Summer

Today felt like summer vacation! It was a beautiful sunny day on the coast. I was able to walk on the beach, stick my toes in the sand, see some starfish, and relax. Great day. I don't know why I left home without lawn chairs. Next time I'm bringing lawn chairs and my Kindle.  The weather was fabulous... the sea was calm. I think the rain is supposed to be back tomorrow. I hope so... it will make it easier to head leave!

Apple Cider Vinegar

If someone suggests Apple Cider Vinegar as the Cure for what ails you. Find every other option available and try that first. I don't think I've ever tasted anything quite as horrible. My eyes cried, my mouth cried, my stomach cried. I am using the word "cried" because I truly feel it was a step up from plain "ole" mouth watering. UGGHHH.  Home remedies are something I always take a look at being so far from the store and doctor.  Ohhh I oooohhh... ugggh....iiiccckk......yaccckkk.... Find out if you can get it in pill form. Don't subject your taste buds to such cruelty.

Saloon Problems

Saloon problems are problems you have only if you live over a saloon!  For instance if you get busy don't call home, your cell phone battery dies, you don't notice for quite some time that it died, then you have to charge it........
Your parents assume you have been stabbed/shot/eaten by the locals and they call the sheriff's office to come do a "wellness" check to make sure you're still breathing. Saloon problems!

Saloon problems also include a visit from your "favorite" deputy in the early morning hours!  He verifies life and leaves. Saloon problems.

Saloon problems include everyone knowing you're in town based on your car being home. Luckily they are still scared enough of you they don't show up on your doorstep without a prior invitation. What will happen when they aren't scared anymore? Well, that scares me!
 

I have been creating in my head a list of signs that you've been living in a teeny tiny town tooo  long.

1. You know every resident by their car.
2. You know every resident by their dog.
3. You know every resident by where they sit/park at the saloon.
4. You know every resident.
5. The local restaurant has your favorite meal named after you.
6. You have ridiculous urges to go sit on a bar stool and complain!

Don't worry I am not done with this list.... it will continue later....

Summer Class

My first class of the summer has me working down at the school all hours. I have 45 hours in total to complete. It shouldn't be hard...but when you are done.. you are done...and I'm done!  It is good because I am working on things while they are still fresh in my memory! It isn't good because I have gotten interrupted for other things a lot. It is good because I have gotten a lot done for next year. It isn't good because I am tired. This is good because it will give me time to play with a clear conscience! 

We had our first day of Pre-school today with seven students in total. That made me feel like it is really worthwhile! There are a lot of little kiddos running around needing to learn their letters. The location we are holding preschool at is well filthy. It shouldn't be filthy but everyone seems to have a different idea on who is responsible for the cleaning. So I spent about an hour cleaning with my aide before I had to return to class. She spent another couple hours on it and barely made a dent in it.

I need to go have dinner! G'nite

Ignorance ....

Wellllllll what you don't know CAN hurt ya! I called another A.D. in a nearby county to learn what I could learn. He is helping me clear up a lot of my foggy areas. I was mired in fog. He will be a great resource and helped to me. I told him that I was operating on a big basket of ignorance. He definitely is helping support me in gaining some knowledge of my new roll. Thank goodness we do not have more teams that we do. I need a little more experience. I am grateful to those who are willing to help me. I also spoke with a friend in my "old" county who is going to come over and put on a volleyball camp for my girls. So that is pretty exciting. I think they will appreciate it. I seem to be getting a "sigh" of relief from folks that I am doing this job. I don't know what it was like before but it seems like I could mess up pretty badly and it still wouldn't come near the previous messes.

I started a class today which is basically to help you prep for next year in a constructive manner. I definitely need this. So I have hours to do this week and next week. Even with all of those hours I am sure I will spend much much more time on prepping. This class provides some much needed structure.  This weekend is a local town festival... I am expecting the bar to be open and the noise to be significant.  Feel free to mail me some ear plugs.

