Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in jamey1138's LiveJournal:

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Saturday, December 5th, 2009
7:27 pm	The big picture Okay, so last week, a few hours before Thanksgiving, I was offered a job in Chicago Public Schools' Office of Teacher Excellence (which is a newly-formed department which will, inevitably, be a *little* bit euphemistic: the name of the department is sort of obviously a *goal*). And, after some deliberation, I've accepted. Starting January 4, 2010, I'll be co-managing the OTE's top-level group: the National Board Certification. Tactically, this job will mean a lot of working with GOOD teachers, and helping them to become EXCELLENT teachers-- including managing the support program for current candidates, recruiting new candidates, and handling budgets for both mentors and incentives. Strategically, this job will mean working with the rest of the OTE to develop a pathway that systematically connects the development of entry-level teachers, through mid-career and on to exceptional achievement (which is where my tactical level occurs). It'll also involve some strategic planning for how to maximize the impact of the small fraction (currently about 5-6%, goal of 10% in two years, maybe some day as much as 15-20%?) of [recognized] exceptional teachers. Taking this position means that, as of Jan 4, I'll no longer be in the classroom. That was a VERY hard decision to make, and I want to thank everyone who helped me to make that decision. I'm almost certainly not done with direct, classroom teaching. Partly, this is likely to follow the money: right now, I'm taking a small (about 2%) raise with this job. My guess is that, once I've finished my master's, it'll shift back, in a big way, so that teaching will be about a 5% raise over this job, and that may be just enough to tip the scales between two things I think I'll love doing equally... At the moment, though, this is a really unique opportunity, a chance to (as I described previously) significantly shift the environment in which thousands of students learn in my city. The timing isn't what I would have chosen, but that's often the nature of timing, isn't it... Should be a hell of a ride, anyway. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, December 1st, 2009
7:16 pm	Funny! So, we've just set up the new TV computer (my 4-year-old Macbook, with the broken screen and the messed up logic board that randomly crashes when on battery power, which should be perfect for driving and recording Digital TV, with Elegato's USB TV tuner), and to test it out, we're watching Obama address the nation, at West Point. With the sound off. So, Sarah glances at the screen, and says, "I think it's frozen". I turn on the sound, and hear the dulcet tones of the great orator of our time. "Nah, they're just from West Point." Turns out, she was actually right (I noticed out that one soldier, caught frozen in mid-blink, had had her eyes closed for a long time; Sarah noticed that the guy next to her had held a frozen grimace for over 60 seconds-- to which I again said, "West Point!") I still think it's funnier my way... (Comment on this)
Sunday, November 29th, 2009
4:54 pm	Guess I'll be finding out Recently, I referred to Patri's comments about global versus local good, and the emotional payoffs of each. Tomorrow, I'm planning to accept a job that, if I do it well, will involve helping a lot of good teachers (on the order of 1000/year) to become really, really good teachers. I won't have a lot of direct experience with students in this new job. So, in terms of my own ability to make a difference in the lives of young people, I'll be a LOT less direct, and a LOT more indirect: instead of being in position to be the compassionate and caring adult in the life of a kid, I'll be working to create an environment within which there are more people who are ready to do that work. This has been an incredibly hard decision to make. It's also one that I think I was going to have to make, inevitably-- which is to say, at some point, I think, my long-term goals probably inevitably lead away from direct classroom work with students, and into training of teachers. It's come a hell of a lot sooner than I expected, but this was a pretty unique opportunity, and I'm pretty seriously honored to have been chosen for it. More specifics about the new job, after I've actually accepted it... (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, November 15th, 2009
