Sunday, March 16, 2008
Passion Week
Today is Palm Sunday, which begins Passion (or Holy) Week. It takes us into Resurrection Sunday, also known as Easter. Several events occurred in this historic week, but I am mostly in awe of the fact that this was the week that Christ truly exhibited His passion for man, giving His life for our sins. For those of that time, it was a week of preparation, expectations, and realizations. Today it is a week of prayer, explanations, and revelations...
If you haven't been consistent in your relationship with Christ, allow this week to be your week of Passion for Him. Be passionate with your worship, proclaiming His gospel to anyone who will receive it. My heart is full today and there's a feeling of expectancy within my life. More recently my heart had been heavy during this period of lent and I've spent some sleepless nights with a weeping heart...for what or who, I still do not know...
Prepare yourself this week like at a fighting match. Jesus is the boxer, and He gave us so many HOT moves in the ring against his opponent satan. He used that mighty left hook and jab. He gave the upper cut and combination move. He finished it off with a knock out. Each of those moves mentioned closely tie to scriptural passages we hide in our hearts and use each time we enter our own boxing matches, our obstacles in life.
"For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:36-39)
Are you ready to rumble???
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
And, I Exhaled...and Slept...
Today is the FIRST day in a minute that I have left work before it being completely dark. Yes people, I know we lost that hour over the weekend to have our longer, lighter days. For the past three weeks my life has been consumed with testing. The preparation, the actual test days and make ups, and the packing up of the materials and accounting for everything have kept me from sleeping, tending to normal daily duties, and having a life. My first appointment with our division test folks was today and to echo the words of our division test coordinator, "This is more stressful than taxes." She's right. We, the school test coordinators, sit there and wait as the they go through all of our items with careful inspection. You sit and wait for the mistakes and problems of the documents. A forgotten form, an unaccounted for student, irregularities, etc., etc. I think the stress for me comes in knowing where I was last year and those I had to work with in the process. It was painful and created the type of stress that makes you sick. Fortunately, the process made me stronger and better; I now understand why I had to go through that wilderness experience. To see the rewards of today and hear the words of "over achiever" and "very meticulous" warmed the heart, making the past three weeks worth it. As my supervisor commented today, the thoughtfulness and thoroughness put into ensuring all students were tested and the smooth process have to count for something. Our hope is that our kids will have the results to support the energy and time everyone in the organization put into making this process a success. It felt good to leave the building today, come home, eat and crash for a few hours. I am up for a moment to change out of the clothes, wash the face, brush the teeth and get more rest. While March Madness is still continuing around me I am trying to keep it all in perspective to get the things done that need to be tackled and taken care of...Those that want to see it speak up which means more than they'll ever know.
And, on the discipline horizon...The latest these days are my 3 Stooges that can't keep it together on the bus. I am tempted to remove them from the bus for a while to let them know that their behavior is driving me bonkers. Unfortunately, it's their crazy parents that are the true issue. No one wants to take responsibility; all want to point the finger. AND, this morning I had an issue with a kiddo (on the SAME bus) whose bookbag was "stolen" at the bus stop. Two kids decided it would be funny to put his stuff in a ditch and not say anything. THREE TIMES these two had an opportunity to speak up and say something. This kid didn't have lunch, no homework, and he already struggles...We were having a hard enough time getting information from him about how the bookbag would have ended up in someone else's hands and his not seeing it. Our guidance counselors had to go drive out and get the kid's backpack from the ditch since we could not reach his parents; they were excited to have the road trip and felt like Cagney & Lacey. (I'll save the story of my episode with my 8th grade crew of young ladies who think they own the school...June couldn't come soon enough where they're concerned. And, their story deserves an ENTIRE entry!)
Okay. Enough...I have a conference tomorrow and will be out of the building. I am excited to be going with the three faculty members that are attending. It'll be an insightful day!
OH...Friday there's a dance...Hmph.
And, on the discipline horizon...The latest these days are my 3 Stooges that can't keep it together on the bus. I am tempted to remove them from the bus for a while to let them know that their behavior is driving me bonkers. Unfortunately, it's their crazy parents that are the true issue. No one wants to take responsibility; all want to point the finger. AND, this morning I had an issue with a kiddo (on the SAME bus) whose bookbag was "stolen" at the bus stop. Two kids decided it would be funny to put his stuff in a ditch and not say anything. THREE TIMES these two had an opportunity to speak up and say something. This kid didn't have lunch, no homework, and he already struggles...We were having a hard enough time getting information from him about how the bookbag would have ended up in someone else's hands and his not seeing it. Our guidance counselors had to go drive out and get the kid's backpack from the ditch since we could not reach his parents; they were excited to have the road trip and felt like Cagney & Lacey. (I'll save the story of my episode with my 8th grade crew of young ladies who think they own the school...June couldn't come soon enough where they're concerned. And, their story deserves an ENTIRE entry!)
