Sunday, October 21, 2007
Money Pit II
Stay tuned for some delvings far from the educational realm. I've quite a bit to say about this, but mainly just wanted to put a "bookmark" on the thought...meanwhile, I have another presentation to prepare for...
Curriculum Matters
Ahhhhhh.....basking in the glory of a day learning and helping others learn. Is there anything better? After 3 presentations at the Appleseed Writing Project's 2nd annual conference, I'm exhausted, yet exhilarated. As I reflect on the day, and my eyelids begin to droop, I can sleep soundly knowing that my dichotomies have afforded me this peace.
As I was driving home from work a couple of weeks ago, I was reflecting (as I often do during my 50 minute drive) on the sheer opposite I married into. I don't mean that Bill and I are total opposites (although an engineer's thinking is very different than a teacher's thinking.) I mean, I am currently working in an urban district with a diverse population and I drive home to a milk-toast, country living down a .6 mile gravel road across a "rickety" (yes, there's a story there) bridge to a couple of acres and a cat named Scooty (who is presently meowing outside).
Some of the folks in this neck don't make it to the "big city" often enough and might not know what to think about the stories I have to tell...so I don't tell them though I'm seeping at the seams.
This is not the only dichotomy. Today after being "professional" all day, then having a great dinner with my hubby and my parents, I went to a house that Bill and I have been working on and helped him with some plumbing. We left there at 10:30, after testing everything, draining it, and being unable to clean the "flux" out from under my fingernails.
Why do these dichotomies really exist? What am I supposed to be learning? Or do I just need the polar opposites to keep myself somewhere in middle? I'm not sure what the answer to these questions is, but I do know that it's 12:26, Scooty's still meowing 'cause he wants some love, and my tea is now luke-warm in front of me...
I'll ponder the meaning of it all when I'm more coherent.
As I was driving home from work a couple of weeks ago, I was reflecting (as I often do during my 50 minute drive) on the sheer opposite I married into. I don't mean that Bill and I are total opposites (although an engineer's thinking is very different than a teacher's thinking.) I mean, I am currently working in an urban district with a diverse population and I drive home to a milk-toast, country living down a .6 mile gravel road across a "rickety" (yes, there's a story there) bridge to a couple of acres and a cat named Scooty (who is presently meowing outside).
Some of the folks in this neck don't make it to the "big city" often enough and might not know what to think about the stories I have to tell...so I don't tell them though I'm seeping at the seams.
This is not the only dichotomy. Today after being "professional" all day, then having a great dinner with my hubby and my parents, I went to a house that Bill and I have been working on and helped him with some plumbing. We left there at 10:30, after testing everything, draining it, and being unable to clean the "flux" out from under my fingernails.
Why do these dichotomies really exist? What am I supposed to be learning? Or do I just need the polar opposites to keep myself somewhere in middle? I'm not sure what the answer to these questions is, but I do know that it's 12:26, Scooty's still meowing 'cause he wants some love, and my tea is now luke-warm in front of me...
I'll ponder the meaning of it all when I'm more coherent.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Sheeeee's Baaaaaaack...
I'm minutes from dashing out the door, but after a few arduous months at my new job, I needed to refresh my blogging. Stay tuned for some beats from a different drum....
Monday, June 4, 2007
I need a collander for my brain!
The whirlwind of today leaves me with little inspiration to think creatively given that I've still got 101 things to do in less time than is allowed to do it in. Either way, a little blogging might help.
Today the team with whom I work got to spend time working with one of our newest colleagues, Wendy. While problem solving a work-in-progress for the fall, we learned a lot (isn't a lot a poor word choice? Yeah, that' what you get when you think too much in a day) from each other. This is a luxury not often afforded in our positions. I look forward to my next (and last) two days as a facilitator. I shant dwell here at the moment, because it will mark another sad ending in my life. I'll deal more with that and my beloved colleagues on another day.
