July 2009 Archives

With the fall school term about to start, the superintendents of Long Beach and Pass Christian school districts are busy trying to find replacement classes for vocational students. “It’s a very good program and the community college did an outstanding job with it,” Long Beach Superintendent Carrolyn Hamilton said,” but we have budget problems and we have to balance our budget.…… That left us no choice but to cut the vocational classes. Running a vocational program is expensive…..”

But not running a vocational program may be even more expensive in the long run. The vocational classes no longer funded by these Mississippi school systems included allied health, culinary arts, aquaculture, metal trades and auto mechanics. They are industry certification programs and sucessful completers would walk out of high school with the credentials to begin jobs in fields where workers are needed. In communities that are still reeling from Hurricane Katrina, that would be worth a lot. But that’s not going to happen in Long Beach.

It’s not going to happen in Pass Christian either. Pass Christian and Long Beach shared the Workforce Development program at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College’s Long Beach site, and Pass Christian can't sustain the program without Long Beach as a partner.

Instead of acquiring marketable job skills, students who had clear career goals and were on track to achieve them will be taking “replacement classes.” Career and Technical Education programs such as these are at least two- to three-hour blocks, so that means that these students will have to “choose” two or three other courses that are thrown together in the next couple of weeks. Seniors in these programs often need only a Government and Language Arts class to meet their graduation credits, so it is likely that many of these students will opt for a Work Release and head out midday to work in fast food or some other entry level job.

These sacrificial lambs will graduate with a diploma, but will be neither workplace nor college ready. And the probability is, with the lost opportunity to develop marketable skills, some will drop out. Their future options will be limited as well. Without the articulated curriculum agreement with the local high schools, the Workforce Development program at the community college is likely to flounder.Twenty-five years of program development will be put at risk.

Even if the program survives, waiting until after high school graduation will delay entry into the workforce and increase cost for students. If the community college program folds, taking out student loans and enrolling in a private technical school may be their only option.

The cost of higher education has skyrocketed in the last 20 years. The majority of students who complete HS college prep programs never complete college. Jobs that require technical certification or associate degrees represent the best opportunities for employment across the country right now. While high-end outliers distort the mean, income for skilled jobs often pay equivalent or near the median earnings of jobs that require an undergraduate degree but do not result in a certification or licensure. In light of these realities, it seems only logical that stakeholders would support and promote high quality vocational education.

But there are some practical issues:

Vocational programs are expensive to start up, equip, and keep updated to industry standards. College prep programs, with the exception of lab sciences, require minimal equipment and consumable supplies and virtual labs are being promoted as a cost efficiency. While academic course enrollments are often limited only by the number of desks that can be squeezed into a classroom, vocational courses require low student/teacher ratios. This is due, in part, to equipment accessibility, but a huge factor is the need for supervision and safety concerns.

A 16-year-old operating equipment represents a much greater risk than a 16-year-old sitting in a desk. When CTE teachers are advised to acquire liability insurance beyond the coverage their employer provides, and when practicing a trade or skill is more often lucrative than teaching, it is difficult to recruit and retain qualified career and technical educators.

Cost containment is a reality of public education. The initial capital expenditures and the necessity for constant program improvement and updates constrains our commitment to career path programs. Instead our schools are pushed toward implementing a Wall Street model of short-term return on investment and bottom-line operational costs. Measuring the success of our schools on their ability to prepare students for a four year university degree--even though we know most of those students are probably not going complete college--supports those goals.

Simply put, conceptual learning that is measured by a content recall assessment is more cost efficient to deliver and less complicated to measure than the ability to apply knowledge and skills in the workplace. Preparation for college is the right choice for many, but to market it as the best choice for everyone because it is the only sure path to future employability and financial security borders on false advertising.

College prep program involve less financial outlay and lower physical risks than vocational education. But there is an unacknowledged accountability issue below the surface that we don't talk about. Preparing student for college actually represents a lower risk to education policy decision makers in terms of outcome. Students in vocational programs that result in certification and/or licensure must sit for industry benchmarked examinations. These are objective measurements of knowledge of theory and also demonstration of skills, measured against criterion based competencies. To get that certification, the applicants must demonstrate that they know and are able to do something well enough for an employer to bet his reputation and money on the performance. Receiving or failing to receive a license is an absolute and concrete measurement of the efficacy and reliability of an education process.

