Things I'm Thankful For

Whenever November rolls around, everyone suddenly seems to remember to be thankful for what they have.  While I choose to believe many are truly thankful all year long, the month of Thanksgiving, coinciding with social media and our need to publicize, makes being thankful appear more prominent. I think it's easy to come up with the standards: family, friends, health, etc., and I am thankful for all those things too, don't get me wrong, but when I look around school and the people I spend the majority of my waking hours with, I need to tell them as well.  Every one of  these people have truly changed me for the better. 

We spend more time on average with our co-workers than our own families, but do we include them in our thanks?  Do we think about all that a co-worker does for us?  Or how that relationship develops over time and grows?  We all have people that want us to be better, see the bright side, glass half full, etc., but how many really push you beyond your limits?  Push you to be better than you thought you could?  I work with a number of people like that, and even on my worst day, when I think to myself why am I doing this, I'm so thankful these people have found their way into my life.  Many of my closest friends started out as colleagues, and even as I have changed districts and positions, I have worked to keep those relationships because these people are important to me. 

So since it's November, I figured I would jump on the bus and proclaim my thankfulness to a few of my current colleagues.  While this list of mine should include so many more people, both current and previous colleagues, I broke it down to just a few that made a difference in my professional and personal life at Fairmont.

My Administrators:   Kim is my principal this year, but has been my colleague from the math department for the previous 5 years.  She has been my professional go to person.  I know I can't go to her and let off steam and have it end there, she's going to talk me around, away from the dark side, and help me always see that what we're doing is what's best for kids, which is why I do what I do.  She reminds me of this, and understands there are days we all want to fall below the line, and takes it upon herself to pull me back up above that proverbial line.   Kim replaced Dave, who was our principal the prior 2 years, but was also the district Technology Director and Curriculum Director.  I continue to work with Dave this year as he mentors me in my new position and through the area service co-op.  Dave's knowledge of technology, and calm, level headed demeanor are attributes I aspire to.  He reminds me to step back and look at the big picture, make decisions based on information not feelings, once you make a decision own it (good or bad), and remember that not everyone will like what you have decided.  I am fortunate to have these leaders in my profession and my school district.  Thank you Kim and Dave for being the leaders you are. Thank you for leading me in an upward direction in my career.  Thank you for being who you are and allowing me to be your colleague.

My Colleague:   You know that colleague that is always doing something a little more?  They are the first to speak up about a new topic at a staff meeting because they've already done research on their own and can provide insight?  They're trying new things in their classrooms, scores are improving, etc. Well for me, that's how I see Patti.  She pushes me professionally to be better in all aspects of my job, not just my content area.  She embraces technology, which I love, she's switched over to a more standards based grade book, attends multiple conferences, has been my observer for Q-Comp, and is always sharing what she's doing, that's the best part!  When she learns or hears about something new, I know there are several people on staff that she's going to share it with, myself included.  And then......she checks back in with you to see how the new stuff is going! WOW!  Talk about pressure!  You mean you weren't just telling me this for me to file away somewhere and forget about it?  You seriously want me to do something with it?  DANG!  Well, guess I better get to work, but first.....Thank you Patti for making me think about education in new ways.  Thank you for being a great role model to follow.  Thank you for sharing new technologies that you are learning. Thank you for being you and allowing me to be your colleague, and friend.

My Confidant: When I first started teaching at Fairmont, I felt alone in my little suburb of the building, as I so fondly referred to my classroom.  People were friendly enough, but everyone was just going about their days and I was not feeling a connection with anyone, not really.  Then came Sara.  She is my Suzie Sunshine.  She is that teacher that always has a warm smile and open arms, the kids radiate to her.  I was teaching a large number of junior high age sections of technology at the time, but my preference had always been high school students.  Sara taught 7th grade Language Arts and helped me focus on seeing the humor and joy in their quirks.  It brought me to the point of truly enjoying the goofy, uncontrollable things that happen when you have 30 7th grade students in a room of computers!  Sara has her hands in so many activities at school, it's called the "I Can't Say No" syndrome so many are familiar with.  I admire her perseverance to be involved, and her persuasive personality that has gotten me involved as well.  I've been out of the coaching scene for many years, but have done Knowledge Bowl and BPA, and completely enjoy getting to know students outside of the classroom. Sara is in charge of Student Council, and I can still remember the conversation that got me involved as well, but I don't think I've ever thanked her for including me.  It's been a great experience, and a reminder to me that I need to do more.  Since that first year at Fairmont Sara has become one of my closest friends outside of school as well.  I have always firmly believed that we are put places for a reason, and people are brought to us when we need them most.  I don't know what turns my life might have taken had I not met Sara, I'm thankful I did not have to find out.  Thank you Sara for being an outstanding, personable, outgoing person.  Thank you for being my colleague, my friend, my confidant.  Thank you for allowing me to be your friend.  Thank you for being you!

