Counting Down to September not June

Scot McLeod wrote about the countdown mentality and what it means for schools. kids, teachers and learning.

(Dangerously Irrelevant: The countdown mentality). I too have been always struck by this phenomenon. It has been a curiosity from my earliest days of teaching where my colleague literally had a calendar by her desk and "X'ed" off each day starting with our first day inSeptember, to now where I work in a school system that has "added" extra days and hours to the school calendar (183 days for kids/186 for teachers) so that with an average set of school closings because of New England snow my last official day is Monday June 25 (one of several reasons I will not be at NECC07 in Atlanta). One of the interesting quirks is that we have our last professional development day on the last teacher day. So, our kids leave on Friday, and we all get to come back for one more day - Monday.  Quality PD time - you bet!



Now I am also one of the chosen few who have extra days added to my calendar and I work 10 days during the summer. Let's make that - I get paid for 10 summer days, the work is often longer than that. And it is all valuable work for teachers and kids. I will coordinate several new initiatives that will come on line in September.  A bunch of Smartboard classrooms, wireless in new places, a piece of the town wide VOIP phone system,  a new Filemaker and web available report card and student info system, plus our normal summer computer purchases and set up. The VOIP will require that I have a much tighter map of the physical data network in three buildings. Did I mention that my colleague and buddy took the job of Town -wide IT director job and  has the charge of molding us all into a new department, and step one is to hire his replacement by early July?  As other folks "X" off the days and talk about heading to the beach, or the mountains, I just look at work and rather than counting down to June, I start  counting down to August 27.

One of the things that I have noticed as this crowded summer schedule has grown, is that my body, my family life, and my spiritual being is much better when I have time to stop, let the batteries drain to zero, and recharge. Last July I was greatly energized by NECC06 and all the things I did in San Diego, however the most important part of the trip was the week after in the high desert of eastern Oregon, where I allowed myself to do nothing. To visit my friends, to wake early, read at dawn, run, take a hike, sightsee, and unplug. Making my mind think about things not normally part of its daily existence, taking time to read novels and the local papers rather than blogs and manuals did wonders for my spirit and energy. I do not know if this is just a by-product of running too hard, or if this type of break makes me better in my job, but I do know that it feels good. When I carve out these chunks where I disengage from my so called life and force myself to "be away" for a while, I gain perspective, ideas bubble up from somewhere deeper in my brain, and I am better for it.

That is one of the reasons I try to be objective and hold the wired world of Web 2.0 and blogging after work, and Skyping around the globe, and Twittering and heading off to Second Life after a full day in Real Life a full arm's length away. Being always available and always connected and always participating is at variance with what I have found necessary for my best efforts, and mental and physical health.

I do enjoy being unplugged and more and more I design time where I need to be far enough away from the people I work for so that they cannot find me for a while, and more importantly i cannot find them. I wonder if the new Nextel  Crackberry on my belt will get Push-To-Talk service in Hell's Canyon?

Sustitute Teacher Porn Case - Rick Green, Hartford Courant

Rick Green's take in today's Courant

Connecticut News from The Hartford Courant ::: State, Regions, & Towns On courant.com

Lesson In Justice `False Information,' `Erroneous' Testimony Cited As Judge Throws Out Teacher's Conviction June 7, 2007Sure I want to believe that the railroading of Norwich s

Norwich Substitute Teacher Porn Pop-up Case Granted New Trial

Yesterday, a judge ruled that the police "expert" who looked at the hard drive did not perform adequate checks for adware and spyware, and that an expert for the defense had not been afforded enough of a chance to present his evidence. Thus the jury did not have the correct evidence to make a judgement, and she should be afforded a new trial. A victory for the army of internet bloggers who took up the cause, and the dozen or so computer experts at our local colleges who took out ads in local papers (at their own expense) saying the original verdict was flawed. It is uncertain if the State will proceed with second trial or drop charges.

In a kind of bizzare side note, Amero's new lawyer for this phase of the case is William Dow, who defended disgraced ex-Connecticut governor John Rowland.

Norwich Bulletin - www.norwichbulletin.com - Norwich, Conn.

Amero gets new trial in porn case By GREG SMITH Norwich BulletinNEW LONDON -- Flawed testimony by a state expert witness led a Superior Court judge Wednesday to order a new trial for

Sex and Violence in Second Life

I ran across this Washington Post (via Hartford Courant) article on virtual sex, and disturbing child sex simulations in Second Life, that runs afoul of laws in Germany.  I am like many folks I read. Excited by the open nature of Second Life but there is this small voice in the back of my head that says, be cautious, be careful. I know that these stories often grab media attention and statistics suggest that reality is at variance with the headlines, but if you are a parent of a child there is only one statistical sample that matters to you, and that sample size is one. I have a good principal mentor who has said, "Most folks run for school board because of one or two kids.."

 

courant.com | Virtual Sex, Violence Pose Problem For Law