College prep programs often encourage all students to enroll in Advanced Placement courses. But taking, much less earning a passing score, on The College Board AP assessment often remains an option, not an expectation. It is enough to have "challenged yourself" to experience the expectations of the next level of preparation. College prep focuses on potential and deals possibilities. Efficacy is tied to subjective future outcomes. As a result, job readiness accountability, which is the public’s fiscal return on investment in education, is passed on to the next level of education and, ultimately, to the student.

When you start telling a child at five "You can be anything you want to be," the secret subtext is, "So if you don't get to be rich, famous, and successful, it must all your own fault."

”That left us no choice but to cut the vocational classes. Running a vocational program is expensive”….

I don’t fault this superintendent. She probably really didn't have a choice. She was forced to do educational triage and she will be the one who will bear the brunt of the fallout. This is small community, and she is the one who will face the students and parents and potential employers who are going to be impacted by this decision. It is likely to be professionally and personally painful, but her job is to provide as much education as she can for as many children as possible using the resources she has.

Somebody had to be sacrificed it wsas the superintendent who had to make the call. It’s a dirty little business that policymakers have pushed off to educators on the front lines. And it’s morally bankrupt for them to stand safely to the rear and insist that they want “No Child Left Behind.” They're playing a shell game with jobs and lives, and the future of our economy and democracy.

Posted by Susan Graham at 10:53 PM | Permalink | 5 Comments | Recommend

I was thrilled to hear from Catharine Bellinger, whose Washington Post article I critiqued last week. And this week I'd like to follow up on that with...................

I INTERRUPT MY REGULARLY SCHEDULED BLOG FOR THIS BREAKING NEWS ITEM:

As their colleagues on the ground signified the 40th anniversary of a man’s stepping onto the Moon’s surface, astronauts on the International Space Station tended to a more mundane task: fixing a toilet.

Put an 'Out-of-Service' note on the WHC (waste and hygiene compartment)," Mission Control's Hal Getselman told a crewmember after a fruitless attempt at repairs.

Station flight director Brian Smith reported that

"We don't yet know the extent of the problem. If the toilet cannot be repaired within about six days, it could become a more serious matter.”

Dumping liquid waste directly into space was not an option. The Japanese have just added a new Space Porch to the International Space Station and, as we say down here on earth, “Not in my backyard!” Fortunately, the Russians said we could come over and use their potty. The State Department may cite this a positive sign for international cooperation, but I couldn't help but wonder, "Will this improved relation go to pot if the plumbing issue isn’t resolved?" You’ll be relieved to know that

NASA avoided a rather messy situation in space Monday after giving astronauts aboard the International Space Station the green light to use a toilet after crew members worked for a day to repair it.

Wow! A whole day? I’ll bet they didn’t even get put on hold when they contacted NASA engineering for Customer Support.

Col. Gennady I. Padalka, the station commander, and Frank De Winne, a flight engineer, replaced some of the parts, and the toilet was operational on Monday.

My research into waste in space lead to an interesting discovery: It seems that this isn’t the first time they’ve had plumbing issues up there. Back on May of 2008 it was reported that mission control got a similar distress call:

"Houston, we have a plumbing problem." The one and only toilet aboard the International Space Station, which uses air instead of gravity to move the waste, seems to be broken. During normal use last week, the crew reported a strange noise and the fan stopped working. After troubleshooting the problem, astronauts aboard the station first replaced the air/water separator then the filter. While these repairs bought them a little time, the toilet seems to be down again.

And then again on June 4th it was reported that:

Built into the station's Russian Zvezda service module, the space toilet went on the fritz about 10 days ago. Station astronauts were able to make partial repairs, though the fix required extra flush water and time-consuming overhauls every three uses, mission managers said.

Boy that’s a pain! So you can imagine how frustrating it was when on October 10th

The master bathroom for three astronauts aboard the International Space Station is on the fritz again just days before a trio of new spaceflyers are due to launch toward the orbiting lab, NASA officials said Friday."It failed late yesterday," NASA spokesperson John Ira Petty said of the Russian-built space commode in televised commentary from Mission Control in Houston. "Russian specialists are troubleshooting. The problem appears to be a [gas] separator issue."

What's going on here? How hard is it to get a toilet to work? It's not like it's rocket science is it? Okay, well I guess it is, but then we've got two nations worth of rocket scientists working on it, don't we? Are we caught up in this because the astronaut has to define the problem, troubleshoot the source, and then formulate and implement a solution on the spot? Isn't that what the plumber does at your house? We crack jokes about plumbers on earth, but we write news stories about them in space. However, we can never quite distance ourselves from our personal biases.

