Well, I do have to admit defeat – at least in terms of being able to blog for 100 days in a row.  I made it to 66 days spread over about 90 days (including weekends).  I learned a lot.  I learned I do have something to write about – even if other folks aren’t convinced they want to read it.  I learned that I like to write – given the time to do the thinking about what I want to write about.  I learned that although I wish I weren’t; I’ve been too trained in the last 15 years to be an academic writer, and so it’s very hard to write something once and publish it without further work and reflection upon the product.  I learned that it’s hard to write without an audience.  I learned what I already knew already that I’m pretty tenacious; the difference being that as I age I know when to give up!   It was fun.  I intend to go back over my entries, pick up some of the threads and create some more viable products than a paragraph here and there.  And, so actually I wasn’t defeated — I correct myself — I chose to stop something that was no longer interesting and not finish just for the sake of finishing.  For me – that’s big!

One of the workshops I went to at the NEFDC Conference recently was a workshop on creating syllabi of interest.  While there are several sections I must put in, I have a good deal of leeway about the rest.  Although I learned that at some institutions, the entire syllabi content is legislated by the administration.  But, I have leeway and what the presenter had to say was quite fascinating.  We deem it an important document, yet what we give them often has very little to do with the interesting and what we deem exciting material going to be covered during the semester.

I was really excited about it and I’m not about to give it all away here – but my students should stay tuned for an interesting change in my syllabus!  Here’s where I’d love to say something about my own administration, but I won’t.  Gramma said if you can’t say it in a nice way, don’t say it at all.  So I won’t!

Today I’m thinking about the what is going to be a fun task of creating new and interesting syllabi for next year.

Not that anyone is reading my posts, but I realized that I miscounted already!  As I recommend to my Student Success class students, organization is the key to everything; so take away is that I need to pre-number a calendar and that way I’ll keep track of which day I’m on.

Organization is key to this profession.  I suppose it is to most; although I’ve been on the other side of the desk of a bank manager and insurance officer or two who didn’t look too organized.  And, I really don’t think it was organized chaos either.  I have two desks – one home, and one office – not to mention a briefcase to keep under control.  Most of the time I manage.  In the past, I had a desk job at a children’s writing company where there were lulls in my work and I could really keep organized.  I was fond of that aspect of that job.  My files were always alphabetical, everything got in those files and I could retrieve them!

In my current school office, I made time before classes began to organize my shelves and desktop and only one week in, it has already paid off.  Requests for items, important papers to bring to meetings are readily retrievable.  Now that’s the top of the desk….

The four drawers of file cabinet space are another story.  A number of years ago, it was in order; but not now.  It’s quite awful, and I’m sure I’m reproducing things that already have a file or extra copies for students in there somewhere.  But, I’m working on it.  I’ve been trying to take one file out a day, see what’s in there, correctly label it, and begin to make some sense of those awful drawers.

My home office goes through phases.  The room shares itself with my clothes overflow, my laundry folding and ironing, and my getting dressed in the dark in the morning and don’t disturb the hubby spaces.   So it tends to get a big out of hand faster than my school office as I know not too many people are going to be looking or sitting in there!  And, as I explain to myself it’s multi-purpose.

But the point being that organization and a place to easily get your tasks done, like prepping, grading papers, and just plain thinking on how to get a concept across is really valuable to quality teaching.  Is there research out there to back me up?  Probably, I don’t know, but it’s true for me.   Today I’m thinking about organization.

—  Albert Camus

Another school year begins for me today — and for so many more over the next few days.

I hope, as a teacher, that I support those who have struggled to get through their beginnings to the road that says:  “Here’s the path you were meaning to find.”   May those I teach this year have the strength to “Keep on Truckin’”

(and for those, including me sometimes, who don’t have much good to say about No Child Left Behind — it may not be the bill that didn’t work – it may be that it was never funded under Bush the way it should have been).

Good-bye Mr. Kennedy from the littlest citizens of America.  I hope you have a great time with Mr. Rogers!

How Did Senator Edward Kennedy’s Work Affect Young People?

Late senator helped lower voting age to 18 and sponsored many college grant and loan programs.

I’m not going to go run and hide because I’m catching some heat. I’m not going to stay at home and pout.   Andy Roddick

These two quotes caught my eye this morning as I try to battle with my syllabi for the coming, oh so quickly, semester.   The heat outside is on my mind as, as always, it makes me feel constantly slightly ill: never finding the right food or drink to quell the heat inside or out.  I do have air conditioning, and so I’m physically cool, but maybe it’s being trapped inside just like it’s January that adds to the discomfort.

As I work on my syllabi, hoping to improve it with some new thinking I’ve done and reading I’ve been reflecting on, I think of my students.   (Actually I do know profs who don’t think of their students as they set up their syallbi – it’s much more valuable to them to think of the ease of the work to themselves.) While I attempt to offer a learning environment, I also must be, at times, the source of heat that makes them ill, uncomfortable and while I hope not, perhaps even cower.  I always hope that I am the facilitator of learning; but it’s a difficult process: enough heat to move them forward from the stimulus but not enough to send them into a cave hiding from it hoping to get cool again.

But, I’m certainly talking about money.  But to tell you the truth, since the late 90s when my husband and I had some really rough economic times, we’ve been living on a cash basis and saving up a storm.  Although my retirement funds are sliding downhill, and maybe I should be more nervous, I’m not.

