Category: education

Posted on in education, goals, life, Peloton

Just Show Up

The first step of Peloton is “Just show up.” The epiphany is not mine, it is the company way, stated often, and a brilliant marketing tactic and a simple explanation of life. “Just show up.” After only twenty-five rides I am addicted to the mantras, coaches, entertainment, and the new fitter person I am becoming. Now, getting on the bike is not always easy, pretty, or physically pleasant. But it is my time where my showing up does equate to a better overall day due to endorphins and a mindset of positivity.

This week I taught my kids, during SEL time, about dreams, goals, and how to keep in the game when life keeps hitting us hard. My sweet 8th graders have survived unreal scenarios with no answer in sight. I reached into the social emotional learning lessons and inserted a few Peloton expressions and their little faces lit up. I guess it is true that everyone needs a little Ally Love in their lives!

Of course a lesson and a few fun quotes won’t solve the future issues looming over our littles lives. My kids find time to search me out or wait until class is over throughout the week and ask questions for which I have no answers. The frequency of their questions shows me that their stress level is going higher as the days pass. The questions are always the same but stated with their individual flair.

What will school look like next year?

Will it be scary to be back with new kids?

Will we wear masks forever?

Will the shot work?

What about the new strains?

Can we just stay virtual?

Will anyone remember me?

Will anyone like me?

That last one gets me in the heart. But my kids have been missing in action, coping with family, and trying to learn in a bubble chosen by their parents for a variety of reasons. My kids are home by choice and waiting out a storm that keeps bubbling up at every surface. Obviously, I have no answers but their fragility is noted. I shared that I am going to get the vaccine during my “lunch bunch” one student cried real tears as she thought that meant I would not be her teacher. I calmed her down and after I got off camera. I cried. Not even Ms. Love’s spirit and words could calm me down. A “Boss” I was not at that moment more like a puddle of emotions.

All of their questions are now in overdrive due to high-school enrollment on their plate. So I have adopted the Peloton mantra of just showing up into my virtual classroom. Everyday I welcome them by noting their good choices of showing up, being present, turning on the camera, and participating in school and life. This new phrase of congratulations of just showing up seems simple but to my littles they understand that this is the first step to each and everyday. To acknowledge the good choices they are making is my attempt to counter their fears and teach that no matter what the day brings we all have to decide to “Just Show Up” and tackle the day bit by bit. If mantras and power of positive thought can get this 57 year old to ride everyday because of that feeling of wow that I feel during and after the ride, just think of how consistent power of positive thought can transform my littles overwhelming fears.

It is my hope to turn my puddles of concern to strong personalities of positive thoughts for their exciting lives that await them if they are brave enough to peek around the corner.

Posted on in education, life

NCLB Dribble

NCLB is the worst policy that still stands. Find the data, test the child, re-test the child, find the data. Rinse, repeat but don’t leave them behind. Ever. While I do not have data to prove that NCLB has failed. I have observations. It has upped my stress levels, given no rocket scientist data points, or increased my value as teacher. The societal view of my profession has dropped, many our leaving, and our kids data is not stellar as compared to other countries, states, zip codes etc. I am a tester approximately 25% of the year and a data digger on my spare time. NCLB has done nothing for the state of public education and everything for the state of charter or private education. They test, yes they do. But for purpose not whimsy.

My educational fantasy is copying the English system. It’s ok to give them credit for a system that works (we won the war) and of course modify it so it is less class oriented. We should have exams, we should have top curriculum, we should have standards that truly point kids to university. But we don’t. Most of the world uses the Cambridge Curriculum and leveled exams that are administratered after all instruction has ended. Again, a fantasy. A few schools/districts are dabbling with Cambridge a system and curriculum with varied reading materials that don’t all come from a text. Real reading out of books. The idea. And their history comes from actual documents think Gilder Lehrman, not our washed out textbooks, which we continue to refurbish at great cost. Give me books and documents and I can create anything. But I am an antique. The new teachers unless they feel education in their bones do not have this gift. So give them a real curriculum to follow…Cambridge. If Arizona was brave and we spent the money once for this amazing stuff we would turn out kids ready for 100 level university classes instead of turning our 000 level students.

You get my idea. Less constant testing and a superior curriculum would have increased our overall numbers in our public schools. Instead, many districts will be closing buildings due to our parents fatigue with a system that is broken. All of this hurts my heart. I am an Arizona public school kid, a public school teacher and all I want is better. My question is how much longer are we going to wait?

