book) or should be visible. Only one picture is allowed. Only one example of any type of media is allowed (e.g. no more than one book). All items must be appropriate for a school setting and follow school rules.

This year, my five items were: The Fellowship of the Ring - Extended Version, a PS3 controller, a small bust of Abraham Lincoln, my fortune-telling Yoda, and a copy of my novel - Dragon Hunter.

I'm looking forward to seeing what items they bring these next few days.

I don't remember doing the first day of school pictures for my children in previous years, and I didn't do so today despite how momentous it was. This was Rowen's first day at the middle school, Connor's first day at the high school, and my first day of my 25th school year. I've been looking forward to this day for a few years.

As much as I love the staff at Sterling Elementary, I am glad to finally be done taxiing children there. Janelle is able to keep to her preferred schedule since she does not need to drive to the school in the morning, and I can spend more time at the school as I don't have to leave right away to pick anyone up from the school or a bus stop. Ironically, I still drove into Sterling today after school so I could vote in the primary.

It's always great to have students back in the building. They were full of energy and excitement; although there seemed to be some terror and angst as well. A couple of my larger classes were a little too squirrely today, but I think that they will get into a better rhythm as the year goes on.

​Quite honestly, I'm looking forward to tomorrow.

Today has felt like multiple days rolled into one.

On the first "day," we had our annual in-service where people responsible for various areas in or connected to the school explain their role and how we can utilize their services as well help them with their duties.

On the second "day," I worked at getting my courses uploaded into Canvas. There is a lot of "front-loading" in the way I set up my classes, but it's time spent that pays dividends as the year goes on. Unfortunately, I hit two bottlenecks that were outside of my control. Hopefully, they will be cleared up soon.

On the third "day," I headed over to Kenai to watch Connor's first game (which turned out to be a truncated scrimmage). In Soldotna, the weather was sunny and almost hot; however, a dark cloud loomed over Kenai, growing ever more menacing as I approached until the heaven's opened and a deluge hit my car with water ponding on the road. If anything, the rain pelted the area with even more force as I pulled into the parking lot. I had the foresight to bring my rain jacket rather than just a fleece coat today, so I put it on and unfurled my rarely-used emergency umbrella that I keep in the car.

While my top half stayed relatively dry, my pants, shoes, and socks were soaked through in a short period of time. As I approached the stands, a small group of freshmen girls that included Connor's girlfriend approached me. Because they had no rain gear or umbrella, I let them borrow my small umbrella to huddle under as the torrents of water continued to fall. The rain hitting the stands (and my rain hood) were so loud that those of us there almost had to yell to be heard. I couldn't even hear the pads of the players hit as they were tackling one another.

I did not know Connor's number, but I thought that number 9 had the tall, tan, and lanky look of my son. Another parent said that he looked like Connor too. I cheered him on, especially when he swatted down one of the other team's passes, silently wondering if I might be cheering on someone else's son while letting my own son's deeds go unnoted. 

Thus, I was relieved to see Connor's head appear when he, as number 9, took off his helmet at the end of the game. By that time, the rain had not only ended (and my umbrella returned) but the sun was out enough to almost dry off my rain gear. As the scrimmage was shorter than I expected, we had time to drive home, change into dry close and return to the school for our open house.

On the fourth "day," we held the SoHi open house. Janelle came over from work and walked with Connor (well, he often ran off ahead) through his classes. Meanwhile, I greeted and herded and explained my classes as we ran through a truncated version of the school day. In just that short amount of time, I found myself out of breath and wishing that I had opened my window and turned on the fan.

On the fifth "day," I came home and was attacked by playful kittens. We then had dinner with reason to complain about the quality of the Paramount+ streaming service which would not let us watch the 9th episode of the 2nd season of Lower Decks (but had no problem showing us the 10th). 

On the sixth "day," I wrote this post while the boys made their final preparations for school tomorrow.

​On the seventh "day," I plan to go to bed and rest up for tomorrow.

Jesus warns His disciples about just how divisive His teaching is going to be. He guarantees that family members will turn against one another. To this day, Jesus' message has continued to divide, just as He had claimed it would.

During His time, Jesus was trying to break the Jewish people out of their ritualistic habits and embrace the true teachings that God had given them. So many people had become complacent in following the letter of the laws handed down to them, that they had lost the spirit behind them. They determined their faithfulness by the rituals that they followed rather than the love that they shared. Thus, when Jesus illuminates the true way, those who followed Him had to turn their backs of centuries of tradition and the family members who had become comfortable in their uncaring practices. 

Christ's teachings divide us today. At least one difference is between those who try to beat down others with twisted versions of Christ's message rather than trying to raise them up. As Mahatma Gandhi is attributed to say, "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." Sadly, most Christians think that returning to even more tradition is the answer, ignoring the sore that truly pushed so many people away. 

