Happy Anniversary (to me).

It has been one whole year since the cancer debacle. 


I don't have cancer, nor do I mean to make light of the disease in any way. 


This is the one year anniversary of being told that I AM a cancer. Those words still sting. They were told to me by someone I trusted and respected. I was told that I was the only one with any issues and that I was welcome to leave if I couldn't get with The Program. 


I was devastated. I came home crying the Ugly Cry and continued crying for about two days. I had never been spoken to like that EVER. I replayed the conversation in my head incessantly for days. My husband was invaluable and unwavering in his support of me. Our school counselor acted on my behalf as well. My teammates comforted me and if it weren't for them I might have quit my job mid-year.


I can't believe it's been a year already. I hoped I'd be 'over it' by now. I guess I am, but then again it affects me daily. 


After The Talk I sought help through a career counselor online. I truly thought I must be in the wrong career if, after 12 years,  I was comparable to a dreaded life-threatening disease. She was amazing and helped me see that although I didn't want to make my unhappiness about The One Who Shall Not Be Named....in the end it was. My husband helped me with that epiphany too. His suggestion? "Why don't you just transfer?" Hello??? How simple it sounded! 


After digesting the idea of a transfer and all the ways it would impact our family, I went for it. Fate has a way of helping things along and 2 weeks before school started I found myself at a very different school. I love it. My children love it. I have great teammates and a fantastically supportive and fun-loving principal. I'd never have found this new home if it hadn't been for The Talk.


Perhaps sometimes we have to be kicked from the nest in order to learn to fly?? I didn't enjoy the kick, but the flying is magnificent.

Jobs of the Future...So What?!

How did his parents prepare him for a job that didn't even exist when he was in school??

I've been bothered by something for a while. I've seen several YouTube videos (this is just one example) featuring clips of students who hold up whiteboards stating all these facts and figures about their technology usage and how teachers need to engage them and how they spend hours and hours reading electronic material and finally how these children are being ill-prepared for jobs of the future 'that don't even exist yet'. 


And that's where everyone seems to get hung up - the idea that kids today need to be prepared for jobs that we can't even comprehend or imagine.

What kind of message are we sending teachers with these sad videos? "Give up, you don't even KNOW what these kids are going to face??" 

My thoughts? Get over it. For hundreds of years society has been preparing children for jobs that didn't yet exist. 


Think about it. Did George Washington's parents and teachers realize they were preparing him to be President of the United States? The job of President didn't exist yet. 


Benjamin Franklin's parents wanted him to join the clergy, but he ended up working as an apprentice printer. He then went on to start the first public library, organize a volunteer fire department, experiment with electricity, and serve as a diplomat. How on earth could any teacher prepare a child for such an assortment of jobs?


Oprah and Bill Gates weren't specifically prepared for the amazing jobs they created for themselves. How can you prepare someone for their own company based on their own inventions and creative content?


Of course these people are huge, unique mega-stars, but what about common people? The best example of someone who currently holds a job that no teacher could have imagined is my husband. He works for an automotive marketing company. His job includes research, writing, training others, creating drive courses, surveying sites to determine their usefulness, logistics, human resources, ....and countless other tasks. 


He was prepared for this job in public schools in a small town in Western Kentucky. Throughout his years in school he sat in desks (with the seat attached to the desktop) in rows. He used paper and pencil for everything. He read from basal reading series and happily completed pages and pages out of the accompanying workbooks. He memorized times tables, colored pictures of the state bird, flag and flower. His classes were tracked and bad kids were paddled. His high school installed a DOS computer lab during his senior year. Before the computer lab was installed, he had typing class using electronic typewriters. Just before he graduated, the high school won a grant from somewhere that installed televisions in every classrooms - and he thought that was cool! All of this seems so backwards to us today....and yet...he is a successful, well-adjusted person.


This is not to say we should return to the past. I do not condone the use of basal reading series, nor do I think we should level all of our classes and return to the days of endless worksheets. 


What I do want to say is that we should not worry so much about whether our kids will be prepared for the future. Haven't they always been prepared? If the human race wasn't doing a good job of preparing its young for the future we wouldn't be here now.



I don't think about the specific JOBS I'm preparing my students for. I'm thinking about preparing my students and my own children for LIFE. I think that if we, as parents and educators, focus on raising responsible, respectful, creative, curious, intelligent, cooperative young people, then they'll fall into place where they are meant to be. Even if it's a job no one has ever heard of or imagined. 


I'm not giving up on students and I'm not going to be led to believe that I can't adequately prepare them for the future. Yes, we should embrace technology. We should expose students to the most current ideas and resources. We should challenge all students and help them discover their strengths and interests in the world. We need to step up our efforts in math and science so that our children will be able to compete globally. We can do it! 


Maybe I'll create a short video about all the awesome things we can do...

Why I was a Crappy Friend

As I drove home from attending two days of an education technology conference, I reflected on my time spent with friends this week. I worked at the registration table each morning and it was a joy to see so many friends - old and new - pass by. 

Last year was a hard year for me. I'd lost my teaching mojo. Despite the fact that I was working with my three bestest teaching pals and despite the fact that I have the world's best husband, I could barely get myself together to really enjoy my job at all. These fantastically understanding people kept me afloat, but just barely.

You see, I had a hole in my heart. And it was a big one. No matter how much love the people around me put into it, the leak was always faster. Oprah frequently talked about the Universe sending messages which would gradually get louder (and more painful) until acknowledged....I totally believe this now. I ignored the small messages over the last couple years and the Universe came a knockin' with its full force this year. Ultimately, it is my fault that I allowed this hole to grow (to form at all!)...but through this experience I have grown.

Flashforward to this week - I had lunch with a bestest teammate that I taught with at another school a few years ago and we discovered that we'd had similar experiences this year. I ended up buying her lunch and apologizing to her for being a crappy friend this year. Then it hit me...I wasn't ABLE to be a good friend to anyone this year (family included). She and I were both afloat on a sea of depression...paddling separately, barely keeping our chins out of the water. Neither of us was aware of the severity of the other's struggle - we'd only exchanged calls a couple times this year. I guess that should have been a sign for us both. When friends drop off your radar, you should probably check on them. This is a skill I'm working on.

Nothing cements my belief in teamwork more than my experiences this year. I was lost. My team held my hand and bolstered me every step of the way. They listened, encouraged, and dragged me along even when I wasn't being a good sport. I don't think I can ever repay them for walking through it with me.

With the start of a new school year fast approaching I find that my 'well' is once again full. I've been working with an awesome career counselor (I actually questioned my choice of careers this year!!) and she has helped me rediscover myself. I didn't need a new career - I needed to uncover the root cause of my dissatisfaction with my job and also how to keep my 'idea monkey' brain challenged. I uncovered truths about my situation, set goals, the planets aligned, I took the bull by the horns....etc., etc.!

Although I am sad that I will not be working with any of my previous bestest teammates this year, I am looking forward to finding bestest teammates at my new school. I know they're there....they are everywhere and I have mojo to share once again.