Today is the day that summer does officially end for me as I am returning to my college courses starting today. The real topic of this particular blog post, however, is not about me starting another year of college courses. Today's topic is about my employment. As I have talked about in my last couple of blog posts, I worked this summer for the Brainerd School District with the Fun-N-Friends program. By far the best decision I have made in a very long time. As I have mentioned before as well, my time with Fun-N-Friends is not over. Instead, it is on hold for now.
Recently, I applied for a position with the Brainerd School District as a Behavior Management Specialist. I was granted an interview, which I had this past Monday. I was very excited about this interview and confident that I carried the skill set that would have been necessary to lead to a job offer. Unfortunately, I was not offered the position. There were so many positives that would have come for me by landing that job and that is why I was extremely hopeful on getting it. I am not going to lie here, I was very upset when I received the news that I was not going to get it. This was somewhat of a new situation for me as I have been lucky to have a high level of success when interviewing. I also felt this position that I was going for was kind of that type of position that I had been working hard for many years for. I also was a bit frustrated with myself for not getting the job as I tend to be hard on myself when a goal is not reached. This means that I will be returning to Onamia for the 2015-2016 school year at Mille Lacs Academy School.
Yesterday, I met with the new principal of Mille Lacs Academy School. It was a very good conversation. I was honest about my opportunity that I attempted to get and I also informed her that even though I was disappointed about not getting that opportunity with Brainerd, I was coming into the school year more re-energized than I may have ever been since I began my journey with Mille Lacs Academy School.
The message that I want to send in this blog post is that, despite being knocked down by not getting the position I was hoping for with Brainerd Schools, my summer was still fantastic. I learned a lot about myself this summer. I also met some very good people, and even some great people this summer, which made a permanent positive impact on me. That is something that I will not forget. I also am more healthy after this past summer and that has set my sights on continuing to improve my personal goal of being more healthy and more active. I will continue to pursue opportunities that come my way, and I will continue to help and work at Fun-N-Friends during my breaks and off days from Onamia.
#lookforwardstaypositive
Friday, August 21, 2015
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Tour Of The Big City
This summer has kept me busy. I chose to end my school year job on June 15th and start my summer job full-time on June 16th. Everyone at my Onamia school site would question why I am not taking any time off between jobs and there are a couple of answers to that question.
First, I would like to think that I am a hard worker. The other night at a staff meeting I attended for my summer job at Fun-N-Friends, we were asked the question of whether or not we are giving 100% at our job. The question appeared to shock all those in attendance, including me. I wanted to speak up right away and admit that I do give 100 percent when I am at my job, but I also don't want to appear arrogant. So I do work hard and give 100 percent, because quality should be uncompromising.
Second, I didn't take time off in-between jobs because of the fact that I care. Despite Brainerd Schools and Fun-N-Friends being a new summer experience, I care a lot about being accepted by my co-workers, earning respect from the children, and being a strong part of the team. That is how I felt in the beginning of this new adventure back in June, but now that I have been there for two months and know the people that I work with and how connected I feel, my care for the program and the people have gone through the roof.
This summer with my job at Fun-N-Friends, I have been lucky enough to be afforded the opportunity to go on many outings in the Brainerd area. The outings have been a solid contributing reason for the high number of steps on my pedometer. I went to the Brainerd Fire Station twice in one day to pack on miles. I was able to walk children to the Brainerd Public Library once a week for the library's story time. I also was able to go to the Wildlife Safari Zoo that I have not been at before. Today was the second time that our program went to Jack's House for bowling. I also got to be part of an outing that went to the Crow Wing County Fair and also to the movies and pizza lunch at Rafferty's.
As you can see, I have been on a tour of Brainerd this summer. It has been a lot of fun and with some great people. If this summer has taught me anything, or at least reminded me of something, it's that things are so much better when you care.
#summerregionaltour
Wednesday, July 15, 2015
Welcome To Fun-N-Friends..
Hello everybody. I was just looking at blogging history and I was disappointed in myself to see that I have not had a blog post since March 21st! That is truly troubling. This past year was a busy year as I made the change from St. Cloud State University to Bemidji State University. Between working, driving, and taking college classes at a clip of at least half-time, it has sucked the oxygen of most of my free time. It gets quite frustrating some days, and seeing that I haven't really had the time to blog since March 21st, it kind of enhances that frustration.
Earlier this year, back in about February, the conversation at my work about the upcoming summer school session came up as it does every year. Right now, I am a paraprofessional, and if you know any paraprofessionals, or any school support staff for that fact, you will see that we are always trying to get as many hours as we can. The reason for this is because being a nine month employee with your main employer really doesn't do much for the idea of getting rich. Anyways, for the past seven or eight summers, I have elected to work our summer school session at the school I work at in Onamia. So, in February, it was decided that our summer school session was going to be different this upcoming summer. The short of it is that instead of all 90 students attending summer school, only about 19 students were going to attend this year. It sounds like a cut, but actually I was one of the individuals who was fully supporting this idea. It truly was going to be a more effective educational experience for the 19 who are attending this summer. With some other logistics going into the decision about working the summer school session this summer, I had decided, in February, that I was not going to work this year's summer school session.
