This year marks my 20th year in Minnesota. Having grown up on the East Coast I thought I knew everything, I found I did not. Here are a few things I've learned in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.
1. We are in charge of nothing, nature is a powerful force, tornadoes take buildings apart with ease and relocate the pieces across the countryside. Hail the size of baseballs do damage, especially to cars left outside because someone took all the room in the garage with his "stuff." Dents galore create a more aerodynamic car according to my one and only. 40 degrees below zero does make your eyes sting, your breath freeze and really wakes you up in a hurry when you step outside.
2. People with real blonde hair and blue eyes do exist and not only that, there are a lot of them!
3. Chicken does not originate in traypack at the supermarket. People actually discuss the best ways to kill chickens, some whip them over their heads to snap the neck, others use the knife and I'm sure there are more ways, these are the most frequently sited in my company.
4. Huge farm implements drive down the road, like everyone else! I can't name any of them, but they are impressive.
5. People love their Minnesota Twins, not because they are bizzion dollar athletes but because they are scrappy. People love their Minnesota Vikings because they like to have their hearts broken.
6. People love the water and they go up North to get to it. (As opposed to migrating south to the shore and ocean.) People just don't sit and bake in the sun, they camp, fish, kayak, walk the trails or bike them...they do stuff at the lake!
7. There is nothing as exciting in spring as looking at the perfect rows in the fields and seeing the corn break through. It grows to knee high by the 4th of July, rises to the sun and then golden against the autumn sky. Late at night, the farmers are out, lights on their combines in the fields taking in the harvest. Honest, hard work, honest hardworking people.
8. Cows are big and their calves are adorable, racing to catch up with Mom, leaning against her for comfort and security.
9. When it's light, it's light and when it's dark, it's dark. Summer the sun is up around 5 am and twilight lasts until 10 pm; Winter, sun up at 7:45 am and down at 4:30. It's amazed me for 20 years.
10. Minnesota is a great place to raise kids, get a great education, make wonderful kind and caring friends (although I do miss some dear friends back East) and meet the greatest guy around...my Mr. Schmidt.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Saturday, May 12, 2012
One of Those Weeks, Take Two
Looking at my last post, it reflected what goes wrong. This week was another one of those weeks, but instead of what goes wrong, it was filled with what is so very right. I was privileged to be part of and witness the power of passion.
Farmington is a QComp district and at FHS, we work to make the most of the program. One part of the program are Professional Development Plans and Portfolios. The Plans are ideas, concepts and action plans teacher want to use to improve student achievement, the portfolios are the data and artifacts. A small group of us review both and what we saw amazed us. Teachers at their innovative best, doing great things in their classroom and students responding. It was breathtaking.
As we read the documents, the air in the room became charged..."read this!" "Look at that, we need to have that shared with the whole staff.!" We couldn't stop reading and we couldn't stop talking. The dedication of the FHS staff to the achievement of 1,900 students is simply inspiring. It was for us a day of celebration.
This brings me to the larger picture. I spent many a day in meetings during my tenure in Corporate America. Virtually every meeting was concerned with how to get other companies to buy what they probably do not need because that meant higher profits and bigger salaries and bonuses. They were mind-boggling exhausting. I never, ever found a greater purpose in those meetings.
What has thrilled me since I entered the teaching profession 11 years ago is the fire and passion teachers have for their students, for their subject area, for being creative and collaborative...all to bring the best out in each other and in their students. Teachers do not do what they do for money, they do it for the greater good. They do it despite being criticized in person, in public and as fodder for political gain. They do it because they recognize the need for an educated civil society. Our society will not be sustained by ipads and iphones, 24/7 news, reality shows and unadulterated greed. Our society will be sustained by citizens knowing and doing for the greater good, using their amassed knowledge to discern the truth, having compassion and understanding for EVERYONE within our borders.
It is May and some people will begin the chant of teachers have the summer off..how lazy. What I see are teachers stretching to reach students as the final days of the school year race across the calendar. I see teachers looking to next year already. I hear all over FHS teachers looking at the summer as a time to get together to improve, to innovate, to collaborate all in order to educate. That is passion, sweet, sweet passion.
Farmington is a QComp district and at FHS, we work to make the most of the program. One part of the program are Professional Development Plans and Portfolios. The Plans are ideas, concepts and action plans teacher want to use to improve student achievement, the portfolios are the data and artifacts. A small group of us review both and what we saw amazed us. Teachers at their innovative best, doing great things in their classroom and students responding. It was breathtaking.
