After a long (and sometimes difficult) summer, I've finally been called back. I'll be teaching 6, 7, and 8th grade Language Arts and 7th grade social studies at a middle school in Kenosha. It was news I'd been waiting for all summer. We'd been preparing for the worst, but hoping for the best. Thankfully, we're going to be okay and will continue on with the nice little nest egg we've built over the summer.
The news of my new position bring some trepidation and nerves, but from what I've heard, the school is great. With Carter starting kindergarten this year, we're now busily looking for after school care for him. We think we've found a spot, but will have a little more research to do on Monday.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Friday, June 17, 2011
Bittersweet
As the school year ended, I found it very bittersweet. It's always hard for me to say goodbye to a class, but this year it wasn't just my class, it was my Harvey family. It's been tough lately to not be bitter and angry, but I am trying hard to stay positive. I chose not to say goodbye to anyone really, it would have been way to hard. Four years ago, I had done the same thing, saying goodbye each year to my Pershing family. Being connected to my Harvey family has been so much different in so many ways. There is a possibility that I will be called back, but I am not holding my breath waiting on anything. There are very few jobs out there that I can apply for. Many of them are just way to far from us, and I will not commit to such a long commute.
On a better note, Grandma was released from the hospital and is home recovering. She's a trooper and thankfully was "fixable".
My mornings are now spent drinking coffee and watching the boys get into what ever shenanigans they can. Life is good.
On a better note, Grandma was released from the hospital and is home recovering. She's a trooper and thankfully was "fixable".
My mornings are now spent drinking coffee and watching the boys get into what ever shenanigans they can. Life is good.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
A whirlwind
Since April 1, I feel like my life has been in a whirlwind. As the governor of WI continues to take money from education in this great state, the schools are fighting just to keep up with rising costs. In Kenosha, the district is losing about $555 per student, which in turn translates into a $33 MILLION deficit for the district. That then translates into massive cuts into the education system, the deepest being with teachers. After 4 years in the district and 8 years teaching, I got my lay off notice. I had a good feeling it was coming and in fact some insider information had tipped me off the night before. Knowing ahead of time however doesn't make that information any easier to process.
I cried all day. I was told I could go home if I wanted, that coverage was arranged for my room, but I couldn't go home. I'd go home and what...wallow in my own self pity. I much rather would have been with my students and for good reason. As my co teacher was reading Charlotte's Web with the majority of the students, I was sitting with one reading with her. She has a knack for knowing when people are down and need a little bit of love. She laid her head on my shoulder as I was reading to her, looks into my eyes and says "I love you Mrs. Shike." And that my friends, is exactly why I teach. Everyday, I walk into my classroom and change the life of a child. EVERYDAY!! What I do is powerful, impacting and sometimes life changing. It's worth it.
The second part of my whirlwind started last week. My Grandma sent me an e-mail saying she was having a CT scan. She'd been having trouble with her legs for sometime and it was being attributed to low potassium. Apparently there was more to the story. She called me on Thursday, after her CT scan, to let me know that she was in the hospital in Madison. The saw an orange sized mass in her colon on the CT scan and the doctor in Reedsburg said he wouldn't touch it, so he sent her to Madison. She's been in the hospital since Thursday. She's got an infection and they've put her on antibiotics. She's clearing up the infection and will have surgery on Thursday to remove the mass in her colon. She had a blood test that screens for colon cancer and that was negative, so that was fantastic news. During the surgery she will have a biopsy done on the mass to rule out cancer completely. They are going to take out a pretty large portion on her colon, so she's going to have a colostomy bag. That's the least of our worries. Please pray for her as she heads into this surgery and recovery. She's my last living grandparent and probably the one I've been closet with. she means the world to me and a whole lot of other people, so I am not giving her up, not just yet.
The "rule" is, she needs to live to 100. At least that's my rule for her, she seems to think I am insane to ask that of her. Maybe I am insane, but 100 is my rule!
I cried all day. I was told I could go home if I wanted, that coverage was arranged for my room, but I couldn't go home. I'd go home and what...wallow in my own self pity. I much rather would have been with my students and for good reason. As my co teacher was reading Charlotte's Web with the majority of the students, I was sitting with one reading with her. She has a knack for knowing when people are down and need a little bit of love. She laid her head on my shoulder as I was reading to her, looks into my eyes and says "I love you Mrs. Shike." And that my friends, is exactly why I teach. Everyday, I walk into my classroom and change the life of a child. EVERYDAY!! What I do is powerful, impacting and sometimes life changing. It's worth it.
The second part of my whirlwind started last week. My Grandma sent me an e-mail saying she was having a CT scan. She'd been having trouble with her legs for sometime and it was being attributed to low potassium. Apparently there was more to the story. She called me on Thursday, after her CT scan, to let me know that she was in the hospital in Madison. The saw an orange sized mass in her colon on the CT scan and the doctor in Reedsburg said he wouldn't touch it, so he sent her to Madison. She's been in the hospital since Thursday. She's got an infection and they've put her on antibiotics. She's clearing up the infection and will have surgery on Thursday to remove the mass in her colon. She had a blood test that screens for colon cancer and that was negative, so that was fantastic news. During the surgery she will have a biopsy done on the mass to rule out cancer completely. They are going to take out a pretty large portion on her colon, so she's going to have a colostomy bag. That's the least of our worries. Please pray for her as she heads into this surgery and recovery. She's my last living grandparent and probably the one I've been closet with. she means the world to me and a whole lot of other people, so I am not giving her up, not just yet.
The "rule" is, she needs to live to 100. At least that's my rule for her, she seems to think I am insane to ask that of her. Maybe I am insane, but 100 is my rule!
