Teri Parris Ford's Blog

Birthday Weekend!

Monika doesn't have a birthday this year, so she's celebrating all weekend as well as Monday and Tuesday! I've taught my children well. Between school and work, she stays busy watching lots of shows, reading, baking bread, cooking vegan food, and playing with cats. It is hard to believe she's turning 26 sometime after Monday. She is a pretty good housemate really. Luckily we are interested in a lot of similar things to watch, so we have something on our agenda almost every day and get excited about new shows and new episodes. While she sometimes worries about ending up alone as she ages, I don't see it. She's too interesting. Erika joined us today for a Mexican vegan lunch and pedicures. Tomorrow we are going to the Nitty Gritty (a favorite celebration place) and then we leave next weekend for a quick visit to Jessi's for an extended weekend with Jim. That is also part of her birthday gift.

Jessi leaves for the Baltics March 10 to be a part of an American presence. I am hoping she won't be gone more than a year. What is happening in Ukraine right now is crazy but I'm all for doing something. Although no one wants war except Putin and some Russians (not all, I know). 

Overloaded

It's been 2 weeks since checking in on my blog and I had a student ask me about it yesterday! Oops. Without having my mom around to complain if I miss a post, I often procrastinate. My mom would call me if I missed a day, concerned about why. This semester I have an overload-- 6 classes instead of 5, so I'm feeling busier. I started swimming again at lunch twice a week to keep myself active. I actually posted my Professional Practice Goal as swimming 500 yards in 15 minutes twice a week. I know it's not really "professional" but it's about self care and staying healthy as a teacher during this difficult time. I'm overloaded, the pandemic is dragging on and I'm dealing with record numbers of students who are disengaged in my class. It's exhausting. BUT overall my classes are going well. Animation is the most time consuming class, not yearbook interestingly. The only discipline issues I seem to deal with is kids are are not engaged in class -- they stare at their phone, on Tik Tok or watching Netflix. They aren't disruptive. Kids are so rarely disruptive anymore, at least not in my classes. I have kids failing in all of my classes except Yearbook. They fail mostly because they rarely come to class and when they do, they don't work. I make rounds, after giving instruction to the class, asking kids who aren't working what they need. Students so rarely ask questions and seldom ask for help. If I sit back and work on other things, kids will sit back and just fail. There are a few kids who can't take the confrontation. They rarely push back, they just leave. There is a culture change and it scares me a bit. There are a lot of students who are avoiding life. What happens to those kids after high school? I try not worry about all that. I know I'm on my last few couple of years teaching. It makes for a nice balance in the scheme of things. 

A few photos to share...

Jessi is back from a sea mission and posted a couple of photos on her instagram. Erika is officially in grad school, busy but luckily I get to see her often during our lunch. We often pop home for a break with Balt. I got a lunch date in with Melissa this week finally. While I'm not very social, the pandemic has me even less so. 

Happy February!

I always think the worst of winter is over by the time we get to February, but of course, I'm usually wrong. This winter has been cold without a lot of snow. I try to plan a trip in February to get somewhere warm but haven't been able to manage it since the pandemic started. Luckily February is a short month. 

I've been working a lot on my animation curriculum during my free time. I'm staying late after work more often and spent most of the weekend putting together a flipbook and show kids how to video them in a presentation. I started an Animation club last week and am hoping to work with students to create a collaborative cartoon we can show off at Joe's film fest. Busy-- I have felt very busy with work. 

On the home front, Monika has been working a lot as well, between REI and her online school. Erika started 2 classes at UW for her masters program and is busy also. Jim seems to be very busy as well between his army duties and his classes at UMR. Jessi is out at sea and sent word she'll be leaving for the Baltics next month-- Jim and I will go see her before she goes. So I guess there's a lot going on. Balt had dental surgery that set me back a grand and I needed new tires, so I'm feeling tapped out as well!