For Connor’s birthday today, we left for Petco at about 10:30. Even though the organization that was adopting out the cats was still setting up for their event that didn’t start until 11, there was already a small crowd there. In fact, Grizz (the cat Connor was most interested in) was already receiving a good deal of attention. For a moment or more, I was concerned that someone else was going to get him, and even though Connor said it would be okay, I could tell that he was disappointed. Thankfully, all of that handling of Grizz was for a publicity shot for the event and we were able to talk to the organizer to unite Grizz and Connor. The two took an immediate liking to each other.

I was already set on the idea of getting a second cat to be a companion to Grizz before we got there. Janelle wanted one that was female to help balance the gender scales in the house. There were only two that were not litter-mates with Grizz, and one was already bonding with another family. The organizer talked to us about Sockeye, and how she was a little more skittish before I spent time holding her. She immediately reminded me of our previous cat, Satin, in attitude and temperament—down to having thumbs. Although they think she is the same age as Grizz (about two months old), she spent a bit more time in the wild. Both cats are from rescued litters that this group (Cat Tree & Barkery) have vaccinated, dewormed, fixed, microchipped, and socialized before setting up adoptions.

We invested in cat trees, a litter box, cat litter, food (they same type they were already on), and toys. Grizz is nearly fearless, even around the dogs, and is definitely a people-lover. Sockeye can be quite the cuddler, but she also seeks out the most out-of-the-way hiding spots. Thankfully, they both seem content to use the litter box.

I spent the time that I should have been working on my upcoming classes getting to know these new family members better. I did miss having cats. Certainly, they can be trouble, but they brighten our house with their antics and affection.

I probably should have worked on writing today's post while I was feeling more coherent. I need to go to bed. I'm dealing with late loads of cabin laundry as we had messy cabin guests leave today and a new set of guests arriving tomorrow. I still have plenty of work to do to get ready for Tuesday (or even Monday night's open house), but I think that I'm at the point of diminishing returns. Also, Trevor just got home, so I can leave the rest of the laundry up to him (especially since he should have gotten it done before he left for work). 

I'm glad that I get to sleep in a bit tomorrow, but I need to make that extra sleep in the morning count by getting to bed now.

Connor wants a cat. He has been begging (yes, begging) for a cat for over a month now. It's been a couple of years since our last cat passed away, and it has been nice to not find cat "surprises" all over the house, let alone deal with the issues of litter boxes and cat food (and dogs getting into litter boxes and cat food). However, Connor's girlfriend (yes, girlfriend) loves cats and has been extolling their virtues to him throughout the summer. In fact, one of her friends has access to kittens, one of which (named Grizz) that he has decided would be absolutely perfect (no, I'm not spelling it the other way).

It just so happens that Grizz (and the other kittens) will be available for sale (after being spayed or neutered, dewormed, vaccinated, and microchipped) this Saturday. It also just so happens that Saturday is Connor's birthday. After letting me know these facts, Connor told me, "It's meant to be."

I will admit that I do love having cats. However, my earlier concerns still stand. Additionally, I am concerned about getting a cat (or cats) now as the school year starts when we would have had more training time over the summer. In response, Connor has pointed out that he did ask earlier in the summer.

The things we do for love.

I decided to change things up this year and rearranged the tables and chairs in my classroom. I wanted to put more emphasis on the center of the room discussions that I have as the foundational element of my instructional design.(which I learned when I read a book called Socratic Circles over a decade ago). I also wanted to have fewer students with their backs towards me than I have had with the "pod" configurations that I've used for the past few years. The result is a broken ellipse within a broken horseshoe. Together, it sort of looks like an incomplete @. 

I also finally removed a legacy table that I inherited when I moved into the room. Removing it allowed me to reduce the footprint of my teacher's desk as well. I'm hoping that I created an arrangement that allows me to move fairly easily to each of my students, reduces the issues of students rocking back into one another or kicking each others' feet, and makes it less likely that students will vape in the classroom. I don't know if it will be better, but it is different and I like it (for now).

Today, I began my 25th school year with the first of the five teacher work days before students arrive. I don't remember everything about those past 24 years, but I do have a clear memory of the evening after my first day in 1998 when I had returned from Colon (and the St. Joseph ISD) to the empty second floor apartment in Sturgis that I had recently leased. Janelle and the girls were still in Jackson as my hiring had come a bit late (the day before I had to report) and Janelle was working her final two weeks of notice at JCPenney. I had not been able to give two weeks of notice to Target, but had left on good terms with managers who understood my situation and wished me luck.

The apartment was furnished, but I was on the floor with everything I had picked up that day (textbooks, various materials, forms, a blank lesson book, a copy of The First Days of School by Harry Wong) spread out on the floor around me. I was absolutely despairing. I wondered what I had gotten myself into. I remembered one of my managers from Target telling me that she had left teaching and made more money with less stress as an assistant manager. She had urged me to do the same, and at that moment, I was wondering if I should just go back to Janelle and the girls that night and walk into Target the next morning asking for my job back.

