I Am Your Plan Break: My 37 years as a Public School "Specials" Teacher

  THE ONE WHERE MY MOM DIED 2010-2011: Wichita Public Schools: White PreK-5 Library The 2010 School year was tough. My Mother had lived with breast cancer for several years. She was going down hill. I started taking off as many monthly Professional Development days that I could. It was easy to be gone on those days because they involved an AM Specials meeting at our School and a PM district wide meeting with other Librarians. I could tell that our district Campus Support LMS did not like that I was gone all the time and missed a lot of these meetings. What could I do?  A strong rumor was floating around that the High School Librarians jobs were going to be cut as a way to save money for the school district. Librarians were allocated on a yearly basis so it became commonplace to wonder if you would have a job the following year? This is due to the fact that when I was a Librarian we were NEVER a part of the contractual planning time that teachers were guaranteed each week....

THE ONE WHEN LIFE SEEMED PERFECT  2009-2010: Wichita Public Schools: White PreK-5 Library Our boys were now in High School at Campus High. We were active in our new church St. Peters. Brad went through RCIA and became Catholic. Our boys attended CYO (though years later they told me they hated it!) We seemed to be a perfect family. I often feel guilty about these years and how I used to be. I was narrow minded and judgemental. If you didn’t fit into my world and point of view, I had nothing to do with you. I missed out on connecting with some great people and family members during this time period. Life and its experiences have a way of opening your heart and allowing you to mend/correct your ways. I am happy to tell you that I have.  I believe that the 2009-2010 school year is when a team of 4th/5th grade girls represented our school in the district's Battle of the Books competion. I am a competitive person and really struggled with getting our participants to read the 100 bo...

THE ONE WHERE I TELL YOU ABOUT HOW TECHNOLOGY CHANGED EDUCATION 2008-2009: Wichita Public Schools: White PreK-5 Library During the 2008-2009 school year I noticed that students' behaviors really started to become more challenging. I honestly believe that this had to do with cell phones now becoming common. I believe that this was the beginning of what I call THE BIG DISCONNECT. As more parents “plugged in” less attention was given to their children. Of course you see it today all the time, a child in a store starving for their parents attention while the parent is paying more attention to their phone. Believe it or not this Technology Teacher believes that Technology will be the death of our society. I tell my students all the time to put down their devices and give them a break. Learn to listen and talk to one another actively. Don’t make Technology such a priority in your life. In my opinion this was the beginning of students' increased need for attention as it was lacking a...

THE ONE WHERE I GOT A SCHOOL DAUGHTER 2007-2008: Wichita Public Schools: White PreK-5 Library. The years that my children were in late Middle School/early high school are a blur to me. I simply do not have too many memories of them. I do know that our family had left St. Cecelia's church to follow our beloved Father Andy to St. Peters. We had discussed the idea of the boys attending Bishop Carroll for high school but decided that it would be too hard of a transition for the boys going from public school to private school. I do believe that this was the school year that Brad joined the Catholic Church. It was also around this time period that my circle of friends centered around my faith and church. I really enjoyed the friendship of these women when it was just us girls alone. When it turned into couples activities it changed things for me. I have to honestly admit that during this time period if you were not a member of my church/faith, you were not my friend. I was a Holy Roller....

Mom doing flash cards with Michelle and I in 1969 Happy Birthday to my first Teacher, my Mother. If my Mother were still alive today she would have been 84 years years old. Today I would like to use my blog entry as a way to honor her and her teaching career. My  20 year old Mom having fun when she was not teaching Mom graduated from Rolette High School in 1956. She then attended Minot State Teachers College where she received her Associates Degree in Elementary Education in 1958. In those days a Bachelor's degree was not required to become an Elementary School Teacher. Her first Teaching contract was for the Max Public Schools where she taught with her older sister Charlene. Mom and Aunt Charlene at the Max High School Prom I recall my Mom telling me that she and her sister were required to attend the school prom and that dates for them were arranged. I also remember my Mom telling me that she would pick out her outfits for the week and polish her nails on Sunday so that eve...

  2006-2007 THE ONE WHERE I TALK TO YOU ABOUT TEACHER ON TEACHER BULLYING 2006-2007 School Photos Fall and Spring I really do not have much to say about the 2006-2007 school year except that these are my favorite photos of me out of the 37 years worth of school photos that I have. Not having much to say about the 2006-2007 school year, I would like to use this blog entry as an opportunity to talk to you about Teacher on Teacher bullying. In my 37 years in the profession I can tell you, it's happened to me on more than one occasion. This is a blog entry I have written and rewritten several times. What approach do I take? A factual approach where I name names, dates, schools and districts? A subtle approach where those of you that are my close friends know the people I am talking about? A journalistic approach where I share other websites and articles with you.    I have been bullied during my career. Some situations were minor and some were intense. In a profession where o...

