Today, I am taking the first ten minutes of each of my classes to talk about drug brain and the newest evil: Fentanyl. Our unit on Neurobiology has taught us that we build pathways in our brains all the time through repeated behavior (Cue the background music, Macklemore’s 10,000 hours). [...]
Remember Jo-Jo? He is the little Who down in Whoville that finally enabled Horton to hear the Whos, saving them from boiling in Beezle-nut oil. I talk about Jo-Jo often, encouraging students to be the voice that is finally heard, that sparks the change. We need more Jo-Jos, and more [...]
Woke up Friday morning with one less member of the family in the house. 18 years of, “Good morning Sofia.” And now she is waking up 150 miles away in her little room in Shasta Hall at Chico State next to a stranger named Kaitlyn. Rough, but also awesome. The [...]
August 5 and I’m headed to Brad Gilbert’s tennis shop in San Rafael. This is my process, think a thought, make a plan, execute, sometimes fail, sometimes succeed, and learn from the journey. Repeat. Brad taught me to play ping-pong. 41 short years ago, I was 10 and dad had [...]
Innocuous is how it starts out. A simple idea caused by a situation that leads to an eventual shitstorm of problems. Fall of your 49th year, daughter in that pivotal 16th year when life starts becoming her own and she realizes she can soon go in any direction she chooses. [...]
Big ups to you, my princess. 18 years ago you came into this world, a DNA hybrid of your mother (analytical, right brain, organized, responsible) and me (rebellious, left brained, disorganized, irresponsible). We blinked and now we are here, celebrating your transition from reliance to independence. Are you ready? Yes [...]
While the comedic leafblower debate rages into its twenty-third year, and all of Sonoma surrenders their personal information so they can catch a Nidorian, a group of select students are in the Sonoma Museum experiencing camp Wabi Sabi. In the writing studio on Monday, students began by thinking about [...]
Addition on the house, check, new roof, necessary, turn the old garage into a new studio, sure, put a bathroom on it, yes, new kitchen, no problem, OK but when will we be done? It’s always the projects. Summertime means the living is a little easier. No whining, [...]
“I was gonna clean my room until I got high. I was gonna get up and find the broom but then I got high. My room is still messed up and I know why Because I got high, because I got high, because I got high.” -Afroman, “Because I got [...]
"I never listened to those teachers who said you can do anything you want in life but since becoming one, I want my students to know that their potential is limited only by their willingness to do the necessary work." We met in high school, he being the [...]
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.
