Happy Holidays 2011!

Happy Holidays (Christmas, Festivus,, Hannukah, Saturnalia, New Year’s, etc.) one and all!

Anyone who is receiving this message knows my penchant (or lack thereof) of timeliness, so you understand my tardiness in sending out my Christmas newsletter. Here’s a small taste of 2011.

A Sunset Walk on the Beach

My travels didn’t take me too far this year, but I did get to have two memorable vacations.  During Spring Break, 9 of my fellow teachers and I drove to Dauphin Island, Alabama for a week at the beach.  We rented a beach house and enjoyed every last minute of down time we could muster.  The Saturday morning we arrived to balmy 75+ degree weather, it was snowing back home in Missouri. It was just the type of vacation I needed – fun, relaxing, and blissfully warm!

In July, I went to Las Vegas.  I have had an aversion to Cirque du Soleil, but I ended up giving in to peer pressure and went to see Love – a Beatles tribute.  It was incredible!  The combination of recordings, the narrative, and the movement (not just the wicked trampoline tricks!) was awesome.  In Sin City I also managed to run into Vanilla Ice at the Flamingo hotel.  (And by “run in” I mean he was scheduled to be at the pool for 2 hours one of the days we were there).  Here is photo proof  - word to ya mother.

Cindy's friend, Mr. Ice, my friend Cindy, and me

After spending 10 years teaching World Studies (a history/English block class) with one partner, I embarked with a new partnership with Ashton Honeycutt in 2010-2011. Even though I was technically the “veteran” teacher, Ashton encouraged me to try things not just because they were how we always did them, but because they were good for kids.  Unfortunately, Ashton’s position was only one year.  I am hoping we will teach together again soon. In the meantime, I have spent my first full year teaching only single sections.  This school year I have one section of Humanities and four sections of English 2 (World Literature for 10^th grade).  It has been a challenge to teach one class four times in one day.  I’ll say this for teaching - there is never a dull moment!  This summer I got to experience my first taste of teaching college.  Through the Missouri Writing Project (which I have participated in for 3 years) I co-facilitated the summer institute for 2011. 

Maverick and I at Adam and Misty's wedding

I gained new family members this summer when my brother Adam married Misty.  Though they now live in Phoenix (and as of December 1^st Adam is no longer in the military!), the wedding was in St. Louis.  The wedding party did have to deal with dive-bombing cicadas during the outdoor pictures.  Misty’s son Maverick has easily made his way into the crazy Brooks family.  Maverick gave a very moving speech at the wedding saying he hadn’t had anyone to call Dad for a long time, but now he has one.  I am officially now an aunt (though I have been an “aunt” Leia to Danielle’s girls Avery and Tessa too).  Now there are more children to spoil!

I am ready to bid adieu to 2011 as it also brought an unwelcome visitor right after Thanksgiving.  I came home the Sunday after Thanksgiving to find my house had been broken into.  Thankfully nothing irreplaceable was taken (electronics, jewelry, and some random things like my toaster), but I was shaken up.  My amazing friends, colleagues, and family helped me in many ways – one of which was a deductible/new jewelry shower.  Their generosity, the Energy Star rebate from my new sliding glass door, and the speed and efficiency of my insurance (hollar for American Family!) helped me see the goodness that surrounds me.  I truly feel blessed.

As always, I have to give a top ten list of books to read.  So grab a title and start reading!

1.     1. The Hunger Games – yes, I was slow on the uptake with this one.  But the dystopic world in the book is totally addicting.  and Jennifer Lawerence looks to be a pretty good fit as Katniss in the upcoming movie.

2.     2. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks – a non-fiction book that doesn’t read like one.  The sad story of Henrietta Lacks’s suffering with cancer and how she forever changed science does a great job of portraying all the characters in full dimensions.  It is interesting to hear who people think the villain is.

Book Club Ladies being sassy like Henrietta Lacks

3.     3. Female Chauvinist Pigs – technically an “academic” read, this is an unfortunate reality of the world we create for women. 

4.     4. We Were Here – a Gateway Award nominee for 2011-2012, this book gives an insight into a group home Miguel gets sent to after serving time in Juvi.  The honesty is brutal and readers constantly want to know what got Miguel sent to Juvi in the first place.

5.      5. Thirteen Reasons Why – Two weeks after Hannah commits suicide, Clay comes home to find a package of audiotapes (yes, they do still exist!) explaining the 13 reasons why she killed herself. 