6:35 pm	Flechyr's post reminds me... ... I've been brewing! Currently on tap at my house: 1. the last of the Dark Ale from tailgate season (I'm saving some of this, for the last tailgate next week, when it'll finally be well-aged) 2. a *very* nice, malty, dark lager-- kind of a Marzen, I suppose 3. some completely delicious medium-sweet cider; like all my ciders, it's naturally fermented (no added yeast), but it had been frozen when I bought it (from Weston's farm, in New Berlin, WI), so I think that some of the more alcohol-tolerant yeast died Currently brewing: 5+ gallons of munitions-grade stout, for the last tailgate; it's done fermenting, really, but I haven't kegged it yet-- tomorrow, after I buy the keg! 10 gallons of mead (my usual stuff, from wild yeast originally cultivated from cider) Currently aging: lots of fiddly little bottles of sour hopless beer (some replacing hops with arugula, some with coffee). We'll see how these work out. something like 16 liters of bottled mead (the usual) two 5-gallon kegs of mead (each more like 4-4.5 gallons full) one 5-gallon keg of apple wine from Michigan apples (apple wine being very dry, very hard cider), some of which will probably get frozen. one gallon of very nice apple wine, from Wisconsin apples, which will not get frozen after all (given the above) Upcoming plans: Possibly a batch of munitions-grade lager, because it's there, though I might just let the can sit around until next year One batch of dark ale from a Brewer's Best kit that was just TOO on sale to pass up 6 gallons of cider from my favorite farm in Michigan! With all that, I MIGHT just have enough cider to last me until next apple season (what with the freezing and all... (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, November 10th, 2009
9:17 pm	How to save a life It's a matter of being in the right place, at the right time. It's equally a matter of being ready. It's easy to assume that the former is a matter of pure luck, but that's not quite true: there are certain places, and certain times, that are more densely populated with need than others. EMTs save more lives, for example, than most other professionals (and, counter-intuitively, are worse paid than most other professionals). All of this is a long way of saying, there's a significant chance that I may have saved a kid's life today. Or, more accurately, that I may have started the long process of saving a kid's life. I don't think it's particularly appropriate to get into details, at the moment-- for my own recollective purpose, I'll reference in vague terms the addict-father, the drinking and smoking as coping mechanisms at age 11-- maybe a few years from now, when we have a clearer resolution, I'll tell more of the story, or ask her to do so. For now, suffice to say that I have tremendous hope for this one. Patrissimo once said that helping people at the direct, individual level *feels* really good, and he's right. He also said that it makes less of a global difference, and he might be right about that, too. For today, I'm happy to feel good. (9 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, September 6th, 2009
10:12 pm	Woohoo! Alcohol! Kegged/bottled lots of stuff tonight: 5 gallons + 1300mL (ie two re-used Fat Tire bottles) of medium-dark ale 5 gallons + 1300mL (ditto) of pale ale, bound for an NU football tailgate in about 3 weeks about 4.5 gallons of Amazing Mead (ie "the good, I mean, REALLY good stuff") 1/2 gallon + 2L of this years first cider (early cider from the farmer's market in Madison, WI, including a mix of four different late-summer apples, including a medieval variety). This was very good, and pretty dry, so I'm keeping a jar of yeast from it, for future use. Right Now, I'm drinking some of last year's strawberry wine, which is still pretty harsh. Maybe next year it'll be ready to drink-- though I'm sort of thinking it might be worth changing the bottles (what Real Brewers call "racking"), just to get the dead yeast out of there. (Comment on this)
Thursday, August 13th, 2009
2:07 pm	Pennsic highlights Good war this year. I liked fighting alongside the East-- despite being a highly-competitive, us-vs-them kind of fighter. I got to be one of the Planners for the Rapier Champions tournament again, which is a role I always enjoy. Nice that we pulled out another win, too. I got to have my head handed to me by Ian Raven, too-- our fight was something like 4 seconds long, I opened just like I had planned (aggressive thrust in Ochs to the low line, which he covered; in the video of it, I even notice that I redirected to the high line once I saw that he was covered low, but I think it ended up out of reach); then, in the next engagement, I made a mistake, which he beautifully capitalized on. I never hate going