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It has been a great week here at Rattler Nation! We started the Spring Round of STAAR Testing and, other than the kinks in the system that had to be worked out on the TEA and ETS state side, we had a great week of testing at our 4th, 7th, and High School English 1 and 2 levels. Thank you SO much to Ms. Amberly Kolby and all of the campus testing coordinators and administrators for your patience, flexibility, and efforts to make it all come together.
Read moreHello. My name is Alan and I’m a singaholic. Well, not exactly, but I do really love to sing. I’m not saying that I’m particularly good at it, but it brings me great joy. It’s funny how certain things seem different as time goes by, which is certainly the case with me and singing. When I was younger, I always wanted to be able to belt out some of the great tunes that I was hearing on the radio, but I always held back for fear of being judged by my friends. I have no such fear now that I have been singing for a good while and my point of view has changed. Now I just go for it and use what I have come to know as my spiritual gift of song to the glory of God.
Read moreWe all know it’ll be one or the other - a boy or a girl. Just as long as it’s healthy, right? Not having any first-hand experience in this area, I would qualify as a disinterested third party. That said, it is the relatively new phenomena of “Gender Reveal” events that has caught my attention recently.
Read moreThe year 2020 certainly made me a believer in Sir Isaac Newton’s Law of Inertia – “If a body is at rest or moving at a constant speed in a straight line, it will remain at rest or keep moving in a straight line at constant speed unless it is acted upon by a force.” In other words, if a body is at rest in a recliner, it will remain in that recliner unless catapulted out of it by someone or for some reason!
Read moreI love this time of year! It is the final push during the last grading period and the last two months of school to take us to graduation, end of year celebrations, and award assemblies to highlight the accomplishments from this past year.
Read moreThough out of character for a Saturday, I laid down for a nap this past weekend and woke about an hour later to delicate rays of sun breaking through the clouds and my curtains. It was in this twilight sleep state wanting to be still and not move when I had a flashback.
Read moreI was talking with some young people just recently and when I mentioned that I am a retired math teacher, they proceeded to ask, “The Question.” “Why do we need to learn geometry anyway – especially if we’re never going to use it?” And there it was - “The Question.” I was sort of stunned for a moment, but I took a deep breath did my best to give them the best answer that I could. I thought about answering their question like, “Why do we need to learn anything?” but I reconsidered. In fact, when I was their age, I had the same kind of questions. However, now that I am where I am, I thought that even though they asked a tough question, I believed that it should be answered.
Read moreReaders may recall my recent column about my gentleman friend’s puzzle snobbery and his preference for what I call “phony” puzzles – you know, those teensy-weensy puzzles you work on your phone? But as the commercial says… wait, there’s more!
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