Paradise Re-found

I Wish HoJo Rented Rooms by the Hour

Sun, 19 Jul 2009 08:51:44 GMT

It's 4:30am. I'm at the Tampa airport waiting for my 6am flight to DFW then to my final destination of Shreveport, Louisiana.

Yesterday, I flew from St. Martin to Miami and then arrived in Tampa around 11pm. I had an overnight layover. My first one ever. I got to the Howard Johnson at 1am. The front desk manager scoffed at me when I asked for a 3:30am wake up call. That's fine Mr. Manager. I scoffed at your quaffed up hair. I got to sleep at 1:30. Two hours later, I woke up, showered and checked out of the HoJo. And no... I didn't sleep under the covers. Mr. Manager again scoffed at me when I asked to check out. Hey... If you don't want my 40 bucks, I could have easily spent that much being entertained across the street at either one of the nude bars that were available to me.

I could have easily stayed on one of the airport's comfy benches (as I'm looking around this morning several people decided to do that). But I was able to get a hot shower. Was it worth $40 to get a 2-hour nap and a shower. Absolutely. The worst part about it is that I had my luggage checked all the way from St. Martin to Shreveport. So due to my own stupidity I don't have toothpaste or deodorant... plus my hair is all poofy AND I haven't shaved in a week. I feel bad for my Shreveport friends that are picking me up.

If it weren't for Starfucks, I probably wouldn't be able to type this morning.

Been Busy

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:31:28 GMT

So my internet has been out for a while now. I don't know what the problem is and I don't feel like fixing it. I've been too busy to even worry about it. I don't have any crazy international trip planned this summer. Just random stuff.

June 10: Last day with students
June 17: Last day for teachers
June 19 - 22: MYP Conference in Puerto Rico
June 24 - July 1: Ross and Virginia visited me in St. Thomas
July 4: Wedding on the beach
July 6 - 9: DP Conference in New York
July 11 - 18: Vacationing in St. Martin's with my parents
July 18 - whenever: Visiting friends and family in Louisiana
Whenever - whenever: Visiting friends in Texas
Early August - Back to St. Thomas

"Calculate That!"

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 20:45:53 GMT

... quoth the frantic chinchilla as he scored the next volleyball point.

We are at the end of the school year. This has been our week of finals and it's been a weird roller coaster of events: finals, contracts, new hires, ceremonies, accidents and a volleyball game.

Finals are always a tough time. This year I had to write a final for four different math classes. We can't make them too easy and they can't be too hard - just challenging enough to question their overall knowledge of everything that they have learned the entire year. And what they should know from a teacher's point of view is completely different from what the student's think they should know. Since I'm the only math teacher at the school, I really just have to trust my own judgment. Teachers generally tend to have high expectations of their students (the good ones do anyway). The students are never where you want them to be and they don't understand how to study properly. Then I realize that it's the teacher's job to foster good study habits but we can't do everything for them. You try to be fair and seemingly good things come to bite you in your ass.

This year I allowed them to have an index card and they were allowed to write as much as they wanted to on it. In my philosophy of teaching math, I don't emphasize memorizing every single formula (some... yes). I'm more worried about whether or not they can apply the formula to solve real-world problems. So some of the students took advantage of the opportunity and did a good job loading up the card with good information. But enough students annoyed me so that I didn't want to do it like that again (I even had to contact a parent over this). I made each final challenging enough to see which students really knew the material but I did curve it. The grades seemed accurate and fair. However, I feel like the super strict teacher that needs to lighten up.

The time of contracts is always really tough too. Are we hired or fired? Did we win or lose? Are we good teachers or do we suckass? I know that that's not what it means but that's what it feels like. Most everybody at my school has been fired from a previous teaching job and the wounds still hurt. We're an emotional and passionate group of teachers. My evaluation was mostly positive and I agree with everything he said (even the critical things). I feel like this has been my most successful and rewarding year as a teacher. I was dealt a bad hand and I did what I could. We all were. But we are ending the school year miles ahead of where I thought we would be.

However, this year has been like matching book ends. We are finishing with drama just like what we started with. It looks as though our sturdy fivesome team of teachers is splitting up. We really enjoyed working as a team this year. We got so comfortable that we were able to acknowledge our little teacher nuances. We've all been through our own personal hells this year and have become better and stronger teachers because of it. We are also starting to find out about the new hires that are joining us next year. It's really nerve-racking to think about having new people join your group after you've worked so hard as a team.

One of our amazing staff members, bless her heart, fell down and twisted her ankle on Thursday. She was walking down the path from the upper campus to the lower campus. This path through the jungle consists of 96 steps (yes I've counted), rocks and trees and no escalator. It happened after school was over. She was fortunate that this wasn't a normal school day because it happened after most people are usually gone for the day. But Thursday we were having a ceremony for our 10th grade students so there were plenty of people walking around. I volunteered to take her to the ER since I didn't have that big of a part in the ceremony. I was sad that I would be missing it. However, I was glad that I would be able to get home earlier than planned so I could grade my finals (I wouldn't have been able to finish otherwise). The ride to the ER was a nightmare and it ended up turning into the ride to her house. We nicknamed the night "Night of the Lobster - Part II." Every time I take her home something crazy happens.

