Tag Archives: teachers live at school

>Top Ten Reasons to worry about the upcoming election

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  • The opponent in our Senate race thinks global warming doesn’t exist.
  • The opponent in our Congressional race plans to get rid of Social Security as we know it.
  • One candidate for governor plans to scrap our public pension plan, effectively cutting my income by 30%.
  • The opposing candidate for Senate is out of touch with the middle class, which means me.
  • The opposing candidate for Congress has moved in and out of the district several times; whom does he really represent?
  • Many candidates talk about cutting taxes by reducing education budgets – budgets that have already been cut to the bone.
  • Candidates are talking about judging teachers by their students’ test scores. If that’s the case, people, give me a chance. Bring these kids into my class reading and achieving at grade level.
  • I can’t afford to donate enough to my candidates, but I can’t afford not to; if the wrong side wins, my working conditions will worsen severely.
  • Misleading advertising might just tip voting in the wrong direction.
  • Negative advertising might encourage people to stay home, and low voter turnout is never good.

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>Top Ten Reasons to Leave Teaching

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  • Politicians blame teachers for anything possible – and a lot that’s not possible.
  • Taxpayers blame teachers for rising taxes.
  • Parents blame teachers for not doing enough – despite oft-impossible situations.
  • Politicians, parents, and taxpayers do not understand the challenges teachers face every day.
  • Movie-makers put teachers into scapegoat roles.
  • Salaries are dependent on current political climate.
  • Benefits are dependent on current political climate.
  • Budgets keep dropping, but expectations keep rising.
  • Teachers are expected to make up the difference in budgets out of their own pockets.
  • No matter how hard teachers work, it’s never enough.

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>Top Ten Reasons to Love Teaching

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  • The children are fantastic.
  • Teaching requires continual learning – in so many subject areas.
  • If I’m ever on Jeopardy, my broad knowledge base might pay off.
  • The challenge is never-ending; if I wanted an easy job, teaching wouldn’t be it.
  • The variety never ends.
  • I can dress in my team colors on casual Friday.
  • I have a good excuse to buy and read young adult literature.
  • I work with some amazing, caring, intelligent professionals.
  • Teaching is a great creative outlet.
  • A classroom sure beats a cubicle.
Please notice – the ubiquitous “summer off” didn’t even make the list. It is not a valid reason to become a teacher.

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>Random thoughts on – spelling tests?

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>Actual thoughts running through my head while I corrected the first spelling tests of the year…

This developmental work study is good for my struggling students. Seven, eight, nine out of ten – these guys rocked their first test!
This girl in the higher level group didn’t study at all. Typical. She’s capable, but doesn’t work hard. That’s my goal for her this year; teach her all about effort and how hard work can pay.
Oh, dear, only one out of ten. Should I reassign this kid to an easier group? No, not yet. He needs to first learn to study.
Prefixes group handled the prefixes well, but the roots stymied them. Disbelief? First, learn to spell belief.
Here’s another high level reader and writer. She’s one who expects to know everything from the get-go. My goal for her this year: study skills. Take her from her high level and move her higher. Note to self; she may resist, as she’s accustomed to school being easy.

All that from a list of ten words. Wow. And I didn’t even mention the girl who spelled the word favor F-A-V-R-E.

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>A Good Use of a Sick Day

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>Darn this ankle. Thank goodness for a good doctor. He put me on medicines that helped shrink the swelling and another daily maintenance medicine that will help prevent it from coming back. For a couple of days, though, I needed to rest.

I spent a Monday afternoon with an ice pack and then traveled to the clinic for my appointment. After the appointment and a quick run to the pharmacy, I was home with another ice pack. I stayed up late enough to get the doses I needed (watching Monday Night Football, wondering where Deanna Favre was when Brett hit the 500 mark for touchdown passes) and then went to bed.
Tuesday was a sick day for me. Resting on the couch, alternating ice and heat packs, drinking lots of liquids, and getting updated on my work. Preparing a few posts, setting up my weekly guest posts on MidCentury Modern Moms and Green Spot-On, clearing my Inbox, and then finalizing grant application letters.
Yes, dear readers, I’m determined that my students will have books that fit their unique needs. I sent out three letters today and responded to another that had asked for more information.
All that while sitting on the couch with an aching ankle and foot. Sometimes I even impress myself.

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>Three drivers, two vehicles, and how many appointments?

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>La Petite had a Monday appointment at the dentist to get a tooth filled.