Sunday, March 20, 2011
11 days
I am officially 11 days from graduating with my Master's Degree in Education Media Design and Technology. 11 days!!! Looking back on the last year, it's been a bit blurry. I realize that I took in a huge amount of information in the last year, and it's going to take me some time to sort it all out. I give my final presentation tomorrow night, and don't really feel nervous...yet. I am sure I will get nervous tomorrow, but I don't think there's anything to get nervous for. Oh who knows...
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Week 4: Frameworks
In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. "...the dream of a land where every man will respect the dignity and worth of human personality." As a teacher in the great state of Wisconsin, right now I don't feel that my dignity and human worth are being appreciated or respected. So in the spirit of Dr. King, 100,000 plus people assembled this past Saturday in Madison to be sure that the governor of our state understands how much we dislike his 'dis' to state employee unions. As Zander says "The 'leader of possibility' invigorates the lines of affiliation and compassion from person to person, in the face of the tyranny of fear. Anyone of us can exercise this kind of leadership whether we stand in the position of CEO or employee, citizen or elected official, teacher or student, friend or lover."
So, collectively, 100,000 people stood at or near the capital building in Madison to be the leader of possibility. All 100,000 of those people being their own leader of possibility.
I've been the person, in the past, to think I won't write to the senators or legislators, someone else will do it and voice my opinion on the matter. Well, that time has passed. I've realized that I create my own destiny and I am my own leader. This makes me want to stand up for what I believe in.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Week 4 Publishing and Leadership
Well, after much deliberation last week and right up until WIMBA on Tuesday, I decided to stick with presenting. To be honest, I am nervous as all get out that I might be chosen to present. I would like to share my research with my peers, but the thought of being the expert on the topic at a conference terrifies me to the core. I've decided to go forth and submit my presentation to WEAC (Wisconsin Education Association Council) for the state teachers convention in October. For many reasons, this makes the most sense to be, but ultimately, it boils down to three things: 1. These are my peers, 2. It's close to home and travel wouldn't be difficult and 3. I can make a difference in my ownstate and for possibly for my own future students.
This is the link to my final project:
files.me.com/ashike/
Post #1: Initial thoughts:
http://4shikes.blogspot.com/2011/02/week-3-publishing-and-leadership.html
Post #2: Some confusion about the project, leads me to rethink my options.
http://4shikes.blogspot.com/2011/02/thinking-about-presenting.html
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Beyond the #$%^ It.
All right, I have to laugh, this was really the last thing I expected to find in this book, although really it makes sense. I've been at that point in my life, and thankfully, like the cellist in the book, it worked to my advantage.
I had spent the previous 4 years working in a building as a building substitute. I worked everyday in the same building and when I was needed in a classroom, I was in. When I wasn't needed, I worked with small groups of students in all the grades. The problem was, I made minimal money and had no benefits or contract. The last year I was in that position, I was asked to be a second teacher in a third grade SAGE classroom that was seriously over "capacity." I should have been given a contract like a regular teacher, or at the least been considered a long term sub, but I wasn't. The administration had interviewed me a few times for various positions, but I was always passed up for the job. I was too good at what I was doing as a building sub. It was disheartening.
I was on vacation that summer with my family in Vail, CO. We were visiting my brother out there for the first time. It's beautiful out there. I had been applying to various districts around where we lived and we were in the middle of a serious hunt for our first house. I got a call from a principal in Kenosha for an interview, she wanted me in the next day and I was 1200 miles away. She offered me a phone interview and I took it. I was BTFI. I went for it and put it all out on the line. She thanked me and asked if I'd be available the next morning for a second interview. I figured, what the hell? Why not, I've gone this far. So I had the second interview and we took the day to drive up the mountain. My phone had no signal, so I couldn't have taken the call if she called to turn me down. We returned and my husband and I went with my two brothers to have a drink together. My phone beeped in my pocket and I knew this was my call. It was my answer.
I listened to the voice mail and there was the principal, offering me A JOB!!! My first real classroom and first real position. Not that what I was doing before wasn't real, but this was a classroom. four years in the waiting and I finally had what I want.
Going beyond the #$%^ it was worth it. It gave me the job I wanted, and my husband and I bought our house in Kenosha. It's all been uphill from there.
I had spent the previous 4 years working in a building as a building substitute. I worked everyday in the same building and when I was needed in a classroom, I was in. When I wasn't needed, I worked with small groups of students in all the grades. The problem was, I made minimal money and had no benefits or contract. The last year I was in that position, I was asked to be a second teacher in a third grade SAGE classroom that was seriously over "capacity." I should have been given a contract like a regular teacher, or at the least been considered a long term sub, but I wasn't. The administration had interviewed me a few times for various positions, but I was always passed up for the job. I was too good at what I was doing as a building sub. It was disheartening.
I was on vacation that summer with my family in Vail, CO. We were visiting my brother out there for the first time. It's beautiful out there. I had been applying to various districts around where we lived and we were in the middle of a serious hunt for our first house. I got a call from a principal in Kenosha for an interview, she wanted me in the next day and I was 1200 miles away. She offered me a phone interview and I took it. I was BTFI. I went for it and put it all out on the line. She thanked me and asked if I'd be available the next morning for a second interview. I figured, what the hell? Why not, I've gone this far. So I had the second interview and we took the day to drive up the mountain. My phone had no signal, so I couldn't have taken the call if she called to turn me down. We returned and my husband and I went with my two brothers to have a drink together. My phone beeped in my pocket and I knew this was my call. It was my answer.I listened to the voice mail and there was the principal, offering me A JOB!!! My first real classroom and first real position. Not that what I was doing before wasn't real, but this was a classroom. four years in the waiting and I finally had what I want.
Going beyond the #$%^ it was worth it. It gave me the job I wanted, and my husband and I bought our house in Kenosha. It's all been uphill from there.
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