"It's unfortunate that we're talking about toilets, but that really is the life and the future of human exploration in space," said Kirk Shireman, NASA's deputy station program manager, of today's space toilet surgery. Even in space, the same mundane maintenance jobs found on Earth are required, he added.

Here's what strikes me as interesting: In a phyiscal world, things degrade. Friction, temperature changes, chemical reactions are all normal and predictable, so one would assume that scientists would observe and respond to these changes objectively. But Shireman has assigned subjective values of "unfortunate" and "mundane" to the nonfunctional toilet. If my toilet is leaking, that may be unfortunate for me, but that's a matter of perspective. It might be a real boon for my plumber and those who sell toilet replacement parts or possibly whole new toilets. And what is gross potty water to me might represent the opportunity to establish a new community to some other life forms.

Mundane? One synonym is "earthly," and that doesn't work for a space toilet at all. Another choice is "ordinary," but there's nothing ordinary about a multimillion dollar toilet. Of course, if mundane means "commonplace," I guess when you've had to do space plumbing every couple of months for a year, you could call it "mundane." But I will say this, if I had invested in a toilet that cost that much, broke that often, and took that much effort to fix, I'd be pretty upset. What we need here is an astroplumber mission specialist.

Now the education part of my rant: As educators we are constantly reminded that our schools must prepare our children to be knowledge workers. But a broken space toilet serves as reminder that knowledge work is highly dependent on mechanical equipment — and our mechanical and electrical systems grow increasingly complex and intertwined. Failure of any of those systems can bring all those knowledge workers' production to a screeching halt. We will always have to solve concrete problems as well as theoretical ones. Abstract conceptual knowledge must be partnered with practical skills because we live and function in a physical world.

In the education sector, somewhere along the way, we came to a false understanding that learning is neatly compartmentalized into either knowledge or skills. For a lot of reasons, decision makers decided that it was more productive to have students know than to be able to do. But the real world doesn't work that way. Doing without understanding derails problem solving and limits the effectiveness of skills. Knowing without doing ignores the variables of the real world that require theoretical concepts to be modified to specific applications.

Lately it seems that more than a few stakeholders are reconsidering whether conceptual learning might be richer and more meaningful if taught within the framework of application. Yes it might. To attempt to separate them creates a void where knowledge has little meaning and work offers little satisfaction. But while there is growing acknowledgment that technical problem solving is naturally the testing ground for the efficacy of acquired higher level thinking skills, there is resistance to hands-on learning because it is more complicated to design, more difficult to measure, and more expensive to provide. Still, knowing and doing do not exist in isolation from each other, high-profit testing companies notwithstanding.

There is a lesson in a broken toilet in space. Going where no man has gone before is a high minded concept. But making sure that all systems are GO is an equally noble pursuit.

Posted by Susan Graham at 10:37 PM | Permalink | 1 Comment | Recommend

I couldn’t help but smile at his teacherly soul when Jay Mathews wrote:

It has been a while since I had a guest columnist in this space. I have never before turned the blog over to one younger than my own children. So let me introduce Catharine Bellinger, a Princeton sophomore who has plans to start a campus journal on education policy.

I suggested she practice with a topic provocative enough to get her in trouble, a good place for all writers to be. My question to her, inspired by her experiences in the D.C. schools, is: “Should middle class parents send their kids to KIPP?”

But as I read Bellinger’s piece, I had some concerns. My first response as a reader was to call her on some issues. My second response, as a mother of young adults, was to let it go since, as someone who writes about education policy myself, I understood that the pushback can be daunting and after all, she's young. My third response was that of a teacher. A teacher understands that an assignment without feedback is a wasted opportunity. And so, since this young woman wants to be taken seriously, I believe she deserves and can handle an honest critique.

So, Catharine, can we talk writer to writer? Mathews asked: “Should middle class parents send their kids to KIPP?” Here are some observations:

The US Census Census sets the median income at $50,740. How far below that mark is “impoverished” and how much does it take to be “affluent?” You mentioned parents who are “poor and never came close to attending college.” According to the US Census, college graduates represent only 24 % of Americans over 25 years of age. You risk offending a great many people by implying that those without degrees are victims of poverty and inadequate education. I was just a little older than you and teaching in one of the poorest communities in Texas when a parent corrected me by explaining, “There is a difference between being poor and not having a lot of money.”

