Greetings from Caliche!

Hello from Caliche! It is Wednesday and I am in the last period of a seven period day. I was to be teaching a Technology Prep class this period, but the class is all Seniors and the Seniors are at an assembly this period.

Starting at the middle!

We are all here at Caliche, a K-12 school a little north of Iliff, Colorado. We left on Monday morning at 5:00 a.m. We haven't stopped since. The first day, we had a quick orientation and were off to classrooms to help teachers in any way we could. I spent the first two mornings with Ms. Thompson, the Special Education teacher. We helped a variety of kids, mostly with slight learning disabilities, complete their homework, work on tests, etc. It was alot of fun. I gave a quick mini-lesson to some of the kiddos on "The League of the Iroquois" and how it influenced the American system of government yesterday morning. It was alot of fun.

Monday afternoon, I had High School Art class with Mrs. Hall. I have no talent in art, but it was kind of fun to work with the kids making pinch pots out of clay. Unfortunately, the art class suffered from a severe lack of discipline, especially the 6th Period Class. The class was noisy the entire time. I suppose that this is ok, but I was distressed at the actions of some of the boys in the class. Instead of making pinch pots, a number of them were rolling their clay into long "claysnakes" and then tormenting the girls with them. "Rub me!" they were yelling. It was embarassing. I had to stop the boys on a number of occasions from harassing the girls.

As I had only 3 hours of sleep going into Monday, I was beat by the end of the day.

As a cohort, we all went to a local diner for dinner on Monday evening. We got there at 5:30 p.m. The diner had a waitress and one cook. Our little 22 person group simply swamped them. We didn't get the last meals served until after 8:00 p.m. At 9:00 p.m. or so, we finally dragged ourselves home. Jeff and I are staying at the home of Brenda and Paul Zink, about 5 miles or so from the school. They are wonderful people and have two boys, Adam, aged 4 and Austin, aged 8. They have us set up in the basement. Jeff (being 6 foot 5) is sleeping on the floor with his air mattress and sleeping bag. I am sleeping in the spare bedroom with a waterbed. I couldn't get my eyes closed fast enough the first night.

Tuesday morning, the Zinks had cereal ready for our breakfast. We grabbed quick showers, got dressed and headed out the door. Once out the door, we wait for the school bus. As neither Jeff nor I have cars, we have been taking the school bus to school with the Zink boys. It is alot of fun, but a little strange, being back on a school bus for the first time in 25 years or so. There are Kindergarteners all the way up to High Schoolers on the bus. The little kiddos are very cute. We are actually on the bus for about 50 minutes, as the bus goes to about 4 or 5 local tiny towns to pick up kids. Everyone thought this was very funny and gathered at the school on the first day to watch us get off of the bus. Ha ha.

Tuesday morning, I was with Miss Thompson again, but in the afternoon, I got to meet with Mrs. Duncan, the Business Teacher at the high school. We had a Web Design class and a Life Skills class, then we attended a Future Business Leaders of America meeting, which is something we need to do for our Business Methods class back at CSU anyway. Last period, we had Tech. Prep, where the kids are learning how to do DOS commands.

The big surprise came when Mrs. Duncan told me that she was going to be out all day Wednesday on a Field Trip and would I like to be her substitute teacher for her 2nd period Economics and 7th Period Tech Prep class? Wow! Me, teaching a whole class, all by myself! Cool!

After school, I ran to the library to work up my lesson plan for the Economics class. I got that put together in an hour or two and then went to watch the Girls Varsity Volleyball game in the gym. Carolyn, one of our cohort members, sang the National Anthem. It was really cool. The Caliche girls got whipped by visiting Akron, but it was alot of fun to watch.

Then, the entire cohort gathered at a restaurant in Sterling, the nearby large town about 20 miles away. As we entered, though, we found present bags from home. Our instructors had contacted our family last week and had them put together gift bags for us. I got a bunch of drawings from Emma, my four-year old, as well as a card from Shannon, a little "love" book from Shannon and a whole plate of homemade brownies. It was Wonderful!

This pushed dinner back again. We didn't get home until after 10:30 p.m. The poor Zinks, being farmers, had gone to bed by 9:00 p.m. I got right to bed, hoping to get 7 hours of good sleep, but unfortunately, I started rehearsing my lesson plan in my head. This took up much of the night and I only got about 3 hours of sleep. Argh!

(The picture shows the marquee of the restaurant, TJ Bummers, welcoming Project Promise.)

This morning, I gave my lesson. It was a lesson on "The Principles of Free Enterprise." Mauricio and Terry (two of my teachers) both attended the class, as did the real substitute for the classroom. It went very well, with only a few glitches. The room is not set up very well for my teaching style (I walk around alot) but the kiddos seemed to be paying attention and enjoying themselves. Afterwards, Terry said that I was a "star." Nice to hear. A number of people have commented this week that I am a "natural." This makes me feel good. I think that I am doing the right thing.

Anyway, I have been dog-tired since then and now, I have to run to find a ride home after school.

I will try to post again soon.

What an amazing experience!