Posted on in education

Oh so serious…

Across the United States children are missing from our educational system. This should trouble you. Greatly. Once upon a time, I believed I could manage the chaos called Department of Education. Today, I still do. However, unlike our current chief aka the winner in fancy political terms. I would address the situation of 50,000 students missing from public and charter schools. Instead our fearful leader trumped for more money to head to our schools on the backs of businesses that are breaking. I would be personally call every household just to make sure they are ok and set them up for success. No, we are allowing them to run from the school-year of chaos. Instead, the department pushes for more money through taxation. This was a gross error as whatever money is gained will not be seen by teachers, we all know this, but many fall in line and believe the fairy tale. I do not. The department cannot continue running on the fantasy that we are the public education of years ago. We are not. We have slipped due to the political mandates pressed upon us, the little people. Only to cause our little people more stress, tests, and the benefits of less teaching. The system needs change and guts to make the changes needed so all kids can have a great education and all teachers can choose where they want to work not hampered by retirement funding. You get it.

Now back to the missing kids. If your head is buried in the sand and you think that they are coming back look at your district trending numbers. Please take a breather…Check your years in, your fancy non-classroom position, and ask yourself…do I have a job next year? No, you are a great teacher, or leader, I am sure of it. The numbers just don’t add up. Research goes a long way. Please do some so you are not shocked at the end of this year as the 50,000 missing are not coming back. Prepare my friends, prepare. The system has failed these kids. They have found alternatives to what many still believe is the only show in town. We are not. This should be on our benchmark test. Perhaps the system would change, let go of what takes great teachers away from teaching, and stand up to our boards and state officials. You see it takes leaders at all levels with courage, conviction, and a clear daily reminder that we are failing to do the right thing as a total system. No, not in our individual classrooms or even throughout some districts. As a complete entity.

Next year will bring change. Unfortunately, those that walk the line of the union are becoming stronger in this state by the day. I will never join. Duh. As such I will never get the accolades or first round choice positions. So, don’t worry if you are at a district with a number risk. You will win over me in in a head to head contest. Quite frankly a teacher without a full degree might win the position over my 20 plus years. Truth. I have crossed them many a time. I am still right and they still wrong in the direction of truly taking care of the teachers, but that does not matter. I crossed. But while on my tour, I had a false sense of freedom and spoke freely about the realities we all face that have only become worse. We need true leaders with hearts, no rational fear, and one who cares more about kids than a political agenda to make the tough calls for our kids and our classroom lives. We need this not only at the top but around the state in a variety of roles. So next time you vote for any position that affects us please check for that factor. I will create a rubric. But until then start speaking up for yourself, our kids, and your classroom life. I am getting a tad lonely.

Posted on in education

Feeling Liberated

Our freedoms and personal liberties are what makes this country great. When taken away it leads to chaos, depression, and sheer madness with the countless petty rules that do not make sense. If we as a country are continuing on this path of “masking up” we need to have common sense rules that are inherent to our freedoms that we are granted by our constitution. With that said, yes Covid-19 is real but we can each make decisions that are practical and safe for our own health. We need to drop the heard mentality. It is not healthy and we will see long term issues for years to come.

The little big-town of Prescott does it right. The schools are open, safe, and working with their parents. While many families have chosen a virtual method, it is by choice not force. You can walk into a business without a mask and restaurants are booming with all the safety protection in place. It is a happy town filled with people living life by their own rules with most abiding by the choice mask for themselves or using the six foot rule. I felt safe, happy, and for the first time in almost a year I forgot about our personal liberties being robbed on a daily basis.

Yesterday, was the first day I strolled a store, outside of a market without gasping on my own recycled air in the mask of the day. It was fantastic and reminded be what life was like long ago. With the holidays around the corner we are being told not to gather, keep the elderly in their nursing homes, and are again stocking up for another shutdown. I think our founding fathers would be livid that we need to be told, forced, fined, and curfewed into personal responsibility. I argue that we do not. We need facts, high-risk groups need to hunker down, and we need to have respect not judgement for those that do not need to live in a bubble. Let them live. Let businesses thrive and not fade away.

While I will bubble up in the big city for my own safety. I will be heading out to my favorite escape more and more for a dose of everyday life and a reminder of the American spirit and personal freedoms.

May God Bless America!

Posted on in education

All My Circles…

My traditional art wall lives via links and padlet…

Daily, I greet my sweet circles, AKA my “shy” virtual 8th grade Social Studies students. My love for them is overwhelming and my reason to get up and go down my hall, into my den, begin my classes, create new curriculum, record video and audio, track down missing students, daily grading and more. The work is the same as in person, but different, difficult, demanding, challenging, fascinating, heartwarming, and heartbreaking. My emotions fluctuate daily and the shortened commute (2 minutes flat) plus my absence from the stress that surrounds our ever bouncing educational system is a huge plus for my health and sanity. As the days pass I still long for small humans. Or do I? Are my growing feelings and pride over my little circles natural or unnatural. Whatever it is, it is virtual education, and I am at the helm. Now, I chose this life for my own personal health reasons, that was my decision for me, not for all in the education world, and not for all kids. My current circles are not going back to traditional. Their zipcode is at risk and many of their homeschools are still closed. These are my 8th graders, my future promoters, and they push me to make this year the best that it can be in this wild educational video game. Where kids are still kids and teachers are the daily video game. While not as popular as COD (Call of Duty) but a definite bitmoji style of fabulous.