But for today, I have a date with Roto-rooter, must install cabinet doors, and find a business-casual outfit to wear on Thursday! Never a dull moment.
Today the team with whom I work got to spend time working with one of our newest colleagues, Wendy. While problem solving a work-in-progress for the fall, we learned a lot (isn't a lot a poor word choice? Yeah, that' what you get when you think too much in a day) from each other. This is a luxury not often afforded in our positions. I look forward to my next (and last) two days as a facilitator. I shant dwell here at the moment, because it will mark another sad ending in my life. I'll deal more with that and my beloved colleagues on another day.
But for today, I have a date with Roto-rooter, must install cabinet doors, and find a business-casual outfit to wear on Thursday! Never a dull moment.
Friday, June 1, 2007
Salvation without Jesus (Jennifer, instead)
After a cram-packed faculty meeting at the school where the train-wreck occured, I had 40 minutes to seek salvation.
I picked up the phone and dialed one of my facilitator buddies and told her I needed some coaching. She spared the time for me and listened to yesterday's catastrophe and consulted a couple references (Reading with Meaning by Debbie Miller and the Harvey Daniels book on Lit. Circles). We shot ideas back and forth and at 9:15, I was left with the how, and quickly went in search of a shared text. With just 30 seconds to spare, I delivered the lesson in the first class and it went well. I deviated a bit from the plan hatched by Jennifer and I, but was pleased with the kids understanding and increased rigor of their questions.
The second room went similarly. We added some depth to their understanding of thin and thick questions, and left them still wondering about the shared text, so that they'd have more fodder with which to banter on Monday.
The part I opted to leave out this time, the Criteria Chart on Thin versus Thick will wait. I'll walk the teachers through this so that they can experience it with their students before next Wednesday when they leave for the summer.
In all, I felt pretty good about what the students took away today. The week was salvaged, I learned from my colleagues, but more than that, my last interactions with students were positive.
I just realize as the suite that I'm typing in echoes of voices-gone-home-on-a-Friday-night. I'm sad. Today marks a bittersweet day. I'm left with an ache in the pit of my stomach as I realize that my boss of three years is leaving,and I (if I receive Board Approval) will be changing positions. I will savor these moments as I type because I know my old boss is still in the building...just knowing that temporarily comforts me. The regularness comforts me. The safety comforts me. I will have all summer to synthesize all that I've learned personally and professionally from her, but for now everything is as it always is. Terri working hard.
I'm thinking, too, that maybe I know why I was so passionate to get my lesson right yesterday. Maybe somewhere in the crevices of my brain I realized that I have one more shot. I don't like thinking this. I'd like to think that I have that same passion to get it right all the time, but this time was distinctly different. My contacts with children and teachers will forever change after today,my last day with teachers and students in this role. I've made some wonderful connections the past three years, and I will miss that. I will also miss the direct instruction of students. I don't handle loss well, and this is truly a loss on many fronts (yes, it's the beginning of something new, too). I think I'm going to have to spend some time lingering in what I'm about to embark upon as well as grieving the loss of my boss, and the welcoming of a new and wonderful individual who will take her position. Talk about growth. I'm stretching professionally and personally. Maybe my salvation still has to come from Jesus (instead of Jennifer.)
I picked up the phone and dialed one of my facilitator buddies and told her I needed some coaching. She spared the time for me and listened to yesterday's catastrophe and consulted a couple references (Reading with Meaning by Debbie Miller and the Harvey Daniels book on Lit. Circles). We shot ideas back and forth and at 9:15, I was left with the how, and quickly went in search of a shared text. With just 30 seconds to spare, I delivered the lesson in the first class and it went well. I deviated a bit from the plan hatched by Jennifer and I, but was pleased with the kids understanding and increased rigor of their questions.
The second room went similarly. We added some depth to their understanding of thin and thick questions, and left them still wondering about the shared text, so that they'd have more fodder with which to banter on Monday.
