The name of this blog may have you questioning why I picked it. It's not a terribly interesting story, but I'll share it anyway. I was watching The View (don't judge me, I was on summer break) one day and Whoopi Goldberg was wearing a shirt that had "Traumatized by Mediocrity" on it. I LOVED IT! It's like my sarcastic and somewhat cynical view of the world was summed up with three little words. Fantastic! I had to have that shirt. I found it too, and then quickly dismissed the idea of owning it because it had a $75 price tag. As if. So, I called a local sporting goods store and asked them to make it for me. Um, yeah. I asked for cursive and some girly swirls...this is what I got. (I'm pictured here with favorite son, Conor. He will be thrilled that I posted this picture for everyone to see.) Seriously? In the long run, I got the shirt for free because it was NOT what I asked for and nobody else in the store knew what it meant. Go figure.
Mediocrity is everywhere, and sad to say that includes the field of education. You all had the teacher who was a few years from retirement but who had, in no uncertain terms, "retired" years before and just kept showing up. They copied the same worksheets and lectured the entire class period in that monotone "anyone, anyone?" kind of voice.(Ferris Buhler's Day off, great movie, right?) Sad to say, those people still exist. They plod along and do the bare minimum to get by, when with a little effort they could be incredible. They simply don't care, are too afraid to ask for help, think getting better would be too much work, or are completely okay with being mediocre. I don't get that. I really don't. I', not saying that I think their intent is bad, per say. However, I don't think it's ok, especially when dealing with students, to aim low. Wow.
Don't get me wrong, not all teachers are like that. In fact, in our district, there are some teachers who are ROCKSTARS! They completely get it and hone their craft by attending professional development, scouring the internet for creative ideas and taking courses to further their knowledge on things like technology and Common Core. They stay after school to help students, take loads of work home with them to grade and show up an hour early to make sure they are prepared for the day. They strive to make their classes interesting and meaningful. They build strong relationships with their kids and treat them with dignity and respect. They are the ones who keep me believing that things can change - that by example, they may push a teacher who is stuck in the mediocre phase to want more. I'm praying this turns out to be true.
Mediocrity is NOT limited to the field of education. You have the checkout clerk who smacks gum and checks her cell phone when she is supposed to be waiting on customers. You have the customer service workers who are rude and abrasive when their job, by definition, is to help consumers. And please, don't even get me started on employees at the DMV. Seriously? How many of you have waited in line to renew a license or change a tag on your vehicle? Could there be a more unwelcoming environment? And we have no option...we HAVE to be there. They know this, so they don't have to strive to "get better". They sip coffee and talk on the phone, while the poor fools in line get angrier by the minute as their lunch hours slip away. And what baffles me is that there always seems to be a plethora of workers milling about, yet only one is actually helping patrons. What's up with that?
People amaze me at their lack of sense, lack of good taste, and laziness on a regular basis. It seems, to me, that there is an overwhelming part of the population that is perfectly happy with being idiots. Thus, I give you a few pictures from an email I got today entitled "Parents of the Year". I think this proves, yet again, how incongruous it is that we need a license to drive, hunt and fish, but anyone can be a parent.
Ok, I have to admit for a second there I had a flashback to Dana Carvey and his Church Lady bit on SNL. Great stuff. If you have time, look it up on YouTube. Don't be offended, it was done in fun.
Anyway, I had the wonderful opportunity to help host a Ladies' Retreat last month. It has taken this long to get things posted because I am in education, and it's May, and it's nice outside, and...and...ok, my name is Amy and I'm a procrastinator. (with good intentions)
My mom and cousin, Brad.
My mom (see left...isn't she beautiful?), after attending many wonderful retreats herself, wanted in on the action. Now I must admit, when she hatched this plan, I was worried. She had just come down from running a Corvette convention for the Midwest (no small feat) and was already brainstorming this next endeavor. I think she is a "planning junkie". My poor dad. She just retired, so time will tell. My sister and I wanted to be involved and thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to work with mom and our aunt Carolyn to pull this off. We had a lot of laughs, some great conversation and wonderful time spent together. Here's what we learned along the way:
Water bottles: I really wish I would have gotten a better picture of these. I scoured the internet for water bottle labels and let me tell you, most websites were ridiculously expensive. On a shoestring budget, that didn't fly. So, I called Office Max. They were so helpful! While they have several labels they sell commercially for water bottles, it was still a tad pricey. Office Max angel to the rescue. She recommended shipping labels. They are basically water proof because of the weather. We went with that and they were only.89 a sheet! What a bargain! We did discover that when the bottles were in the fridge and cool, the labels began to peel up a bit. That's when we slapped a strip of packing tape over the top of each one and called it a day. They were cute and a fun touch to the weekend.
Theme: There is a fantastic book out there called "Not a Fan" by Kyle Idleman. The book description says it best... (From Amazon...see link) Are you a follower of Jesus? Don't answer too quickly. In fact, you may want to read this book before you answer at all. Consider it a 'Define the Relationship' conversation to determine exactly where you stand. You may indeed be a passionate, fully devoted follower of Jesus. Or, you may be just a fan who admires Jesus but isn't ready to let him cramp your style. Then again, maybe you're not into Jesus, period. In any case, don't take the question---Are you a follower of Jesus?---lightly. Some people don't know what they've said yes to and other people don't realize what they've said no to, says Pastor Kyle Idleman. But Jesus is ready to clearly define the relationship he wants with his followers. Not a Fan calls you to consider the demands and rewards of being a true disciple. With frankness sprinkled with humor, Idleman invites you to live the way Jesus lived, love the way he loved, pray the way he prayed, and never give up living for the One who gave his all for you. Great, right? Mom had read the book and suggested it to me. From there the theme for the Ladies' Retreat seemed to take off! We decided on "Fan or Follower?" and decorated accordingly.