I am not sure if many or anyone was surprised, because I like to work. I like my job that I do and I feel that I am good at what I do. I am not wanting to toot my own horn here, because all of my experiences of working with youth has molded me into the employee that I am today. So, with turning down the option of working the summer school session this summer, I was a temporary free agent so to say.
Despite turning down summer school, I still wanted to work. It was kind of a tough spot to be in. I say this because the school year at my school ended on June 15th. I have a family vacation in the middle of August, and right after that, workshop week for the new school year in the fall is upon us. So I was in a position of trying to find work for nine weeks only, and I kept asking myself, "Who is going to hire someone for nine weeks?" Then it came to me...
I decided to utilize a contact that I have known for a long time and had not yet used. I figured it was kind of a long shot because I didn't know if my contact even remembered who I was, because it has been two decades. My first experience in working directly with youth was in 1995, when I was 17 years old, when I helped co-create Youth Action Force, an organization with a focus of getting youth involved in the community. Youth Action Force - click this link to my blog post about Youth Action Force. In 1997, I took another step in working with youth, this time with younger youth, with the School Age Child Care program at Rockford Schools. I was eager, and I felt very passionate to help others. If you know me, you know this about me. During one of the conferences I attended I met my contact from the Brainerd Schools School Age Child Care program. A couple of years later, when I attended Central Lakes College in Brainerd for a year, I worked the after school program for Brainerd Schools. So with that being said, I decided it was time to make that contact and see if that networking from a long time ago still had any life to it. I am happy to say it did.
I made my decision with making this contact that I was going to be getting back into the School Age Child Care game for the first time in about 11 years (I also had a brief stint with Bemidji's School Age Child Care program). I was ready to do this. My contact got back to me and wanted to meet to see if we could work together to figure something out. We did come to an agreement and being half way through the summer, it has been a great change of pace.
Professionally I felt stuck prior to this summer. I won't lie, part of me wanted to take a break from the same thing that I have been doing for the eight years. Nine weeks is a good break. With my job at the school I work at during the academic school year in Onamia, I have taken on a lot of extra roles and wore a lot of extra hats as the years have gone by. Don't get me wrong, this is my own doing and I don't regret any of it. So I am not whining here or looking for sympathy. Instead, I just wanted to step away from it for a bit, and with being a nine month employee, I could do that.
So after my meeting with my contact in Brainerd, we came to terms on an agreement for me to get back into the School Age Child Care game this summer. The program is called Fun-N-Friends. After agreeing to terms in the middle of May sometime, I started to go to Fun-N-Friends everyday to work for about an hour and half after my work day with Onamia Schools. With college on top of this, I had to be careful with making time for everything including my family.
This summer at Fun-N-Friends has been great, because it has been different. On my first full day with Fun-N-Friends this summer, I was offered the opportunity to be promoted to a Supervisor role. This was unexpected and flattering, and I am glad I have had the opportunity to be a Supervisor this summer. This position has allowed me to work and dust off the leadership skills that have been idle for a very long time. It has been great working the the elementary age level students again. With this new summer opportunity, I have been able to join a new team of staff. Some of whom are doing great things with these children. It is nice to have another professional family as an additional resource and to further develop my networking that has also been idle for a while before this summer. There have been some challenges this summer with my new role, but there also has been a lot of positive, and this was an absolute right decision. I want to be able to be effective and do my part in helping Fun-N-Friends continue to be a high quality program for children. This position also will allow me to be a better employee during the school year at Onamia. I say this because my Fun-N-Friends position has allowed me to have a voice, and I have been using it. If you remember my blog post from back in January about Resolutions for 2015, one of them was speaking up more. I have had an opportunity to do that this summer and I think this will help me become a higher quality employee year round. I also feel re-energized for the upcoming school year. The break from Onamia has been a good one professionally. It feels good to step a way for a while and work with children in a different element. I also have been running my ass of this summer :) I usually walk between six and nine miles a day in one day of work at Fun-N-Friends. The nice thing about this is that I have dropped 26 pounds since the first of April and that is also helping me feel better and re-energized. So, lots of positives this summer.
Now the one remaining question that looms from this decision to make a change for the summer. "What happens with me and Fun-N-Friends when the summer is done?" I won't lie. The program wants me to stay and they have made offers. At this time, I will be returning to Onamia this fall. There are several factors that have gone into this decision. However, that does not mean that my time is done at Fun-N-Friends. I have informed them that I would be more than happy to help them out on full day non-school day events when our school calendars cooperate. I don't want to be done with Fun-N-Friends after the summer, I want to continue to be involved with Fun-N-Friends and the Brainerd School District. I live in the boundaries of the Brainerd School District and it has been refreshing being involved in the community that I live in. So, this is the beginning of my Fun-N-Friends journey and I hope it continues for quite a while.
#sacc
Earlier this year, back in about February, the conversation at my work about the upcoming summer school session came up as it does every year. Right now, I am a paraprofessional, and if you know any paraprofessionals, or any school support staff for that fact, you will see that we are always trying to get as many hours as we can. The reason for this is because being a nine month employee with your main employer really doesn't do much for the idea of getting rich. Anyways, for the past seven or eight summers, I have elected to work our summer school session at the school I work at in Onamia. So, in February, it was decided that our summer school session was going to be different this upcoming summer. The short of it is that instead of all 90 students attending summer school, only about 19 students were going to attend this year. It sounds like a cut, but actually I was one of the individuals who was fully supporting this idea. It truly was going to be a more effective educational experience for the 19 who are attending this summer. With some other logistics going into the decision about working the summer school session this summer, I had decided, in February, that I was not going to work this year's summer school session.
