Impress Me Not

I can’t help myself. I feel insulted. Sarah Palin, McCain’s choice for vice president, just rubs me the wrong way.

First off, why even mention that she was a former beauty queen?  Why is that important?

Second, her political gravitas is really silly.  She’s been the mayor of a town in Alaska with a population of 9,000.  That’s smaller than the town I live in — by more than half…. and way smaller than Lowell, MA, the city in which I work.  Bud Caulfield for veep?  This is executive experience? 

I don’t understand women who are so right wing that they support anti-abortion law.  I choose not to have an abortion, but should I choose for another woman? Are we going back to the dark days pre-Roe v Wade when women were thought of as “property” — when a woman who was raped and became pregnant had no choice?  I don’t understand people who are against gay rights?  Shouldn’t everyone, no matter what their sexual orientation be treated equally? And I don’t understand anyone who hunts — sorry, not appealing to me.  For those reasons I am not impressed that McCain picked a woman.  (BTW, wasn’t Geraldine Ferraro a woman too?  Note to the press — Palin is NOT the first).

The fact that the Republican Party has chosen a woman for vice president does not impress me, a woman, in the slightest. That party must believe that women are so thoughtless, they’d rather vote for a vagina than examine the issue and vote for the candidate whose position is most palatable.

I grew into adulthood in the late 60s and 70s.  I know how it feels to have been treated as the “girl” in the office, how unusual it was for a woman to work when her child was an infant, how limiting career choices could be. Choosing a woman vp candidate in an attempt to herd women voters to a ticket like sheep is just abominable.  Sara Palin and John McCain should also know that being treated with equality, and that including a woman candidate on a ticket means that a candidate should (and I hope will) be  evaluated on positions.

This candidate does not get my vote.

Summer!

It’s been 2 full days since my summer break officially started.  The students’ last day was a week ago Monday, but with completing records and presenting a session in a workshop, I haven’t really had a chance to collapse until last Friday.  Collapse is a good description of the total and utter fatigue that overtook me once all the teaching duties were put to bed.  I don’t recall much of Friday…. spent that on the couch staring at Law and Order in all its variations and then rolled back into bed.  By Sunday, though I was approaching human.

In the news this week is Governor Patrick’s new initiatives for public education.  I hear about longer school years and school days, but no one has any good ideas for funding – yet.  Maybe this time will be different.  I don’t believe you’ll find many in education that would say this is as good as it gets.  I personally would support a longer school day as long as that day included something more than the perfuctory 10 minutes of recess for the kids.  Kids need to play ! They are getting fat and pudgy, not just from the plethora of junk foods that pass for snacks (and, BTW, am I the ONLY one who has the fortitude to tell a kid “no you can’t eat that?”). Kids need exercise to refresh their thinking as well as to address physical issues.  And then there’s executive function – more on that at a later day.

This morning I read yet another “expert” — ie someone who went to school at some point in his or her life who thinks they know pedagogy — who proclaimed that teachers should be paid based on their effectiveness.  How is that going to be measured? By that lovely one-size-fits-all, high-stakes MCAS test?  In that case, many talented, hard-working teachers who work with challenging students — learning disabled, physically disabled, emotionally disabled, second language — will never be considered successful.  Governor Patrick is unveiling his ‘teacher effectiveness’ protocols tomorrow; stay tuned.

So with that rant, it’s a lovely (and so far sunny) morning and time to catch up on all those home improvements that have been put off since September. 

 

A Day Like No Other….

I haven’t posted in a while. The last 6 weeks of school usually are pretty crazed and this year is no different. The kids are hyper to start vacation — either they can’t wait to spend more time playing OR they are anxious about going on vacation because home just isn’t a scene from Leave It To Beaver. Either way, it’s pretty nutty and even on a good day, I return home exhausted — physically and mentally spent.

Today, however, takes the cake.  In more than 20 years in elementary ed, today was a first. 

