Pining for the Good Ol' Days...

Who remembers the tv show "Cheers" where the opening song went something along the lines of "We all want to go where everyone knows your name..."

I pine for being in a place where everyone knows my name... and everyone worked together for a common cause, the common good of our students. I didn't realize what good thing I had at two of my former places of employment until the last 6 months. Let me start from the beginning...

Fort Worth... my first job after college. My first year was full of struggles, what person has an easy first year teaching right? I had teachers say that they didn't think that I was a professional because I was young... I was inexperienced... I was new to the state and/or district... I was the same age as their children, and Lord knows that their grown children are NOT professionals... but things worked out, I persevered. I made it a point to do my job and do the best I could at everything I did. I changed schools my second year for a position I was stoked to be offered! I was going to work at the Regional School for the Deaf in my district! I was going to put my love for working with children that are hearing impaired to use! Unbeknownst to me, my principal had other ideas for my future career... she made it a point to make my life a living HELL, literally. I moved back to my first school for my third and last year in Texas. I loved being back with my kids and with the staff that respected me and came to me for consultation, regardless of my "inexperience." I had an amazing support system in Ft. Worth... I could call any of the 70+ SLP's in our district for advice, had access to just about any standardized test or materials I could think of... had team members who wanted to help each other learn, grow and become better teachers. People who cared about each other and about the future of our kids... who worked together to come up with interventions to help our kids... who actually listened to other professionals when they asked for advice and suggestions.

After my grandma passed away, I decided I needed to be closer to my family. I was missing too much of my nieces lives. I got a job in Claremore. A SMALL town in comparison to Tulsa or Fort Worth! The district superintendent knew each of the teachers that worked for him and he personally signed each contract, not a stamp used by a secretary! The staff at my school was (and still is) AMAZING! The Zebra family was just that... a FAMILY. Everyone supported the other and truly were friends and professionals. I am still friends with most of the staff that I worked with in Claremore. Our building oozed professionalism, friendship, loyalty, and unity. We were ALL Zebras, from preschool to 4th grade. We all lived by the same code of conduct... from how we walked in the halls to behavior in the cafeteria.

Then I moved to Colorado... I am still searching for a home where I feel like I am part of the professional community as well as part of the family. Last year in the Aspen Valley I was trusted about as far as my students could throw me professionally speaking. My every recommendation was questioned and doubted by teachers, parents and my supervisors. Leaving the valley was one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life... which brings us to the present day...

When I was hired for my current job I was excited! I had a principal who was young and enthusiastic about her job and teaching. The district was going about teaching students in a new way... rather than focusing on grades they were looking at what level the kids are working at and filling those gaps and moving the kids up through various academic levels. The downside to this plan is that the classroom teacher is still responsible for teaching grade level materials and state standards as well as the various level learning targets, which may or may not be on grade level. As an SLP, I have a broad scope and sequence for what I can teach. I can work on oral language, articulation, fluency, voice, reading comprehension, phonological awareness, oral comprehension and writing. When I say writing, I am referring to the parts of writing such as the grammar, semantics, and structure, NOT the formation of handwriting... I wish I could say that I am as stoked about this position as I was 4 months ago... I am becoming frustrated by the politics and lack of support, or at least the feeling of no-support from all levels.

When will I find my dream job? The one that I feel like I am accepted and am one of the family? The one where the other professionals support each other and trust the other? A job where I am able to do what I am trained to do and do best? Where I can support the various grade level teachers for literacy development? Where I can actually collaborate in the classroom and have teachers truly WANT me in their classroom for assistance???

Why can't I be a ZEBRA in Colorado with the material/assessment support from Fort Worth???

I HEART CLAREMORE!!

I just wanted to briefly let everyone know that I am doing great back in Tulsa! I have started working at Claremont Elementary as half of the speech therapy team... my partner in crime (or the rest of Trouble as we have become known) is a recent grad from TU. She is totally awesome! We have the BEST principal in the whole wide world in our building! She is so upbeat, easy going, approachable, and fun! We can ask her anything and if it is a request she gets right on it and let's us know what is going to happen regarding said request. So far I have 49 children that I am going to be serving and from those 49 there are a few (probably about 10) that will be dismissed soon...

I miss my babies in Ft Worth, but the stress level here is NOTHING!!! It is nice to leave work at the end of the day witha smile on my face, and that smile isn't because I am leaving!

I will post pictures of my apartment as soon as I take them! I haven't gotten around to that...

Moving, Work, Unpacking... OH MY!

Well I have diligently been working on getting some of the clutter out of my apartment every night when I get home from work, but so far I haven't noticed much of a change!

I think that I am going to enjoy my job in Claremore, once I get over these new terms such as RED meetings and MEETS meetings and CARGs and whatever else terms Oklahoma uses that are so foreign to me! I am starting to make some friends in Claremore and even some new friends in Tulsa! The girl that I am going to work with (there are 2 SLPs in our building) is completely crazy and awesome! She cracks me up all the time!

