Bird is the word

You haven't lived until you've been in an open classroom school with a bird on the loose. That's exactly what happened today. Somehow a sparrow made its way into my school building and was flying from classroom to classroom. It was wreaking havoc wherever it went. There were children screaming and running around the hallways every time the unwelcome visitor flew into their room. Many children were fleeing in mock terror just for the sheer joy of being able to act like a crazy person for a while. Very few, if any, were actually afraid. It was complete bedlam (not exactly an environment conducive to learning, eh?). The students in my school are not exactly known for having much self-control. Add a sparrow flying from room to room and you have a recipe for mass chaos. You'd think these children had never seen bird before. Today at school... Bird was the word.

Baseball History

Baseball history was made today, but it wasn't for good reasons. Due to the civil unrest and rioting in Baltimore, the game today between the Baltimore Orioles and the Chicago White Sox was closed to the public. The game was played in a completely empty stadium. That must have been a strange experience for all of those ball players. All baseball games from little league to the pros have always been played in front of fans. Can you imagine being a player hitting a home run and hearing... silence? Weird. Very, very weird!

The Chips Are Down

This is it. The time when the school year grinds to a close... and believe me, it's a grind. A true battle of wills between the students and me. It will not be easy, but I will win. I ALWAYS win. The students can feel summer vacation coming and they are on a quest to bring learning to a grinding halt and seize control of my classroom. That's not gonna happen. I've been at this 25 years and I have a big bag of tricks at my disposal. I fully expect to be using every trick I can think of.

There are 21 long, grueling school days remaining. They will come and go before I realize what happened. I am getting a taste of summer and it promises to be a nice break.

Drill and Kill

I have mentioned in previous posts how public schools are absolutely being tested to death. This is not an exaggeration. Since early February my school has conducted testing (in one form or another) almost daily. Teachers are calling it "Drill and Kill". Whoever came up with that moniker is right on target. Tomorrow my school begins EOY State testing (EOY=End Of Year). These tests will run through next week and (God willing) that should be the end of testing for this year. As a teacher I have been sensing the kids know they are being over-tested as well. My suspicions were confirmed today when two students (in separate classes)asked the same question. "Mr. Meyer, when we finish testing next week, why do we have to keep coming to school and doing our work?". Wow! What a powerful and insightful question out of the mouths of babes. It's a sad state of affairs when the students know their school career is defined by only one thing... TESTING. The question asked by these two students is valid as well as telling. I must agree. Indeed... why continue school when testing is finished? Frankly, the students don't see the point and I don't either.

Full disclosure here. I am NOT anti-testing. Indeed testing has its place in public education. Many people think teachers are against testing because we don't want to be accountable for what we teach in the classroom. This is completely wrong. I am happy to teach my assigned curriculum and I am happy to have my students tested to see if they have learned what I have taught. I am against round after round after round of testing. Drill and kill is totally counterproductive to the objective of testing student progress. Test my students if you must. Just don't test for months on end and for goodness sake don't let these tests be the only determining factor of my effectiveness as a teacher. Do you want to know what I'm teaching? Do you want to know that I'm not showing movies and having the kids color all day? Come in to my classroom on any given day. Just pop in (no advance notice required). You will see that my students and I are working hard and doing what we're supposed to do. I have nothing to hide. You are welcome any time.

Hey Shorty!

I don't think I like the way Frisch's greeted me today. It sure is a far cry from, "Welcome Home Big Boy!"

They've got it wrong!

As a teacher of 25 years, I feel like I have a pretty good idea of what I'm doing in the classroom. Unfortunately, there are many people who disagree. They don't disagree with me personally, but with the teaching profession in general. There are a lot of things about teachers that people either don't know or have completely wrong. With full disclosure, this is not all original thinking. I took a post from the internet and tweaked it with some of my own thoughts. Here goes:

People tend to think we have it easy. We are just glorified babysitters who assign work for students to do while we sit at our desks and drink coffee.

People think we only work from 8:00-3:00. (Oh how I WISH! I spend countless hours grading papers and doing mounds of paperwork on my own time. It is impossible to do this when students are in the classroom, because I'm like, you know, actually teaching.)

People think we have 3 months off in the summer with absolutely nothing to do. (Oh REALLY?)

