Tag Archives: teachers live at school

>One year ago…

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>I was tired and weak from anemia (summer health troubles), but looking forward to the new school year. I did not walk to our opening meeting; I knew there was no possibility of keeping up with my quick-striding coworkers.

Then I was walking with crutches, attempting to identify and heal the ankle pain that turned out to be gout. Every try teaching science on crutches? It doesn’t go well.
I was dealing with a student who would become the focal point of my blood, sweat, and tears. Let’s not go into details. Somewhere in the back of my mind I expect to hear he’s hurt someone, student or teacher, but I keep that part of my mind tightly closed. Well, I try.
Eventually, the stresses added up and multiplied, grew exponentially, expanded into infinity. My health took a major dive, and I finally, finally applied for a medical leave of absence.
And now? What a difference a year makes!
I’m still not full strength, but I can walk to work – less than a mile, but slightly more than half. The walk feels good.
Multi-vitamins and many, many iron-rich meals made a difference. No more anemia!
I’m starting a new job with the support of coworkers, an assigned mentor, and a principal who stops in frequently and supports me whenever there is a tough question. We had a field trip this week that (thanks to my talent in persuasive writing) brought in a sizable group of people.
Coworkers know about my hearing loss and do not consider it a problem. It’s simply a fact.
I’m tired, but a good tired.
But….
I’m still tired. Every night.
Bad dreams still wake me — often.
I have a bottle of Ambien, but I really, really don’t want to get into taking that nightly. Not again.
My workplace is full of cooperative and supportive people. We all want the best for each other. Still, I keep an awful lot of information under wraps. Only my principal knows about last year’s leave of absence. Once burned, twice cautious; it’s hard to trust again.
Deep breath. Much of this is out of my control. That’s okay. Repeat. That’s okay.
A year makes a big difference. Let go of the rest. I can do this.

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It might be September if…

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It’s September at the Okaybyme Household! How can you tell? Here are the signs.

10. School has started – for Daisy and for Amigo.
9. Trees are falling. I mean leaves are falling – a few, anyway.
8. The crock pot has a semi-permanent home in the kitchen again.
7. The lunch boxes are getting regular use.
6. There’s fresh zucchini bread (chocolate this time!) in the kitchen.
5. We’re eating the opponent again! Check the GB Packers schedule, find a food from the opposing team’s locale, and make it on Friday or Saturday night.
4. I wear a jacket to walk to school in the morning and carry it home.
3. It’s hard to decide between hot coffee and a blended latte over ice.
2. The green and gold spirit clothes are at the front of the closet.
1. People are locking their car doors at church so they don’t find the backseats full of zucchini when they come out!!
Credit to Garrison Keillor for suggesting #1. He’s such a funny storyteller because his anecdotes have a strong basis in read life!

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>Home Sweet Cubicle

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You saw it first here. Now have another look at my workspace. This is the look my students saw if they came to our Open House and toured the offices. There is still work to be done, such as posting photos that students have sent me, but it’s a comfortable place to work now. Without further ado, here it is: Daisy’s Virtual Classroom.




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Reasons to Walk to Work

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10. The streets in the neighborhood are beautiful, especially in autumn.

9. I spend most of my day in a cubicle in a chair; walking lets me stretch.
8. Driving less often reduces my family’s dependence on gas and saves money.
7. Walking home provides thoughtful “decompression” time after a busy day.
6. I enjoy the fresh air.
5. Walking is good exercise.
4. I lower my carbon footprint by leaving the minivan in the garage.
3. Driving less often saves wear and tear on my aging minivan.
2. Parking at my workplace is limited, to say the least.
1. This is the view of my favorite, easy-out, shady parking spot after the recent storm went through downtown.

Yeah, the aging minivan would have been toast. Thank goodness I wasn’t working that day – and thank goodness I don’t drive to work very often.

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>Cubicle (or virtual classroom) before and after

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I started school on Tuesday. My students start next week, the day after Labor Day. Most years I can show you the classroom, how I’ve prepped it, how it looks before the students come in for their first day. This year, I have a cubicle. Here’s the before picture.

Boxes of curricular materials, teachers’ manuals, tools and consumables for science and art. Below, see the hallways outside my cubicle. These are full, but may not be needed.


I spent a full morning sorting and taking inventory. This isn’t the full “after” shot; that will come later. It does, however, show progress. By now, I know what’s going on my shelves.

I also left empty boxes for reuse, recycling, or disposal. I sure hope my new building is environmentally conscious. I predict these will be reused either by my own virtual charter school or by the media central office in the basement of our building.