To start with, it is Spirit Week.  Yeah, that’s right…. the nutty teachers have decided to whip up our students into more of a frenzy with things like Crazy Hair Day, Hat Day, and today’s entry: Backwards Day.  One of my colleagues had a grand idea — let’s dress like men teachers and tip the daily schedule on it’s end.  So, wearing a blonde mullet and black mustache, I greeted my cherubs this morning.  You can imagine the buzz that created…. but so far, so good.  Instead of our Writing Workshop, we had our Mathematics lesson… still so far so good.  Then it was time for the daily special class, computer in my class’s schedule.  About 5 minutes into the 45 minute block, an announcement was made that all teachers needed to retrieve their students from specials and that a fire alarm would sound.  We were instructed to follow our fire drill procedures and exit the building with the expectation that we might be outdoors for “a while”.  Great.  What you, dear reader, may not realize is that at the time it was pouring rain — downpours were about the same intensity as what comes out of the showerhead in my beloved bathroom.  Super.  Oh, did I mention my leather jacket?

So, we did as we were told — I had the foresight to grab my purse and car keys as well as several black trash bags for the kids who did not bring jackets to school and my umbrella (I haven’t been teaching for 20 years for nothing, have I?).  Out we went in the pouring rain and stand we did for about 20 minutes until we were instructed to continue to wait in either the gym or the cafeteria.  There was a bit of confusion there.  Looking like a posse of drowned rats, we dripped our way into the gym and sat among the book fair displays that had been set up for this week’s Scholastic Book Fair.

After another 20 minutes, we were told we could safely return to our classrooms.  Now that sounds like it would be a nice ending to a wet experience, but what you don’t know is that the air conditioning in my classroom keeps the air at a frigid 60 degrees max.  There is nothing like being dripping wet and sitting in a walk-in freezer is there? 

Having eventually made it through the morning, the festivities of the day continued at a fever pitch.  I hope tomorrow is an improvement — maybe even a nice calm day, but it doesn’t look all that hopeful. 

In a blur…. and then it’s gone

This is a weird time of year in education.  We’ve been in the middle of high stakes testing (for third graders of all things! Geez, they’re babies!), all the portfolio-type events are taking place, and it’s close out time.

That testing thing.. I approach it with feelings of dread, panic and sometimes a little relief.  This week my students took the Mathematics MCAS.  As I read the testing script (yes it’s a script!), and told my sincere-faced, panic striken 8 and 9 year-olds that they could not use their cell phones or cheat I was once again reminded of the insanity of it all.  What makes anyone believe a pencil and paper exam in an artifical environment proves whether or not they “got it” or I’m a proficient teacher? 

The test examiner/proctor is given specific directions: no reading (unless it’s an accommodation for special needs), no looking over the students’ shoulders to see what the test item is about, no facial expressions, don’t check the booklet to see if they’ve turned 2 pages at a time and missed 6 problems…. what are we doing to these kids? They’re 9!

What I saw with the children I monitored would make anyone proud.  Keep in mind that 13 of my 19 children have been identified as English Language Learners — with limited English proficiency.  And bear in mind that the questions on an MCAS test might seem reasonable to you or to me — as we (or at least I) are proficient in the mother tongue — the nuance of phrasing often escapes my charges.  Given this, my children stayed with it…. over 3/4 of the group took the full test time to work through the test items and then went back to check their work in each session.  I’m not confident that they will score well, but I do know that they made their best effort.

This past week I read an article in the Marshall Memo, a periodical shared with interested staff at my school by our principal.  In this last edition, Issue 234, the article How can teachers teach so students remember? caught my eye.  The author points out that it is sometimes a year OR MORE before concepts and ideas that are taught become part of the student’s knowledge. 

So, there’s no point in cramming the MCAS’s topics down student’s throats, there’s a great possibility that what I’ve been teaching throughout the past year won’t be remembered — so just what is it that we’re evaluating here?

 

Building…. Changing

About 18 months ago, Adrien’s dissatisfaction with working solely in software engineering prompted a change in his vision — and consequently mine.  When you are miserable about your work life, whether you chose it or it chose you, it makes for some long, depressing weeks. When the question is “Is that all there is?” and the answer is “yes”, a change needs to be made.

So it began with a new camera — a Nikon D50 and some course work at Better Photo.  This of course led to lots of practice and experimentation which led to another camera (a Nikon D200) and more equipment purchases.  Last summer, Adrien started to put his photography out into more public forums — an Art Fair, camera club contests.  He’s had several shows — a solo show at the Westford Parish Center for the Arts, a group show at LTC in Lowell, and has 3 art fairs and two showing scheduled for the summer.