I am not sure if many or anyone was surprised, because I like to work. I like my job that I do and I feel that I am good at what I do. I am not wanting to toot my own horn here, because all of my experiences of working with youth has molded me into the employee that I am today. So, with turning down the option of working the summer school session this summer, I was a temporary free agent so to say.
Despite turning down summer school, I still wanted to work. It was kind of a tough spot to be in. I say this because the school year at my school ended on June 15th. I have a family vacation in the middle of August, and right after that, workshop week for the new school year in the fall is upon us. So I was in a position of trying to find work for nine weeks only, and I kept asking myself, "Who is going to hire someone for nine weeks?" Then it came to me...
I decided to utilize a contact that I have known for a long time and had not yet used. I figured it was kind of a long shot because I didn't know if my contact even remembered who I was, because it has been two decades. My first experience in working directly with youth was in 1995, when I was 17 years old, when I helped co-create Youth Action Force, an organization with a focus of getting youth involved in the community. Youth Action Force - click this link to my blog post about Youth Action Force. In 1997, I took another step in working with youth, this time with younger youth, with the School Age Child Care program at Rockford Schools. I was eager, and I felt very passionate to help others. If you know me, you know this about me. During one of the conferences I attended I met my contact from the Brainerd Schools School Age Child Care program. A couple of years later, when I attended Central Lakes College in Brainerd for a year, I worked the after school program for Brainerd Schools. So with that being said, I decided it was time to make that contact and see if that networking from a long time ago still had any life to it. I am happy to say it did.
I made my decision with making this contact that I was going to be getting back into the School Age Child Care game for the first time in about 11 years (I also had a brief stint with Bemidji's School Age Child Care program). I was ready to do this. My contact got back to me and wanted to meet to see if we could work together to figure something out. We did come to an agreement and being half way through the summer, it has been a great change of pace.
Professionally I felt stuck prior to this summer. I won't lie, part of me wanted to take a break from the same thing that I have been doing for the eight years. Nine weeks is a good break. With my job at the school I work at during the academic school year in Onamia, I have taken on a lot of extra roles and wore a lot of extra hats as the years have gone by. Don't get me wrong, this is my own doing and I don't regret any of it. So I am not whining here or looking for sympathy. Instead, I just wanted to step away from it for a bit, and with being a nine month employee, I could do that.
So after my meeting with my contact in Brainerd, we came to terms on an agreement for me to get back into the School Age Child Care game this summer. The program is called Fun-N-Friends. After agreeing to terms in the middle of May sometime, I started to go to Fun-N-Friends everyday to work for about an hour and half after my work day with Onamia Schools. With college on top of this, I had to be careful with making time for everything including my family.
This summer at Fun-N-Friends has been great, because it has been different. On my first full day with Fun-N-Friends this summer, I was offered the opportunity to be promoted to a Supervisor role. This was unexpected and flattering, and I am glad I have had the opportunity to be a Supervisor this summer. This position has allowed me to work and dust off the leadership skills that have been idle for a very long time. It has been great working the the elementary age level students again. With this new summer opportunity, I have been able to join a new team of staff. Some of whom are doing great things with these children. It is nice to have another professional family as an additional resource and to further develop my networking that has also been idle for a while before this summer. There have been some challenges this summer with my new role, but there also has been a lot of positive, and this was an absolute right decision. I want to be able to be effective and do my part in helping Fun-N-Friends continue to be a high quality program for children. This position also will allow me to be a better employee during the school year at Onamia. I say this because my Fun-N-Friends position has allowed me to have a voice, and I have been using it. If you remember my blog post from back in January about Resolutions for 2015, one of them was speaking up more. I have had an opportunity to do that this summer and I think this will help me become a higher quality employee year round. I also feel re-energized for the upcoming school year. The break from Onamia has been a good one professionally. It feels good to step a way for a while and work with children in a different element. I also have been running my ass of this summer :) I usually walk between six and nine miles a day in one day of work at Fun-N-Friends. The nice thing about this is that I have dropped 26 pounds since the first of April and that is also helping me feel better and re-energized. So, lots of positives this summer.
Now the one remaining question that looms from this decision to make a change for the summer. "What happens with me and Fun-N-Friends when the summer is done?" I won't lie. The program wants me to stay and they have made offers. At this time, I will be returning to Onamia this fall. There are several factors that have gone into this decision. However, that does not mean that my time is done at Fun-N-Friends. I have informed them that I would be more than happy to help them out on full day non-school day events when our school calendars cooperate. I don't want to be done with Fun-N-Friends after the summer, I want to continue to be involved with Fun-N-Friends and the Brainerd School District. I live in the boundaries of the Brainerd School District and it has been refreshing being involved in the community that I live in. So, this is the beginning of my Fun-N-Friends journey and I hope it continues for quite a while.
#sacc
Saturday, March 21, 2015
It's Been AWhile...Here is an Update!
