Jeff Welton

Session on teacher evaluation and brainstorming for Regents prep – 1 hour 1 month ago

“A Passage to India” by E.M. Forster. It was interesting – especially from an outsiders perspective. It’s easy to dislike both the English and the Indians at times. It was also intriguing to understand such a different mind set. 2 months ago

The man who wrote the book on Axe makers of Canada contacted me because his friend is selling a William Porter Welton axe. I wasn’t sure how to accomplish this goal but it might just happen soon! 2 months ago

A very unproductive session on using Performance Plus for reports – 1 hour 2 months ago

“I Claudius” by Robert Graves. One of the best ‘historical’ works I’ve read. Captivating and easy to read. It feels very real but quite. Bit must be fictional. A clever way to tell the story. 3 months ago

All day professional development on the book Teach Like a Champion. – 7 hours 3 months ago

VILS Virtual Conference through ITSE and Verizon on using mobile technology in the classroom – 4 hours 4 months ago

I started Ulysses by James Joyce. I clawed my way through 121 pages (of 783). I can not justify any more time or brain power on this book. Joyce is quoted as saying he tried to make the book enigmatic and full of complexity to keep the scholars busy. Well, he lost me in the process. I tried using wikipedia to help make sense of the various sections but I’ve had enough. I’m moving on to the next book on the list. 4 months ago

PICCS SLO training – 2 hours 4 months ago

I am seperating this from my goal to “Read 100 novels of the 20th century to my daughter” since she is no longer willing to sit through books without pictures. We will eventually be able to continue that goal with The Hobbit, Charlotte’s Web, etc. But for now I would like to continue with the Friendswood library list which was compiled from Harvard, Modern library, Koen and Library Journal.
These are the ones completed already from the list:
The Great Gatsby, 1984, Catch-22, The Grapes of Wrath, Lolita, Animal Farm, Slaughterhouse Five, The Lord of the Flies, Catcher in the Rye, Brave New World, The Sound and the Fury, Native Son, On the Road, The Age of Innocence, The Good Earth, Fahrenheit 451, Rebecca, The Handmaid’s Tale, My Antonia, A Clockwork Orange, The Old Man and The Sea, Winesburg Ohio, The Call of the Wild, The Joy Luck Club, One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Bean Trees, Of Mice and Men, Under the Volcano, Heart of Darkness, Dune, and The Hound of the Baskervilles. 4 months ago

Thank you for the recommendation. We did read The Wanting Seed and enjoyed it quite a bit. 4 months ago

The Silence of the Lambs (1991). Very interesting and creepy movie. Interesting how you can like the “villan” so much. Also, after watching the complete Monk series it is really odd to see the Captain on that show be the serial killer in this movie. 5 months ago

I just finished submitting my application for the 2013 playwriting grant. We’ll see what happens in late spring, early summer. If not, the next one is about 3 years away. Got to keep trying. 5 months ago

Twentieth book was “The Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck. Powerful story. I can’t imagine living through those times. Makes you re-think what “tough” is. 6 months ago

I had lost track of Eugene for a while but I found him again and he has moved with his family to Lingen. I’m going to leave the goal as is, because I would like to visit him and Leipzig. Although, that is now quite a distance apart. 6 months ago

Since it is Novemeber and it will only get colder and wetter I am completing this goal. I walked quite a bit of the area around our house. It was getting to the point where I had to spend most of the walk getting to the new place and not a lot of time walking the new area. 7 months ago

Next door right – Linda & Jeff, Christina and April, dog Lucky
Next door left – Cathy and ? and the other tenant?
2 down left – Earle and JoAnn
3 down left – would like to meet this couple and young children
4 down left – Joe and Jan and their two dogs
Across the street – Adam and Tank, Laura and John, Katie and ?, and new folks who haven’t moved in yet.
Way down the street – Dianne and Skip 7 months ago

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975). It was cool to have read the book first (another goal on my list) and not the differences. Really, no one else could play McMurphy but Jack N. 8 months ago

Nineteenth book was “My Antonia” by Willa Cather. Very nice book. I expected the main characters to get married by the end and was quite surprised when they never did. Also surprised that it’s a female author writing from a male perspective. But the appendix cleared that up a little. 8 months ago

2001:A Space Odyssey (1968). Very cool effects. Not quite sure how they did all of them. Got my wife and I debating the meaning, which I guess was Kubrick’s intention. 8 months ago

Eighteenth book was “Under the Volcano” by Malcolm Lowry. Horrible horrible horrible book. I had to really force myself to finish it. I could barely make it interesting to Evelyn with tone of voice. 9 months ago

Seventeenth book was “The Handmaid’s tale” By Margaret Atwood. Not at all what I was expecting from the title and cover. Great sci-fi-ish book about an alternative present. I think this is my new favorite genre after reading this, 1984, Fahrenheit 451, Clockwork orange, etc. 9 months ago

Diversity training – 1 hour
STAR math program training – 1 hour
Curriculum training – 2 hours
Core mapping vs. Diary mapping training – 1 hour 9 months ago

I occassionally play hide and seek with my cats. I’ll give them a few snacks, and while they are eating them I run to a different location in the house. Once they find me, I give a few more snacks and run to another location while they are busy eating.
We all also love hiding the snacks. I lock them in the bathroom and then hide snacks all over the house for them to sniff out.
However, the ultimate fun for them is a peacock feather. They just love those. 10 months ago

I am loving this goal. Not only am I seeing new places within walking distance of my house but I am also walking more often and going on longer walks then I used to. 10 months ago

Sixteenth book was “The Bean Trees” by Barbara Kingsolver. I was surprised when I first saw her on the list of best English novels of the 20th century. I had read one other of her books a while ago from my wife’s bookshelf. However, this was a really good book. It was also nice to have a modern story after War and Peace. I would recommend it. 10 months ago