Last November, things had progress enough so that Adrien procured studio space at Western Avenue Artists Studios in Lowell and joined the Loading Dock Gallery. A giant step was taken in April when he took a part time leave of absence from his day job at IBM.  Now to get busy with the building part….. he (and we) are learning a lot about marketing art — and about what not to do.

Here’s some photos from his portrait portfolio (including the ONLY picture of me that I’ve ever liked):

What do you think?  Check out Adrien’s Galleries at Adrien Bisson Photography.

 

33 and counting

As of this morning, there are just 33 school days left.  Subtract the 3 wasted days for testing and there are 30.  And then take away a field trip and field day and we’re down to 28! 

What we are as a learning community is pretty much set, although possibly set in jello.  What is left is a mild variation on the school year we’ve built and possibly some end-of-year grouchiness from a group of kids who have been tossed into this family-style mix for nearly 150 days.  Some kids get testy with each other and less able to tolerate all those little quirky things that seemed not to be a problem before.  The girls in the room get a little b—-y; looking cross at one another is reason for all-out battle.  Kids who don’t want to spend a summer at home dealing with the SOS start to act out.  They’re actually angry at ME because school is almost over. Yet all year long I’ve heard how they hate school — go figure!

Tomorrow we will attend a field trip performace of Paul Revere at the University.  We brought the children to the same program last year and it was quite a stretch for some.  First of all — it’s sung!  That’s right, we’re bringing third graders who don’t get out much to an opera.  And one where the players use things like tables to take the place of Revere’s horse.  I’ve prepared the kids for this, but wonder really and truly how it will go over. Hopefully third graders can respond with open minds and maybe even get a piece of information or two from the story.

We are back for the final slide into summer. I can’t wait!

A time to rejuvenate

Rejuvenation by solitude.  That’s what this week has been for me. 

As an elementary age teacher, I find myself often managing several conversational threads all at one time: the adults who have popped in to let me know something, the child who wasn’t paying close attention and needs redirection, another child whose emotional meltdown requires him or her to blurt out whatever has been troubling at precisely the same moment another is having a conversation with me.  Sometimes the cacaphony can be a bit much.  Transition times (for me, not the kids!) in cars are not very relaxing and a house full of new and unexpected problems often awaits.

So when Adrien and Matt inadvertently booked a photo trip to NC during April School vacation week, I have to admit I was looking forward to the silence.

In the past when I’ve been by myself, I’ve often turned on the television just to have some conversation around.  This week, however, I find myself just sitting and decompressing.  It has been a very stressful academic year; maybe the craving for silence is the result of too many balls juggled in the air at one time. Some time to be reflective and to put things back to right was needed.

It has almost been a pleasure not to have to do anything.  I’ll probably regret putting off that call to the doctors as it will most likely need to be squeezed in someday after school — and by the looks of the May calendar we’ve been given, that will certainly be a challenge.  I’ve been home minding the reconstruction of the front steps, but that has given me a chance to spring clean and organize and maintain both inside and out.  I fear that I won’t see this kind of time again until June 16.

Last night, I turned up the stereo and played some CDs I’d long ago ignored.  No one minded the amount of noise – or at least the neighbors didn’t complain.  I’d forgotten how I love the sound of music.

Tomorrow morning, around 9:30, things will begin to return to normal rhythms around here.  Adrien will be back from his trip — I have missed him and his company.  But I have also appreciated the time to do nothing — and to enjoy the silence.

A beautiful week

This is our Spring vacation week here in New England and we have been gifted with some of the most gorgeous weather imaginable.  Although (I hear) the coast has been someone cool — breezes off the ocean at this time of year can be quite cool — inland, where I live has been wam and wonderful.  After the winter that we have just finished, it feels like we’ve earned this week.

So far I’ve managed to get out and clean up quite a bit of the front of our property and paint the outside of our stockade fence in the side yard.  We had a landscaper pull the rosa rugosa out of the bank in front of the house which eliminated most of the messy thorny roses.  They did not, however, pull many of the roses out by the roots.  That was left to me and it was quite the exercise. 