Today, at a professional development day on my community college campus, the President had to report that it’s likely our Governor will slice up to 7% from our campus’s budget.  He gave suggestions on how we might work on this together, and still serve our students well.   I sat there thinking carefully about it all, and although I don’t recall all I said (that happens a great deal when I speak from my heart and soul), I offered the personal reflection that I wanted to stay optimistic and remember that I was really glad to have a job.  I think I also said something about survivors of many things will tell you that they way they survived was to find joy amongst the misery.  So I suggested that we all remember to smile and enjoy our work.

After I got home, I realized that while it is true my nature is to be optimistic, my sabbatical really showed me how many of the little things in life I take for granted and my life would be none the less rich if they were to disappear.  We, being those in my work community, not only have jobs, but we have food and clothes and all the extras like DVDs, and pencils and computers.  We have a long way to go before we are truly “without.”

So my take on this week’s economy down-slide is still an optimistic one.  I will continue to volunteer my time and energy in my community helping children through my membership in the Kiwanis club, and support my community and students in every way possible.  I have all I need and more today.  I know it’s not true for all, yet if those who have would support those who don’t, we will land on our feet at the bottom of the slide.

Today’s lectures started with two that were really a pair as they were presented by the authors of a great new book about a particular Shaker collector couple:

Book: Gather up the Fragments: The Andrews Shaker Collection by Mario S. De Pillis and Christian Goodwillie

The lecture by Professor De Pillis shared with us the aspects of how this collection and this couple became a turning point of the culture of Shakers being recognized as important to historians and collectors. The second half given by Mr. Goodwillie focused on the relationship between the Shaker community of Hancock and the Andrews. It’s too complicated to explain here, but I’ll quote from page 52 a passage by Professor De Pillis “As an old friend of the Andrews and as a fellow board member at Hancock Shaker Village, Inc., I accepted the invitation to write this essay as a moral duty: to cut through the gossip and amateurism of the so-called World of Shaker and provide a sympathetic but objective account of the Andrews and their collection.”

In addition to the two essays, there is another by M. Stephen Miller, as well as dozens of pages of photographs of beautiful artifacts, furniture, tools and more that the Andrews collected, thus “saving a culture.”

The afternoon sessions were as follows:

Put a Cap on It: Chastity and the Shaker Cap by Glendyne Wergland, and

Zion’s Travelers: Traveling to the Shaker West by Carol Medlicott.

I do a dis-service to any of these researchers by attempting to summarize their work. If you are interested in more, let me know or contact Hancock Shaker Village. It is my understanding that there may be some proceedings published afterwards; or perhaps they can provide a way for you to contact the presenters.

I’ve been interested for a long time in the children brought up by the Shakers, and I continue to scribble notes and give it a bit of thought about how to go about focusing my interest. This summer I read a history of education (sorry I don’t have that reference with me at the moment) and I’m very interested in the mid-1800s in terms of how schooling was changing and thus changing the lives of how children were educated. Maybe one day I’ll have enough information and research under my belt to actually write an article! For now, I’ll keep reflecting and keeping notes about how to think about it!

And, of course, at seminar:

we eat:

we sing:

we talk:

and greatly enjoy one another’s company!

We met one gentleman on the Queen Mary from the UK who said he served in WWII and had a deep appreciation for our country (and was quick to add that we’ve had better leaders in the past).

Every place we talked with people, I always was amazed at their depth of knowledge of world events and of America’s history.  I do think many people we met know more about our country than many Americans do.

During this trip, we came to appreciate many things about America; but also came to see that we could be doing much better in many ways.  The acceptance of wind power in Spain is a quick example.

But this posting is not to wax long and certainly not poetically, just to say “Happy Birthday”!

P.S.  I hope my many readers will keep checking in as I plan to reflect more on my trip , and to begin to post other pieces about work, life, liberty, Spanish learning and the thrill of grandchildren here in the future.

Hubby and I just returned from a meeting with our lawyer and accountant. We have assets that need protecting, and other people whose careers it is to know how to do that for us.

That seems mundane to many, especially those who I know will read my blog, but I’m reminded today that it isn’t so to me. I am from the “working class poor” I suppose it would be called. My father was eventually in my childhood a federal employee – worked in the motor pool at an arsenal. After the war (WWII) he drove trucks for bakeries until this job. He believed that women should stay home, and so my mother did. She raised 5 children. She was one of 12, so we had dozens of cousins and relatives in the area. My parents never bought a home and were always renters. His salary was $18,000 a year in the late 70s at the end of his career.

For many reasons — too many — to get through in this format; as a precocious child I have many memories of decisions I made before I was even 10 years old. I knew when I was 8 I was going to get a doctorate (my father made it through high school, my mother the 4th grade). I knew I had to get out of our community to learn more about other people. I knew I was going to travel (then I only knew you could travel the US though!).

And, here’s where I was going with this morning’s chores: I knew that I would be “rich” when I had a home with pretty things in it and that it would be still there when I died so that my children would have an “estate.” I do think, even with my training in early childhood, that this is an odd thing for an 8 year to make decisions about!

So today, I am blessed. I have the means and time to go study abroad. I started reading Dickens at 9 years old, so I’m pretty sure that some of my ideas of what rich people do and have come from the years I spent in childhood hiding from my real life in books! I have a home, and other material goods.

And, of course, I am richest in the love of family and friends. I have so enjoyed the last few days of seeing and hugging good friends who wish me the sincerest and sweetest “good travel.” And, today, as so many days, when I think of my life; I think the harder about what I can do to share it with others.

I think I might be about to have one of those adventures that I read about at 10 years old!