Sticker Shock

In 2008 I began tooling around in a black Subaru Forester, a great and reliable little SUV. It replaced my gold colored Volvo XC-70 AWD wagon. I loved that car (until that pesky little oil leak arrived and decided to stay). My Volvo was truly mine-covered in stickers that represented places where I had fished, my love for dogs, and my devotion to one of my alma maters. But when I replaced the Volvo with the Subaru I decided it was time for my sticker worship to end, and so the only stickers to make the cut (so to speak) were my Michigan State Alumni Association sticker, and my US Luge sticker which I keep to honor my dear friend Jeff, a former slider and luge Olympic team coach. However, the whole 'no car stickers' thing was like a bad diet-you know it's going to end, and so it's really a matter of when and not if. I broke my vows with my Subaru when I decided to support Senator Obama over Senator Clinton, and I promptly found myself sporting an Obama '08 sticker on the back bumper of my previously pristine Forester. At the time I was convinced that showing my support through a little 'ol sticker for the man I was sure would be our next president was perfectly ok. He did, of course, become our president and today...today I took that Obama '08 sticker off the bumper of my car and today I stopped showing support for our president. You see I fully believe he has ceased to show any sort of support for me-as a member of the teaching profession anyway. Earlier today I read that in Los Angeles they are seriously considering publishing the full names of teachers who are deemed 'failures' based on their students' standardized test scores. Yes, full names of teachers-not the school's name. (Silly me-I thought Salem was just a tourist attraction these days!) President Obama's Secretary of Education Arne Duncan thinks this is a great idea. Now this is by no means the first comment from Secretary Duncan that made me see red for the entire day and I'm quite sure it won't be the last. But it's not Secretary Duncan I'm fed up with, I'm fed up with the man who chose him for that position. I'm sorry to say President Obama's rhetoric simply does not, in any way, match his actions. He says teachers are critically important. He says teachers are valued by him and his administration. He says he's working to reform education to make things better for students, teachers, and parents alike. He says quite a bit and does very little. He asked me and others to believe in him and his vision for change. I did believe in him, but apparently he can't bring himself to believe in me or the countless, tireless other teachers out there who also believed in him. Oh well, it was time for a clean bumper again anyway.

Keep an eye on summer

Sweltering heat and summer's song slipping away...all this wrapped up and tied with a bow courtesy of the month of August

Something happens to me on August 1. It happens to be my sister's birthday but that's not the reason I feel so strange when that date rolls around every year. There's usually at least three weeks before professional development takes place, and another week after that before students come back, and yet on August 1 I always feel a sense of excitement and dread at the same time. This year it's heightened and it's not because I haven't gotten out of bed before 9 a.m. in almost a year (which isn't true anyway)-it's more complicated than that I think. I admit I love the thought of teaching again-I missed it terribly this past year. So when I see commercials for the myriad of back to school sales that are going on right now, I can't help but crack a smile, and depending on the commercial I might outright laugh. Come on now-you can't help but be amused at Meijer's current ad that features kids who are happy to get school supplies, then the ad reminds you those same kids are paid actors and real kids will never be that happy to get school supplies. However this ad pales in comparison to my all-time favorite: a Staples commercial that features a mom singing the popular Christmas tune 'It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year' as she dances through the aisles at Staples, followed by her son and daughter looking incredibly miserable due to the thought of going back to school. Classic.

So there's definitely an amusing aspect about going back to school, and there is also the anticipation of the sounds of fall that I love which usually occur at football practices and band camp. But the dread persists. I'm not looking forward to failing at one thing or another, or disappointing some students and those things will happen-it's inevitable because teachers are human. (Oh the horror of that statment!) I'm also not someone who's big on changes-I've been through a lot over the past year, and I'm going back to what used to be stable in my life only to face more changes, including enduring the daily grind of work without friends who I love who have moved on with their life through retirement. The dread persists. The one good thing...it's only August 8. Keep your ears open for whining and moaning coming from my neighborhood right around August 29.
Howl on, howl on brothas and sistas.