Leading From The Heart

by Tracy Rosen, teaching & consulting since 1996, blogging about it here since 2007. All views are my own and you should take them with a grain of salt, I do.

Year: 2009

  • Professional Development Meme 2009

    I’ve been tagged by Greg Cruey, who came across this at Clif’s Notes recently.

    Directions

    Summer can be a great time for professional development. It is an opportunity to learn more about a topic, read a particular work or the works of a particular author, beef up an existing unit of instruction, advance one’s technical skills, work on that advanced degree or certification, pick up a new hobby, and finish many of the other items on our ever-growing To Do Lists. Let’s make Summer 2009 a time when we actually get to accomplish a few of those things and enjoy the thrill of marking them off our lists.

    The Rules

    NOTE: You do NOT have to wait to be tagged to participate in this meme.

    * Pick 1-3 professional development goals and commit to achieving them this summer.
    * For the purposes of this activity the end of summer will be Labor Day (09/07/09).
    * Post the above directions along with your 1-3 goals on your blog.
    * Title your post Professional Development Meme 2009 and link back/trackback to http://clifmims.com/blog/archives/2447.
    * Use the following tag/ keyword/ category on your post: pdmeme09.
    * Tag 5-8 others to participate in the meme.
    * Achieve your goals and “develop professionally.”
    * Commit to sharing your results on your blog during early or mid-September.


    My Goals

    • Read the book Why Students Don’t Like School and participate in the book club conversation around it over at Dangerously Irrelevant
    • Become more familiar with the new courses I will be teaching come September, including understanding the learning evaluation situations that go along with them

    Ethics and Religous Culture,  Current World Events,  the new History program,  and Visual Arts

    • Develop a personal website to house my blogs and class pages in one space

    My Tags

    David Fordee

    Jose Vilson

    Siobhan Curious

    Elona Hartjes

    Micheal Doyle

  • they were the best of times…

    …they were the – you get the idea.

    Yesterday I signed all of the paperwork then waited around for 5 hours and got the keys to my new house! I didn’t really wait around as much as drove around – luckily my father decided to take the day off of work to accompany me. We went out for lunch, we drove around the countryside, he bought me a mailbox – the kind with the little red flag to tell me when I have mail (original ‘you’ve got mail’ notification). We checked out the painting that was begun on my house. It’s barn board grey, which will look nice with the red roof.

    That evening my car decided to go berserk and this morning I had to tow it to the dealership, making me late for work. A whole bunch of money later and it’s well again.

    Today one of my students didn’t show for an important exam. He’s sabotaging himself and I can’t help but feel wounded myself.

    Tomorrow we will have our closing ceremonies and our computer that has all of the certificates I need to print and then laminate to hand out during the ceremony decided to stop working. I’m also in charge of the decorating committee so tomorrow will be a long day.

    Then I move on Saturday morning.

    I’m so thankful for…

    • My father, who was by my side throughout my signing extravaganza yesterday
    • Helen, who is organizing the amazing gang of people who are going to help me move on Saturday – herself, Ross, Stephane, Tara, Magda, Laura, Liz, Bill, Angus, and Lucinda.
    • Both of my parents, who are taking care of my 2 dogs for these few days before the move AND who are going to provide food and drinks for us all once we finish the move.
    • The kids – Vanessa, Alyssa, Melissa, and Ashley – who are running with their decorating committee duties
    • The towing guy, who hung around at the dealership to give me a lift to work afterwards
    • Marie, for keeping an eye on the decorating tasks yesterday while I took the day off to sign
    • Walter, who drove me to the dealer at the end of the day today
    • Lucinda, who is on her way over to help me finish my packing
    • Krissy, who stuck out that history exam to the very end despite being frustrated and unsure of what she knew

    Life is good and so much easier because of all of you.

  • Know your stuff, then…

    …do what feels right.

    My practice distilled into one sentence, a sweet mélange of head and heart.

    Illustration of Hearts and Brains, Pixel & Light Design. Click for source.
    Illustration of Hearts and Brains, Pixel & Light Design. Click for source.

    This past week it’s been repeating like a mantra behind all of the activity – know your stuff, do what feels right.

    Stuff, of course, bears a lot of weight. Stuff can consist of curriculum, management, theory, school culture, student background, and more.

    What feels right is where the teacher becomes artist. This year I regained my own trust in the do what feels right category. I spent much of my year looking to others for approval and recognition as it was my first year in this position and I really wanted to a) do a good job (as defined by others, I learned) and b) keep the position. Only in April did I realize this, that I wasn’t doing what felt right enough of the time.

