Unfortunately, I had to take my son to the doctor the other day. While we were waiting (and waiting), my son played on the ipad to help pass the time. No worries, they were all phonics apps. 🙂 When the nurse finally came back in, we tucked the ipad away giving her our full attention. She says that she has good news and bad news. The bad news – he has strep throat. Ugh, I’m thinking to myself…what in the world could the good news be? She delivers the good news directly to my son with a smile. “You don’t have to go back to school until Friday!” I tried really hard to bite my tongue. I was unsuccessful. “Actually, ma’am, we really enjoy school.” She looks at me with a quizzical expression, turns to my son, and says “oh really, so you like school..?”. My son returns the quizzical look and said, “of course”. That’s my boy! She then PROCEEDS to explain how she didn’t like elementary school at all and would pretend to be sick just so she could miss school. Really?! I was giving her my teacher look but apparently it wasn’t working. After a few other choice comments from educator momma, we left the doctor’s office.
As we are walking to the car, I’m trying to understand why I’m so upset. I didn’t want my son to see that I was upset. We try really hard not to speak negatively about others, especially out loud in front of the kids. So I take a few deep breaths. I think to myself, I know I’ve heard similar comments before but why did this one upset me so much. My only conclusion…as an educator today, I just feel defeated. Everyday seems like an uphill battle and this was the last thing I wanted to hear after tending to a sick child all day.
While waiting for my son’s prescription, my son and I were discussing the doctor visit. He was truly upset about missing school for two days. And I thought to myself, why and how does this love for learning, this love for school change dramatically as our students get older. Unfortunately, from my experiences it seems the transition is happening sooner and sooner. And unfortunately, I believe that it is accelerated by comments such as those from our nurse. I know that our nurse meant nothing disrespectful by her comments. However, these nonchalant comments by adults shape our children’s views on school. Our children then think, oh, I’m supposed to dislike school. Of course, I know other variables contribute to a student’s attitude about school as well. However, I just wonder what would happen if we no longer heard…”Man, I sure hated school when I was your age.” “I hate math; I’m horrible at it.” “I hated my third grade teacher.” “I sure am glad I’m out of school.” And I could go on and on…
My two boys LOVE school. My two boys LOVE learning. I do not want this to ever change. I believe that their teachers have a lot to do with this but I also believe that their father and I have a lot to do with it too. My boys have never heard us speak negatively about their teachers or about school in general. We’ve molded them to love school. We’ve set them up to succeed as have their teachers. So, please, do not share your negative comments/memories/reflections about education with my children. I’m busy cultivating life-long learners here at the Smith household.
You know the overwhelmed feeling you get when tears seem to be ready to flow at any given moment? Today was one of those days. Who I am kidding, this school year has been one of those years!
Today, I had grade level meetings with all the grade levels to discuss supplemental groups/tier 2. Response to instruction. RTI. Yep, I said it. R.T.I.
You know 3 letter acronyms in the education world are far worse than certain four letter words? Generally speaking, I can say RTI and you can see the teachers scatter. And trust me, I get it.
The sad part is it really has nothing to do with RTI though. Response to instruction. That’s what we as teachers do EVERY day and have been doing all along. If a student is not responding to our instruction, guess what? We try something else. If it is working, guess what? We keep doing it. I know RTI is nothing new. However, dotting all the i’s and crossing all the t’s is new. Translation: paperwork. I know, I know. “It’s not about the paperwork.”
I wish I could believe it wasn’t about the paperwork. But it is. Teachers are actually now spending more time proving they’re teaching than they are teaching! Someone please tell me how this is helping our students. I’m all about accountability. However, I’m also ALL about treating our teachers with respect and as professionals and…allowing them to TEACH. Shocking, I know. Allowing a TEACHer to teach! (I apologize for the sarcasm. This is what happens after an entire day of shuffling papers.)
It is just so frustrating to sit and watch phenomenal teachers so overwhelmed, so beaten, so defeated that they start to question why they are even there in the first place. It is so disheartening to watch them crumble. And I feel so helpless. I try so hard to make meetings like today beneficial and as painless as possible. But when teachers are getting hit from every direction, it all just seems impossible.
