Kids are kids for such a short time and I don't think schools should be so anxious to take away the "fun" events and customs of childhood. I don't know how any of you feel about Halloween activities during a school day, but I am ok with some Halloween fun.
My daughter is a 5th grader and the school usually does a first thing in the morning "parade" around the halls of the school. No scary or bloody costumes are allowed in school and people can come to take photos. After that, it was up to the classroom teacher to decide if there was a short "party" at the end of the day.
Being a teacher myself, I understand the stress of all the different "non-educational" things that take away from class time. I think our district's elementary teachers are loaded with standardized testing too. My daughter already took the NECAP (?I think that was the name of the almost two week long test). In a week or two they will be taking the NWEA. The principal in the other elementary school in our district did away with morning recess; leaving it up to individual teachers to decide if they wanted to do something with their own classes. My daughter told me yesterday that there won't be a parade on Thursday (there is no school on Friday because of workshops). I need to investigate some with an email to the principal (5th grader information sometimes leaves out things). The principal is in her 2nd year as an elementary principal and I would hope that she is not trying to do away with a simple event that my kids (as well as myself) look forward to.
SOON my daughter will be talking about boys, checking Facebook, wanting to drive and buying things at Victoria Secrets!!! I want to hold onto all the time I can with her wanting to dress up for Halloween, wanting to watch Disney Channel and wanting to play with Webkins. :(
Goldilocks seemed to have a clear sense of what was "just right" in the world. She knew what was too hot or too cold and what was too soft or too hard. When writing a blog, there is always the question of "is my post too short or too long?" What is the "just right" length???
I suppose it goes back to what the folks in my writing class discussed (on a message board) earlier. It may be more of a matter of what the purpose of the blog post is that may help determine a length that seems "just right." It is also important to keep in mind who the intended audience might be.
The very nature of blogs seems to be to get out information/thoughts fairly easily to as many people who are willing to read it. Along with that, chances are that if someone is reading your blog, they are probably reading others as well. That leaves only so long an individual can devote to reading any one blog post.
I imagine it may be like reading a newspaper or a magazine. I personally do a lot of title surfing and a quick read through the articles that catch my attention or that relates to something I think is important. But, like with my magazines, looking at blogs can be an activity that I can go at my own pace, come back to later, and look over again.
And now I will be guided by the inspiration of Goldilocks and finish this post! :)
All high school teachers, at some point in their career, should become a class advisor. Longevity as an advisor is not for everyone however! Earlier in my career, I did work as the class advisor with two different graduating classes and then took a nice long break until last year. You see, I thought it would be a unique mother/son opportunity to become the class advisor for my son's Class of 2013. What was I thinking?
As a new class of students enter into the high school, they get a class advisor who, usually, stays and works with that group of students for the next four years. An advisor helps to "advise" when it comes to events like homecoming. The primary focus however is to get the class to raise as much money as they can to help pay for graduation and the activities surrounding it. Each grade level is responsible for selling home concessions (sophomores with girls soccer and basketball; juniors with boys soccer and basketball; seniors have football).
Needless to say, this has taken up a considerable amount of my time as of late. Tonight we turned 50lbs of potatoes into fresh cut fries tonight (the last football game sold 400lbs when they ran out), steamed plenty of red hot dogs, grilled the grilled cheese and popped lots of salty popcorn. Then comes the cleaning up of the grease, salt and crumbs left behind in the machines. The evening then ends with mopping the floors and dragging trash to the dumpster. I smell like "fried foods" when I return home and my feet are sore.
The positive side about the whole thing is that it has been a good mother/son activity. My son has been helping at just about every game and I doubt he would have otherwise. I get to spend time with students outside of school in an activity that they do enjoy (sometimes a little too much and forget to wait on a customer) and I get to help a group of students and see them through to graduation.
Finding ways to interact with students outside of school is an important part of what we do. Our job as educators is much more than a 9 to 5 job. Our students do need our presence outside of school too. This can be a bit of an overwhelming task to ask of us though. We give so much of ourselves during the school day and most days there is very little left to give to personal lives. But, finding a way to somehow interact with students outside of school is rewarding, AND it doesn't have to be becoming a class officer!
Now my daughter is part of the Class of 2018 and will enter the high school in 4 years. I have to say that I might just enjoy playing parent for her and "help" with concessions. When soccer season is over, I will be glad to not have to see those fries go into the yucky looking oil and I get to take a break from those scarlet red hot dogs for a short time UNTIL basketball starts up that is. Are red hot dogs really food??? My daughter thinks so. I think they are unnatural, but what hot dog isn't I guess??