On Friday, we met with each of our classes to go over the finals with the students. So I volunteered to have most of my finals on Thursday since it's easier to grade a math test than it is an English or humanities test. All the teachers came to school on Friday looking like death warmed over. Everyone had 3-4 classes of finals to grade in 1-3 days time. Then having to go over every single problem with the student is a beat down. They did say that the ceremony was really nice. The movie that I have been planning all year was shown as a part of the ceremony. All year I've been bringing my digital camera to every school function and collecting videos of the students. I spent the last 2-3 weeks editing the clips and putting together an end-of-the-year movie about our students. It went over well so that made me feel good.

In the afternoon on Friday, there was a school wide volleyball match - teachers vs. students. The 9-12 (age) classroom played against their teachers while the entire school cheered. Then the middle school and high school students got to play against the five of us teachers plus the head of school. I'm horrible when it comes to serving in volleyball but I'm a decent player otherwise. I played it up like I was completely clueless about the game. I even asked them where my volleyball glove was. It became obvious which teachers were athletic and which ones weren't. The other 'not good' teacher and I ended up cracking jokes and laughing the whole time. However, I was actually able to get in some good shots. That same teacher asked me what my technique was using. I said "The Grasshoppa..." and made a grasshopper-like movement with my arms. Then one of the students said I looked more like a frantic chinchilla which was probably more accurate. Another time I missed the ball and the student that got the point on me shouted, "Calculate that, Mr. Carroll!" We ended up having a blast and I was just acting goofy the rest of the game. I finally got a chance to score on that same student towards the end of the game and mockingly said back, "Oh yeah... Calculate that!"

We lost all three games against our student teams but it was a great way to end the busy week.

Writer's Block: Places to Lay Your Head

Thu, 28 May 2009 02:38:24 GMT

How many different places (cities, houses, apartments, dorm rooms, etc.) have you lived in? Which is your favorite? And your least favorite?

View 503 Answers

I can't categorize any of these as least or most favorite.

Minden, LA - houses
Columbia, SC - apartment
Minden, LA - house
Shreveport, LA - dorm, apartment, townhouse
DFW, TX - apartments
Amsterdam, The Netherlands - attic
Minden, LA (yet again) - house
Shreveport, LA - fourplex (half as small as a duplex)
DFW, TX (see a pattern) - houses
St. Thomas, VI - cottage, condo

God, stop the insanity! I'm ready to get off this ride.

Chorus of Cherabim

Thu, 28 May 2009 02:01:27 GMT

This year I've had the pleasure of teaching choir to some of the students at my school.

It started back in August. Being new to a small private school on a tiny island, it took me almost a month to realize that I should keep my mouth shut about everything. During the first week of school, I mentioned that I like to sing and that I had been in lots of different choirs. The other teachers immediately told me how wonderful it would be for me to start a choir at the school. My first thoughts were: "Oh hell no!" I don't know how to direct a choir. I didn't know how to conduct and I couldn't play the piano. Their reasoning was that there hadn't been a choir at the school so anything would be better than what they had been having. Then without me being fully convinced, it was announced that I would be starting a choir. So they talked me into it.

I encouraged my middle school and high school students to join. They sounded excited about it. However, the first day of rehearsal came around and not a single one of my students showed up. Instead, a couple of four-year-old girls were there ready to sing their little hearts out. I was freaked out. The majority of my prior experience had been at the high school level. My teaching certification and education had been with 8th through 12th graders. I hadn't really worked with the little rugrats before. How in the world was I going to teach them how to sing? I had shown up to the first practice ready to have them sing two-part harmony to The Lion King. I left that first day having taught students how to clap in the Bingo song.

If some mothers hadn't volunteered to play the piano for me, I would have been completely lost these last nine months. They really helped me tremendously. That initial choir of two had grown up to 13 people at its largest. We finished the year with 10 performing at the End of the Year Program which was tonight.

We had a dress rehearsal in the afternoon for the students and faculty. During rehearsals, they would stop singing anytime I wasn't singing along with them. My students had never sung in front of a group before either. I was totally worried. It turned out to be a chaotic first performance. One kid even thought that we were a show choir and keep running around the stage instead of singing. That little rugrat stuff is always hysterical. The evening performance for the parents was crazier. But once they got on stage they were well-behaved but not a minute before then. The parents ate it up and the kids enjoyed it.

After my choir sang, I got to see all the other performances from all the other groups: martial arts, jump rope, steel pan drums, violin, guitar, ballet and tap. By the end of the show, I had had one of those "teacher moments." These are the rare moments of extreme joy that you feel when you are sure that you're suppose to be a teacher. I've been fortunate enough to have had at least once during each of my three years of teaching.

