PTA- 12 Summer Ac-Cool-Ades for you!

12 Summer Ac-Cool-Ades for Teachers, Administrators, and Parents

Click! Click! Click! From about the third week of May through the third week of June, this clatter resonates around the country as teachers, parents and administrators snap off their alarm clocks, roll over to catch a few more zzzzzs and sigh, “Finally!”

Teachers, parents and administrators are the triple-tined spear that prod children into successful students and lifelong lovers of learning. 

Here are 12 summer Ac-Cool-Ades spiked with my admiration for all that you do.  May they add more sweetness to your sandy, sleepy summer days.

Teachers:

Strawberry Lemonade Splash

Teachers not only hold the key, but they are the keystone of any successful educational program. Classroom instructors need to assess, sometimes instantly, why Johnny isn’t engaged and what type of hook they must bait to reel him into learning, and, consequently, his success. Each and every day they make the choices that will build Johnny’s confidence and help him understand that, “Yes, he can,” read any book, compute any equation, pass any test and write any essay because “Yes he is” smart enough to do so.

Pina Colada Slush (Mocktail or Cocktail- Sipper’s Choice)

Teachers understand that Jane and her 24 plus peers are not balls of clay composed of the same exact ingredients. Therefore, educators know that they need to create lessons that are fast-paced for Jane, hands-on for Joey, auditory-based for Betty and visually-grounded for Bob. The lessons need to be lively for Liz, hushed for Harry, repetitive for Rhonda, yet varied for Victor. Also, they all need to be focused on state and/or Common Core standards of learning, A.P. exams, and/or other testing criteria so Jane and her peers earn at least a proficient  or, in the case of A.P. exams- a score of 4 or 5.

Caramel Cappuccino Quencher

Teachers, knowing that the majority of their energy must be student-centered, spend hundreds of hours planning engaging lessons, assessing students’ progress (or lack thereof) and constantly making adjustments for their charges’ needs.

Old-Fashioned Chocolate Milk Shake

Teachers appreciate the fact that they must form professional bonds with parents if their students are to experience success. They understand that parents are more than willing to discuss their children’s academic strengths and weaknesses as well as the attitudes and behaviors that could, and most often, affect their offspring’s’ success. Speaking of parents…

Parents:

Southern Sweet Tea

Parents know that their children need their fierce protection, but recognize when to allow a teacher’s sincere worries about Johnny or Jane’s lack of success to penetrate this armor. During collegial conferences, they are open to listening to instructors’ concerns and to work with the teachers and their children to form academic action plans.

Cool Cucumber Lemonade

Parents put school first-and not their children’ jobs. Some kids work to pay for their cars, clothes and extra-curricular activities, but most moms and dads set a reasonable limit to this so that school remains a priority. Even parents whose kids must work to help to pay the rent and food bills push classroom success because they realize that their children’s future financial stability rests on a solid education.

Berry Blaster

Parents promote respectful attitudes toward education and teaching. They let their kids blow off steam about the dictatorial history teacher, the micromanaging algebra instructor and the never-ending reading and writing assignments from the English educator with a My Class Rules attitude. But…but, they never join with their children in denigrating these educationalists.

What a Peach Punch

Parents might disagree with the word picture about their son or daughter that the teacher paints, but they understand that the teachers see a side of their children that they don’t. They know that their children are multi-faceted, and reveal various sides of their personality to teachers, bosses, friends, frenemies, Aunt Marge and Grandpa George, and to them. They realize that those lessons on rounded, dynamic characters they survived in high school English classes are meant for actual living beings and their children, and not just for characters that spring from a writer’s imagination. They staunchly push this fact to administrators that their Jane or Johnny is not just a clay clone of any of the 24 plus children in each of her or his classes. Speaking of administrators…

Administrators:

Rockin’ Caffeine-Me Iced Coffee

Administrators hire teachers that they know will be the best fit at their school, and who bring with them goody bags overflowing with appealing activities, provocative lesson plans and inspiring attitudes. They hire professionals in their fields and never deny them their hard-earned classification.

Frozen Banana Foster Smoothie

Administrators understand the importance of data in the quest for AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress), but also know that each child carries to class a backpack crammed with feelings and fears, the reality of life situations, and the effects of prior academic circumstances. Respecting the fact that they hired professionals, they allow their teachers the space and time to help their students to jump any hurdles that could keep them from being successful test takers, but most importantly-lifelong lovers of learning.