The part I opted to leave out this time, the Criteria Chart on Thin versus Thick will wait. I'll walk the teachers through this so that they can experience it with their students before next Wednesday when they leave for the summer.
In all, I felt pretty good about what the students took away today. The week was salvaged, I learned from my colleagues, but more than that, my last interactions with students were positive.
I just realize as the suite that I'm typing in echoes of voices-gone-home-on-a-Friday-night. I'm sad. Today marks a bittersweet day. I'm left with an ache in the pit of my stomach as I realize that my boss of three years is leaving,and I (if I receive Board Approval) will be changing positions. I will savor these moments as I type because I know my old boss is still in the building...just knowing that temporarily comforts me. The regularness comforts me. The safety comforts me. I will have all summer to synthesize all that I've learned personally and professionally from her, but for now everything is as it always is. Terri working hard.
I'm thinking, too, that maybe I know why I was so passionate to get my lesson right yesterday. Maybe somewhere in the crevices of my brain I realized that I have one more shot. I don't like thinking this. I'd like to think that I have that same passion to get it right all the time, but this time was distinctly different. My contacts with children and teachers will forever change after today,my last day with teachers and students in this role. I've made some wonderful connections the past three years, and I will miss that. I will also miss the direct instruction of students. I don't handle loss well, and this is truly a loss on many fronts (yes, it's the beginning of something new, too). I think I'm going to have to spend some time lingering in what I'm about to embark upon as well as grieving the loss of my boss, and the welcoming of a new and wonderful individual who will take her position. Talk about growth. I'm stretching professionally and personally. Maybe my salvation still has to come from Jesus (instead of Jennifer.)
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Post Train-wreck rumination
After a sweltering day, battling pollen and humidity, I'm left picking up the pieces of an afternoon gone bad. It started with the best of intentions--demonstrating for students the difference between Thick and Thin questions.
Without getting into the gory details, let's just say, I caught the teacher's attention and said something about the bottom falling out of this lesson. She concurred. At that point I told the kids that sometimes teachers make mistakes and at that point we collected up the remaining sentence strips and started in again more intelligently. The unfortunate reality was that my time was almost up.
With just 2 minutes to spare, I hit the next room...another second grade class. I told that teacher how horrible the previous lesson had gone and that I needed a minute to regroup so that we (meaning I)don't make some of the same mistakes. This lesson went better, the mini-lesson was pretty solid, but after coming back from reading and sharing questions, I again (as if I didn't learn the first time)couldn't seem to help them categorize the questions they had from their own book into Thin versus Thick. The problem was that without a shared reading experience, we, as a class, couldn't ascertain this. So, now I'm finding myself in need of more coaching so I can address this, an area I felt fairly confident with, in a more appropriate way.
I love days like this because they make me think, but I hate them, too, because they make me feel like a buffoon. All in all, I guess it's good to be kept humble, lest we stop growing. I grew a lot today,and will continue to grow as I reflect on "what now?"
Without getting into the gory details, let's just say, I caught the teacher's attention and said something about the bottom falling out of this lesson. She concurred. At that point I told the kids that sometimes teachers make mistakes and at that point we collected up the remaining sentence strips and started in again more intelligently. The unfortunate reality was that my time was almost up.
With just 2 minutes to spare, I hit the next room...another second grade class. I told that teacher how horrible the previous lesson had gone and that I needed a minute to regroup so that we (meaning I)don't make some of the same mistakes. This lesson went better, the mini-lesson was pretty solid, but after coming back from reading and sharing questions, I again (as if I didn't learn the first time)couldn't seem to help them categorize the questions they had from their own book into Thin versus Thick. The problem was that without a shared reading experience, we, as a class, couldn't ascertain this. So, now I'm finding myself in need of more coaching so I can address this, an area I felt fairly confident with, in a more appropriate way.
I love days like this because they make me think, but I hate them, too, because they make me feel like a buffoon. All in all, I guess it's good to be kept humble, lest we stop growing. I grew a lot today,and will continue to grow as I reflect on "what now?"
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