Always have a plan b.  We were working on digital negatives in Photo II and those digital negatives are to be used to expose cyanotypes.  Well, Bertha, our darling Epson, was not working on Friday.  I sent our tech guy an e-mail.  No answer all weekend.  Then I tried again Monday morning.  She's alive, but not printing.  I sent another e-mail.  Nothing.  For him to not respond, you know he is tied up in something serious.  Really serious.  I paid him a visit third period and saw the stress on his face.  I asked if I should go with my plan b for period 8.  He uttered a tired "Yes".  For three days we went with plan b.  We frantically mixed lith film developer during our lunch.  The kids were instructed in period 8 on Friday.  Monday and Tuesday involved lith printing and prepping paper for argyrotypes.  The kids handled it well.  Confused, dizzy, but well.  The best part was having a student teacher who took it all in stride, because she has already taken over the Photo II classes so this was all her teaching.  And it went fabulously well.  I do feel like I have grown a few more grey hairs over the past seven days, but by the end of the day yesterday, Bertha had worked like a beast for two days, the cyanotypes looked amazing (even with no sunlight), and the kids were on track.  Phew.  I still do not know why this place does not like to get student teachers from NJCU.  They are so much better than what I have seen from MSU, but what would I know.

The intrigue of the week?  Hearing that something that I have been wanting to do for years is now being done by other staff members.  My problem is that I talked about it with people I thought were friends.  It turns out they are taking my ideas and running with them.  So they can do their gardening club and that is fine with me, but the deceit and theft I am dealing with so far this year is hardening my resolve that I must no longer befriend my coworkers and must see my time with my students as my source of joy.  It doesn't disappoint me. I know who I am dealing with.  It's more like that gnat that keeps flying in your face as you are hiking a difficult trail.  You have bigger things to take care of and this annoying little thing keeps trying to distract you.  I am also finding out that I will be pushed out of a project I was discussing with the the colleague who came up with the idea and was spearheading it.  Actually, we are both being pushed out.  I have a hunch I will end the year in lunch duty.  I am now in library duty for a reason.  I was requested because of plans to work in the MakerSpace.  The word is that I will be moved to the cafeteria when the MakerSpace is up and running so someone else can work in it/run it.

I was also told that the darkroom will be gone within a few years.  Not a school year goes by without being told this.  I know I will not be involved in that decision either.  However, that will be a great loss for the Guidance and Special Ed departments.  I have been told that what I did with the Photo program took a great load off of Guidance.  They could fill my classes for 10 period without having to resort to administrative pressure to tell kids to put my course at the top of the list to put bodies in.  The students WANT to take the class.  They do not have to be tricked into it.  I also take any and all students.  The case workers and CST know that I am a person who will take some of the most challenging students and successfully teach them and work with them.  You take the darkroom away and kill this program, you will not hurt me.  I already have a plan b for my next career if that happens.  You will be hurting the students of PV.  And that is despicable.

Always have a Plan B.

My work is neverending.  I had to drop off cameras at the repair shop.  I left right after period 8.  I still did not make it home until 4.30.  If anyone thinks I get away with something by leaving at the bell for this, they are kidding.  I would gladly let someone else drop them off and sit in that route 80 traffic on my way home around the Market Street exit for the chance to avoid the agita of this trip.  However, if I do not do it, it will not get done.  I tried it last year.  I refused to drop them off.  Did someone else volunteer?  Hardly.  At least the people at the shop are wonderful.  The woman I deal with was telling me about the equipment the repaired for another school.  First of all, 16 cameras repaired.  Sixteen!!!  I was drooling over that kind of repair budget.  Oh wait, I have no repair budget.  It comes out of my supply budget.  Then, here's the kicker:  12 enlargers repaired!  I told her I do all my enlarger repairs myself.  We could not understand how they paid for it.  I have a guess - a supportive school that values the program and budgets money for all students, not just select groups.

I feel anger at the careless way the students handle the cameras, but she told me ours are actually in very nice shape compared to what they see from other schools.  I looked at the Minoltas they had in the case and they were all $200.  Sigh.....  No money for that.  I will be scrounging on e-bay all year.  I have had a never ending battle for fair funding since they gave me this program and told me to fix it.  I just wish they knew how much money I save by soliciting thousands of dollars in donated equipment and doing my own repairs.