Chocolate caramel Nut Frappuccino

Administrators will respectfully listen to any complaint against one of their teachers, but will not make any judgment at that time. Like parents with their children, they will close ranks around their staff member until they have collected all pertinent information from whatever necessary source (s). Only when armed with this information will they make a decision and privately, but in person, inform all involved parties.

Dock of the Bay Raspberry Bomb

Administrators will never forget the rigors of the classroom that they experienced and that their teachers face daily. Because of this, they will never turn a deaf ear to any staff member, parent, student or citizen of their district. They hold firm to the knowledge that a solid curriculum will stand up to any test, any scrutiny and any non-educator’s one size fits all dictate.

To teachers, parents and administrators, known and unknown, I send these Ac-Cool-Ades of appreciation, today and every day. Whether it’s during the school year or summer vacations, you struggle constantly against tides of criticism and waves of love-hate relationship with all things educational, yet you shine on and on and on.

Now, it’s time for you to slide into an Adirondack chair, a hammock or a beach chair, open a good book, click on Hulu, Prime or Netflix, or fade into an earful of tunes and sip one or two of these Ac-Cool-Ades while you relax, rejuvenate and refresh.

Happy Summer to you all!

Connie

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Connie

Labor Day means a Battle of Emotions for present and former teachers

The last few days, a feeling of having forgotten to do something but not being able to remember what it is has dogged me. Finally, in the middle of last night, I dinged onto the answer. I’m missing the last minute lesson plan finalizing, checking off my Things to Do checklist, i.e. copying handouts, gathering textbooks from storage, making sure my sub folder is complete and keeping my stress level in the reasonable zone. My emotions aren't suffering the roller coaster ride of anticipation and anxiety for a new school year, the fear of the unknown and the joy of working with teenagers that always has accompanied every new school year.

                               https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Keith-Naquin

During lunch with colleagues still leading classrooms, and through discussions with teachers on Facebook and in emails and texts, I have heard concerns about AYP, PLC, standardized tests, required data collection, and, of course, class schedules, and have felt their excitement, as well as their passion for teaching and meeting new students. Do these situations cause a twinge of sadness for what is now my past? Sure, but on its tail is a sigh of relief. It’s their time, now.

Still, my heart and mind echoes with the Battle of Emotions between the armies of Loss and Relief.

·        Loss because I loved watching my children (as a parent) and other parents’ children (as a teacher) grow academically, emotionally and socially into responsible, reliable and respectful adults.

·        Loss because young people challenged my thinking and kept me authentic.

·        Loss because teenagers kept me laughing, and

·        Loss because I fed on the energy that can only come from teachers, students and administrators.

·        Relief because I don't need to worry about whether I am doing right by my students academically, emotionally and socially.

·        Relief because I don't have to wake up before dawn, to tackle a mountain of papers to grade, or to prep for that night's dinner.

·        Relief because I don't have to face a classroom of recalcitrant adolescents who dare me to turn them on to the love of learning, and

·        Relief because I don't have to deal with administrative directives that detract from teaching and learning.

But…but…the itch that refuses to be scratched is: I loved most everything about school-as a teacher and a student- and always will. As a teacher, I loved seeing the "AHA!  I get it!" lights blink on, relished how kids kept me learning by showing me  a side of a character I never noticed, or an idea or a concept that I hadn't occurred to me, and miss those cherished  moments when struggling students began to believe in their value to themselves, their family, their friends, and to society.

As a teacher,

·        did my frustration level soar when I encountered students who felt they were too cool for school or whose sense of apathetic entitlement challenged my patience? Of course.

·        did the petty dictates of a few administrators puffed up with their newly awarded power cause nights of teeth grinding? Of course.

·        did I despise waking to the clanging of my alarm clock at 4:45AM? Of course.

More importantly, though, I prized lively book discussions with my students and celebrated their happiness when they realized that they could express themselves orally and in writing. Their confidence in their newfound skills and abilities not only warmed my heart but also encouraged me to continue to create lessons that dared them-and me- to keep on reaching higher and trying harder. 

That being said, the arrival of September will always spawn tingles of anticipation, shivers of fear and heart rays of joy. This ninth month of the year will forever be more of a New Year to me than January. From both sides of the desk, I will always, always love school.

Happy Labor Day Weekend.

Enjoy a Teach It Now Day Every Day!

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Connie

CELEBRATE TEACHERS!