A national agency rents out our school for this week to  do some training of their new recruits. They camp out on our field in tents, their are trucks everywhere, the gym is full of tables,  etc. My classroom has a tent at the back in the "classroom library". So here I am taking a class to prep for next year and working around .... all of that. Also, our school copier is running on its last toe. I purposely did not say last leg...it is way past that. I am praying for a new copy machine A.S.A.P. How can you "prep" without a copier? My printer at school is also out of ink, but no orders go out until July 1st.  So I have a lot of handicaps for prepping but that always seems to be the case down here. You just learn to do the best you can with what you have.

I have a house to clean, dishes, and laundry to do. The scary part is I haven't stopped since school got out. I am looking forward to heading North soon for a break. 

Graduation

Our graduating class of 2 had a nice ceremony today. What is great is they had to put the whole ceremony together themselves. It was a good exercise in planning for them. They made their own pamphlets, slideshows, order of events, speeches, etc. They served a very nice turkey and ham dinner with jello salads, macaroni salad, rolls, green salad, and more. The speaker was a minister who formerly worked in this community. He did a very nice job. One of the students began with a prayer. A future administrator sat next to me and said "that is against the law". I thought "SO WHAT?" to myself. They ended the ceremony with a prayer as well. The whole thing was created by those two students. If that is what they wanted then "why not"?  Their graduating class had a valedictorian and salutatorian :)  Yep they did! Made me chuckle.I was there most of the day helping set up and then was there most of the afternoon early evening helping clean up. So it goes at a small school.

Winding down...or UP?

Well... we made it through the crazy insanity of the last day of school. Somehow! Today was our teacher work day. I slept in a bit and then went in to work. I was sitting in my classroom unsure of where to start. My brain couldn't check in. I poked my head in my colleague's door. She was having the same trouble so we decided to go clean some of the areas that needed purging.  We purged! We got rid of textbooks from the 60's through the 90's.  We found rat poop all over the place, and completely outdated materials. I don't think that place has been that thoroughly cleaned since they moved in the building.  We also took about 6 loads to the dump. Our volunteer librarian came to drop some things off and couldn't stop grinning. She didn't think she would ever be able to get through all of that. So it was really good. We didn't accomplish much in our classrooms but we did accomplish things for the whole schools benefit. So there ya go. Our classrooms... another day.

I talked with the old AD today and he handed me off fantastic things like a starting pistol, and our school locker room combination list (written on yellow legal paper). Luckily I also spoke to a few other folks and found out that the fall volleyball schedule is usually worked on NOW! Yikes.... soooo I have to make a few calls tomorrow and find out who knows something.  The kids also told me they wanted to play more volleyball scrimmages. So I will see what I can do for them.   

All of the cleaning we did today reminded me of how much cleaning there is to do throughout the whole school including the  Athletic rooms. Oh dear! Does anyone want to come help me??? Please????  sigh....
Preschool starts next week so I met with my aide this evening and thanks to my friend from up north we were able to compile a list of great ideas.Thanks Barb!! I then had to beg and plead for a key to the building where we will be holding preschool. Hopefully, we get it before our first day. Oh my! I start my first class of the summer on Monday. So I will be gathering some materials together to do that. I have no idea what to expect for that the lady organizing it has seemed Very Disorganized..... so hopefully it all comes together.

Saturday is our school graduation. We have two students graduating this year. I will be down at the school tomorrow and  Saturday helping them get set up for that.  So when you think things are winding down for summer.....not so much! 

Field Trip

We survived another field trip! Whew!  Of course on the day we decide to go swimming the weather turns colder. Luckily I made arrangements at both the indoor and outdoor pool. We played at the park and went to the indoor pool. Our bus driver is best described as elderly.  He did some creative driving today that had all of our stomachs in our throats and a little shaken. I keep begging parents to get their CDL for at least on field trips.  I came home to have some dinner. I need to finish stuff for our awards assembly tomorrow, our field day, and I don't even know what all.  It was a good day. I am pooped but don't have time to be pooped. So I'll get it done and collapse later.

Dust in the Wind

So I drove North and East for my first day of a class I will be taking all of next year. I left quite early this morning and got there quite early. It did give me a chance to stop at the office supply store though. I picked up another teacher who was dropping off something to get worked on. Then we went. It was a bit of a ho hum beginning. I think this is going to be a very challenging class for me. It is different that what I thought and I really don't know what to expect. I, yes me, volunteered myself to take a class called STEM. S.T.E.M. is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, and MATH!  What was I thinking??? A little ignorance when you sign up for a class is BLISS. It will be interesting to find out how those disciplines can be taught all at once to say Kindergarteners. I am SOOO In for a few headaches. I am proud of myself for stretching myself. I am stretching myself like "Stretch Armstrong"! Wish me luck and say a few kind words about me when my brain explodes.