So, I looked today, and January 20th was my last blog post. There have been many things that have kept my plate full recently that just did not allow me time to do some serious thinking about topics for a blog. However, I love to blog and I didn't want to just fade to black on the deal, so here I am. I am still plugging away at college. This semester I am taking three classes with Bemidji State University to continue my progress towards a teaching degree. There have moments, as my wife Kari would say, that have been ultra stressful with trying to make everything fit in timely manner. I am continuing to work full-time at my job as a paraprofessional at a school. As I have mentioned in the past, I work with a lot of students who have many behavior and mental health issues. To follow my 2015 New Year's Resolution of speaking up more often, I went to a staff meeting at my school and voiced a concern of not receiving enough mental health training. So, prior to voicing this concern, I did some problem solving to get the ball rolling on my concern. I did some research on the web and discovered that a mental health agency does this big conference in Duluth, MN over the course of three days. I also found out that 36% of the attendees on average work in schools. This excited me. I went to our second of two superintendents and asked permission to attend this workshop. The Superintendent gave approval for two to three staff to go. My wife Kari, who is the Behavior Specialist of the school I work at, is also attending the conference. At a very recent staff meeting, I told the staff that there was another spot available if someone wanted to attend the conference, and no one unfortunately took the spot. So the two of us will be attending, and I intend to create some Prezi presentations to present to our staff on staff development days so I can do my part to help my co-workers be more prepared for the wide variety of craziness that we deal with on a daily basis.
In another piece of exciting news, for the past five years I have coordinated an upcycling program at my school that is called Terracycle. Terracycle is a company that takes trash and upcycles it into new reusable products, thus keeping the trash out of the landfill as a result. The bonus to getting schools involved in this project or movement, is that schools can collect the materials and have it shipped to Terracycle. Terracycle covers the shipping costs and pays each collection of trash a certain amount per piece of trash. This is a great lesson for our students to learn. As a coordinator, it is a ton of work as I jumped into this with both feet, and probably way too fast, but I can go to sleep at night knowing that I am doing my part keeping trash out of the landfills that filling up way too fast. So, a couple of years ago, we received notification that we were one of the top 100 sites for collecting cheese packaging and we got a $10.00 bonus to our fundraising account with Terracycle. About three weeks ago, our school did it again. This time we were one of the top ten Terracycle sites in the nation who participate in the Scotch Tape Brigade. The Scotch Tape Brigade obviously is sponsored by Scotch Tape and we submitted 660 disposable tape dispensers and cores (the things in the middle of the tape roll) in one month. So, I received an email from Terracycle with news about being one of the top ten in the nation and this time we were going to receive a $50.00 bonus to our Terracycle fundraising account. This was pretty good. This happened because of the students and my co-workers being supportive of the program. It was a great team effort. Last Tuesday, I had people coming up to me and telling me that they liked the article in the newspaper. I had no idea what they were talking about, and I needed to find out what they were talking about as my curiosity was at a maximum level. I discovered that there was a small article in the Brainerd Dispatch newspaper and also in the Mille Lacs Messenger newspaper that is more local to the school I work in. After I read both of the articles, I had discovered that Terracycle themselves had done the press releases and I will admit, I was pretty proud. I have put links below to both of the short articles. I encourage you to read them.
Mille Lacs Academy School Wins Recycling Contest
MLA School Wins National Award
Finally, I want to mention that I am going to start another blog. I am a die-hard Minnesota sports fan and it usually drives my wife crazy most days as she is not. Anyways, I want to do something that allows me to do something with my passion for Minnesota sports. So, in the very near future, I plan to launch a second blog that focuses on Minnesota Sports. I think it will be relaxing for me personally talking about a topic that I love. So, look for that very soon. The Blogging Rookie, which is my personal blog, will still be going on as normal. The sports blog is not replacing my personal blog. I will be posting both. As far as my personal blog goes, many of you have been reading my blog posts since the beginning, which was last fall. One of the blog posts entitled, "Even Without A Dad, Things Can Turn Out Right", is so far the most read blog posting of all my blog postings so far. This was a hot button topic for some and it created some sharp reactions that I am still affected by to this present day. I planned on including an update on this in this blog posting, but I think I will wait to the next one. What I learned about this, is that expressing honest feelings respectfully can unfortunately have some painful consequences. I will fill you in more in my next Blogging Rookie post, so look for that soon.
Have a great day and feel free to comment on any of my blogs.