Okay. Enough...I have a conference tomorrow and will be out of the building. I am excited to be going with the three faculty members that are attending. It'll be an insightful day!
OH...Friday there's a dance...Hmph.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Speed Test
51 words
I'd like to consider myself to be a pretty fast typer; however, I tried this site and found that my average came out to about 50. The worst score in the 40s and my best rate was in the 60s...I think I am faster than what this shows (smile). I'll go back to the site from time to time to see how I am doing!
How fast do you type???
I'd like to consider myself to be a pretty fast typer; however, I tried this site and found that my average came out to about 50. The worst score in the 40s and my best rate was in the 60s...I think I am faster than what this shows (smile). I'll go back to the site from time to time to see how I am doing!
How fast do you type???
Putting March Madness Into Perspective
For anyone who loves college basketball (like me), you're aware that March is the month where tournaments of elimination take place getting us to the final four best teams of the season. During March there are games taking place all day every day. It's a true high for those playing and viewing--what we could call the rising action or even climax of this event. It's absolute madness (in a good way)! For any educator, March is also considered madness. Particularly, middle school teachers. It is a long month with no breaks or holidays. Spring is on the brinks and the kids' hormones are ripe and ready to explode. We're so close to the end, yet not so close that we can shut down...Rather, the reality is there is TONS left in the curriculum to be taught and you're trying to overcome the burnout. And, Spring Break couldn't come soon enough.
My reality comes in seeing an eighth grade girl who is raising herself and is addicted to any drug that will make her forget the problems of life. I am faced with another eighth grader who has just come to our school, is African American, and is freaked out by the cultural differences. Her comfort is in going bad rather than seeing the fresh new start her parents desired to provide her. Now, I am working with a teacher who wants to press charges on her for reasons I can't fully support. A seventh grader that I mentor chooses to hang out late at night and get involved in drama to avoid her home where her mom doesn't exist for always working and her step father stays drunk. I stare at another one of my mentees who hasn't been to a Saturday session in three weeks because he was suspended yet again and still doesn't get where he went wrong. I am battling parents that can't handle their children, but I can't keep the seventh grader in school who is selling cigarettes to his peers at a slightly high rate than what it would be in the stores. I can't encourage the student who is a black male statistic--a whole 3 grade levels behind--refusing to do the work given to him. Not because he doesn't want to do it, but because he doesn't know how and there is no one at home to help him...With every fight that occurs, parents want to defend their children arguing it was in self defense and demand justice. Students are sent to the office for gum chewing, back talking, or skipping; somehow the teachers who sent them don't understand they've now given the children what they want: time out of the classroom. Meanwhile, the teachers of these students are frustrated and feel no support. They battle with the bad blueberries that are tainting the good fruit, making everything go bad.
So, today, March 9, 2008, my March Madness is put into perspective and all is restored even if an hour was lost due to Daylight Savings! What I understand to be true is putting my hands in it will not force the situations mentioned above to get resolved or better. What I know to be true is every situation I have handed over to God has had its own resolution in due season. What I understand to be true is I affect my environment; it doesn't affect me...My supervisor sent me a powerful, encouraging message this morning that gave the analogy of ice cream. Whatever you add to it, your focus is on the cream, not the nuts, sprinkles, fruit, etc. Those added things are just that: added. The truth of the matter is, I am the cream and need to act like it. I work in an environment that truly does have a top down method despite its efforts to work horizontally in team/collaborative methodologies. We set the tone or flavor for all the added "stuff" people like to throw in the mix--good and bad. I remember why I am there and what my purpose happens to be, and I get excited about all the possibilities of what could and should be.
On Friday of this past week, I had the opportunity to meet two awesome Black women in education. Kay Toliver is a retired math teacher from the Harlem, New York Public Schools. She now goes around giving inspirational presentations to educators on having positive learning encounters. She reminded us to get back to the basics, have some humor and fun in the classroom, and live by the C's: caring, connecting, communicating, courage, compassion, conviction, and commitment. Dr. Donna Ford came with the force, pounding us with the hard data of our nation and schools. Her passion and love for advocating the need to become culturally awake to minority students was inspiring and timely. One day I will be her!
