THE ONE WHERE I CHOSE TO WORK PART TIME 1995-1996

THE ONE WHERE I CHOSE TO WORK PART TIME 1995-1996 *Wichita Public Schools: Earhart Environmental Magnet  K-5 Library

1995 School Year Photo 

I made the right decision to cut back to a part time contract so I could be home part of the time with 3 year old Logan and 6 month old Lane. One thing I did not consider before I had accepted my new job at Earhart Environmental Magnet was the earlier starting time of 8:00 AM. It was also a 30 mile round trip. Fitness has always been a part of Brads and my lives and I remember that he and I would take turns getting up at 4:30 AM so that we could exercise. I have always felt that my working out in the morning made me an energetic teacher.

Back in the mid 1990’s magnet schools were a pretty awesome experience. Students had to apply to be accepted and parents had to buy into the curriculum. Some schools were considered neighborhood magnets which met that if you lived in the area your child would automatically attend that school. I think my first year or two at Earhart we were a traditional magnet and pretty certain by my third and final year we were a neighborhood magnet. All magnet schools had a theme and our was the Environment. Our school would take students on campouts and had units of study that the entire school focused on at the same time. 

I was happy to accept the fact that my Tuesday-Thursday schedule did take advantage of me. Working for 14 days that I was not paid for was OK if it allowed me to be home part time for our boys. 

I am not certain if the staff liked my use of flexible library scheduling. I do recall being able to do some great lessons that I collaborated on with various staff members. It was at Earhart where first embraced the idea of student ownership of the Library. You may or may not know this but USD 259 Librarians have NO clerical help! Not only do Librarians teach a full load of daily classes but they must maintain and upkeep the Library. It is almost an impossible task. I started having students come into the library during their lunch recesses to help me shelf books. I devised a system where Fiction books shelves were labeled yellow, Easy bookshelves were labeled pink and nonfiction was labeled blue. Every individual shelf in the library was color coded and labeled. My student lunch helpers would take the library books I had already turned in and put them on the end of the shelves they thought they should go on. I was then able to quickly shelf our library books. Library Media Services came out and filmed some of my students “laying out” non-fiction books with their Dewey Decimal numbers. They featured the segment on their math TV show called Googleplex. 

I had the opportunity to work with some phenomenal teachers including Kim Morrisey PE, Tim Workman Music, Velma Davis 4th Grade and Alan Herbert aka PROFESSOR Kindergarten. 

As I continue my blog, there are some years that I don’t remember much about the school year. When you are a working Mother with children sometimes the years blend into one another. I will always share with you my photo from that year but what I write about will not necessarily be about that school year, building or district. One such topic might be WHY DO SOME CLASSROOM TEACHERS THINK THAT BEING A SPECIALS TEACHER IS EASY? Another topic might be TEACHER ON TEACHER BULLYING (it is more common than you think.). Anyway stay tuned for my next entry on 9/11/21 entitled THE ONE WHERE WE WORKED TO THE CONTRACT 1996-1997: *Wichita Public Schools: Earhart Environmental Magnet K-5 Library