First day back at work after two days of being sick was busy busy busy.  Yes, a teacher can be busy.  We have Quarterly Based Assessments this week, so my voice was saved for two periods Monday and two periods Tuesday.  The kids took the exams seriously.  Flabbergasted.  The work ethic this year continues to surprise me.  Seeing a kid who has been labeled "bad" studying voraciously is so cool.  The kids are doing their best to make the project deadline by coming in extra and not dilly dallying.  I am so pleased.

It is portfolio time.  The National Portfolio Days are coming up in November.  So one of my Photo II kids came in with a slew of independent work - drawings, sketches, photos - and we set up the shoot and scanned the smaller work.  He shot, I showed him how to set up the backdrop and lights for even lighting, low glare and no shadows.  I have even more recommendation requests to take care of too.  Four are complete, I have 6-8 more to do.  I put an essay on the PI QBA and the AP one is an essay.  However, the rest of the PI and the whole of the PII are scantron.  I hope my recurring headache will go away for me to grade the stuff.  I Have such a pile of stuff to do but I do not feel swamped, panicked, or tight-chested.  I feel calm.  It is amazing how having such wonderful kids can make the growing pile of work seem manageable.

We are looking over the faculty dress code here.  Today, I sent off my proposed changes.  I know there is a lot online about sexist dress codes in schools.  However, I noticed a glaring inequality in ours: the necktie requirement.  So I tackled that.  I also requested the use of clip on ID holders for art teachers.  I nearly choked myself again two weeks ago when working on a cable connection on Lori's computer.  I ripped the thing off and muttered "I hate this F-ing thing".  I have gotten it hooked on equipment, nearly cut it on the matte cutter numerous times, got it caught on the radiator when retrieving fallen negatives, cut myself on the deformed metal clip, broke it leaning on the sinks when mixing chemicals....  But when I swung the ID behind my back - while still wearing it - when cutting mattes one year, admin walks by, pauses to look at me through the doorway, and within 24 hours staff get an e-mail about wearing our ID at all times.  Is this an ID or a noose?

I would greatly appreciate a revisiting of the student dress code too.  I am tired of seeing the girls wearing see through leggings as pants and boys showing their underwear when these kinds of things are against the code.  I actually address male dress code stuff way more than female stuff.  I am disgusted by the need for dress codes - why are some people sexualized while others aren't - but the code exists and I would like it to be more egalitarian regarding rules.  It is not going away, but it could be more fair.  I would also like to see better enforcement.  I do think there is favouritism in the enforcement.  But, who am I to make noise.

As it stands right now, some colleagues get away with shady dress code violations and never wearing an ID, others get nailed the first time there is an infraction.  It happens to be the same with the students.  Once the dress code changes are made, I plan to make noise about the inequality of the enforcement.  We all know it exists.  We need to stop it.  It aggravates the kids and the staff.  We need to improve the work environment and morale here, and I think that is one of many things that can easily be tackled.

I actually missed two days in a row.  That is historical.  I do not think I ever missed two days in a row at any job.  I even missed going out last night.  Damn, this germ is rough.  Now the phlegm is loose, but not coming up.  That means no cool pictures to post.  Poop.

On the bright side, I have taken the time to catch up on reading and watching videos.  I also found a journal for the NAEA's Caucus on Social Theory in Education.  I am in the middle of reading an article form the Failure issue.  The article is about the failure to be a "good American."  This should be a good read.  I know I have tackled the saying the pledge issue before, so I will not go into that.  This piece is written by a woman who starts off the article with an anecdote form the age of five.  A boy insults her with various derogatory words for the Chinese and then proceeds to spit on her.  I am already hooked.

The caucus report that directed me to this journal mentioned how there can be art in different things we do in the classroom.  The authour writes about a class discussion.  He worries about the lack of "art" in class that day.  Someone tells him that maybe the discussion was the art.  Damn!  Validation for my tangents!  So often, I get off on a topic prompted by anything in the class.  I link it to photography in some way.  But I am fully aware of the fact that a passerby might think I am not teaching let alone teaching the subject I am paid to teach.

Here's my thinking...

I see art making as communication.  I have noticed a lack of ability to communicate.  This is in my students and my peers.  Too many of the people I have daily encounters with can put a pithy limited character comment online or make a side remark.  But can they have a sustained conversation?  On a topic of their choosing or not of their choosing?  Can they engage in discourse with someone who does not agree with them?  Are they losing the ability to hear, listen, absorb?  If so, how can they possibly know how to communicate through their art?  How can they comprehend someone else's message?  How can they learn form that message?