My PLN:  As I said earlier, people come into your life when you need them most.  In this case, it is a group of people.  I have only met a few of them face to face, but consider them all my colleagues and I go to them for technology and professional development.  These are the people of my Twitter PLN #nebedchat.  It was a complete leap of faith that I got started "attending" this chat, but it has helped me to grow professionally in so many ways that I cannot imagine continuing my professional career without it.  I encourage everyone to find that PLN that helps them excel as a teacher.  Thank you to all of #nebedchat for inviting an outsider with such open arms and minds.  Thank you for allowing me to grow as an educator.

I have only touched the surface here, I am surrounded by a building full of people I am thankful for everyday.  I could go on forever listing individuals that I am thankful for, but now it's your turn.  Dig deep, what are you thankful for that has changed you? What has made you a better person? Have you taken the time to tell them?

Things Teachers Aren't Taught in College

There are so many times that students come to us with bigger things in their lives than we can imagine, and many times we have no idea the specifics of the baggage they bring.  Tonight I went to a visitation for 2 of my students's mother.  She passed away last week, having suffered from cancer.  While we all knew at school that she was ill and fading more quickly than any of us could imagine, I cannot fathom what these boys are going through now.

They have put on such tough exteriors through it all.  They had bracelets made to show their support, of which I purchased one and have proudly worn since the day I bought it.  They were not absent excessively and did their best to stay on top of what their teachers were asking of them in the classroom.  Many times I just wanted to stop them and give them a hug and assurance that there are so many people in our building who care for them, are available for them if they need anything at all.

I was able to tell them tonight to reach out to their school family, lean on us all when they need to, and know that we all love and care for them very much.  I was able to give them their hugs, real hugs, tight hugs, so they knew I was not just saying the words, I truly felt and believed them.  It was all I could do to not let the tears welling up in my eyes run down my cheeks.  That's what a teacher feels.  They feel love for their students, they share their triumphs and heartaches  They don't teach us this in college, that's just who we are, we're born this way I believe, and when we need to be compassionate and show our feelings.  We need to show compassion so students know this emotion is out there, that it's real.

As I drove away from the funeral home tears fell down my face.  I'll say extra prayers for these students tonight, and every night for quite some time I feel, as well as all my students carrying baggage I'm not aware of.  May all my students know how important they are to me, how much they mean to me, and how much I pray for them to have lives full of happiness.

Reflecting on the What-if's in our Lives

So I was feeling very nostalgic this weekend.  I had the house to myself and planned to work on some quilting projects I need to finish and watch old movies (80's movies that is, not really old I guess).  My Saturday morning started off with my VCR eating one of my favorites. I was distraught! I had my heart set on watching this particular one, bringing back memories of the first time I saw it with my brother when I went to visit him in San Diego, the music bringing back high school memories. I frantically searched Netflix, and you guessed it, not available. Oh the horror!  How was this possible, in this day and age that I cannot find it online! Last resort, I went to Amazon and purchased it. It'll arrive sometime this week, but the moment has passed. I'll have it for next time I have free, all-to-me time, along with about 5 others I found, but I'm still a little bummed out I didn't get to watch it Saturday morning.

