And this version appears on Saturday. Friday was a travel day for me and I figured that I’d get time when I returned home to write the post. But, we were on the tarmac at Sky Harbour Airport and that sure takes the energy out of you. Plus, I was in the second to last row on the airplane and everyone seemed to want to take use of the washroom. A laptop on a dinner tray doesn’t work well for me.
But, I managed to get this written on Friday to appear this morning. Enjoy the latest from Ontario Edubloggers.
Your Professional Life is Declining and It’s About Time
I think that many educators who have called it a career at the end of the June by their own decision or externally would benefit from this post from Paul McGuire.
There comes a time for all of us to close off the teaching gig and then move on.
Some people
- just finally relax
- take on another job
- become supply teachers
- climb mountains
- or other things
There’s lots to think about. What do you plan to do with life after teaching?
This is wonderful advice…
This is OK if you realize you need to make a transition to another stage of life. You can’t be like the man on the plane or Charles Darwin lamenting that your best years are behind you. You have to remake yourself.
Comic Strips: School’s Out For Summer
How many of you can relate to Paul Gauchi with this? This is only part of the comic.
There’s a deeper meaning – it involves recharging engines…
Philosophically, I wonder about the recharge and the length of vacation time in various professions. Does this say more about teachers or students?
When “Dear Other Mom” Becomes “Dear Educators And Parents”
Aviva Dunsiger was inspired by another blog post to dig into this topic.
As a secondary school teacher, I’m unable to empathize with the actual details and the process that Aviva describes with her younger students. I can tell you though that there are moments with teenagers where you go through the same situation.
I think most educators could identify with a moment like that.
It’s how you respond and handle it that will mark the successful resolution to a situation.
I’m also mindful of the power that we have as educators. Recently, I flew back and forth from Detroit to Phoenix to the CSTA Conference. In both cases, I had the honour of sitting across the aisle with children that were having a tough time. I’ll be honest; sitting for 4 hours and then 6 hours made me squeamish as well. And, I knew what to expect in terms of the noise and ear popping, etc. Not so, my travel mates.
It was interesting to see how the parents handled it with their escalating techniques which, as escalating towards the end, would have landed a teacher in trouble.
But, ever the educator, I had a few fun/younger applications on my iPad that I could share and give the parent a break for maybe 15-20 minutes. I found the struggles described in Aviva and Andrea’s posts interesting. In all cases, we were constrained somehow. One of the young ladies on the plane had some developmental challenges as well. There was nowhere else to go so it had to be handled en route.
Heather Lye describes an end of year thought process that I think many can identify with.
In the classroom, there really isn’t any coasting. You’ve got your foot on the pedal the whole time and then it’s the end of the year and everything stops.
Heather notes that this year is different.
It is hard for me to admit that I am struggling with the idea of summer this year.
While the end of the school year goodbyes are typically, “Goodbye and see you in September”, for many this year it won’t be. Because of what’s happening provincially, the “deck” will be substantially shrunk and shuffled way more than in any other year.
You absolutely should visit her blog and respond to this comment.
Today we watched the first graduating class of our school cross the stage. But we also watched the system, as we currently know it, walk out the door at the end of the day.
Reflections on NAMLE Part 2
Reflections on NAMLE Part 3
I had to nip back to Diana Maliszewski’s blog because I had read and written about Part 1 before. I had to see how the story ended.
And, the story was much the same as her first post.
There are lots of reflections, pictures, and social media artifacts.
But, there was one section that stood out for me and I’m just jealous that she had this opportunity. I haven’t.
No, not that she got a chance to get a picture with John Oliver (which is impressive in itself) but she visited the Newseum. If you’ve been following the news, it’s been purchased and will be closing.
This has been a major part of non-fake news for so long. I really how that it continues to operate in some sort of new incarnation.
So, I apologize for being a day late with this post but please cut me some slack and check out these great posts.
Then, follow these folks on Twitter.
- @mcguirp
- @PCMalteseFalcon
- @avivaloca
- @MsHLye
- @MzMollyTL
This post originally appears on:
https://dougpete.wordpress.com
If you read it anywhere else, you didn’t read the original.
doug -- off the record 
Please share your thoughts here. I’d enjoy reading them.