Tag Archives: teachers live at school

A glass of wine and a good book

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Wine makes me feel thoughtful. Sentimental. Poetic, even.

My sixth grade students will soon be reading Walk Two Moons. 

Put these two together, and you get a philosopher reading a deeply insightful and emotional story.

“It was not a trip I was eager to take, but it was one I had to take.” p. 4, start of Chapter 2

How many of are truly eager to take trips that are life-changing, mind-altering? These novel pilgrimages always take characters not just to their physical destination, but to a metaphysical end as well. On my bucket list sits, in bold font, a trip along the old Route 66. I don’t plan it to be a pilgrimage, but who knows? Hours and days on the road can bring thoughts and ideas – kind of like a glass of wine and a good book.

“If people expect you to be brave, sometimes you pretend that you are, even when you are frightened down to your very bones.” p. 13, middle of Chapter 3

This one – I could be punchy and say “I resemble this remark.” People expect me to be brave all too often. The simple first aid responsibilities when no one else can handle the blood; the disability advocate role for myself and my son; leading by word and example, at work and at home; being brave by pretense takes a lot of energy. To act brave when frightened “…down to your very bones….” – we all do it. Some of us play the brave role more often than we ought.

“It is surprising all the things you remember just by eating blackberry pie.” p. 34, final sentence in Chapter 6

Memories. A good memory is both a blessing and a curse. I can forgive, but I never forget.  Certain flavors and certain scents take my mind back to whole events, many fraught with emotion. Those memories, the ones with strong emotions, aren’t always good. But those that are positive, those scents and flavors are pathways to contentment, even happiness.

Walk Two Moons belongs on the shelf I call “Read with a Kleenex.” When main character and narrator Sal reaches her destination by her self-imposed deadline, she — well, read it. It’s worth the time, and it’s worth the tissues.

 

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Care for Fabric and Life

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It was a thrift store find. $4.99, with a purple tag, which meant it was 50% off. I tried it on in the aisles, and it fit. I read the tag: “Genuine leather shell” and “Over for care”. I thought I’d turn over care of my new garment to the dry cleaners. After all, I’ve wrecked fabrics less valuable than leather.
I didn’t plan on the dry cleaning place refusing to take it. “We don’t have very good luck with leather, so we contract our leather work out to a professional leather cleaner.” She quoted me the price, I cringed, and she showed me the car instructions on the tag. Apparently, she thought I could read these and handle the cleaning process myself. 
So I did, and it survived, and I’m thrilled with my “new” jacket. Pink leather jacket, a good pair of jeans, my snazzy boots, and I’m ready for…. well, I’m ready for a day of meetings and training at school. Oh, well. My thrifty coworkers will love it!
But wait – there’s more. Did you see it? The second tag in the first picture? My fabulous deal came with its own fortune, sans cookie.
I might have phrased it differently so that the singular “everyone” makes a better match, but “their” will do.
A new jacket, a fabulous deal, and sage advice as well. For 50% on a $4.99 jacket? Can’t be beat.

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Matchless Match or Does the Shoe Fit?

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I enjoy walking to work. I pack my school shoes in my schoolbag, tuck my lunch in on top of them, put on my walking shoes and jacket (if needed) and walk out the door. I can do this routine almost in my sleep, without even looking.

Maybe I should look more closely. I got to work one recent day, took off my walking shoes, and realized that I’d worn a unique pair. Oops.

Note to self: no more sleep walking through morning routine.

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Teacher Profiling – hearing aid compatible version

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Ah, readers. You’ve come through for me in the past. I’m working on a post describing what it’s like to be a hearing impaired person teaching in a virtual school. Here’s my draft. Let me know what you think. Since I hit copy and paste, I’ve already made three changes. Five. Now I’ve lost count.

I entered the teaching field armed with a music degree, two teaching licenses, and two powerful hearing aids. The degree and teaching licenses got me hired; the hearing aids helped me thrive. My condition is a progressive loss, one that has worsened with time and will continue to change as I grow older. This loss is due to nerve damage, and hearing aids are the correct and only treatment. As my hearing loss worsened, I looked for an alternative to a traditional classroom setting, and Wisconsin Connections Academy attracted my attention. I was fascinated by the variety of families enrolled, the unique program, and the commitment to learning, and the enthusiasm for technology in education.

My hearing loss is only one part of who I am as a teacher. Sometimes I need small modifications, or reasonable accommodations as the law calls them. This was easy for WCA; all of the headsets are hearing aid compatible. My students and my coworkers take my hearing loss in stride.

At one time I taught students with hearing impairments – not as a specialist, but as their regular classroom teacher. The presence of a role model, a professional with the same disability they had, motivated these children more than any lesson I could teach. I hope that my current students see my disability, when they think of it at all, as an example that they, too, can succeed, no matter what challenges lie ahead.


Well, readers? I feel like it’s still rather stiff, rather bland. Help me out, please?

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>Tools of the gardening trade

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Tools! I’ve been pulling my gardening supplies and tools out of the garage more and more often. Let’s see: a trowel or two, several pairs of gloves (each fits a particular task – all are dirt covered), blue basket of seeds, tongue depressors —
Tongue depressors?

Teachers use tongue depressors in all sorts of ways. This box came from a retired teacher’s garage sale and served my fourth graders for four years. When I left my classroom behind for a cubicle, I brought the remaining sticks home. They’re biodegradable, easy to use, and a perfect size on which to write. Good thing I had a lot left – look at these tomato seedlings!