As we read the documents, the air in the room became charged..."read this!" "Look at that, we need to have that shared with the whole staff.!" We couldn't stop reading and we couldn't stop talking. The dedication of the FHS staff to the achievement of 1,900 students is simply inspiring. It was for us a day of celebration.
This brings me to the larger picture. I spent many a day in meetings during my tenure in Corporate America. Virtually every meeting was concerned with how to get other companies to buy what they probably do not need because that meant higher profits and bigger salaries and bonuses. They were mind-boggling exhausting. I never, ever found a greater purpose in those meetings.
What has thrilled me since I entered the teaching profession 11 years ago is the fire and passion teachers have for their students, for their subject area, for being creative and collaborative...all to bring the best out in each other and in their students. Teachers do not do what they do for money, they do it for the greater good. They do it despite being criticized in person, in public and as fodder for political gain. They do it because they recognize the need for an educated civil society. Our society will not be sustained by ipads and iphones, 24/7 news, reality shows and unadulterated greed. Our society will be sustained by citizens knowing and doing for the greater good, using their amassed knowledge to discern the truth, having compassion and understanding for EVERYONE within our borders.
It is May and some people will begin the chant of teachers have the summer off..how lazy. What I see are teachers stretching to reach students as the final days of the school year race across the calendar. I see teachers looking to next year already. I hear all over FHS teachers looking at the summer as a time to get together to improve, to innovate, to collaborate all in order to educate. That is passion, sweet, sweet passion.
Friday, April 20, 2012
Then there are those weeks....
As we march our way through any given school year, there is a glob of time that moves along. The alarm goes off on Monday morning and the next thing you know it's Friday night. Not a good week, but not necessarily a bad week, it was just a week. Then there are those weeks....
It started off innocently enough but there was a hint of uneasiness. At first I thought it was the upcoming MCA testing extravaganza. Two fabulous days of testing our students on their mastery of reading, writing and math. We reminded them to get sleep Monday night and eat breakfast on Tuesday morning. Standing in front of gittery students our words of comfort went something like this, "Just think every 9th, 10th and 11th grader in Minnesota will be writing and bubbling along with you this morning. In other words, you are not alone in your misery."
Testing over, 9th grade students got back to business the next day. I commend the Civics teacher with whom I am honored to be with twice each day. She has unbridled faith in 9th graders, that is that they can read and comprehend, organize thoughts, use higher order thinking skills, put it all together and communicate effectively. Her faith was sorely stretched. For several days students researched the issues in the Minnesota legislature...racino, Vikings Stadium, Right to Work, and Gay Rights Amendment. Students were to debate the issue. First up was Right to Work. Lined up in desks in the front of the room were three students taking the position for the Right to Work, three others again it. First question out of the box...what is a union? Silence followed.....more silence.....more silence. Finally one student muttered...people pay dues to the company to buy gas....more silence.
Staying with gas, let's move onto gasbags. We all know those folks, people who prattle on and on and your job is to try and figure out what they are talking about and exactly the point of it all. I tend to get a massive headache. At a meeting Thursday morning, our resident gasbag walked in late. Looking up I reminded myself of my prayer on Sunday mornings to not be harsh, not be cruel, not be condesending. 1.5 seconds into his whining I launched in, fist on table and raised voice. A bit later our principal had to call time out. It was not nice...I know what I'll be doing Sunday morning.
What sapped my strength though was drugs and neglect. Drugs derailed a student who I thought was going to make it to graduation in June. I watched a steady decline over the past month. Hoping every day he would turn the corner, he didn't. Next week it is off to treatment, graduation and future on hold. I boil inside knowing we can stop the drugs flooding into our communities, our homes, our schools. But we won't because there is too much money to be made by too many people. A professor I had in college once said, "Big, big business is bad, bad, bad." Drugs are big business.
Neglect and verbal abuse are something you can't see...it leaves no visible marks. You only see the results. One of my students hasn't been home for a while. We held onto a sliver of hope because while not going home, she came to school every day and she tried. This week she didn't until today. Quickly putting emotional support bandaids on as fast as we could, all we can hope is they last until Monday. If they do, she will be back. We've called in Dakota County Social Services. I don't understand the meager response. I do know funds in the county were cut to the bone.
Don't even get me started on the Vikings Stadium and the megabucks the Legislature is about to bestow on the purple and gold. It's been one of those weeks.
It started off innocently enough but there was a hint of uneasiness. At first I thought it was the upcoming MCA testing extravaganza. Two fabulous days of testing our students on their mastery of reading, writing and math. We reminded them to get sleep Monday night and eat breakfast on Tuesday morning. Standing in front of gittery students our words of comfort went something like this, "Just think every 9th, 10th and 11th grader in Minnesota will be writing and bubbling along with you this morning. In other words, you are not alone in your misery."