    Big lesson I learned this year. From my kids, from my colleagues.

    Have I mentioned lately that I wouldn’t change my job for anything?

    Know your stuff, do what feels right.

    I just happened to find a blog post, written in a much more scholarly manner! on the same topic by Penny Ryder, Unity of the Head and Heart.

  • Latest Goings On

    I’ve got a few things going on lately.

    End of year – I’m creating, invigilating, correcting exams on an ongoing basis. And there are still 2 weeks to go! Of course along with that comes student stress. I teach Grade 11. Some of my students won’t graduate this year, some will, some are unsure. The emotional vista in my classroom is panoramic.

    Lacrosse – We (not me, the boys at school) made it to the championship game and are silver medal finalists in the GMAA this year! We had a great season – what an accomplishment for a team that did not exist 3 years ago.

    laxactionshot

    Unfortunately our final game was a huge blow out, both in terms of the score and the atmosphere surrounding it. The winning team had a large number of student supporters at the game, which is normally a great thing. It adds spirit and excitement. Not this time. The fans were heckling our players and our coaches. The officials were not experienced enough to really deal with the situation and they basically lost control of the game.

    There was an underlying current, steeped in history, of hatred and animosity between the two teams – one French and one predominantly Mohawk.

    One of the officials called over some police officers who were patrolling the area to help keep control of the crowd so our players could safely make their way to our bus after the game. Can you believe that even the school’s principal was involved in intimidating and verbally harassing some of our players? It was that out of control.

    We have a facebook group to which members of the opposing team posted racist and bigoted comments during the weekend after the game. I was shocked. It’s one thing to call things out in the heat of a game but quite another to post comments a day or two or 3 later. One player even posted one of the most disgusting images I have ever seen. Obviously I have changed the permissions on the group and banned those members. We’ve also made an official letter of protest to the league, to which I am awaiting an answer.

    Moving – After 3 unsuccessful offers to purchase homes, I have finally purchased a house! The signing date is next week and I am moving in on the 13th of June. I’m moving out of province so the move will not only give me a new address and phone number but I’ll need to get a new driver’s license and plates for my car. It’s a reconditioned farmhouse, built in 1910, on 2 acres of land. I am very excited and feel slightly overwhelmed with all that needs to be done, not to mention the money that is pouring out of my pockets, over the next little while.

    newhouseanddrive

    Just to make things a bit more exciting – I took in a new dog 2 weeks ago. An 8-month old pug named Jacob.

    Jacob at a Lacrosse game in 28 degree heat.
    Jacob at a Lacrosse game in 28 degree heat.

    He is in constant motion, except for when he passes out for 15 minutes or so at a time. He had been abused and you could definitely tell the first 2 days I had him. I brought him to work his first 3 days with me and he spent those days sleeping in the arms of students. I swear they healed him. He and Toby play well together and I barely have a sliver of space to myself on my bed now, not to mention at my computer desk.

    Toby got fed up with Jacob sleeping next to me so he muscled his way in between us.
    Toby got fed up with Jacob sleeping next to me so he muscled his way in between us.

    Yup. Life is busy, life is full. Looking forward to summer :)

  • Teacher as Container

    I’m groggy because I was woken early and then made the mistake of going back to sleep for the hour or so before my alarm rang at 5:45. My sleeps lately are fitful, at best. Oh the joys of end of year!

    We began our first ministry exams this week. This week my role has shifted somewhat, from teacher to invigilator. I’m no longer working with content and structure but with time and stress management. For some of my students, these exams are their last for others they aren’t so sure. The stress is palpable.

    A few years ago, when I was working on my Masters project in Human Systems Intervention – a project where I consulted with a small school to help them rediscover their focus – I read an article called Consultant as Container: Assisting Organizational Rebirth in Mandela’s South Africa. This article comes to mind often as I work with high school students, especially given the kind of work that I do. The premise is that when the consultant is able to work with clients in a way that they absorb their feelings of anxiety, despair (*insert emotion here*), they (clients and consultant) are able to address those emotions and work together towards change.

    I definitely absorb student emotion. That’s part of my job, especially at exam time. For students who are so stressed that it is presenting in behaviour (from tears to sleeping in to violence) I meet with them individually in a separate room and try to get them to talk it out. I tell them to get it off their chests, leave it in the room. I’m not going to judge, I’m just giving them a chance to share their stress so they don’t need to deal with it all on their own.

    I am starting to distinguish between my own anxiety or stress and that of my students – or maybe I am trying to convince myself that I’m not as stressed as I feel in order to keep sane for the next few weeks ;)