And if you had any doubt about the effectiveness of my little wooden supplies, take a closer look.

They’ll go into the garden soil near each plant so I know what’s there until the plant grows up and shows its true colors, er, fruits.

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Home Sweet Cubicle – the sequel

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Readers, you saw the mess before I unpacked all the boxes of teachers’ manuals and other important resources. You could have followed up with the eventual “after” shot. Still later, Flat Stanley made a visit to my cubicle.

It’s still my cube, and it’s evolved a bit. Typical of me, everything important is within reach. It’s hard to do otherwise in a space this small! In this small shot, you can get a glimpse of teachers’ manuals, see the files trays that hold my plans for the week, and browse the cubicle survival kit that includes my tissue box (Packers cover, a perfect gift for the Green Bay Packers stockholder in your life), coffee cup (Teaching Wisconsin to Read), and animals.

Animals?

Of course I have animals in my cubicle. Doesn’t everybody?
I hope Paddington, Snoopy, and Fluffy don’t get lonely while I’m on spring break.
Or maybe I should hope they’re not hosting a wild cubicle party.

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"No."

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Two-year-olds are so good at this. They say no easily, and mean it. They’re not malicious, they’re not mean, they’re just sincere in their right of refusal.

Take my niece for example.

SIL: “Eat your soup, Audrey.”
Audrey: “No. Hot.” — stated so seriously and in such an adorable voice that we knew she meant it.

At Christmas, after opening a present containing her new Aaron Rodgers jersey:
Brother: “Audrey, would you like to try on your new shirt?”
Audrey: (looking at her tummy, putting a hand on her sweater) “No.” –again, very logical. Why would she put on another shirt, no matter how special, when she was already dressed? Geez, these grown-ups lack common sense.

Grown-ups do indeed lack common sense at times. Teachers, parents – nurturers, especially, have a hard time saying no. Put in extra time to finish progress reports? Of course. Bring in a couple of side dishes for the pot luck lunch? Naturally. Take on additional students for a day? Not a problem.
Sooner or later we run out of hours in the day and energy with which to productively fill those hours. We keep saying Yes because it’s expected, because we feel we must. Maybe, just maybe, it’s time to channel our inner two year old. Calmly, logically, seriously, and in such sweet voices that no one can resist, we need to say it.
No.

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>Creative Writing gets Personal

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Actual email exchange with student
Student: About the personal narrative. Does it have to be a COMPLETELY true story? Or can I … change it a little bit? Thank you.

Me (Teacher): Well, personal does mean true. It needs to be the real deal, no fiction parts.

Student: Okay. I will try to find something true.
She hasn’t learned yet that truth is often stranger than fiction!
The sequel:
The girl’s topic? She wrote (brilliantly) about the day she couldn’t think of anything to write.

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>Make an impact: what’s your influencing style?

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>A teacher friend on Plurk led me to this article in the Harvard Business Review online. We (my Plurk, I mean, Professional Learning Network) discussed our own influencing styles. Teachers are leaders, and teachers influence many every day of each school year. We have opportunities to influence students, the students’ parents, students’ friends & siblings. On another level, we influence other teachers, administrators (sometimes), and incoming teachers, too.

Here are the main influencing styles, according to the HBR.
  • Rationalizing
  • Asserting
  • Negotiating
  • Inspiring
  • Bridging
My main styles are rationalizing and negotiating. I rationalize in print every time I write a grant. Every time I discuss the value of virtual schools, I rationalize a unique form of education. Rationalizing can be positive: for me, it means finding the reasons for what I’m doing and sharing those reasons with others. I rationalize by writing letters in support of my favorite candidates for office, too.
Ah, negotiating. Long ago, when I worked in a child care center, I stepped into an argument and removed a pan of heavy serving dishes from the hands of one of the angry staffers. I brought this out of the boxing ring and into the kitchen to prevent breakage and injury, but it turned out to be the move that made the combatants settle down a bit, too. Taking the physical barrier out of the way also made the two feel more equal: one no longer had the tag of “kitchen help” weighing on her – literally or figuratively.
Training peer mediators was a great way to spread my negotiating skills. In training mediators, I had the chance to work with some wonderful students who really cared about making a difference. Non-violent crisis intervention was another valuable training for my peacemaker tendencies. Group facilitation and AODA support group training offered skills for negotiating woven into the counseling techniques.
As for the others –
Asserting: I’m more likely to back down or negotiate a compromise than assert myself too firmly. I consider conflict and fights to be a waste of time and energy. Mediation feels more productive.
Inspiring: Teachers inspire no matter which other style of influence they favor. Every time a student picks up a book we recommend and actually likes it, there’s an influence. When a parent hears the same comment from several teachers over a span of years, that parent might begin to listen and accept the influence from school staff. Now that I think of it, inspiring is part of my style, too. I just don’t think of it very often.
Bridging: This would seem like a companion for negotiating, but it’s actually more of a networking strategy. Connecting with others, building consensus and coalitions, depending on others to return favors, and uniting with an expanded group of like-minded people – salespeople use these skills, political candidates develop and hone theirs, but do teachers work this way? Some do. It’s an area where I see a need for growth, at least on a personal level.
Teacher influence , no matter which style, spreads to the general public. We prepare and train hundreds of students who bring their talents and skills to an educated workforce. We attempt to influence those who set policy and write laws; we’re not always successful in that arena.
Perhaps a chance in influencing style would help.

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