life is good.

per usual, i feel the need to begin this blog post with the obligatory, "sorry i haven't updated this bad boy in awhile." much has occurred in the life of this teacher since the last time i updated, so lets get to it. as always, i will break the update up into parts. part 1 - my new teaching slate, part 2 - war damn eagle, part 3 - other aspects of life

part 1 - so as many of you know, i am (very thankfully) back to teaching math this semester. i have five classes of "math lab," which is basically algebra remediation and one class of algebra 1. in my math lab classes, i have all the ninth graders who are not in pre-ap classes, and i am covering many of the objectives that they have already seen in their regular algebra 1 class. its great because i know that all of the kids i am working with need the extra dosage of math. at the same time, it is quite annoying when all the children say "we already know this stuff." my response: while i love you dear children, let me assure you that you do not "already know this stuff." i would be more than happy to show you your test scores if you do not believe me. that wasn't nice, but very true. my one algebra 1 class... hot mess. i have 25 students in that class, all of which are repeater students, each and every one of them. i had about 1/4 of them last year, and the rest of them are very infamous names around central high school. if you went through all of the office referrals at central in a given month, i would bet that my 3rd period class would make up around 25% of the stack. haha. thus far, they have remained relatively calm, and they have done most of the work that i have asked them to do. i think i started off on a good foot with most of them, and i hope that it stays that way. thursday, i received yet another addition to an already stellar lineup. frank ross had just returned from the alternative school, and he walked in ten minutes into my lesson. the rest of the class responds, "oh this is just too much mr. rah, this class be too bad for you to teach." don't worry children, i have had the same thought, but i haven't given up hope yet. i have a ton of work to do with that class if they are going to learn any algebra. pray for me. pray for them :)

part 2 - oh yeah, and auburn won the national championship. ooohhh sweet goodness when that field goal went through those uprights i ran around chris richey's house like a raving lunatic, and then i cried just a little bit. my pastor (the aforementioned chris richey) was gracious enough to set up a projector in his house and let me invite a whole host of people over to watch the game (which for most of the guests was secondary in the entertainment category to my screaming and pacing back and forth from the living room to the kitchen.) i haven't really come off the high of the win yet, and i hope that i don't for a little while. from the undefeated yet thwarted by probation team of 1993, to the crap fest team of 1998, to the underachieving team of 2003, to the undefeated yet screwed by the bcs team of 2004, to the 5-7 mess that took the field my last year at auburn, to national champions. what a sweet feeling it was. for true auburn tigers who have battled it out for four or five years: kodi burns, josh bynes, zach ethridge, aairon saivage, lee ziemba, and even fumble ridden fannin. those boys deserved it. war damn eagle.

part 3 - well in other news.... i have begun my training for a full maraton. i am 92% sure that i am going to die by the time i hit mile 18, but i've already shelled out that money for the full, so there is no stopping me now. i even got myself some official, fancy running shoes. we shall see how this goes. congrats to glenn and lt for a wonderful marriage ceremony and a reception complete with lots of cupid shuffling and teaching folks how to dougie. i enjoyed every second of it. love you guys. the children have been relatively calm this semester aside from them screaming at me to stamp their do-now cards, shouting out incorrect answers at the top of their lungs when they haven't been called on, and informing me that i need to go ahead and get married because i am getting old. one of my favorite kids from last year files papers for me after school, and she is constantly warning me that if i keep teaching at central, i will most certainly never want to have kids. haha. speaking of staying at central, it is certainly an option next year. i am still convinced i will be in helena next year, just uncertain if and where i will be teaching. we shall see. hope everyone is doing well. peace.