If we teach younger kids, all we do is color all day. (I think you’d be shocked at today’s kindergarten curriculum).

If we teach older kids all we do is feed them information all day. (Oh sure! As if it were THAT easy).

We only teach our own subject matter. (In reality teachers are nurses, mediators, judges, juries, fill-in parents, referees, nurturers, psychologists, providers, supporters, advocates, therapists, coaches and many other things).

People think because they’ve been to school, they know how to do a teacher’s job. (Six words… I’d like to see you try!)

People think we are teachers because we are too dumb to do anything else. (I can only laugh at this one!)

People actually blame teachers for children misbehaving in school or earning failing grades. (Yup! They are angels at home and only misbehave because I have no classroom management skills. Yeah, right!)

Many parents believe if their child is doing poorly in school it’s because the teacher doesn’t LIKE their child. (Oh please! Give me a break! I like your child just fine. It’s their behavior I don’t like!)

People actually believe teachers are out to get kids. (As if I wake up every morning plotting which kids I want to pick on that day… In reality my first thought in the morning is to thank the Lord for another day of His mercy and grace. My second thought involves coffee.)

People believe teachers give students their grades. (NOPE! Students earn their grades. I do not arbitrarily assign A’s, B’s, C’s, D’s and F’s).

People think teachers know everything. (Actually I’m okay with this one, but aren’t these the same people who think teachers are too dumb to do anything else? Make up you mind, people!)

People think kids are little sponges who sit quietly and soak up all our knowledge. (Uhhhh no. Kids resist everything I do, all day, every day.)

People think teachers are caring, hard-working people who try to make a difference every day. (Ok, you caught me. I made that one up myself. True as it is though, most people don't really think that.)

Author's Note--- Teaching is not the the only under appreciated profession. I only mention teaching because it's what I know about. Cops, firefighters, nurses and social workers fall into this category as well.

The Narrow Path

Many things come from the Bible and a lot of people don't even realize it. I'm sure the person who created the graphic below has no idea what Matthew 7:13-14 even says. This is not a popular verse because it's a tough pill to swallow. The idea that Heaven is not a "come one, come all" place does not sit well with people. I can only go by what the scriptures say. Like it or not, Matthew 7:13-14 says:

13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

I'm not sure how else to interpret that. How about you?

Grammar

As an English teacher, I continue to be amazed at the number of people who cannot speak or write basic English. It's really not that tough. It takes minimal effort to achieve basic mastery of language skills.

Tough Week

It's been one of those weeks...

The Flying Bus

The Morton family is on vacation in Naples, Florida. On Monday night the whole family stayed at our house because they had to be at the airport by 5:45. However, Jessi and Barry didn't tell Sveta they were flying to Florida. They wanted to surprise her and led her to believe they would be driving. When Tami dropped them at the airport terminal, Sveta thought it was because they were renting a car. She's smart enough to know there are lots of car rental places at the airport. After going through security and arriving at the gate, Sveta still had no idea they were flying instead of driving. Barry even pointed out planes outside the window and Sveta said, "Yeah, but we're taking a car". Then the family was called to board the plane and once seated, Sveta thought they were on a bus. It wasn't until she looked out the window and saw the plane's wing that she realized they were flying. Sveta's surprise was maintained until the very end... just as her parents wanted it.

Elliott on the other hand was fairly oblivious to the whole vacation thing. All he kept saying was "Flow-Duh". He kept hearing everybody talking about Florida and continually repeated "Flow-Duh".

I am so happy the young family is getting to take this trip. I know they will have a really good time. I just wish I could have gone with them. I like Flow-Duh!

Funny!

No words... this is just funny!

