Being Sick and Being a Teacher

This week I came down with a sore throat and had to take a sick day to recover.  This is usually not a problem, you just take a sick day, right?  But, it was the week after exams and also the week grades were due and because of some student absences right before exam week, I was bogged down with trying to get grades up to date and complete my gradebook.  

Basically, it was not a good time to take a day off.  For some teachers, there actually never is a good day to take off.  Here is a funny meme that encompasses this vey thought:

 And another: 

Okay, so maybe these are some very funny exaggerations.  But, there actually is a good amount of truth to these memes.    I wonder how many jobs this is true for… this concept of “I’d rather just gut through being at work and not feeling well rather than making sub plans and then hoping the sub plans are actually completed and then grading the work you had the students do in your absence.”  UGH.  I read that sentence and I would rather just go to work!

So just don’t ever get sick if you a teacher during the school year and you will be fine.  I mean, it’s not like you are around tons of people and countless germs all day! 

 

 

Twas the Week Before Exams and all Through the Halls…

This week is the last week before exams and the level of stress in the building among all the students and the teachers is palpable.  And so instead of droning on and on about losing sleep or eating badly due to stress, let’s talk about why it is all worth it.  

First, it all does eventually get done. 

Second, we are turning out some great products.  My Creative Media class finished the semester with a bang and while I have been spending quite a bit of time preparing content and interesting projects for the class, they have been creating fun promotional videos and really nicely edited book trailers. 

And third, as we remember the great Alan Rickman who brought to life one of my favorite characters in all literature, if all of this work, effort, sweat, (and tears?  mine,  mostly and maybe my Juniors who were creating Notecards for their Research Papers this week) leads to students who love reading (especially Harry Potter) or making movies like Harry Potter and are confident and comfortable writers, then it is all worth it. 

RIP Alan Rickman.  Here is a great link to Important Scenes from Severus Snape in Chronological Order:

 

 

 
 
Good Luck on your Midterms CBA.  You know your stuff.  You can do this! 

Mr. Mielke: An Inspirational Teacher, An Inspirational Blog!

I am going to cheat a bit this week and take you to the blog of an incredible teacher I just stumbled upon today.  His name is Chase Mielke and in 2014 he was a Michigan Teacher of the Year nominee.  It s titled “Affective Learning” and as you will see in just a few clicks and reading a few of his posts, this teacher is for real. 

Here is the link to his blog:  https://affectiveliving.wordpress.com/

Mr. Mielke seems a bit younger than me, and that made his posts even more significant for me to read.  He really reminded me of a few key reasons that I became a teacher and why I think this is an amazing job.  He even has made some videos to go along with this posts, showing us all that there are many mediums of communication.   This is one of the things I am trying to impress upon my students taking my Creative Media Class.  I want them to be able to write well, but also to take that to the next level and create a product such as a video. 

So here are two of my favorite videos from this outstanding blog by an exceptional teacher.  Enjoy!

 

 

Christmas Cards for Sa'fyre

 

Right before we went away for Winter Break one of my sophomore sent me the following in an email:

“I have recently stumbled upon an article online on ABC News about a little girl who lost her family in a fire and severely burned 75% of her body. (2 years ago) All she wants for Christmas this year is Christmas cards for her tree.   Since we have been making notecards throughout the year, I was wondering if the class could make a Christmas Card/cards and send to her.  I can get more details but just wanted to pass the idea by you first.”

Here is a link to this little girl he is referring to:

http://abcnews.go.com/US/girl-lost-family-fire-receives-195000-christmas-cards/story?id=35762934

 

And so we took 5-10 minutes in class (and a break from Emerson and Thoreau) to write Christmas card to Sa’fyre and sent them to her.

 

I was so proud of my student for “stumbling” upon this and then taking them time to send me an email so that we could make this happen and send about 50 more Christmas cards her way. 

As teachers, we try to teach our subjects and model good character and behavior daily.  This email comes from a student with a good heart, but also the motivation to try to do whatever needed to be done to see a good deed come to fruition.   Many of us probably saw this article in our newsfeeds, but along with all the other things we had to do to get ready for Christmas, we may have thought that it would be nice to send her a card, too, but would not have gotten to it.  This student could have also just send Sa’fyre a card himself after seeing this article.  But, he put a thought into an email that spurred the rest of us to take action.  You can definitely add this to the list of the reasons I love being a teacher. 

This truly was an inspirational way to head into the holidays.