Recapitulate.

It appears to be my turn to make a blog post since everyone has made one since I made my last post. Honestly, there haven't been many exciting adventures in my life minus the ones I've had with ya'll since my last post. I go to school, come back to campus in order to plan/grade for the next day, and then try to get some sort of sleep. It's a schedule that's wearing on me and making me reconsider my plan to teach in a public school. More on that later once I've figured out my life. Right now, I just wanna recap some of the small milestones in my life.

Today my car stopped functioning...again. Poor Roxie is back in the shop. I went to start it this morning to drive to our book/Bible study for the girls of BCM. It didn't even turn over. After much deliberation, prayer, and searching for a four leaf clover, I got it started...with a little help from some friends. Julie and her husband came back for the second time and were able to get it jumped enough to drive it to the mechanic's house. When we got to the mechanic's house, we were standing behind the car discussing details when we noticed that the brake lights were still on even though the keys were in my hand. Hmm...that's a problem. So right now my car is sitting at a mechanic's house and it seems the problem is a faulty switch causing the brake lights to remain on and drain my battery. Here's to hoping Roxie gets better soon and that the hospital bill is not too much.

My emotions are up and down about my time at the school. It's difficult to motivate myself to get up and go some mornings but some days I am super enthusiastic. The day always leaves me feeling drained. It takes me a couple of hours to recuperate each day and then it's time to go to sleep. The days that I really enjoy my time at school though make it all worth it. It's those moments when a student acknowledges me in the hallway or shows that he really learned something. Sometimes the lessons aren't exciting and I feel that my teaching is lackluster but a student says something that just makes me smile. Then the reflections and grading and regulations and hoops and stuff seems just a bit smaller.

Earlier this week in a teacher's meeting I heard about a new law passed in Kentucky that irks me. Apparently now in the state of Kentucky students can choose to take a path that allows them to graduate early even if they have not met the school's graduation requirements. As long as a student has passed all four end-of-course exams and met benchmark on all areas of the ACT, the student can graduate. These exams happen around sophomore year and the ACT can be taken anytime. This means that a student could effectively skip the last two years of high school, receive a diploma, and be accepted at any state school in Kentucky. For some students, this could be just the out they need. For some students though this could be devastating. They could take this path and then find they are not ready for college or a job. How can a 15 year old make this kind of life choice? It amazes me that the state would pass this law when they are so focused right now on making teachers better with PGES.

Now it's 10:30 which is when my body starts getting tired these days (the name Granny Eyre wasn't arbitrarily chosen). I'll sign off now.

Fun fact: The word capitulate means to surrender and give in. The word recapitulate does not mean to re-surrender. Know the word "recap" that we hear so often at ball games? Yep. You got it. That comes from recapitulate.

Granny Eyre