Gravity...

Sorry it's been awhile. With the newest addition to the family, the usual schedule has been flipped upside down, turned inside out, and spun for a loop! I've added a Science Fun section along the right of the blog here for you to enjoy some fun science experiments at home of your own for the fun of it. Check it, I'd love to hear or see what you do and what you think!

We've been talking about weathering and erosion in Science class. We recently had an assignment in class that the students will use as a study guide for their test. The question was written as follows:

"How does gravity contribute to the weathering of steep mountain slopes?"

Some of my favorite responses?

Student A: "The steepness."

Student B: "Because gravity has air."

Student C: "It makes the rocks go up." (This was my favorite by far)

Then you get a response like this:
"Gravity contributes to the weathering of a mountain by doing several things. As water moves down the mountain and picks up sediment, gravity makes the water flow more quickly down the mountain side and causes quicker weathering. Also, if a rock falls off a mountain gravity causes it to impact the rocks below with more force than a rocks that gently tumbles down a slope. This also increases the weathering rate."

It can be very challenging to try to set up a lesson that both challenges your students who could write the science book, and those that still don't know they're in science class! But I'm glad I have both in class because it makes my day much more interesting...

Waiting for the big day....

To say that I'm excited about Caroline's arrival would be like saying that an Indy car can go faster than a moped...it's a little bit of an understatement. Unfortunately, we made it all the way through ISTEP without any excitement. I was hoping that I might be able to not have to sit here and stare at kids looking like they will literally die of boredom. Not to mention trying to control the squirrelly little boys who want nothing more than to play games with each other as soon as the test is done. It does remind me how funny it is to be a teacher at times. Take for example the power of the "Teacher's Eye." How is it that a kid can literally be sitting as far away from me as possible messing around, yet all it takes to correct the behavior is to make eye contact and use a face completely devoid of any emotion. Immediately, the response is one of silently mouthed apologies and appropriate behavior. I mean I've basically created the feeling of remorse by making eye contact. I've also figured out that, with the help of the eyebrows, I can add two other emotions that can be helpful for corrective behavior: Raise the eyebrows and suddenly I've created the feeling of embarassment. The head drops to look directly at the floor, the shoulders slump, and the body slowly slips down in the chair removing a head from the horizon of red, brown, blonde, and black. Lower the eyebrows and you create a sense of panic, like "Oh crap he saw me trying to pass this note!" The eyes mimic those of a deer in headlights. Their body goes rigid and they stare like this until you look away. They might even stop breathing, I'm not entirely sure! Anyway, that's what I'm thinking about on this last day of ISTEP.
I'll try to keep you posted as to when the big event arrives. We plan on trying to keep you up to date through our baby blog (thanks for the idea Bouses!). I've created a group on my cell phone so that I can just send a quick message that we're off to the hospital! Once you get that, then feel free to check the progress of things on the other blog: http://akwallace.blogspot.com Until then....

Trying to do better...

Well, after finding out that I've upset the masses by not keeping my blog updated (sorry Tiffany!), I guess I had better put a new post up. The last few weeks of school have been quite fun, as I had hoped. I think I've finally got the first names of the kids down, and have moved onto to trying to get last names down. I told the kids to be kind if I messed up their names unless I totally butchered their names. "For an example," I said, "if your name is Kylie and I call you Kayleigh, that's close enough for you to remind me kindly that I called you by the wrong name. If however, I call you something ridiculous, then you have every right to call me Mr. Wilson, or Mr. Watkins." I had a student a few years ago who came up to me to ask a question about math. I was working at my desk, and he walked up and said, "Grandma..." I looked at him and said, "GRANDMA!? If I look or sound anything like your grandma, I'm afraid that I wouldn't really enjoy meeting her!" We all laughed, but it will probably forever be one of the strangest things I've ever been accidentally called. I have gotten the accidental "Dad" name from some of the kids, but grandma!?
We've done some pretty exciting things in class, like making Alka Seltzer rockets and Oobleck and watching Mythbusters to learn about the scientific method (you gotta watch this clip, it's great!!). It's been quite fun and I have a lot more exciting things in store, which means that I should hopefully have more funny school related stories to come!
Another note of interest would be to check out the Wallace Baby Blog that we'll try to keep updated as much as possible, maybe even while we're at the hospital, we'll see.

Funny school related story of this week:
This one actually comes from one of our Language Arts teachers at school. She was trying to talk to her class about pronouns and choosing appropriate pronouns for use in sentences. So, off the top of her head she decides to create an example sentence. She tells the students, "You want to make sure that your sentences make sense, so you wouldn't want to say to someone, 'The squirrel sat in the tree and ate their nuts.'" At which point the boys in class start laughing. She's flustered but presses on and says, "No, you wouldn't want to say that. You'd want to correctly say, 'The squirrel sat in the tree and ate HIS nuts.'" She said that class was pretty much over at that point...can't imagine why!