Most of the time, in order to leave her a vehicle, Chuck would get up early and drop me off at school. La Petite would plan to pick me up at school after her appointment. Ah, such a good feeling: the need for a third set of wheels avoided once again.
Then it got complicated. Over the weekend my ankle and foot swelled up – large enough and painful enough to make wearing a shoe difficult. Knowing La Petite had a late afternoon appointment (2:50), I attempted to work in a doctor visit for myself. The talk went something like this.
Me: “I’d like an afternoon appointment, please, with early afternoon best.”
Nurse on call: “How about 11:00 or 11:30?”
“Uh, no, that’s too early. 12:00 would be the earliest I could make it. Early afternoon, please.”
“Oh, here’s one at 1:15. I’ll put you in there.”
“Great! I’ll take it. 1:15 with Dr. Ankleman.”
“Wait. I’m double checking that time and your name isn’t coming up… hold just a minute, please… oh, the computer has you down for Wednesday. That isn’t what you wanted, was it? You wanted Monday.”
“Yes, please, Monday early afternoon.”
“We have 11 or 11:30.”
Sigh.
“No, that won’t work. 12 noon is the earliest I could make it.”
Then we start working on times after La Petite’s dental work.
me: “How about later, after 4?”
nurse: “We have a 4:15.”
me: “Ouch! (oops, shouldn’t dance with delight when ankle hurts) I’ll take it!”
nurse: “Okay, we’ll see you at 4:15 tomorrow.”
Then I looked at La Petite’s timing again and realized it would be just too, too close for comfort. If the dentist ran late (which is rare, but it could happen), she wouldn’t get to me at school until barely four. the new family medicine clinic is a lengthy drive through town, no convenient or quick shortcuts, and takes at least 15 minutes. It’s a large clinic with a big parking lot and a time consuming registration process, and then count in the minutes to limp or crutch my way to the gallery (they’re not even called wings or floors) where the office is… sigh. It wasn’t going to work.
So I took the afternoon off. Resting the foot could only be good. I called in the half-day sick time, and then settled in to write lesson plans for the substitute.
Then Chuck solved our troubles, provided a second vehicle; he got sick. Fever, weakness, tummy troubles – no way possible to work through it. He had to stay home.
It is indeed an ill wind that blows no good.
Supper? A stop on the way home at the local family restaurant for their famous chicken soup. It just seemed right. I drove, I paid, La Petite did the walking part, and we brought it home just in time for her numbness to wear off.
Chicken soup for the aching family. It worked.

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>Bing "Our School Needs" – Phase One

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>I’ve already used up my classroom budget for the year. We’re only six weeks into the school year, and anything else I buy will have to come out of my own personal funding source — my pocketbook.

Yes, school budgets are tight and getting tighter, and teachers pay for more and more out of their own pockets. I’m providing kids with pencils, folders, crayons, and more. I make my own posters. I’m looking for grant money to buy books for my struggling readers.
My school is not alone. Luckily, there are companies who believe in philanthropy: believe in giving back to the communities, giving to the schools that educate their future workforce. Bing asked bloggers to publicize phase one of its “Our School Needs” program. To get started, go to the Our School Needs home page and familiarize yourself with the program. Schools looking for technology — computers, Smartboards, projectors — can enter their requests to help teach their students 21st Century skills. Schools might be looking for gyms, climbing walls, walking & running tracks to encourage activity and fight obesity. Many projects are already posted; your school’s project can join them.
My school always needs strategically spent moneys to support good quality instruction and creative teaching. Doesn’t your local school need this, too? An essay (500-800 words), a few photos, perhaps a video, and the entry is ready. More details on the entry process are on this page. If you’re a multi-media style learner, here’s a video explaining the same.
Entry deadline is October 22. Round one voting (in categories of K-6, 7-9, and 10-12) closes on October 24. The first round winners receive $50,000 and then move on to the finals. I’m enjoying reading the current entries as I brainstorm ideas to help my own school enter — and win.
I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Bing and received a DonorsChoose.org giving code and gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.

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>Finding a Good Book

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>My poor library media specialist. She thought she retired last year. She came in to volunteer, and there I was asking her an impossible question: to help me find a book when I couldn’t remember either the title or the author. My thought process was something like this.