I kept multiplying…
Some of my peeps…

As the days turn into weeks and the weeks into our second quarter my world is beginning to feel natural. Oddly so, to the point of my thinking that I might not ever enter the traditional environment again and finish out bitmoji style.

At the time of this blog. I can be whisked back into real-world teaching tomorrow or never. I do not know. None of us know. Some of my sweet circles are cracking at the edges and some are crazy confident in their new world. But when a teacher switch happens they all crack…I see it. They tell me. We work through it with words that I find, sometimes out of thin air, to patch the hurt. Most of the time I patch up pretty well and when it is too big, I call for backup fast. My sweet circles have a hold on me and at the end of the day, I am grateful for them as they make me be the best teacher I can be, no matter the environment.

Posted on in education

Camp

I hate the outdoors, I cry upon seeing bugs, and water below 85 degrees is considered freezing in my book. My two experiences with camping came at a young age. The first was a true campout on Redondo Beach with my Girl Scout Troop. One night of absolute disgust and soggy clothes mixed with sand made me quit the next day. Good-bye troop. The second, was a forced campout with my parental unit, and their friends. It snowed in the California Redwoods, in July. I headed into my tent and would not come out due to the bitter cold. At all. I was in true protest mode that was so obviously terrifying that all the ladies of the group went to a hotel. It was then that hotels are a girls true guide to camping. Let the men have the tents and the earthly experience. Not for me. Hotels or the later resorts in wooded areas with a casual hike and good wine were my forever fuure camping experiences, in fact I made it known to my then fiancé and thus we created the no camping pact shortly before we walked down the aisle with the caveat that I had to get acquainted with Neebish Island and eventually, someday in the far future go to the magical camp which my hubs painted like a Norman Rockwell meets Indian Tribe in the forest moment coupled with fantastic outdoor extravaganzas for all. Camp, here I come. Someday.

In the beginning, it was easy as a married couple to not visit. We were busy in our very exciting SF city lives. My camp was Napa. Enough said. His camp would wait. He was patient. I was stalling and panicked that any summer our camp trip conversation would not end with the sounds of corks or clinging glasses.

Soon after our bundle of joy came along, camp was calling but still not for me. Between moving and settling in our new home in the sunny and mosquitoe free state of Arizona but it was coming and I knew there was no turning back…

Our first trip was directly after our sons first birthday. It was a difficult year filled with specialists, hospitals, and tears. Camp was supposed to lessen the stressors. It did. Not in the way of an average vacation filled with umbrella drinks and sandy beaches, but it did. Maybe it was the water or the freighters rolling by one after another with the sounds of the salutes hanging in the summer air, or perhaps none of this. The memories made that year and beyond in our small island life are memories I will cherish.

Years later, our camp still has bugs and leaky things, no quick access to anything but it is now my adopted home. Year after year along with my original little Neebish yoopers plus our newest member of the yooper club we always make the trip…

Posted on in education

The Blame Game

We are in a situation where everyone wants to blame another for the mess we are in created by a crazy virus that came without a road map. It just hit. Created mayhem and death. The nation shutdown. We have reacted, over-reacted, under-reacted or something in between based on your political spectrum, age group, or if loved ones were involved. Now, six months later, we are still in this reactionary mode but we are no longer “in this together.” In fact we are a society at war with itself. The masks are an issue, the opening or closing of anything is an issue, and a society on a brink of economic collapse using monopoly money to survive is an issues but not the biggest. The largest divide is the daily spinning of the wheel education plan of the moment. There are no answers for anyone so the randomness of a game show spin is a method I could get behind at this point and can be done multiple times a day just to continue to confuse parents, teachers, and the kids playing along.

On the wheel, we have many options all supposedly scientifically backed by either the CDC, WHO, or any alphabet soup education group which bases its data on some factor other than the reality of kids don’t get this crap. Now, they can carry. Ah, the true problem, the adults. Ok, I am one and in the classroom, so I get it, but we have had six months and now more federal dollars for a variety of PPE, technology, and other stuffs to sanitize at a hospital level on a daily basis. So, what is the issue? The answer is quite simple, it is the gut reactions felt by humans in crisis and the politics and red tape churning and throwing up additional barriers along the way. Simple but complicated on many levels. So we keep spinning, creating, and finding winning modes of education that will ease the fear, fit political agendas, and have shears big enough to cut through the tape.

