38 Days Thank You!

I am blessed by the people in my life.

This may sound trite, but I am being honest. Yesterday, I had a wonderful conversation with a good friend about how we have all of these amazing people in our lives who reach out and help us, no matter what emotional drama is going on within our heads.

I am truly thankful for all of my friends and my family, and the friends that have become family. How did I get this lucky? Smiling, I think, is the key to my success. Smiling, honesty, being emotional, sharing creativity, trying to listen, laughing whenever and however possible, and of course, the key to all things, being in the right place at the right time, has brought all of these people to me.

The Rolling Stones - 100 Years Ago

Today I had a wonderful conversation with my principal. I have, so far, worked for six principals. Some have been good, two have been great, and some have been just bad. My current principal is a great person: she listens and she hasn't lost her humanity despite the stress of her job. I respect that. I sat in her office today, explained how I was feeling, and she really listened. Not only did she listen, but she gave me suggestions about what I could do to further my goals. She reiterated what was going on in my head and told me it was okay. Of all the difficult conversations that I have had with principals, and trust me when I say I have had many, this was one of the top three. I left her office feeling like no matter how conflicted I feel, that I am doing the right thing.

Morphine - Shame

So...the secret is out!

I quit my job today.

Effective the last day of this year, I will no longer be a teacher in Philly. I will be taking a break: I am calling this a Sabbatical. Why should sabbaticals be reserved for highfalutin college professors? My sabbatical entails  (so far): working with kids on a boat, making lots of silver, gold, bronze and copper jewelry, going to Mexico for a few months and reconnecting, and writing a lot. 

I don't know where this will take me....all I know is that it feels right. I feel like it is time to take time off and focus on other parts of my life. So, from here on out, until I leave Philadelphia, I will continue to post here. After that, a new project begins....one that is to be unveiled later.

Arcade Fire - We Used to Wait

I feel like I have reached a point in my life where I am not okay with waiting for "it" to happen anymore. It is now time to reach out and grab life as best as I can. I know what I want, so I am aiming to go out and make beautiful things, spend time with people I love, and explore the beauty that is all around me and you and everyone else.

Today was a good day!

1. The weather cooled off and it rained all day yesterday. Today, I opened all the windows in my room and we bathed in the cool rainy day....if there had been fog, we would have fog-bathed. Instead, we listened to the sounds of firetrucks, policecars and trains and felt the cold breeze blow in and over the mineral samples, under the curtains, and between the potted plants.

2. A great conversation with my principal.

3. Hugs from kindergartners and first-graders.

4. Reading the answers to "What Do You Think It Would Be Like to Live in Space?", written by 6th and 7th graders.

5.  That peaceful time, at the end of a long day, when you get to grade papers, hang up student work, and listen to music in a building that, for a moment, is quiet....

Grizzly Bear - On a Neck, On a Spit

Student Loan Forgiveness Act

H.R. 4170, sponsored by Democratic Representative Hansen Clarke, is worth looking into if you have student loans or have friends or family who have them.

H.R. 4170, or the Student Loan Forgiveness Act, is not an giant "we forgive your debts" piece of legislation, but rather a plan to make paying back student loans affordable, meaningful and manageable. Those of us who have debt know the feeling of never being finished with it, as if it will just keep going for our whole lives. We also know the desire to continue in higher education to expand our knowledge bases and career goals that is coupled with the terror and realization that we are adding tens of thousands of more dollars onto an already gigantic negative balance.

I am going through this right now and have, in fact, decided not to go back to school because I simply cannot afford adding $40,000 to my already existing debts. I do not think that $40,000 is a good gamble in the economy: an economy where that Masters degree will probably give me a $1000 - $3000 bump in annual salary. This means that I will have to teach or administrate for at least 13 additional years to makeup the cost. (In some states, Masters degrees will earn you more of a bump in salary....but those states or cities are typically much more expensive for cost of living, so you have to balance that out, too. There is a huge question in my mind right now about what exactly we are all doing....there is so much money flying in and out of bank accounts, and I wonder what it is for? Why live in a bigger city where you will be paid more if it also means you have to pay more just to survive?)

U.S. News and World Report goes into a great amount of explanation over the details, and you can also find a pdf version that explains how it would work here. Basically, if you accrue student debt, under the act, you would pay 10% of your discretionary income for ten years, and then any remaining debts would be forgiven. Now, being that discretionary income is income that is post-tax and post-expenses, this would mean much less than most of us are paying now.

Let me use myself as an example. As a teacher with almost ten years of experience (wait for it), I earn $2500/ month after taxes. (No, you didn't read this wrong. See my earlier post about the Teacher Salary Project and maybe you can sign up over there, too).  You may think this is tacky, but I am making a point here....

So....$2500  - all my bills (rent, cell phone, car payment, insurance, health care, gym membership, utilities, and credit cards) = $1015.00 more or less per month for gas, food, and student loans. I even qualified for Teacher Loan Forgiveness, so I am in a better spot than most.  I am thinking this bill's emphasis on discretionary spending does not include food, gas and entertainment.

Under this bill, my payment would be $101.00 per month. Currently, my student loan payments are $235.00. This bill would help me leaps and bounds, and no doubt, would help you, too.

The goals of this act are not to give forgiveness, but to alleviate some of the debt that is crippling people in my generation and the generations after. We all have to live with debts, and we all have to deal with the consequences of decisions we have made. But for those of us who are teachers, librarians, social workers, policemen, firemen, public defenders, adjunct professors, or other social service professionals, this is a plan that will make people feel like what they are doing is appreciated by our country, and that the American Dream is still available for us. Right now, it seems like the vision of the American Dream is becoming shrunken so small, it is hard to imagine how it can be accomplished when one has so little money to save despite experience and education. 

