Damien at the Speed of Life

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.

I often measure my level of success by those around me. This is not always the best way to success itself. If a colleague of mine has high scores in a given area, I tend to compete to get my just as high. But scores aren’t always the most important target. In fact, I have learned that when I search my heart for the things and methods that matter for my success, the test scores just come automatically. Perhaps that is true with any measure of success in work per se.

One of the quotes on my quote page says: “If at first you don’t succedd, redefine success.” I don’t know who said it but it is a very true axiom. Many times we do the same thing over and over and get nowhere. Some of us are stubborn and refuse to try something new or risky out of fear that it won’t work. The truth is that we must define our own success and find a way there.

Another analogy is from my blogging life. I have had more trouble than you can shake a stick at with the menalto “gallery” software on my blog. In this latest migration/merger on my 4 blogs into one, I have lost all of my internal photos hosted on the gallery software. I have spent the last 3 days trying to get it to work at the new loaction to no avail. The temptation is to get down and dirty in the forums and find a solutions but hosestly, I don’t want to spend another moment on it. I am simply making a folder called “images” where I will host and organize my own pics for the blog and aim at success that way. Mostly I chose this path because I CAN DO IT. All too often, I try to look the part when I really don’t have the know how.

What is causing you grief about work today? I encourage you to look at it another way and find a different way to success. You will find, once there, that people will applaud … even if not at first. It will be seen.

Things in the past 10 years have changed incredibly. Where college graduation used to require hours and hours in a classroom and commons, an online degree has now virtually surpassed that as the degree of choice. The changes continue. It is certain the next 10 years are going to be rough for teachers. Even if the economy comes back, it will take a long time for those dollars to “trickle down” into the state budgets for education. Already, we teachers are learning to do less with more. I of course am always looking for new ways to use less paper. My goal was once a “paperless classroom” but I have since learned that “less paper” is probably the only rational thing I can pursue. Kids need to practice with pencils and the dry erase get dry really fast. But what about the rest of the world and all the occupations therein? How much paper will the high-rise buildings save now that times are so tight. What positions will be deemed “unnecessary” and which ones will take on twice the work thereafter?

It is a daunting thought but I see a silver lining in all this. Perhaps we will develop human pathways to success we never would have thought of before. As I said, I am using my overhead and powerpoint lessons more than handouts and recycling anything I can at work. I have a childlike sense of wonder as to how the working world will become less “fat” in its waste of paper, ink, and a million other things that are useless. Our meetings are no longer catered by a ocal sandwich shop and I would assume that is the case for businesses across the grid. I’m curious to hear how your work is cutting costs. Have you learned some ways to save supplies? Let us know … I am sure this kind of stuff is happening and we should get ideas from each other to make the recession just that much more bearable. We should all be inspired by this opportunity to rise above and excel amid adversity.