An after picture? Sorry, I don’t have one yet. Maybe after our first staff meeting I’ll have time to get it looking a little more welcoming. It won’t be home to twenty-some students like my old classroom, but it needs to look good and feel good – for me.

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>Tomatoes + Peppers = Salsa

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My dear readers;
I’m in my final session of training for my new job, and I’ve been using most of my online time to learn the new software for presenting live lessons to my online students and their learning coaches. I must beg off from presenting a new recipe today. I posted this one last fall and made it again last week. Since I have tomatoes and peppers ripening like crazy, some of you must have those around, too. Feel free to adapt the peppers to include whatever you’re harvesting! A hot red chili pepper instead of the dried kind… a sweet yellow banana pepper instead of the yellow bell… you know how these things work.


Tomato Salsa Dip


1 small to medium onion, diced
1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced
4 ripe tomatoes, cored, peeled, and diced (mine were small, so I used 7)
1 cup tomato juice
2 teaspoons dried hot red pepper flakes
5 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
4 Tablespoons water
Directions:
1. Warm the onion, peppers, tomatoes, tomato juice, hot pepper flakes, red wine vinegar, and brown sugar in a saucepan.
2. Mix the cornstarch and the water and add to the simmering salsa.
3. Stir until thickened. Then remove from heat and allow to cool.

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>Pondering Potter

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Harry had never even imagined such a strange and splendid place.

What makes a book or series worth re-reading? A good story, believable and likable characters, a unique world so strange and splendid it can’t be imagined – unless described by a brilliant storyteller. Harry Potter is one such series.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone has a special magic. The shortest of the seven, it introduces Harry and his readers to a whole new world: a world of magic. Witches, wizards, a sport played on flying broomsticks, owl post, powerful potions, and more incredible yet believable things exist in this parallel world. In The Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry first learns of his family and his wizard identity.

Readers can share his awe as he learns that his new school has its own train that leaves from platform Nine and Three Quarters at Kings Cross Station. Somewhere between platforms nine and ten, he encounters the Weasley family, asks them for help finding the train, befriends Ron, and the rest, as they say, is history. Mythology? Legend? Wizardry? Ghostology?

I enjoy rereading The Sorcerer’s Stone because of JK Rowling’s genius. The settings are magically unique, but she describes them in a matter of fact tone so that we readers know this is only the beginning. When she describes the staircases at Hogwarts’ School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, all 142 of them: “…wide, sweeping ones; narrow, rickety ones; some that led somewhere different on a Friday…” it’s simply in a paragraph about Harry attempting to learn his way to his classes.

And the classes! No Intro to British Lit here. Harry takes History of Magic (taught by a ghost), Herbology, Charms, Transfiguration, Potions, and the cursed (literally, but we don’t know that until a later book) Defense Against the Dark Arts.

The “strange and splendid place” in the first line is the Great Hall as Harry sees it on his arrival at Hogwarts. In his limited upbringing by his neglectful Muggle (non-magical) relatives, he had never even dared imagine a world so wonderful.

Thankfully for all readers, JK Rowling did imagine such a strange and splendid place – a world nearby, yet far different from our everyday Muggle existance. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone stands on its own as a wonderful story and sets up the reading world for an adventure that begins – and ends, several books later – on Platform Nine and Three Quarters at Kings Cross Station.

My students won’t have wands, owls, or school robes. They’ll write their assignments with pen on paper or type them on computers, not ink and quill on parchment. One of my challenges, though, is to create a safe place for them to experiment, read, and write. Maybe one of them will create a strange and splendid story for another generation – some magical day in the future.

This is a repeat post from the past. I hope to get to the final movie of the Harry Potter series soon. I’ve read and reread the books, so I know how it must end. I’ll be prepared with a package of tissues. Maybe a wand. Or an owl.

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>The Professional Wardrobe – second hand style

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Regular readers know that I’ve traded in my classroom for a cubicle. I’ll have a sizable class, but I’ll be teaching them online. It’s an exciting move, one for which I’ve been preparing for quite a while.
My new cubicle will be in an old building that’s been remodeled many, many times. It now houses two charter schools on its first floor, IT & helpdesk & Media Central offices along with a computer lab in the basement, and offices on the second floor. The offices include Special Education, Title I, English Language Learners/ Bilingual Education and more department heads. My new workplace, a virtual charter school, is also located on the second floor.
Now the issues: the building is air conditioned. How well? I don’t know. It is heated, but old windows are drafty and leak. The end result: I need to dress in layers. Serious, professional, layers. Since I’ll be sharing hallways and bathrooms with administrative peoples, I feel the need to upgrade my wardrobe somewhat. Since my take-home pay will be lower next year (thanks to our nasty current state legislature), I was faced with the dilemma: upgrade wardrobe on a downgraded pay scale after a lengthy unpaid leave of absence. The solution was actually quite simple: second hand. Consignment.
The first pair of jackets are good neutrals. They’re both brand name pieces, and both were on sale 50% off the marked price.

