Why

I do it all for the feeling I had this evening. We invited Forest Park to our campus for some seven on seven. All skill positions working on the passing game: offense versus defense. I wanted to play my second quarterback. Charod Williams. He's a 15 year old sophomore that does everything right. Comes to practice. Works hard. Good kid. We started slow and he was not playing well. I left him in the game to work with the rest of the starting offense. Eventually our defense made some plays and he gained confidence. I could see them gain confidence in him as well. He matured in front of my eyes tonight. I know that he will have the faith of his teammates, and, more importantly, he took a step closer to manhood tonight.

The Dilemma

It seemingly arises from economic pressures. I will not even approach reasonable compensation for my services until I get the advanced degree. So here I am in the GSU Library, waiting on a group member from my KH 6560 class to start working on budget figures for our final project: a proposal to build another stadium for use by Atlanta Public Schools. I need the masters to qualify for positions of instuctional support that do not tie me to a classroom and pay me better than a teacher. Meanwhile I still have bills and a mortgage to pay, so I suppose it's a blessing that I found the graduation coach job with Communities in Schools. Trying to balance the work with four classes this summer and serving as the Offensive Coordinator for Carver High School's football team will test my limits. I worked this hard as a first-year teacher, but not without severe costs to my mental and physical wellbeing... I wonder what will be the price of the ticket this fall...

I owe it all...

To my IT 2010 class. I have had plenty to write about for some time, now. I love to share ideas. Now I will begin to use this blog to do so in a public forum. Today, like any other day, finds me with too much to do in too little time. My Ed Research Class is about to wrap up early, which might leave me with enough time to grab some lunch or hit a quick workout before practice starts. We ask the kids to give us four hours, so for the coaches that amounts to almost six on some days. I don't know how I manage to keep up with this schedule, but I know I have to take it a day at a time.