The Nightmares Keep Coming

I'm in class teaching and the principal comes in. I can't remember the students' names. After they leave, the principal wants to know why I don't know their names. I explain to him that I have neuropathy of the brain (I think that's called Alzheimers!!!). I tell him I don't have full feeling in my feet or my hands, and sometimes my brain forgets too. He gets mad and fires me on the spot.

To understand the ridiculousness of this, you have to know that my principal is a kind, Godly man who is not at all unreasonable or impulsive.

To understand the plausibility of this, you have to know that sometimes I can't find my keys, my phone, or my purse.

I throw my keys in the trash at fast food restaurants.

I once put my phone in the fridge.

Usually my head is set straight on my shoulders, but...

Certain mornings of the week I'm not sure I know my name.

And Tuesday night at High Point(Kids Bible study), I kept calling a little girl who was visiting by the name of the little girl who had visited on Sunday morning when I directed Hallelujah Hut (music & worship for kids). They were both tall, slender and blond. What can I say?

I know everything. I just can't remember it all at the same time.

Teacher Nightmares

I always know when time draws near for school to start again. The nightmare begins. The first one was:

I was at school looking for the classroom for the new class I'm teaching. When I got to the room, the scene was chaotic. Men who looked more like prison inmates than students were standing around the room. A man was at the podium trying to take attendance. No one paid the least attention to him, or to me.

I left. My students were coming down the hallway. They were tiny in comparison to the tough characters in the room behind me, but we couldn't find an empty classroom. Finally I sat down in the corridor and began to hold class.

Last night I had another:

I go to find my office and have to use an elevator. The elevator is erratic and goes first to the 9th floor. Finally it goes down to -3. That's where the office is. I enter and find the tiny, windowless rooms are occupied. There are nurses there who are frantically trying to pack up there things. (Nurses??? Go figure!) I leave and come back the next day.

Next morning the office is freshly painted white. There are two rooms, only one has a desk the other two have beds. I'm trying to figure out how to put a piece of plywood on the bed so I can use it as a desk. Then I discover that the school is across the street. To get there we have to go to the 9th floor, then back down to the 6th, then walk out in the cold for about 20 minutes to get there.

This phenomena of nightmares before school starts is fairly common. At one point I considered doing a research paper on teacher nightmares. Usually mine are about losing control of a classroom: students throwing desks out the window, fighting, paying no attention to me.

I guess this year my anxieties are more focused on where I will be working than how the students will behave or misbehave.

(Just some collegues unfortunate enough to get in view of my camera!)

This is a diverse family (I'm the red-head!)

Diversity or simply egocentrism re-packaged.

I've been sitting in a class this week. I've learned a lot, but not what I expected. Why is it that to teach teachers to teach more actively, we sit them in rows and talk to them? In this case, to teach us about diversity the prof is showing us data and giving a myopic interpretation of the data. He did not survey the class to see what course work or information we already had. Thus, people with Master's Degrees in psychology, sociology, education, etc. have sat through a review of basic principles of sociology, anthropology, communication theory, and educational practices. Sigh! And this is the precise thing he's instructing us about with our kids: don't teach down to them. Sigh again!



His egocentrism has no bounds. "It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows." -Epictetus. So he has spend all week in one-way communication with us telling us to teach using two-way communication. He's telling us to be sensitive of student needs while he has omitted breaks (Yikes! I needed that P-mate and a bottle to store the stuff in!!) and kept us waiting over an hour with our lunch sitting ready on the side table while he prattled on about something.


So...my insight. Are we all that egocentric?? Yeah. We probably are. My world and my point of view is most important to me.


What have I learned? If I want to be effective with my students, don't do what this dude just did!!! Good lesson, I guess. I must remember that God looks at my egocentrism and sees that if I get my view off myself, I'd do better at changing my world. Yeah. Good lesson.

Tales out of School

I'm feeling much better today. The review for ISAT's went well. I managed to find current news topics for the persuasive practice that actually interested the kids. Instead of lack of interest, I had trouble reining in all the energy. They wanted to discuss, instead of write which is a wonderful problem to have. The whole point was to get them thinking before writing, not necessarily talking, but thinking.

Topics that actually interest 13-year olds?

1. Do you agree or disagree with this law?

In the south Louisiana town of Delcambre an ordinance prohibits the use of "Sagging Pants" that expose underwear. The punishment is a $500 fine or 3 months in jail for offenders. Several municipalities and parish governments in Louisiana have enacted similar laws in recent months.

2. Is this a good idea?

A high school in a nearby town has banned all purses, bags and backpacks from campus today as a security measure.

So we had fun in class today, writing topic sentences (on erasable white boards) and supporting statements. The big idea was individual freedom versus the common good, both great ideas from our founding Fathers. And I had fun saying: "that's a great idea, now write the sentence," when they wanted to argue a point.

Tonight I have "High Point" again...that's the class at church with the group in front of the "Taj Majal." Hoping to get a better picture tonight. I get in character as Dr. Aichen Paine! A non-compassionate lady! I do have fun in character. I think I should have been an actress!