What doesn't kill you...

I have had a Kelly Clarkson song in my head for the last couple of days.  Stronger has become my anthem the last couple of days.  I have been suffering with first a respiratory infection that turned into sinusitus for the last 4 weeks.  It has included time off work, many sleepless nights and multiple trips to the doctor only to be told 3 times, that it'll just take time.  The 4th time was the charm and I came away with a prescription for antibiotics.  Within 24 hours of taking this pill, I felt better.  It begs the question then does withholding drugs really worth it?  I suffered for weeks because the mentality up here is to not "over- medicate", which amounts to patients having to beg for medications that will make them feel better.  Anyway, I'm on my way to recovery.  Finally. 

Then Friday afternoon, I decided to walk into a bar on the playground and have a mild concussion.  I can tell you that it feels a lot like a hangover that never ends.  I have spent most of this weekend sleeping.  I wonder what the Universe is trying to tell me?  My head seems to be getting a lot of attention lately.  I had many plans this weekend, but must resort to phone calls to visit with friends, and moving very slowly.  I am just hoping that the symptoms get better by Monday, or Fun Day at school is not going to be very fun for me. 

This is the last week of school for us, and I have to say I am really looking forward to it.  I am going to spend next weekend resting and doing what ever I want.  Yay to summer vacation.  Hopefully, I can stay out of the new Emergency Room.

Identity Day 2012

A couple of summers ago I came across this blog post by George Couros about Identity Day.  I thought it was a great concept and was excited to introduce it to my staff.  As we were new to the school, Chris and I decided to approach the staff with it for this school year.  Things happened and it kept getting pushed back until I had a firm date for June 7 2012.  Like all new ideas in a small community, it was met with uncertainty, but the end result was fabulous!  In my own class I had 20 out of 21 projects come in, and the kids were excited about the day.  It was so great to see how proud the kids were about their projects and interested in other projects around the school.

We had the day separated into 3 parts, from 9:20-10:20 Kindergarten, grade K/1, grade 1/2 and grade 2 classrooms opened their doors for the rest of the school to come in and see their projects.  We had altered books, poster boards, tri-fold boards, a drum set and other great stuff for the school to see.  After recess until lunch, the grade 3, grade 3/4, and 4/5 classes all welcomed us in to view videos, dance presentations, violin and piano pieces, drumming, pottery etc. for an hour.  After lunch we went into the 5/6 and 6/7 classes to see what the "big kids" had done.  The 6/7 embraced the technological side of things and had made short movies about their topic of choice.

I loved the variety of topics the kids chose to tell about themselves and all the interesting ways they chose to share.  At the end of the day, my kids were already planning their topics for next year and what they could do to present it.

Teaching Post

Yesterday, I had a conversation with a friend that is having a hard time.   I have to say that I am feeling very badly for her and her situation.  I am also shocked and appalled at her treatment. 

My friend has moved for temporary contracts.  The contract she is currently under is for three weeks, until the end of the year.  She started on the 4th, teaching in a middle school.  Now, I am not a middle school teacher and don't understand all the ins and outs of that world, but I do have a little understanding of professionalism and courtesy. 

She is covering a leave only until the end of the year.  She did not "take" someone else's job, but she has come into a very uncomfortable situation.  Few people have talked to her at all, one demanding if she's parked in the "wrong" spot, no one has been friendly or welcoming.  In fact they sound downright hostile!  She received access to the grade book of the teacher on leave 4 days after she started and discovered that many students were failing.  Not by a little, by a lot.  The teacher on leave does not accept late work and instead issues zeros.  Late work has come in and when my friend contacted the other teacher, she refused to mark it.  My friend has no real proof that students have been contacted about their possible failings, and the Department Head told her that it is her (my friend's) responsibility to deal with it.  No help offered only told that she'd be "in big trouble" if it's not dealt with by Monday!  How is this collegial?  My friend has met these students only 2 or 3 times and her options are not good ones.  She's had her credentials questioned, left to solve problems that she did not create and has little to no real direction from the AO's.  I have no background information on the reasons why all this is happening, but I am so disappointed that my friend is stuck in a situation that is not only stressful, but seemingly hostile and unfair.   The teacher on leave took all of her course materials with her, emptied her desk (even took the stapler it seems), and has been less than communicative in this whole situation.  I would like to think there are underlying reasons for this, and my friend has just walked into a bad situation blindly, but what a shame.

