Happy Thanksgiving!

Drum roll.......




Ta da! A Tur-duc-hen. It is beautiful.

Edward...

In one word, I would describe this movie as - okay. As an obsessed fan I found it exciting, reassuring, and damn sexy. But if I hadn't read the book, I might think that the movie is a little slow in parts. I didn't think they developed the characters as much as they should have. I kinda think it was due to time. I am excited to see the rest of the movies. I will be reading the entire saga again at Christmas break - I am going to try and read it in one setting -all four books. Did I mention - obsessed.

Anyway - for the reader, it's a must to go see the movie and probably own them in the future. For the person who hasn't ventured into reading the books, save your money. Although, it is beyond me why anyone wouldn't read these books. They are iconic.

For Stephanie Meyer fans - do read The Host, sci fi and really enjoyable, couldn't put it down (which means I read it in one setting).

I am so looking for my Edward. Readers - all 4 of you - send some thoughts out into the universe for me to find my other, I am ready! (but that's another blog)

myth busted!

Myth: Special Educators make more than regular teachers.

Truth - Every public district (in MO) is on a scale, that is published and your wages are based off of your years of experience and amount of education.
Truth - Special Ed. teachers do have more responsibilities than regular educators (IEP, case managers etc.)

Just had to set everyone straight.

micromanagers

Micromanager - a person usually in a supervisory position that needs to control every movement of the people/person they supervise.

My supervisor is a micromanager. I believe this is the second year that my supervisor or process coordinator has worked in this position. As a membership development director at Girl Scouts, I also held a position that supervised people -volunteer (as many as 200-300). While I see the difference in the number of people we have experience in supervising and that the jobs on the whole are different, managing people is not. There are several ways to manage people, several hundreds of books written on the subject. Any one of these books would help my supervisor (do I hear anonymous Christmas gift??!!). As a micromanager she feels the need to exercise her power in negative ways. She writes evaluations with only negative information on them. She points out people's faults in the middle of a team meeting (with all your peers around). She has to oversee every piece of written information given to parents, every decision made for every child in our building. These are the major things, there are several small things that I could discuss here as well. Please don't think that I am not open to seeing that she might feel or have been told that this is in fact her actual job. But any person put into a management position, or even an educational one (working directly with kids) should understand that for every negative, bring three positives. And that you should never call someone (kid or adult) out in front of their peers, that is bully behavior (and several more professional words that I can't remember right now). A person put into management also might know that the people they are managing are professionals, some with a higher degree of education than themselves. They should be treated as such, and when they don't meet expectations, coach them on to being better - give them the knowledge or places where they can gain knowledge to be better at the job. Give them support. And above all, a manager should know that if you expect something from someone, make it known, make your expectations clear from the get go so there are no questions.
These are my 'secrets' to being a quality teacher. It can be so frustrating for me to work with/for someone that can't uphold them or doesn't know how herself. She continually makes comments about how 'literal' I am. This bothers me. I am not a 'literal' person, but I do expect to have the knowledge to do things right the first time. My supervisor does not give that to me. I think it's because she doesn't know until she gets it. And there is some trickle down from her direct supervisor - not all this is on her.
She is just so frustrating to me.
I'm curious to know how many other of my fellow special education teachers out there have to have every piece of document completed before the meeting actually happens? The IEP, the notice of action, manifestation determination, ammendment to the IEP -everything.

Speaking of the notice of action - since when did we have to fill those out for every little thing? And the wording is so awkward - what urban parent is going to be able to understand it? I feel like everytime I have to use the bathroom I need to fill out a notice of action and have her check it over before I go. Ridiculous.

Enough of my rant. I've chosen the higher road this year to just do what people tell me to do, and go above and beyond for the kids like normal. I feel that there will be a door available for me to open, and when that time comes, open sesame!

I live for weekends.

This was a great weekend. I have some good pics to share. We celebrated my best friend, Brian's birthday. We went to a Japanese steak house, the kind where they cook in front of you and try to throw shrimp into your mouth.


Here's the crew that went, and normally goes. From left to right, if my memory serves right - Brian, Me, Jesse, Celinda and Clinton.

I bought Brian his first Sake experience. It was fun. Sake is good after the first little sips. I also learned from Jesse that, like wine, there are different types of Sake and that it can be dry, or sweet (probably not 'our' sweet). I think Sake just adds to the experience.


Here's our chef making a flaming volcano out of onions. He had a little story to go with it. The fun part of a dinner at a Japanese steakhouse is the entertainment!

We ended the night at Brian's house eating delicious cake he made and Stacey (Gavin's wife) frosted. Brian was very specific about how he wanted his cake frosted. He wanted a black white cake (think Seinfeld black white cookie, or if you've been to NYC - the black white cookie). So Stacey made that happen. It was a great cake and a great end of a great night.

Nights where I just hang out with friends, be it out at dinner or at someone's house, are my favorite. They just leave me with a good feeling.

Halloween, Obama, and Work

Well. A lot has happened. I'll post on it in chronological order.

1. I forgot my camera when I went to the halloween party. But compliments of facebook, I have pictures.




This is most of the party. I have other pictures, but need to dr. them up a bit before I put them on here.

2. History was made on Tuesday night as Barack Obama was voted in President Elect. I'm not surprised, but it's still an amazing event to me. I'm happy to have shared this event with 11-14 year olds, I've tried to impress upon them the complicated importance of the situation. I really feel we are all really lucky to be a part of this. I also am (and remember this is MY blog, I can feel how I want) happy to see a movement rather than just a person elected. It's necessary at this time and in this place. I just feel that in order to put our country back together, it's gonna take a village (or a nation), not one man or group of men or congress or whatever.

3. Speaking of villages....I'm really learning this year in my job that it really does take an entire village to raise a child. I'm being challenged everyday to let go of any and all control I have on situations. I'm also being challenged with lots of failures or learning situations. I can't do it all this year - I have entirely too many responsibilities to keep everything running the way it should. I am in the early stages of failing at my position (which is new, and I'm the only one in the school doing it, and there is no blue print - just a fire that I was thrown into).
And someday down the road, I'll be thankful for this experience. But right now it's sobering, depressing, and leaves me feeling vulnerable.

3 is a good number. Happy week, everyone.

The Results!

This was supposed to be a widget to countdown the results and then give the results out. I got it off MSNBC website. It looked really cool - sorry that it isn't working. Go Obama.

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