Tonight's hit really deep and has placed me into a pensive state. I've been reflecting on some of the students that I've had in the past - some of the really extreme case students. I know that every teacher has those experiences and probably most of them are worse. I can still complain though. From my point of view, mine have been just stressful enough to get to where I am in my teaching career. I'm glad that I'm on this side of the coin now. I have a feeling that I'll be having more of these moments.

Holy Shark!

Tue, 26 May 2009 22:13:33 GMT

For the past month, our students have been working on their end-of-the-year science presentations. They had to pick from various topics ranging from stingrays to cholesterol to tree frogs. They had to pose a hypothesis about their topic, do research and present their conclusion with visual aids.

Today, the 7th graders gave their presentations. They were over by lunch time. As soon as all the students had left the science room, the science teacher called me and another teacher into her room. She said, "OMG You're not going to believe this. This presentation was so intense." I sat down and watched the video that the student had made. Her topic was tiger sharks. Her hypothesis was that tiger sharks only eat marine animals (not land animals) and don't pose a threat to humans.

She created a documentary style video. Her family took her out on their fishing boat. They caught a shark and dragged it back to shore. They took a knife and tore the belly of the shark. Then they ripped open the stomach and let everything spill out onto the beach. What was inside? An entire goat! What the hell?

My jaw dropped for the entire video. At the end, the only thing I could do was just laugh hysterically. The other teacher watching it with me said, "Well... I think she got an A."

And this was a 7th grader that made this video!

Why Won't They Let Me Sleep?

Tue, 19 May 2009 06:01:21 GMT

I was awoke by tons of loud sirens and flashing lights. I thought I was being sent back to the mainland. But they drove pasted my place and up to the mountain top. The power was out. I stumbled out to the balcony to see more sets of blue-and-red flashing lights making their way up towards me. Looking to the top of the mountain, I saw tons of smoke. There was a fire coming from an area that about 900 yards from me.

I lit a candle and then chilled in bed for a while. I waited to see if any of the other neighbors were leaving. No one walking from the fire truck area seemed alarmed. About 30 minutes later, I looked out the window and saw that the glow from the fire was much bigger. I walked outside and as I approached the large group of concerned neighbors I heard the word evacuate. Getting confirmation from the police, I walked back to my place and gathered my things. I was only able to grab one of the two cats. The other one was refusing to budge from under the bed (dumb cat won't let anyone touch him - ever). I said, "I'm outta here cat! You had your chance!" I could just imagine him flipping me off with his little paw and then meowing, "See you in hell!"

So my roommate's nice cat and I took off down the mountain. We parked in a small parking lot and waited from them to let us back in. Three hours and 8 giant water trucks later, I drove up to the police ociffer and asked to go back up. He wanted to know how far up I was going and I told him, "Just around the curve." I lied. It was just around 5 curves. I slowly worked my way backup. After talking my way through two other police 'blockades,' I finally got back to my house.

Upon entering the house, the snobby cat greeted us with an I-told-you-so grin and ran back under the bed. I immediately jumped into bed. However, there are still lights and siren noises going off. The fire is out already!

Calgon, take me away! It's 2 o'clock in the freakin' morning! Some of us have to teach in the morning!

NCTM Embarrassment

Sat, 25 Apr 2009 03:01:23 GMT

I'm in Washington, DC at an NCTM math teacher conference. This is the fourth one that I've been to and every time I have to reminisce about my first conference and the embarrassment I felt there...

These conferences are extremely popular with math teachers. The annual conference attracts over 10,000 math teachers from all over the US and Canada. Each conference has an exhibit hall where vendors try to get the math teachers to purchase their textbooks, t-shirts, software or just general crap that they want to sell. All the big names in textbooks are there: Pearson, Glencoe, Key Curriculum, Holt, etc.

So I was at this annual conference in Anaheim, California and at this time I was still an undergrad. I was completely broke. To this day, I don't know how I managed to pay for airfare, hotel and all the other expenses on a part time job salary. One thing that did help was the fact that I stayed at the cheapest hotel I could find - The Penny Saver Inn. And yes... it IS as bad as it sounds. I won't get into too many details but I refused to get under the bed covers. I don't think they had been washed... ever.

At the conference, I ran into one of my two favorite math professors who is also the math curriculum coordinator for a school district in DFW. He invited me to some of the 'special' dinners that he had invitations for. After all the meetings for the day, I went upstairs to find the 'secret' conference room that was hosting one of these dinners. When I got there, I realized that it was hosted by a textbook publisher and they were trying to get the 100 of us teachers to purchase their products. I didn't buy any of their stuff but I sure as hell enjoyed being wined and dined.

The next day, my professor gave me another invitation to a dinner. I got all dressed up because he said that this one would be a 'big one.' I met him in front of his hotel where the representatives from another publishing company would be picking us up. A few minutes later, a limo pulls around - first time in a limo. I was feeling high class now. They took us to a restaurant called The White House which was amazing. It was also my first 5 course meal (still high falutin'). There were about 40 teachers that they were treating to a five star meal. I think I heard that the textbook company ended up spending about $5000+ on us that night.