THE ONE WHERE I GOT TO BE IN ONE BUILDING AGAIN  2005-2006: Wichita Public Schools: White PreK-5 Library 2005-2006 School Year Photo It was great being 6.2 miles from School. Our oldest son would go to school with Brad in the morning and I would drop off our youngest son at his Elementary School. Both boys would come home with Brad. On a no traffic day my commute was less than 10 minutes.  The Professional Development day that had started a few years earlier somewhat forced my Specials Team to be a unified group. Up until then Specials Teachers really only depend upon themselves. The creation of a building schedule was no longer determined by our building. It was now determined by the school district. Although I was NEVER guaranteed a job on a yearly basis (due to Library not being contractual planning time), our PD day pretty much meant that my job would not get cut. As I mentioned in another blog entry the addition of the PD day was the beginning of our district's substitut...

THE ONE WHEN I GOT A HUGE PAY RAISE 2004-2005: Wichita Public Schools: Funston 2-5, White PreK-1 Library I can not find my school photo from the 2004-2005 School year so I have included three staff shots from Funston that I did not put in early blog entries.  Funston Staff 2001-2002 The completion of my Masters degree meant that I got a HUGE pay raise. Sadly if you are going to be a lifelong Teacher, you either need to go into Administration or get your Masters degree to make a decent living wage.  A rainy spring and summer delayed the opening of the blended White/Funston Elementary School. We were told in July to prepare for a January 2005 move. That news greatly upset one parent who felt like it would be too much for the incoming second graders (who had attended first grade at White) to have to go to Funston for just ½ the year. That one parent came up with a committee of other parents to push for 2nd graders to stay at White. The parent group got their way and 2nd graders ...

THE ONE WHERE I FINISHED MY M.ED. PROGRAM 2003-2004 :* Wichita Public Schools: Funston 2-5, White PreK-1 Library 2003-2004 School Year Photo I was in my second year of my M.Ed. program and Funston and White Elementary Schools were now considered one building with one Administrator and an Assistant Principal. A lot of stressful things seemed to be added to my plate.  We were told of a new fantastic opportunity for the staff of USD 259 called PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DAY.  I was already used to teaching my classes (one session a week) in isolation, now  I would have one day of my week dedicated to a rotating schedule so teachers could receive in house professional development. Every minute of the day would be used for this and on PD I would NOT have planning time.  Each grade level got a half day a month for PD. We specialists got a full day a month: building level and district level. Ours was on Tuesdays and meant that classroom teachers would not get planning time on...

o 2002 School Year Photo 2002-2003 THE ONE WHERE WE NO LONGER NEEDED DAY CARE  2002-2003 :* Wichita Public Schools: Funston 2-5, White PreK-1 Library Brad’s new USD 261 School Psychologist job was at Haysville Elementary. I would drop the boys off at school and after school they would walk from Rex Elementary (next door to HMS) and Brad would take the boys home. For the first time in a long time we no longer had the expense of daycare.  Before the start of the school year, I had made arrangements to drop down to a 4 day a week position. I had Fridays off and I used them to work on my Masters degree. I initially felt alone in my M.Ed. program as I was the only “Specials'' Teacher in the group. I sought out other like minded Techie Teachers early in the program to work group projects with. My first official Friday at home though bought our first assignment. I remember taking a break and hanging laundry out on our clothesline. I was sobbing and certain that I made a HUGE mistake ...

THE ONE WHERE WE WATCHED THE TOWERS FALL: 2001-2002: Wichita Public Schools: Funston 2-5 Library 2001-2002 School Year Photo. Almost everyone I knew cut their hair short after 9/11/01 Most teachers remember their 9/11/01 school day story. Here is mine. I would love to hear yours. It was an ordinary September day that soon would become memorable. I dropped the boys off at Rex Elementary and arrived at school about 20 minutes before report time. I was getting ready for my day when Jeff Dohlman, our Art Teacher ran into the Library. He told me “Quick GET THE TV ON!”  Our school had one TV that had cable and it was located in the library. We watched in horror and disbelief as the first of many terrorist attacks began taking place.  My Principal Sonja Seeman made the decision to cancel my Library classes for the day so that the staff could have access to the one TV in the school which was in the Library.. It was a scary day. Because my classes were cancelled I used my time taking ...