After I pulled myself together, I switched gears and found something else. This time I chose the "Back to the Future" trilogy. Yes, I watched all three back-to-back.  (I have these on DVD) I love the concept of time travel.  I loved the series "Quantum Leap", I own all the seasons.  I became engrossed in Stephen King's book "11/22/63", I couldn't put it down and hated it to end.  I love the what-if of it all.  I am completely a what-if person. What-if I had left 5 minutes earlier for school, would I have hit all the green lights driving through Fairmont?  What-if I hadn't moved to Iowa, then Minnesota, how many people, that I consider to be some of my best friends, colleagues and confidants, would I not have in my life today?  What-if I had not gone back to school to be a teacher, how different would my life have been?

Teachers are always playing the what-if game, only we usually label it as reflection.  We reflect on lessons taught, conversations with colleagues, the connections we made, or missed, with students that pass in and out of our classrooms every year.  But unlike other professions, after we reflect, we make changes. If we don't like the results, we change our approach.  We tweak our lessons, many times on a daily basis.  We reach out to those students we didn't make a positive connection with.  We learn new technologies to reach students where they're at.  We spend our away from school time (aka free time) bettering ourselves personally and professionally so we can be the best versions of ourselves the next time we unlock that classroom door and step inside.  I know very few teachers that are not, in one way or another, working to be better than they were yesterday.

Here's another what-if, what-if we didn't do that?  There are a certain number of things we have to change because someone tells us we have to.  New state curriculum to integrate and align with, new grading systems to learn, new computer systems, new student names, these all happen because the world constantly is changing.  I'm addressing the things we do just because it makes us better, just because we want to make our classrooms better, our students better for having taken our class.  We take classes, go to conferences and workshops, join professional organizations in our content area, join PLN's, all above and beyond our daily commitments and responsibilities.  So many of these things happen behind the scenes, in fact most times staff is not aware when one of our colleagues is away at a conference or training, or that they spend evenings on Twitter sharing and gaining knowledge through a PLN chat (#nebedchat on Wednesdays, 8PM, I'm there!), or when they come in early and stay late to work one-on-one with a student.  These are just things we do, for our betterment and our students.

So what-if we didn't do that?  This is a what-if I don't want to think about.  I don't even want to consider it.  Instead I'm going to ask what-if I could find a way to inspire that teacher to do one thing more just because it might make a difference to one person?  Can you find that one teacher you can inspire?  What-if you could?  Imagine the change that might happen...........

Oh, and for those that are still wondering, it was my copy of "St. Elmo's Fire" that was devoured by my VCR.  Such a tragedy.

There's Always Hope for a New Day

As I sit at my kitchen table on this Sunday morning, drinking my coffee and looking at the sunny fall sky, I look back on the first quarter of this school year and all that we've tackled.  I say tackled because it's far too early in the year to say accomplished. We're just getting started.

Everyone has goals for different aspects of their life. Personally I want to run a competitive race some day, but it's way too early to put a distance on that one (ultimately I want to walk afterwards) My morning run today allowed me to see the sunrise, and a beautiful one it was.  This is my favorite time of day, early morning, before most people are up and moving.  It's quiet, peaceful, hopeful. I don't have to be accountable to anyone or anything at this time except myself and my own thoughts.  A new day brings hope. Hope that what I did not accomplish yesterday I can today. Hope that yesterday's troubles or frustrations will have resolved themselves and magically disappeared. Hope that I can do it better, whatever IT is.

This is how I see the beginning of 2nd quarter tomorrow.  With Hope. All the projects we've tackled so far that aren't quiet running as smoothly as we would like, I'm going to face them with hope that they'll start moving in a better direction.  The technologies that I'm going to continue to introduce to the staff, I'm going to do so with the hope that a few more teachers will jump on board and choose to integrate them into their classes to engage students.  In my own classes I'm going to continue to draw out those students that prefer to quietly hide behind their work, with hope that they will embrace the content.

I'm also going to challenge my students to have hope for their 2nd quarter, especially the seniors.  Instead of saying "Let's set a goal", I'm going to say "What do you hope for this quarter? And what are you prepared to do to make that happen?"  Just typing this out makes it feel more positive.  In the blink of an eye it will be June and graduation time. I don't want to miss a day of inspiring these students, and I don't want them to miss a day, EVER, without hope for the better.