No matter our jobs, careers, titles or the letters at the end of our names-we earned what we are by learning from teachers. Colleagues and friends still leading classrooms, THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! Every day, but especially during Teacher Appreciation Days, I celebrate you.

Although I have said it before, two of my Teacher Appreciation Day posts share how much I love and support teachers and teaching. In light of all educators do and face, let me reiterate ...

“Teaching creates all other professions,” (Unknown). How true this is! None of us knows how to do everything. That’s why we rely on the knowledge and skills of others.

The air conditioning and heating repairman saves us from sweltering on a sweaty August day or freezing in a single digit December when our home units shudder to a halt.

The chef who creates a sumptuous dinner for us at our favorite restaurant offers us from cooking every night.

The mechanic keeps our cars running.

The doctors and nurses bring us peace of mind and body when we- and those whom we love- are ailing.

Pro-athletes’ knowledge and understanding of their sport thrill us, musicians evoke our emotions and thespians move us from laughter to tears.

We trust that police forces will protect us and fire personnel will save our homes from severe damage.

We rely on those in the intelligence and counterintelligence fields to keep criminals and terrorism at bay.

The military is full of men and women who ensure our country’s safety and keep us strong.

Lifeguards prevent us from downing in bodies of water while pilots and air traffic controllers make guarantee that we don’t fall from the sky.

Those in the field of finance safeguard our money and farmers’ and ranchers’ products fill our larders while writers and artists in all fields creative nourish our minds and spirits.

The list of those who give our lives substance and value is endless, dependant on our wants and needs. How did all of these people learn their craft?  Teachers taught them what they needed to know.

In appreciation for all that teachers can do and choose to do, and do, and do, here is an alphabetic listing of just a few of the people who enable us to enjoy  lives that are healthier, happier, safer and enriched.

Athletes; Air conditioning and Heating service people; Air Traffic Controllers; Artists; Architects; Accountants; Administrative Assistants; Auto Mechanics

Bookeepers; Bakers; Butchers

Chefs; Caterers; Counselors; Clergy; Computer engineers, analysts an programmers; Curriculum designers; Construction managers and workers; Chauffeurs

Doctors; Dentists; Dairy farmers; Dieticians; Database administrators

Engineers; Electricians; Estheticians; Epidemiologists; Exterminators (insects and rodents)

Fire personnel; Financial advisors; Farmers

Geologists; Gynecologists; Geneticists;

Historians; Home designers; House decorators; Hair stylists; Human resources specialist;

Intelligence and counter-intelligence personnel; Internists; Information Security Analysts; Insurance agents

Judges; Journalists; Janitors; Jewelers; Jockeys

Keyboard operators;  Kiln builders and operators; Kitchen supervisors

Lifeguards; Lawyers; Laboratory technicians

Musicians; Military men and women; Mathematicians; Meteorologists; Marketing researchers and analysts; Manicurists; Maintenance workers 

Nurses; Nutritionists

Obstetricians; Ophthalmologists; Opticians; Occupational Therapists

Pilots; Police; Professors; Physicists; Psychologists, Psychiatrists; Physical Therapists; Physician Assistants; Pharmacists; Plumber; Paramedics; Principals

Quality Control personnel; Quilters

Ranchers; Respiratory Therapists; Real Estate agents; Receptionists; Restaurant servers

Software developers; Scientists; Social Workers; Statisticians; Speech Therapists

Thespians; Teachers; Technology specialists; Taxi drivers

Urologists; Underwriters; Upholsters; Utility workers

Veterinarians; Vacuum Cleaner service people; Van drivers

Writers; Web developers

X-Ray Technicians

Yacht designers and builders

Zoologists

And the list goes on, and on and on.

What do all of these professions and careers have in common?  They include people who do what they do because teachers taught them how to read, write, add and subtract, think, analyze, and do.

Jacques Barzun, a French-born American historian, educator and teacher trainer said, “Teaching is not a lost art, but the regard for it is a lost tradition.”

Teachers Appreciation  celebrations –be they a Day or a Week-remind us to thank teachers for all that they can do, and all that they choose to do, so that we can successfully do what we do. What a terrific tradition. 

Without educators, we all might as well be living under rocks, grubbing for our food, fending off our enemies in games of Who Has the Biggest Stick, and waiting for some smarter person to discover fire while we die young.