I looked out the sliding door that led to our tiny balcony. Across the street was a service station that sold alcohol. I had never drank, but at that moment, I was the most tempted to do so than at any other point in my life. Honestly, I think that it was my inexperience in knowing how to go about buying alcohol (not to mention my awareness of just how low our finances were) that kept me dry. Had there been a drop of alcohol in that empty apartment, I would have drank it.

Instead, I started working. I wrote down plans my classes on the first day, and I read Harry Wong's book from cover to cover. I would then change those first day plans and make my first draft of my "I am not your friend" speech. In the next few days, I would work out what I wanted to do for the day after that and get some ideas from strangers (my coworkers) who would become some of my best friends.

I did not think I would make it to, let alone through, year four as a teacher which I knew to statistically be the year of decision for most teachers as to whether they will leave or stay with the profession. Here I am with 24 school years of experience about to embark on my 25th. I won't get a pin or any special consideration for this year; I have moved school districts too often for that. Still, I feel a weighty significance for this coming year.

I no longer feel like despairing at the beginning of a school year. Certainly, there are still some nerves akin to stage-fright and concerns about what may or may not happen, but they are almost completely dampened by my enthusiasm for the coming year and my love for the students (most of whom I haven't even met yet). I hold nothing against the managers at Target, but all things considered, I'm in a much better profession.

Today was rather anticlimactic. There are a number of tasks that I wanted to accomplish this summer that I did not manage to finish (or even start, in some cases). Still, it was a nice summer that went by all too quickly.

As I am writing this, a moose and her child are walking through our yard. This is the second time that moose have waited to show until the day after family members have returned to the Lower 48. In a sense, that's a solid metaphor for my summer: events seem to have happened in ways that are just off of my expectations--that doesn't mean worse, just different. 

I didn't watch the many of the movies that I expected to, but I watched others instead. I still haven't managed to complete the Witcher 3, but I did finish the book series it is based upon. We never did pull out the kayaks, but I saw sea creatures (such as a humpback whale) that I had never directly seen before and I went to Whittier twice.

​The important thing is, even if the summer felt a little off, it was still rejuvenating.  

"For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be." In this Sunday's Gospel, Jesus reminds us that any store of treasure here on Earth will not last, and that we should instead focus on the treasure of heaven for then our hearts will be in the right place. Our pastor repeated that idea in his homily, warning that people should not (yet often do) misquote and reverse this teaching of Jesus.

I struggle with this. I say this after dropping off my daughter and her family in Anchorage so that they could return to Michigan. Like Anakin, who is warned by Yoda about attachments to this world and the need to let go of loved ones, I struggle with the concept of holding onto ethereal convictions rather than loved ones whom I can speak with, tickle, and hug. Somehow, I'm supposed to put the promise of an unseen heaven at a higher priority than my giggling grandchildren ... That is not even easy to say, let alone do.

My compromise is that God placed these slices of heaven here on Earth as a taste of the greater things to come. I have to be ready to embrace these short times with loved ones as they come by. However, I have to be just as ready to let them get on an airplane and fly away. 

Already, we need to prepare for the departure of my younger daughter's family. It was a whirlwind trip that just did not last long enough. Today, Peter finished up the backsplash in our bathroom for us (a previously unfinished task that we started in March of 2021). Meanwhile, Janelle made a chocolate cake with strawberry filling and frosting for our week-early celebration of Connor's birthday. Aside from the cake, Connor largely stayed focused on crafting an innovative means of diffusing the LED lights he has around the ceiling of his room. I've been spending the past couple of days trying to soak in all of the grandbaby hugs that I can get.

 Tomorrow, we will go to church, have lunch, pack up, and head to Anchorage to take them to the airport. I'm glad that they had the chance to come down during the summer as they usually only visit the area in the winter. It's been great being out and about with them this past week.

According to Facebook, it was seven years ago on this date that Trevor and I got into my packed Prius, Mera, and drove away from our home in Michigan. I am still amazed by that fact. Long had I wanted to return to Alaska, and that dream became a reality in a whirlwind of events.

Our trip up had to take place within five days as I needed to report to work on the 10th for the new-teacher in-service. I had only accepted the job a few days before. It was reckless and selfish, yet the calling that I had (and have) was (and is) so strong that it could not be denied. I placed my faith in God, and He did not disappoint. Even the setbacks that we faced ended up leading to better opportunities.

There are religious references to seven years of service. It's seen in the story of Jacob, Leah, and Rachel. My first teaching job in Colon lasted for seven (school) years. It was after seven years at Lincoln that I finally taught AP World History (which is probably my favorite class to teach). Thus, as I consider these past seven years, I also cannot help but contemplate what lies ahead.

Today’s adventure took us to the Sea Life Center in Seward. There were many highlights, but the favorites seemed to be the sea lions, octopus, and sea jellies. The playground at the beach was also well-liked.