THURSDAY, 1/15/14
This is a link to another short video from the table tennis park yesterday, in the snow.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/qkjxdzhkahowt4t/15.1.14.Table%20tennis.2.MOV?dl=0
If I understand the schedule correctly, today and tomorrow are my last two days to teach this semester. The grade 11 students are all enrolled in all-day SAT prep courses on Sunday thru Tuesday. On Wednesday, many of them will begin to travel to Singapore, Hong Kong, or Macau, to take the test on Saturday. The next school activity I have will be a faculty meeting on Feb. 28. That’s six weeks away.
I’ll be looking for a few things to keep my busy. Judy and I have two trips planned, and I may take a “day” trip over to Tianjin, a 45-minute “bullet train” ride away. It’s on the coast and handles much of the shipping load for Beijing.
My classes go well. We spend time working with “Garageband” and writing a 12-bar blues, including lyrics, about the students’ life at BHSFIC. The guitar club guys came in and practiced a little during lunch. After school, a couple of the students from the Orchestra Club came in and we discussed some plans for next semester. It’s hard to get too excited about arranging anything new when I know the schedule for the spring will be even more disrupted by tutoring and testing than this semester. Last year, we missed almost 6 weeks due to special class schedules designed to cram for AP tests.
FRIDAY, 1/16/14
I volunteered to help out at school today by serving as a test proctor for a MAP test for the 10th grade students. It begins at 8:00, so I have to head over earlier than usual for a Friday. My main job is to be available in case they need my computer for the supervisors from the testing company. The test is four hours, and online. Battery power becomes an issue. We have to make sure there are plenty of extension cords available. I get relieved in time to teach my regular music classes during periods 3 & 4.
After class, I eat lunch with several of the faculty, getting the info on their upcoming trips to the states. A few of them are accompanying student groups for exchanges with schools throughout the US. One of the groups will be at St. Marks in Dallas.
Judy’s had a busy week and is ready to crash. Grades are due next week, and although she’s been working ahead, trying to complete them, there is still a lot of work to do. Besides grades for each student, they also receives comments in 9 different areas. It’s really time consuming, since she has nearly 160 students to “assess”.