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Sunday dread

Talking to fellow teachers about the Sunday dread last week a bunch of us shared how anxious we get on Sunday knowing that work is on Monday. Teacher burnout began within the first month of school due to weekly increasing demands in an environment where students are less and less prepared each week for school success and life. Social media and cell phone addiction instead of self interest in self improvement and learning for curiosity are a couple of many symptoms of the attention deficit prevalent in students at the high school level. The ones being punished are the young people who are part of a social experiment where they grew up having phones put in their hands from toddler hood trying to be like parents raised with cell phones and the false magic of technology to make people smarter. Rich men get richer at the expense of generations of lost intellect.
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Kelly

Kelly Sometimes  my finger nails and hair  still feel the sadness  from the day I got the call  that you had  died.  That day  a light in me  flickered and went out.
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What truly is the focus of teaching?

August 17, 2023      What truly is the focus of teaching?       As a veteran teacher I find myself knowledgable in my content and proficient in creating relationships with students. I truly enjoy being around my students and sharing what I know about zoology and environmental science. More than that I am also teaching them empathy for the world and themselves, how to be young adults, and ways to help them in their lives once they leave my classroom. These things I take pride in and as a Mom I use my Mom voice and sense of caring for them should they need some Mom advice.       Each year the administration gives more responsibilities to teachers and ridiculous programs to use that are not transferable from year to year meaning I have to redo my teacher pages each year. This year I also am required to participate in a PLC with three other teachers. One of them is a newer teacher who is pandered to by my supervisor who is also part of the PLC. The third teacher has a lot of personal thing
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Environmental Science in a room with no windows-Day before the 2023-2024 School year

 August 15, 2023 Typically we have 3 professional development days before the school year but I had the opportunity to attend an Inland Seas week of learning in Suttons Bay, Michigan. There I learned various ways to protect the water entering Great Lakes watersheds. The most fascinating things that I learned from were a waste treatment plant and walking around with a group holding umbrellas and watching the way water flows into Suttons Bay. The most fun thing we did was to go on a sailboat and learn how it works and the way Inland Seas uses it to teach students about Lake Michigan. Those days were amazing and then I came back on Monday. I went into the building excited to begin the school year. Having taught for over 20 years and teaching environmental science and zoology for the majority of that I get to teach what I love. Over the weekend I even ran into some former students who told me how much they loved my classes and remember things I taught them. Looking at my schedule one of my
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