Negativity follow-up.

As I re-read the post about the Honor Roll Assembly, I thought about what Kelly says when someone is being unbearably negative: If you gave that guy a check for a thousand dollars, he'd bitch that he had to make a trip to the bank to cash it. Yep, I'm pretty sure that mother would complain all the way to the bank...

Some people make it too easy.

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Negativity is like a cancer.

The Honor Roll Assembly was this morning at 8:00. It's one of the events I coordinate each year - with a lot of help from the office staff. This year, the formula for sorting out the students with a 3.2 GPA or better was acting up and the secretary kept finding mistakes in it. She was on the phone to the data center trying to get to the bottom of it, and in the end, the invitations simply went out much later than they should have. So late, that parents GOT them in the mail yesterday. It was certainly far less than ideal, and I was embarrassed that my name was on the letter!

You just never know.

I’ve talked about Nick before. He’s the kid at school who is always “do-in good!”

Students in Nick’s class work on vocational skills, so Nick has a job he completes every morning. He puts two bundles of newspapers on a cart, and cuts the strap that binds them (he will mutter “ha HA! I’ve got you just where I want you now!” as he cuts the strap with scissors.) He then goes into the mailroom and puts one in the box of each teacher who subscribes to the paper.

Today, I was on the “receiving” side of the mailboxes while he and his teacher were on the “sending” side. His teacher was watching him, making sure he was doing a good job. He said to her, “This is my favorite day of the week!” She asked him, “Nick, why do you like Wednesdays so much?” He replied, “You just never know what will happen on a Wednesday.”

We need more Nicks. He’s a 90.

Bullies wanted.

I was bullied this week. I went to EMS to watch McKenna play volleyball, and I saw Harry (here’s a public Happy Birthday to Harry!) Harry razzed me about not writing in my blog recently! (Of all the nerve! Does he have any idea how hard it is to find something even mildly interesting or marginally relevant [bear with me, I'm being generous] every day?) He first harassed me via text that morning “I cant read your blog if you dont write anything” and then later in the day, he zinged me again – in person! It was a figurative noogie, nothing less!

The Dog in the Hat.

These are two videos McKenna and Josey made one day last summer... I love watching them... It makes me glad I have such smart, funny kids... and it sure makes me miss summer! (Raise your hand if you are sick of this weather!)

Way to go, HSCS!

McKenna's team really struggled today. We started the season so strong, but I think the two weeks of practice Gebo had the girls doing before the public schools started really paid off! There were a handful of girls in the public schools who didn't play volleyball last year, but decided to play this year. These girls are very athletic kids, but didn't have volleyball "down" yet.

Genius.

A conversation with Donna reminded me of this quotation - I think our conversation ended with "Amen, Sister!"

"People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realize how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world," ~Calvin

Spin. It's a beautiful thing...

Should I be proud of the fact that I am learning to spin information I deliver to students and parents in such a way that I'm being thanked for a few days in ISS? I work with an 18 year old student whose mother is legendary for bailing him out for every indiscretion. She will scream and yell every time he gets in trouble and insist he didn't do whatever it was he was accused of doing. The funny thing is that this kid will be joining the military! I'm guessing mommy won't be much help at Basic. I would do anything to be a mouse in the corner...

Am I asking the impossible?

I forgot to update you on the meeting... it actually went okay. I kind of set it up so there wasn't room for parent input since I didn't want any - and I thought it would be counter-productive. I spoke, the coach spoke, and the principal spoke and it was over... Now if only I can figure out a way to create a more "stable" cheer squad. There is so much coaching turnover (I wonder why?) I think if we could get some consistency with coaching, some of the "issues" might go away... Am I asking the impossible? Um... YES.

I am in hell.

Our cheerleadering coach quit on Saturday. Why do I care? Because, amusingly enough, I am "in charge of" cheerleaders at school (when I was told that when I was hired, my response was, "fold it.") We have two coaches, but one is out on maternity leave... I won't go into the gory details of how today went, meeting with cheer mothers (notice I didn't say cheer parents or cheer fathers...)

For the sake of amusement in the blogosphere, I will give you a quotation - something that came directly out of a cheer mother's mouth in my office this morning: "I am very upset! I have worked very hard on cheerleading for the past three and a half years."

Things can't really get better from here, can they?

Life is like basketball.