I'll write to you again soon!

----------------
Now playing: Third Day - Call My Name
via FoxyTunes

It's been a long time...

So I took a look at my blog today and I had to laugh. Things haven't been updated in forever. (Before I go any further though, I've got to add, HOW AMAZING IS MICHAEL PHELPS!!?? It's been so hard to have the same excitement watching the Olympics since he's no longer on. Especially with all the track and field disappointments and the frustrating judging of gymnastics! Anyway...that's for another post Olympics posting...) One of the biggest changes since my last post is that I am no longer the computer teacher here at school, but instead one of two 6th grade Science teachers we have here at YMS. As part of our requirement to NCLB, all 6th grade teachers also teach one class of reading. I'm very excited about this and have thoroughly enjoyed the first week and a half of school. It should be a very exciting year.
For the first time in my teaching career, I am teaching the same class four different times. This brings about some good things and some bad things.
Good thing: I have 132 6th grade students (yes, for me this really is a good thing, though very challenging to get all those names down!!)
Bad thing: By the time I go to teach the same thing for the fourth straight hour I not only want to shoot myself, but I feel slightly crazy because I feel I've repeated myself way too much. In fact, I got so confused last week I began to tell the kids something I had told them just 20 minutes earlier. They looked at me funny, and one said, "you've already told us this Mr. Wallace." Luckily I think they were more concerened about my mental health than being upset.

Funny stories of the first week:
On the first day of school there was a boy who was obviously lost. I was standing in the hallway talking to our assisstant principal when the student came up and said, "I can't find Mr. Wallace's classroom." I said, "Who!? I've never heard of that guy before." Our Asst. Principal said, "I know him, he's that jerk in room 214." To which I said, "Oh yeah, that guy. Well buddy, you just need to go the last room on the right in this hallway. Good luck!" 30 seconds later I walked into the class. I wish I could post the picture of what his face looked like when he saw me!

I was doing roll call, and told the students to tell me a nickname they have because I knew that their parents usually used their full name during registration. "For an example," I said, "my parents always registered me as 'Andrew,' but I like to be called 'Andy.' So let me know if you go by a different name." Usually these 6th graders are so nervous and scared they don't even tell me they go by a different name until about week 3 (I don't know if it's just me, my height, my appearance, or what, but it's true). So I'm going down the list and I call out a boy's name who's sitting in the opposite corner of the room from my desk. He replies, "Yeah, you can call me 'Backpack.'" "Backpack!?, " I ask to be sure I heard him correctly. "Yeah," he chimes, "call me 'Backpack.'" Without hesitation I say, "I'm not sure I could do that without singing your name like Dora the Explorer (so I sing) 'Backpack! Backpack!" (if you haven't seen the show this may not make sense, sorry) The class looks at him and immediately laughs at him, to which he immediately sees his error in trying to be the funny guy and says, "Nevermind!" Unfortunately for him, he may have cemented that nickname that people mock you with through the rest of your high school days...like several of mine: Corndogs (courtesy of Tom Borchers) and Dick Wallass. Just lovely. Luckily we can grow out of those things and they are never mentioned again. Unless of course a person were to do something brave/stupid like put it up on their blog, but who would do something like that?? ...!

----------------
Now playing: OneRepublic - Say (All I Need)
via FoxyTunes

Big news...

So there are big news happenings taking place this week that I wanted to update everyone on.

-I am officially going back to the classroom next year in one of two settings:
1) As of this very second, I am going to be the new computer teacher at Yorktown Middle School next school year. I am excited about having students in my classroom again, yet disappointed that they will only be in the class for a 9 weeks during the year. I would have the opportunity of teaching 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students.
2) I have put in for a transfer to a potential 6th grade opening, which I would much rather have. It would allow me to have a group of students to build relationships with and impact the entire school year and would also allow me to start the Audio/Visual Class at YMS for the first in many years, if not ever.

-I also find out today in what capacity I will be a part of technology for next year. The tech director really wants to keep me on doing professional development for the corporation, as well as providing help maintaining the technology in our schools. Keeping this part of the job will mean a healthy supplement to my teaching salary which would hopefully allow Kristy to stay at home with the baby/babies longer!

-This Thursday couldn't come soon enough! We find out whether the newest addition to the Wallace family will be a boy or a girl! I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for a boy, though deep inside I know it will be a girl....