This was obviously the "fan" side of the table decor. The foam fingers were super simple, thanks to a template I found on Pinterest. The pom-poms were interesting. I wanted them, but again, I'm cheap. So, my mom had some leftover plastic table cloths and I made them with those. I folded them accordion style and cut 3/4 of the way to the edge. I ended up getting 8 sets of pom-poms out of two table cloths.
For the "Follower" side we decided on flip flops. The Dollar Store/Tree/Bin, whatever your local folks call it, was a great resource. Then, we took some material we had on hand and wound it around the plastic pieces for an added touch. Hobby Lobby sells flowers, but again, $$$$. Instead, over by the scrapbook material they sell a box of flower pieces. I snagged that and some rhinestones and we made our own super-cute flowers that we hot-glued on the flops. I'm a teacher, so I had access to a die cut machine. That's how we did the footprints on the table runner. My aunt spent a ton of time punching the paper that surrounds the candles. When we shut the blinds and lit the candles they were beautiful!
We used rhinestone paperclips (Hobby Lobby) here and there that simply read "Fan or Follower" or "Determine the Relationship".
We hit a party planning store for paper placemats. Then, we found especially meaningful quotes from the book and typed them out. The added touch was the purple footprints that my aunt cut out. Loved those! We tried to have a different quote on each placemat at the table. That way the ladies could compare the quotes and discuss them.
Office Max came to the rescue again. Time was getting short and for some reason I HAD TO HAVE napkin rings. This would be something I would not worry about in the future...live and learn, right? Anyway, I called them and had them print file folder labels with our two sayings on them. While a good idea, they were a bit too long so they lost something in the translation. Oh well.
Goodie Bag: Mom found bags at the Dollar Tree. To say they smelled like a feed lot would be too kind. Honestly, I have no idea where those things were made, but they stank to high heaven. She laid them in the sun for several days and that took the bite out of them but still...gross. We put the water bottle, their program and a coffee cup in the bags. We've all seen the pins about using Sharipe to create masterpieces out of plain cups, so we thought we would give it a try. However, we did do some extensive research first. What we found was that most people said the writing came off when used in the dishwasher. Solution...don't put them in the dishwasher...geeze! :-) We also made little slips of paper that said "Hand made, hand wash" on them and put them in the mugs. We stuck with our theme when decorating the mugs. They said "Fan or Follower?" and "Determine the Relationship". We used an OIL BASED Sharpie and baked them in a 400 degree oven for 45 minutes. Then we shut the oven off and let them cool in there. A long process for over 80 mugs, but they were sure a hit with the ladies!
Food: My sister, Michelle and I, were the cooks for this event as well. Our menus were as follows: Friday Night Potato Soup, Veggie Soup, Chilli, Veggies, Cheese , Crackers and Cookies. Saturday Lunch: Spaghetti, Olive Garden breadsticks, salad and brownies. Saturday Dinner: Taco salad bar, ice cream
We learned a few things about serving a meal to that many, too. First, if you are going to serve pasta, have the pasta cooked and warming with the sauce on it already. Trying to time things perfectly drove us nuts. Second, the special touches do make a difference. From the dollop of whipped cream and a strawberry on the top of the brownie to the homemade cinnamon sugar tortilla bowls for the ice cream, people feel pampered when they know there has been extra effort given. We also learned that comfortable shoes are a MUST!
My favorite part of the weekend was watching my mom do her "skit". She based it on the book and equated how we, as women, can sometimes become "fans" without realizing it because we let other things come before our relationship with Christ. She was nervous, but I think she did a fantastic job. She never ceases to amaze me with her talents and loving heart. I am blessed to call her mom.
So that was our weekend. We had great fun and great fellowship. And mom...well, she's already planning for next year! ;-)
Blogs - a ubiquitous term in our society today. However, what continues to baffle me is the fact that so many people don't follow them or write their own. Of course there's the age-old excuse of "no time", and I totally get that. It seems, of late, things have been going at warp speed both personally and professionally, and I know I'm not alone in that feeling. But one of the things I feel passionate about in education is professional development. As teachers, we need to stay up with best practice and crave collaboration with other teachers. In addition, we hate reinventing the wheel, so if we can find something to tweak or build on that will work in our classrooms and is aligned with Common Core, we're on it! That's why we should take some responsibility for our own professional learning; one way to do that is through following blogs. With curation tools/websites like Bloglovin and Sqworl, keeping track of information and reading on your own time is a breeze. Not to mention...wait for it....they're free! Taking advantage of the incredible amount of information out there is a must. So, where do you start? One easy way is by visiting this Edublogs site. Each year, Edublogs holds a contest to find the "best of the best" in the blogging world and then they share that information with us. The link above is the best of the best in Education. Along the right side of the homepage, users will find a list of topics. Navigate through them and pick something that interests you. Math teachers who follow blogs will tell you that Dan Meyer's is a fantastic one. Heck, I follow him and I have never taught math. Mr. Coward's Teaching the Outsiders blog is fantastic. He has loads of followers - yet not all of them teach English. He is also hysterical...an added bonus. Don't even get me started on blogs I follow for personal use. Let's just say that I know way too much about the Pioneer Woman her Food Network show and her family and leave it at that. :-) By reading blogs, you immerse yourself in new ideas and and give yourself the gift of collaboration - something every teacher can use. If you have questions about how to get started with reading or even creating blogs, contact me!