I had ordered a magnification lamp on this year's budget.  Somehow, between submitting it in December and some date in February, that item was removed after being marked "no bid" and a paper trimmer was placed on it.  My student teacher took pity on my attempts to repair a camera on Friday - maybe it was the resulting blood blister - and brought in her magnification lamp from home.  Within five minutes I was able to make the repair.  That paper cutter will remain in that box because I did not order it and all six of ours are indeed in working order, especially after I sharpen the blades myself.

I do not get paid any extra to do all this and I am getting frustrated.  However, the kids must never know.  All sunshine and roses in Cafe 026.

The kids are doing their first shoot this weekend.  So far, only three e-mails.   That's not too bad.  I hope they don't try to e-mail me at the last minute tonight.  I can't stand the procrastination, especially since I drill it into their heads that they must shoot 12 at one time and 12 afterwards and it must all be in daylight.  We are only shooting at 125 shutter speed, no supplemental flash.  They are quite impatient, but I have stressed the importance of slowing down while shooting.  I asked how many of them freak out if someone does not respond to a text in 30 minutes.  I bet the reality is they all react that way, but few raised their hands.  Whether it is processing a print, shooting, or processing the film, this class needs patience.  I felt like I was moving at a glacial pace this week with my camera and film loading instructions, but when I would ask if they hit information overload, I just needed to look at their eyes to know the answer.

I have a student teacher this semester and getting her feedback and responses is really helpful.  She felt like it was moving very slow too, but we forget how foreign all this film stuff is to kids nowadays.  Our instinct is to show everything and then expect it to have all sunk in, but that isn't the reality.

The main reason I hope the kids are having an easy time shooting is because of my packed schedule.  I volunteer with three groups right now.  I think I am overloaded.  I overbooked myself this weekend and had to skip one organization's meeting and canvassing.  I had one meeting this past week.  We had work in town yesterday morning.  There was also canvassing with another group yesterday but we could not do that and do the clean up.  Then, I have a wake today (a cousin passed away suddenly), I have to drive all the way out of the way to get school cameras repaired tomorrow, and I have more work to do online next week.  Then we have voter registration in Paterson on Saturday and plantings to do on Sunday on Main Street.  All this while trying to get everything at work done, take care of my gardens, and deal with a cat who is skittish and peeing on furniture.  While I can tell my students to slow down and take it easy, it seems I just can't.  The moment I do that little act of self-preservation, there will be someone to scold me for slacking.  There always is.  So I keep on going.

One student asked recently if I ever stop.  I said I don't know how.

I survived the first week.  We started on September 1, but I don't teach freshmen this year so I did not have any students until Tuesday.  For the second year in a row, I do not change rooms or have freshmen.  For the first time ever in my 15 year teaching career, I only have two preps.  Some colleagues might grumble at that, but I think I have certainly paid my dues over the years.  In those respects, the year has started off smoothly.

The rough part is that we are transitioning to Google Classroom.  I have been using my PBWorks religiously for years.  I like it.  It's easy for the students to navigate.  I have a homepage with the necessities, and you move on to the necessary page from there.  Google Classroom has no home page as such.  The items I have on my homepage end up having to be on each and every classroom's page.  A pain and a bit of overdoing it in my mind.  It is customizable and pretty as far as the images go, but for me, that just isn't enough.  We use it in class everyday and the kids are used to checking it already and it has only been a week.  I guess that is a good thing.

When I saw my rosters, it wasn't like last year.  Last year, I had a look at them and saw who I had and my heart skipped a beat.  I had so many kids I knew and liked.  Great work ethic kids, so-so work ethic kids who were a hoot, and kids I lobbied hard to take the class.  This year there were very few familiar faces.  I was not disappointed, but there was that question of what the dynamics of each period would be like with so many unknowns.  Well, what a bunch of kids.  I think the classes will be really cool.  I can already sense a unique class personality developing in each period.  They are clearly into the class and what we will be doing.  I am taking it slow - as usual - and I still see the glazed over eyes.  I keep forgetting this is a piece of cake for me but so damn foreign to them that I need to make sure I take it slower, but not to the point of sleep.  Today, we try our first photogram test strip.  Oh, the excitement.

I do miss the daily garden work.  Not only am I not there in the morning like usual, but we also have a massive rain deficit and the plants are starting to die off.  (They would be anyway with the colder nights, but it still stinks.)  I water with the rain barrels each day, but I can't water enough.  I also had an acquaintance over to pick something up and he wanted to see the gardens.  As I walked him around, I was aggravated with my shaded areas.  I need to do something with those spaces and avoid further garden humiliation.  He was polite, but the gardens were not as nice as when the weather is normal and not as nice and in bloom as they were in the middle of the summer.