Is it an emergency?

Do you ever find yourself saying this?

Is it an emergency?

More and more I find that I do. It's not because I don't want to help someone, quite the opposite.  It frustrates me to no end to ask someone else to wait or send me an email about something that is an emergency in their world because I'm dealing with them in my own.

Remember, this position I'm in this school year is one that is brand new to my campus, never been done before. And for that fact, there isn't an official, written job description to follow.  It's up to my Principal, District Testing Coordinator, and my own self-starting self to figure things out.  So, we've already been through our first round of STAAR.  But now, we are one school week out from the biggest, busiest week of the year for any Elementary Testing Coordinator and I find myself more and more asking folks that saying, "Is it an emergency?" I want to help you with your laptop that is broken, or to help you load a network printer, or help you with some other technology concern, since technology is my passion, but it's not my primary role.  Testing is.  And so I must prioritize things, events, even family functions and trips to the grocery store around preparations for this BIG week.   Schedules must be written out, rosters checked twice (like Santa), new students investigated to determine services, teachers trained, walls and halls checked, numbered booklets and scans inventoried and accounted for, pencils sharpened, papers copied, folders organized, and on and on.  And I can tell that others are not used to me saying that phrase, because I get the looks, not in a bad way, just in a "Oh, you've never said that before" kind of way.  I am eager to help, but now I must prioritize.  

Every role we serve in, from parent to educator to administrator, comes with priorities.  It's up to us in each role to figure out what's important.  And I will say that those important things shift seasonally, but one thing that will always be important is people.  So, I must temper myself when I say that dreaded phrase and phrase it in a respectful, caring way, so that I don't sever those relationships.

So, that's what I'm working on lately, prioritizing, and still being respectful. What are you working on?

I Get It {Finally}!

I've never professed to be a quick wit...always having a witty reply a day or so later.  But tonight at dinner, out at a crowded restaurant with my family, I finally got something my "Mentoring AP" has been saying for some time.

See, when the going gets tense, stressful, or may seem overwhelming, our admin tend to offer rewards for staff to jump in and do a little extra.  

Let me give you an example.  It's mid spring semester.  If you are a 3rd-5th grade teacher, you are feeling the urgency (or should) to press on towards STAAR (or your own standardized test).  You've still got to input grades, run reports for your admin team on your student data, meet with families of students you are concerned about, plan with your team, plan for yourself, meet as a faculty for staff meetings, maybe even collect forms for various types of things like pictures, field trips, middle school registration, progress reports, and on and on like this.  So, then your admin team asks (strongly encourages) some on your team to step up and offer to tutor for an academic camp after school or on a Saturday, not just one time, but multiple times, and you are D-O-N-E.  I mean, ready to scream, walk out the door, throw your papers in the air, just DONE.  So, your admin team offers extra jeans day passes, special rewards like a duty (lunch or recess) coverage, or some other reward for you to do this.  

This is where my "Mentoring AP" steps in.  "Why should we offer a reward for something that is part of your job?"  To which I would say, "But they are tired, feeling overwhelmed, overworked, etc and need something to help."  To which she would reply, "But it's their job.  You get a paycheck, that's your something." And to be fair, at my campus, staff are paid for their extra time to tutor or come on Saturdays, so it's a "something" beyond their salary.

So tonight at dinner with my youngest and husband, we were seated next to a table that obviously had a firstborn toddler in a high chair.  The Mom, Dad, and Grandmother were hyper-focused on this child, getting them an uncooked tortilla (dough) to play with, wiping every mess up immediately, etc.  Then I hear the Mom ask the waitress for an ice cream and leans over to the toddler telling her how proud she was that she could sit still through dinner and earned a reward, the ice cream.  And that's when the light bulb went off for me.  I sat there mouth hanging for a couple of minutes and then leaned over to my husband, also a teacher, and said "Can you believe that?  That kid is getting rewarded for something that is expected...to sit still during dinner, and behave.  This isn't the FFPS league.  We shouldn't reward them for something that is their job?!"

