Weather is wet, spirits are damp....

Wow, what a change a couple of days can make. It has been raining incessantly: the creeks are swollen and near their banks, the ground is soggy and the days, like the clouds are dim and disman, laden with foreboding darkness and a dank chill that belies the calendar. The only bright spot is that everywhere you look spring tress and flowers are pushing to bud, but are hesitant, sort of in a suspended state of perpetual waiting— is it going to get sunny and warm, or are we going backwards to the cold and dark of winter. It seems that the spring plants are unsure, hesitant, they wait for the sun. We had a brief bit of of it on Sunday Afternoon, and today it was pouring rain coming to work. I had to be here at 6:30 am this morning for WesTest training, that's our standardized yearly testing event which determines Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) and the whole school stops for this as you can well imagine. It is the end all and be all for education, whether that is good or bad, is much like the weather, it depends on your outlook.

Whether it is in fact the gray and sullen dampness of the weather or just the inevitable end of year spring burnout, there has been a decided change in the atmosphere of the school and in my classes as well. It is like pulling teeth in all my course, to keep kids working and focused on the task at hand.

In the game class we are too close to lose focus now. I'm going to schedule game demos tomorrow, then start having them rehearse their presentations. Then push on for the final coding.

Push is coming to shove—and while I know how to do both, leading and having them follow is easier on your back.