Yes, an unimaginative title– and it’s all downhill from there.

So I last wrote about how June was almost over, and now July is halfway gone. Gone where?

Well, I enjoyed attending the ISTE convention and left excited about the possibilities for technology in education. Professional educators and their students are teaching and learning in the 21st century, but in 20th century buildings and under 19th century pedagogy. Much needs to be changed. Next month I start my M.Ed. in Instructional Technology program. I’m moving into what’s called a “cohort” program. That means I’ll be part of one small group of graduate students. This group will move through the same sequence of classes together, semester by semester, meeting once a week for four hours. I think this will be good for me as I need some structure. I had initially enrolled in a self-designed M.Ed. program at this same university last summer. I enrolled in my first class, which was a “Guided Independent Study” class, back then. G.I.S. means I was not in the class with any other students– it was just me and the instructor; I completed the assignments, e-mailed them to her, and waited for her feedback. That kind of course requires a lot of self-discipline. Well, in the middle of the course my wife had major surgery. Feeling I needed to focus on her recovery, I took an Incomplete in the class. Then school (work) began again in August, and I never got back on track, and I had even with the extended time from the INC I still did not finish the class. So it was then sitting as an “F” on my record. My only choice was to re-enroll in the same course (under the “second grade stands” policy) during this first summer session. This was the class I was speaking of in my last post and, yes, that final assignment received an “A” and that means I got an “A” for the class, which is great, but since I had to pay for the class twice (at a combined tuition total of over $2300) it was definitely my most expensive “A” ever as well. So, no more classwork for me until the cohort begins at the end of August.

After the conference it was my wife’s birthday, and we spent a fun weekend downtown, ending with the July 4th Rockies game. On Wednesday, the 7th, our daughter (almost 18) got her driver’s license (on the second try) and then it was time for the dentist and another Rox game Thursday the 8th. The dentist led to a return on consecutive days this week, once for me getting prepped for a crown– my first, and after 2.5 hours in the chair, I hope to never have to get another one! Later the same afternoon I had a physical therapy appointment. Back in April I hurt my back, not for the first time, but this one was the most serious yet. I don’t even know what happened, but I guess at least one of the discs in the lower part of my spine has been deteriorating for some time. The pain kept me out of work for four-and-a-half days spread over three weeks, and I’ve been in PT on a roughly weekly basis since then, which has helped but I’ve had to develop some discipline to do my stretching routine twice daily. Today we received the exercise balls we ordered, so that will be a help.

This is the kind of mundane autobiographical blogging I do not care for, but I wanted to write something and need to find the motivation. While our summer has not been truly “busy,” it feels like there’s something going on everyday and the days pass by. Four weeks from tomorrow (Friday) we officially report to work, the beginning of my fifth year teaching– wow. In that time I have to find the motivational key to keep me blogging during the school year, so feel free to make suggestions. In the meantime, I am enjoying the time with family and yes, this time of the year definitely is one of the best perks of the job.

Next time– the wonder of wikis– “hyperlink heroin” or “click crack”– take your pick and let me know.