During my school days, my peers and I always understood, even if we didn’t always like the journey or the guide, that our teachers would lead us down the Yellow Brick Road to the Emerald City.  Our treasure, and theirs, was the light in our eyes when we got it.

Teachers, 

• You create your magic every time you share your knowledge, abilities and skills with your students and peers.
• You create joyful, inspiring and safe classrooms for all of your charges - especially for those who might not experience such pleasures in their personal worlds.
• You teach us to live up to our potentials, to follow our dreams, and to strive to make this world a better place.

We need your magic- and we always will.

In your honor, Teachers pay Teachers is holding a Teacher Appreciation Sale on May 3rd-4th. Stop in and browse. Give yourself the gift of time with a few lessons and activities.

Thank you, teachers! 

Teachers, Parents and Students - for a No-Bummer Summer, Try This Bucket List

Twas the Night Before Summer Vacation

Twas the night school ended, and in all the houses

Not a child was stirring-all alarm clocks were doused.

The backpacks were stored in the closets ‘till Fall

While children slept soundly - no reason to stall.

Moms and Dads tossed in their sheet-rumpled beds

While visions of chaos caromed through their heads.

Facing weeks with no schedules, nor essays to write,

Joey and Jane would probably just sleep, eat and fight.

When from their computers there rose such a clatter,

Parents clicked on the Net to tune into the chatter.

Facebook pages, Twitter and Pinterest flowed

With kudos for a Bucket List they just had to download.

The URL they copied, then they clicked on the link

Hoping for ideas so their worries would shrink.

When what to their grateful eyes did appear, but

A Summer Bucket List with awesome choices to cheer.

The thirteen suggestions would spawn stimulation,

Chasing away boredom which breeds during vacations.

Their kids’ minds and bodies would be active and aware

Even without homework and school lessons to bear.

“We must call the Timms, the Taylors and Turners!

We can’t let this wonder crouch on any back burners.”

Dads grabbed their Smartphones, their fears now abated,

While Moms sent emails and social statuses they’d updated.

As the sun rose announcing a school-free June day,

Refrigerators, world-wide, this List did display.

Not summer assignments, Oh no, not this list,

But propositions to tempt, to engage-not resist.

I offer this Summer Bucket List on TpT for free

To parents, to children, to teachers - what glee!

When asked in the Fall, “What did you do this summer?”

‘Cause of the List, no kid'll reply, “Mine was a bummer.”

(I adapted the format for this from Clement Moore’s Twas the Night Before Christmas.)

Every summer, parents worry about how to insure that their children will not morph into the Abominable App Creature.

Every summer, kids become bored with sleeping until noon, lounging around and texting their BFFs, and crave some mental and physical stimulation-those not taking classes, working or attending various camps, that is. No, they don’t want summer assignments heaped on them, but they do want to think, to be inspired, to go places and to see people. And they want these experiences to be fun.

Over the years, I have been a teacher, a parent and a child. In all three roles, I endured the same anxiety, concerns and lethargy as summer rolled from one steamy day into the next. I remember all too well tossing around my parents’ bed while my mother ironed the family’s 100% cotton clothes. Bored to tears, I chose to irritate her with my howls of, “I have nothing to do!” And it wasn’t even the end of June, yet!

Although my two children are now grown and I no longer have to deal with the Summer Doldrums, I do have two granddaughters - ages 8 and 11- who visit me often, so I always need ideas to make our time together fun. And although I have retired from teaching, I will never turn my back on learning- no matter the season.

That’s why I created A Summer Bucket List. This FREE product offers young people from 6-16 opportunities to think, to sing, to write, to be physically active, to read, to use basic math skills, to experiment, to get involved in their communities and much more, but without the constrictions and restrictions of school. They choose, they do and they have fun. Check it out and maybe tape it to the fridge…just don’t tell your children that they will be practicing comprehension, computing, critical thinking and writing skills that they associate with school. Leave that to their teachers next fall.

Download this Free list of activities from 

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Printables-A-Summer-Bucket-List-253658

Have a relaxing, restful and rejuvenating summer. You all deserve it!

ELA Teachers- Yes, I took a May vacation, but I am back at least once a week with musings, ideas and lessons on everything teaching from my side of the desk. Come on back-often.

Happy Summer,

TEACH IT WRITE - BUILD POWERFUL ACADEMIC HOMES

3 Teacher Survival Lessons

 After I handed the professor my Teaching Of English final exam, signaling the conclusion of my formal BS ED instruction, I literally sprinted toward my future.  I was so pumped up with visions of adolescents gobbling up my lessons culled from my Idea File and clamoring for, “More, please, Mrs. C,” in that perfect classroom of my imagination that Dr. Ryder’s last words failed to register.