So now that the sun is up in the sky, and the world is more awake than it was a few hours ago, I set forth on this sunny day with hopes of my own, as I do every day I am fortunate enough to see the sun rise over the fields of my midwestern home. I thank God I am here to experience another day, and promise to put forth the effort to make a difference in the life of someone else.  That is how I will know Hope has been passed on to someone else.

The Signs are Everywhere, Are We following Them?

I am a commuter, there’s no other way to put it. I’ve been in education for 18 years, and 14 of those I have not lived in the town I taught in and had to traveled to and from school every day. The past 13 years have been in Minnesota. Some trips were short, only 30 miles or so (one way). The longest was 75 miles. Regardless of how long I was on the road, I’ve seen my fair share of bad weather commutes.  Today was our first snowfall of the season, and as I ventured out before the sun had even crested on the horizon, visions of icy roads, slick spots, spin outs, slides into the ditch, roll overs and fiery crashes all went through my mind, as they do so often when winter comes to bless me and my commute.

Now mind you, I have been in Fairmont 6 years, I pretty much can go on autopilot to and from school, I know my way. Unless there is construction and a detour, I see the same highway, the same houses, drive through the same towns, past the same businesses everyday.  I know where to turn, I know when the speed limit changes, I can tell you where the signs are for all these. But today, with the new snowfall, many, if not most, of these signs were snow covered. This got me thinking, what if someone didn’t know where to turn to go to Fairmont? The sign is covered with snow? How would they get there? I realize GPS is out there for most people, but I still like to see the physical sign telling me where to go, metaphorically. As I drove through town, even the speed limit signs were covered, and I thought “I wonder if I got pulled over for speeding, could I use that as an excuse to get out of a ticket?” “I didn’t see the sign officer, it was covered in snow.” Said of course in a sweet, innocent voice, with a smile and a batting of the eyes just for good measure. I certainly wouldn’t share that I have traveled this road everyday for 6 years and could tell him exactly where he signs are and when the limit changes.

So where am I going with this? We give our students “signs” every day, directions we call them. Do we ever give them the same directions more than once? Twice? Three or more times? I know I have, even for what I think are some of the most basic tasks. And I think to myself why do I have to keep going over this? Am I not getting through to you? Are you just not listening to what I am saying? Do we need some one-on-one time to bond?  Maybe my students are just like me. Maybe, even though they truly know the steps they need to take, they still want a sign available to direct them. Maybe it gives them comfort, reassurance, security. So my ultimate question, What’s wrong with that?

In this age of technology, with information easily at a student’s disposal, 24/7, why do we worry if a student wants to refer back to the directions? Are we still teaching in a classroom where memorization and regurgitation are the only acceptable method of assessing whether learning has occurred? Or have we moved into the 21st Century and are embracing a student’s ability to problem solve and find answers using all resources necessary, even the signs we so willing lay out for them?  Even though I may know the direction I need to take, I take comfort in the signs along the way reassuring me. And in that comfort I find my way, my strength, my confidence, the ultimate tools we want for our students.

What signs are you giving your students?

Missing the Students

So I started a new position this year, Technology Integration Specialist. I was so excited to get started doing this, sharing new technologies and ideas with the staff, seeing the technology use grow in the classrooms.  While I am still excited about all the possibilities, I find something missing during the day.

While I know I went into teaching because of the students, I never really thought through just how much I would MISS them not being in the classroom all day. Now to be honest, I don't miss all the preparation, grading, emailing, make up work, reteaching, etc. But I miss not knowing the new 7th grade students, hearing about all the silly things going on with students.  I miss not having Intro to Computers/Computers & Careers and seeing 9th/10th graders and how they've grown and matured since I had them in class in 7th grade. I miss teaching 11th/12th grade students about finance, investing, budgeting, and watching them sweat as they try to figure how they will afford the life style they want, and not end up living "in a van down by the river." I miss the daily conversations, what's happening in their lives, and yes, even the drama a little.

As I am learning new technologies everyday, I'm constantly thinking "I could have used this technology in this class or that class!" But I have to remember what I am doing will eventually have an impact on student learning, and maybe in a bigger way than just my one classroom, but for all those students out there that read my blog, I do miss you, you can come visit me anytime!! And bring your friends! And chocolate is always good!