Feelin' like a kid again...

Remember that excitement you used to get deep down inside your soul around the 20th of December back when you were 7 or 8 years old? When you actually could comprehend that Christmas was just days away and not just some magical, mysterious date and time to happen sometime a long, long time from now? I can remember being filled with the sensation that I just couldn't sit still or I may just go completely crazy. The energy and the excitement on Christmas Eve was so exciting it was nearly tangible. I can remember waking up hours before the pre-determined 8:00 start time to Christmas in the Wallace household with my brother so that we could go peek at the loot Santa had left under our tree. I'm not sure why we did this because it only made those last few hours go by even more slowly than the entire previous day. You'd think we enjoyed going back to the room and wrestling with some giant, black, shapeless beast called Patience. But, oh how we rejoiced when that 8:00 time showed up on our alarm clock. I bet if there were a video camera mounted outside our bedroom door it would record two boys bursting through the gate with the same fervor as the thoroughbreds blast from the green gates at Churchill Downs, minus the jockeys of course. We would run into mom and dad's room and wake them up, "It's Christmas, time to get up! Time to get up!" So parallels my feelings after listening to the new release of the Coldplay song, "Violet Hill," off their upcoming album Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends.

Go to Coldplay's website now to get this song for free (if you haven't done so already). I love the new song. Right of the bat, however, you'll notice that this song has a new sort of feel to it for a Coldplay song. Possibly the biggest difference you'll notice is that Chris Martin is singing in a low voice. I read that this was going to prevalent on this album and it honestly made me quite leery. Gone are the guitar driven riffs of their previous songs. Present, however, is a steady driving beat that draws you into stomping your feet as the drums, bass, and guitars power through the chorus. Still present though, as Carey put it, are all the essential Coldplay "parts" that we have all come to know and love.

So now the tough part, I must sit here and wait. Now comes that vaguely familiar feeling that I felt for years growing up. I'll let my excitement build to a tangible, nearly unbearable level, as I wait for the rest of the album to be released on June 17th. It will all culminate on the 16th when I'll burst through the doors of the local record store at midnight and shout, "It's Coldplay time! Time to get it out of the box!"

A musical enlightening!

So today I discovered the gloriousness of the music group known as Mute Math. I've known about these guys for a while, thanks to Kess and Carey, having them tell me, "I think you would really like these guys." It's not that I doubted them, I was just caught up listening to something else at the time. (And what does that really mean anyway? Have I, a fan of all types of music, put myself in a place where someone hears a song, and thinks, ""his is an Andy song"? Interesting. What music might someone label you as "really enjoying"?) However, I was blatantly reminded of this group after watching a few DVR'd episodes of The Deadliest Catch on the Discovery Channel (which is possibly THE best television channel on television, in my opinion, totally different topic though). The hit single, Typical, is played over a montage of clips from new episodes of old shows, Dirty Jobs, Man vs. Wild, Mythbusters, etc., along with clips of new "Alaska Week" shows. Not only does the song hook you in, but the clips are stunning in all their HD glory. Which leads me to think that being the guy that gets to put music to things like that and in movies might be a really fun job to have, all the while, being an extremely difficult job when you think about how many songs there truly are to choose from. Anyway, back to Mute Math. I listened through their self-titled album today while repairing some motherboards. If you haven't heard any of their songs, I would highly/strongly encourage you to download "Typical," "Chaos," or "Control." With a new CD being released later this year, I begin to grow quite excited about the potential for some really great new music coming in the very near future:
Brit-rock sounding Telecast releases a new album in 4 days, their first in nearly four or five years. Of course, Coldplay's Viva la Vida: or Death and All His Friends releases this June, along with another Third Day record, of which "Call My Name" is the first release and while Mac's voice sounds the same (no problem with that at all!), I can't help but feel that the music is something I haven't heard from them in a while. I'll be excited to hear the rest of the album. New to the music scene, Tenth Avenue North is a new group that I think has some potential, though the single, "Love Is Here", currently on Christian radio definitely has Hillsong United qualities to it. (Though there's nothing wrong with that in particular, hopefully they will define their own sound on the rest of the album). Speaking of Christian music, Chris Sligh, American Idol hopefully of maybe last year(?), is releasing an album in May. His first single, "Empty Me" is a beautiful song about one's struggle with the vain things in life and how easy it is for those things to fill our heart's desires pushing our desire for God right out the door. The other group I hope to check out, Sleeping at Last, is another Carey Jones suggestion, and I have to say, if it's another group, like Mute Math, that he feels "Andy will like," I'll be very excited to listen to.