The wheel itself is divided into many parts. I will now take you through the popular spinning wins so the parent in you can see that the teacher in me is just as frustrated and hopefully we can form an alliance instead of a divide.

Posted on in education

Dad is Life and Life is Dad…

Our kid has gone through a medical struggle (back) and heartbreak due to the outcome. The kid we raised is smart, stubborn, athletic, artistic, and brave. It has been a haul but that is life and we are a tough family. His recent two year battle came with a miracle that has come full circle and resulted in a new career of sorts, one with no pay, gratitude and frankly the best type of life, full-time dad. DJL now a two year old mini-KWL. He is a single dad and does it all. He is super-dad and his mini-him is attached at the hip and the big guy is just as attached. It is something to see and it is especially poignant from the eyes of a grandparent.

In the midst of raising littles you often miss their favorite show and their intense understanding of character and plot. The mimicked behaviors that are character requested during the developmental shows for little people learning, and the delight in their eyes when they hit perfection of the character moves. Now, I see it all and always tell my son, to slow down and watch it all. It goes fast. So fast. I see his side also, I have done all of it, as my hubs was and is a workaholic who has slowed a bit to cherish the grandfather role, and for that I am grateful.

Long ago, KWL was my mini-me and I see the same in their relationship that we had long ago. Insert Hugs. My former mini-me, at two went to grad school with me, literally walked ASU and went to classes, held the door for the students, and ate Cheerios, colored and practiced sounds and letters. At two and a half we had all letters and numbers through ten mastered, an obvious result of ASU. Insert Laugh. I knew he needed pre-school but neither of us were ready and besides after class there was a happy meal at the Memorial Union. By day I took notes, by night I studied. In between I clipped fingernails, wiped faces, cut up food, played, and prayed my picky eater would eat. Our relationship was tight. In fact, so strong that pre-school was a tough separation for us but we both survived and both flourished. He with his Montessori buddies and me with student teaching and a diploma. The night I walked Gammage for my masters he literally waited in the wings of to see me get what we both earned. As I walked off the stage, I got a hug, and I am sure we all had a McDonald’s dinner. I am sure of that. That is our past, but those times along with many more days like it created the adult he is today.

As parents, we constantly question ourselves, I no longer question. Nope. I am good. I did my best and now I cherish the moments of watching their practical daily life. I find odd joy in the nail clipping, face wiping, consistent feeding (no prayers needed), playing, reading, counting, and constant exploration with high doses of love. I get odd joy in seeing that my former mini-me picked up some skills along the way and is tirelessly using them on his best little person. Now, I sit back and enjoy all the moments, the ones I lived and the ones I missed. As a grandparent I am especially good at the Blues Clues movements and Tea Time, even when it is poured from our tummy as we are into the letter T right now, pretend play, counting, Little Tykes basketball and hugs. I like my hugs the best and look forward to watching my mini-child grow into his own adult and if blessed watch him with his child as they navigate the waters between the constant work and joy our children bring.

I love you KWL.

Posted on in education

The Unknown

Every year teachers start in the same manner. Potlucks, back to school meetings, district cheer sessions, more meetings, and time spent readying our rooms for the year ahead. It is a special time and a highlight of mine, as it marks the dreams I shape for the year ahead, and the next students that cross my path. This year will be a tad different as most teachers, parents and kids are living in the harsh realities outside the classroom doors. I want to escape from all of this as often as possible, for my kids and myself, and bring my students into the world of creative writing and the bravery of colonists that wanted a new life, as I teach writing and history, and these scenarios fit my yearly curriculum. Our escape will allow us to travel to a different time and place, and for a moment or two the heaviness of life will be taken away. I long for this, but I still do not know how or when any of this will take place.

Bring Your Own and Eat in Your Car?

The struggle with all the logistics of the school year, aka the unknown, and the waiting pattern that leaders are painfully putting us through, make my mind race through the various possibilities of the year to come. The questions always outweigh the known at this time leading me back to the same questions. Online or off-line? Six-feet apart (ha) or in our former reality mode armed only with a facial shield for the protection of a virus that can simply go right through my colored choice of the day? Do I wear gloves, or leave my pretty fingers www.dashingdiva.com to chance?

Online Face
In-Person Instructions

With nine days and counting to my technical start date, I have no answers. None. I wait, knowing that this year there will be no potlucks or in-person meetings and the decoration of our rooms will come in slow stages, with time limits and less “fun” in our rooms for hands to touch. This, however is our moment, our year, and I am ready to shine for my kids, and elbow bump each and everyday. If I only knew when and how. My wait continues and I look forward to its end.

Elbow Bump = Hugs
The Next Generation Needs Us