After the meal, we got back in the limo and they took us all back. Now I had assumed that they would just drop us at the same place where we were picked up. But no... they wanted to take us back to our individual hotels. One thought rang through my mind: "Oh gosh... please don't drop me off at the Penny Saver Inn!" I told my professor that I would get out with him and just walk the 4 blocks or so. But the reps for the company insisted on asking me which hotel I was staying at. I reluctently said, "The Penny Saver Inn." The limo pulled up to the hotel and it was obviously out of place. As I quickly thanked them for a wonderful evening and got out of the limo, I heard one of them say, "I bet this is the first time they've seen a limo here." All I heard next was laughter from inside the car. For still being a student and trying to pretend that I was high class, it was completely humiliating but definitely worth it.

So my glimpse into the 'other side' of math teacher conferences ended in embarrassment.

This Is A Travesty

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 18:57:39 GMT

What kind of backwards world do you live in when you can't buy Easter candy?

We looked yesterday... none.

I looked at three more stores today... none.

I want Cadbury creme eggs... I want Reese's peanut butter eggs... Hell I'd even settle for those stupid blue robin eggs right now.

I know the natives on this island understand what Easter is all about because there was an Easter bunny photo shoot set up at the mall. So...

WHERE'S MY CANDY?!?

Two Crazy Months

Sat, 11 Apr 2009 12:08:18 GMT

It's been insane here. I've been so busy with teaching. The rest of the teachers and I are about to drop dead. We've been having meetings almost everyday after school (it seems). School ends at 2:30 but I almost never get to leave before 5 o'clock. We've all been coming in on Saturday and Sunday as well and working 5-8 hours each day.

We've been trying to get the International Baccalaureate system implemented at my school which is on top of the hundreds of other things that makes teaching stressful. We are trying to get approved for both the Middle Years Programme (grades 7-10) and the Diploma Programme (grades 11 and 12). This has become a HUGE endeavor and the teachers look like our brains are about to break.

Right now, we have a five day weekend for Easter. Yesterday, I took the ferry over to St. John for some hiking and beaching. I ended up being at a beach with very few people for about 4 hours. The sad part is that I didn't really feel relaxed for the entire time. My brain has been in overdrive for so long that I have forgotten how to stop thinking about teaching. I'm afraid that I'll go back to school on Tuesday without having properly rested. I can't sleep in to save my life.

On another note, I'm totally pumped about going to the NCTM conference in 11 days! It'll be three days of super math teacher ideas being crammed down my throat. I'm also stoked about getting to go to Washington, DC again.

It's A Freezing 75 Degrees!

Sat, 07 Mar 2009 00:22:25 GMT

We've had two cold fronts collide directly above us. The last few days have been crazy weather-wise with torrential rain and a sudden drop in temperature. I'm extremely hot natured and rarely get cold. However, I'm out on the balcony right now and trying to stay warm by snuggling up underneath a comforter. I looked up the temperature on two different websites because I couldn't believe it. It's only 75 degrees right now. I was guessing at least below 55. I never thought I'd say this but I'm freezing in the Caribbean.

NCTM

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 04:51:23 GMT

Even before I became a math teacher, I have been a member of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Yes, we have a group. Yes, we have meetings. HUGE meetings!

During my senior year of college, I would attend their conferences which occur twice a year. There are three regional conferences in the fall and then the large annual meeting is in April. I've previously attended three of them: two regional ones and one annual conference. I attended my first two conferences before I even graduated college. I paid for myself to out of my nonexistent college budget. I wound up staying at places like The Penny Saver Inn which led to an embarassing moment involving my first limo ride. People were very impressed that I would do all this work and attend the conferences before I even had to. Also they were shocked that I was paying for myself. It took me a while to realize that school districts would pay for teachers to go to these meetings.

The last one I went to was during my first year as a teacher (2005). I was excited to go because I would finally get the trip paid for by a school. Unfortunately, the school didn't agree with my choice to go. I used two vacation days and I told them that I was going regardless. When I got back, I got to present some of the material to my coworkers. They enjoyed it - everyone except for my assistant principal, of course. Strangely enough - me attending this conference gave the school yet another reason to fire me. By the end of the school year, my department head apparently changed her mind about how she felt in regards to the conference. She couldn't believe that I had the audacity to miss two days of possible instruction time with my students to party it up in Denver. My jaw hit the floor. Last time I checked, teacher development was a positive thing.

So today, I decided that I would be attending the annual conference this April in Washington, DC. Will my current school be paying for me to go to this conference? Probably not. It's just my luck that we are feeling a huge budget crunch right now. They did, however, pay for my IB conference trip to Baltimore last December. Since then they have frozen the budget. So I'll be finding a way to pay for it myself.

