It's always difficult to focus during the summer with work, vacations, kids, and life in general. Thank you for keeping it interesting and focused.
Best of Luck as we move on..
Julianne
Harnessing Chaos...With A Glue Gun
Saturday, August 22, 2015
Best of Luck and Thank You!
As we wrap up this course, I'd like to thank you all for your contribution to the class!
It's always difficult to focus during the summer with work, vacations, kids, and life in general. Thank you for keeping it interesting and focused.
Best of Luck as we move on..
Julianne
It's always difficult to focus during the summer with work, vacations, kids, and life in general. Thank you for keeping it interesting and focused.
Best of Luck as we move on..
Julianne
Saturday, August 8, 2015
saying goodbye…
Saying hello, meant saying goodbye…
Thirteen years ago I joined a group of
pre-adoptive families. Although it was only an online group, it was the most
supportive gathering of people I have ever known. The group was specific to the
Far East Region of Russia where we were all adopting from. As each member received
a date to go and meet their child, we would sing out praises knowing we would
all have a turn..Then we would all come home and wait for a 2nd trip
to attend court and finalize our adoptions. There were travel ideas shared,
hotel recommendations shared, and a host of other ideas to make that month long
trip a bit easier..What each of us knew was that once we came home, our anxiety
about travel and finalizing our adoptions would be behind us and we would slowly
stop coming to the online group, in order to put all of our focus on our
babies..
Are high-performing groups hardest to leave? Absolutely,
but the only people who left the group were the families who had finished the
journey. I lived, breathed, and ate Russian Adoption while going through it, now
we just live our lives.
Which of the groups that you participated in was
hardest to leave? By far, this group was difficult to leave, as it was such a
big part of my life for 10 months. After meeting most of the families who were
near me in the process, Facebook has thankfully brought many of us back
together.
What sorts of closing rituals have you
experienced or wish you had experienced? There was no closing ritual, more of a
gentle lack of posts and returned phone calls.
How do you imagine that you will adjourn from the
group of colleagues you have formed while working on your master's degree in
this program? Because my masters is work related, I don’t have the same connection
as I did while adopting, but saying goodbye is always difficult.
Saturday, August 1, 2015
Conflicts
Several years ago I wrote some concerns in my personal blog. Someone read it, printed it, and then put it on my principal's desk..I was subsequently called in to discuss my opinions with my boss. For some reason, both my principal and assistant principal entertained the complaint against me and what I wrote in my blog. I kept saying, "This is my opinion, this is my blog, It was written at my home, and on my computer, How can I be punished for this?"
Our conversation surrounding my blog entry went in circles. They had their thoughts on it, and I had mine. At the end of the day, they put the blog in my school based personnel file with a note about our meeting. Nothing was done, but somehow having it in my file has irritated me every since. Both my assistant principal and assistant principal have left my school and I plan to ask my current boss to remove the entry into my personnel file.
Two strategies that I could have used are:
1) Involving a third party. (ACResolution.org., 2011)
THIS IS WHAT I SHOULD HAVE DONE. I should have contacted the union to help with this, as I know I was being targeted for my personal opinions.
THIS IS WHAT I SHOULD HAVE DONE. I should have contacted the union to help with this, as I know I was being targeted for my personal opinions.
2) Separate the people from the conflict.(ACResolution.org., 2011) This would have helped me to finish out the year without having hurt feelings.
Here is the entry to the earlier blog post that I wrote:
References
ACResolution.org. (2011). Association for conflict resolution. Retrieved from http://www.acrnet.org/
Here is the entry to the earlier blog post that I wrote:
The Old and the Young -April 18th 2013
It's Report Card time, so needless to say, I am a wreck of worry and confusion as I try to formulate little words and letters into a formal document fit for FCPS.It is the saddest thing I have ever seen. Standards based reporting for children who need an entire year to learn the language, let alone to count to 100 by one and backwards from 50...Just sad.
This is my best class in a very long time and I want to tell their parents, "HEY, they are reading and writing, they are memorizing poems, and figure out complex GT based word problems, they are well behaved and motivated to be GOOD, and kind..
Ahhh, but not the case for the report cards we now have.. It is important to check the appropriate box and only give one of the approved comments. Which by the way are organized about as well as my craft closet.. So the past few days I have been very blue. Blue at the state of affairs in the schools lately. I am not alone. Not by a long shot. Young teachers tootle along and think this is the way to do it.. Search and assess, means missing the essence of who a child is. And what is more important than what they can do, is, Who They Are.. And we are fighting a battle between young and old. Young feeling as if those of us who have been around a while just never found the "right" way to teach.. Young feeling congratulatory to each other when they fill out the latest grid/matrix which tells them nothing but what that child could regurgitate that day.. The old hoping desperately that no one notices that said grid/matrix wasn't completed; because that day we had to complete a retelling bear that their favorite other teacher friend did.. And it was way more fun..
I woke up this morning thinking about young and old. Laughing that I am in the old group. Laughing that although I have been in the class for 22 years, I have people doubting me simply because I refuse to buy the company line. Reason being, I bought the company line in 1992 when we implemented the "15-To-1" program. In 1996 I bought into the idea of pull out programs. In 1999 I bought into Core Knowledge. In 2000 I bought into Words their Way. In 2004 I bought into Lucy Caulkins.