In another piece of exciting news, for the past five years I have coordinated an upcycling program at my school that is called Terracycle. Terracycle is a company that takes trash and upcycles it into new reusable products, thus keeping the trash out of the landfill as a result. The bonus to getting schools involved in this project or movement, is that schools can collect the materials and have it shipped to Terracycle. Terracycle covers the shipping costs and pays each collection of trash a certain amount per piece of trash. This is a great lesson for our students to learn. As a coordinator, it is a ton of work as I jumped into this with both feet, and probably way too fast, but I can go to sleep at night knowing that I am doing my part keeping trash out of the landfills that filling up way too fast. So, a couple of years ago, we received notification that we were one of the top 100 sites for collecting cheese packaging and we got a $10.00 bonus to our fundraising account with Terracycle. About three weeks ago, our school did it again. This time we were one of the top ten Terracycle sites in the nation who participate in the Scotch Tape Brigade. The Scotch Tape Brigade obviously is sponsored by Scotch Tape and we submitted 660 disposable tape dispensers and cores (the things in the middle of the tape roll) in one month. So, I received an email from Terracycle with news about being one of the top ten in the nation and this time we were going to receive a $50.00 bonus to our Terracycle fundraising account. This was pretty good. This happened because of the students and my co-workers being supportive of the program. It was a great team effort. Last Tuesday, I had people coming up to me and telling me that they liked the article in the newspaper. I had no idea what they were talking about, and I needed to find out what they were talking about as my curiosity was at a maximum level. I discovered that there was a small article in the Brainerd Dispatch newspaper and also in the Mille Lacs Messenger newspaper that is more local to the school I work in. After I read both of the articles, I had discovered that Terracycle themselves had done the press releases and I will admit, I was pretty proud. I have put links below to both of the short articles. I encourage you to read them.
Mille Lacs Academy School Wins Recycling Contest
MLA School Wins National Award
Finally, I want to mention that I am going to start another blog. I am a die-hard Minnesota sports fan and it usually drives my wife crazy most days as she is not. Anyways, I want to do something that allows me to do something with my passion for Minnesota sports. So, in the very near future, I plan to launch a second blog that focuses on Minnesota Sports. I think it will be relaxing for me personally talking about a topic that I love. So, look for that very soon. The Blogging Rookie, which is my personal blog, will still be going on as normal. The sports blog is not replacing my personal blog. I will be posting both. As far as my personal blog goes, many of you have been reading my blog posts since the beginning, which was last fall. One of the blog posts entitled, "Even Without A Dad, Things Can Turn Out Right", is so far the most read blog posting of all my blog postings so far. This was a hot button topic for some and it created some sharp reactions that I am still affected by to this present day. I planned on including an update on this in this blog posting, but I think I will wait to the next one. What I learned about this, is that expressing honest feelings respectfully can unfortunately have some painful consequences. I will fill you in more in my next Blogging Rookie post, so look for that soon.
Have a great day and feel free to comment on any of my blogs.
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Where Is My Place and Where Do I Fit In?
If you have been following my blog and the postings, you know that one of my resolutions for the new year is to speak up and have a voice. I am going to have a voice right now expressing some personal frustration. For the past four years now, I have been back at college at Bemidji State University. With my job, I feel like I bring some talent to our staff at our school. At least I hope I do. My philosophy at work is to always put in 100% so that way I am needed as Tim and not as a body. I don't want to be that guy that is just filling a role, but at times I feel that way. I have worked at the same place as my wife for the past 10 years. Prior, to meeting her I feel like my experiences and talents have opened all the positions that I have had. My wife was working at our current school and that gave me an "in" when a position opened up. This is the first time that I ever utilized an "in" to get a job. I don't know if I needed so to say, but it was used. For the first time in my professional life, I felt average. Over the past seven years of working at my current school, I feel like I have progressed in a manner to be above average in the role I serve. A lot of what I have taken on, I have created myself in an attempt to mold myself as irreplaceable. Lately, I feel like I have been losing this battle. A few years ago, we had a great principal by the name of Larry Ronglien. There were some staff that really shared the same views as Larry, and there were some that didn't like him at all. He was the leader that introduced the concept of a behavior level system to me. A behavior level system is currently being used in our school and this is the third year of its existence. After that, the school and Special Education Department wanted to put in place an additional step in helping students with their behavioral needs. The administration of our school wanted a behavior room to give student a place to voice their concerns, process their thoughts, and hopefully help return them to a place where they were willing to return to class. This room worked very well in its first year and it reduced the number of students being sent out of school for behavior issues by 81%.
When this behavior room was being designed, the position was posted as someone needing a teaching degree, which I don't have yet. The idea of me (being unlicensed) as the guy running the behavior room was even introduced to our past superintendent, and it was turned down. I was pretty devastated because I knew what I wanted to do with that room. So I wasn't the right guy for the job apparently. So, the position was opened up publicly for a new hire to come in and operate this behavior room. A gentleman from Illinois applied and was granted an interview. He was offered the position, but then later declined it. The school district had gone through the posting, interviewing, and offering cycle in hiring a new person only ending up in him turning it down. Now, the clock was against the school in hiring this position and with the new school year approaching fast, the choices of candidates was slim. So, my wife decided to go for the position. She has a teaching degree and is a Special Education Teacher, so she was given the position. With her hiring, I now was eliminated from even being a para in that room, because we couldn't work in the same classroom, and we shouldn't work in the same classroom.
