Spring Cleaning

About this time of the year, “Spring Fever” takes over from “Cabin Fever”.  Hopefully, this is not linked to watching “Saturday Night Fever”….or that you have a fever… This season is really a season to anticipate and many will say this is their favorite season after months of being inside watching the snow fly and the mercury dip. Of course, we just did this this past Sunday night and Monday morning. Soon, the trees will be budding, the flowers will be blooming, and love will be in the air.  I proposed to my wife on April 1, 1979 and unbelieveably, by the grace of God, she said yes…yep, I am blessed.  It will also be a time to cut the grass or as they say in France, “Mow ce lawn”. Then, we will fertilize it, watch it grow thicker and then complain about having to cut it.  Spring also brings a mindset of “spring cleaning”.  This is a time where we try to make the remnants of winter exit our home. We work hard and in a weird way, are kind of excited about this spring ritual. We clean the windows, put the screens up, get out the patio furniture, power wash, change the décor, maybe plant a few things and get the dirt outside where it belongs.  Spring is a time of renewal. It is a time of new life.  It is a time of hope. Spring is a time to refresh. Spring brings energy to our lives. This weekend, we celebrate renewal, new life and new hope.  Happy Easter!

When we return from break, there will be approximately 3+ weeks until round two of ISTEP. Round two is completely on the computer, so begin praying now for secure connections and a wide bandwidth.  The kids will return after 10 days off and will need to be returned to our regularly scheduled program.  As you do a little spring cleaning around your homes, remember to do the same in your professional life.  Rest is an important part of preparation (I am not the best example of this).  Return to school refreshed.  Return to school recharged.  Return to school renewed.  Return to school with new ideas to engage kids as we fight against spring fever.   Return to school with the hope that you will get the results you have been working hard to get.  Enjoy the time away and then get ready for a sizable spring because we will not get caught watching the grass grow.  As in spring cleaning, we will be getting the job done.

Changing the Ending

If you are like most people, you have watched quite a few movies in your life time.  Which genre do you enjoy most? Action movies like Twister?  Adventure movies like Apollo 13?  Comedies like Animal House or Cleveland Browns highlight films? Horror movies like Nightmare on Elm Street or Cleveland Browns lowlight films?  Sci-Fi’s like Back to the Future?  Love stories like The Way We Were?  That last movie genre usually is accompanied by a box of tissues… or so I have heard since I enjoy this genre about as much as foot fungus. Some movies take an unexpected turn and we just don’t see it coming.  Others are about as predictable as my snoring through yet another viewing of Sleepless in Seattle. Ironically, watching this has never made me sleepless. Did you ever watch a movie, get totally engrossed in it, waited for the ending that was sure to happen and then…bang…the ending just stinks? You feel let down because you have invested two plus hours in this film, perhaps ordered popcorn and a soda (which you financed for 36 months) and you were hoping for something a little better than the ending that was shown.  It may have been so bad that you considered asking for a refund.   Those are the ones that if you were the director, well, it would have a better ending. However, since none of us were the directors of these films, simply complete this task: in your opinion, what movie had the worst ending ever?  

Our school year will have an ending.  Unlike watching a movie on the big screen or at home, you have total direction as to how it ends.  We have completed nearly three-quarters of the school year.  You know your kids. We recently completed the first round of the ISTEP.  Now we are preparing for the second round, a round in which ALL students will be assessed via the computer.  Did you ever pray for technology?  How do you want this movie called “The 12-13 School Year” to end?  It really is up to you.   You have the director’s chair. Your students will conclude our most high-stakes testing in late April and early May.  Our school will receive a letter grade based on student achievement and student growth.  Your will receive a rating that is “significantly informed” by the achievement and growth scores of the kids under your tutelage.  So, we can focus on that long-term goal and devise a bunch of daily goals to see the big one through…or we can just take it for chance that all is well and “it is what it is.”  I hate that phrase because it implies that outside forces cannot change what is “written in stone.” (do you know where that phrase comes from?)  We can direct the ending of this school year.  Stay true to the plan.  Believe that you can make a difference every single day.  Keep your foot on the pedal, but hit the brakes every once in a while.  Keep the kids focused toward their individual goals.  Do not let your guard down because that can change the desired ending.  Yes, you are the one and only director as to how this year ends for your students.  Rehearse the scenes and watch what happens.  You want to leave this year quite content with the ending.