In addition to deciding to attend the conference this year, I have also decided something big. While I was searching NCTM's website, I found the page that mentioned presenting at a future conference. I will be submitting a proposal to be a presenter at the Annual NCTM Conference in April 2010. I forgot to mention that these annual conferences are attended by about 15,000 math teachers across the US (no pressure). The proposal is due in May and I'll find out by September if I will be selected. My topic: The Mathematics of Sports.

MYP Goodness

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 22:41:08 GMT

We got to have a special 1-on-1 meeting with the MYP consultant today. It really made me feel better about developing my math curriculum. During our meeting, I told him the story about my first year as a teacher (which wasn't that long ago):

During my first year teaching, I was watched like a hawk. I had certain state standards that I had to teach towards. I was observed on a regular basis by five different people: my college internship supervisor, the head of the math department, my assistant principal, the person in charge of all the new teachers and the regional district math coordinator. I don't think a week went by where I didn't have one of these five people observe one of my classes and then give me constructive criticism. It was mainly positive feedback.

Since I was fresh out of college, I had a plethora of unique ideas for my classes and theories to put into practice. Not only was I being observed regularly but I was also having to create "dog and pony shows" at the drop of a hat. I got good at it and really enjoyed being creative with my students. It was great because the more wonderful lessons I created, the better chance I had to be observed doing them. While most of the people observing me enjoyed what I was doing, the assistant principal was vehemently opposed to it. He and I butted heads on a regular basis. It basically came down to the point where he told my department head to make me change my act or else. The head of the math department had a conference with me and said that I had to stop creating these creative lesson plans and teach strictly to the test.

I was completely distraught. My integrity was being compromised because of NCLB and high-stakes testing. What they were asking me to do went against everything I believed in as a math teacher. I ended up giving in - but not completely. I came up with a compromise in my lesson plans. Sadly, though, it wasn't enough. In April, my assistant principal told me that I would not be allowed to teach at that school the following year. I had been fired from my first teaching job. My world was figuratively falling apart around me - jobwise, relationshipwise and even my vehicle broke down beyond repair (hence the reason I ended up staying in Europe for 8 months instead of just 2).

The MYP consultant told me that not only did he want me to continue doing these creative things but that the MYP program insists that I do this on a regular basis and to even bump it up a notch. He even went as far as to tell me that he wished that I could come to his school and knock some sense into his math teachers (apparently they are very hesitent to teach MYP).

Today made me feel good. I'm actually thankful that I was fired from my first teaching job; Otherwise I probably wouldn't have been able to make to, what I consider, a real school where I can teach math the way I feel it should be taught.

Calgon

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 01:39:05 GMT

We had to work on Saturday. It was my first time ever having to work on the weekend in my teaching career. The 5 teachers at my school are working on writing curriculum for the International Baccalaureate program that the school is implementing. We flew down an IB consultant to help us and we spent all day Saturday (9am-4pm) working with him. It was a wonderful meeting but it got a little emotional at times. By the end of it, we had vented to the consultant about how exhausted, stressed-out and overworked we were. Five people trying to run a school can be pretty overwhelming. We all teach 4+ classes. We're trying to implement the IB MYP program as well as the IB DP program. A couple of us had small emotional breakdowns yesterday due to feeling overwhelmed and
everything. My breakdown happened at the end of the meeting. I completely frustrated with something and just ended up leaving the meeting (after it was over) in anger.

In the past, when I've gotten that anger, I would go on a roadtrip. I enjoy driving and listening to music. It's a little harder to do that on a small island. I ended up driving to the west end of the island. Then parking my car and looking out at the ocean. Then I drove back to the east end of the island and looked at the ocean from that side. It's pretty relaxing and peaceful. I hate the fact that I have to drive in circles if I want to go on a long road trip.

The Question

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 01:57:23 GMT

Things haven't been great at school. They aren't terrible because I don't want to complain too much. Things could be much worse. It's just been overly stressful. Some things are due to the economy impact as we are feeling down here. Tourism is down so a lot of the locals aren't making as much money. This includes many of the parents of our students. Constant tension.

Other things have been occurring to make me unhappy. The main question that I keep getting is if I'm coming back next year. I honestly don't know. To make that decision I would have to know two pieces of info that I don't know right now.

Just in case, I have been looking at possible teaching opportunities for math teachers around the world. If I don't return to the same school, I'd definitely leave the island but I don't think I'd go back to Dallas. I'm still wanting to go other places. Heaven forbid I stay in one place for more than a year at a time.

I think my brain is broken... but I'm having a blast.

**Edit 10:28 pm**

I realized tonight that I am the only one of the few teachers at my school that hasn't gone on a 'vacation.' I definitely need a break away from our campus. From the looks of the other teachers, we all need a vacation.

I need to come up with a pro's and con's list. Just a few notes:

Staying here longer would give me a chance to get back into painting, theater and singing. I've been saying this for way too long. I just need to start doing it. I could also finish my master's in education.