(Holding a copy of A Million Shades of Gray by Cynthia Kadohata) “I remember a book, I think it was by Cynthia Kadohata, but I don’t see it on the shelf with her books. I don’t remember the title. I remember picking it up because her Newbery winner (Kira-Kira) was such a powerful story. The book I’m looking for has a unique piece; in between chapters, the author “talked” to the main character. It was about a Korean-American family, not a Japanese-American family like Kira-Kira. The main character was raising silkworms for a 4-H style project…. I can’t remember any more!”
Of course she couldn’t help me.
I told my helpful and well-meaning friend that I’d do a little searching online and get back to her. I was just at a loss.
I went home and entered “young adult novel” and “silkworms” and found it. It was almost too simple.
Project Mulberry by Linda Sue Park, Newbery Award winner for A Single Shard.

Don’t judge me; it was late on a Friday afternoon.
By the way, Project Mulberry is an amazing book. So is A Single Shard. I highly recommend them both. As for Kadohata? When you read Kira Kira, have an entire box of tissues by your side. And if you have any reading stamina left, find Cracker; the best dog in Vietnam. But stock up on tissues again before you start to read.

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>Walk to School

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It’s a typical fall morning. Leaves cover the ground, there’s a crisp breeze, a little overnight condensation remains, and the school buses criss-cross the city streets.

In some neighborhoods, there are fewer buses. These are the places where walking to school is the norm, not the exception. I’m lucky to live and teach in neighborhoods like these. Walking to school brings people together; parents, children, friends, families. When I’m arriving at school in the morning, I see my former students shouldering their backpacks and climbing on their bikes or gathering together to walk to the nearby middle school. An hour later, I’ll see the sidewalks crowded again with groups of kids and adults headed to the elementary school where I teach.

Clorox Green Works is a sponsor of this month’s Walk to School Challenge. They have a Facebook group devoted to the cause, and they’re offering $5000 grants to schools with the highest participation in the Challenge. Walking to school helps connect people, build community, and fights sedentary lifestyles. Wow, all that with a short walk! Biking counts, too, as does riding a skateboard or scooter. Getting up and active energizes bodies and brains for a full day of learning.

I love looking out my classroom window just before the bell rings and seeing all the families gathering, saying good bye to their children for the day, and then walking on home again. I wish more schools could be as lucky as ours; situated in a neighborhood suitable for easy walking. If your school would like to participate in Clorox Green Works Walk to School Challenge, you can sign up and recruit others from your school to log miles – and win grant money in the process!

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Clorox Green Works and received a thank-you gift certificate for my time.

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>Investing my blood, sweat, and tears in teaching

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>”I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat.” — Winston Churchill

Well, Mr. Churchill – may I call you Winston? – I have all that and more to offer my students and my coworkers. I have fifteen years of experience in public schools, more in private preschools and as a substitute teacher. I have undergraduate and graduate degrees. I have knowledge gained from myriad sources: classes, training sessions, professional institutes taught by experts in their fields. I have colleagues who help me apply that knowledge in useful and practical ways.
And I have my own blood, toil, tears, and sweat.
Sweat:
Have you ever been in an classroom in a 60-year-old brick building, with no air conditioning, with only two windows that open? Add 24 sweaty bodies after recess and you’ll know sweat.
Have you ever followed a child across a playground in muggy heat, a child who knows how to keep one step ahead, a child who has emotional issues so extreme you worry about getting too close lest he run out into the street or into the nearby wooded area known to be a repository of broken bottles and sometimes syringes with needles? Even without the hot weather, it was a sweaty situation.
Tears:
Student throws tantrum, shoves staff member.
Student throws another tantrum, kicks aide.
Student gets suspended for aggressive behavior.
Student returns from suspension. Teacher monitors mood, tension, calls on all de-escalation training and years of experience to keep him calm – alone. Because no one, but no one, stops in to check on student when he returns to school after his suspensions.
Feeling totally unsupported leads to tension, high blood pressure, and yes, tears.
Toil:
This I can do. If hard work could solve the problems of all my students, life would be easy. I’m working on grant letters and looking up books to fit the needs of my hardest working, most struggling readers.
I’m also doing the research in advance on procedure for removing a dangerous student from class, even as I sincerely hope it won’t be needed. Toil, perhaps unnecessary, but still toil.
Blood:
Does swelling count? Physical pain? I’ve been teaching on an unexplained and undiagnosed swollen ankle for two weeks. My doctor must understand teachers. She didn’t recommend I take several days off to heal; she suggested I teach sitting down whenever possible. I keep teaching through the pain, not calling a substitute, because that’s what we do.
Winston, I know you made this statement in a time of a great world war. My battles are different. Instead of an enemy with bombs and troops, I fight poverty, apathy, budget cuts, and misinformation. In those battles I offer my knowledge, my experience, my continued professional connections, along with my blood, toil, tears, and sweat.

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