Say Nothing

Tami and I have always like the song by Keith Whitley (later covered by Alison Krauss) called, "When you say nothing at all". It's basically about people who don't need words to know how the other know how they feel. I wouldn't necessarily say it's "our song", but we have both always liked it. It goes like this:

It's amazing how you can speak right to my heart
Without saying a word you can light up the dark
Try as I may I could never explain
What I hear when you don't say a thing

The smile on your face lets me know that you need me
There's a truth in your eyes sayin' you'll never leave me
The touch of your hand says you'll catch me if ever I fall
You say it best when you say nothing at all

All day long I can hear people talking out loud
But when you hold me near you drown out the crowd
Old Mr. Webster could never define
What's being said between your heart and mine

The smile on your face lets me know that you need me
There's a truth in your eyes sayin' you'll never leave me
The touch of your hand says you'll catch me if ever I fall
You say it best when you say nothing at all

The smile on your face lets me know that you need me
There's a truth in your eyes sayin' you'll never leave me
The touch of your hand says you'll catch me if ever I fall
You say it best when you say nothing at all

You married people know what I'm talking about. You usually know what your spouse is thinking. You can sometimes finish their sentences and you can read each others faces like a familiar book. It's a beautiful thing, isn't it?

Growing Old

Tami and I often look back at our marriage and marvel at how quickly time has gone. This summer we will be married 24 years. This means I have been married to Tami for exactly half my life. Today we are more in love than when we first met. Our marriage is incredible and simply keeps getting better. We talk about how much life we've shared together and how we are enjoying growing old together. Hopefully we have many, many more years of wedded bliss ahead of us. Looking at the picture below reminded of what it may be like to grow old with my wife.

I'm not the only one

I guess I'm not the only one. There are others in the world (Including Anne Frank) who see the value in keeping your mouth shut. Talk is cheap. Keeping my ears open and mouth closed is a tremendously beneficial way for me live. It works wonders.

Beer Tube

We went out to eat earlier this week and enjoyed some Buffalo Wings at the new restaurant in town. The food was really good, but that's not why I'm making this post. This post is about something called a beer tube. We saw it sitting at a booth a few tables over. You can see it pictured below. Yes, that's one hundred ounces of amber colored deliciousness sitting right on the table. Yes, it has a chilling device built right in. Yes it has a tap connected to it. This thing would be perfect for 2 or 3 guys. It eliminates the need for frequent refills. I'm sure I would never order this thing, but I sure did find it interesting. Maybe you all have seen these before and maybe I'm behind the times. But I have to say I was quite impressed by the beer tube.

Abby's Honors

Last night we attended Abby's National Honor Society ceremony and reception. As you can see in the photo below, Abby sang the National Anthem to begin the ceremony. If you're not a singer, I can tell you it is a very difficult song to perform. Abby pulled it off flawlessly. No flubs of the lyrics and no sour notes. Her mom and I were quite proud. During the ceremony Abby was recognized with many other seniors for their academic accomplishments. Their future college plans and scholarships earned were also announced. It's hard to believe Abby will graduate in about a month and a half.

I don't know it all

I don't profess to know it all. Heck, I don't even know a little bit. A lot of people think I'm smart because I have a good memory and do well in trivia games. That doesn't make me smart. Apparently I've got a lot of people fooled. I don't claim to be intelligent, but I'm also not dumb enough to act like I know everything either. The smartest thing I can ever do is tell someone honestly I don't know the answer to their question, but promise that I will find out for them.

Titanic Day

You all know of my fascination with shipwrecks. Most of my interest lies in Great Lakes shipwrecks, but I am fascinated by the grandaddy of them all... RMS Titanic.

103 years ago today the RMS Titanic struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic Ocean and sank. More than 1,500 people perished that night. Over a century later this story still captivates many maritime enthusiasts. There is so much to this story and I could type pages and pages that would bore you to tears. I will spare you the details.

One interesting note... Did you know the wreck of the Titanic was discovered on the same day Pete Rose broke Ty Cobb's all-time hits record? September 11, 1985.

Another interesting note... If you do some checking, the date of the sinking is listed as April 15, 1912. Why the discrepancy in dates? Because the ship struck the iceberg about 10:00 PM the night of the 14th, but didn't actually sink until 2:00 AM on the 15th. There you have it!

Once again, you can file this post under "Things that interest only me".

Senior Prom

Abby attended her Senior Prom on Saturday. She looked beautiful of course.

Baseball

Baseball season is in full swing (pun intended) and I could not be happier about it. My beloved Reds had a semi-successful week (4-2), but dropped 2 out of 3 games to the despised St. Louis Cardinals. Yesterday I was able to listen to the game as I mowed the lawn. Two of my favorite activities rolled into one. It was a gorgeous day and it was so relaxing.