“Remember,” he said, “we have been discussing theory.  The realities you all will be facing in the fall will probably be a bit different.” His words bounced off my ears like my mother’s urgings to, “Eat burnt toast so the boys will like you.” All too soon, I would learn that "...a bit" was a vast understatement.

Ninety-six days later, my lesson using lyrics from Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, the Beatles and other rockers to teach metaphor engaged the students. Other stresses, those of the non-teaching kind, though, made me grind my teeth in frustration. Only then did the irony of Dr. Ryder’s final words register in my frustrated brain.

Education professors would do the future teachers in their classes a huge favor by spending some time in a public school setting learning about who really runs the school and who can make teachers’ lives easy or difficult, and then revising their Teaching of courses.

Here are 3 teacher survival lessons that served me well for 30+ years in the classroom. Hopefully, they will cut some of the hassles that you will encounter this- and any- year.

Administrative Assistants run the school. A friendly, “Good morning,” and an occasional sincere chat about their families will:

• garner you that last ream of copy paper when your colleagues are rifling through the recycled paper bins five minutes before the bell and you desperately need 50 copies of your Metamorphosis test.
• guarantee you a meeting with the principal about the mouthy kid you want to hang by his thumbs when everyone else thinks the school's head honcho is,  “Lunching with the superintendent.”
•  insure a heads up on Monday morning when the principal is checking out the “teaching going on” and you planned Reading Time while you unscrambled your weekend sleepy brain.

Custodians can make your life heaven or hell.  Always pick up the day’s detritus left by your students, make sure your trash cans are never the result of a “How Can we Pile the Junk before it Spills” contest, clean your own white boards and deliver home baked goods before holidays to their break room. This guarantees:

• a bottle of white board cleaner when everyone else is told to, “Buy your own. The district hasn’t authorized us to hand out our supply to teachers.”
• more desks from their secret stash when the counselors have blessed you with five more students than you have desks.
• a comfortable, back-saving cushioned office chair fresh off the truck before they send out an All Staff email to, “Come and get one.”

Technology Personnel are to be showered with smiles. They will save your sanity more times than you can count by:

• fixing the connection between your computer and television so you can show that PowerPoint you spent a gazillion hours designing.
• finding the Editorial pages that magically disappeared twenty minutes before the newspaper has to be sent to the printer to make deadline.
• showing you secrets to bypass the glitches in the online grading system an hour before grades are due.

Remember, college professors’ theories are similar to the nursery rhyme about girl with the curl in the middle of her forehead: When they are good (reality-based) they are very good, but when they are bad (ivy tower-only based) they are, well... not horrid, but definitely not helpful.

Have an inspiring and exciting school year.

Happy Teaching,

A Labor Day Lesson

A Labor Day Lesson - A contemporary tale...

Principal Ben Scroogens tossed his red pen beside the twelve-inch high pile of unread lesson plans as his head flopped onto the stack of the First Day  Motivate Me activities he had demanded each of his 175 teachers turn in for his approval before they left for the three-day Labor Day weekend. “Twenty-five down- 150 more to go before I send my Sunday night Acceptance or Denial e-mails,” he said as a yawn spiraled into the stale air of his locked office.  He rubbed his red-rimmed eyes, his teeth clenching in anger when he thought of the English 12 lesson plan on Friday Night Lights he had just read.

“Once again I see that Rita Rebellie is refusing to be a team member and get with the program. She’s supposed to be teaching The Stranger like the rest of her Professional Learning Community, but, No-o-o, not her. Hah! I can’t wait to see how long she’ll stand her ground against my policies when she realizes that I’ve scheduled her for lunch duty every day.”

He sat up so quickly, he sent his brand new ergonomic leather swivel chair into a spin that ended with the left side of his shaved head smashing into the corner of his faux mahogany filing cabinet. His last thought before he fell into unconsciousness bounced around his brain, “Rita and her friends will just have to miss their barbeques while they revise their plans to meet my guidelines.”

Minutes…or maybe hours later, he had no way of knowing,  Ben awoke amidst a blizzard of papers swirling around his desk and slapping him in the head.  “How could this be?  I keep my windows locked,” he thought.  His eyes slit open just as a pale hand zoomed toward his jaw. His peripheral vision caught a glimpse of another ghostly white hand sending yet another fistful of lesson plans diving toward his head. 

