Along the Road to Home

The first 13 days of school have now come and gone.  We've been busy, really busy as a matter of fact.  There have been procedures to learn, names to recognize, schedules to follow, interruptions to get used to, safety drills to be proficient at, a new grading system to utilize, seating arrangements to be readjusted, problems to solve, meetings to attend, online programs to log onto, passwords and usernames to become familiar with, and a plethora of other things too numerous to mention.   I know that the kids have to be exhausted by the day's end because for sure their teacher is.   Oh to be a 20 something educator once again instead of the nearly 64-year old that I now am.  But the truth is that I'm not, so I must learn to work with the person that I am and along the way to remember one thing. ~I need to stop being so hard on myself.  Being my own worst critic is a character fault that I've struggled with for years.~ I have made several mista...

Yesterday I went back in time to a place that was my school home for 15 years back in the early days of my teaching career.  It was Yoder Heritage Day, an annual celebration for the predominantly Old Order Amish and General Conference Mennonite community of Yoder, Kansas.  I had been invited to attend the All School Reunion at the elementary school there. From August of 1983 until May of 1998, I taught a combination classroom of 1st and 2nd graders at Yoder Grade School, one of several schools for Unified School District #312 of Haven, Kansas. It was an experience that I never forgot about. As a young college student searching out the perfect place to do my student teaching experience, Yoder seemed the best option for me at the time.  I had grown up in Haven, only 7 miles away, and since I'd be living at home for the entire semester,  it made perfect sense to me that Yoder Grade School would be my choice.   And so it was. I was there during the seco...

I learned something about myself as a teacher and a person during the first 3 days of school last week, and the something is this. "I have a plenty to learn." I have wanted to be a teacher for Ponca City Public Schools   for well over a year now.   I wanted to come here because I knew it would be a great opportunity to grow and change as a teacher.  With a quite limited number of years left as a public school educator, I didn't want to waste the chance to be able to help kids in any way that I could.  This particular district offers a tremendous amount of support to its staff who in turn are able to pass that support on to the children they teach each day.  I like that about being here, and it is a win-win  for all concerned. I definitely learned a lot during the first three days of school, and some of it was the hard way.  It's a humbling thing to be a veteran teacher of 40 years now and find yourself making mistakes that others who have bee...

This morning is the first day of school for the children of Ponca City Public Schools, and this is my very first year to be a teacher there.  My new classroom is a 5th grade one and a position I have never held in four decades of being a teacher.  It will be as new for me as it is for my students.  Later on this morning after we have settled in, I plan to share this blogpost with them because it is written for them.  From time to time throughout the year, I will share my blog with the class as we progress through the standards found in the writing section of our language arts curriculum.  I want them to know that the art of writing is fun and not a chore to be done.  You know, to even walk in that front door this morning as a veteran and nearly 64-year old teacher is an honor, blessing, and privilege that is not afforded to all.  I hope my students will all know how much I love them and care about what happens to them in this life. And they will he...

I learned a lesson about vanity yesterday and when I realized what had happened, it smacked me right in the face.  It took me back to a time long ago when I was just a little girl, and the memory of it seemed as fresh as the day it happened in December of 1966.   It was the night of the Christmas program at Haven Grade School, a special event in the time of any child's life.   That afternoon as soon as school was dismissed, we kids all climbed on Floyd King's school bus for the journey home.  Everyone was talking and excited about the program that evening.  I heard all kinds of chatter about everyone's parents and grandparents, as well as uncles and aunts who were coming to see them sing and do the play.  I remember staying quiet about it all because I knew my parents wouldn't be able to come.  My mom was working as a waitress in a town about 25 miles away from home and my dad would be picking her up from work just about the moment in the ...

August 4, 2011 seems like forever ago and only yesterday to me.  Today 8 years later, I found the memories of it emerge on my FB page.  I didn't really need to see the proof of it there because I carry the verification of it in the scars that run along the inside of my left arm and the ever withering left hand and wrist attached to it each day.  Most people know my story but several do not, including my upcoming class of students at Liberty Elementary School here in Ponca City, Oklahoma.  This blog post is definitely going to be utilized to teach them to express their thoughts as they write about a time that changed their lives in some way or another.   August 4th, 2011 changed mine, and it changed it for the good. It was the end of the summer that year, one in which I had ridden my bicycle all over Hutchinson and Reno County in preparation for the Bike Across Kansas that June.  In my mid 50's,  I was in the best physical shape of my whole lif...

~time to go home~ When I went to bed on Thursday night I wasn't quite sure what my plans would be for Friday morning.  I had gone back and forth on making a quick trip back home to Hutchinson, Kansas for no real reason at all, other than to go back.  I reasoned it all out in my mind as I figured it would take at least a half tank of gas in a month that already has had more than its own share of expenses, as well as an entire day that I could be spending in my classroom getting ready for the school year at hand.  Before we fell asleep for the night I told Mike that I was going to go ahead to do it, and just like always he encouraged me to go and enjoy myself. Much needed rain woke me up in the morning and by 7:00 it was coming down pretty good.  I waited it out until about 7:45 and then made a mad dash outside.  A good feeling came over me as I put the car into reverse.  I knew that it was time to go home for a bit. The bulk of my nearly 64 years of li...