Am I old?

I've got to document what happened in my class the other day. One of my students asked if I was the same age as Mr. Jenkins. After finding out his age I informed that student I was older than Mr. Jenkins. Immediately, this began a guessing game to my actual age (28). And what was the most common answer?.........Between 35-40! Talk about a bruise to the ego. It must be true that teaching makes you grow old quick.

Playing for Pizza

I recently read Playing for Pizza by John Grisham. The story is about an NFL quarterback, who wakes up from a concussion to discover he single handedly lost a game that prevented his Cleveland Browns from going to the Super Bowl. When no NFL team is willing to sign Rick Dockery, his agent finds a place for him—in Italy. Rick reluctantly goes to Italy, but quickly embraces his teammates and their culture. He ends up enjoying Italian food, gaining acceptance from his teammates, tries the opera (which he cannot understand a word of), and ultimately meets a young American girl studying abroad. This is certainly not one of Grisham's best novels—not even his best football novel. But it is a quick, quirky, and easy read. There are plenty of parts that are absolutely hilarious. If you enjoy football and John Grisham, this is probably a book you will enjoy.

My 1st Semester

I'm three weeks away from completing my first semester teaching and getting a whole new batch of 7th graders come January. It went by faster than I thought! I've learned so much in this short period of time. I can't help but look back and laugh at the anxiety of my first few weeks. No doubt I'll be better prepared for this next semester.
These last four months have been both tiring and fun. I don't think I have ever been so exhausted, but I must say it was worth it. I finally feel comfortable with how smoothly things are going in my class. It took me awhile, but I can't stress enough the importance of good classroom management. There is no doubt in my mind that students learn better in a structured environment and after much trial and error I think I've found a system that works for me.
I'm thankful for so many things right now. Overall, my first group of students were outstanding. I only hope the next group is as good! No doubt teaching and coaching are very difficult on a family. I'm extremely grateful to my loving and supportive wife, a two year old who's full of life, and a healthy newborn baby!

My Kiddos

I took these pictures a few weeks ago when my students were hard at work. This is my 8th block class and is easily my largest class, but also my most enjoyable!


This young man is one of my favorites! He is SPED and has an IEP, but he has done outstanding in my class. He usually stays on task and has worked very hard--he's always one of the first to finish a lesson.




The first two girls in the top picture and the girl in the bottom picture are three of my GT students. Obviously they are advanced and I have had to work hard to keep them from getting bored. They are all excellent students and a pleasure to have in class!



This young lady is one of the sweetest girls in the 7th grade. She always wears a smile on her face and calls me Mister Coach Clark.


The girl in this picture is very quiet and well behaved. I was amazed to learn that she is in our advanced girls choir. I had to give the boy in the picture detention recently, but other than that he has been one of my favorites as well.

The Winners Manual

This past weekend I read a book I’ve been meaning to read for quite a while. For my birthday, my dad gave me The Winners Manual by Jim Tressel. I’m glad to say that I finally took the chance to read it. Tressel is the head football coach at Ohio State University, and each year he gives his players essentially this manual. Its purpose is to build character, humility, gratitude, purpose, and to motivate his players during and after their careers at Ohio State. I expected to read the book and find ways to become a better coach—how to motivate, inspire, plan a practice, etc. In reality, I found a manual to help me realize my purpose, set goals, and become a better person. One of the biggest things I related to was how Coach Tressel described the difference in your purpose and your goals. He states that our society tries to define us by measuring achievement. But, in actually achievement has nothing to do with what type of person we are. Instead, we measure our success by the fulfillment of our purpose. He argues that our goals, while essential to set and write down, serve as tools or vehicles to achieve purpose. This makes so much sense but it was the first time I’ve actually thought of it so simply. Tressel breaks down his components into the “Block O of Life”. The purpose section is constant—personal/family, spiritual/moral, and caring/giving. While Tressel feels the purpose section of the Block O will stay the same, the three goals in this book—football/family, strength/fitness, and academics/career—serve as examples of what his team does. In other words, your purpose is constant but it is up to each individual to set their own goals for achieving purpose. Throughout this book there are inspirational stories and quotes, as well as a plan for short term and long term fulfillment. This book obviously doesn’t posses the excitement and suspense of a nonfiction thriller, I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for an inspirational success story and how to improve their own circumstance.

Ugly Virus

On Monday, all of my computers received a virus. The kids couldn't work on Microtype Pro or Microsoft Word. Although it was a disaster, we had to roll with it. We passed out all the kids previous assignments and graded all their reports. On Tuesday the virus was still present so I had nothing to do but let them do homework. It was a completely wasted day. Luckily our computers were fixed and now we are back on task. We've got plenty of catching up to do--which sometimes isn't a bad thing. After all, the kids were very busy and well behaved yesterday!

I'm also getting ready to go to Bryant tomorrow. We will play them in the 1st round of the playoffs. None of our kids have ever played in the playoffs and all seem very excited. I've got to get my assignments and notes ready for my sub and I just hope my 7th graders will be on their best behavior tomorrow. Hopefully I can use the bus trip to catch up on some work--although I'll probably just use the time to catch up on some sleep.

Election Day

Oh yes, I forgot to mention that I voted today. Sophomore practice starts at 7:30 so I thought I could vote early in the morning and still make it on time. I didn't want to risk getting home and having to go vote--any number of things could go wrong with that scenario. So, I got there at about 6:45 thinking the voting would open at 7 am. Boy was I wrong. Voting would NOT occur before 7:30, and the man in charge made sure of that. It wasn't as if they weren't prepared or shorthanded by 7:00 either. No, he sat in his chair just inside the glass door and watched us until 7:30 sharp. I was 7th in line at 6:45 but when the doors opened there had to be 150 people waiting. No doubt it will be an exciting night and with my civic duty out of way I might be able to watch a little bit of the coverage.