So, the first year of the behavior room had a para named Dan. The behavior room was a success, but there was a constant battle with consistency being maintained in the behavior room with expectations and rules, and it eventually led to change. This frustrated me because there wasn't anything I could do to help because I couldn't work in that room. I hated the technicality. Don't get me wrong. I was working in the resource room, which was academically assisting students with their school work. I like that just as well as I am still working in the academic resource room today. But I feel I have a lot of leadership skills, but I feel like I can't get noticed because I either don't have the degree (yet), or my wife works in the same school. Don't get me wrong here, it has been a wonderful set of opportunities for her and she is achieving a lot of success because of those opportunities, but I feel like I am missing out and I feel my career is kind of whizzing by me because there isn't really a right spot for me. As far as the behavior room goes, it is now called the Refocus Room. Dan, the original para in the behavior room, was reassigned to a different position in the school. The para position in the newly named Refocus Room was given to a para named Mary. Mary is great at that job on a daily basis and I think she was the best hire the school has made in my seven years of involvement with the school. She is a rock star. Meanwhile, I am the guy that is relied on to take things on, develop new forms, develop new programming, or organize and set up off-campus trips, but yet I am making the same as someone in the district who just has to be a second set of eyes in a classroom. My message here is not stop relying on me for these thing because I like to contribute, be a team player, and help make our school be the best it possibly can be. But I feel like that bench player in sports waiting for my number to be called for the position I am ready for.
I guess my message in this blog posting is that I feel like I am in a shadow and I feel like I am stuck. I am not sure what to do about it. Our new high leadership in the district on paper sees that I am a para and that right there devalues my opinion in some respects. I don't want be the guy that goes through the motions of a job and then gets old some day and settles for that. I still want to do great things despite the many obstacles that I have in play right now. My goals for this year involved having more of a voice, speaking my mind and feelings more often, and making more money. I have been pretty preoccupied that last four weeks and I still have a LONG way to go on the speaking my mind and feelings part. In fact, I feel like I have regressed in a sense and that needs to change. I cannot be worried about how people will react to my feelings and what I say. I just need to do it.
In the short term, I volunteered to be on a leadership team at work. This is a first step with my voice at work. I know that some of my co-workers will label this leadership team as a "club", a "special meeting", or "a secret". This is not how I view this leadership team. I did not volunteer to be on this team for any selfish reasons. I want to help our school improve. There are improvements that need to be made and I want to voice my opinion on those ideas. Like I said, a good first step. I am not sure what I am going to do about this stuck feeling, but I'll take it one day at a time.
#thanksforlistening
When this behavior room was being designed, the position was posted as someone needing a teaching degree, which I don't have yet. The idea of me (being unlicensed) as the guy running the behavior room was even introduced to our past superintendent, and it was turned down. I was pretty devastated because I knew what I wanted to do with that room. So I wasn't the right guy for the job apparently. So, the position was opened up publicly for a new hire to come in and operate this behavior room. A gentleman from Illinois applied and was granted an interview. He was offered the position, but then later declined it. The school district had gone through the posting, interviewing, and offering cycle in hiring a new person only ending up in him turning it down. Now, the clock was against the school in hiring this position and with the new school year approaching fast, the choices of candidates was slim. So, my wife decided to go for the position. She has a teaching degree and is a Special Education Teacher, so she was given the position. With her hiring, I now was eliminated from even being a para in that room, because we couldn't work in the same classroom, and we shouldn't work in the same classroom.
So, the first year of the behavior room had a para named Dan. The behavior room was a success, but there was a constant battle with consistency being maintained in the behavior room with expectations and rules, and it eventually led to change. This frustrated me because there wasn't anything I could do to help because I couldn't work in that room. I hated the technicality. Don't get me wrong. I was working in the resource room, which was academically assisting students with their school work. I like that just as well as I am still working in the academic resource room today. But I feel I have a lot of leadership skills, but I feel like I can't get noticed because I either don't have the degree (yet), or my wife works in the same school. Don't get me wrong here, it has been a wonderful set of opportunities for her and she is achieving a lot of success because of those opportunities, but I feel like I am missing out and I feel my career is kind of whizzing by me because there isn't really a right spot for me. As far as the behavior room goes, it is now called the Refocus Room. Dan, the original para in the behavior room, was reassigned to a different position in the school. The para position in the newly named Refocus Room was given to a para named Mary. Mary is great at that job on a daily basis and I think she was the best hire the school has made in my seven years of involvement with the school. She is a rock star. Meanwhile, I am the guy that is relied on to take things on, develop new forms, develop new programming, or organize and set up off-campus trips, but yet I am making the same as someone in the district who just has to be a second set of eyes in a classroom. My message here is not stop relying on me for these thing because I like to contribute, be a team player, and help make our school be the best it possibly can be. But I feel like that bench player in sports waiting for my number to be called for the position I am ready for.
I guess my message in this blog posting is that I feel like I am in a shadow and I feel like I am stuck. I am not sure what to do about it. Our new high leadership in the district on paper sees that I am a para and that right there devalues my opinion in some respects. I don't want be the guy that goes through the motions of a job and then gets old some day and settles for that. I still want to do great things despite the many obstacles that I have in play right now. My goals for this year involved having more of a voice, speaking my mind and feelings more often, and making more money. I have been pretty preoccupied that last four weeks and I still have a LONG way to go on the speaking my mind and feelings part. In fact, I feel like I have regressed in a sense and that needs to change. I cannot be worried about how people will react to my feelings and what I say. I just need to do it.
In the short term, I volunteered to be on a leadership team at work. This is a first step with my voice at work. I know that some of my co-workers will label this leadership team as a "club", a "special meeting", or "a secret". This is not how I view this leadership team. I did not volunteer to be on this team for any selfish reasons. I want to help our school improve. There are improvements that need to be made and I want to voice my opinion on those ideas. Like I said, a good first step. I am not sure what I am going to do about this stuck feeling, but I'll take it one day at a time.