We have been going through materials in our classroom... what treasures we have found! I found a 1948 copyrighted version of on eof the DICK & JANE books on our shelves!!! Not to mention the Speech-Language textbooks that were left behind that are all copyrighted between 1937 - 1952... think those have the most up-to-date techniques in them??? We are trying to figure out what to do with these old textbooks... one thought has been to go on the Antiques Roadshow to see if they are worth anything!!! We have repainted our classroom, and moved everything BACK into our room and sorted through stuff once... with intentions to purge more really old materials in the near future.

Other fun stuff in my life includes receiving a letter from the State Dept of Education notifying me that they did not have my test scores from the National test that I took before I graduated... According to everyone I have spoken with, it appears that my scores were never sent out to the locations that I designated on the form when I took the test back in 2004! So now I am frantically trying to find MY copy of the test scores so that I can fax them to the state to get my temp license before school starts on Thursday! The problem is that I can't find my current state (Tx) and National (ASHA) license cards, or my folder that has all my credential stuff in it from college! I think they were left in Texas, or at least it appears that way to me still!

Pictures of my apartment are still to come... haven't made it that far yet in the process of sharing with everyone!

Oh what a week...

To borrow a line from Roomba Mom... oh what a week that was...

Last week was a CRAZY week for me! We had inservice all week long for work, with lots of times where I was wishing I was anywhere but in the really incredibly cold room that we were placed, I had to work on getting my room to resemble a classroom (hahahaha!), and then to top it off I made a trip home to Tulsa...

To start off, the Blakemore family lost a wonderful woman whom they loved very much on Tuesday, August 8, 2006. Memaw Jody lost her battle with cancer and was taken to heaven to live with God for eternity. We gathered together to remember her wonderful life on Monday, August. 14 in Tulsa. A good time was had by all with such wonderful memories! I had the chance to spend some time with Ana Rae this past weekend as well as with my own nieces. When Blake texted me the news I was ready to come home that instant, but he insisted that I stay in Texas and at work (how mature was that!) and to wait until the weekend to come home.

Last week, as I said was a crazy week! I did not get access to my classroom out in the portable until Thursday before we started inservice, and that was when my principal sweetly asked (informed...) me to have my room ready for parents on the 10th... uh huh... like that was gonna happen! It almost did! I loaded my car down to the hilt with stuff from my house and took it to the school where my worst nightmare was in motion! The concrete guys were there pouring concrete for the sidewalk and ramp to the portable!!!! But... this turned out to be good for me as the guys helped me to unload my car... yea... sweet!!!! Then I headed BACK to my old middle school (I liked that place by the way) to get the REST of my supplies that were not at my house all summer... Saturday Trevor sweetly loaded that stuff in his truck and went with me to school to put everything in my room only to find that no one was at school... grrr! Which meant that Monday after inservice would I not only have to work on my room, I was gonna have to find a helpful (and strong) male teacher to help me unload my car... (thanks Jonathan!!!) So, most of the week after 8 hours of training I went to my school to work on my classroom for 2 more hours... I made it home each night about 8:30... roughly 13 hours after I left...

Friday I drove home to be with my family and my adopted family (the Marf's) for the weekend. On Saturday my parents and I took my nieces to a Pow-Wow at the Expo center which was pretty cool! Then Sunday Ana and I took my grandma Alan to dinner! That was pretty hilarious! During a conversation about a girl I know having a baby Ana Rae asks...

Ana: MeMe are you pregnant?
Me: Not that I know of...
(uh oh... not what you say to a 5 yr old... I saw the wheels turning in her head... quickly back pedalled for fear this would be repeated to the family...)
Me: No Ana, there is no way I could be pregnant...
Ana: (sigh) good... cause if you were THAT kind of girl... I dunno if I should hang out with you anymore...

After a few minutes of laughing, I finally was able to compose myself! THAT kind of girl... exactly WHAT kind of girl was SHE referring to with that comment????? A few minutes later...

Ana: My Memaw died...
Me: I know baby girl... I'm sorry about that...
Ana: It's okay, sometimes people just don't make it to that really big number...
Me (innocently): What big number would that be Ana Rae? (thinking it would be 100 or something like that...)
Ana: You know... a big number... like 30...

Once again I had to compose myself... I guess my days are numbered... I have less than 3.5 years...

Monday was the memorial service for Memaw. Ana did very well during the service, I was very proud of her! To learn more about this wonderful lady check out the blog that her daughters have created: www.jodyblakemore.blogspot.com

Now to this week... I have already been told of 3 new referrals... and 2 new transfers... and I still can't find 5 of my 55 kids that I already knew about... not to mention the parents of 3 and 4 yr olds that are calling wanting to know when I am going to start therapy with their kids! I am soooo tired!!! Did I mention that I have to wear heels and walk around that blessed (refraining from using bloody) building all day long! I promise I probably walked more than 2 miles just today!!!!

I hope everyone else has a wonderful week!!! Keep me posted! I will hopefully have a more fun and optimistic post the next time... :)