Going to this link will allow you to contact your Congressional Representative and tell her/him that you, too, support this act. 

39 Days

James McMurtry - No More Buffalo

Last year, for my 30th birthday, my friends and I went to see James McMurtry play at the Continental Club in Austin. I had never seen him, and really only been to the famous Continental a few times in all my years in Austin. Before the show, my really good friends and I met up at Gueros for drinks and snacks, and later went on to the show. My friend Elizabeth helped me heckle the band to play my favorite songs, with little luck....my friend Jacquie bought me round after round of drinks and even found a soldier newly back from Iraq to share the cheer of drink buying with. Rodi and Lyndsy and Chuck were there. We danced and drank and I loved it. I didn't realize how, a year and a half later, I would miss that night like crazy, and all the times that I had in that town that I really didn't appreciate until I left.

Now I am sitting in my living room on the same furniture that populated my little cottage in Hyde Park, across from the golf course. And as I sit here, I realize I could never have gotten "here" had I not given up all that I knew and loved and took the risk that I did. Took the risk, lost a lot, made more than I ever started with, and am still standing.

The Replacements - Unsatisfied

1. Getting greeted by the sixth graders in Portuguese today 

2. More interest in space....the students loved the information on the International Space Station and wanted to know all about it

3. Hanging out with a friend's magical kids this evening

4. Writing a short but important letter

5. Trusting that friends will be there no matter where you actually are in physical space....

Assault on Learning Central

Please take a look over at Philly.com's Assault on Learning series. Parts 1 - 7 are incredibly interesting, well-reported and thought-provoking.

"How this series was reported
Five Inquirer reporters devoted a year to examining violence in the Philadelphia public schools, conducting more than 300 interviews with teachers, administrators, students and their families, district officials, police officers, court officials, and school violence experts.

The Inquirer created a database to analyze more than 30,000 serious incidents - from assaults to robberies to rapes - that occurred during the last five years. That information was supplemented by district and state data on suspensions, intervention and 9-1-1 calls. Reporters also examined police reports, court records, transcripts, contracts and school security video.

The Inquirer also enlisted Temple University to conduct an independent survey of the district's 13,000 teachers and aides. More than 750 teachers and aides responded to questions about violence and its impact on students' education.

The newspaper also obtained internal district documents detailing violent incidents during the past five years. On specific cases, reporters interviewed victims, perpetrators, police, attorneys, witnesses, and attended court hearings.

One reporter had regular access over nearly six months to students, teachers and administrators inside South Philadelphia High School, one of the city’s most dangerous schools."

You can also Like this series on Facebook

40 Days

Bruce Springsteen - Atlantic City

"Stop feeding the hand that bites you" - Kelly Jean Rodibaugh

"Sunshine and shower be with you, bud and bell!
For two months now in vain we shall be sought:
We leave you here in solitude to dwell
With these our latest gifts of tender thought;
Thou, like the morning, in thy saffron coat,
Bright gowan, and marsh-marigold, farewell!
Whom from the borders of the Lake we brought,
And placed together near our rocky Well."

 - Wm. Wordsworth 

41 Days

Siouxsie & The Banshees - Spellbound

Tomorrow, my goal is to get my mojo back. Hurrumph!!!

1. My students were so excited to see me again after a day's absence. I told them I was going to get mean substitutes more often. ;)

2. Teaching about the Moon and the stars is endlessly fascinating to me and to my students.

3. Peaceful, quiet time for reading and researching for a whole hour between the end of the day and meetings.

4. Realizing that I have been making mistakes, been getting too caught up, and making the decision to take a step back and enjoy the days with the kids as much as possible.

5. Making jewelry and taking long walks through South Philly helps me refocus. Turns out Warnock Street between Christian and South, is gorgeous! I want to live there.

42 Days

Joni Mitchell - Both Sides Now

Betelgeuse, betelgeuse, betelgeuse!

Was the Celestial Object of the Day....complete with "homework" that is to look at the stars and contemplate them and maybe even download that amazing app, Stargazer, and really learn about the stars and planets and fundamentally shift your idea of place in the world....this is the goal, anyway. 

I think that teaching astronomy is this gift of a unit: it is an amazing space and tool to teach complex math, reinforce chemistry, talk about scientific theory, the nature of science, life on Earth and life other places, but most importantly it imparts a sense of wonder in everyone.

Today's homework is to go home and at sunset, look for Venus "The Evening Star", and then wait. Later, in the dark, to look South-Southwest for the Big Dipper, the Moon, Jupiter and Mars...then trace over a bit and find Polaris, and tonight look for Orion's Belt and then trace up a bit and find Betelgeuse, a star so huge that it would engulf Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars and the asteroid belt, maybe even Jupiter if it was our Sun. A star 640 light years (give or take) away, whose light that shines in our sky tonight was produced back in the 15th century, when Central America was just being first explored by Europeans. 

My a/c was broken today and it was 90 degrees and I will just let you imagine the level of stink and horror that was the perfume of my room by 3:45 today. Middle schoolers are stinky, stinky children....who love learning about space.

1. My heat tolerance is very high, apparently, and, good to know, as I remember from last summer, my perception of what is really hot will always help, not hinder, my flexibility in any given situation.

2. "Make a Bridge, and Get Over It"

3. Teaching about the Earth and stars and other planets

4. Students noticing Carl Sagan quotes on the board and repeating them to themselves

5. Clean desk, awesome substitute plans, a day tomorrow to start to fix my back.....