Tuesday, June 30, 2009

More...Dream Principal


Okay, here I go, off to shop for the dream principal. I love my marching orders from all my friends at school:

1. He/she must...#1 GET IT: And by that we all know what they mean. They must understand the demands of the classroom in real-time, no BS theoretical stuff either. Usually the longer someone is out of the classroom, the easier it is to forget. NOT my last principal, and that's why we loved her.

2. He/she must...GET AROUND: Be visible. We DO wanna see you, and we want the kids to know you. It's hard to get them, unless you live in their midst. We want hands-on. Don't pass it off to us. We're in it together.

3. He/she must...Be kind, be an all-around leader--but know how to GET TOUGH, to hold a hard line as a professional in today's world. The lines have become so blurred. We need an advocate...a teacher/leader and someone who GETS IT in the parent world, the kid world and the teacher world too.

Anything you wanna add, Spot? I know, I'm eager too! We all want a good princiPAL. It won't be long now.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

When the Teacher Gets the Flu/I'm No Swine!

Okay, well...who'da thunk it, Spot? The teacher gets the flu and they have to close the whole school. Well, no Spot, that's not why they're cutting off your year book signing, awards ceremony and all that end-of-the-year hoopla, silly. I don't want you blaming me for one more darn thing, there fella!

But boy, some of you guys (and girls) could've thought a little more about all this with all your advil-sneaking-coughing-all-over-the-rest-of-us behavior. You can't have a temperature and come to school on the same day, no matter what you do. Even if Tylenol lowers it. We're just one, big germ pool out there! Did you know I've been washing desks after school for three weeks now?

And no, we're not sure I have the Swine Flu. The doctor said no more testing to figure out which is which. The old-fashioned rock 'em, sock 'em flu is out there too, and he says it's worse this year than the swine. Oh, I know, the kids are having a good old time out there, Spot...I mean, Oink. But lasso 'em back in there, buddy...we gotta celebrate all the very cool things we did this year, but most of all Spot--we gotta savor our time together! It's almost day 183, let's have a good old time together! (If you have a fever...stay HOME!)

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Did Somebody Say Kickball?

Well, Spot, you've been a great little puppy this year! You really have! We've just about covered everything in the sixth grade play book. After a year of trying to pin you down and get you to stay on task with your buddies, you snapped into place and got your work done in 30 minutes flat this afternoon! Could it be I've finally found the magic words?

"I just might be thinking about adding a 20 minute kick ball game to our day."

ADD? ADHD? I think not! Why didn't I think of this sooner!! It's the oldest trick in the book--bribery! It doesn't take the promise of a new gadget, a video game, or even a trip to the ice cream shop! A twenty minute kickball game. It's just good for the soul!