And I should clarify. It is not just RTI. It isn’t RTI or PEPs or AMOs or MSLs or IEPs or PEPs or EOGs or PDPs or PLCs or TRC or…I could go on and on. It isn’t one single thing. It is the combination of it all. Enough is enough. When do we get to say enough is enough? When do we get to say, please, let us do what we love? Let us do what we know how to do. Please just let us TEACH.
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Parents, please understand that our hands are tied in many situations that you probably are not pleased with. So many things are mandated now. People in offices that haven’t set foot in an elementary school since they were in grade school are making decisions for us…for your children. Please know that we as teachers always have and always will have your child’s best interest in mind.
What do Christmas Eve and the night before school starts back after summer break have in common? All teachers around the world can NOT SLEEP! Well, okay, maybe it is just me… I can’t sleep on Christmas Eve because it doesn’t matter how old I get, I just get too darn excited! And I can’t sleep the night before school starts back because no matter how old I get, I just get too darn excited I want to drain every single last drop of my summer vacation…and not waste a drop!! And if I go to sleep, I’m admitting that it is over. I don’t want it to be over! I know, I know, I should be happy I even have a summer break at all, right? Yeah, yeah, I can only hold on to that thought for a second before I want to lie down in the floor, hold my breath, stomp my feet and throw an Opie Taylor fit.
Actually, I’ve been back to work for weeks but tomorrow is the first “official” day back. Sigh. I actually worked all day today training teachers on a new assessment (fun!) but there’s just something different when it is “official.” Of course, it is not that I dislike my job. That’s not it AT ALL. I just really LOVE summer! 🙂 Summer time with my boys makes me one happy momma. Time flies when you’re having fun.
And I promise no Opie Taylor fits tomorrow…at least not in public.
(The Opie Taylor fit starts around 2:13 and lasts until 2:45 if you need a visual.)
My musician husband often takes on jobs that have nothing to do with music. And as his wife, I usually somehow end up helping him complete these jobs. He accepted a job to help remodel a cabin about two hours from our house. The main task being painting the outside of the cabin. He first enlists a friend to help and tells me they’ll be able to knock everything out in two days. When they come back home, he tells me they didn’t even get started on the painting. He convinces me that it will be fun for the two of us to go for the weekend and work. It’d be good for us to spend some time together. We drive two hours to drop the kids with their grandparents, drive four hours to the cabin, and cannot paint because it rains the ENTIRE weekend. We drive four hours to get the kids and two hours back home. And by the time we crawl into bed Sunday night, we realized we really didn’t need to spend any time together.
Unfortunately, the cabin still needed to be painted. Yet again, my husband convinces me that it’d be fun to take the family up there for a few days. We could enjoy the serenity of the mountains. So my second week of summer “vacation”, I end up painting a cabin in the middle of nowhere. Monday and Tuesday, he and I paint all day. The kids join in at various times. Usually just long enough for me to have to redo something. We encouraged them to entertain instead (see below). We drive home late Tuesday night because he and I both have meetings the next day. My one hour meeting turned into 7. Sigh. After the meetings, we take the increasingly familiar trek back up the mountain. We arrive at dark. The husband paints until after midnight while the boys and I snooze. One way the husband convinced me that it would be fun was to tell me we’d take some time to do something fun.
Child Labor
We decided to raft the Tuckaseegee. We stopped painting in the early afternoon on Thursday and loaded up to raft. We rented two duckies. My mom had sent me several text messages warning me of the incoming storms but I was pretty sure it wasn’t going to be as bad where we were at. I even called my dad to see what he thought. All clear. The staff at the rental company even showed us the radar. Well, apparently, the husband and I are not trained at reading a radar. We hadn’t been in the water 5 minutes before it started to rain. But it wasn’t pouring. It was just a steady rain. Not that bad. Just paddling down the river with the family. Today’s going to be a good day. We hit a few rapids. Fun. I was going to have fun. Who cares if it is raining just a little. And then…the flood gates opened.