I've been consumed by basketball lately. While I love watching basketball (how could you NOT love this team?), the season goes on and on... with LOTS of games... Even with all of the games and all the time away from home, I would take in a hundred basketball games before ONE football game. I have to sit - make that STAND - through a LOT of football games too... I refer to each as "three hours of my life I can't get back."

I'm confused.

I am starting a huge undertaking. I'm helping our media specialist (FKA: librarian) redesign our school website. Let me tell you, I haven't done that from scratch in a long time. It's rather confusing and completely overwhelming. Both of us are adament that it be DONE before it's "unveiled" so we don't have a bunch of "under construction" links. I will update you as it happens...

Don't leave any of yourself safely on shore.

Laugh at yourself, but don't ever aim your doubt at yourself. Be bold. When you embark for strange places, don't leave any of yourself safely on shore. Have the nerve to go into unexplored territory. ~Alan Alda

Chicken salad and silk purses.

He called me a "shit magnet." A guy I worked with at GFH called me a "shit magnet" because of the types of kids who would find their way to my classroom after school. I was offended at first, but after I thought about it (and considering the source) I didn't mind! It's kind of like what Dick Kuntz used to say he did for a living: He said his job was to make chicken salad out of chicken shit and silk purses out of sows' ears... making chicken salad and silk purses, huh? I can live with that!

A good ol' fashioned public stoning.

I had Justin in my office because a teacher reported to me that he had been screwing around in the locker room, snapping towels at kids (one in particular), messing around to the point that he broke the other kid's glasses. Essentially, he was acting like a fourteen year old boy. The other kid is definitely an easy target - which certainly doesn't mean he deserves what he was getting... The thing is, I had never met this kid before, so that means he flew under the radar for an entire semester!

Breakfast downer.

Is this like reading tea leaves? hmmm... I wonder how the rest of the day will go?

The mind does the seeing.

We often talk about listening versus hearing. You can talk all you want and I can look at you blankly and listen to your words, but I need to really concentrate to hear you, to understand how your words and your tone are sending me a message. Listening intently and really hearing someone is a precious gift, as Mel says.

Don't touch ANYTHING.

I just found this picture on the Internet and it made me giggle. Nothing more.

Reflexive opposition.

I was at a meeting the other day when someone was explaining his ideas about a paradigm shift in secondary education. The idea would take the way we do business in a different direction, with the hope of infusing more relevance into instruction, thereby reducing the drop out rate. Watching the body language around the table was telling. It's interesting to me to see the reflexive opposition some people have to other people; opposing something based on its source rather than on its merit is assinine, but happens all the time. It's a very "pre-teen" behavior (adults are always wrong - right?), but it is exhibited by many, many adults - even those we give responsibility to rationally think through issues (just watch C-SPAN!)

Civility.

So many people are frustrated or disappointed with young people today because they dress in poor taste, use offensive language and talk in code, dance suggestively and listen to terrible music. Let's face it though; every generation criticizes the generations that come after. I can live with bad music, underwear showing, and embarrassing dancing. I can even live with coarse language - heck, anyone who knows me knows I'm no stranger to the F-bomb! (sorry, mom)

Another 90.

Kasey is a young woman who went to school here for three years... although if you add up the days she was actually in attendance, it was probably more like two. In that time, she was out of school suspended on various occasions for threatening kids, harassing others, and fighting. She was less than charming for most of her tenure here. She was truant so often that near the middle of spring semester of last year, I sent her packing... she was withdrawn from school. I was done with chasing her around.

Making it up on the fly

Isn't it funny that we have to go to college to be "certified" to do certain jobs - like teaching? It's funny for a few reasons. The first is that "certified" and "qualified" are two different things. I have known many paraprofessionals who are more qualified to teach so students can learn than the teachers in whose rooms they work! Secondly, most of the learning for a job like this happens - on the fly!

90-10.

It is a day like today that I am reminded that the law of 90-10 really does exist. Ninty percent of the people in the world are wonderful human beings. Ten percent are pukey. We need to focus on the 90.

The AA Orchestra Festival is here at CMR and students from GFHS and the Kalispell schools were in our cafeteria eating during their lunch break. They were there at a strange time, lingering after our students returned to class.

The grass isn't always greener.

I went with a group of teachers to another AA high school today to observe some of the things they are doing with co-teaching and differentiated instruction. Every time I go on a school visitation, I feel fortunate to work where I do. We have such good high schools here and we really are doing so many great things! Sure, we have room for improvement, but we are on the right track!