Posted in Psychology
This is a great success story for mental health. It is now federal law that insurance companies must provide mental health benefits to members at the same rate they provide physical benefits.
On one hand, it’s too bad that companies must have a law to tell them to do this. On the other hand, I am so glad that millions will receive psychiatric and psychological services for the same copy they receive for a trip to the regular MD. My wife made a great comment, she noted that often the mental health of a person is even more important than their physical health. It can cure, heal, depress, and even cause suicide death if not treated in many situations. For these reasons, this law strengthens working America. The article is linked below, check it out.
Parity law requires mental health benefits comparable to physical care benefits – washingtonpost.com.
Posted in Inspiration
Yes, those wonderful words were likely uttered by my friend’s Principal recently as some kids were told they’d done enough damage to the school-year and were asked to leave. One was given independent study, the other kicked out … for good reason. Apparently, his parent gave the school a false address in order to attend. I have no idea why. The school is getting more prestigious in the inner city where it sits but it is hardly a place yet where one would lie about their address to attend.
It is more probable the student couldn’t get in somewhere else … due to fighting … due to suspensions … I’m not sure. They were both fighters who showed little respect for teachers. In times like these when justice is served, it can feel like inspiration to teachers. With these particular kids, the teachers had patiently gone through all the avenues of referrals and classroom discipline etc. It was beyond their control when the students both, in their own way, continued to make learning difficult for the students around them.
I’m not a big fan of showboating “justice” at another’s expense. At the same time, isn’t that what justice is all about? All I know is that their former classrooms will a lot more conducive to learning now that justice has been served. In my classroom, there are many days when I don’t document a repeat offender. I just try and get through the lesson. That is wrong, I see that now. I need to be tireless in documenting when these type disrupt class. My friend is like that, and justice is now the result.
I am all for giving second chances but how many should you give kids who seem unable to respect the rules of the classroom? I had heard too many stories from my friend. You can be VERY forgiving all year and lose a lot of learning opportunities. -OR- You can document students who disrupt over and over again to one day eventually, deliver them back to their parents. I know my friend is rejoicing that “towing the line” and following lengthy discipline procedures paid off in the end.
Posted in Podcast
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We so often talk about the wild side of life. In movies, in books, even in our own imaginations we seek that wild craziness so often seen. I remember as a kid growing up in the 70’s a show called “Thrill-seekers” where people sought out their wild side on film. Hang-gliders, crazy motorcycle jumps (Evel Kenievel anyone?), and all random forms of extreme sports to get to the core of living. Nowadays we see “extreme” in everything from bubble gum to Saturday morning cartoons for kids. We are told it is valuable to test your limits and follow the animal within. I have to agree this has some value but we should not lose sight of the value of things that hold us back, or keep us reined in.
I saw the promoter of my upcoming gig had put in the credits describing me as a musician and a teacher. At first I thought that would make me less interesting as a musician if people knew I was a local teacher. On second thought I realized that not everyone is a teacher. It could actually be a good thing to note when promoting a show. As a teacher I am very “penned in” with requirements and obligations. I am held to strict review of my students’ scores and well-being and the process of being a teacher in a school year is often not as fun as some would assume. At the same time, there are moments, like a guitar recital for example, where I get to release my creative work and show it off. Mostly, I take joy in watching the kids perform what they have worked on. Seeing them happy, makes me happy. Almost sounds like “The Giving Tree” doesn’t it? Well, I hope when I retire I am a little better off than a stump!
Being a teacher, by nature of the job, requires discipline. I am not the most disciplined nor am I the least. But I think society recognizes that any teacher is “held” by that discipline at some level and therefore can be trusted. I could be wrong but that’s just how I see it. I wanted to do the podcast today on the things that hold you. Whatever you do that requires an alarm clock beside your bed builds your character. I’d encourage you to seek out the “wild side” of life. At the same time, don’t forget the value of the things that hold you.
Posted in Faith
March 13, 2010 – 11:59 am
I am sure there are people who have read my blog who think I am quite taken with myself. That couldn’t be further from the truth. I am my biggest critic, always trying to fix what is wrong with myself and rarely sitting back to enjoy my achievements. I see life and blogs as processes that are always resetting themselves. Under the surface of my blog is a person who believes in the value of humility (regardless of how it may appear).
