The new school year is just around the corner and for some reason this is causing me a little bit of discontent. I am ready to get back into the swing of things and have a structure to my day and week that the summer lacked. But I can't help remember all those resolutions I went into the summer with, pertaining to this school year. I feel like I am losing my resolve when it comes to some of the hard lines I was planning on taking. A few examples:I was planning on making a set schedule for myself that teachers could sign up for. The difference between this and the past is that I always molded my schedule around the teacher, often meaning I would be seating a class as another class left, or going into my lunch time to accommodate a class. Due to some scheduling requirements we have at school this year, I am going to be much more semi than flex, leaving me with a small window of time to see flex classes. So even though it would still be within my rights to host classes on my time frame, I feel like I need to make accommodations. Another area I was planning on toughening up is was collaboration. I wanted to sit down with teachers and hammer out exactly which projects they would be working with the MC on, and which resources they would want to use. Our school has so many new teachers that I feel hesitant to try and pin them down so early. The relationship with a teacher and the LMS is based on trust, support, and trial and error. Any demands I might make could harm a potential working relationship.I tend to compare myself and my programs to others out there and perhaps the need to have more formality to what I do stemmed from hearing how others do things. So I am looking at how I feel right now two ways.One I need to realize that I am the right LMS for my school, and that I approach the community with the sensitivity and the professionalism uniquely required. I shouldn't worry about changing what I do when what I do has been working.OrI am chickening out. I am afraid to take a stand on things in case people don't like what I am doing and by extension don't like me.What do you think?
We had Ruby Payne consultant, Bill Allen, spend the day with us at school today. First of all, he was a great seminar leader. The presentation was well paced, there were plenty of breaks, and a good many hands-on activities. I really dig what Ruby Payne has to say, and I am glad she is changing her wording. Her first book is called A Framework for Understanding Poverty, and while it is true page for page, I think her newest text is much more appropriate for today's economic climate. We studied The Under-Resourced Learner, and strategies we can use to help them succeed. It can be overwhelming to think about some of the tragic situations all of our students find themselves in, and situational poverty is something is close to home for most Americans. Foreclosures, rising cost of living and stagnate wages, and the health care crisis are only a few of the monsters terrorizing the average American's standard of living. As educators we can't pay someone's bills or get their car fixed (or at least we shouldn't!). So how can we help a students who are under-resourced, either financially or emotionally? Here are a few strategies I took away from today:Students need to have only one (although they would benefit from more) meaningful relationship with a caring adult.Within the school walls there is a host of resources available to the student, they just need to be tapped. Students need to have a social support network, and often times the under-resourced student does not have this. It is possible for people in the learning community can provide this. Being a stable group of adults can serve as a quality support network. How can I apply these to my work as LMS?I can be a resource that is available in flexible and creative ways. If a child is trying to meet a reading goal by having an adult read with them and they don't have an adult at home that can help, I can be there. I should be there. I can be a part of a social network for a student by collaborating with my peers on behalf of an under resourced student. I can seek out the help of others in the school community to help me form these social networks for under-resourced students.
With budget cuts looming over everyone LMS's always turn to the doomsday prophecy that our jobs will be cut. In many states and in many SC districts this is a real threat, but after speaking with our superintendent this summer I think in my little posse of LMS's is safe. For now.But it does bring up a valid dialogue about what it is that makes having a LMS around essential. Teachers, regardless of the budget, are safe. (Although with all the flattening of the world who knows...) But technically you could probably get away with paying a TA to warehouse the library books. So what makes me indespensable? In my mind, I would say that it is teaching the greater learning community how to navigate the overflow of information. If I did not work in my school, teachers would continue teaching reading skills, and probably even the love of reading. Maybe not as well as I could, but then again maybe even better. What I do feel makes me unique is my abilty and my desire to delve into information and pull out what is useful, ethical, and appropriate. That is my philisophical foundation, but there is also a real world out there so I know that I must fill lots of positions to make sure that my learning community couldn't live without me. Here is the short list of what I feel makes others think I am indespensable:
