Taking over the faculty meeting, one idea at a time.

Over MOST of my career, I have seriously dreaded faculty meetings.  To sit and listen, at the end of a long day, to upcoming events and calendar items, in a stuffy room when there is SO much you need to do back in your room is just plain hard.  Plus , we are usually hungry, thirsty, need to find the rest room and have to call at least one parent! 
In recent years, it has been clear that my own administrators are trying to revamp faculty meeting time into real, valuable PD sharing opportunities. It certainly seems like the movement is not just in my building and flipped as well as creative use of those 10 hours a year seems to be more common than in past years.
@LisaMeade23 who blogs at http://msprincipal23a.blogspot.com/2014/08/faculty-meeting-smackdowns.html
is certainly leading the way with her "faculty meeting smackdown" idea!

Now, truth-be-told, the idea of a smackdown scares me as we should be working together not "knocking down an opponent in a wrestling competition!"  Yet, we are a competitive lot.  We all want to do our best and to be at the top of the heap so putting a competitive spin on things does get our blood flowing.  

Lisa's idea was to have teachers sign up for 2-5 minute slots sharing ideas with their peers.  It sounds so simple and yet so profound at the same time.  It forces us (teachers) to look reflectively and critically at what we do well.  It forces us to think about our strengths and areas where we can grow.  If forces us to look inside and outside our rooms.  

If we were to do this in MY SCHOOL THIS YEAR, I would run like a mad woman to the sign up sheet and be eager to share how TWITTER, this wild and crazy medium of internet travel, has been the VERY BEST FORM OF PD I could have ever envisioned.  

close reading: snippets and resources

So, I've developing a grad course....and searching for resources.  Just in case this might interest a reader or two, I am sharing.  CLOSE READING RESOURCES 

http://www.learninga-z.com/commoncore/close-reading.html
http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/dec12/vol70/num04/Closing-in-on-Close-Reading.aspx
http://www.mhecommoncoretoolbox.com/close-reading-and-the-ccss-part-1.html
http://www.teachingthecore.com/close-reading-common-core-2/
http://www.achievethecore.org/ela-literacy-common-core/sample-lessons/close-reading-exemplars
http://www.teachingthecore.com/non-freaked-out-common-core-close-reading/
http://iteachicoachiblog.blogspot.com/2012/06/five-simple-close-reading-strategies.html
http://www.commoncorereadinglessons.com/
http://www.teachability.com/community/cc/blog/2012/02/22/close-reading-a-topic-of-lively-discussion-among-teachers

Flipping: Why?

http://www.npr.org/2012/12/07/166748835/more-teachers-flipping-the-school-day-upside-down

The FLIPPED classroom and FLIPPED faculty meeting model has gotten LOTS of press lately!  It's an interesting phenomena....and yet it is the model we have used in colleges for many years.

While change is hard for ALL of us......there is something to think about in this model.    

August in Snippets

It's clearly August.

Lots of birthdays, joy,

(18+ family, friends)

The sunsets are earlier, powerful,

Garlic is hanging, waiting,

School supplies fill Walmart

Expecting, hopeful,

My "in box" is filled with images:

So inviting, exciting,

        

Sometimes, however, 

I wonder 

Where are the fire inspectors!
         

Sol 2014 Google Chrome Gets Confused

I suspect its not just me, but Google Chrome has been watching me.... Images pop into my social media feed that are the same or sometimes similar to where I have searched!  I must admit that all this makes me think of the George Orwell book, 1984!  At times it is helpful and at other times, I wonder if I should evacuate from social media and save my privacy! The other day, the juxtaposition of images was one to remember!
                                                    
First up was a link to a site about picking garlic.  It's time to harvest those beauties but many of ours still had green stems; thus I had Googled to find out what others thought we should do! I was actually glad to scoot over to this site, again, http://awaytogarden.com/the-tricky-matter-of-when-to-harvest-garlic/ and read about their harvest!  I decided to "follow" the site as it might come in handy again.  PS We decided it was time to pick the garlic - a messy but fun job!

                                                      

The next image was a link to an Oscar de la Renta dress at Bergdorf Goodmans.  I have never worn (and will never wear) a dress anything like this (even in my dreams) and I've never been to Bergdorfs - not the site nor the store!!  However, I recently went to the Nordstrom's site (perhaps that is the "poor" cousin) and looked at some dresses that were nice, and pretty fancy at least by the standards of this teacher-weekend-garlic-harvester, but not in the same league as this O-de-la-R number!! I laughed out loud as I thought, "Google Chrome, you are confused this time!"  The dress is a $11,900.00 (OMG!)!  I was looking for something under the $119.00 price point!  . http://www.bergdorfgoodman.com/Oscar-de-la-Renta-Sleeveless-Embellished-Ball-Gown/prod98300008/p.prodOscar de la Renta G  

Now I might have just laughed this event off, but then I noticed that Stacy had pinned the same image with a remark about wearing it in her dreams and wondered if Google Chrome was targeting teachers?  If so, then Google Chrome is really confused! Seriously, Google Chrome, you need to know:

                                  

                                           NO TEACHER has that kind of money....
                                                       Specially not in August!   

PS If I had THAT kind of money, I would give the money (not the dress) to my son, a teacher, as a birthday present :)  

Planning another trip

Last summer, 

We rode 25 miles on bikes,

Burned a quarter-zillion calories (more or less)

Basked in the lush, green scenery.

This summer,

We came back for an eating tour,

Consumed a half-zillion calories (more or less),

Noticed the green scenery, again.

This winter,

We're coming back

To consume the other half 

(of the zillion calories)

 And to celebrate,

It's light and bright,

Sometimes white, 

And full of joy, here! 

#sol2014 Saving the World: One Cartridge at a Time

I guess I should have seen this one coming as my husband and I have been "saving" money and the environment even before it was socially "right" to do so.  I really got to thinking about some of our environmentally-conscious activities over the years as we refilled our laser cartridge the other day.  (So glad that was not my idea!)

• There were the solar panels on the roof.  We rushed to get them done so we would have a supply of "free" hot water in which to wash diapers one summer! We had 20 years of "free" hot water - as long as the sun was out! 
• We've "recycled" furniture, wood, curtains, clothes, toys. One time, my husband scoured the countryside looking for wheels for a Hot Wheel bike with plastic tires worn the to the rim.  For a year or more, that Knight Rider sported Berry Princess wheels!  
• There were cloth diapers in our house back in the days before the trendy baby bums of today.  We used pins (omg!) to hold them together and rubber pants to keep them on!  Of course, to keep our babysitters,we only used them at home. 
• We even had a clothesline, yep, and I schlepped the laundry outside to the line! Well, weather permitting, and usually just sheets and big stuff, in the summer (unless the dryer was broken!!
• We grow our own veggies and share them (not so willingly) with our neighbors, the deer. 
• We've driven a fleet of economy oriented cars including one that got (at times) 50 mpg! Yet, in true confession, we've had a few gas guzzlers along the way like that big ol' pick up truck!   
• We turn off lights when we leave a room and we try to keep the house at 58-60 when we are home, during the winter. (We do turn the thermostat up for company, promise!)
• We take our water and seltzer bottles back to Walmart even though two full bags and 15 minutes of work yields about $1.00 and returning them into the always broken machines raises your blood pressure to a dangerous level.
• We carry our paper, cans, bottles and plastic down to the curb to recycle.  
• We visit the Salvation Army at least once a year with gently worn (or too small) clothes.
• I use plastic containers for lunch (most of the time) and bring my coffee in a reusable mug (most of the time).

This weekend, we tried something that probably is really good for the environment but really challenged us. We've bought "recycled" cartridges before but THIS TIME, WE refilled our laser cartridge ourselves! Seriously. It is a labor intensive process that makes everything else we have done seem reasonable! It was more work and took almost as long as those those solar panels! We were covered with soot from our heads to our feet.  There has got to be a better way to save the world from the onslaught of cartridge carcasses! Creative minds unite: I am thinking about some sort of a bento box for the printer?

A Complaint Free Day!

During the summer, I catch morning TV shows (like Good Morning America, The Today Show, or even Rachel Ray) as a sort of summer-cultural-literacy-awareness project.  It provides insight into what people are talking about and what people are wearing! This summer, I've learned that dresses are tighter and shorter! I guess it can be safe to say that most of what I hear goes in one ear and out the other! Yet the other day, as I worked on a tea-staining-paper craft project, I caught a "life-style" clip that has "stuck" with me.  It was about a Happiness Project where people pledged to NOT COMPLAIN for three months!  YIKES, that is harder than my old Lenten promise to NOT TALK "BAD" ABOUT PEOPLE for 60 days!  

Here is how it works in the www.acomplaintfreeworld.org/ourvision

Will Bowen, the promoter, seeks a day when people focus on what they desire rather than about complaining about how things are.  As a reminder, you wear a purple bracelet for inspiration to leave the toxic complaining behind and make an internal shift to being more hopeful and optimistic.

I must admit the timing of this "news" was timely.  I was complaining, to myself, that the summer was half over and I had not done "anything" (as in traveled to Europe, vacationed on the beach) yet!  Then, I hear there are physical and physiological changes in people who condition their thoughts to be more positive and less full of complaints!  

While I try to genuinely find the good in every situation, I do worry, complain and feel sorry for myself even when I do not "say" those thoughts out loud.  I've also been a teacher long enough to know that "we" teachers tend to complain "a lot."  

I am sure that it will take me a long, long while (perhaps until next summer), but I am going to make it a goal to go ONE WHOLE DAY focusing on what I desire and what is good rather than on complaints.  When I can make it through on day, I will try for two.....it does seem like something I should try in this second-half of my year when my OLW is JOY! http://drferreri.blogspot.com/2014/01/sliceoflife2014-my-olw-for-year.html 
To be quiet honest, there really has been a bumper crop of JOY in my life this year....not that I don' have some complaints.....
SIGH, RESET, START AGAIN....
Day 1......6:43 AM Saturday...

Words and phrases

Sometimes, at graduations, weddings, funerals, and even church services the words are lost in the drone of the message like in the old Charlie Brown cartoons when he goes, "Waaa. waaa, wa...." without hearing what is said.  Sometimes the words are more like a clanging gong banging but making no lasting impression.
Other times, the service strikes your heart and you take the words home.

This was the case for me last Sunday when the reminder was that we ALL need a few moments, now and then in solitude.  I smiled as I remembered locking the bathroom door when my own kids were little in order to get 3 minutes alone - even if it was not quiet.

This was also the case for me the other day when the advice for some newly weds was to remember some key phrases that make living and working together more effective.  The phrases were simple ones that we have been hearing since we were toddlers.

• I love you
• I'm sorry
• I forgive you

While there was nothing "new" in the message, I reflected on the words in light of the many often conflicting aspects of life. As teachers, that is how we need to interact with our students (changing the I love you to I really like and care for you no matter how bad, cranky, or ornery you might be). As coworkers, managers and employees, these are good phrases to keep near our lips.  As parents and as partners, they really are the hallmark of living and working together.      

There was only one other phrase that I think you might want to add to the list.  It's the Golden Rule:
do unto others as you would have others do unto you.

That is why I will make the bed AND cook dinner, tonight!  

Which kids need us the most?

A month from now, a new crop of students will walk into crisply decorated classrooms everywhere.  Some of them will have read over the summer and others will have not picked up anything with printed text on it! .
Some will be dressed in new clothes and others in ragged hand-me-downs.
Some will be eager but many will be reluctant.
Some will have breakfast and others will be hungry.
Some will seek attention and others will want to hide.  

Dr. Maxwell, now Supt. in the district where I began my career, is right on with this quote.  Each of them needs us.  Even if they did not read, are wearing hand-me-downs, are hungry, reluctant and want to hide.  In fact, those kids who challenge us the most certainly need us the most!