#thanksforlistening
Monday, January 19, 2015
Perfectionism
I am sure there are times when we all need to feel perfect in our lives. I know I do. The proof of society's expectation to be perfect was pointed out once again. This time it was displayed in this past weekend's NFL NFC Championship game. The game was between the Seattle Seahawks and the Green Bay Packers. Now, don't get me wrong here, being a Minnesota Vikings fan, I was overjoyed to see the Green Bay Packers FINALLY get a defeat handed to them in the fashion they did. With five minutes left to go in that game, Green Bay was ahead by a score of 19-7 and I was bitter. I was dreading going to work the next day and have to hear for the next two weeks about how Green Bay was going to yet another Super Bowl and how the team was the greatest thing since the invention of sliced bread. I was also dreading having to listen to how everyone should wanna make love to Aaron Rodgers just like every play-by-play commentator wants to when they are broadcasting one of his games.
Getting back to my original point of this post, what was floating around the media, and perhaps the social networking universe immediately following the game, was that the Green Bay Packers had lost the chance to go to the Super Bowl because of one of the players not coming up with onside kick recovery late in the game. This drives me nuts! When to we stop and realize that these types of accusations are the type that destroys lives....literally. A couple of years ago, there was an NFL referee who was a replacement referee while the regulars were on strike. So, it was Monday Night Football on ESPN and at the end of the game, ironically the Seattle Seahawks versus Green Bay Packers AGAIN, there was a hail mary pass. This play was referred to as Fail Mary because after "the catch" one referee signaled touchdown and the other referee signaled no catch. This call changed the outcome of the game and gave the Green Bay Packers a loss. Fast forward two years to the present day and this referee is now reportedly suffering severe depression, can't sleep, and suffers PTSD from this incident. I am a big sports fan and feel all the emotions of the excitement of sports, but why does it come to the point of someone's life being wrecked. I mean life went on. The regular refs came back and the season went on as scheduled. Now, that game happened over two years ago, and everyone is ok, except that poor ref that went through traumatic experiences immediately following that one call on the field.
This is not the only case of this happening. The famous Steve Bartman incident at Wrigley Field over a decade ago was another case of another man's life being forever wrecked because of a reaction from an incident happening at a sporting event. Steve Bartman was like every other sports fan wanting a game used souvenior by trying to catch a foul ball. Based on where he was sitting and it being the playoffs, it appears he would've paid a pretty penny for the ticket where his seat was located. When Steve Bartman went to catch that foul ball, he was unaware that it was still a ball that could've been caught for the out. As soon as he caught the ball instead of the approaching outfielder, the crowd went nuts on this guy. They didn't get physical with him, but almost immediately security had to escort him out of the arena for his own safety. It didn't stop after he left Wrigley. The next morning his picture and name were on the front of the Chicago area newspapers. In the end, again for his own safety, this guy had to end up moving from where he lived. I am not sure, but I am guessing this also meant he either had to leave his job or even lost his job. And for what? Being a dedicated Chicago Cubs sports fan. I don't get it.
This is two of many incidents where this type of thing happens and I don't know why society has developed such an expectation of perfection. When I work with students at my job, my co-workers and I (well, most of them) do not expectation perfection. There is a few reasons for this. The first being that being perfect carries a very high level of pressure that quite honestly just isn't fair to put on anyone. The second being that everyone makes mistakes and we should be learning from them so we don't make the same mistake again. Finally, the third one being the fact it's ok to make a mistake, it's human nature. Even programmed machinery that is supposed to be flawless makes mistakes and has errors and we accept them. I would never expect perfection from any student I work with and I do not think it is right that society does the same thing to people who are just trying to do their job and make a living for a simple life.
#rememberdifferentperspectives
Getting back to my original point of this post, what was floating around the media, and perhaps the social networking universe immediately following the game, was that the Green Bay Packers had lost the chance to go to the Super Bowl because of one of the players not coming up with onside kick recovery late in the game. This drives me nuts! When to we stop and realize that these types of accusations are the type that destroys lives....literally. A couple of years ago, there was an NFL referee who was a replacement referee while the regulars were on strike. So, it was Monday Night Football on ESPN and at the end of the game, ironically the Seattle Seahawks versus Green Bay Packers AGAIN, there was a hail mary pass. This play was referred to as Fail Mary because after "the catch" one referee signaled touchdown and the other referee signaled no catch. This call changed the outcome of the game and gave the Green Bay Packers a loss. Fast forward two years to the present day and this referee is now reportedly suffering severe depression, can't sleep, and suffers PTSD from this incident. I am a big sports fan and feel all the emotions of the excitement of sports, but why does it come to the point of someone's life being wrecked. I mean life went on. The regular refs came back and the season went on as scheduled. Now, that game happened over two years ago, and everyone is ok, except that poor ref that went through traumatic experiences immediately following that one call on the field.