Then La Petite found some more colorful neutrals for me. I think we’ll replace the rhinestone button on the peachy blazer, but I really like the yellow. Fall and spring, pastels for the office.
Then I became more adventurous. Below is a Laura Ashley jacket in great earth tones with scattered shiny trim. Each time I looked at this one I thought of another pair of pants or shirt that would coordinate with it.
La Petite said she wouldn’t wear it herself, but agreed that it was a good style and good fit (and fun) for me. Here’s the back view. It’s fairly lightweight, too.
Then I got serious about having fun. These two pieces were on the clearance rack as I went to check out. It’s hard to see the detail on the vest; it’s really gorgeous, front and back. These were 50% off the already low consignment price. The shirt is Croft & Barrow; the vest is Coldwater Creek.
All that for a total of (drumroll, please) $60. Five jackets, a dressy shirt, and a vest: I’m rather pleased with the results. Oh, one more detail: only one needs to be dry cleaned. The rest can be washed on delicate cycle. Now that, my friends, is priceless.

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>Open letters to the so-called Leaders of Wisconsin

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>Dear Governor Walker;

You claim that Wisconsin is Open for Business. Businesses require an educated workforce. Think it over, please.

Sincerely,
Daisy
Dear Senator Ellis;
The title President of the Senate looks good on your letterhead. Your abuses of power, however, look lousy. Stating, “We’ll just pass all the bills without you if you’re not here” was a snotty and rude manner of addressing your colleagues. I’m embarrassed to admit that you represent my district. Didn’t your parents teach you that “if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all”?
With grave concern,
Daisy
Dear Representative Bernard-Schaber;
Thank goodness you’re in the Wisconsin Assembly! I noticed that the new, re-introduced version of the union-busting bill exempts public transit. I’m sure the Gov won’t give you credit for the original amendment, but I will. I know you brought it up in the beginning.

Thank you for maintaining your sanity in an insane atmosphere.

Your loyal constituent,
Daisy
Dear Wisconsin Supreme Court Justices;
I’m thoroughly disappointed in your decision that Wisconsin Act 10, a.k.a. the Union Busting Law, was passed constitutionally rather than in violation of the open meetings law. This decision tells our narrow-minded majority that as lawmakers, they are above the law. Is this really what you wanted to say?
Regretfully,
Daisy
Dear Benjamin Franklin,
What kind of government do we have? “A republic, if you can keep it.” Sigh. We’re trying. It’s not easy.

Historically yours,
Daisy
Dear John Adams,
You once wrote to Thomas Jefferson “I cannot contemplate human affairs without laughing or crying. I choose to laugh.” I wish I could laugh, but current political climate is so negative it scares me.
Thoughtfully,
Daisy
Dear Governor Walker,
I’m a mediator by nature and by training. The way I see it, consensus beats conflict any day of the week. In fact, I taught fifth and sixth graders to mediate conflicts. Would you like assistance in learning peer mediation? I noticed you don’t have these skills – yet.

Cooperatively yours,
Daisy

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>Five on Friday: Politically Speaking

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>I couldn’t do it. I started to write about the control freaks we have in our state legislature right now, not to mention in the governor’s office. I couldn’t do it. My shoulders went up to my earlobes, the back of my neck tightened, and my stomach twisted in knots.

Instead of a standard political post, here’s a list of Five for Friday.
Five Reasons to be Concerned about the Wisconsin legislature
5. Members of the Senate do not treat each other with respect. What happened to parliamentary procedure? What happened to the golden rule? The rudeness on the Senate floor is downright embarrassing.
4. Majorities in both houses treat the minorities like dirt under their feet. I understand the concept of “Majority Rules,” but in our system, the minority still has the right to be heard.
3. Even Madison’s annual Bratfest is becoming partisan because Johnsonville Brat CEO contributed to Scott Walker’s campaign.
2. The governor still thinks everything goes better with Koch.
1. I like the name Wisconsin better than its Twitter alternative: Fitzwalkerstan.
So on we go, into the long weekend. When the politicians walk past during the parade on Monday, I’ll do my best to be quiet. Maybe. Or maybe I’ll just honk the horn on Amigo’s bike to drown out the Republican slogans.

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