6.     6. The Help – another book I was slow to pick up, but once I did, it was so hard to put down.  I actually liked the movie as well as the book (a rare accolade from me), though there are obvious differences.  I highly recommend reading it before seeing the movie.

7.     7. Honolulu – a novel set in Korea and Hawaii in the early 1900s.  I was especially intrigued by this book since I have been to both places.  The main character, Regret (yes, her parents named her that), is sent to Hawaii as a picture bride for a Korean worker. 

8.     8. The 19^th Wife by David Ebershoff – a novel based off of historical characters.  Jordan was excelled from the polygamous society in Utah where he grew up.  Ten years later, his father has been murdered, and his mother – the 19^th wife – is charged.  Jordan’s story is intertwined with Ann Eliza Young – Brigham Young’s 19^th wife who challenged the idea of polygamy within the Latter-day Saints and the Constitution.

9.     9. World Without End – a pseudo-sequel to Ken Follett’s Pillars of the Earth, this story takes place a hundred years after Kingsbridge Cathedral has been built.  This is a good beach or plane read – it is long, but reads quickly.

1010. The Book Thief – Liesel is a foster child living outside of Munich during World War II.  She has a passion for reading – so much so that she steals books, a task that becomes challenging as the Nazi’s burn books.

Here’s to a wonderful New Year!                                                Leia

Who are we really serving?

I've had one hell of a school year.  And I still have 5 days until 2nd semester.  This does not bode very well for the coming year.

Even though I am now a veteran, I still feel like a newbie in some situations.  One area that is a strength for me is my connection with kids.  I care about them.  I want them to learn.  I hope to make education something meaningful for them in their life.  This is my vision as a teacher - I meet my kids where they are and try to help them on their journey of self discovery.

Lately, it feels like the bureaucracy, red tape, "the man" - all of these factors beyond my control have been major obstacles I have to dodge.  When I have to spend hours trying to organize two different classrooms, when I have to stop worktime for my students and their final to have a fire dril, when I spend more time planning alternative lessons for students who are suspended than I do the original lesson - something is wrong.  Teaching is such a demanding job that it is almost natural to look for the nemesis to blame problems on.  But I usually feel like I am in the trenches with fellow teachers I respect and hope to emulate, which makes the weight of the job easier to bare.

Far too often this year though, I have felt isolated in my job.  For 11 years I team taught a World Studies class, so I was always with another teacher.  Yes, we had a double classroom, but we also had two people to handle behavior, two people to try and reach students, two people who could share the burden of minutia and other paperwork that bombards our inbox.  I loved it.  I took American Studies in a class set up like this in high school and it made so much sense to me.  Initially, I didn't realize this is what I wanted to teach (I thought I was more an American Lit type of gal), but I was thankful for a job.  And along the way I realized that World Studies is what I teach well.

My first partner teacher really liked having student teachers and in the 10 years we taught together, I worked with him and his 11 student teachers.  Along the way, I had 4 student teachers of my own.  Last year, I got to work with the awesome Ashton Honeycutt who challenged me to do things not because it was the way it was always done, but because it was what would help students learn.  Because her position was only a one year spot, she was not able to come back this year.  And much to my disappointment, no one in the history department was willing to teach block with me (or any other English teacher for that matter).  So because it would have been too difficult to force a teacher to work in a partnership, the 80+ kids who signed up for World Studies this year had to be placed in other classes.  In other words - as a school we did what was easiest for one department - not what was best for kids.

For the past year and a half, we have been looking at changing our schedule from a traditional 7 hour day to a block schedule.  After much deliberation, we came to a consensus that a modified block - where all classes would meet on Fridays - was the best bet.  We would be assured 3 days a week of seeing our students, we could give them the option of having 8 credits per year, and we would have the benefit of fewer transitions in one day.  Then last week, the proverbial feces hit the rotating air device overhead, spewing scatological matter over all.  The schedule we wanted couldn't happen.  It was too difficult to configure.  So again, instead of doing what we agreed on being student friendly, we did what was easiest for adults.

To be a good teacher, I think you have to be passionate - it is after all a service profession.  And yes, I am a bit of a drama queen, so sometimes I take that passion too far.  This may be my grown up equivalent of a temper tantrum.  Unfortunately I don't have the grown up equivalent of stomping my feet, crying "It's not fair", and demanding my way.  What we do with our students is so important and significant.  I hate to think that so many decisions are being made because they are easy for adults.  That is not my mission or vision.  Maybe I need corrective lenses, or maybe I am staring at the wrong line of letters and I can't see clearly; whatever it is, it needs to be fixed soon.  It is giving me a head and heart ache.