But slowly and mysteriously through the myriad of programs thrown our way, whether it be working with a small group or large, I found out what works. I found out that I have the gift of sharing information. I found out that through sharing personal stories and my favorite books, that I can hold the attention of young children. I can review information in a way that small ones find interesting. I can secretly inflict my own personal "manners" beliefs on my small ones and they gladly buy into it. Over time, I feel like I know the children. And over time, through decades of relied upon evaluations, I can know what they know without needing an 8 page checklist. I can reteach and reach deeper for those who need it. One who has worked with 5 year olds for 22 years, KNOWS.
But the young ones are the ones towing the line. They won't stand with us to say, "This is nonsense."
And this is where I am. Working with line towers. Me feeling like Norma Rae. Needing to stand up on the line and shout out, "We aren't going to take it anymore..."
But I won't. I can't. The one thing about myself that I can't believe is that becoming a mother has made me very practical. Very.
I have given up the dream to live overseas. I have given up the idea of starting a business/charity. I have given up the idea of things..As much as it seems as though I have given up a lot. It's not the case. I get wayyy more than I give up. My girlz may be a pain in the ass sometimes, but they are the reason for my practicality, and I am ok with it.
Tonight is an event at my school. GAME NIGHT With all of our self inflicted search for rigor, we have chosen to have Game Night. We invite the parents to come to our school and play games. Yeah, just what I said. There has to be a better way to use our precious time with parents in the building.
BUT, at the last minute, Anna reminded me that tonight is her chorus concert. I have missed most all of their events at school. Mom goes, but this time Anni asked/begged me to go. The mistake I made is not telling my principal about it. Report cards have had me in a tizzy, so honestly, I kept thinking of emailing her, but then something would come up. So I sent it this morning.
And although I like to consider myself a rebel, I do worry that I will upset someone or they will be angry with me.
As the sun starts to rise and the birds begin their songs, it bothers me that I wake up with a nervous stomach. I should not dread my school day.
This is my best class in a very long time and I want to tell their parents, "HEY, they are reading and writing, they are memorizing poems, and figure out complex GT based word problems, they are well behaved and motivated to be GOOD, and kind..
Ahhh, but not the case for the report cards we now have.. It is important to check the appropriate box and only give one of the approved comments. Which by the way are organized about as well as my craft closet.. So the past few days I have been very blue. Blue at the state of affairs in the schools lately. I am not alone. Not by a long shot. Young teachers tootle along and think this is the way to do it.. Search and assess, means missing the essence of who a child is. And what is more important than what they can do, is, Who They Are.. And we are fighting a battle between young and old. Young feeling as if those of us who have been around a while just never found the "right" way to teach.. Young feeling congratulatory to each other when they fill out the latest grid/matrix which tells them nothing but what that child could regurgitate that day.. The old hoping desperately that no one notices that said grid/matrix wasn't completed; because that day we had to complete a retelling bear that their favorite other teacher friend did.. And it was way more fun..
I woke up this morning thinking about young and old. Laughing that I am in the old group. Laughing that although I have been in the class for 22 years, I have people doubting me simply because I refuse to buy the company line. Reason being, I bought the company line in 1992 when we implemented the "15-To-1" program. In 1996 I bought into the idea of pull out programs. In 1999 I bought into Core Knowledge. In 2000 I bought into Words their Way. In 2004 I bought into Lucy Caulkins.
But slowly and mysteriously through the myriad of programs thrown our way, whether it be working with a small group or large, I found out what works. I found out that I have the gift of sharing information. I found out that through sharing personal stories and my favorite books, that I can hold the attention of young children. I can review information in a way that small ones find interesting. I can secretly inflict my own personal "manners" beliefs on my small ones and they gladly buy into it. Over time, I feel like I know the children. And over time, through decades of relied upon evaluations, I can know what they know without needing an 8 page checklist. I can reteach and reach deeper for those who need it. One who has worked with 5 year olds for 22 years, KNOWS.
But the young ones are the ones towing the line. They won't stand with us to say, "This is nonsense."
And this is where I am. Working with line towers. Me feeling like Norma Rae. Needing to stand up on the line and shout out, "We aren't going to take it anymore..."
But I won't. I can't. The one thing about myself that I can't believe is that becoming a mother has made me very practical. Very.
I have given up the dream to live overseas. I have given up the idea of starting a business/charity. I have given up the idea of things..As much as it seems as though I have given up a lot. It's not the case. I get wayyy more than I give up. My girlz may be a pain in the ass sometimes, but they are the reason for my practicality, and I am ok with it.
Tonight is an event at my school. GAME NIGHT With all of our self inflicted search for rigor, we have chosen to have Game Night. We invite the parents to come to our school and play games. Yeah, just what I said. There has to be a better way to use our precious time with parents in the building.
BUT, at the last minute, Anna reminded me that tonight is her chorus concert. I have missed most all of their events at school. Mom goes, but this time Anni asked/begged me to go. The mistake I made is not telling my principal about it. Report cards have had me in a tizzy, so honestly, I kept thinking of emailing her, but then something would come up. So I sent it this morning.
And although I like to consider myself a rebel, I do worry that I will upset someone or they will be angry with me.
As the sun starts to rise and the birds begin their songs, it bothers me that I wake up with a nervous stomach. I should not dread my school day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Looking back I can see my frustration, but what I don't see is information about my personal school that would be wrong to write about. Nothing confidential shared.. Looking back I can see that both of the leaders in my school felt the sting of what I wrote, but my blog was semi private, meaning you'd really have to look for it to find it..
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)