Here's a picture of some baseball players. They look to be major leaguers or high minor leaguers. Either way, I cannot begin to imagine what is going on in this photo. I have no idea what these guys are up to, but I want in!

Miss me?

Did you miss me yesterday? Sorry I didn't post anything. We were babysitting Elliott all day and then we had a family cookout. It was a full day for sure! I'll post something later today. I'm sure you all will be waiting in breathless anticipation.

Never Give Up

If you don't know who Lauren Hill is, you've been living under a rock for six months. Lauren was a 19 year old girl who graduated from Lawrenceburg High School last year and had committed to play collegiate basketball at Mount St. Joe. 49 days after committing to "The Mount" she was diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancer called DIPG. She was given two years maximum to live. Sadly she died last night. Her story was not only a local inspiration, but a national one as well. She made appearances on one of the morning shows (Good Morning America maybe?) and The View. Lauren raised over a million dollars for brain cancer research and leaves behind a legacy far beyond her 19 years. I can't imagine the agony the Hill family must be suffering. Please join me in praying for them. Lauren Hill was easily the top news story in Southeastern Indiana this year (easily beating out Olympian turned vandal, Nick Goepper). Goodbye, Lauren. You are gone, but your memory will live on in Lawrenceburg forever.

On a side note--- Lauren's story was the headliner on Foxnews.com. It was also on CNN, CBS Sports.com and all local news outlets.

Looking at the menu

This really is true. I know which kind of person I am. Do you?

I always look at the prices on the menu and make my meal decision based on money. I will often choose something less desirable simply because it's cheaper. Rare is the time when I order EXACTLY what I want off the menu. I'd love to order steak or shrimp any time I want, but that's just not the world I live in.

Silly!

Yes, I've always had a silly sense of humor. You can file this under "stuff only I find funny".

Sorry folks. Sometimes I can't help myself.

25K

Silence Runs Deep reached another milestone today. 25,000 page views. Thank you for reading this drivel every day. I appreciate you stopping by to see what's going on in my tiny little brain. I try to keep things fresh so there is something to read every day. It's a labor of love, but I sure do enjoy this little outlet for my thoughts and feelings.

Huh?

As a man who is slowly, but surely losing his hearing, this picture made me laugh more than it should have.

Opening Day!

Opening Day is a Cincinnati institution. The Meyer family is pumped up and ready for the big day. Here's evidence of my effort to make home feel like Great American Ballpark. Please forgive me. I'm a little giddy today.

A trip to the ballpark always starts with finding a place to park. This is sitting at the end of my driveway:

The entrance to the ballpark:

Once inside the ballpark, you have to get something to eat. Our ballpark fare:

The pre-game festivities--- The 96th annual Findlay Market Opening Day Parade on TV:

It's a holiday

Today is a holiday. Not in the official sense, but for most people in the Cincinnati area it is. Of course I'm talking about Opening Day. Today the Reds begin their season and that brings the promise of longer, brighter, and warmer days ahead. This is one of my favorite days of the year and is especially sweet because I am off work today. The icing on the cake would be if I had tickets to the game (which I don't), but it would be greedy of me to want that. I'm content watching the game at home with an ice cold lemonade in one hand and a hot dog in the other. I'm not kidding about the hot dog either. For dinner tonight we are going to have ballpark themed food. Peanuts in the shell, hot dogs, popcorn and nachos. It will be just like going to Great American Ballpark. I might even lock the bathroom door and pretend like the ladies have to wait in line for the restroom. I may also charge Michael five bucks to park in the driveway. I could throw peanut shells on the floor and spill beer on the carpet, but I'd have to clean it up afterward. I may skip that part. But if we're going for an authentic Opening Day experience, we may as well go all out.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter! I don't need any other reason to post this photo:

He is risen!

Happy Easter! He is risen! He is risen indeed!

Today we rejoice in the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. As I type this the weather the Lord has blessed us with on this Easter Sunday is gorgeous. Just as Jesus gave us new life when he arose after three days, I am reminded of the new life we see each spring. The flowers are blooming, the grass is greening and the trees are budding. Just as Jesus conquered sin and death, so too spring overcomes winter and brings forth new life. May the Lord bless you this Easter, my friends. Be mindful today that Christ gave his life so that you may live.

