Another one...

Yesterday's faculty meeting involved watching a reenactment of a school shooting.  This was part of our ongoing training regarding how to react as a teacher if our school is in this situation.  The main goal:  keep the students safe and calm.

Meanwhile, at some time after 7.00 am PST there was another school shooting.  At a middle school in Nevada.  The dead?  The shooter and a teacher.




I am getting closer to leaving this profession each day...

Plans

So I made plans to go to Philadelphia in a few weeks.  I will go to the teacher's convention for one day, then on to Philly.  Super excited to go back to Wooden Shoe.  I haven't been there in years.  I certainly do not need more reading material, but there is just too much good stuff out there to read.  I have finished the first issue of my zine and need to get up the nerve to see if they will take a few copies.  To sell or offer for free?  I don't know.

I also have to make the plans for Paris.  I waited until hubby asked for the new week off.  Then time to brush up on the French.  One good sign:  I was yelling to Millie from the basement that it wasn't noon yet (her feeding time) and almost said it in French.  Have no clue where that came from, but I hope it keeps coming.

I have been completely exhausted - like every other teacher in this country, it seems.  My free time is spent reading, combing fleas off Millie and trying not to fall asleep.  However, there are a few art shows I want to get into, so I need to get on the stick.  There's just too much going on right now for me to carve out a sliver of time for my art.  Not good....

Students blogs

SO this Friday was the first day of responses to my Photography II Visual Journal.  I had a few type their responses.  The ones I have read so far have been really surprising in their depth of thought.  I have just looked at the Tumblr blogs that others have started.  Ooooh, they are great!  I am glad I let the students use that host site.  They have such a level of comfort with the site.  They have posted images that flesh out their ideas in ways that I have wanted to see since I started this assignment a few years ago.  I am so proud of them.

I needed that kind of surprise.  Teaching and the issues this profession entails have been defeating me lately.  While I love what I do and the moments in the classroom are still the best part of this, the outside forces are wearing me down.  And it has absolutely nothing to do with the school I teach in.  It comes from higher than that.  I am tired like I have never been before.  I slept ten hours last Friday night.  I normally get by on six.  This is not good.  Thank goodness the kids keep me going.  I am working hard with groups outside of the school to stop the harmful changes and implement worthy ones.  People say I need to slow down.  That's all fine and dandy, but there are too few of us fighting for what is best for the students and school communities.  If we stop or slow down, we will lose.  More importantly, the kids will lose.

Fixing things...

So now that this website has been unblocked, I can now post more regularly.  When I am home, I get distracted while on the computer:  politics, educational issues, art stuff, and cat pictures.

It is October 4th and I am already sick.  I wish I could have taken two days off, but I don't like the mess we inevitably come back to.  No matter how good or bad the sub is, the students never want to do the work.  But right now I feel like it is a battle keeping the boogers up and off the work...

So many things are changing with education so I know I will be speaking about that a lot.... I just need to try to breathe right now.