The KIPP AIM Academy school where you observed and the National Cathedral School that you attended have minuscule populations and are extreme outliers on the education spectrum. What about everything else in between? While KIPP's “high expectations, more time in school, power for principals to make crucial decisions, a commitment to excellence and the relentless pursuit of high achievement” are commendable, these are buzzwords that are used in the mission statement of almost every school system in the country. KIPP has achieved some remarkable results, but there are currently some serious and important questions being asked about the program. It might be helpful if you offered some response to those concerns. Your anecdotal observations from your student-experience perspective are fresh and thoughtful, but as a teacher and a writer, I have to warn you: It’s a data driven research-based world out here, and without statistical evidence to support your observations, the policy pundits will eat you alive.

You give examples of some of the instructional strategies in both KIPP and NCS classrooms. Have you determined that these are unique to these settings? A broader observation might reveal that the focus and strategies you saw in KIPP’s AIM school are in line with the instructional models used by most public middle schools. The traditional lecture and discussion format you experienced at NCS is not uncommon in upper-grade high school classes at most public schools. Since AIM and NCS are both highly respected schools, we can assume that the teachers in both schools are using appropriate strategies for the cognitive development levels of their students. Readers who have a teaching background may perceive this as a rather naïve understanding of pedagogy. You’ll strengthen your arguments among practicing educators and other stakeholders if you take time to become more familiar with common strategies and best practices.

People who read online education journals and blogs such as Mathew's Class Struggle are accustomed to having links that support and verify the information sources. You singled out “education professor and policy blogger Jim Horn” for your opposing view. Your statement that “he has given no indication so far that he has spent any time inside a KIPP school” was pretty aggressive, especially since you build your own case on what you observed at one KIPP school and the National Cathedral School. It made me curious about Horn -- I thought he sounded familiar but I couldn’t quite place him. You didn’t give me a link so I did my own googling.

While you’re a ninteenish (?) college sophomore and he holds a PhD. in Education with a long career and some serious credentials, I don’t fault you for your David versus Goliath approach. But in my own search I also found this: “Horn is a talented, acerbic writer and a well-informed analyst. I cherish his blog because he is, by far, my most persistent critic.” Jay Mathews. By pushing against someone with strong credentials that your own patron acknowledges as a worthy and knowledgeable policy sparing partner, you may distract your reader and damage your own credibility.

Anticipate how your own words might be turned against you. I get it (and I would have probably enjoyed it), but there is a potential embarrassment for NCS if “One history teacher adopted a Schwarzenegger-esque accent and proclaimed herself “our German mother” while teaching us about the Vikings.” The Vikings were Nordic, not Teutonic; and Gov. Schwarzenegger is of Austrian, not German, heritage. Can you see how that could be scored as a ding for accurate content knowledge at a prestigious private school? And regardless of political alignment, some might find offense in a teacher who mimics the speech patterns of an immigrant English Language Learner who has managed to amass a personal fortune and become the governor of California. Do you see how that could be spun into cultural insensitivity and elitism even though that was not your intent? It’s the sort of Achilles heel that detractors seek out in order to discredit you. It allows them to redirect the discussion toward a flash point, and it result in rifts with allies. It’s unfortunate and it’s petty, but it happens. Be careful.

Finally, let’s go back to your writing assignment. Mathews asked you “Based on your experience, should middle class parents send their kids to KIPP?” Did you really address that question? You did a good job of describing and comparing the instruction at the two schools. You outlined the advantages of the programs. But that doesn’t go to the heart of the issue. I guess I might ask, “Since private school can be a huge drain on a family’s expenses in our current economy, would you suggest that your NCS classmates' parents send their younger children to KIPP for K-8 and then apply to NCS for high school?” That’s harder, and, as Mathews warned you, it could draw fire from several sectors, but if you’re serious about journalism or policy, it comes with the territory.

Okay, now I’m imagining Catharine reading this. I’m guessing that her first reaction might be defensive and that she may even be angry. I’m worried that her second reaction will be disappointment and that her feelings could be hurt and she’ll be discouraged. But I’m hoping that her third reaction will be reflective and that she’ll see my observations as constructive criticism and understand that my intent is to help.

Catharine said, “…ten years from now, the choice for parents may seem very different than it does today.” She described two good choices, KIPP and prestigious privates that share a common focus on preparation for highly selective universities. I am counting on bright, committed young people like Catharine to help us figure out how to bring such opportunities up to scale. But I also hope she and her peers will realize the importance of developing other education options that result in meaningful work, sustainable income, and responsible citizenship. We need more than one way to win.

