I love the internet. I love the way I can interact with people I know and don’t know and may never know personally and grow from those interactions. Its amazing how one idle comment or conversation on Facebook or Twitter or some other social network can turn in to opportunities. What has my being an internet junkie and an idle commentator turned into?
- I have a former instructor who sent me a note the other day after I gave him a tip on a business opportunity. He asked if I’d be interested in talking to his college level class on my teaching experience. I’d love to. I can go on and on forever about the joys of scraping the crud off young minds so that they can breathe and grow and experience the world. I’m all in.
- I had a very fruitful conversation with someone I’ve chatted with in the past and am now connected to on Facebook. Turns out we see the community in the same light and have our own ways of battling for elbow room out there. We’ll be working together to make some space in the universe so change can become a reality for some.
- A couple of years ago, almost as a whim, I taught some female students how to make jewelry. One of them is now a sophomore in high school. She has started a small jewelry business and is all the rage at school and in the community. I’m not done with her yet though. I’m going to take her global as soon as we both can find 5 minutes after school to make it happen.
- A friend of mine was on the fence about a job opportunity that would have put her in the center of the action at the Superbowl. I talked her off the fence, she went, she saw, she conquered! She now has connections of her own that will help her grow.
- I have been approached to set up a display of my jewelry to be sold in a hair salon. Yeah, I’m all over that. This is how we do it!!
- I mentioned to a teacher I work with in a school club that I was going to take a few web design classes and wanted to do something with education outside of the classroom. That was last Saturday. I have more than 20 emails from him with ideas, contacts, resources, etc. on how to make change in education outside the classroom. I’m all over it.
And the list goes on and on…
I promised myself at the beginning of the year that I would work on making cultural self loathing something 
that doesn’t exist in my life and in the lives of those with whom I interact. I think its working. Its not something that I expected to happen overnight, but I am discovering that comments I make, stands I take, and coals I rake, are building a smothering flame of indifference about the world into a raging fire of enthusiasm for life around me. This… is a good thing.
What are you doing to make change, to heat up the cold heart of our society’s nearly dead body? What sorts of things are happening to you, around you, and within you to cause people to take notice and want to be a part of YOUR small, but force filled parade through life? Get the party started… we’ve got connections to make, lives to change, and legacies to create!
Its 7:20am on a Sunday Morning. I awoke thinking about all the “stuff” I have to get done today and I’m groaning and as indicated by this need to write in my blog, procrastinating.
I’ve waited all my life to be a grown up and I now, officially, hate it. There’s way too much to do and hardly any time to do any of it!
Consider what needs to be done today:
- I’m uploading photos of my students to my Walgreens photo account as I type this. They’ll need to be picked up.
- I have a test to write on Meteorology for the Science Olympiad Invitational in 4 weeks. Climate anyone?
- I have a lesson to record for class this week. Yes, I’ve started my Flipping pilot. (God help me)
- It might be a good idea if I clean my house… one day.
- I still need to figure out why my domain for the jewelry store site isn’t loaded in the correct place. (that will probably take an hour of meaningful discussion with some IT geek)
- Dinner. right.
- Get some fresh air (I intentionally vegged out yesterday, watching the Matrix Trilogy so that I could FINALLY figure out the analogies. I need to watch it all again next Saturday, I’m still confused)
- I should probably get some groceries while I’m out getting that fresh air.
- I should find an hour to read one of these books so I can actually get as close to reading 100 books this year as humanly possible.
- I DID say I was going to edit the novel this month, didn’t I?
*sigh* Read more…
Nothing like (mis)communication to make you just want to walk away and reassess.
The Pissed
I know my personal journey through life’s jungle has been different for the people I have chosen to interact with but damn… do we ALWAYS have to think there’s a conspiracy against us? How about, that’s where THEY come from and PERHAPS they didn’t think it through. So, YOU getting all bent because the wrong words came out of their mouth doesn’t help THEM grow. MUST WE ALWAYS WATER THE PLANT BY PISSING ON IT?
Apparently, someone in local TV land said something “wrong”. A full monologue later on Facebook by someone “offended” by it all resulted in a discussion about respect and how we demand it. All I could think as I tried desperately NOT to comment on any of it beyond here’s the email address, go tell her you’re upset” (knowing full well, the offender wouldn’t understand what the problem actually is), was, why do we STILL get so bent out of shape about the words of others? Haven’t we figured out yet that each of us comes from a different place and our perception of reality is therefore slightly skewed? When will it FINALLY occur to us that we can take opportunities to EDUCATE on the things people say and do wrong, instead of choosing to play the victim? Why we gotta get LOUD about their ignorance, and in doing so, show how ignorant we can be?
