Memorial Day - Let Us Not Forget

Memorial Day is a day of remembrance for those who have died in service of the United States of America. It is a day to honor our fallen men and women.

While it’s never a mistake to thank a vet for his service, Memorial Day is not about our veterans. Memorial Day is the one day each year when we thank the men who died in the service of our nation. 

The United States has lost men in three dozen conflicts dating from the Revolutionary War to the war in Iraq. Americans have died fighting for their country and their country’s political/military goals in every corner of the map. Our servicemen have died on the beaches of Normandy, the rolling fields of Virginia, the jungles of Vietnam, the mountains of Afghanistan and the shores of Tripoli.

More than a million Americans have died in the service of our country. Each one a very personal tragedy for the men and their families. 

Begun as a way to honor those who died fighting the Civil War, Memorial Day evolved to honor Americans who died fighting in any war. The original date May 30th was chosen because it did not fall on the anniversary of any specific battle. In 1971, Memorial Day (along with several other federal holidays) was moved to the last Monday in May to create a three-day weekend.

In retrospect, the creation of the three-day Memorial Day weekend seems to have diluted the importance of the holiday. 

According to Veterans of Foreign Wars organization “Changing the date merely to create three-day weekends has undermined the very meaning of the day. No doubt, this has contributed greatly to the general public’s nonchalant observance of Memorial Day.”

And, I might add, misunderstanding of the holiday. In November we honor the service of all our men and women. On Memorial Day, we honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice and didn’t come home.

Before his passing, Senator Daniel Inouye, A World War II veteran, filed legislation to change the observance of Memorial Day back to May 30th. Others continue working to restore the traditional date to honor our war dead. 

Take a moment out of your shopping, video game playing, and sports-watching to pause and honor all the people who died for our country. Memorial Day is their day, let us not forget them.

I Owe A Lot Of Thank Yous To A Lot Of People.

I said I’d never do it again, but I did. I went back to school for my masters in education. 

I went one night per week for two years. That one night was a very long night - 4:30 to 9:15 and I tried to arrive by 4pm. It made teaching the next day seem super-long because I started the day tired. Couple that with my stupidly long commute and I was a zombie by bedtime.

It was a ton of work and the work got absolutely ridiculous at the end. I’m just trying to catch my breath as I catch up on all the things I deferred while I was finishing my program. Little things like grading student work, home maintenance, spending quality time with my uber-supportive wife.

I owe a lot of thank yous to a lot of people. Thanks to my friends and my kids for being so supportive. I appreciate all the encouragement.

Thank you to the men and women in my cohort at AIC. We were a good group and I hope we stay in touch. I learned as much from you as I did our professors (and in some cases a LOT more).

Thank you to the students who helped me - Nasia and Andrew and Carlos.

I am thankful to the people at the Christa McAullife Charter School and The Hellenic American Academy who were supportive of my efforts. They let me leave early to attend class, and use my students as guinea pigs. I have a special thank you to Mr. Crowley for taking my crew every Tuesday afternoon.

Most importantly, I owe a debt of gratitude to my wife who put up with my stressed-out face, early bed times and long hours locked in my office doing papers, projects, sample lessons and a seemingly unending list of other homeworkie things.

Thank you all - I could not have done it alone. 

Today is my graduation day. Time to celebrate

Flip the tassel, I’m done!

The name's Bond. Ionic Bond. Taken, not shared.

Everyone takes chemistry in high school. It’s a fact of life and there’s no avoiding it. But, after nearly 40 years of reflection, I ask:

“Why would you want to avoid it?”

It’s just the coolest thing. 

Of course, I didn't always think that. 

When I was in high school I took Chemistry as a junior. I hated it. Now, after thinking about it, I understand why I hated it so much. First, my teacher didn’t want to teach it. I know this because Miss. Arsenault was the faculty advisor of the Astronomy Club, which I had founded with my best friend Joe Bodzoioch. She wasn’t comfortable with it, did a poor job teaching it and, as a result, all her students hated it. It was a lost year for science as far as I was concerned. 

Last year, I had to relearn Chemistry so I could teach it to my 7th and 8th graders. I feel in love with Chemistry. 

Think about this: Everything in the Universe is comprised of different combinations of just 119 things. One hundred and nineteen elements and you’ve got everything in the Universe -  hamsters, pizza and stars and everything in between. And really, almost everything is either Hydrogen or Helium.

Chemical reactions? Don’t get me started. They are amazing. Things that you might not even think of being remotely related to chemistry are, in their essence, chemical reactions. 