out like that. The rapier field battle was a mess, and I *did* hate going out like *that* (standing over my immobilized King, as a unit of 20 surrounded us; I died to a DFB). I had a lot more fun in the woods, stomping around the roadside and bowling alley, driving back AEthelmaerc (sometimes, at least). I fought in every warpoint I was eligible for, which is always nice. Had a great time in the rattan woods, once I got my armor breakage field-repaired. Did some decent work on the river. Racked up two very... interesting (and fun!) run-ins with Tuchux. I did miss the first half of the last warpoint, because I was packing the car while still in armor). Then I ran up, fought, ran back, showered and drove away. Woo! I lost my Prima Spada spot, to Adam MacAoidh; gotta protect my right wrist better, clearly. That makes 3 losses in a row. :( Spent a good bit of time with my Knight, who hasn't been at the War since before we met. Very nice. Had a great dinner party with the Company of St. Jude, and special guests Tom and Steve. Toasted Cecil in his absence. Toasted him until it HURT. Spent some (not as much as we both would have liked) quality time with my wife, who made Pennsic for the first time in 3 years. All in all, good stuff. Never enough time. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, July 30th, 2009
10:19 pm	Almost there! Okay, the stuff that goes into the car is pretty much all sorted, except for the food (which is still in refrigerators). First thing in the morning, it goes into the car, and then we're off to the war! (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, July 20th, 2009
9:42 am	Oh noes! My wife and I had a great time at the SCA event on Saturday. Today, she woke up to find big red itchy hives all over her legs. Looks like poison ivy to me. Boo! (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, July 15th, 2009
9:11 pm	Dude. Sweet. So, I've been a fan of the film Buckaroo Banzai: Across the 8th Dimension since, oh, 1989 or so (whenever it was that I first saw it, almost certainly thanks to the Elberts). And, I've always longed for the sequel that's promised at the end of the closing credits: Buckaroo Banzai vs. The World Crime League. Because, dude, Buckaroo Banzai! As it turns out, the director, W. D. Richter, sold the studio on the sequel, which he had in his head already. That's why it was promo'd in the credits of the first movie. Unfortunately, the studio folded shortly after BB was released (probably not entirely a coincidence...) Anyway, I recently discovered that Richter later resurrected the same idea-in-his-head, which he sold to director John Carpenter, and it became the immortally great/cheesy film: Big Trouble in Little China! No WONDER I've always loved that movie... (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, July 11th, 2009
12:03 pm	I love Chicago in the summer Last night, I picked up my wife from the Art Institute, where she was attending an author's reading as part of the ALA convention (Mo Willems, an award-winning picture book author, giving a premier reading of his upcoming, unpublished book). We ate a picnic of home-made dolmas and jicama salad in the garden, and then walked across the street to Millennium Park, for a free concert of highlights from Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado, featuring a few world-famous opera stars. This morning, I went stag to the farmer's market, and picked up a ton of fresh fruit, plus several vegetables, came home and put up the cherries and currants for later use, while listening to a random shuffle of everything The Innocence Mission has ever recorded. Now, I'm waiting for my lunch (a scramble of eggs, carrot greens, spring onion greens, shelled sugar snap peas and aged raw milk cheddar-- all from the farmer's market) to cool. At the same time, I'm sampling the first bottle of my friend Cecil's first-ever home brew (an American Pale Ale, and very good!) while my small batch of hopless arugula beer (arugula from my back yard) cooks up. I've already done a bit of playing with the dog in the yard, and I plan to do a bit more after lunch. Then I'll bike over to the beach, and take a swim, before getting ready for Cecil's cocktail party tonight. Yes, this is a really, really good life. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, July 6th, 2009
7:18 am	Comics imitate life I have a list of about 10 webcomics I read every day. Today, both XKCD and Sluggy Freelance nailed me, to a tee. I actually *am* planning on playing a bit more Half Life 2 today! (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, July 3rd, 2009