Testing over, 9th grade students got back to business the next day. I commend the Civics teacher with whom I am honored to be with twice each day. She has unbridled faith in 9th graders, that is that they can read and comprehend, organize thoughts, use higher order thinking skills, put it all together and communicate effectively. Her faith was sorely stretched. For several days students researched the issues in the Minnesota legislature...racino, Vikings Stadium, Right to Work, and Gay Rights Amendment. Students were to debate the issue. First up was Right to Work. Lined up in desks in the front of the room were three students taking the position for the Right to Work, three others again it. First question out of the box...what is a union? Silence followed.....more silence.....more silence. Finally one student muttered...people pay dues to the company to buy gas....more silence.
Staying with gas, let's move onto gasbags. We all know those folks, people who prattle on and on and your job is to try and figure out what they are talking about and exactly the point of it all. I tend to get a massive headache. At a meeting Thursday morning, our resident gasbag walked in late. Looking up I reminded myself of my prayer on Sunday mornings to not be harsh, not be cruel, not be condesending. 1.5 seconds into his whining I launched in, fist on table and raised voice. A bit later our principal had to call time out. It was not nice...I know what I'll be doing Sunday morning.
What sapped my strength though was drugs and neglect. Drugs derailed a student who I thought was going to make it to graduation in June. I watched a steady decline over the past month. Hoping every day he would turn the corner, he didn't. Next week it is off to treatment, graduation and future on hold. I boil inside knowing we can stop the drugs flooding into our communities, our homes, our schools. But we won't because there is too much money to be made by too many people. A professor I had in college once said, "Big, big business is bad, bad, bad." Drugs are big business.
Neglect and verbal abuse are something you can't see...it leaves no visible marks. You only see the results. One of my students hasn't been home for a while. We held onto a sliver of hope because while not going home, she came to school every day and she tried. This week she didn't until today. Quickly putting emotional support bandaids on as fast as we could, all we can hope is they last until Monday. If they do, she will be back. We've called in Dakota County Social Services. I don't understand the meager response. I do know funds in the county were cut to the bone.
Don't even get me started on the Vikings Stadium and the megabucks the Legislature is about to bestow on the purple and gold. It's been one of those weeks.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Sending Them Away
Almost every day I like what I do, working with special education students. I find that most of the time they have a better perspective on life than most adults. They are keenly aware of the human failings because they are the victims of those failings. Some retreat within themselves, others rage, all are wounded. They are doing their best to navigate the expectations, rules, regulations and demands of growing up. Once in a while a student comes along who despite our best efforts to support him, cannot navigate, cannot reach out and hold on, cannot "fake it till he makes it." Today I had to send that student away.
I don't like sending students away, not because of a sense of failure but because I don't like to see a student in such mental anquish, tortured life at this time in his life. As I sat at the meeting and Mom tried to lash out at our failings, tried to put digs into the school for not being up to the task of helping her child. I knew what I had to say and I knew it was going to hurt. Yes, I replied, we are not up to the task. Your child needs more mental health services than we can provide, he is that deeply hurt, in that much pain, is so very lost. With that, Mom put her head down, silent, staring off as we concluded the meeting. She shook my hand at the end, each of us nodding quietly acknowleding the depth of her son's needs.
I walked downstairs into my 1st hour class, looked over at a small, impish 9th grader who has just arrived from another state. He has told me he is not right in his mind. I think he right. I looked at him and thought, we will work hard for him, but how long will it be until I have to gather everyone around the table and send him away.
I like what I do, but not today.
I don't like sending students away, not because of a sense of failure but because I don't like to see a student in such mental anquish, tortured life at this time in his life. As I sat at the meeting and Mom tried to lash out at our failings, tried to put digs into the school for not being up to the task of helping her child. I knew what I had to say and I knew it was going to hurt. Yes, I replied, we are not up to the task. Your child needs more mental health services than we can provide, he is that deeply hurt, in that much pain, is so very lost. With that, Mom put her head down, silent, staring off as we concluded the meeting. She shook my hand at the end, each of us nodding quietly acknowleding the depth of her son's needs.
I walked downstairs into my 1st hour class, looked over at a small, impish 9th grader who has just arrived from another state. He has told me he is not right in his mind. I think he right. I looked at him and thought, we will work hard for him, but how long will it be until I have to gather everyone around the table and send him away.
I like what I do, but not today.
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