“What the heck…” he raised his head onto his left arm in an attempt to push himself upright.

“Wakee uppee Bennie-boy.” A grating squeak not unlike nails on a blackboard rasped his ear drums as cold finders patted his bald pate.

The principal managed to raise his head enough to rest it in his cupped hands that topped his arms, bent so his elbows took the weight. His eyes widened into Os of wonder. ‘You are Carol Whatshername- the Ghost of Christmas Past from…”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah- from Scrooged.  Got that in one, Bennie-boy.”  She yawned and rubbed her fingers over one of her sparkly-red gel nails. “Drat it! These nighttime treks are the nemesis of manicures.”

“Why are you invading my dreams?”

“Oh, hon,” the Carol Ghost visage leaned toward the principal, “you are definitely not dreaming.  See.” She grabbed his left forearm with both hands, twisting each one in a different direction. “I am the Ghost of

Teachers Past, Present and Future.” She patted his arm. “The economic downturn condensed our job descriptions.”

“Geeze Louise, lady. That hurt.”  As he propelled his chair backwards, Ben caught a look of his trashed office.  The precisely aligned stack of his teachers’ lesson plans now lay in pieces on top, around, under and beside every piece of furniture.  “What the heck did you do that for?”  He flapped his hands at the paper drifts.

“Oh, Ben, Ben, Ben, none of this is your business in the first place.” She picked up a paper labeled Physics and Phenomenology: Time- it might not be Fundamental, and flicked the paper toward the principal. “Didn’t you drop Basic Physics your senior year in high school when you realized that it wasn’t relative for an English Liberal Arts major?”  She giggled at her pun.

Feeling not one iota of humor, he responded, “Yes, but, as the principal, I must keep my finger on the pulse that pumps the learning lifeblood through the students in my care.”

“Ben, you are clogging your teachers’ professional arteries. Just let them teach.”

“But they don’t always know the right way…”

“Whoa there, Bennie-boy. Now that’s a different tune from the one you carried in your classroom days.” She pointed at the TV screen, holding her hand steady until a clear picture appeared.  A young man sporting a light brown comb over and gym trim physique clung to the door of a classroom while twenty-five entranced students followed his every move.  “Hmm, you’re being Gregor the dung beetle in The Metamorphosis again, aren’t you?” Carol the Ghost Teacher’s voice oozed warmth and understanding.

“Yeah,” Ben sighed happily. “I loved playing the parts of characters. That always hooked the kids’ attention.”

“You should have been teaching subject/verb and pronoun/antecedent agreement that day, though, right?”

The principal’s backbone turned to steel as he straightened up in his chair. His eyes glowed softly, though, as they watched the passion, the fire in his younger self.  “I knew what my students needed! After all, I talked with them, listened to them and dealt with them every day. We’d get to the grammar and everything else on the Program of Study; we always did.”

“So does Rita.” The Teacher Ghost’s pale hands pushed away the wrinkles on the last lesson plan Ben had read.

“But she doesn’t listen! The teachers all have objectives…goals… PLC agendas that they must follow. She is no exception.”

“Sure she is Bennie-boy.” With a flick of her finger, the Teacher Ghost switched the scene on the TV to one where a slightly older Teacher Ben paced in front of the same desk where he now sat. A previous principal, the one he had named the Ice Queen, perched in the principal’s chair.

Ben’s lips moved in sync, remembering the words his younger self spouted as he admonished the elderly administrator to, “… permit the teachers to help their students regain their love for learning by allowing them the freedom to teach what they want, when they want and how they want. “

“Remember your words, Ben, ‘Each teacher is exceptional, just like each child. Just let us teach, and they will learn.’”

“Man, I exuded passion, didn’t I?” Ben shook his head at the memory.

“That you did, Bennie-boy.  That you did.”  Carol fluttered her finger again and the picture changed to the whole staff meeting just that morning. In it, Ben narrated a PowerPoint presentation that jumped from the test-by-test breakdown of the previous spring’s SOL exam results, to slides depicting regimented lesson plan criteria- by department, to samples of data-collecting forms, to the ten ways to contact parents, to the school policies on attendance, tardies, to expected bathroom, hallway and cafeteria behavior and to teachers’ professional duty assignments, i.e hall monitors, bus duty, cafeteria duty and Copy Room assignments. Carol shook her head. “I think you forgot to include the one on goose-stepping.”