I do not agree with a lot of what others say or believe.  But I would be deceiving myself if I said I did not learn from them.  I learn the reasons for their beliefs.  I learn how life experiences, ignorance, hatred, or indoctrination formed their ways of thinking.  Some are understandable.  Some are deplorable.  But I took the time to listen.  If we do not listen, how can we take part in a discussion?  I don't think we can enter into a discussion with the aim to change one's beliefs.  But we can do our best to have that person understand our views and how we came to hold those views.  If I don't take the time to model that behaviour in my class, as the teacher, I am not helping my kids.  In other classes, the demand to reach some arbitrary score on a test limits those teachers from this kind of discourse.  I will continue to let my classes end up in 15 minute discussions.

I will occasionally let my students know the methods behind this.  They then understand that they did not succeed in derailing me from teaching, but I took advantage of an opportunity to hold a different kind of lesson.   Now I am working on trying to figure out a way to get this kind of discussion with my peers.  Some of them are so much more closed minded.  I offered an offline discussion to one recently.  He declined.  Perhaps I need to sweeten the offer with baked goods and coffee.  Political discussion at Casa Vasa.  All denominations welcome.  No screaming.  No name calling.  Ha!

Silence

For the first time in 17 or so years of teaching, I am missing Parent Teacher Conferences.  I happen to like these.  It is like a party.  We sit, chat, laugh...  It's fun.  I even considered starting to serve baked goods and tea in the future.

But...

Starting Monday, I started to feel a bit unwell.  I had a slight sore throat Tuesday, but made it through that day's afternoon session of conferences.  I had an evening union meeting and dinner.  It all went to hell that night.  As the night proceeded, my voice and pain got worse.  Monday and Tuesday nights involved waking up drenched in sweat.  However, Wednesday was school wide PSAT administration and I was administering.  I could not call out.  I had studied the book (as it turned out, the wrong book was given to me) and was ready.  I just could not speak.  I could croak and squeak, but not speak.  I knew I was needed because those with kids taking the test in other schools could not administer.  They were being used elsewhere in the building.  Well, I get there to pick up the materials and the head of guidance hears me and brains took over.  She got someone to sub for me.  I just helped out around the building for the morning.  I apparently have no brains for even trying to do the job.  Sigh....

Then I tried to teach.  Oh boy.  I was trying to go over our quarterly exam reviews.  Well, as one kid put it, with my arthritis bothering me in my hips and fingers, and now this, I am falling apart.  So...  Here I am, online after a sick day at home, waiting for parents to e-mail me since I cannot be there.  So far, nothing.  Kind of like the conferences themselves.  I had a total of six on Tuesday.  They were all fun and nice....  But that's a lot of down time in between visits.

To kill time at home (I hate doing nothing) I tried to decorate for Halloween.  I couldn't even finish that.  Too woozy.  But my answer when hubby asked if I was going to work tomorrow?  "Of course!  Don't be silly."

Now I must take a break to check out the attic.  Millie was at the door howling and screaming.  I thought her paw was stuck under the door.  Nope.  We either have a wayward animal or a ghost....  

Had a conversation with two different students about dealing with students versus dealing with adults.  I always think my kids feel I put up with a great deal of stupidity from their classmates and I am kind of light-hearted about it. Not quite that simple.  As I put it to the two ladies, what I can handle easily from a teenager cannot be put up with from an adult.  I told one girl yesterday "At my age, if you are still thinking those kinds of stupid thoughts, I don't have time for that."  A lot of people are impatient with teenagers, their impulsive actions and words, their supposed ignorant thoughts and beliefs.  But we have to look at it from another angle.  We were still figuring out who we were, what our opinions were, and how we wanted to be seen.  We were sometimes stupid, but also sometimes wicked intelligent.  And so are my students.  There are absolutely silly things that come out, and I laugh with them.  There are absolutely stupid, ignorant things that come out, and that is when I stop the class and do some social educating.  There are some crazy insightful things that come out, and that is when I shine the spotlight on them.  But..