The drive home was a little eventful. We get a lot of windstorms this time of year. Windstorms bring dust. Dust and wind equals Dust-storms. It gets quite exciting on the road. Inside your car you can taste the dust in the air. It was blowing about 50 miles an hour. So then I start heading south and it rains just enough to turn the dust to mud on the windshield. So wind, dust, rain, wash. Wind, dust, rain, wash again. That's how it went. Then for a lovely but short while the rain came poring down. Then back to wind, dust, rain, wash. I pulled in the parking lot at school in my school provided vehicle and the dust was amazingly thick on the car.  So I made it back home. 

Yesterday when I left my house my key turned in my lock and turned, and turned, and turned. Last night when I came home it turned and turned and turned til.... it popped out. I had complained about the lock a long time ago but it wasn't taken care of. I really think someone had attempted at some point to break in and damaged the lock but wasn't successful getting inside. So, I had to make a call leave town and trust that it would be taken care of in a timely manner. Scary eh? I came home to a new lock and a new key in the door.

Tomorrow, we are leaving for a field trip. I have so much to do to get ready for our last day of school and our awards assembly. Somehow, someway... I will get it done. We should find out by the end of this week if our carpet in the classroom is being replaced. This weekend I will be finishing cleaning the classroom.. and preparing for summer preschool, and preparing for a different class that starts next week. Overwhelmed much? Yep YEP! I won't be bored this summer. Granny I am planning on being pleasantly bored for a couple days at the coast with you and a GOOD BOOK!  :) Something to look forward to!

Weekend and Bicycles

I forgot in my last post to share how our Bicycle Day went. All of my students but one had bicycles. Another student brought an extra from home so that everyone would have one. I made an obstacle course on our playground pavement. They loved it. I learned a lot from that and if I have it again I know how to improve it now. Then I let them go ride around our track. They wore themselves out. A community member brought their snow-cone machine and syrup. The kids loved that treat. What was very interesting is I had a 7 year old student who did not know how to ride  a bike at all. This student is athletic and constantly moves. I don't think balance was a skill that he's worked on. I was very surprised. Hopefully, he will have opportunities to learn. It was overall a very successful day. They had a great time.

I went to town this weekend for my current aides Bachelorette party. It really isn't my scene and isn't something I enjoy doing in any way shape or form. I went to be nice. Luckily most of the plans fell through. I was relieved it ended up being shopping and hanging out rather than partying partying and more partying. I really dislike the mall... ALOT. I think I was over mall shopping in the mid-90's. Uggh.  We also went to see the dueling pianos. They were good that night! I have been a couple of times and you never know how skilled the players will be. These were pretty good.

I was talking with my former aide about the weekend. I had come to the conclusion... I don't have to be nice and attend these things.  My former aide seemed really uncomfortable. I talked with her and realized from our conversation she has completely changed her lifestyle. She felt like attending was a retrograde step for herself. It represented a self she never wanted to be again. I have very strong boundaries and refuse to go do something I am uncomfortable with or feel doesn't match my moral compass. So I didn't feel uncomfortable because of where I am at as an adult. So we chatted about the idea of a bachelorette party. It seems a very unhealthy concept. If you are looking forward to your marriage why is that party something you feel you need? Is there security in your relationship?  My former aide said that at the most she would like to have her girl friends over for dinner, chatting, and movies.  I will not be attending a bachelorette party again. It was dumb, unhealthy, and pointless. I think my current aide was disappointed we weren't into it more. I think she has some maturing to do.

I am trying to get ready to head to a bigger town for some training tomorrow. I've been trying to check my e-mail to get the place written down I need to go. Of COURSE, for some reason the school e-mail isn't working. Print when you receive information you need!! UGGH! I am being loaned the school vehicle to drive there. YAY! I don't have to pay for gas. YAY!  I have a lot of last minute stuff to do before heading that way tomorrow so I'd better sign off.