Now that the bank is mostly cleaned up — I’m sure I’ll be pulling roots for several years to come — I’m looking for something to plant.  As I’ve gotten older, my planting priorities have changed.  My requirements for this area:  won’t need to be mowed, trimmed, or otherwise cared for AND my neighbors can see beyond it when they pull out of their driveways.  Currently I’m looking at a landscape plan we had drawn back when we first bought the house.  The plan calls for a rug juniper on the top of the bank.  While that fits my criteria, I’m hesitating because of the brutal growing conditions on this busy road.  We have a ton of salt and sand spread on this street during the winter months and whatever we put down needs to be salt and sand tolerant.  Any suggestions?

Otherwise, this week has been an endless parade of items checked off my “to do” list.  Today I’m working for a couple of hours switching clothes and spring cleaning the top floor.  The stuff that accumulates of the course of 6-8 months (when school started) floors me. Trash day tomorrow!

We can still have some fun

Yesterday, the day before our week-long spring break, coincided with lots of special reading activities for my class.  It was RIF day, and also, the third grade classrooms had designated yesterday for a Read-To-My-Parent day at the end of school.

I threw caution to the wind and turned the day upside down…. and, with one notable exception, everyone had fun!  How cool was that?

At the request of the kids, we designated the day “Stuffed Animal Day”.  Anyone who wanted to could bring a favorite stuffed animal to read to (just in case a family member couldn’t come for the Read-In).  We’ve also been reading The Velveteen Rabbit as a school so a well-loved stuffed animal just seemed like the right prop to have on hand.  The kids have all heard about my favorite stuffed animal – a sock monkey name Jock-o (trust me, I was a toddler LONG before Michael Jackson co-opted this nickname!).

When we prepare for lunch, I usually take the class to the cafeteria and one of the one-on-one paras takes my wheel-chair bound student after changing her position to a standing device.  Well, it turns out, this little miss has quite the mischievious sense of humor.  When I returned from bringing the children to the cafe, I noticed Jocko had been kidnapped!  The hostage demand:  a night’s free homework pass!  What fun we had for the next hour trying to rescue Jocko from his kidnapper(s) (I’m guessing several were in on it).  And even after he was finally found, he once again disappeared.  Apparently it is hard to keep a good monkey in the classroom and it is hard to keep such goings on quiet!  My husband, Adrien, was bringing me coffee and heard about the kidnappings when he signed in at the Main Office. During our Reader’s Theater presentation, someone (no names) managed to pass Jocko off to Adrien who was also enlisted to carry out the mischief, and out the door Jocko went…. I believe he might have been on a colleague’s supply cart in the hallway, but we are still dusting the school for fingerprint proof. Get me Law & Order on the blower!

Poking fun at and laughing at myself does not come easy…. but mock indignation at Jockos predicament had us all laughing until tears ran down our faces!  What fun to see kids who are usually so guarded, let their mischeivious and silly side out.  For some, I wonder if the afternoon might have been a break from all the serious home issues that interfere with them just behaving like kids.

And as for Jocko… well a hug and a few well-placed stitches to stop the stuffing from falling out and he’s no worse for the wear.  In fact, I think he’d like to return to 207 sometime soon.

Who Knows Where the Time Goes….

There’s a beautiful and haunting song that I first heard on a Judy Collins record (yes, I meant to say record).  The song was originally written and performed by Sandy Denny, Who Knows Where The Time Goes? is one of those songs that occasionally pops back into consciousness and fades again.

I was thinking about how quickly my adult life has seemed to pass.  Life lived at warp speed.  One minute Adrien and I are beginning our life together, the next we are contemplating how to spend retirement. Four of my most favorite photographs of Matt were taken by Adrien when he was just about one.  A pudgy little guy with elastic facial expressions – how did he so quickly pass through his first 28 years to become an adult.  It seems as if just yesterday I was unhooking his fingers from the chainlink fence surrounding his preschool. 

Having no idea of how much time is left makes life lived at warp speed frantic.  Will we have the chance to do all of those things we want to do, all of those things we put off until….

How I wish I could say I do not fear the time.