ALLELUIA!

In over my head

It was only a matter of time before I screwed something up, and it happened last night.

In the last two years I have taken on more and more responsibilities at church. I have become a deacon and have taken on three different teaching responsibilities. I teach a Sunday School class on Sunday mornings (5th and 6th graders), I teach a small group lesson monthly (the Pastor is in the small group... no pressure!) and I teach a Bible Study in our home every Wednesday night. As a deacon, I am part of the team that collects the offering and distributes the communion elements. All of these things have taken me waaaaaaaaaay out of my comfort zone. All of these things also require me to pray aloud in public. This is a tremendous challenge for me, but I know I must do it to grow as a Christian. Some people pray aloud and they are so eloquent. The beautiful prayers just roll off their tongues. I'm not that way. Although I have greatly improved in this area, my prayers are still filled with "uhs" and "ums". My prayers are fine, but they seem so choppy and dare I say, simple. I'm not putting myself down or selling myself short, but I do recognize this as an area of weakness. I guess the only way to improve praying aloud is to continue practicing. I must have a lot more practicing to do because I really messed up a prayer last night.

Our church had a Good Friday communion service. It was actually a combined service with people from two or three other churches joining us. I was asked to serve communion with three other men and of course, I was asked to pray before the unleavened bread was distributed. My prayer started out really well, but mid-prayer I was hit with a potential coughing fit (I'm sure you know that feeling you get in your throat that brings on a major coughing episode). I stopped suddenly, mustered everything I could to not cough up a lung and amazingly didn't cough at all. Crisis averted, right? Wrong! So, so wrong! By the time I had regained my composure, I totally lost my train of thought. My mind went completely blank. Can you imagine the horror and panic I felt? I was in the middle of praying for one of the most sacred ceremonies in the church on the night we observe the crucifixion of Christ and at the conclusion of the prayer I had no idea what to say. Suffice it to say the prayer did not end well and I sounded like a bumbling idiot.

I'm still bothered by my super-sized miscue today, but I doubt many people who were in attendance last night are sitting around discussing my prayer that went horribly awry. In fact, I'm sure I'm the ONLY one who is even giving this a second thought today. In my mind I know this is true, but my prideful self still worries that somebody out there is shaking his/her head at the thought of my prayer last night. That's on me. I need to let it go and not worry about what someone else may think of me. In the end it doesn't matter. My heart was in the right place, but my brain chose to take a temporary leave of absence.

Thanks for listening

There are many things that happen to a person when s/he grows up. One of those is listening to talk radio instead of music in the car. I'm not really sure when this happened for me, but I know it was a long, long time ago.

At some point in their lives, everybody in Cincinnati has heard Jim Scott on WLW in the morning. It would be nearly impossible to not have heard his voice. Jim Scott retired today and signed off for the final time with his signature line, "Thanks for listening". Cincinnati lost a radio icon. An institution. A fixture on morning radio in Cincinnati for 47 years. Basically I've been listening to Jim Scott my entire life. There was just something about starting my day with Jim. My morning commute was never complete without him. I always counted on Jim for the traffic report, the weather forecast, the 7:00 time check, the daily chat with military analyst Colonel Dean Smittle, the daily aviation report from Jay Ratliffe (even though I never fly anywhere) and much, much more. Now that Jim has retired, my mornings will never be the same. As usual, the city will get used to someone else on their morning commute, but it will take a while. We will miss you, Jim Scott. The city of Cincinnati thanks you and we wish you the very best in your retirement.

Breakfast with the Bunny

Did you ever have your picture taken with the Easter Bunny when you were a kid? I did and I remember being creeped out by whoever was in the costume. I don't have much recollection of the Easter Breakfast where the photos were taken, but I think it was at the St. Bernard Municipal Building. I do recall the uneasy feelings that came with the events of that day. I know Mom had good intentions and only wanted to do something fun to celebrate Easter, but maybe the photos below confirm what I've always believed. Photos with fictitious holiday figures should probably be reserved for Santa Claus. Apparently I wasn't the only child who didn't enjoy the experience Check out some of the kids below). This is also not a new trend either (which is evidenced by some of the old photos below). I guess parents have been traumatizing their children since the dawn of time. What do you think?