I've found opening for math teachers in the following countries: Singapore, China, Norway, and Egypt. I would probably enjoy teaching in a few of those places.

Finally Settling

Sun, 01 Feb 2009 02:42:41 GMT

I've been in the new place for one month now... 5.5 months on St. Thomas. The freedom away from living on school campus is wonderful. The new view is amazing. Most evenings I sit out on the balcony and watch the sun set. My roommate has found me several times home with the lights off and just sitting out here. The roommie is great and has introduced me to several nice people. I'm getting to meet people now. My car is nice and fun to drive around the island. Moving and getting a car at the same time killed me but I made it through to payday. The first four months were really slow. But now I feel like I'm settling in.

Teaching has been a little challenging but I'm happy doing it. It's almost surreal sometimes. I feel like I'm a Dharma Initiative teacher. There's a jungle like area near the top of the mountain where I live. I wanna explore this one path in the woods to see if there are any hatches or old research buildings up there. It's creepy looking. The only bad thing about this place is the crazy sounds coming from the neighbors below us. They've got some loud sounding animals: peacocks, roosters, goat, large birds. Some nights it sounds like Jurassic Park. I keep looking over there to see if I can see their raptor cages. With those and the frogs croaking, there are some pretty amazing sounds like a Soothing Sounds of Nature CD. I didn't start sleeping well until I moved here.

Everything is more expensive here. $7 for a half gallon of milk. When it's that expensive, buying organic milk at 30 cents more isn't that bad. Haircuts, automobile title switching, dinner at restaurants, etc... I was having too much fun at the beginning with going out to dinner. I've since had to slow down. The two things that are, strangely enough, cheaper down here: Liquor and the movie theater. Going to see a movie costs about $6. The experience there is bizarrely familiar to the scene with Brenda on Scary Movie. I turned around to see who behind me was talking. I imagined that I would see a person on the back row firing up the BBQ grill.

I've had several firsts on St. Thomas: scuba diving, sailing, boat trips, field trips with students. I love diving and am moving up in the diving world. I'll start working on rescue diver soon. The sailing experience was fun but it's not going to be something that I'm crazy about doing like diving. It's amazing how much fun you can have by getting on a boat down here. That's what I'm planning on doing this summer. I wanna island hop around the Caribbean - visiting different islands and diving.

This has been the first school that I, as a math teacher, have been able to take students on field trips. We've gotten to take them kayaking through a mangrove lagoon, to an art show, to a beach for a clean up day, sailing, hiking, scuba diving. I really enjoyed that when I was a kid. Travelling to France and Italy with my french teacher was an amazing experience as a teenager. I'm enjoying it from the other side now and have been loving it even more.

Despite all of this, I'm not sure if I want to stay here or not. I keep going back and forth. Maybe if things had been this good when I first moved here, I might be waiting to stay here more. It's been a roller coaster and I'm afraid that we're about to start going downhil again. I'm gonna give it more time.

I Feel Like I'm in a Movie

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 21:38:33 GMT

This actually reminds me of the Scooby-Doo movie that came out not too long ago (as well as Lost and maybe a little bit of Pinocchio when they go to Pleasure Island). I'm on an island that's known for partying and drinking. I just recently went to a local celebration/festival. I had know idea what it would be like - huge culture shock. There was a guy there on the microphone and he was saying a lot of radical things and the crowd was getting into it. Let's just say that my jaw dropped. But I honestly had an amazing time and really enjoyed the evening.

It felt like an initiation of some sort. It's weird when you introduce yourself to someone new and they say "Oh I've heard so much about you." I conjure an image of a secret society here on the island and they have meetings to discuss who's worthy of joining their group.

I just have a vivid imagination and have seen too many movies.

Update

Sat, 17 Jan 2009 20:45:18 GMT

I knew it had been awhile since I had posted but I didn't realize it had been a month. In that time, my life on the island has drastically changed.

I finished my open water scuba certification in time to do a few dives with my parents. I rented a car while they were here. My parent's visit turned out to be a pretty fun time. This was their first trip outside the continental US. Day one - we did a total of three dives which were amazing but completely exhausting. Day two - we took the car over to St. John and explored that island. There my mom found several alcoholic beverages that she liked. Day three - we rode on the Atlantis sub which was fun but we agreed that it would have been more fun to be on the other side of the sub diving. Day four - Christmas Day - we spent most of the day at Magen's Beach (one of the top ten most beautiful beaches in the world). Day five - we took a trip on a charter boat to the British Virgin Islands. We snorkeled at Waterlemon Cay, then went to The Baths on Virgin Gorda and then snorkeled at The Caves on Norman Island. Their visit was the best time I've ever had with them. It had actually been about 15 years since I went on a vacation with my parents. The last family vacation I went on was when I was 14 and they took my sister and me to Branson, Missouri (our 8th summer in a row to go there).