Even bigger, though, is putting life into perspective. As I traveled home from church and rounded the ramp to get onto the interstate I saw a goose that was just standing isolated and lost. I wondered to myself, How did you get there? When I got closer, I then saw the dead goose that just lay there next to this goose. Oddly, I felt pain and sadness. The goose would not fly away; it was likley waiting for a flock to come that it could join. Every day of our lives is a day closer to our end, but we complain and focus on the work rather than enjoying the energy, gifts, and time we've been blessed and purposed with to get the work done. I don't ever want to be accused of not waking up and living for the day...Today I am embracing March Madness, not just the basketball tournament but this game called life.
My reality comes in seeing an eighth grade girl who is raising herself and is addicted to any drug that will make her forget the problems of life. I am faced with another eighth grader who has just come to our school, is African American, and is freaked out by the cultural differences. Her comfort is in going bad rather than seeing the fresh new start her parents desired to provide her. Now, I am working with a teacher who wants to press charges on her for reasons I can't fully support. A seventh grader that I mentor chooses to hang out late at night and get involved in drama to avoid her home where her mom doesn't exist for always working and her step father stays drunk. I stare at another one of my mentees who hasn't been to a Saturday session in three weeks because he was suspended yet again and still doesn't get where he went wrong. I am battling parents that can't handle their children, but I can't keep the seventh grader in school who is selling cigarettes to his peers at a slightly high rate than what it would be in the stores. I can't encourage the student who is a black male statistic--a whole 3 grade levels behind--refusing to do the work given to him. Not because he doesn't want to do it, but because he doesn't know how and there is no one at home to help him...With every fight that occurs, parents want to defend their children arguing it was in self defense and demand justice. Students are sent to the office for gum chewing, back talking, or skipping; somehow the teachers who sent them don't understand they've now given the children what they want: time out of the classroom. Meanwhile, the teachers of these students are frustrated and feel no support. They battle with the bad blueberries that are tainting the good fruit, making everything go bad.
So, today, March 9, 2008, my March Madness is put into perspective and all is restored even if an hour was lost due to Daylight Savings! What I understand to be true is putting my hands in it will not force the situations mentioned above to get resolved or better. What I know to be true is every situation I have handed over to God has had its own resolution in due season. What I understand to be true is I affect my environment; it doesn't affect me...My supervisor sent me a powerful, encouraging message this morning that gave the analogy of ice cream. Whatever you add to it, your focus is on the cream, not the nuts, sprinkles, fruit, etc. Those added things are just that: added. The truth of the matter is, I am the cream and need to act like it. I work in an environment that truly does have a top down method despite its efforts to work horizontally in team/collaborative methodologies. We set the tone or flavor for all the added "stuff" people like to throw in the mix--good and bad. I remember why I am there and what my purpose happens to be, and I get excited about all the possibilities of what could and should be.
On Friday of this past week, I had the opportunity to meet two awesome Black women in education. Kay Toliver is a retired math teacher from the Harlem, New York Public Schools. She now goes around giving inspirational presentations to educators on having positive learning encounters. She reminded us to get back to the basics, have some humor and fun in the classroom, and live by the C's: caring, connecting, communicating, courage, compassion, conviction, and commitment. Dr. Donna Ford came with the force, pounding us with the hard data of our nation and schools. Her passion and love for advocating the need to become culturally awake to minority students was inspiring and timely. One day I will be her!