And this is a big but...  I have zero tolerance for that kind of stupidity and ignorance in an adult of my age.  Some examples of the stupidity I am sick of dealing with?  I have known people who still say racist, sexist, homophobic things.  And when I call them out, there is a very weak excuse.  When talking about the cutting of overtime for people at my job, someone said "Well, many places no longer have overtime."  Well, just because my neighbour hits his wife, does that make it ok for me to hit my husband?  One bad action does not justify another.   I pointed out that the CEOs that made those cuts are still getting raises, the money is still there, the work is piling up, and the justification is false.  I got a shrug.   Last year, while insanely busy at work, I get a message from a former friend about that amber alert about a kidnapped kid in Delaware.  It was all anyone was talking about at work.  Really?  With all that is going on around you, that is your biggest concern?  Something you have zero ability to control, help, or solve.  What about the missing kids in other places closer to home?  Oh wait, this kid from Delaware was cute, white, blonde.  And found quickly.  It is so much easier to fret about something we can't do anything about while our local food pantries are empty, our students are homeless, their parents are losing their jobs, their houses burn down.....  I could go on.  But by all means, worry your pretty little hearts about an event a state away while you do nothing here at home.  Sorry, but the things that keep me up at night are the things I can do something to change or improve, and I actually get off my ass to try to change those things.

When I discuss these ignorant actions and ways of thinking with students, they get it.  I let them explain themselves and their thinking.  They let me explain my rationale and experiences.  We have a dialogue, we listen to each other.  We might not change each other's minds 100%, but the wheels have begun to turn.  When I try this with many adults, I get the "What are ya gonna do?"  Really?  What am I going to do?  I am going to get off my ass, write to people who can implement change, protest my local politician's office, go to my town meetings to raise a ruckus, get involved in my union, volunteer, support businesses that are righteous and responsible.  Because loafing around all day on facebook, twitter, or pinterest posting happy dippy thoughts or inane, insulting, ignorant memes won't change a thing other than making me realize I prefer my students to people like you.  And there are an awful lot of you out there.

So I took my first personal day of the year today.  I needed to get some things done that could not be taken care of on the weekend.  Luckily I managed to get that done and more.  I feel guilty for not being there for the kids, but I left sub plans that are really good.  Photo I read about how to set up a darkroom.  This will help those kids who want to do this at home.  It will also reinforce all I have taught about the darkroom and the associated materials.  Photo II had a choice of working on tutorials or preparing work for submissions.  They must complete one submission per marking period.   I cut this last year, but I am running things at a faster pace this year and making other accommodations to fit in all I was forced to cut with last year's testing.  AP was given planning sheets for the three parts of the portfolio.  I hope the classes took the work as seriously as I expect.

I spent some time viewing films on the Museo Nazionale del Cinema's page on Vimeo.  I have known of the Northern Italian connection to silent films for quite some time, but never looked anything up online.  Damn.  What a treasure trove of films.  There are historical films, hand tinted films, dance performances, comedies, you name it.  And my mind is spinning with all the ideas running around.  I can just put these film on the computer all period.  If a kid needs a break from the darkroom or the partner is printing, go on in the classroom and take in the films.  They could be so inspiring. I try to play one silent film a year for my classes.  Not every student gets it, but for those who do, the look in their eyes is amazing.  It is like I am opening another world to them.  Then I have heard from some kids who encounter one of those films later in life and I am proud to have introduced them to the art form.

The only tough thing is that the music accompaniment is your responsibility.  There are recommendations for what to play, but I doubt I have those in my collection.  I also hope that Vimeo is not blocked at work. If so, I think I have a good reason to be allowed access to it.  Oh, when I find new things like this to use in the classes, I get all tingly.  It's like when I find a vinyl record I have been hunting for....  Bliss.

Then, I just checked my personal e-mail for the first time today and received some great news.  I submitted three images for a show at a health center in Dover.  I had some photos in a show there once before.  I like the place and its mission.  Well, they want all three of my submissions to exhibit.  Woo hoo!  The best part?   I already have them framed.  Super happy about that.  It might motivate me to go back to my summer project.  If I can squeeze in the time....  I will also tell my students.  It helps that I do the things I expect them to do, regarding the submissions.  I also want to let my new photo kids know that I am also a working artist.  Modeling good behaviour in many ways.  tee hee..

I finally closed the pool yesterday.   It was part procrastination, part peaches.  It was much easier retrieving peaches from the skimmer than from a dirty pool cover.  The peaches are done and the weather is now cold, so pool closure was due.  A sad day, but I must go on....

I also did quite a bit of garden clean up.  Amazingly, the phlox are blooming again.  The animals didn't eat all the anemone, so there are a couple of blooms there.  I think my muscari is coming up again.  That is not good.  They are bulbs and should be dormant.  They are clearly confused.  The pears are finally ripening.  If hubby thought I had a ton of peaches taking over the freezer and refrigerator, just wait until the pears come.  Tons of pears for everyone!