After my parents left, I moved into my new place. That's actually how I spent my New Year's Eve. One of my coworkers said that her best friend was looking for a roommate. So I went with her to look at his place. I took one step out on his balcony and said I'd take it. It's a two bedroom one bath condo at the tip top of one of the mountains on St. Thomas and the view is amazing! So I spent New Year's Eve at my new place with my new roommate's friends. We hung out on the balcony and watched the big fireworks show from the harbor. I've been here 17 days now and things are going well. My roommate had just barely started watching a few episodes of season 2 of Lost. Since I'm a Lost freak, I told him that he had to watch all of seasons 2, 3 and 4 before season 5 started on January 21. I just happened to have all those seasons on DVD. He only has ten episodes left. I think he's gonna make it.

Although my parents were only going to be here for a week, I rented the car for two weeks. At the end of those two weeks, I wasn't ready to give up my new found freedom. That was also around the same time that I moved into my place. So I decided that I would kept the rental car, until I could buy my own car. That has since turned out to be a nightmare (the DMV experience alone was enough to make me never want to buy another car on this island). I test drove a couple of cars before I decided to buy a 1997 white Pontiac Sunfire convertible. It's a fun car but is actually a beat up POS island car with a lot of body damage but it runs well (or so I thought). As of last Tuesday, the car was completely mine and paid for in full. Thursday night it overheated and is completely broken down. Today the previous owner of the car came to look at it and did some work on it for me. He was very apologetic about the whole situation. He even paid to have the car towed to his house so he could work on it some more. So right now, I'm stranded at the top of a mountain on the other side of the island from where I work. Hopefully, it'll be fixed before school starts on Tuesday.

As for diving, I've already moved up on the scuba ladder. I got certified as an Advanced Open Water scuba diver. Next will be rescue diver but I've got to get a few more dives under my belt before I start that training course.

As for teaching, the month of January I'm teaching a course called "The Math of Sports and Games" which I posted about awhile back. It's going along well but has been very time consuming and stressful. Yesterday, I took some of the students scuba diving and we did some experiments underwater at 33 feet. It was actually really interesting. This Tuesday, we have a fun afternoon of sailing planned. Then, on Wednesday, we are going over to St. John for a day of hiking. In February, we will be going back to teaching our regular classes.

My sister and her husband are officially in Iraq now. They can't really tell us much else but I do know that they will be getting the internet soon. I'm trying to get her to join LJ so I can keep up with her on a regular basis.

That's about all the news for now...

Scuba Diving

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 02:43:19 GMT

I just finished my scuba diving certification on Tuesday. I'm totally ready for my next dive. My parents are coming down to visit me for the holidays. They are both certified so we are going on a boat dive together once they get settled in.

Some Say I'm Flighty

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 12:37:07 GMT

I realized back at Thanksgiving that I've been doing a lot of flying this year. I'm in Baltimore right now and will be flying back to St. Thomas in a couple of hours. After I arrive in St. Thomas, I will have flown on 28 different flights this year (actually only since June - so really 7 months). Too bad they weren't all with Continental. I've been racking up the flyer miles but I could have had tons more. They just didn't fly to some of the places I was going to (or weren't cheap).

I'm definitely taking a break from flying. Maybe spring break will be the next time. And I've got two conferences to go to in the first half of 2009.

I Met Mr. Strickland

Sun, 07 Dec 2008 21:40:08 GMT

I didn't realize it at the time but I had the actor that played Mr. Strickland in the Back To The Future movies in my classroom.

Apparently, he married my student's mother's best friend and was down visiting my student's mother in St. Thomas. I was doing some after school tutoring with this student and they all came by to pick him up. I found out later from the student that he was a famous movie star.

And no... he didn't call anyone a slacker.

Thanksgiving Plans

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 21:13:10 GMT

I never thought that I would say this but I can't wait to go to Minden, LA.

I'm ready to get off this rock. I can't wait to see my friends and family again. Moving here has been MUCH harder than moving to Amsterdam was.

So I'll be in both Dallas and the Northwest Louisiana areas. But I don't have long in either place and I won't really have transportation either. But here's my schedule:

Wednesday: Fly into DFW at 10:30pm
Thursday: Drive with Ross and Virginia to Louisiana
Eat lunch in Minden with extended family
Eat dinner in Shreveport with friends (maybe gambling afterwards)
Friday: Drive back to Dallas
Stop in Tyler to eat a late lunch with Gabe
Hang out in Rowlett with friends
Saturday: Hang out in Rowlett with friends
Sunday: Fly back to St. Thomas

That's got to be one of the shortest and fastest paced vacations I've ever had. Let me know if you're gonna be in one of the areas and want to hang out.

I Think I May Need to Join AA

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 20:01:42 GMT

It all happened so quickly. I didn't realize what had happened until it was too late. It was last Saturday night and I was all by myself. I had never thought that I would be one of those people that would succumb to an addiction like this. But I was there and just kept ordering more and more. By the time the night was over, my bill had totaled over $200.

