Yes, I Remember You...Second Row, My Living Room

Okay, just a quick survey here. When I first wanted to come up with names for the kiddies, I could not help but be influenced by the students I had taught. I was reminded of the "Sarah" that I had taught, or the "Jennifer" that drove me nuts, or "Emily" because she was both smart and friendly. I ended up choosing a name that I had not seen on a student, nor did I foresee teaching in the future. When my son came and was the fourth in a line of Busby's, I was going to have to go with a name I had seen already, sort of--Will. I had taught a William, who I really liked, and so far it has not been a problem. My in-laws named one of their children after a favorite student, in fact. Do the hundred or so kids you have taught impact your naming of either children or pets?

Mighty Morphin Teenagers

Some time ago, I was either dealing with a situation with a student or making a decision of some kind, and someone told me to think of the kid as though he or she were my actual child. According to them, it helps if you can put yourself in the place of the kid's mom, and you will produce a caring, yet hopefully fair and appropriate, response. At the time I had no kids, and my thoughts were, "Well the parent is clearly the problem. The child is surely not getting something right at home. Does he know what reality even is??"

Then I had my first offspring, and I have some reference. I do transfer my "motherly (stifling embarrassed, bun-wearing, pie-baking laughter)" attitudes to the students I teach, while maintaining the "what would this sound like if printed in a newspaper" caution. I'm only 12ish years older than most of the students I teach, but I find myself calling them "baby." Weird. Maybe that's the Southern popping out too. I do believe I have developed a very caring yet no-nonsense style of teaching. I'm very forgiving, but I do not like an excess of detrimental silliness.

Now, I am wondering what the corpus callosum connecting school kids with my kids will bring to my own kids. Do you find that you are less patient with your own kids because you have seen all the tricks that other people's kids pull? After my daughter has had an extended whining trend, I find myself fleetingly thinking, "She needs a detention." I do realize that kid detention is the old "time out," but I used to not think that way. Is that the parent or the teacher coming out? My mother, who claims she could never have been a teacher, is infinitely more patient with my 17-year-old brother than I find myself wanting to be. Experiences with this?

Enter Pretend Mrs. Busby

I informed my administrators that I would be out with a baby, oh, eight months before I intended to be out. Finally, 2 weeks before my planned absence, a substitute was found. Wohoo! He was even certified in science, the subject that I teach. I felt a lot better. Then, problems arose with him, and he was replaced by a non-science substitute. Two substitutes over eight weeks, one of which was filled with a variety of subs while the second was found. Yikes!

Even before I had this baby, I noticed problems securing a substitute teacher. There are not enough of them, and many that are on the sub list shouldn't be. I can recall the chain smoker who, at the urging of my students, allowed them to use their books on a test. She said they claimed not to be ready for it, and after all, my note had only instructed them not to "have their books on their desks." That meant that their laps or the floor were okay. This was just one of several strange behaviors of this lady. The assistant principal said they had to keep her on staff because they didn't have enough substitutes.

Is this common everywhere? I do understand that finding a science-certified substitute might be difficult, but is this usually a general problem? Does anyone know anything about the finding and maintenance of substitute teachers?

It's like preschool...on TV

My 2-year-old daughter appreciates a good Noggin (a TV channel sponsored by Nickelodeon) program, particularly this yellow creature called Wubbzy. I am not familiar with the education of very young children, and tidbits of information on this topic are interesting to me. Many of these shows have education specialists as resources when producing the show, and I am forced to reflect on my childhood programs. Blue's Clues develops awareness of relationships, prediction, and builds self-esteem. Dora promotes memory skills, Spanish language, and problem solving. At the start of many of these shows, a friendly voice lists the skills that are taught in the particular program.

Did we have any of these shows when we were kids? Sesame Street was pretty full of learning skills (The Count's Batty counting song sticks out as a favorite, as well as the precursors to "How It's Made," when they went to a crayon factory.) Carebears were all about caring. Are today's child "babysitters" more well-developed and useful than old cartoons? Still, these are not substitutes for socialization and one-on-one instruction. (Even so, Steve from Blue's Clues gave me an excellent way to assess biomes. He was asking all of his animated friends what their favorite environments were. Mrs. Salt and Mr. Pepper liked the tundra, and to show this, they made a cake that represented characteristics of the tundra. We can make cakes! How weird!) Does anyone know? Are kids coming to school more well-prepared or deficient that kids used to? Are these programs effective? My child has identified objects I had no idea she had seen, presumably from exposure to shows like that found on Noggin.

I'm starting to develop an interest in early education.

Busby, Other People...Other People, Busby

As a high school classroom teacher, I have always felt that my real coworkers were teenagers. If I were rude to the English teacher on the other hall, it really didn't matter because I would not have to see her again until the next faculty meeting anyway. If I upset one of my students, however, I would have to deal with that the next time his or her class rolled around--today or tomorrow. I knew that my interactions with my students were important for the sake of my job completion; I didn't know it kept me looking sane.

I do have friends and family, and I keep in good contact with my family members who actually live a mere 2 miles from my house. I may even communicate once in a while with my college roommate who lives in Hawaii (keeping in mind the 6 hour time difference, of course). Most of the time, however, I have little time to socialize.

Now that I am at my house with two small kids--one who cannot yet talk and one who cannot quit--I find that my need to communicate with these formerly neglected friends and family (or maybe it's just adults) is more necessary. At home I speak slowly and repeat things. The topics range from Cheerios to Wubbzy to princesses to diapers. And that's about it. The other night I went to the last gifted certification class that I have been enrolled in for over a year, and voila! a table full of people. They're all over 18, and they don't get frustrated when I talk fast about something I thought about. They are all teachers at my school, and so we have that to talk about too. "How's so-and-so-doing?" Sounds great! The only problem is I think I have been so starved for peer interaction that I talked way too fast about everything and I probably looked pretty pitiful.

I guess I did not realize how important my interactions with my students has been. I do not have many deep discussions with any of them, and most of the time they are upset about something completely inconsequential to me, and usually it should be inconsequential to them too. Nonetheless, the brainless teenage drama (or simple interactions?) must be pretty important at keeping me from babbling wildly when I get around other people my age. Who knew? This is good and will be useful to remember the next time that they are driving me crazy.

A Departure from Education

Right now I am on maternity leave until December after having Offspring #2 on October 13. I considered hosting a blog on a directly education-oriented topic since I work in education and most people who will read this blog are also in education. I decided, however, that since I am largely uninvolved with my normal education routine, I would write about what I am experiencing in its place.

With my first child, Elle, who is 2.5 years old, pre-planning started just as I was given the OK to go back to work. Six weeks with her and that was it. As she got older (and more fun), I wished that I had spent more time with her. So, with my second kiddie, Will, who is now one month old, it worked out to stay through Christmas break.

On this blog, I don't intend to bore you with cute kid stories. I do plan to discuss topics that involve my separation from daily interaction with the education system, although the kids may come up though because I'm with them 24/7 now. Your similar experiences, advice, dealing with two small kids, or reflections about your time away from working every day in education would be interesting.