Since it was Sunday, I could not use the weed trimmer.  I trimmed the grass along the stones with my gardening scissors.  They are designed for righties - grrrr.   My right hand and fingers are getting stiffer.  Very quickly.  I couldn't finish the trimming.  There doesn't appear to be any swelling, but the stiffness and pain is incredible.  I can't even give the middle finger with the normal amount of speed.  I took my anti-inflammatory, massaged it, used joint rub, all to no avail.  As I type, there is a bit of a delay with the right fingers, so I keep making mistakes.  And there is a mystery bruise at the base of my thumb about one inch wide and three inches long.  It really looks and feels like I punched someone....  just without the satisfaction of having actually done it.

So on to work....  The AP kids resubmitted their artist's statements with corrections made.  I reviewed them again, made more corrections and suggestions and then returned them again. And - get this - no complaints!  I can't believe this!  I am used to griping about having to continue to make corrections.  Not this bunch.  Phenomenal.  They start large format photography today.  I have them doing still life or portraiture and they must assist each other with lighting, reflectors, and metering.  That takes care of the issue of having just one camera.  Photo II is making lithographic film exposures.  I have the two part developer mixed on demand and put into a large tray on the floor.  The kids all sit there, chatting and agitating while waiting for the image to appear since this takes many minutes for the latent image to come up.  It's just so cute.  I really love them.

And now... the news about the mishap.  Yes, another hole.  Someone bumped into the shelving behind the sink in the darkroom, stumbled, some kids tried to catch him, and the wall took a hit.  Well.... time to find another poster.  Sigh.....  Either we need better quality wall board or we should put more studs in the wall. Screw 16 inches apart...  Let's do 8 inches.  That will catch an impact better.  It isn't as if I can turn on more lights.  It is a darkroom.  Duh.

E-mail Shenanigans

So I had an incredibly stressful week with AP.  I find out at the end of last week that my AP curriculum was not approved by the College Board.  This was news to me.  I go and look in my e-mail and well, well....  There is the rejection e-mail with all the rationales...  in my AP folder.....  from the end of July.  I.... never..... saw..... it.

This is not the first time funny things have happened with our work e-mail.  We know that the tech admin has access.  However, he is to be trusted.  I have had e-mails disappear from my inbox both before and after I read them.  I have not been able to find sent mail, and way before they are automatically deleted.  Others have had the same thing happen to theirs e-mail.

Then there was the confirmation that others have access - people who have no right to access.  One summer, we received an e-mail regarding a new feature with our network system.  I was so excited because this was something I had been looking for for a couple of years.  So I responded to the tech admin - NOT reply all - with a funny excited reply.  Upon leaving the faculty meeting on the first day of school that year, another administrator quotes my e-mail to me in passing.    This is not someone who has a need for access to our e-mails.  Thanks for the tip, buddy.

So now I have a vitally important e-mail regarding my AP class go from inbox to folder without me seeing it.  Hmmm...  I think the shenanigans originated in guidance for reasons I will not go into.

However, I managed to get through this.  Some sweating and sleepless nights later, and my curriculum was finally approved.  But this was a harrowing week.  I originally used other curricula as examples but the tiny details that were asked for were a surprise.  Those details were not in the samples I perused and I have no idea how those curricula were approved.  So I had to submit twice before the final approval came last morning.  To be honest, I do not think any human reads the submissions.  The responses are to rapid.  I think the are run through a program that looks for keywords.  I have a problem with that, but I cannot do anything about it.  Every morning I worked on adjustments....  Worked after school....  Fiddled with wording....  And yesterday?  Approval.  Phew.

With all this spying on our e-mails, one might think that the higher ups would have a bit of a better impression of my work ethic.  But, alas, that is not to be.  Instead, I know that the camera outside of my room is watched when I have a more challenging kid.  This is not just to watch the student in question but also to watch me.  I have been told I should deal with something or other that a kid does when he leaves my room with a bathroom pass.  My response?  Give me supervision to watch my class while I escort my student to the bathroom.  Otherwise, I cannot control what a student does once leaving my room.  Unless a child is on the "no pass" list, this will happen.  Duh.  If the administration insists on giving a pass to the primadonna teachers who reject the more challenging students, DO NOT hassle those of us who gladly take in those kids and manage to actually get them to learn something.  Instead, you should be hassling those primadonnas.  My class should not be a dumping ground for the kids no one wants.  This school should refuse to let a teacher push a kid out by being inflexible and ignoring the IEP.  That behaviour calls for disciplinary action, in my opinion, not cushy rosters and Teacher of the Year awards.

While people all over this country fret over the NSA spying on citizens, I think "Pssh.  The NSA? Hell, I work at PV."