Motivated to Succeed

1:30 PM - Sunny, Temp around 54 degrees. After a long week at school and work, my foot is actually hurting more than last week. I think it might have been because I wore the ankle brace too tightly? I spent Halloween at Emmy's house. There were a ton of Star Wars themed trick or treaters that had fun despite the downpours. Emm was a bit upset that so many of them didn't even say "Trick or Treat!" How rude! Maybe a sign of the times I guess.

We drove to Farnams Road at the Cheshire Resevoir along Rte. 8 and went walking on the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail. We did 3.10 miles in 58:00. Was a fun walk and I liked it a lot (especially since Emmy came with me). We had a lot of fun, then went to Dottie's and I got a cup of coffee at the cafe. Later I had to drive home to finish up work on a Teacher Work Sample for class tomorrow night and then my lesson plans. I start teaching Economics tomorrow. It's going to be tough to get 12th graders interested in fiscal policy and expansionary/contractionary forces, federal deficit and budget surplus, etc. etc. I can't even remember the last time I studied that stuff. Can't wait to be done with school on December 11th forever!

*Going to set up the wind trainer because I need to do exercise. I'm getting fat and lazy!

First day solo teaching the 12th graders. So much different than my 8th graders! I observed the teacher last week, but now it was my turn. For the next 6 weeks I am basically "running the show" for Economics classes. I have a Global Studies AIS class (3 students that are studying to retake the NYS Regents exam for global), a 7th/8th grade study hall, and 4 Economics classes (ranging from 12-26 kids in them!). He observed me today and gave me really good constructive feedback. This placement will be harder as I don't know the content all the way and lack the confidence. I really think that business teachers should be the ones teaching Economics classes, but oh well. I will make the best of it!

Update on ankle: bruising is going away. Wearing a new ankle brace slip on that Emmy gave me to borrow. No pain walking around today at school which was good. I hope that I can set up the wind trainer tomorrow if time allows and get in a bike ride. Pushups/situps later. Any ideas on how long to rest? I have a 15k on Sunday. I missed it last year because of injury too. It's one of my favorite road races. What should I do?! I already missed the race yesterday, and the one next Sunday is another $30 down the drain if I don't go.

4:30 PM - Finally had a free afternoon to hook up the wind trainer. Took some effort to do, but managed to get it set up down in the garage and decided to go for a spin. Ankle's been feeling really good lately. I iced it last night before bed and will do the same thing tonight too.

Today's lesson went pretty well. I was on my own and had to teach 4 x Economics classes. Today's lesson was talking about classical, Keynesian and supply-side economics. Try making that interesting on the fly for seniors. Oii. Well they were good sports for the most part and let me "teach my lesson". Hopefully I can get them engaged tomorrow talking about the Bigger Better Bottle Law that went into effect here in New York on Saturday. We now have to pay 5 cent deposits on all water bottles (only the second state to do so behind CT). I think it's a wonderful thing. And now I will probably make even more money picking up cans and bottles on the roads. Woo hoo!

Bike ride felt good. Helped Harry with an essay too. Has been a while since I was on a bike. I'm sure my butt will be sore tomorrow! Hopefully another ride tomorrow. Going to take the advice and try to stay off my feet and rest up. Just have to get some exercise in or else I'll go crazy. I am gaining weight like crazy too! Oops!

Total Time: 1:05:20  Total Distance: 20 miles

4:00 PM - Today was an awesome day. I was unsure how it was going to go. It's only my third day of solo and only eighth overall at this school, but I'm quickly getting my "sea legs" like Lieutenant Dan would say in Forrest Gump. Today's lesson was all about GDP and the national debt and how budget deficits/surpluses happen. Also related it to them because in NYS, they just passed the Bigger Better Bottle Law which now taxes bottled water. Only the second state in the country to put a deposit on water bottles. Should be good considering NYS has 3 billion dollar deficit and this law is supposed to bring in about 115 million dollars in revenue. I think the kids got the most out of the pictures I showed in Germany in 1923-24 and Hungary in the 1940s, which were two of the worst cases of hyperinflation in the world! In Germany, for example, people literally burned money because the money burned longer and was more cost effective than buying the more expensive wood to burn. In Hungary in the 40s, the inflation rate hit the highest inflation rate ever recorded in modern history, hitting 41.9 quintillion percent. To put that into perspective 41.9 quintillion looks roughtly like 41,900,000,000,000,000,000 % Prices doubled every 15 hours!! It truly left them astounded. Oh and I drew on the board. Used a see-saw analogy with expenditures/deficit on one side and revenues/surplus on the other to show how you want to maintain a balanced budget but its rarely possible. Taught all four periods today, the AIS Global studies class, and the 7th/8th grade study hall where a couple of them still call me Mr. Grizzly or Grizzly Adams. Haha. Made my day. :).

Biked 1:02:30 on the wind trainer in the garage. Did about 20 miles. Felt good. Harry came out and was complaining that something smelled. I said it was the cows next door or one of the dogs going about their business on the lawn. He left and afterward, as I was cleaning up the bike and windtrainer.. I found that I had actually burned a hole in the strip of carpet I put the wind trainer on! It had a kink in it that raised a ripple up and I guess my tire was rubbing on it the whole time! HAHAH. Awesome!

Total Time: 1:02:30  Total Distance: 20 miles

6:00 PM - Cold, dark, rainy. Just my type of weather! Gave my first unit test to the kiddos today at school. Forgot how fast high school curriculum goes! About a chapter a week we're going to cover! Went to the track and stretched. Was the only one there. Went earlier than the Ghost Runner usually runs at. But tons to do and I'm exhausted from this week. Eased into a run. I love running at night when everything is quiet (or relatively so). More people than usual up at the school and towards the end I felt like a Broadway show there were that many lights on me. Was just a little angry because it ruined my night vision. I felt pretty strong, a bit sore from the wind trainer the last couple days though. Splits were:

• Mile 1: 8:59
• Mile 2: 8:48
• Mile 3: 8:31
• Mile 4: 8:08
• Mile 5: 7:57

Total Time: 43:41 Total Distance: 5.16 miles Average Pace: 8:27

Going to ice my ankle and rest, but at this rate I'd say Stockade-athon 15k on Sunday is a GO!!