In this day and age, teachers are under enough stresses from outside our work environment, especially after this year with all the contract issues and job action.  I would like to think that we wouldn't turn on our own people, but support and help when needed.  Teachers need to stick together, build each other up and HELP each other.  The end of the year is rough and it's in the rough times that we need to be there for each other.  I hope the next couple of weeks go a little better and she can get a handle on the situation. 

What advice would you give your friend?

What I have learned today

From reading some news articles today I have learned quite a few little tidbits from different areas of life;

The No Child Left Behind law in the US is still broken and no one can figure out how to fix it.  I had to teach there under this directive and let me tell you, it's very broken.  The kids and teachers are getting left behind with this one. 

The British people really like their pasties.  The government thought that they could help their coffers by taxing this popular snack and the people rose up and protested.  Government has had to go back to their idea banks to replace the taxes they have allowed the rich to keep.

Mitt Romney has decided that letting poor and disabled kids attend any school they want is going to be a big help.  This means that the doors of the rich suburban schools will have to be opened up to the city kids.  I can imagine the parents in Suburbia will welcome this with open arms.

Technology is creating a time wasting hole for young people, especially those from lower economic backgrounds.  Hmm I think this is true for young and old, no matter what your background.  How many times do I go to dinner and see a couple staring at their phones instead of talking to each other.  My own staff room is mostly void of conversations while staff play on their phones or use their computers to watch movies. 

Social media continues to be a big argument in schools across the continent.  Some are crying out against the abuses, some are defending the use in class to help bridge the divide of classroom and real-life.  Students and (some teachers) spend a lot of time using social media for various reasons.  It has been hailed recently as a great teaching tool or augmentation to lessons.  Social media has also caused a lot of problems; inappropriate behaviour by teachers and students, bullying and other unseemly situations.

These are just a few things that caught my eye today.  I'm sure there are more ground-breaking topics, but these are the ones that didn't involve death/war/uprising/debt.  Lots of stories out there about that stuff.  I'm trying to keep things a little lighter these days.

5 days

of being sick really puts a damper on plans.  I think I have gotten every cold that I missed out on for the last 9 months.  I was feeling better yesterday, and thought that I would go to work today.  I was dressed and everything, working my way through breakfast when I realized that if I went in today it would be a miserable day for all.  Little did I know that there was a funeral going on in the district and they had no TOC's around.  I think there is a mother/EA in my room today.  That would be interesting to see.  Now I lay here feeling slightly guilty.  I just know deep down though that it's not worth dragging myself in.  I haven't received any panicked phone calls, so I have to assume that everything is going okay. 
I think I need a nap.

I am ....

EXAUSTED!  There were many times today that I thought about my boss and wondered how she does it everyday.  Granted, she is not trying to teach a class of 2nd graders at the same time, but still.

I was Teacher In Charge (TIC) today.  I told my husband at some point during the day that I didn't ever want to get my Master's.  Everything was quiet first thing and when I got to almost 9:15 without incident, I thought I was good.  Nope.  Right when I was explaining to my class the job I would have to do today (I've done it before and they know what to do if I need to leave quickly), I could hear one of our Spec Ed students screaming in the hallway.  I went to check it out and ended up being in that situation for around 45 mins.  My kids went about their business and my neighbouring teachers looked in on them.  After that, I managed to get back into my room for 30 mins to do some reading assessments before recess.


ON the way to the staffroom, I hear wailing from another Spec Ed student in the grade 1 room.  I got in there to see the Reading Recovery teacher standing beside here with a firm look on her face.  The little person was fussing because she was mad she didn't get to go outside with her friends.  (She'd decided to waste her lesson time, so she had to make it up.)  I put a quick end to that nonsense and saw her off with the RR teacher.

