Reason for the Season

There is always such an uproar about how commercial the Christmas season has gotten and you often see bumper stickers with or hear the phrase "remember the reason for the season". I'll admit house after house of giant inflatable Santas and snow globes gets a bit tiresome, but I feel even more strongly about what Memorial Day has turned into.

Most Americans love Memorial Day because it means a day off from work or school, a long weekend and the start of summer. It means cookouts, trips to the beach and days on the lake. For military families, it means something else entirely. It means someone is missing their family this Memorial Day so you could enjoy the day with yours. Memorial Day is, above all, a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service.

It is also a day of mourning for so many families. There are a lot of people I want to pause and remember on this day. The picture above is of the widow of a soldier from my hometown, SGT James J Regan, who was killed in Iraq in February, 2007. He was a graduate of Duke University who could have done anything with his life upon graduating. He scored very high on the LSATs and could have gone on to law school, but he chose to enlist in the U.S Army. Most people believe that he enlisted because he felt it was his duty. My hometown sends a lot of communters on the train toward Wall Street every morning. On 9/11 a lot of those commuters didn't come back and there were funerals all over the town. No one can ever truly explain what calls someone to serve. Whether it is the challenge, love of country, or simply the sense of adventure and opportunity to "blow things up" (as many of my high school seniors going into the service have confessed), the bottom line is they sacrifice a tremendous amount and deserve to be remembered.

I can't lie, I am enjoying my three day weekend. I will enjoy cooking burgers and eating watermelon and pie with my big brother, but at 3 PM I will pause for the National Moment of Remembrance. Did you even know there was such a thing? I would wager 90% of Americans don't. Most Americans probably don't know why people wear poppies on Memorial Day. The reason for that is most Americans have forgotten the significance and traditions of Memorial Day.

The story behind the poppies, by the way, comes from a UGA professor who wrote a response to the WWI poem "In Flanders Field". The first line of the poem reads, “in Flanders fields the poppies blow, between the crosses row on row." The UGA professor was so moved that she wrote a response poem and vowed to wear a poppy as a symbol of remembrance for those who served. I leave you with her poem.

We Shall Keep the Faith
by Moina Michael, November 1918

Oh! you who sleep in Flanders Fields,
Sleep sweet - to rise anew!
We caught the torch you threw
And holding high, we keep the Faith
With All who died.

We cherish, too, the poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led;
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies,
But lends a lustre to the red
Of the flower that blooms above the dead
In Flanders Fields.

And now the Torch and Poppy Red
We wear in honor of our dead.
Fear not that ye have died for naught;
We'll teach the lesson that ye wrought
In Flanders Field

And the worst new blogger of the year award...

...goes to me!! I hate how little I have posted lately because so much has been happening with the end of the school year and I love writing it all down.

For starters, my kids all made me a celebrity at the school because every single one of my kids passed their World History SOL.

I am so proud of them I could almost burst. My kids had to learn 500 years of history (from the Renaissance to NAFTA and the Bosnian genocide) in about 8 months and there were VERY specific things not just broad, general understands for each standard. For example, they didn't just have to know effects of the Protestant Reformation, they had to know: the effect of the Edict of Nantes in France, the leader of German unification, how Jomo Kenyatta helped achieve independence in Africa. To gauge their "understanding" of all this content, they are given a 60 question multiple choice test and if they don't pass, they do not receive credit for the course. In addition, the results reflect very poorly on both the teacher and the school in both state and nation-wide assessment regarding its accreditation and success rate.

I think I was more stressed than my kids were on SOL day! I was so stressed and averaged about 4 hours of sleep a night making review sheets and prepping my kids for the test the two weeks before. I went in with the utmost confidence that MOST of my kids would pass, but I had a handful of VERY weak students. I was hoping for at least an 85% pass rate (the average is between 85%-94%) and in my wildest dreams never believed I could get EVERY kid to pass. I had a couple kids that have gotten D's and F's on almost every single one of my tests and seem so lost every day in class. It's hard enough for veteran teachers to get a 100% pass rate, nevertheless someone in their first year.