Jesus talked about being humble. In addition, there are Proverbs in the Old Testament that exalt humility (oxymorons of each other?) In the same way, I admire people who are sincerely humble. Jesus talked about doing things for our heavenly Father to see and not for men to see. This is easier said than done. We can “fake” humility expecting rewards. This is NOT true humility. Humility “does” for the betterment of the other person. It is more a state of mind than a way of speaking or acting.
Today, for example, I dropped my dog off to get groomed. We have waited too long this time and her Lhasa Apso fur is a bit matted. We’ve made this mistake before and when we do it’s always an ordeal getting a lecture from the groomer.
Today, the groomer was humble and gave me some friendly advice on how we can avoid her hair getting so matted for next time. Without going into details, she was friendly and used general statements rather than blaming me for the dog’s hair being so long. Now, I agree we need to make sure we get in there sooner, but it was nice to not be yelled at about it. The woman was an example of a humble servant, and I appreciated it.
Now for the personal application: How do you serve others? Maybe it’s on your job or with your friends. Do you point fingers or are you a humble servant? Something to think about.
Posted in Blogging A to Z
Just like the many mens ties I’ve worn through the years, I’ve used a myriad of methods and formats to host and insert photos into my blog posts. I have learned a lot and come up with some “non-negotiables” for my own images.
Don’t use Gallery
Gallery is free and as such there is no support to speak of. If you used the urls of your photos from the gallery and the gallery breaks, all the photos on your site break. There really isn’t anyway to repair that, especially if you have a lot.
Don’t use the native Wordpress image upload and self-hosting features
If you use Wordpress that is. The problem with this is that when you change themes, your images can potentially all be affected. So what should you do?
Create an “Images” folder on your sever
You can resize your photos with the width=”xx” declaration in the img line. Or, you can resize them manually with Photoshop. Don’t use the “WYSIWYG” editor in Wordpress to make your image links. Instead, use the html editor.
I have found that using these features to hardcode my images hosted in a dedicated “images” folder is the best way to feature and backup my images. What method do you use to host and insert images on your blog.
Posted in Blog Safari
This is a weekly collection of 6-12 excellent posts and stumbles I ran across through the week. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.
Posts:
Predictions for the Academy Awards – DJ/Blogger Malcolm lists his predictions or the Academy Awards. Now that they’re over … see if he was right! I always like to promote his blog because it is a really cool way to keep in touch with pop culture and read about what’s happening.
Sweet Romantic Pickup Lines that Work – Chelle write this clever and fun post on her blog last week. I loved it. Not that I need them these days as a married man ;) But they are fun anyway. I’m also not saying they will have you going out buying wedding favors if you use them, again … they are just a whole bunch of fun.
Site Speed: an Important SEO Factor – DiTesco writes about this highly interesting topic. Included are resources to check your site speed.
Citrus Jerky – Holly writes a review of some really exciting new flavors of jerky.
Top Stumbles:
Inspiration in Uncommon Sources – This gives some great insights into getting inspired in some of the most unthought of ways.
Those Lovely Illiterate Christians – This sign shows one reason I find it hard sometimes to ally myself with “Christians.” People who make signs should spell them correctly.
Sketchy Santas – By far the most fun I’ve had at a blog in a long long time.
Posted in Teaching
With about 34 teaching days left until the high stakes California standards test, I and my colleagues are sprinting toward the finish line. I’ve done a few things to make sure my kids get what they need to grow. As teachers, we have many measures we use to determine if we’ve been successful but the standards test is a universal parameter. That’s why test-prep is crucial this time of year.
I’ve been using all sorts of sample questions up on the screen to model through guided practice and assign as independent practice. The results are good but I have a ways to go until I can really sleep soundly.
This is one of the most difficult jobs in the sense that you do all you can and work tirelessly to teach when ultimately the way you appear as a teacher dictates your career. Don’t get me wrong, I believe that if you work hard and target the right things, you will have good test scores. It’s just very nerve wracking sometimes knowing that the perception of you lay in the hands of 104 kids on a single test.
I believe my kids will do well but there is always that extra thing I can do … I’m never done until test day.
Any teachers out there getting butterflies about the test?
My after-school guitar students always come in with two questions: “When can I take a guitar home” and “Can I have a pick.” To the first question I reply that they need to play 3 chords reasonable well before I will let them take a school guitar home. To the second I say: “Learn to play the guitar first, then get your own pick.” The fact is, a pick is only necessary and helpful when you actually know how to play something. Kids are surprised to find nowadays to see that the Guitar Heroes on 