I live in a very active town. Marathon runners, fat tire bike enthusiasts, dunes trail walkers, they are everywhere, all the time. And the city supports our habit by widening sidewalks into a network of run/bike pathways. Even breaks out the lawn tractor to plow them in winter.
(As an aside for my winter runner people, I ran across a promo for a winter triathlon today. Cross-country ski, fat bike ride, and a 5k run. It’s at the resort where we spent our honeymoon and ngl, that’s a little tempting).
There’s a guy who used to live on the path, on the main north/south route through town, who parked his car in the driveway on the daily. His license plates read BACNATR and he had a 0.0 sticker in his window.
Epic troll.
If you’re not familiar, it’s a riff on the mileage stickers/magnets runners affix to their cars (26.2 for a marathon, 13.1 for a half, 50k for an ultra, and so forth).
My car actually has two because I’m a doof – a generic 26.2 and one specific to the charity running group I used to train with.
I’m not offended by the 0.0 though, I think it’s kind of humorous. And I could stand to be a little less judgey in general. Especially since I’m less than 100 hours away from my first 0.0 calendar year in, how long? At least since we moved back here from Vegas.
I’m walking a lot (we brought two rescue dogs into our family this year, and they need the exercise), and that counts, but I’m not sure I’m living up to the “runner” title in my Twitter bio anymore.
It’s just that this year has required me to set priorities, and carving out time for running (separate from dog walking) has been bumped way down the list. These days I mostly just support my runner friends from a distance by liking their Facebook posts about running.
Bigger picture, that might be a sign of a transition into a different season of life. No shame in that. And yeah, I know I could run with my dogs (they are big enough and they’d probably love it) or set an alarm and get up for some pre-dawn miles in the neighborhood like I used to in my marathon training days. Right now I’m super-into “doing the things that need done, the best I can”.
That’s been the 2021-22 school year so far. None of it is perfect. Not even close. We’re settling for “as good as we can make it under the circumstances”. Things that used to be super-important, kind of aren’t.
Due to staffing issues a bunch of us sold our prep period on the “A” days, and we usually end up getting called to staff cover a class on “B” days, so pretty much everything I need to do outside of actual teaching, happens after school hours. No complaints, I did it willingly, but what it does mean is the “urgent/important” stuff gets done, and the rest, well, you got 12 amps to work with you guys. Figure it out.
If I have any New Year’s Resolutions (and that’s a very large if), those are them. To stay focused on the things that are important and let the rest slide.
So we’ll make sure we’re planned for every day, and keep up with parent contact, and our PLN meetings usually happen in a 3-minute brainstorm in the hallway, or on our group text. We share stuff we make with the team to help save everybody a little time. Everything else is gravy.
So, 2022. Graduation year for our baby. It seemed like a million years away when he was born. Now it’s here. Graduation tickets will show up in the mail in a couple of months, and the grow-ups in the house will stifle tears. Tempus fugit, baby. Tempus fugit. He’s still figuring out his post-grad plans, so we’ll give some guidance there. On the positive, no pressure, no deadlines. Maybe use that as an excuse to sneak away for a long summer weekend Up North if Mrs. Dull can take a couple days. I know just the place.
I’ve got a sort-of Round Number Birthday this year, and I’ll start my 20th year of teaching. Unless we win a multi-million dollar lottery drawing, in which case we’re going to Michigan and never coming back. Other than that, the new year is an open book.
There’s a playlist, of course, because that’s what we do around here ever since stumbling across this Allyson Apsey blog post lo those many years ago.
(Prior years here: 2018 2019 2020 2021)
This year’s version dropped early. I had the makings of a really solid list probably back in June or July and I didn’t feel like waiting. Because I’m getting a little old to wait for things. So I just made the list and listened on the back porch and in the front room all year long.
Lots of input from ‘XRT and Austin City Limits and Haymarket Brewing (whoever is in charge of their playlist deserves a raise) and Rock The Bells Radio and a couple of other SiriusXM channels. Because we’re kind of eclectic like that. My students dig it (“Mr. Dull, you made this playlist? I see you!”) The people who know me will listen to this list and nod knowingly. There’s a lot of “getting older” and “being cool with who you are” and “days gone by were pretty damn cool” mixed with a little of “how you like me now?” and “good for you”.
In other words, kind of perfect for 2022.
Like just about every teacher in my circle, in this house we spent most of Christmas Break in separate rooms, trying not to breathe on each other. I’ve got a series of negative tests, got my paper trail built for going back to work on 1/3, but I don’t suspect the Covid situation is going to improve anytime soon, especially in schools. We haven’t had measurable snow yet in Chicago, which is super-unusual and really just convinces me that the January-February portion of the winter is going to be extra-wintery and miserable. The Cubs are going to suck this year. The fancy hand-trimmed boneless skinless chicken breasts at my local market (which used to seem to me like an unimaginably indulgent luxury) are now the most affordable protein you can buy there. Gas is ridiculously expensive, especially for a guy who commutes 300 miles a week. There are a million reasons for pessimism.
But I’ve got the 2022 portion of the IDOE’s Teacher Leader Bootcamp to look forward to, the money part where we keep learning and then in May meet in person to share our action research findings, and that is a powerhouse group.
We reached a relatively amicable agreement on a new contract, and there’s a substantial raise for teachers in Hammond. That’s good.
Our dogs are playful and goofy and love to go for walks and play fetch with their Kongs. And Arizona Dog will probably love to frolic in the snow.
My district’s DEI czar is starting a book club (Culturally Responsive Teaching And The Brain by Zaretta Lynn Hammond) in January, and I’ve heard from some of the people who have joined. There’s a desire to learn how to adjust our practices to the needs of our students. That’s reason enough for optimism.
And in the first couple months of the year, when optimism is a rare commodity, maybe that’s enough to get me out of bed and on the Borman and into my classroom. Because we got work to do.
Plus I love my kids to death and being a high school math teacher beats the hell out of anything else I could think to do for a living.
“Here’s to the new year. May it be a damn sight better than the old one. And may we all be home before it’s done.”
Amen, Col. Potter. Amen.
Tweaking For No Reason 