I’m out of business cards so the kids and I are going by my classroom before we head to Menlo Park, I’ll need plenty of cards because in my mind I will be sitting down with Mark Zuckerberg and his cronies, pitching my new educational environment which he will [...]
Wash the van. There are three SVHS sports vans, which live beside the tech department and get very dirty because washing them is no one’s direct responsibility. I could complain and blog and tweet and worry about who will wash these vans or I can spend all of 20 [...]
California is not a third world country. This is what I was thinking as I headed to Safeway for a 20 pound bag of ice which I used to cool my fridge when the power was out for 5 days (Didn’t work, lost everything). Next I headed to Chevron [...]
The computer is at 20% and I forgot the charging cord at the house in Boyes where the power has been out since 9:00 Saturday. We do dumb stuff when we’re stressed. Lack of sleep, fear, eating questionable food out of the non-working fridge. It all makes for a giant [...]
There are powerful moments in the life of a teacher; last Friday was one of them… "Who gives this bride to be married today?" I was nervous as hell. A favorite ex-student had asked me six months ago if I would marry he and his girlfriend, [...]
Sam and I were combing through Maxwell Park when the text came through. Mary had been found after wandering into private property and falling into a ditch, she was dehydrated but OK. It was Sunday, my one day off after a stellar wine tour on Saturday, and my wife [...]
It’s a super hot Tuesday afternoon and I’m racing around Chardonnay golf course like my golf cart is one of those little Go-Karts from Scandia Raceway. I’m giddy, like a weight has been lifted, not because of the stellar performance of my girl’s golf team but because of the text [...]
Usually I write funny little stories about how to prepare better for the school year: http://valleytalking.blogs.sonomanews.com/2018/08/04/change-growth-hopefully/but this year we’re a couple of weeks in and already I’m in desperate need of a recalibration of my personal homeostasis. Am I getting old? Yes. Have I taken on [...]
There are Monday mornings when you just have to hit, “New Blank Word Document” and start fresh. Throw out all that old cynicism and hate and retool the philosophy cause THIS AIN’T WORKING! We are numb. Suffering from an American entitlement that says that if we work hard and do [...]
It’s SVMA camp time and I’m rethinking the triptych Nick Brandt SONOMAWOOD recycling project. It’s three one foot square panels of luan plywood cut from last year’s letters of the SONOMAWOOD sign and hinged together. Students paint a local habitat with one of the many local endangered species. The kids [...]
Walt Williams is in it for the money, that and the prestige that goes with 22 years of teaching in California high schools (he’s not the smartest tool in the shed). He firmly believes in more standardized testing and that fitting all students into the same box is really the answer. He strongly supports fracking and that climate change is a fantasy made up by hippie liberals, also that the military needs more funding and that schools should just stop whining.
Walt brings a lifetime of experience and energy to this new endeavor. He was the principal of the Arts and Ethics Academy in Santa Rosa for two years, and has spent the last 15 years engaging students in finding their paths at Creekside High School. He is the father of two and the husband of one and lives in Sonoma, California.
Walt is a skier; fly fisherman, wine tour bus driver, tennis player, and sometimes writer. He likes to dress up in front of lots of people and display large works of art around the community. His mantra is to work hard, create and love. Complex life, simple message.
