Jumpin' Off the Edge

Little claws have taken hold of my neck. A need to lie down and close my eyes overwhelms me. It has been so long since I have let stress into my life I almost didn’t recognize it. I am in need of a deep tissue massage. A day of lying on the sand, listening to the sounds of the waves as I drift off into an alternate reality while the sun beats down on me. I want to write words ranting and raving about the frustration of the bureaucracy that is public school. However, ranting solves nothing in and of itself. Therefore, I have challenged myself to add a solution or a positive twist on the rant. Maybe after letting it all out, I will be able to relax and let sleep overtake my body. RANT #1 A few months ago I was contacted by my cousin and asked if we could use some better computers at school. Of course, my answer was YES! (The computers could be a rant unto themselves.) Having learned the protocol of working for a big county, I CALLED THE COUNTY OFFICE MONTHS ago only to be told th

The first choice was mine. Last Wednesday I chose to leave my classroom door open while I was in a meeting.   Because of that one action on my part, so many others have had to make choices of their own. Unbeknownst to me, that same day one of my soccer players chose to keep her purse in my room – inside a wallet with $35. The two soccer players that went to my room and saw the open purse with the protruding wallet chose to help themselves to it. Rather than split up the money they found inside while in the classroom, they chose to do it in the secrecy of the girls’ room. The girl that walked in on the girls in the bathroom had the choice of whether to keep quiet or tell an adult. While at school, she chose to keep quiet. When she went home, she made a different choice and told her mother. In the meantime, a couple of other players were told about the theft. They chose to keep quiet and not ‘snitch’ on their friend even when the missing wallet was discovered. After talking to h

According to many pundits in the land of television, I work part-time, have an abundant pension plan, and only work nine months out of the year. The profession of teaching has been all over the news due to recent events in Wisconsin. I have no desire to get into what is right or wrong for that state. Honestly, I have mixed feelings on unions that support tenure rather than quality teachers. What this post is, instead, is an attempt to enlighten those who are not closely related to a good teacher. First, let’s take a look at a typical day’s schedule for me. According to a newsman I heard, I only work part-time. After all, my day is done at 2:45. If only…. Here it is. My schedule:      7:00am – at school to prepare for the day      7:30am – students arrive for extra tutoring      8:00am – 3:45pm – I teach and do all that goes along with it. Some counseling, planning, and lots of meetings.      3:45 – 6:00 – tutoring students after school or soccer practice      6:00 – 7:30 – home for s

“Mrs. Victor, my mother told me she saw you at Weight Watchers last night!” one of my students yelled across the cafeteria to me. Cringing inside that my secret was now out to my students, I smiled and told him she sure did. I have been talking to all my classes about going to the gym each morning. Why did the fact that now they knew I was ‘watching my weight’ bother me? Talking about women and weight is taboo. Uncomfortable. The unspeakable. In the past eight months I have written about many uncomfortable topics. It is time to address yet another. My weight. Do I dare write it down? Put it out there for the world to see? What the hell? At my largest, I was 197 pounds. I am currently 170.2 according to the Weight Watchers scales. I was at 180 when I began at the beginning of January. As you can see, it has taken me some time to get going. I played around with the whole Points Plus system.   Unfortunately, exercise was not a consistent part of my day until February. Therefore, I saw

Where to begin? Changes are erupting and shifting life as I know it. In my homeroom. On the soccer team. In the classroom. Today a new student joined our classroom. Students could be heard mumbling, “Another new student?” even as I was introducing myself to the new boy. On the first day of school, I had 25 students in both my 7 th grade inclusion class (my homeroom) and my 7 th grade advanced class. Looking at the rosters today, the differences in the two classes shout out at me. In my advanced class, I have had one student leave class. Nobody has joined it. In my inclusion class, six students have joined the class while seven have either been transferred into another class or have moved. Thirteen changes in a class that needs consistency and stability. I have to ask: What are we doing to these students? Why the discrepancy? Is there a correlation between their achievement and the shifting of faces?   More importantly, what can we do about this? Is it a matter of grouping the stu