Even bigger, though, is putting life into perspective. As I traveled home from church and rounded the ramp to get onto the interstate I saw a goose that was just standing isolated and lost. I wondered to myself, How did you get there? When I got closer, I then saw the dead goose that just lay there next to this goose. Oddly, I felt pain and sadness. The goose would not fly away; it was likley waiting for a flock to come that it could join. Every day of our lives is a day closer to our end, but we complain and focus on the work rather than enjoying the energy, gifts, and time we've been blessed and purposed with to get the work done. I don't ever want to be accused of not waking up and living for the day...Today I am embracing March Madness, not just the basketball tournament but this game called life.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Guilty Pleasure
Sadly, I feel I have had exposure to every reality television show on the air (to date). I don't know why I'm drawn to watching such filth and craziness. Perhaps it is that I feel better about my own life once I see what these folks are doing. I bet you are thinking I haven't viewed that many shows, so I thought I'd give the rundown of the shows I've seen more than once:
1. American Idol
2. Super Nanny
3. Wife Swap
4. Big Brother
5. Survivor
6. Flavor of Love
7. Salt N Peppa
8. Rock of Love
9. A Shot at Love (Tila Tequila)
10. My Super Sweet 16
11. America's Next Top Model
12. Project Runway
13. Real Housewives of Orange County (and now New York)
14. I Love New York
15. Celebrity Fitness
16. Millionaire Matchmaker
17. My Fair Brady
18. Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders: Making the Team
19. I Want to Look Like a High School Cheerleader (Again)
20. Pimp My Ride
21. The Bachelor
22. Billy Ray Cyrus: Home At Last
23. What Not to Wear
24. 10 Years Younger
25. A Wedding Story
26. A Baby Story
27. Trading Spaces
28. The Simple Life
29. The Apprentice
30. The Girls Next Door
31. Run's House
32. Fabulous Life
33. Snoop Dogg's Father Hood
34. Keeping Up with the Kardashians
35. Growing Up Gotti
36. Tim Gunn's Guide to Fashion
37. Hell's Kitchen
38. The Real World
39. The Osbournes
40. The Biggest Loser
41. Hogan Knows Best
42. Celebrity Rehab
43. The Surreal Life
44. Making the Band
45. Road Rules
46. Dancing With the Stars
46. Dance War
47. Gone Country
48. Bridezilla (sp)
This is a SIMPLE list that I've been able to come up with and I am really only scratching the surface; sadly, I believe I've watched whole seasons of these shows which is far more than two episodes. Currently, I am drawn in by the presidential debates; they are by far the best reality television to grace our screens.
I suppose I felt some conviction today when re-reading a poem by Roald Dahl that my nephew is using for a research paper. The poem is entitled "Television" and it talks about the dreaded idiot box. We're so pulled in by it that we're often missing out on some of the BEST things in life like time with family, reading, outdoor activities, meditation, games, sleeping, etc. While I am not the type that has to rush home or rearrange my schedule to watch one of the mentioned television shows, my intake of all of this does create some alarm. I had a friend that got rid of cable for like a year or two. I also know of many people that don't watch much television. This is the season of Lent, and I was unwilling to give up the television because I didn't want to miss 'A Raisin in the Sun'.
There are no promises that my habit is going to change over night. I am at least aware of my addiction and am going to work at curving this need of watching these shows.
1. American Idol
2. Super Nanny
3. Wife Swap
4. Big Brother
5. Survivor
6. Flavor of Love
7. Salt N Peppa
8. Rock of Love
9. A Shot at Love (Tila Tequila)
10. My Super Sweet 16
11. America's Next Top Model
12. Project Runway
13. Real Housewives of Orange County (and now New York)
14. I Love New York
15. Celebrity Fitness
16. Millionaire Matchmaker
17. My Fair Brady
18. Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders: Making the Team
19. I Want to Look Like a High School Cheerleader (Again)
20. Pimp My Ride
21. The Bachelor
22. Billy Ray Cyrus: Home At Last
23. What Not to Wear
24. 10 Years Younger
25. A Wedding Story
26. A Baby Story
27. Trading Spaces
28. The Simple Life
29. The Apprentice
30. The Girls Next Door
31. Run's House
32. Fabulous Life
33. Snoop Dogg's Father Hood
34. Keeping Up with the Kardashians
35. Growing Up Gotti
36. Tim Gunn's Guide to Fashion
37. Hell's Kitchen
38. The Real World
39. The Osbournes
40. The Biggest Loser
41. Hogan Knows Best
42. Celebrity Rehab
43. The Surreal Life
44. Making the Band
45. Road Rules
46. Dancing With the Stars
46. Dance War
47. Gone Country
48. Bridezilla (sp)
This is a SIMPLE list that I've been able to come up with and I am really only scratching the surface; sadly, I believe I've watched whole seasons of these shows which is far more than two episodes. Currently, I am drawn in by the presidential debates; they are by far the best reality television to grace our screens.
I suppose I felt some conviction today when re-reading a poem by Roald Dahl that my nephew is using for a research paper. The poem is entitled "Television" and it talks about the dreaded idiot box. We're so pulled in by it that we're often missing out on some of the BEST things in life like time with family, reading, outdoor activities, meditation, games, sleeping, etc. While I am not the type that has to rush home or rearrange my schedule to watch one of the mentioned television shows, my intake of all of this does create some alarm. I had a friend that got rid of cable for like a year or two. I also know of many people that don't watch much television. This is the season of Lent, and I was unwilling to give up the television because I didn't want to miss 'A Raisin in the Sun'.
There are no promises that my habit is going to change over night. I am at least aware of my addiction and am going to work at curving this need of watching these shows.
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