 I got into the staffroom for a snack, but on the way through the secretary told me that something was in the toilet in the boys' bathroom.  Goody.  I grabbed a piece of fruit before I dealt with that, and just as I sat down, she came back in to tell me that I had 2 clients to deal with.  Fighting on the playground.  One of the students involved was a student I had last year, so I knew how to deal with him.  He spent a few minutes with me in my room after recess until he was ready to go back to class.

I almost got through the next hour of Math (and more assessing) and a lesson on apostrophes when about 2 minutes until lunch, I get a visit from the grade5/6 teacher.  He has sent a client to the office for me.  Apparently, the young gentleman got mad when a classmate returned property he'd stolen to the rightful owner.  He rewarded the intruder with a hard shoulder while walking past.  Now, I wasn't even sure I knew this student, and I was pretty sure he was going to be at least as big as me.  He'd taken advantage of the lunch bell and had buggered outside.  I had him paged back into the office.  We had a chat and he joined the collection of kids I had in the office.  2 kids playing lego and my fighter.  He stayed with me the whole lunch hour and because he had no lunch, I shared some of mine.  We got along fine, and in the end he went back to class.  I told him that if he needed to, I had some space in my classroom for him.  He go the message and I didn't hear of him again.

The fighter got to go back to class to eat lunch and his spot was taken by a 2nd grader who decided that throwing rocks at other kids was a fun game.  I still had the big kid in there, so we all had a talk about throwing rocks and bodies in anger.  Then we talked about video games.  I can only be mad for so long.

I did manage to eat my sandwich before I headed back to class.  We made it through about 20 mins of silent reading, before my fighter showed up with a sour face and an angry TOC.  He'd decided that he "hated all TOC's" proclaiming his innocence all the way down the hallway.  My kids were getting agendas done, getting an art project finished and getting ready for gym.  He took his work to the office to finish while we were in gym and then I used him to start a writing lesson in class.  When he uses he powers for good instead of evil, he's great.  He finished out his day with me.

At the bell I needed to make sure my kids were out the door and noone was left behind.  At sometime while I was running back and forth between the busses and the halls, an older student allegedly choked another boy.  Yay.  I didn't hear about that until 3:30 or so.  I had to make 2 parent phone calls, which were not so bad.  Then I touched base with the Fighter's teacher.

I waved with honesty at those buses today as they left the school yard.  I left at 4pm, exhausted.  I don't know how she does it every single day. 

Where did the last month go?

When I logged on today, I was a little surprised that it's been so long since I blogged.  The past month has just slipped away.
2 new babies born, outside projects to do, inside Spring Cleaning, work, migraines...  so much going on, but none of it very interesting.  Except the new babies.  Both girls.   I'd really been hoping that Michelle would have a boy because I'd had a boy present all ready for her, but Olivia is pretty cute so that's okay. 

Baby Olivia and me

We are winding down at school.  Or winding up, whichever way you want to look at it.  Now the testing begins.  Our marks have to be in to the office by June 4, and that does not leave me  much time to get other stuff done.  I am glad that we don't have all the standardized testing that the US have to do (yet) and this data is only used to chart progress (or the lack of it).  The problem with the assessments is that they take time.  Time that I could be doing other stuff with my students.  Oh well.  I have been planning an event at our school called Identity Day.  The idea is that everyone, staff and students share one thing about themselves with the rest of our school community.  I got the idea from here a couple of years ago and was really excited about it.  Chris and I pitched to the staff last year, but with all the turmoil and other events happening at the school, it got pushed into the beginning of June.  So far the only feedback that I have received from parents has been negative, so we'll see what the turnout is like.  I would like to do it early next year.
It is now May long weekend and we are relaxing after spending yesterday cleaning and working around the house.  We had a beautiful day yesterday ( I actually had shorts on), but today is cloudy.  At least it has not snowed.  It snowed last week.  We had inside days at school because the kids are not wearing warm clothes anymore.  Flip flops are not snow appropriate.