I hope they’re willing to ask the hard questions and seek the complex answers that will allow every child to have the education that’s right for them -- because the tens of millions of public school children in America should all have choices that allow them the opportunity to discover their gifts, expand their knowledge, and follow their passions.

Posted by Susan Graham at 11:10 AM | Permalink | 4 Comments | Recommend

The teacher is the single most important factor in raising student achievement.

“Yes!” we thought. “We knew it and now we are vindicated! We will get the respect that we so rightly deserve. They will let us do what we know how to do!”

The research was solid and data driven. It wasn’t just a touching story about that single super teacher. At last policymakers and pundits would acknowledge the importance of our contribution. Our expertise would be valued and our input sought.

We were thrilled!

We were naïve!

We never saw the spin coming: “Soooo,” said those who had needed a scapegoat for education failures, “that makes it all your fault! Because if the teacher is the single most important factor and you’re the teacher, then you must not know or you must not care. Otherwise, public education would be just wonderful!”

It is convenient to blame teachers for America's education woes because it lets everyone else off the hook.

And when the work groups were put together recently to write new national standards for Math and Language Arts, only a single teacher was invited to the table. And a side table at that.

“Sooooo,” said those who have a product to sell. “The research on teacher impact proves the old adage. Students don’t fail. Teachers fail their students."

Guess what else they said? "We once saw some effective teachers. We have designed a professional development product that captures every nuance of what they do. If the teacher is the single most important factor, you had better make sure you purchase our training program."

"Our program comes complete with all materials, and one of our staff trainers will actually come to your school site to work with your teachers for two days straight. It’s expensive, yes, but you’ll get more bang for your buck than by just throwing the money away to pay your teachers more. And, if you’ll purchase our program for all of your teachers today, we’ll give you our special group discount.”

It is profitable to shame us into accepting the next Teacher Enhancement product to “fix” America’s teachers because it implies that if we just improved ourselves sufficiently, all the other contributing factors of poverty, dysfunctional communities, and inappropriate curriculum could be overcome.

So instead of using education stimulus funds to allow teachers time to work together, we will be herded into yet another round of contracted training for Differentiated Instruction, or Positive Classroom Management, or Reading First, or Phonics for All, or Everyday Math, or Eighth Grade Algebra Will Make Kids Smart, or AP Courses Will Insure All Students Graduate from College, or whatever the data-driven targeted area for improvement of the moment might be.

And what happens when teachers say things like "We’re mad as hell and we aren’t going to take it any more?"

“Sooo,” say those who do not wish to be challenged as the experts and the decision makers, “you know you are the critical factor, and if you walk out the little children will suffer. If you are willing to do that, then clearly you are heartless and uncaring and so thank goodness you’re gone. We’ll ask these fine public spirited young people who are willing to postpone the start of their serious careers for a couple of years to take up the slack. And just think, after they leave, they can advocate for public education from their positions of influence."

It is efficient to use guilt as a method to make sure America’s teachers do not flex their economic power, their education, or their moral authority to become a serious voice in policy discussions.

And once again teacher dissent is written off as self serving.

Guilt, shame and blame are effective ways to manage behavior. My parents used them and I turned out okay. My kids inform me that I was an expert at the "deeply disappointed sigh" and yet they are happy successful adults. When used with responsibility and sensitivity, guilt, shame and blame are useful tools that move us from self serving, not-so-noble little savages to self-managing members of society.

But good tools that shape us can also be become good weapons to arouse us when we confront power brokers willing to justify employing any tool available to promote their agenda.

We spend our days among children. Could it be that there are others out there who are banking on us being rather childlike? It may be true that All That You Really Needed to Know You Learned in Kindergarten. But maybe we need to remember that along with "playing fair, taking turns, and cleaning up your own mess," there are some tougher lessons that we as teachers know and need to remember.

Not everyone plays fair.
There are people who will take your cookies if you let them.
Cleaning up other people’s messes will not make them your best friend.
Tattling rarely gains the high moral ground.
If you need to go to the bathroom, you’d better speak up and not wait to be asked.
Crying in the corner may get you pity, but it doesn’t make you line leader.

So why have teachers allowed themselves to be pushed around? I believe many of us have tolerated it because we believe it is necessary to protect the students. I think teachers are committed to playing by the rules. And while I also know there are some real bullies on our playground, we don't do ourselves or our children any good by whining and allowing ourselves to be vilified and victimized.

