Saturday

What a wet, icky day. Only in Minnesota can one go from the heat and humidity of last Wednesday to the rain and chill of today.

Last night Kristie and I traveled to Warren to see Casey's team win 30-20. It was a great night for high school football.

After our hectic week, we both fell asleep pretty much as soon as we got home.

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Since it's dreary out, we don't feel as guilty about lounging around. Aside from a little cleaning and reading - and now typing - I haven't done much. I'm procrastinating working on my essay due for the anthology "Getting it in Writing." But I have done some reading for it. It took me so long to learn that my proposal was accepted that I had given up hope. Then when I heard it would be published - and the full essay was due Novemeber 1, I had to get myself back into the writing mood again. But that will happen. I have MEA marked as my finishing date for it.

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Technology is absolutely amazing. Our new textbook software is a wonder. While I'm not thrilled with their test question selection nor am I overly impressed with their worksheets for our 11th and 12th grade texts, the software, though, does allow me to import questions and worksheets that I developed previously. And to be honest - while I'm not thrilled with their worksheets - that might be more out of being set in my ways and getting used to using my materials than it is getting used to new ones. Not isn't bad. I just feel a bit guilty clicking on a program and having an assignment ready to go in a few minutes. I used to spend a lot longer than that crafting my own assignments.

The best feature - by far - of this new software is that it tailors all of the questions and assignments to the MN state standards. I can literally make a lesson plan on the computer and the software will provide me with which standard is being met with each question and assignment. Amazing.

Another new feature that I'm trying to get used to is Keynote. It's a powerpoint program that - you guessed it - allows me to make powerpoint presentations. Just this morning I was toying with it and started creating a layout for my college composition class's first personal narrative assignment. I can add music, pictures --- even video!

Of course our English department is still awaiting our promised projectors so we can actually use Keynote in class. But I plan on using the library's projector next week for my slideshow presentation.

Now I know what you're saying. Slideshows. Ugh. And that's true. Every in-service or speaker the district brings in has a slideshow. And I have come to loathe them. But most powerpoints are pretty lame. Even our speaker at the in-service this year had a very average slideshow, but he made up for it with his humor and personality more than compensated for it. That's what I want to do. Plus with this Keynote program, I think I can make slideshows with some personality in them. I just hope the students think the same.

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Our 9th grade football team now stands at 0-2. Red River, a team that had yet to win a game, blanked us 0-22. This week we play GF Central, a team that handled Red River pretty easily. So thinks don't look good for us.

I do have to say that the 28 young men we have out for freshman football are some of the nicest guys I have ever coached. They just aren't great football players. There isn't an intense one among them nor is there a willingness to be physical. Two things that are rather essential to the game of football.

Now that we have stumbled, the parents feel it's their need to offer assistance. As it that's the reason we're off to an 0-2 start - we just aren't trying hard enough or if we just had one extra coach.

Just before kick-off last week, a parent motioned me over. He informed me that Red River's tailback fidgeted before the snap. If I told the ref, they would be offsides every snap. Now his intentions were good. My dad drove me nuts doing the same thing. He'd constantly tell the coaches that we were getting held by the other team. Like they needed to know!

I politely thanked him and watched Red River warm up. True, the tailback did fidget, but no more so than any of our 11 offensive starters. And if we needed to get an edge by that means, we don't deserve to win the game anyway.

Now a player has informed us that his father is willing to volunteer coach. As one colleague said, "That parent would make the parent who suggest sending the team a box of cream puffs look like a genius."

To try to stop the slide, I'm going to try two new quarterbacks. One has never played the position before, and one has never played football before. That should piss some parents off. But in reality the other quarterbacks on the roster will never play that position in the future. They just don't have it.

However the is light at the end of the tunnel. The junior high coaches tell me the 8th grade class has four quarterbacks right now. Any of whom could move up and start for us right now. That doesn't do me any good this year, but next year . . .