Blue Dragons and Independent Press

Anyone from, living in, or at all interested in New Haven (or just what a local blog could be) will enjoy New Haven Independent. Not as much content as the New Haven Advocate in either print or digital form, but interesting in that it is
1) a Paul Bass project (former editor and writer at the Advocate)
2) partially based on contributions from the community,
3) part of the Online Journalism Project,
4) searchable by sections and neighborhoods.

Oh and if you correct their grammar, you get a free coffee mug.


And…
there’s a new mayor in town. Not in New Haven, DeStefano was safe and has set up his run for governor - rather in Middletown- where my livelihood is made and where I cannot vote.

Teachers feel that this will cause a delay in the building of the new high school. And it most likely will, but the mess that had been made in the bidding and the budget (15 million over) can be cleaned up. Now, I am still new to Middletown and their rag of a paper hasn’t taught me much about local politics. But I do know that if something is worth doing…

So does it suck that the project will most likely be delayed again? - Yes and no.

I would like a fortress of a building with digital projectors, smartboards (like a giant PDA that is actually useful) and hallways that can accommodate the amount of students that need to walk down them.

But, I like my classroom just fine. I like standing outside my classroom and actually being outside (I teach in what they call a “relocatable classroom” and what we young teachers that work in them lovingly call the “trailer park”.) I like having everything I need in one place, not that I am one of those hermit teachers that you would imagine lives in his classroom.

I think the best thing about having a new high school will be the effect it will have on the student body. A little morale boost goes a long way and self-image is important to teenagers. Will it really change anything? I’m not sure. Fancy buildings are great, but a good curriculum and dedicated teachers are the most important factor to a school’s success.

Note: There is no free mug for correcting my grammar. Maybe some extra credit points on the next vocabulary quiz.

The image above is a small section of a mural in our current 400/200 hallway connector. Go Blue Dragons!