My First Week

 I've learned sometimes things are the same even though you're in a different career. I've had a lot of ridiculous professional development-style classes before school even started. I'm not a rah-rah-rah kind of guy. In fact I needed that valuable time and if I had been hired a week before I'd have been able to learn that in my printing lab all but four printers don't work or need serious maintenance. 

So...that's how this started. 

It also has had only one small blip so far, a mild trouble maker kept pushing the wrong button. A brief loud voice later and he chilled out and then transferred out. Since then this job has been a fun job almost. I mean other than the ridiculous stuff I don't care about. 

I've got two classes making their own board games. I don't know how to teach what the other teacher was teaching. He just had a course set up to teach via YouTube. While it is a necessary and usually really efficient way to learn the basics, he kept it up with more and more of them on worthless projects the kids would have to leave at school ultimately.

Nahhhh son, That's not what I do. I got a damn master's degree because I liked the creative aspects of commercials and was interested in how certain types of stimulus triggers a buying response. Basically I broke down complex situations into simple bites. 

Bite one. Get rid of old curriculum after I figured out old boy there was lazy. His courses were designed for him to stay behind the desk. So that had to go. I wanted to see their progress and challenge what they were doing in an engaging way. 

So for the start of the class we are doing tutorials until they catch onto how Blender works. Then after that I am going to guide them into making things they want to make and then teaching them how to make it into a .stl file and we will print it and they can paint it. They will have two things out of this course. 

    Uuuuummm...(a) maybe? They'll have tangible proof they can make something.

    (b) They will be reminded all year long they can use the skill they are learning now and turn it into a marketable skill, in which they can create and sell their own works. Because I'll remind them. I want them to be able to learn something in high school that is only limited by their creativity but can be lucrative for them if they really work at it. 

Bite C. The Game Design course is my favorite course really. Teach it twice. I ditched the old "sit behind the desk" curriculum and made up my own. We are treating this like a business in the early stages. We will have a working prototype by end of semester and then play test, balance, and prepare for market in the second semester. And perhaps, yes we might be able to market it. To be figured out at a later date. This was the trouble maker's class and I had a hard time getting through to anyone but a few. Then boom, the clouds parted, the angels sang, and we had a really good time ever since! Everyone has bought in!

Basically because of the same situation as the design class. We are in reality making templates and developing skills to use and edit those templates into a proud creation of their own that they can market and maybe make some extra money off of or maybe invent a new genre of game altogether! I want them to be prepared for the workforce and maybe have a bit more opportunity in their lives. 

The print lab is a wreck. I've got 4 reliable printers. So I spent my entire year's budget on five brand new printers like I have. They are so simple so we will be able to focus on making stuff instead of failed prints. And that's about it. I got some wash stations and some resin and isopropyl alcohol. Whole budget is gone now for the year. 

But we'll have really good printers now and hopefully if any money comes in or is donated to the program or something I want to add in ten more. As old as this equipment is in the lab now, the new resin printers can cut that time a dozen times over for one print. So we won't need as many as the lab has. And then I really don't have a marketing idea for this class other than the same in the other two classes. Learn the technology and find a niche you can market. It's not rocket surgery. 

So to boil it down, so far if the year keeps going like this, I might return for a second year.

I'll keep you informed. 

The Most Unexpected Voice of the Common Man

 If you haven't heard of Oliver Anthony, you're missing out on the biggest earthquake in modern music. Two weeks ago Mr. Anthony put out a song called "The Rich Men North of Richmond" and it touched such a chord with everyone that works hard for a living.

He had five million views in four days. As of right now he's at eleven days and twenty-six million views. He went from one of us to the voice of us. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqSA-SY5Hro

This is the link to the most brilliant masterpiece of the working man since the "Take This Job and Shove It!" explosion of the 70's blue-collar era. This work is crazy, everything is upside down now. 

The government gives illegals better care than our own veterans. And they invite more. They are bent on destroying everything they can as fast as they can because a Uniparty is in power. The GOP is just Dimocrat Lite. They agree with everything the other party wants so who cares anymore. 

Mr. Oliver Anthony, I salute you sir! I pray for you and for His blessings as you've been chosen to deliver a message to us. This song brings people together! If you don't believe me, I invite you to check out any one of a thousand reaction videos to this modern anthem. I haven't seen a bad one yet! 

Love you my Brother in Christ! 

An Encore Career

A funny thing happened last week. A fellow gig driver that works for the school told me to apply for an opening that they just posted. It's for an art teaching job. Yeah, I know. Art, weird right? Especially considering my degrees are in marketing.

Well, then she told me it was for teaching 3D printing, which I happen to be pretty good at!

I thought, what the heck, I applied for the job around 8:30ish that night. At 11:32 that night I got an email from the principal asking me to come to the school at 10 the next morning to interview. It was the best interview I think I've had and pretty much walked out with the job even though they had another candidate to interview. 

I showed them my printing and painting work and they were impressed. I took a tour with the interview team and saw my classroom and 3D printing laboratory! I have an actual lab now! Who can say that? Now you all know I've never been a teacher as my life has been pretty mapped out over this blog. 

I'm nervous, I'm excited, I'm terrified, I'm anxious to get started. 

Yeah, I thought I was going to have a marketing job by now. Turns out Bidenomics isn't working for me. I've applied for over 300 jobs and I've had a total of 7 interviews and 2 of them were for DHS, which everyone told me I'd hate and I knew that going in.

As a gig driver, I've had a lot of fun and it's really the perfect job for enjoying my freedom from my first career. I've enjoyed the heck out of it, met a lot of great people, and helped a lot of people with their groceries that otherwise might not have been able to easily get them or at all. The gig has kept me the peace I was really needing and it's hard to explain past that alone unless you lived it. 

Well, gas has gone up a LOT, groceries have gone up a LOT, and our gig pay has decreased at the same time. It was harder and harder for me to make ends meet comfortably. With me not driving 7 days a week my driver friends won't be competing as much for orders. There will be at least 5 extra orders per day that I'm not taking that they can have now. It'll make their days a bit easier and they can earn a bit more.

I didn't write about this until today because it became official just a little bit ago. I've finished most of my paperwork and need to sign things in the morning.

I'm going to be a high school teacher.