was subbing at a suburban high school today and during lunch time overheard an interesting discussion among some teachers. there were about 4 or 5 of them involved and most seemed to be coaches of some kind and also science teachers. it all started when an older teacher joined the table and conversation went to a recent administrative meeting in which possible measures to curb inappropriate student dress were discussed. apparently at the meeting someone made the point that if the administration were to get more strict about student outfits (nothing revealing, no ultra-baggy-hanging-near-the-knees jeans, tank tops, etc), than in order to show students a good example the teachers should also start considering the way they dress to school. bringing up of this point started up a lively discussion among the lunching teachers. only one of them seemed behind this line of thinking, the others were really disapproving. they brought up classroom temperature, comfort, not being able to wear nice clothes due to experiments going wrong in science settings, and basically not seeing why they themselves needed to do anything when it was the students who were the problem. they mentioned a particular administrator whose goal is to dress the teachers more professionally and how it was all this person's fault for this subject being reintroduced again and again. apparently this administrator specifically disapproves of open-toed sandals for faculty. gasp!
now, i know, that some teachers need to dress more comfortably for the tasks they perform but i also started to believe that the more professional the teacher looks the more respect and attention that teacher is likely to get from his/her students. if teachers treat their jobs as something they respect enough not to wear jeans and sandals then perhaps students will respect the learning process that teacher is in charge of. just something i've been thinking about going from school to school. thoughts on this welcome.

overall, i've been really enjoying the subbing experience. i've been with 2nd, 4th, 5th and 6th graders as well as with several different high school classes, including biology and ESL. i've gotten to teach adjectives to 6th graders, fractions to ESL students, beginner genetics to biology classes, and watch over choir classes and study halls. quite a variety, which has given me a glimpse into a few schools in MPS and the suburbs and is making me think about what kind of classroom environment i'd like to eventually create for my future students. good stuff.

Minako, a friend from Okinawa, came to visit last weekend. She stayed 4 days and we drove around, shopped, ate Mexican and lots of home cooked russian, played in the snow and drank lots of Alterra coffee. It was a great visit and fun to have an opportunity to show someone from Okinawa my home and to see her react to it. I think she had a good time. I put up some pics on Facebook but here are a couple of my favorite photos from this weekend with her. And to explain them better, it's good to know that she's never seen snow until this visit to the United States.