Fall in Logan

Being in Logan during the fall leaf change is one of my all time favorite things. The city has a variety of trees lining the streets, each with different, but brilliant, colors. The valley sits between two mountain ranges, one on the east and one on the west. Even a short hike into the foothills will lead to magical places clothed in wonderful colors. Taking a drive through one of the canyons leads to a revelation of yellows and reds. It's bliss. It's a shame that such magnificence only lasts a few short weeks. The rest of fall is characterized by rapidly changing weather and bald trees playing sentinel over clogged gutters. Last week it rained, hailed, and snowed, today it's warm and sunny. Tomorrow the trick-or-treaters will seek candy during one of the coldest evenings yet only to be warmd by the sunshine the day after. Such is weather in mountain regions. Predictable to some extent, but often inconvenient. Soon the city parking ordinance that prohibits overnight parking on the streets goes into effect, forcing many to clean the garage. Then the snow comes, and thus begins the eight-month winter season in our valley.

EMHE Comes to Logan

Ally and I spend our Sunday evenings watching "Extreme Makeover Home Edition" on channel 4. Last Sunday as we were driving to church we noticed some cops on 4th East hanging out with some locals on the sidewalk and thought little of it. By the time we came home there were electronic road signs out that said "Reduce speed, home makeover in progress" and wondered if some local company was being generous and helping some family out. By the time our evening meetings rolled around we had found out that the family really was going to be on the ABC show and knew various details about the family and the project. We also found out how to volunteer. At that point it felt like we were in a dream; because nothing really big ever happens in Logan, you know. On Monday we signed up to volunteer: Ally on Thursday and both of us on Saturday morning. Through the course of the week we learned that most of the work is done by local contractors (I heard rumor that nearly all of the contractors - and caterers - in the valley were somehow involved) and that the design team spends very little time on set. Kartchner Homes is the main construction company involved and all the volunteers take orders from them. Today I was on yard cleanup. The house is pretty much done and we cleaned up empty boxes, leftover lumber and put away ladders and power cords. After that we got to sand furniture. We used some power sanders that were hanging out on the table to speed the job up. After six hours of volunteer work we came home and showered. That's a good feeling. We even got to listen to Ed, the British carpenter, talk. That was the day's highlight. ;)

UEA - Changing the Future

There are so many things that educators in Utah do that make sense. To me, the annual Utah Educators Association conference isn't one of them. Most likely it's because I've never been that it doesn't make sense, but I have no desire to go when people I know go and complain about it. I really enjoy the Friday off it provides, though. The school where I work plans a teacher development day on the Thursday before, so that's what we did yesterday. We had a presentor come and talk about the Glenn Latham approach to student behavior. This approach is fascinating and makes so much sense. To make the presentation more real it was followed by a 'success story in progress' in our own school. It's amazing what a positive influence can do to a child. I was told once that the people who have the power to change the future are the teachers of the children; I wonder what we are teaching them. Yesterday, my roommate and I had a discussion about the adverse effects that a bad environment can have on a kid. What kind of a person does a kid who is either ignored or verbally abused at home grow up to be? How can we give this kid a chance to change, to become more than what others in his life want him to become? Glenn Latham has a good answer - be positive with him. My experience with Dr. Latham's approach has taught me that in the process of positively managing behavoir that one begins to care about the student. The postive reinforcement changes the behavior; the care changes the kid.

Weekend Miracle

This last weekend in Logan was the Utah State homecoming. The band nerd alumni got together and cooked for the current band nerd kids. Then we played in the stands with them. Yeah, I can still remember the fight song and "The Scotsman" note for note (as well as I ever did, anyway). The tag and the fanfare tag not so much. Figured out the key to both sometime in the fourth quarter. That, suprising as it was, isn't the miracle I witnessed. The miracle was the actual game. Usually, Aggie fans (even though we love our team) don't normally watch the game - it's a source of frustration. But, when the score is close and we're ahead in the first quarter we begin to take interest - especially since the starting quarterback is only 18. And then, in the fourth quarter and we're down 5 with the ball with three minutes left you pay attention. If, by some miracle, we score a touchdown, we could win. Riley Nelson does that - leads the Aggies to score a TD. Then it's called back. And we do it again. This kid is my hero! I have never seen the team, coaches, the fans or the band celebrate so much. We had fireworks and everything. Nick says they were leftovers from all the other touchdowns we could have scored...

(picture from: http://starbulletin.com/2006/10/08/sports/art4a.jpg)

The Soapbox

Yeah, so lately the Utah papers have been picking up more editorials on charter schools in the state. Charter schools are a public school started by a group of people, often parents, who feel that a choice of schools is necessary for public education. So, rather than just taking your kid to whatever school is closest you can check out options and choose the best one for your student. Huh, choices, works for cars. Imagine that. Most people are pretty cool with this idea. Spreading the kids out reduces class sizes and if the school bully takes your kid's lunch money you can move them to another school. The debate arises when people realize that each kid has a money amount attatched to them. So, if a kid leaves Podunkville Elementary and goes to Metro Charter instead, the dollars follow because that money is set aside for his education and not for a particular school. Now the regular public schools whine about how charter schools are taking the money away and now they can't function like they need because they are poor. If that money was truly being spent on the kid what difference does it make? Less money, sure, but one less kid to pay for. If the public schools really want that money back they're gonna have to get the kid back. This is the good part: in order to get the kid back they're gonna have to remedy the situation that caused them to leave in the first place, and in many cases, one up the charter school. Aha, competition! Could it be, then, that the charter schools, in some way, are providing the regular schools an avenue for improvement? Many schools have room for improvement, there were five in my area alone that didn't make AYP. The charter schools did. Some claim that the problem is that there's not enough money to fund education. Maybe the answer isn't the money itself, but what the money can attract and how that money is spent. In order for a school to become competitive it needs good teachers, the best are going to go where the most attractive offer is. A competitive school needs good facillities, no parent is going to take their kid to an unsafe or unseemly school. And, a good school needs good supplies and equipment. Can't teach kids math without books and pencils. (Can't teach kids percussion without cymbals and keyboards...) Maybe if the school districts want more money they can cut the administrative costs and put more into teaching the students. Let the superintendant live with $50K for another year and give the teachers a raise and buy some textbooks. Or let the football team wear old uniforms. It just seems the money could be used a little better. I'm sure there'll be more on this later.