It occurs to me that I haven't really talked much about LMK's new job. I haven't mentioned the irony in my engineer turned soccer coach husband getting a teaching job before me - you know, the one with an actual degree...IN TEACHING! But that's another story...

First, I love, love, love the school. Love it. Everyone who works there has been so helpful and kind. I hear all the time, "The School is just like a big family, we look out for one another." This is definitely an environment where I can thrive. We've attended three basketball games (2 high school, 1 middle) and have seen the head of the school and his wife at 2 of them. I'm kind of looking forward to football and soccer games in the fall. Wait...did I mention girl's soccer is a spring sport around here? Games start around the first of March. It better be warmer here than in Ohio in March, otherwise, I'm gonna freeze!

Right now, it looks like LMK will be the assistant girl's coach this spring. Then starting in the new school year, he will switch with the boy's head coach - assist for the boy's team in the fall and be the head coach of the girl's in the spring. (Make sense?) It's not exactly what we were hoping for, but it's still coaching and he is thrilled.

All along, I've been extremely lucky to have a husband that, while he didn't always "get" teaching, he didn't belittle it. He knows what a tough job it is. Afterall, the man had a teacher mother. My mom and I would come home with hilarious (to everyone but those who had lived them) "school stories" to tell at dinner. The summer he worked at The Club, he got yet another taste of teaching. Believe me, the stories he came home with were hilarious - to us. Since living with not only his teacher mother, but also living with me near my teacher mother he's learned a lot, second hand, about teaching.

But sometimes, I forget that he has no formal teacher training. I assume he knows certain things about teaching - and you know what happens when you assume. For example:

He decided that the semester final should not hurt his students' grades. They've had a rough semester (more teachers than quarters) and most of them are really worried about their grades. He cleared his idea with the academic dean and proceeded to administer his tests. However, his one mistake was showing students who had taken the test early in the week their grade (with the exam not hurting their grade). Word spread like wildfire and by the third day of exams, he had kids not bothering to complete most of their test because they knew it wouldn't affect their grade. They sat in the back of the class and goofed off. Seriously, if you work two hours on a test - complete only a few problems and get a 30% (with a 9 percentage point curve) there is something wrong.

Teacher Lesson Learned: If you're going to be a nice guy, wait until everyone has finished the exam to let them know you're being a nice guy. Otherwise, they take advantage.

As for classes, I don't understand 99% of what he's teaching. He's basically teaching the math that he helped me squeak through at Tech. So, I know he knows what he's talking about. I've been the student. Now, if only I could get a teaching job, we'd be set.