This is not the only case of this happening. The famous Steve Bartman incident at Wrigley Field over a decade ago was another case of another man's life being forever wrecked because of a reaction from an incident happening at a sporting event. Steve Bartman was like every other sports fan wanting a game used souvenior by trying to catch a foul ball. Based on where he was sitting and it being the playoffs, it appears he would've paid a pretty penny for the ticket where his seat was located. When Steve Bartman went to catch that foul ball, he was unaware that it was still a ball that could've been caught for the out. As soon as he caught the ball instead of the approaching outfielder, the crowd went nuts on this guy. They didn't get physical with him, but almost immediately security had to escort him out of the arena for his own safety. It didn't stop after he left Wrigley. The next morning his picture and name were on the front of the Chicago area newspapers. In the end, again for his own safety, this guy had to end up moving from where he lived. I am not sure, but I am guessing this also meant he either had to leave his job or even lost his job. And for what? Being a dedicated Chicago Cubs sports fan. I don't get it.
This is two of many incidents where this type of thing happens and I don't know why society has developed such an expectation of perfection. When I work with students at my job, my co-workers and I (well, most of them) do not expectation perfection. There is a few reasons for this. The first being that being perfect carries a very high level of pressure that quite honestly just isn't fair to put on anyone. The second being that everyone makes mistakes and we should be learning from them so we don't make the same mistake again. Finally, the third one being the fact it's ok to make a mistake, it's human nature. Even programmed machinery that is supposed to be flawless makes mistakes and has errors and we accept them. I would never expect perfection from any student I work with and I do not think it is right that society does the same thing to people who are just trying to do their job and make a living for a simple life.
#rememberdifferentperspectives
Tuesday, January 13, 2015
The Interview and the Golden Globes
For those of you who know me, I tend to prefer comedies when I go and see movies. So I bought into the hype a bit. I went and saw the movie "The Interview". For the most part, I don't mind Seth Rogen movies. I liked "The 40-Year Old Virgin" and I didn't mind "Knocked Up". I did not care for the film "Pineapple Express", but for the most part I am ok with Seth Rogen films. So I went and saw "The Interview" and it was terrible. There were two thoughts that came to my mind after viewing this film. The first was that this was one of the worst films I have ever seen and I regret paying movie theater pricing to see it. The second thought being that I don't know why North Korea got so upset with this movie. I didn't get it. I have seen much worse films for United States theaters that were far worse by targeting the White House and going after our President. Now I am not a person who buys into conspiracy theories, but, was Sony accurate in the threats they received from North Korea. I mean, did I really have to worry about North Korea leveling us because of this pile of crap thing that was supposed to be entertaining. I am wondering if Sony was behind creating the hype to get people into the theaters to see this movie because they knew it was going to bomb on its own because of the lack of quality in this film. Seth Rogen has really taken some chances that I think have paid off by being big hits. Those films include "Superbad", "Zack and Miri Make A Porno", and even "Neighbors" (barely). Movies like the previously mentioned "Pineapple Express", "Observe and Report", and now "The Interview" makes Seth Rogen a hit or a miss. I was disappointed in the most recent film and will rethink seeing future Seth Rogen films, even though I probably will.
The Golden Globe awards were on the other night, and I usually tune it to them to at least see if any intoxicated celebrities will make any foolish mistakes that their P.R. team will have to fix the next morning. I did not watch the popular award show this year, but I am aware that Tiny Fey and Amy Pohler again were hosting. This was their third and final time hosting the show, and there is a reason why they were asked back multiple times. They like to push the envelope. Amy and Tina didn't hesitate to shy away from the "those" topics that are not supposed to be mentioned, they instead took aim on those topics. Ricky Gervais also took aim on the celebrities that were supposed to be off limits the couple of years that he hosted. I love this formula for success. The reason why it is successful is because the rulebook is thrown out the window. I, myself, tend to use this type of formula (when appropriate). I like to push the envelope when it needs to be pushed. At times in life when you get into those moments where you feel that "you shouldn't do or say something" tempts me to speak up and face that topic head on. Now there is one thing to remember here. Maybe the celebrities at the Golden Globes are more tolerant because of the alcohol flowing. I know when I tend to push the envelope, it is when my audience has had a few and it tends to take place after a long work week or story-filled school year.
#carefulwithsoberaudiences
The Golden Globe awards were on the other night, and I usually tune it to them to at least see if any intoxicated celebrities will make any foolish mistakes that their P.R. team will have to fix the next morning. I did not watch the popular award show this year, but I am aware that Tiny Fey and Amy Pohler again were hosting. This was their third and final time hosting the show, and there is a reason why they were asked back multiple times. They like to push the envelope. Amy and Tina didn't hesitate to shy away from the "those" topics that are not supposed to be mentioned, they instead took aim on those topics. Ricky Gervais also took aim on the celebrities that were supposed to be off limits the couple of years that he hosted. I love this formula for success. The reason why it is successful is because the rulebook is thrown out the window. I, myself, tend to use this type of formula (when appropriate). I like to push the envelope when it needs to be pushed. At times in life when you get into those moments where you feel that "you shouldn't do or say something" tempts me to speak up and face that topic head on. Now there is one thing to remember here. Maybe the celebrities at the Golden Globes are more tolerant because of the alcohol flowing. I know when I tend to push the envelope, it is when my audience has had a few and it tends to take place after a long work week or story-filled school year.
#carefulwithsoberaudiences
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