I, personally, am sick of being pissed off about things. I recognize that there are some things out there that only having lived through the experience, one can see it for what it is and that others commenting on it in a manner that shows they just don’t get it, is my opportunity to create a bridge of understanding. I want to create bridges of understanding. I’ve lived long enough to not want to wade through the muck with people. Hey, that’s just me, though. So, I dismiss both the offender and the offended; they both deserve each other. Closed minds are so 1960s. Read more…
As teacher type people have been wandering back to their respective places of life skills teaching, I’ve been engaged in several interesting forum discussions about what children know and should know. Here’s one that intrigued me when I first saw it, and is even more fascinating now that its part of an open discussion: cursive writing.
The Beloit College Mindset List for 2014 (the year incoming freshmen will graduate, also known as the class of 2010) lists not knowing how to write in cursive as the first entry on their long list of things this particular class will and won’t be familiar with as they go forth into the world. When I first saw this last year as I reflected on my son’s graduation and the fact that, no, he doesn’t know how to write in cursive and who the hell do I blame for that, I wondered why writing in cursive stopped being something important for children to learn while in elementary school. Apparently, this class is one of the first that got caught up in the No Child Left Behind debacle and so, the focus was on learning how to read and do some math and not on how to sign your name.
I suppose this might actually be ok. Not sure. The topic came up for me again recently in a National Science Teacher’s Association (NSTA) discussion forum. One teacher wondered, “should we have our children write in cursive or manuscript in their science journals/notebooks?” The discussion evolved into whether children write in cursive at all anymore… and more importantly, if they can read cursive writing at all. I happen to know, my 7th graders last year, couldn’t read mine, and I’ve got pretty decent writing skills, thank you very much.
So, in this 21st Century universe, is being able to write in cursive important anymore? The argument in my forum wandered a bit from knowing the definition of signature and if cursive writing was a requirement of that, to how this generation is more computer literate and aren’t being taught how to touch type. We even covered the raw truth of the matter, some high school students can’t even print, and what the hell is THAT about? Read more…
I was standing over a bag of potting soil and plastic cups with river rocks in then with my apron flapping in the wind of the fan near my feet. My student teacher was working the room, helping students complete the day’s activity. Someone called my name and I turned around, wiping my nose and getting soil on it. It was “MeeMee”, a freshman who was in my class last year. With her was “Taco”, smiling and commenting on how big 7th graders were now. She did what she does best: wanders over to my desk and starts rummaging around for a piece of candy. (I confiscate candy daily)
Hi, Mrs. Stone, we came down to give you something.
I looked and in MeeMee’s hand was a folded piece of construction paper, covered in glitter and hand written words.
This is from me and Taco. Happy Teacher’s Appreciation Day.
All I could do was stand there. Read more…
Looks (and actions) can be deceiving. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been doing something or say something and when asked about my background or career, have someone say…”wow, you don’t ACT/LOOK like a teacher.” or, in a chat/discussion format, “wow, you don’t SOUND like a teacher.”
This, of course, begs the question, “what is a teacher SUPPOSED to act/look/sound like?” Can’t I be professional in the classroom and a fool in the street, if I want?
I remember growing up, my parents, both educators, and my aunts and uncles who were in education, always dressed just right (ma wouldn’t go to the curb to put trash in the can without her “good” house dress on and her hair combed), always speaking only of “important things” while in public and rarely interacting with anyone who wasn’t also in education or an ancillary industry. People thought they were gods. They could do no wrong. All the teachers were perfect. Read more…
Its Spring Break, and this teacher’s mind drifts quietly to thoughts of the first weeks of school next fall. Seriously.
Its the time of year I start reflecting on all the stuff that happened this year: what worked, what didn’t work, what needs tweaking, what needs to be scraped. I consider all the conversations with students, teachers, parents and how I handled them. I think about what I’VE learned this year. I prepare to do better, do more.
With that said… I give you my spring break random thought:
I’m going back to school in the fall. Certificate for now, Masters later…
I need to have a serious conversation with my department team about maximizing the curriculum decision we’re about to make so we shine like diamonds next year Read more…
Dr. Tony Bennett speaking at a education reform rally in Hebron, Indiana 2/28/11
You don’t know this man. I didn’t either until a couple of years ago. He’s a former Math teacher cum politician who was elected by the constituency of the State of Indiana to lead the Department of Education. If you live in Indiana, you know, right now, this guy is NOT loved.
The education reform debate in the great state of Indiana has reached a fevered pitch. There are accusations on both sides of the table about what all this budget cutting, union busting, choice giving nonsense is REALLY about. Its also about what what it isn’t about. Its also about what it should be about. Read more…