See, I know it can be stressful and seem like the work is never ending and want to give up, because I've been there, and I'm sure I'll be there again.  But seriously, working a little harder, giving a little more, bumping up that urgency for our students sake should just be our job.  We shouldn't have to be rewarded or "strongly encouraged" to do this.  We should just do it for our student's sake.  They deserve our very best.  They deserve for us to give a little more to help them be successful.

So, though the job be daunting, we should WANT to do more, be more, help more, encourage more for our students, not just because it's our job, but because we want to, without reward or incentive. Those incentives can be nice, but we should just want to for our student's sake and for no other reason.

Anyways, that's my two cents...and I can say, "I get it finally."

Responsible Criticism

I know the title of this post might be an oxymoron, so let me explain.

Social media can be both good and bad, can both work in our favor and against us, so it's something to be used responsibly.  In the last month, I've had an issue come up with two separate business and when I couldn't find a resolution at the local store, I took to social media to see if something could be done.

The first incident occurred when a business wouldn't honor one of those peel off coupons on a product that I needed on an emergency basis for my home.  When I asked why, the sales clerk couldn't explain why, just reiterating that they didn't honor them.  Knowing that I HAD to have this product to fix something in my home, I just accepted it and went on to my van.  But as I sat in the parking lot, I got upset, not getting an explanation that seemed reasonable.  Seemed crazy to me, as literally every place honors those manufacturer's coupons stuck to products, so I took to the business' Facebook page to ask why they wouldn't honor a $0.65 coupon, snapping a picture of my receipt to prove my point.  Within a half hour or so, the manager replied telling me the cashier was new and didn't know their policy and requesting that I bring in my receipt so he could give me a full refund.  I, in turn, replied explaining that I only wanted my $0.65, stating that he needed to stay in business too.  When I returned to the store to get it all solved, he did indeed give me a full refund.

The second incident involved my van.  2012 model, 58,965 miles and the transmission goes out in the middle of Monday morning traffic.  Stranded, I called my insurance for a tow to my personal mechanic, who confirmed my suspicions by lunch time.  I then called the company to find out what my options were, and was able to get it towed to the nearest dealer for free and to be repaired for free.  But what happened at the dealer sent my blood pressure through the roof.  They couldn't accept my mechanic's findings, which I was OK with, but they also couldn't give me a replacement to drive until they could diagnose it, which turned out to take 6 days.  In the meantime, I had no family vehicle to drive and had to depend on extended family for a ride.  I was even insulted on one phone call to the service dept, telling me I needed to put myself in the company's shoes.  I took to Twitter to tweet how upset I was with the service directly to the corporation in Michigan.  Within an hour, I got a message back requesting more info to which I replied with all the info.  The end result, which is still not final yet, was that I got a replacement to drive, and the dealer service dept was shut down until they could clear out their back log of cars needing service.  A win-win in my book, hoping that others in my shoes wouldn't have to wait nearly a week, without a car to drive, for a problem covered under warranty to just be "looked at", not actually repaired yet.

After these two incidents and knowing that social media worked in my favor, it does make me think, what if it didn't?  What if my remarks led to someone losing their job, their livelihood for their family?  Would that be responsible criticism?  Now I know this post might not have an educational slant to it, but what if it did?  What if all we do at our schools is share criticism?  Without any solution in mind, just aimless criticism, complaining?  Is that helpful?  I think not.  We need to be responsible with our criticism.  To have a solution in mind, or to think of how it impacts others.  We need to be someone who energizes others to action, not drain them to empty.

Sensory Overload?

I've got self diagnosed sensory issues.  I'm not making light of folks who truly suffer from this, I've just noticed some things about myself as I'm getting older.  My husband tells me that I'm an 80 year old woman in a 39 year old body.  Noises really bother me and as with most things when tiredness creeps in, it gets worse.  So here's what happened this week...

In my new role this school year (Campus Testing Coordinator), I knew that busy times would happen, but I told myself that it was OK, because it was just seasonal.  Still true.  The difference between what I do now and being a classroom teacher, is that as a classroom teacher the busyness is same throughout the year.  It's steadily busy, almost no down time, so you don't notice those lulls in activity quite so much.  Teaching is running a marathon all the time, but you don't care because you see the students smiles, lights going off in their brains, and you know it's all worth it.