This week, we do a quick intro to Chemistry. Hold on to your hats, it’s gonna be a wild ride....... I promise.

I Gaze Into My Crystal Ball.....And All I See Are Pencils

I have put my thinking cap on, done some in-depth analysis, created a scatterplot and I think I can safely offer some predictions about life in my classroom. So, without further adieu, I bring you my predictions for May and June, 2015:

• I will go thru 375 more pencils before the end of school,
• I will hear "do you have a pencil sharpener that works" three times each day,
  
• After every class I will find one to three pieces of homework that were left behind in my classroom. (BTW - That also allows me to predict who won't have their homework tomorrow),
• On a day when we are not using tape, I will find a role of masking tape on the floor,
• I will find hand sanitizer smeared under the Do Now bin on random days,
• Someone will write "Home" on the white board under the last class of the day,
• Three math students will ask "Where's Miss Carr." If she comes in the room more than twelve seconds after them,
• We will lose one hall pass every day and then, miraculously, it will be found the next day. (Where do hall passes go to hide?)
• I will be asked to draw a perfect circle three times per week by eighth graders I do not teach,
• I will tell my students there are 117 questions on the quiz and about 25% of them will believe me.

Oh No, Not End-of-the-Year-Itis

According to my calculations, we have 45 days of school left. We have completed 75% of the school year and, I think, everyone has started looking forward to 3:30, June 26th. But…

...that also means we still have 25% of the school year to complete, so we still have a lot of work to do.

Let’s not fall into the trap I call end-of-the-year-itis. Don’t get so focused on the end that you forget we still have work to do. Don’t slack off - it’s not over yet. We still have a quarter of the year to complete and that’s a lot.

We have only one holiday between now and the end of the year so it’s going to be a busy and intense rest of the year. 

We still have science MCAS and end-of-the-year PARRC tests to do and that’s time that takes away from our instructional time. We have much to cover in all our subjects so let’s make sure we all focus on moving forward and avoiding end-of-the-year-itis.

Your Time Is Coming

Listen up! 

It’s time you tuned-in and started paying attention.

No, not to me or your other teachers - we assume we already have your attention. 

It’s time for you to start paying attention to presidential politics.

The year of our Lord two thousand and sixteen* - next year - is a presidential election year and you should watch and learn as much as you can about the candidates, issues, parties and process. 

Yesterday, former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton announced she was running for president. She joins Senators Ted Cruz and Rand Paul in the quest for the White House.

It’s a long and arduous process. The first primary isn’t until next January. The general election is in November 2016 so it’s going to take a while to choose a president.

Here, in Massachusetts, we have a unique vantage point on the process. Our neighbor to the North, New Hampshire, holds the first, and some would argue the most important, presidential primary. The candidates will swarm over the Granite State like ants to a picnic. If you watch, you’ll see them featured in nightly news reports on the Boston stations. The Globe and Herald will provide a great deal of coverage, too. 

Even better, you can go see and hear the candidates for yourself. They’ll do thousands of public appearances over the next nine months. You practically can’t walk down a street in New Hampshire without tripping over a candidate. These folks are so hungry for attention, they’ll stage a media event for the opening of an envelope.

I’ve always found it amusing that in the run up to the presidential election, you can shake hands with any candidate practically any place, but once one becomes “President,” there’s almost no way to get any kind of access to them - at all.

So, pay attention! 

This election cycle is like a baseball player’s stint in the minor leagues. Now is the time for you to absorb as much as you can because your time is coming. 

The following presidential election is in 2020 and many of you will be old enough to vote. So, listen, read, watch - your time is coming and you’ll want to be ready.

* This is not a religious thing - I’m echoing Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, Article VII of the United States Constitution, and at least one speech by President Obama.

Crossing It Off The Bucket List

I have never seen an actual rocket launch - I mean a full-sized NASA rocket. 

It is something that’s on my wish list. I would love to experience that in person.

My parents watched a shuttle launch many years ago. They were about 10 miles from the launch pad and said you felt more than heard the roar of the rockets. They said you could feel the waves of sound passing through your body. And that was from 10 miles away!

I did have the pleasure of visiting the Kennedy Space Center and walking beneath a Saturn V rocket they have on display. It’s over 360 feet tall or, in this case, long, because it is displayed on its side - truly an awesome sight. 

Maybe with the new SLS, I’ll get the opportunity to experience a launch. I hope so; it’s always nice to cross something off one’s bucket list.