Honesty

The strange and horrible thing about a dishonest person. Is that they can make you feel like you are as dishonest as them, even when you aren't. I weary of dishonesty. I just wish people could do things the right way and nothing would be tainted. It is something I want to be more conscious of. I want to always be sure to go out of my way to do things the honest way.

We had a long arduous staff meeting today. All of our staff meetings make me feel as though nothing I do is valued or makes a difference. I literally have to fight to get my students services that should be given. The excuse I was given today was we have at least a hundred kids at our big school with the same issue. Why is that an acceptable reason to NOT provide services. The other teachers are just as frustrated as you. Okay then why aren't we helping these kids. The answer was dodged artfully and carefully. I am sure it comes down to money. This is part of the reason why public school fails. You say this is an issue again, and again, and again. You are saying the system is broken again, and again, and again. The only response you get is yes it is an issue but you have to follow this system. Even if the system is either broken or doesn't work in certain circumstances. If virtually all of your teachers are saying this doesn't work.. why don't you listen? It isn't one or two who refuse to use it or have bad attitudes. The majority are saying it doesn't work. UGGH  As teachers we get the blame if our students don't learn. Period. However, sometimes we are fighting soooooooo unbelievable hard a system we know is broken to get our students what they need to be successful. That is the frustration. We KNOW we should be doing more. We WANT to do more. We just are  flying a kite in a hurricane. The hurricane is going to win. The kite might be seen but the hurricane will be seen and HEARD.

I have a tendency to take on too much responsibilities. However, I think we all need to at a small school. The staff simply isn't large enough to spread out the responsibilities. Lately though I've looked around and wondered am I the only one still working? The fact is I have been. I've walked out of my classroom at 3:45 and it is silent. Not a single person in the building. Apparently we don't worry about contract hours here. I think to myself how can they have everything done? Am I less organized than them? Nope I'm not but what I do is actually grade papers not just the "important ones". I  don't see how education is ever going to not involve grading. Some of my colleagues seem to think the switch to C.C.S.S. will involve less grading. When I read them and then listen to my Principal... I wonder if we are reading the same sets of standards. I think we all can easily get stuck on one aspect of a new concept instead of looking at the picture as a whole.

Speaking of taking on more responsibility. I was made Athletic Director. I had been asked by our superintendent to do it. I told my principal. My principal didn't share it with the staff. I didn't feel like it was my place to do so. I got a lot of attitude about this. It was being manipulated to go to a certain person. I had a feeling it was being manipulated but I didn't know which person. I was proud of myself when it was brought up I stayed silent. My principal said actually the "super" already promised it to her. The principal then said " he overstepped his bounds by doing so" "that is the principals job". That didn't make me feel very good.  The principal wasn't doing the job but allowing others to do it. I was asked, I shared that with my boss, and left it alone. I was letting the chips fall and wasn't going to argue it. It made me feel like I was doing something sneaky. I didn't bring it up to the "super" it was asked of me. It is this kind of stuff that stresses me out. So I will be doing that job next year. It will involve scheduling, hiring coaching staff, organizing athletic events, etc. I will have some learning to do  but I am up for the challenge.

Everything I've been through this last year I hope I have learned from. The things I need to work on like keeping my mouth shut :). I was thinking how important it is to have people around you that you respect and value their opinion. The respect is a key component. The more I see with some things the less respect I have. If we all did our jobs to the best of our ability every single day....we'd make great strides. I am glad that I have so many people I can call on to get ideas from. They have the experience and expertise to back up their suggestions. I think I've been yelling out "HELP" and have been instead greeted with criticism, excuses, and avoidance. The people who are doing it and doing it well. I really appreciate their help. Sometimes I feel like my little town is a little island and I can't seem to build a boat and paddle fast enough!

I wish I could stop going to these meetings... see how discouraged I get after one? I need some positivity around me. I have to go into town tomorrow for some car maintenance and a wee bit of shopping. I'm headed to the big city for one night this weekend. Then I have to be in a training on Monday. Tuesday we are going on a field trip, and Wednesday is the last day of school. Thursday is a work day. The following week I am in a class and preschool begins. Here we go summer! Here we go!