These past couple of weeks have been extremely busy, working till 7pm most nights preparing for the first round of STAAR, managing my daughter's choir concerts, family, church, and other school commitments, even on weekends.  No down time.  The noises began to get to me and I found myself seeking quiet times wherever I could get them, but as I got more and more tired, even the smallest of noises began to send me seeking relief inward, through sleep, but I just couldn't get enough.  Again, my husband jokes that I can sleep through anything.  I've slept through hurricanes, severe weather, even through plane rides missing the Aurora borealis as we flew into Alaska one time.  So imagine, if you will, a overworked, tired, mind won't stop person who hears the dishwasher running, the water flowing, the TV blasting the kids favorite show on Sprout, the refrigerator door opening and slamming, the child tapping their cup on the table over and over, the youngest chatting away about school and books, your oldest trying to relay information about choir practices/concerts, the D-Hall she got for tardies, the husband telling you about a night he needs to work late, the supplies he needs for his own class, the staff at school relaying information that is important to them about STAAR, asking questions, even the air conditioner sound in my van...after a while, I just want to put my fingers in my ears and make it stop.  You might be nodding your head about now, either knowing what I'm talking about or thinking "Seriously, get over it."  And if you are in the later category, you are not alone.  I've said that to people before, not understanding why they acted that way.

But here's what it did for my perspective...How many times do we miss those subtle clues about our own students?  How many times do our students try to tell us in body language, in facial expressions, in other non-verbal ways that they need a personal time-out for their own sanity?  Not because they are trying to be rude, defiant, or disrespectful, but so they can survive and regroup and move on.  I hope I take time, and I hope you take time to watch, observe, ask yourself (and myself) questions, and then think about ways we can provide what our students need.  Maybe they need a quiet island, maybe a space under your desk to regroup themselves.  Do we acknowledge that they need this or do we tell them to "get over it."  Just something to think about as we move further into testing season and into the spring long haul of the school year.

Lessons from my Beauties

I have 3 daughters, that I call Beauty #1, Beauty #2, and Beauty #3.  Respectively, they are 16, 11, and 5.  Each one is completely unique in all aspects and each one has taught me some important life lessons along our journey as parents that have carried over into my teaching career.

Beauty #1 is has seen me work hard, working a full time job, and having gone back to school full time at the same time.  She has taken this to heart and shows me every day how driven she is and rock steady she is in her life.  She reminds me a lot of myself at that time in my life, but as any parent would most likely say, she outdoes me and I'm proud of her for that.  She has taken a full course load at her high school, where almost every class is either dual credit or AP type for 2 years now.  She even went to summer school, earning more dual credit, when she could have rested all summer.  She's on track to graduate HS with nearly 1 year of college credit under her belt.  She is my reminder to never give up, to set goals, to work hard towards those goals, and to not let obstacles get you down.  She is the essence of the word perseverance.

Now, Beauty #2 is unique in the looks department with her crazy, long, unruly, naturally curly hair, that causes me much anguish, but causes her great pride.  She is my most disorganized child, but also my most creative.  She finds joy in being different and never takes others criticism personally, just telling me that they are just jealous that she has something unique that they wish they had.  Beauty #2 is also gifted in her education, but is a very well rounded child, who loves to read, sing, and cook.  She reminds me daily that it's ok to be different, for after all, how will you stand out in a crowd, if you aren't different.  She is the walking embodiment of unique.

Beauty #3 came along in our life when we thought we were done being blessed with children, and she is a joy in every sense of the word.  She loves, laughs, and plays with her whole being.  She is a total family girl, always asking to go to Grandma's and her favorite cousin's home.  She is an attached Mommy and Daddy's girl, our shadow.  Beauty #3 is a chatterbox, loving to talk about anything under the sun, play games, and just be together with those she loves.  She is my daily reminder that it's ok to have fun, to laugh, enjoy time with family, and to just be.

While Beauty #1, #2, and #3, all are my pride and joy, they have each taught me some important life lessons that I hope we can all teach to our students at school.  Work hard, never give up!  Embrace who you are, God gave you those gifts! And love, laugh, and enjoy now...the present is a special gift you can't get back!