11:10 am	Ahhh, cattle dog. So, Perkin (as we've come to name him) is a Australian cattle dog (with a bit of the blue heeler sub-breed: his feet have the brindled color characteristic of that variety). So, he's a herding dog. I grew up with hunting dogs (a lab who was a few years older than I was, and then a pointer/lab mix), so I have a somewhat harder time getting inside the head of a herding dog... but I'm game to grow, and I'm really enjoying getting to know this dog. That said, there's this funny thing about cattle dogs... See, like dogs that are bred to herd sheep, cattle dogs have been selected for herding behaviors: Perkin hates it if he isn't involved with the group (though he doesn't seem to freak out if one person leaves the room), and he has certain things he does that are obviously useful for herding... in sheep-herding dogs, these involve things like nudging the legs, and even biting at the ankles. With a cattle dog, though, there's different herding behaviors. See, cattle are made of meat, but covered in leather. Untanned leather, sure, but leather all the same. They don't so much care, or even notice, being bumped in the leg, or even bitten on the ankle. So, what cattle dogs do, is they jump. Straight up in the air, so that they get right up, face to face, staring their subject right straight in the eye. Perkin's done this to me a couple of times, when he gets really excited about something. Since I don't want him doing it as a habit, to people who aren't expecting it, I'm generally working to discourage this behavior-- but it's hard to do, because it's absolutely hilarious, and I'm usually too busy laughing to really scold him properly... :) (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009
9:42 am	Success! So, I have a dog. We're not 100% on the name, yet-- probably Perkin (nickname: Mr. Perky), but there's a slim chance that we'll go with last night's first-pick, Percival (nickname: Percy). The former is a medieval English variant of Peter, the latter is inspired by the Scarlet Pimpernel. But, whatever the name, he's a black Australian cattle dog mix, probably 35-40 pounds, and just under 3 years old. He's very sweet, and an avid fetcher. He's taking some time adjusting to the new environment-- last night, at about 1 am, he squeaked and yipped quite a lot, so I got up and sat with him for a while, eventually sleeping out on the couch (by about 2, he fell asleep on the floor). So, yeah, I'll be wanting a nap later... :) Chloe (the cat) is going to need some time to adjust, too. Anyway, I threw together a rudimentary site with pictures and movies at my website. And in related niftiness, the photos AND videos were all taken on my 3GS iPhone! (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, June 25th, 2009
9:04 pm	Obsessing over a new dog! My wife and I will be heading back from Austin TX tomorrow. My hope is that we'll go meet some dogs on Sunday, with the hope of finding one we like enough to adopt! We've been looking at some of the pictures online, and there are some good candidates-- wish us luck! (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, June 18th, 2009
12:40 am	"Think you're so damned clever!" Yesterday, I started reading The Graveyard Book. My sweetie had given it me for my birthday, April past. Tonight, I finished it. Neil Gaiman, suffice to say, has still got it. Actually, I think it's one of his best. Oddly, I don't know how to hide things behind cuts, so I won't go into spoilery detail on just what it is that makes me so damned clever-- I emailed my wife, when I was on about page 230 (of 305), to boast that I had it all figured out (and I had pretty strong ideas about how the final battle would unfold, too-- about 100 pages earlier). Maybe I shouldn't feel too clever, outwitting a Newbery winner (which sort of suggests that the target audience is something between 1/4 - 1/3 my age) but, as Mr. Croup says-- "Think you're so damned *clever*!" (Comment on this)
Sunday, June 14th, 2009