Quit Being Normal

The normal human blood pressure is 120/80.  A normal pulse rate is 60-100 beats per minute…unless you count the first time I saw my wife-to-be…I thought they may have to get the paddles out.  The normal level of saline in your body is 9.0 grams/liter. After a bag of Doritos, that number rises significantly. The normal body temperature is 98.6 degrees farenheit. By the way, the most accurate place to measure this is not by mouth or armpit…that’s as far as I am going with that. The normal size of an adult liver is 3.3 pounds.  Side note = do you know why it is called such?  The normal size of paper is 8.5 x 11 inches. Ironically, this was the same size of space left on my essay for admission to Harvard.  Begin to substitute “average” for “normal” if that helps get the point across. The normal shoe size for women is 8, for men it is 10.5. By the way, whatever happened to shoehorns? The normal number of extra miles driven by men in a year because we are just too stubborn to ask for directions is 276. Not a shocker, that statistic was reported by a woman. The normal number of teeth for an adult is 32.  For a hockey player, that number declines significantly.  The normal number of t-shirts owned is 27…how many are leased is unknown.  The normal number of times a person moves in a lifetime is 14.  Heck, I moved six times just at Butler.  The normal amount of calories one consumes in a day is 1940 for women and 2550 for men.  Those numbers during holidays are off the charts.  The normal number of times a person sneezes in a year is 200.  The normal number of times someone sneezes on you is about equal.  The normal length of a paragraph is 5-8 sentences – looks like I exceeded that.

I never want to be characterized as normal.  A kid in the cafeteria told me that I was not a normal Principal.  I said “thank you”.  Normal is a setting on a dryer. I have no intention of being an appliance.   It should never be a tag on an exemplary teacher.  It should never be a tag on an exemplary administrator.  It should never be a tag on an exemplary custodian, secretary, treasurer, or anyone else who works in a school.  The experience a student receives at this school should be anything but normal.  We want this to be a place where kids want to be.  Normal is not what they want.  As an example, do you choose books because they are normal?  Do you choose a romantic dinner with your spouse because it is a normal place?  To me, normal is synonomous with average.  Average is not something that you should aspire to.  Think of it this way:  average is the best of the worst and the worst of the best.  Hmmm…starting to see the point?   Choose to rise above just being normal.  In fact, if need be – quit being normal!  The experience that kids get in your classroom is just once.  The experience they get at our school is just once.  The experience they get from you today is just once.  Why settle for normal? 

Teddy Roosevelt AND Disabilities Awareness

Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States and served from 1901-1909.  I used to think highly of him…used to. He does have many “positives” on his resume. He marched our troops up San Juan Hill during the Spanish-American War after forming the “Rough Riders”, a volunteer calvary.  He was an original “tree hugger” and fancied himself as an environmentalist President.  He created many national parks and wildlife refuges.  He supported the Sherman Antitrust Act, which broke up some of the monopolies in our country.  He devised the “Square Deal”, which reformed the American workplace which, in turn, helped the middle class.  He supported desegregation and womens’ voting rights.  A whole bunch on the plus side – bully for him.  Recently, I read something about Roosevelt that I simply could not believe.  In 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt signed an immigration act which excluded the following groups of people from being admitted to the United States = “idiots, imbeciles, feebleminded persons, epileptics, and insane persons.”  What?  Huh? Are you kidding me?  I spent many years teaching kids with multiple types of handicaps.  I treasure those times and those kids.  During the time this act was signed, mentally handicapped people were referred to as “imbeciles, idiots, and feebleminded.”  So, his mission was to prevent the disabled from entering the country…that really frosts my cakes.  Obviously, this act has been repealed and thank God for that.  I am no longer a fan of the man who said to “Walk softly, but carry a big stick.”  I don’t think he would like my recommendation as to where to put that stick.

Our school is home to a population of kids with various disabilities.  We provide a continuum of services to meet their needs.  We have kids who have been identified as having specific learning disabilities with corresponding processing deficits.  We have kids on the autism spectrum and those identified with mild and moderate mental handicaps.  We have kids with cognitive challenges and those with emotional disabilities. We have kids who have physical handicaps and social anxieties. The common thread is this:  we have kids!  We look at all 917 of our students as kids whose needs we are trying to meet at many levels.  Some of them are disabled.  So what?  I prefer to look at the “abled” side of our kids.  Five years ago, I had a person approach me with this question, “I don’t know what good you think it is for “those” kids to be in a regular school.”  Wrong thing to say to me.  Mustering up all of the steadiness that I could, I replied, “I think that it does them a world of good to be here, but I know it does me a world of good that they are here.” This neandertheral moved away and most likely crawled back to his regularly scheduled meeting with Og and Grog.  Our “abled” kids are a huge part of our school.  Our teachers in this area have their best interests at heart every single day.  In this month of “Disabilities Awareness”, we are aware mostly of what kids can do, not what they cannot do.