“We need rules, doggone it!” Ben slammed his hand on his desk. “Without them we will have chaos.”

“Without the majority of them, you will have teachers who want to teach and kids who want to learn. And when that happens, you will have students who want to earn Proficient and Advanced Proficient test scores instead of Charleying out on them because they love and appreciate learning for learning’s sake.”  

She spun Ben’s chair to face the screen. “Look at your teachers’ expressions! Where is their passion? Their fire? Their hopes and dreams and compassion for their students?” She twirled the chair to face her. “Smashed under your micromanaging fists, that’s where.”

“I know what scores we need from these kids to meet AYP. I know this takes coordination in each department by course and grade level. I know what my teachers need to do so…”

“…so you can remain principal.” The two glared at each other.

Ben ended the glowering contest first.  “I am the principal. And as a professional, I have been deemed worthy of making the hard decisions.”

Carol sighed and pressed the palms of her hands against her temples in frustration until her temper cooled enough that she could speak. “What are your teachers?  Androids?  I thought they were professionals, too.”

“Of course they are. They have to respect my position as their leader, though.”

“Respect is a two-way street, my friend.  And from what I see, you micro-manage; you do not lead,”

She pulled a stapled sheaf of papers from a hidden pocket in her pink and purple skirt. “’Effective principals are just that because they have enough confidence and respect in themselves and their staffs to lead instead of micromanaging every campus-related detail. They understand when to grasp the leadership reins and when to delegate authority to the professionals who surround them.’ Sound familiar?” She held the thesis paper in front of his face so he could read his name.

“Yes, I did write that but that was before I sat in this chair and realized what was at stake here.”

Instead of responding, Carol pointed at the television screen until a quadrant of pictures appeared.  In each one, students filed into a classroom where a teacher sat behind a desk that held a tray labeled: Assignments to be Completed and another for:  Assignments Finished.  Stacks of texts for English, Social Studies, Science or Math or various other high school subjects perched next to the trays, depending on the classroom. On the teacher’s right side was a pile of Standards of Learning exams with an Exam date written in bold black indelible marker on a cover sheet.

As the students shuffled by the desk on their way to their work stations, each with a laptop and printer, they picked up an Assignments to be Completed instruction sheet and a text book. Carol fast-forwarded the tape, but Ben could still see that the students worked for the allotted time, completing any written work on their computers that they sent, to the teacher, he surmised. They also printed out a hard copy of their work which they deposited in the Assignments Finished tray. No conversations, emotions or interaction broke the robotic scenes.

“Welcome, Ben, to the future of this school unless you wise up and smell the rank odor of frustration, low morale and apathy emanating from your staff and students.”

Ben stared at the television, watching his image march from classroom to classroom, ripping down any posters promoting a love for learning and admonishing any teacher talking with a student. They each received some harsh words that he couldn’t understand if they showed even a glimmer of a smile.

“But what am I to do?  I have criteria that my bosses expect me to follow, too. I have to jump through hoops, too.”

“Work with me here, Ben. You know as well as I do that hoops won’t stay in the air without someone’s help.  Fire up your old passion and add it to your leadership skills. Things don’t have to stay the same. Bring back a love for teaching and learning, Ben.”

“But where do I begin?”

“Right here.” Carol deleted the morning’s PowerPoint presentation from the screen and Ben’s hard drive. Next she tossed all of the teachers’ lesson plans into the trash. Finally she brought up Ben’s email, and typed:

“GET FIRED UP!

This year all teachers will follow their department’s Program of Study, but will choose what they want to teach, when they want to teach it and how they want to teach it. You have the knowledge, skills, the professionalism and the passion to ignite your students, your classrooms and these halls with a love and desire for learning.”

Carol flipped the desktop to face Ben. "Now create a list of five to ten behavioral expectations and school rules that you will print out and laminate for all teacher to post in their classrooms.  Finish with a few hearty words, something like, ‘Welcome to a truly New Year. Let the Learning Begin.’”

Ben shook his head, his thin-lipped expression showing his skepticism. “It’s that easy?”

"Yes, Bennie-boy.  It is truly that easy.”

The End

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To all of my colleagues starting or preparing to start a new school year, allow me to  paraphrase Tiny Tim, “Happy Labor Day dreams to all, and to all a happy school year.”