9:58 am	Next steps I go this idea on Friday afternoon, while biking back from the first meeting for my summer fellowship at Northwestern: Open Source Teaching. The work I'm doing with Northwestern is intended to be a resource, available for teachers and students around the world to use. Part of what we talked about is how we can develop a model for teachers to write their own modifications to the basic laboratory experiment that we're supporting-- so, if I'm a teacher out in the cloud somewhere, and I use this lab for a remedial algebra class, or for an AP biology class, or for a middle school "general science" class, then I can do a little write-up of what I did, and add that write-up to the library of "curriculum guides" that exist for how to use this experiment to support a particular set of learning objectives (like a lot of good science experiments, there's lots of different things that COULD be learned by doing this one). As I was riding home, that got me thinking that what I really want, in the long term, is to develop an "Open Source" model for sharing curricula, teaching materials, etc. Include text-based and multimedia presentations all under creative commons, empower teachers and students alike to add features to the materials-base, etc. I've already been thinking, along with another AP Calc teacher, about building a site to host videos of AP Calc lessons-- and this would fit right in, but with those videos being just one small corner of the whole Open Source Teaching project. Because, part of what I've been thinking is wrong with education is that the textbook publishers convince teachers that the book is the expert in the room. But really, the textbooks kind of suck, and don't know anything about this particular batch of students. Bluntly, I really hate textbooks. And at the same time, I want to develop a deep and rich, multi-year interdisciplinary curriculum, teaching science and math together-- so that math is always developed in order to empower a deeper understanding of the science phenomena. I was talking about this just last week, and said my old bit about the how the textbook should not be the expert in the room-- the teacher should be. "So, I guess I'm going to try to write a textbook that makes that clear..." It sounds like an okay answer, but I think, actually, that developing that interdisciplinary curriculum as an Open Source project makes even more sense... See, I'd already been thinking about who would publish my curriculum-- Hank Howe, my old grad advisor at UIC, was always good at keeping that sort of pragmatism in mind: If you don't know whose going to publish this, then you probably should figure that out before you write it. I was thinking maybe Key Curriculum could be interested in it, or possibly Wiley. And now, I'm thinking it's an Open Source project. Maybe I'll put it into bound books and publish it (either through an existing publisher, or with some sort of books-on-demand publisher), just as some distributions of Linux sell their "value-added" distros of free software.... But the point is, it should be just one more tiny corner of the broader Open Source Teaching movement... Right-- I'm off to register a domain name, I guess.... :) (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, June 10th, 2009
6:20 pm	Well, okay then. It's a bit short on detail, but I appreciate the gesture: I applied to DePaul University a month ago, didn't hear anything for three weeks, contacted them and was told that my application was in committee, and I should hear soon. In today's post was a DePaul T-Shirt, wrapped up tight inside a bit of cardboard reading simply "The Faculty and Staf of DePaul congratulate you on your admission to the University!" On the back, there's 3 more paragraphs, waxing rhapsodic about how great this will be. Oh, and a phone number, to call if I have further questions. Like, say, when I start. (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, June 8th, 2009
12:03 pm	An important indicator? I'm at a grant reading today, helping decide which school improvement projects will be funding, and which won't. The grant proposals are, as one might assume, pretty dry. Back when I was in grad school for ecology, most academic papers wouldpit me to sleep. Today, even the really bad proposals are energizing, as I think "ooh-- here's how to do that idea even better!". Guess that means I really have found my calling... (Comment on this)
Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009
8:23 pm	Quite the busy evening In the past five hours, since leaving work, I have: Been to the butcher Been to a store the sells wine Been to the garden shop Been to the hardware store Re-potted three plants (two tomato, one strawberry) Installed a, uh, thingy to hang a hanging pot from the garage Installed a bike hanger inside the garage, and hung my sweetie's bike from it (saves floor space) Re-planted five plants into the ground behind the garage Kegged six gallons of nettle beer (including cleaning and sterilizing two kegs, and cleaning up after) Put away the clean dishes from the dishwasher Cooked and eaten dinner (rotini in a homemade hot italian sausage tomato sauce) Now, at last, I'm off to blow up GlaDOS. I have a bit less than an hour before bedtime-- should be plenty of time for it! (1 Comment |Comment on this)