It is true that Wisdom is not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sand pile at school.

But we had better learn to take our truth to the mountain. Because, my teacher friends, there are those who have no compunction about kicking sand in our eyes if it gets them what they want. When we deal with other stakeholders we need to remember, “….no matter how old you are, when you go out into the world it is best to hold hands and stick together.”

Posted by Susan Graham at 11:17 AM | Permalink | 1 Comment | Recommend

“So, I guess you’re enjoying summer vacation! It must be nice to have three months off every summer, huh?” they say--They being just about everyone I know who is not a teacher.

“Well, I’m looking forward to it, but I’m not quite through yet. I'll finish up July 2nd,” I reply.

“Oh, I didn’t know you taught summer school,” they respond.

“ I don’t, but I’m an eleven month employee and so I put in another two weeks at the end of the year and then before other teachers return in August. So actually, I have about five weeks off, not three months,” I explain.

“But if you don’t have any kids, then what do you do?” they ask, genuinely perplexed.

Most people cannot fathom that teaching involves anything other than classroom presentation hours and homework grading. Like an iceberg, much of what we do is not visible. Highly effective teaching and efficient school operation take a lot of time -- time invested in responsibilities and tasks other than student contact hours. As I work with new teachers, it is always what surfaces as the unanticipated demand of teaching. As I work with teacher leaders, time rather than money is consistently identified as a barrier. In the discussion of teacher evaluation, principals identify time as a major barrier to more meaningful assessment processes. American teacher have more student contact time and less time for other responsibilities than our peers in other equally developed nations.

Asking, “But if you don’t have any kids, then what do you do?” is a sort of like asking "How are you doing today?" No one really wants you to tell them, but I'll answer that question. You don't have to read this if you don't want to, so here’s what I’ve done in the last seven days:

• Three ovens, two refrigerators and four microwaves have been cleaned.
• Three full sets of kitchen cabinets are re-organized wiped down and straightened.
• The 36-page inventory has been completed and updated.
• The grade book is verified.
• The receipt books are balanced.
• 1,000 student competency records for all 7th and 8th graders enrolled in a CTE class last year are compiled.
• Fabric supplies for next year’s sixth grade projects have been purchased and prepared.
• Minor equipment repairs have been done and major repairs have been set up.
• Textbooks have been inventoried and scanned.
• The closets have been cleaned up.
• My office desk is close to being cleared.

Notice that those are all facilities and reporting tasks. I’ve also completed our school mentoring reports and summary, led the revision of the district Family and Consumer Science Strategic Plan, coached a novice FACS teacher, kept up with a National Board candidate in another state, and reviewed grant applications for the Virginia Education Association. These have not been on the clock because they are tasks for which I am paid a stipend, given professional development or recertification credit, or I just volunteered to do.

Sometime in the next month I have some curriculum projects that need work and presentations for summer conferences that need to be developed. The Technology Resource Teacher (who is also an 11-month) and I had hoped to start work on a web-delivered asynchronous staff development idea, but it looks like we’ll do that on the web asynchronously ourselves, since we ran out of time.

Tomorrow I go home, and while I won’t be through with school or teaching, I will be declaring professional Independence Day! I’ll drag along a bag full of articles and journals that have been stacking up on my desk, but I'll read them on the porch. I’ll do some planning during lunch, but I won’t have to eat, go to the bathroom and return two phone calls inside a 20-minute time frame. I’ll communicate with colleagues, but I’ll probably be doing it on-line in the wee hours of the morning while wearing my PJs.

It’s summer time! I am fortunate that I work where my responsibilities beyond my face-to-face time with students are acknowledged and compensated. That’s one reason why I’m willing to invest even more hours of my own. But for the next five weeks I'm not going to work every day. Instead I'm going to lunch, to the movies, to museums, to shopping, to the theater, to the West Coast to see my kids. I'm going to control my own schedule. I'm going to take time to sleep, read, dig, clean, visit, travel, study, cook, plan, research, sew, write, paint and just sit.

Teaching requires intense intellectual work but makes physical demands that often compare to manual labor -- all the while performed on a schedule that resembles a high production industrial format. Although it feels like a marathon run from August to July, I love what I do and the challenge of keeping it all going at once.

But tomorrow? Well, tomorrow is my early Independence Day.

I'll be on the porch.

Posted by Susan Graham at 10:32 AM | Permalink | 2 Comments | Recommend