Who I Am
Hi. I am David Ames, and welcome to my blog.I am originally from Virginia, but after graduating from college, I moved to Rochester, NY, and I have been here ever since. Even though I have been here thirty-four years, I am still a Southerner at heart, and whenever I see snowflakes drifting down, I get crazily excited. Snow to me is as magical as it was when I was a little kid. Back there, though, a quarter of an inch meant everything was closed. Here, we might be going to school when we have eight inches! It makes no sense.
When I am not working on school stuff, I like to putter around in my garden, play with my cat, and help out in my partner's flower and gift shop.
Where I Work
I am a middle school English teacher at East Lower School, where I have been working since 2001. Actually, we didn't even have an East Lower School at that point, so I guess I pre-date my school. When I joined East, I originally worked with seniors and juniors, but I campaigned to have myself moved to middle school, once we added seventh and eighth grade. Now I work with mostly eighth grade students.A lot of people thought I was crazy for advocating to be moved from the more mature students to the middle school age, where things are a bit wackier. All I can say is, that wackiness suits who I am, and I appreciate that the turbulence of middle school might yield a lot of insanity, but there are also moments of kindness and beauty that shine through, with children of this age, that can take away your breath.
Why I'm Taking Part in the Cool Tools Program
I sometimes feel like a dinosaur, and I know that I am unaware of so many of the technological changes that have taken place in education over the past few years.
I still remember using a mimeograph machine (can anyone nowadays appreciate the moment in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" when all the students sniff their handouts?), and I joke that when I got started, technology was a stick of chalk. Through this class, I want to familiarize myself with a few resources that I will be able to bring into my classroom, and I want to find more ways of making my class relevant to my students.
Thank you for reading my first post, and I welcome any comments!
