An Update from Blake

I haven't posted in a while so I thought I would provide a brief update.

I cannot be more excited about Parks' upcoming arrival, yet I am by no means asking him to hurry and eliminate the chance for a full night's sleep. Everyday, I am filled with thoughts of fatherhood and what Parks and I will do together...camping, reading, church, throwing the baseball, talking, riding to school together. I also cannot wait to see what a great mother Anne will be. She has a very motherly disposition to her with her abundance of compassion, caring, and wisdom in working with children.

In terms of school (Auburn High), I am busy with planning graduation with over 470 seniors, which is 120 more than last year. My students this year have been great. I tried a new curriculum approach (regular government, not my AP classes) in which I built all of my units around the concept of elections. For instance, we studied political parties by asking if voters should have more options beyond the traditional two-party system. I have really enjoyed this as the students have developed a mastery of this content rather than a shotgun bird shot approach to US Government. I am no longer coaching since that would have been the straw that broke the camel's back due to other duties like department chair and summer school coordinator.

In terms of my life as a student, I hopefully have only two more semesters of classes as a doctoral student (with one of those semesters having only one class). This semester I have a course that is designed to help me build my disertation propsal and literature review. It has given me a lot to think about. As of right now, I am interested in a class' collective process of decision-making about controversial public issues (i.e. reducing the deficit or gay marriage). Specifically, I want to know how these processes differ between face-to-face conversations and online conversations. I would be examining the interrelationships between students and their use of language.The biggest challenge is constructing a typology to understand this process.

Finally, Spring Break is coming up and we have resorted to staying put this year. No skiing or Europe this time. We have a SUPER long list of things to do around the house, but I like the sense of accomplishment that goes along with that type of activity. Some of the activities: remodeling the master bathroom, finish the nursery, clean out the beds in the yard, and restain the deck. My current struggle: what to read during spring break...any suggestions?