It started to pour and I mean pour. And in the words of my screaming 6 year old that was riding in my duckie, “Momma, it feels like nails!”. It was raining so hard that I couldn’t keep my eyes open to see where we were going and it was very difficult to catch my breath. And of course, there was thunder and lightening. And little did I know, the “big” rapids were fast approaching. I kept seeing all these signs but I couldn’t make out what they said. I pass my husband and other son in their duckie. They were stuck on a rock which probably wasn’t a bad place to be in all that mess. My duckie, on the other hand, was heading straight for the biggest rapids of the entire run and I couldn’t see a thing! And not to mention, I always prefer my husband go first so he can scope out the best route and then I just simply follow. So now, not only am I leading but I am leading blindly with a screaming kid in the front in the middle of a thunderstorm! After feeling sorry for myself for about 3 seconds (any longer and we would have been in the water, out of the boat), I put on my big girl panties and nailed those rapids. My husband and the other kid were close behind. He had spotted a place to beach the duckies. Of course I’m in the middle of the river and had quite a difficult time getting our duckie to the side in the pouring rain and wind but finally made it. And when I get out of the raft , I see my two boys heading up to some stranger’s house. I yell for them to wait on me! We run underneath the porch and wait on Dad to get the duckies out of the water. The kind people that were staying at this cabin invited us on the porch and brought my shivering boys towels. As soon as we got on the porch, it started to hail. Thank goodness we were not stuck in that! Turns out the people that were staying at the cabin were from the town we live in. Thankful for good neighbors!
After sitting on the porch for about 10-15 minutes waiting on the storm to pass, the rain started to slow and we decided it’d be safe to finish our trip down the river. We hop in our duckies and all seems to be clearing up. And it did for about 20 minutes. The boys were still a little traumatized so they kept going back and forth between, “this is fun!” and “is it over yet?”. We finally see where we to get out. The guy is standing there waiting on us. He looked a bit relieved we were okay. And when we’re about 10 yards from getting out of the river, the skies open up again. In the pouring rain, the boys and I run to the truck for shelter. While the husband helps tie on the duckies, I sigh a big sigh of relief once in the truck safe with the boys. What I didn’t realize is that I would be much more terrified on the way back to our car because the college kid didn’t slow down at all in the hellacious storm! I kept thinking, we made it through the horrible storms on the river, now we’re all going to die because this kid won’t slow down (or turn on the flipping defrost so he could see out the windshield)!! Geez, I was so relieved when we pulled in the parking lot safely.
By the time we get back to the cabin, we look (and feel) like wet rats just washed ashore. And it is still rainy so we forego painting. Friday, the husband lets me sleep in while he paints. We have to leave by 2 to get home for my nephew’s birthday party. And FINALLY, the first coat is complete!
As I type this, I’m waiting on the musician husband to get home (he was up at 5:30 to mow) so we can take the familiar roads up to the cabin that I’m beginning to think is my second home. Oh, and did I mention the cabin is unfurnished. Working vacations. Love/Hate kind of thing.
First Day of Summer!! I always feel like a kid again on those last days of the school year! Love it!
As for my first day of summer, I spent…working! Apparently, that’s what all school teachers are doing these days! Boo for summer jobs! 46th in the nation! Come on NC!??
And tomorrow, I have training at the county office. But only for a half day and after that I’m all free! Well, as free as one can be, I suppose. I am going to the grocery store directly after training with no kids in tow. I guess that is kind of like a vacation.
So, Wednesday, I actually am all free. My kiddos (ages 5 and 6) have never been to Carowinds. I never wanted to pay money for the ticket unless they could do most of the rides. They are now both 48 inches or taller so here we come Carowinds! Well, maybe. I thought we should go as early in the summer as possible because I know some counties are still in school (so sorry for all you that are still in school!) and I was hoping it would be less crowded. Plan in place. Right? Well, not exactly. So I look up the ticket prices online. Wow!! I’m not even sure with my summer job we can afford to go to Carowinds! So I hunt for coupons. The best deal I could find was to order online…39.99 each. So 39.99 x 4 = 159.96. That’s just the tickets to get in the place. Not to mention gas to get there and FOOD!!! Needless to say, I’m on the fence about the whole Carowinds trip. If we do go, my kids will be eating pb & j sandwiches in the parking lot.