They took the test at 12:15 and I was a nervous wreck from 12:15. My 5th period seniors all had a good laugh at how nervous I was. The principal came in after an hour to report back that 15 kids (out of 55) were still taking the test, but was thrilled to tell me that I currently had a 100% pass rate. I knew exactly who those 15 kids were and just sweated it out for the next hour and change waiting for the final results to come in. Then finally, the last class of the day, the principal and guidance counselor were beyond thrilled to come to my room and tell me that 100% of my kids had passed their World History II SOL. Not only that, but almost half of them received an "Advanced Pass" and seven of those got a perfect score! I'm sure the principal was thrilled, 'cos it makes him look great for hiring me. The guidance counselor hugged me and handed me the print-out with their scores so I could tell them all.

I was so proud and excited, it's a feeling I honestly can't even explain. Knowing I made it to the end of my first year teaching is quite positively one of the BEST FEELINGS EVER! I sometimes have to pinch myself that I made it. To know that I also achieved a 100% pass rate makes it all even more amazing. It makes the stress and anxiety and late nights all (well almost all) worth it.

Anyway, I dropped $40 at Sam's buying up brownies, cookies and Capri Suns for a party for each class where I told them how proud I was and we played history charades. When I told them we had a 100% pass rate they went NUTS! They were slapping each other five and congratulating each other and shouting how awesome they were (which they are, for the most part). My joy in their results and their own excitement made me realize, if I can get this pumped up about the results of a standardized test, maybe teaching really is my calling. The amount of support I got from my fellow faculty and the smiles and fist pumps I got from those kids makes me honestly never want to leave this school (for all the headaches it has caused me). I felt like a CELEBRITY after the bell rang. Math teachers, science teachers, janitors, even students I barely knew were all congratulating me! It was a truly wonderful feeling that I don't think I will soon forget.

The news of my pass rate was followed up by a call from JC to tell me that he found out where he is PCSing to, but I suppose I will have to save that for another email.

Track season isn't over yet 'cos we still have 9 athletes going to regionals so I will still be busy until the end of the school year, but the end is very near so hopefully better blogging habits will resume. Until then...

SOL Week

So today is SOL week at my high school and, boy, is it a sight to behold. I had heard that schools during SOL testing were crazy, but I have never been in such a stressed-out place in all my life! The kids are stressed out, the teachers are stressed out, the guidance counselors and administrators are stressed out, the computer tech and librarian are stressed out. Everyone is stressed out! The SOLS are the Standards of Learning state standardized tests that our school will be assessed on when the state and national government look at it.

My kids take their World History II test tomorrow. I truly think I am more nervous than my kids. The test covers EVERYTHING we have learned all year (from the Renaissance to the European Union) and is 70 questions long. Actually, it's really only 60 because 10 of those are 'field test questions' that aren't counted. I really hope those don't throw them off too badly when they see questions we haven't ever gone over before. The best they can get on the test is 600/600. Any score over 500 is an "Advanced Pass" and anything over 400 is just a plain old "pass". I would honestly love as many "Advanced Passes" as possible, but I just want all my kids to pass!! I would be thrilled if I could get a 90% pass rate, but would be content with anything over 85%. I really think I am way more nervous about this test than my kids are and that is saying something.

I guess it's mostly because by 10th grade these students are so used to standardized tests 'cos they've had them since elementary school this is nothing unusual. I honestly don't know how they do it and are not completely "tested out" by this point. We have been in SO review mode for 3 weeks now, which means for 3 weeks in all their core classes (math, science and history in grade 10) they have been taking practice tests and drilling and going over test-taking strategies. The life has literally been sucked out of them! This = most of my kids after the past 2 weeks:

It is really sad, in my opinion, that 3 weeks of instruction are used to review this material and prep the kids for this exam. Some of my kids have an SOL every day this week! They had biology or chemistry Monday, they had geometry or algebra II today and they have mine tomorrow. It's just testing overload! I don't understand how they aren't about to explode right now. Most of my kids are pretty motivated and will study tonight. The ones who don't care think if they fail then it is no big deal and it is all "on them", but they have no idea that it really is a reflection of us as teachers and is one of the ways that we are assessed by the school and the state. The US History SOL was Monday and they had a 94% pass so now I feel pressured to match that, which I know is silly but I can't help but feel it. All the U.S teacher does is get up there and lecture and have her kids read the book in class. Meanwhile, I spend hours putting together all kinds of PowerPoints with pictures and political cartoons and I do as many interactive activities as I can. I really just hate the fact that these tests will end up being the measurement that says whether I'm a "good teacher" or not. Ugh.

So at the moment, I am stressed out and so glad it will all be over soon. At this time tomorrow I will either be bouncing off the walls with joy or laying on my couch depressed at how dumb my kids are and how bad a teacher I am. I'm so tired of being exhausted all the time 'cos I'm spending all my energy getting my kids ready for this test. We're watching Hotel Rwanda after the test and using that as an opportunity to talk about individual and collective responsibility and to apply it to current genocides and conflicts in: Sudan, Uganda, Nigeria and Bostwana. I also have some lessons planned to teach them about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and what's going on in North Korea and Iran. I'm excited 'cos for the last 4 weeks of school I get to teach history the way I want to teach it. Not the way the government tells me I have to.

Uncertainty

As per usual, I should have attacked the pile of grading I have to do in order to get my grades in by Monday, but I was lazy and watched Kentucky Derby coverage all day yesterday. My parents stopped by for lunch, which was wonderful. My dad is at his 40th college reunion this weekend, which is only an hour away, so he and my mom came by to have lunch. It is crazy to think I have not seen them since Christmas. I love my family and love spending any time I can with them, however brief.

They asked about JC at lunch and were curious if he had gotten any word on where he is headed this fall. My parents are very supportive of our relationship, but they're not quite sure how to handle the uncertainty of the Army and the fact that JC could end up anywhere in the world next year. It's something I have learned to deal with surprisingly well in our time together. It's a very good exercise in learning that some things in life are just out of your hands. I'm preparing myself for the Army to send him to Germany. I figure, prepare for the worst and then anything else is a pleasant surprise.

That's sort of how I am handling the uncertainty in my job! Despite the fact that every other school district in the area has done so, my wonderful school district has yet to finalize their budget. They've pushed it back FOUR times since March when talk about making cuts first started. (Seriously, they're worse than the Army!) Consequently, all of us - first year teachers and tenured faculty alike - are sweating it until the end of the school year to know whether we'll be back or not. To say the entire faculty is frustrated at this point is a tremendous understatement. We think they're just holding us in limbo so people don't find out they're getting sacked and then use all their sick days, which I would so do. Needless to say, for someone whose lease is up in June and whose summer plans depend on my having a job next year, it is a very uncertain time for me. I don't understand how a school district can do this to hundreds of employees. If an employee has to give a 30-day notice shouldn't an employer extend the same courtesy? I've found my experiences with the Army have certainly helped me deal with this hurdle life has thrown at me. I'm developing contingency plans if I get sacked and plans if I don't and plans if I don't find out until the middle of the summer. I suppose it's good preparation for life with the Army. Plans can change on a daily basis and I just need to learn to roll with it.

Bottom line is, and this is what helps me deal, I'm a firm believer in "everything happens for a reason" and no matter where JC gets stationed or what happens to me job, I'm confident we'll make it through. Tonight, we continue our coast to coast cooking adventures and will be having a Mexican fiesta! Last week it was chicken cordon bleu, which was a huge success. We're really both getting quite good and have said we should compile all our recipes and call it the "Coast to Coast Cookbook".

I need to go hit the store to pick up some taco seasoning and cilantro (the latter has become JC's favorite seasoning in the world (thank you, California!)). I haven't left my readers with a question in a while, but I'm curious to know: how do you deal with all life's uncertainties? Are you the type of person who pushes them out of your brain and doesn't worry about them until they happen or do you make a million contingency plans like me? Or do you have an even better way of handling