I'm now admitting my addiction and looking for an Amazon.com Anonymous to join. They seriously need to do away with the "Customer Who Bought This Item Also Bought" section. It is dangerous and really helped me find many books that I didn't realize existed. One tries to be a good shopper; but when you go to check out, they offer even more good books that entice you to continue shopping. It's not fair.

What was I purchasing? Math books. Now these are not math textbooks. Just math books that I think are fun and interesting. It started as a search for books to help me with ideas for my "Math of Sports" topic. But it quickly went south and I believe that I reached a new level of math dorkiness.

Here's a list of the books that I purchased and that I can't wait to receive:

1) Mathematics and Sports
2) How to Take a Penalty: The Hidden Mathematics of Sport
3) Hands-On Math Projects With Real-Life Applications
4) Maths and Science for Sport and Exercise Students: The Basics
5) ESPN Sports Figures: Makes Math and Physics a Ball! (VHS series)
6) Cartoon Guide to Statistics
7) The Land of Debris and the Home of Alfredo
8) A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper
9) Why Do Buses Come in Threes?
10) Wonders of Numbers: Adventures in Mathematics, Mind, and Meaning
11) Calculus and Pizza: A Cookbook for the Hungry Mind
12) Calculus for Cats
13) Mathematics and Humor: A Study of the Logic of Humor
14) How Long Is a Piece of String?: More Hidden Mathematics of Everyday Life
15) A Passion for Mathematics: Numbers, Puzzles, Madness, Religion, and the Quest for Reality
16) The Mathematics of Oz: Mental Gymnastics from Beyond the Edge

This is reason #5468 as to why I'm still single.

Say what?

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 01:27:29 GMT

A month or so ago, a student of mine said something that was balls-out hysterical. I was just reminded of it today and felt that it was too funny not to be shared.

So this student can only be described as unique and he is about 12 or 13 years old. One day we were walking from one classroom to another. One of the female teachers noticed that he was lagging behind. She went back to hurry him along. As the rest of the class went up the stairs, he tried to turn around and go back the way we had come. She asked the student, "Hey ******, where are you going? You need to follow the rest of your classmates." He pointed to the bathroom and said, "I'm getting off." Her jaw dropped and said, "Excuse me?" Again he said nonchalantly, "I'm just going to get off. Then I'll catch up with everyone else."

We watched him as he entered the bathroom. He came back out very quickly. As he exited the bathroom, he was carrying a bottle of Off to keep the mosquitoes away.

The funniest part is that we don't think that he understands why it was so funny. We have since started storing the Off bottles in a different location.

Needing Help From Sports-minded People

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 22:40:34 GMT

I'm creating a special project for my students. I need some additional help from anyone out there that enjoys sports (watching or playing), physical education and/or health. I'm somewhat limited in this area. So if you could spare a few minutes, please click here:

At my current school, we have something called Intersession. During the first three weeks of January, normal school classes are canceled and the time is spent in one particular topic. Each teacher creates a curriculum for those three weeks and the 7th-11th graders get to pick which topic they would like to study. It's an immersion course similar to a May Module or mini-mester course in college. We have five full time teachers and each one has to plan and lead the topics. The other four teachers are doing the following topics: "Interfaith: A Search for G-d," "Spanish Heritage of Puerto Rico," "Endangered Animals/Baja Trip," and "Kenya Trip."

My Intersession course will be the "Mathematics of Sports and Games." Each day we will be doing an in-depth study of the underlying math behind different sports (competitive and noncompetitive), games and other physical activities. Some days we'll get to play some of the games, take field trips and things like that.

What I've planned out so far are: baseball, soccer, basketball, volleyball, tennis, football, extreme sports (ski diving, motorcycling jumping, etc), scuba diving, hiking, pool (billards), darts, card games and dice games.

Some of the activities we'll be doing: 1) one morning they will be learning about the geometry behind playing pool and then in the afternoon we are going to test out the math on a pool table. 2 ) another day, we will be studying initial velocity and serving angles in volleyball using parametric functions in a calculator (fun stuff... I promise). 3) another day, we will be talking about hiking and calculating stride length and other things; then taking a ferry over to St. John and doing several of the hiking trails over there.

This is basically a math immersion course. It'll be over 6 hours of math and sports everyday for 17 days. Any ideas that you might have would be a big help. The math part I can handle but the sports I haven't got much of a clue (the last time I played a sport I ended up in the ER). I'm needing help on coming up with true sports-related math problems. The problems can relate to any math concept, such as, geometry, probability, statistics, precalculus, etc. The problems can also include interdisciplinary things like science (physics, biology, etc.), humanities, nutrition or any other subject.

I have had a lot of students express interest in doing my intersession option. But I'll only be able to have a hand full of students (8-10). I feel that the students that I will have will be bright enough to handle any math topic up until calculus.

If you have any ideas on these sports or any new suggestions, please email me at vertleo318@yahoo.com. If you are really interested, I can email you a more detail outline of what I have planned out so far. Just let me know. Thank you for your time!