I’ve been wanting to create a blog for quite some time but it never seemed to make it to the top of my to-do list until tonight…at 10pm. I have to be at school early for our last day of EOGs. Yay! So, not sure that tonight was a good idea but here I sit.
This will be my tenth year in education. I began at a traditional K-5 school in the piedmont of NC. I didn’t realize until later how spoiled I was! An awesome first five years at an incredible school with amazing administration. After moving “back home”, I accepted a position at an alternative school (for behaviors). What a transition! Lots of professional growth took place over the next few years with some very challenging students…all of which I would’ve taken home with me in a heartbeat! (Well, except maybe one.) 😉
Currently, I serve as an instructional facilitator for my county. I wear many hats but the one I enjoy the most is being a support for teachers with resources and curriculum. Data also drives many of my days as I try to help others see the importance of using data to drive their instruction. I do miss the kids but I am enjoying working with so many different, wonderful teachers!
And as with any job in education, there is never a dull moment!
Thanks for joining me on my blogging journey.
-RedFern
Red Fern Teacher 
When Good News Really Isn’t…
Unfortunately, I had to take my son to the doctor the other day. While we were waiting (and waiting), my son played on the ipad to help pass the time. No worries, they were all phonics apps. 🙂 When the nurse finally came back in, we tucked the ipad away giving her our full attention. She says that she has good news and bad news. The bad news – he has strep throat. Ugh, I’m thinking to myself…what in the world could the good news be? She delivers the good news directly to my son with a smile. “You don’t have to go back to school until Friday!” I tried really hard to bite my tongue. I was unsuccessful. “Actually, ma’am, we really enjoy school.” She looks at me with a quizzical expression, turns to my son, and says “oh really, so you like school..?”. My son returns the quizzical look and said, “of course”. That’s my boy! She then PROCEEDS to explain how she didn’t like elementary school at all and would pretend to be sick just so she could miss school. Really?! I was giving her my teacher look but apparently it wasn’t working. After a few other choice comments from educator momma, we left the doctor’s office.
As we are walking to the car, I’m trying to understand why I’m so upset. I didn’t want my son to see that I was upset. We try really hard not to speak negatively about others, especially out loud in front of the kids. So I take a few deep breaths. I think to myself, I know I’ve heard similar comments before but why did this one upset me so much. My only conclusion…as an educator today, I just feel defeated. Everyday seems like an uphill battle and this was the last thing I wanted to hear after tending to a sick child all day.
While waiting for my son’s prescription, my son and I were discussing the doctor visit. He was truly upset about missing school for two days. And I thought to myself, why and how does this love for learning, this love for school change dramatically as our students get older. Unfortunately, from my experiences it seems the transition is happening sooner and sooner. And unfortunately, I believe that it is accelerated by comments such as those from our nurse. I know that our nurse meant nothing disrespectful by her comments. However, these nonchalant comments by adults shape our children’s views on school. Our children then think, oh, I’m supposed to dislike school. Of course, I know other variables contribute to a student’s attitude about school as well. However, I just wonder what would happen if we no longer heard…”Man, I sure hated school when I was your age.” “I hate math; I’m horrible at it.” “I hated my third grade teacher.” “I sure am glad I’m out of school.” And I could go on and on…
My two boys LOVE school. My two boys LOVE learning. I do not want this to ever change. I believe that their teachers have a lot to do with this but I also believe that their father and I have a lot to do with it too. My boys have never heard us speak negatively about their teachers or about school in general. We’ve molded them to love school. We’ve set them up to succeed as have their teachers. So, please, do not share your negative comments/memories/reflections about education with my children. I’m busy cultivating life-long learners here at the Smith household.
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