Meetings Galore

Posted on August 16, 2022 by

37 Comments

I woke up about 3 am last night, just like yesterday morning. I tried to go back to sleep, but too many things are running through my brain.

Last week was our district professional development days (yes, all 5 days). I have a mini team as we all teach junior and/or senior college level English this year. One of our colleagues is new to our campus (not new to teaching). Usually, during this delightful week of PD, we are given time to plan since our syllabus is due…well.. tomorrow. That didn’t really happen. I think out of the entire week, we managed about 4 hours together. And of course, some of that time was helping our new member with questions, etc. (And yes, we did meet one over the summer already). So…yeah.

We’re on our campus all of this week for even more PD. Yesterday, we spent about 5 hours in meetings. Of course we had our opening meeting which is always fun! It’s a chance to come back together and celebrate accomplishments and new people joining us. Uhm, the 2nd meeting was about a new district initiative …required by the state, to teach character traits? It’s still in process so there’s lots we don’t know. But it sounds like we’re going to begin actual lessons on things like honesty and kindness. One was patriotism which I thought was interesting. Anyhoo….

Our last training was active shooter training. It took over 2 hours because they kept giving us breaks so we could “take a minute” in case we had “feelings.” I get it. But let’s just get it done. I’m appreciative that our district is proactive, etc. and that it’s putting even more pieces in place to try to secure campuses.

However, there’s just so much that I believe we can do and should be doing as a society to try to address the underlying issues, etc. (that’s not being done) and with these trainings it feels like it’s down to schools/staff to solve this humongous, complex, and insane issue that it’s hard to just sit through a training like this. Basically, bottom line is try to keep yourself and your students alive if there is an active shooter on campus. GOT IT.

Well dang, sorry that went a little dark! Today, we have more meetings this morning, and these are campus specific so indeed important info and then, fingers crossed, my little team and I can meet and knock out our syllabus.

In other news, we’re STILL trying to get the Civic AC working, but I think it might be a lost cause. Already thrown a decent amount of money at it and it’s been to 2 shops, one a Honda dealership, and still issues and no cold air. Let’s put this on the back burner if possible until we get school actually started this coming Monday, shall we?😊

I hope everyone is having a great start to the week ahead. Take care! -belle

Category: The Present, WorkTags: , , ,

37 Comments on “Meetings Galore”

  1. Sounds like a busy week. I can’t imagine what it must be like having to take active shooter training. On the one hand, it’s great your campus is offering it. But maybe having stricter gun control laws so these issues wouldn’t be the norm!

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    • Hi AB, I agree. I am glad to be in a district that is very proactive about trying to make our schools as safe as possible and offering training to the staff. But, yes, it’s just too bad it has to be done at all. I teach high school, but I just can’t imagine doing active shooter lockdown drills with elementary students. I really do feel for all of our students/children who have to even think about something like this.

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  5. Oh boy did this bring back memories. Endless PD, new “initiatives du jour,” active shooter trainings and drills… Ugh. Take care of yourself. Sending hugs and good wishes for the school year. 💜

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    • You totally get it! I’m always grateful when we can finally be done with all that and meet our students. While some of the information is new, most of it isn’t. I love “initiatives du jour”! So very true. Thank you for the good vibes! 💗

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  6. I have read some articles about local school districts who are implementing a course on how to react and protect in active shooter situations. It does sound like the “ramp-up” to the start of school is more taxing than the actual school year. Lots of boxes to be checked off. I have owned Hondas just about my entire adult life. Accords, Civics, and our current family “truck” the Fit. My experience is if a Honda dealer can’t get that AC working, it might be time to look at trading or buying depending on how else the car is treating you. Have a great start to the new school year. 👍

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    • Howdy! I appreciate the info on the Civic. We love Hondas and Toyotas here, too! But, I fear you’re right. My husband is determined to try a couple of last ditch things, but after that…:( My mom bought a Fit in 2020, and she loves it! Do you like yours? She’s actually been very generous letting me borrow it for work off and on these past few weeks, so we may look into one if the Civic can’t be fixed. I wish I were tougher and could deal with no AC in this heat, but idk. We got our training completed with a few more rules to follow. I’m just looking forward to meeting my new students on Monday! 😊 Take care! Have a good week!

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      • We love our Fit. It hasn’t let us down once, and while we didn’t put a lot of miles on it the first few years we’ve been racking them up lately and it still does the job for us. We have a 2010 4 door hatchback. Very good gas mileage. Smaller car, so the a/c “takes effect” pretty quickly as well. You have a good week ahead and get ready for those incoming students. 🙂

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  9. Wow, Belle, that’s a lot. And I don’t think you went dark – that sounded very real. There is so much that we need to solve as a society for sure. Wishing you the best of luck on your syllabus, car AC and everything else that needs to be done before Monday!

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  10. It would be wonderful if teachers could teach their subjects and not have to worry about the “issues” that parents should be teaching at home. As for shooter training, I have no doubt that it is needed, but what a sad thing…

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    • As a teacher, it’s good to know about the many serious things that could potentially be going on with a student. But over the years, more and more issues are added to the list, and then, somehow, we’re supposed to magically be able to have these private, individual conversations with students to try to get to the bottom of said possible issues, all while also trying to teach classes of 25-35 students…and I agree with you: yes, we need the active shooter training, but it’s a shame we need it at all. I hope your week is going well!

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  12. I don’t miss that feeling of being restless in another inservice meeting. I used to think, “Is this what the kids feel like all day?”

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  13. All the best for your new school year! America seems an utterly insane country to me and yet I know lots of very nice people live there. Does my head in!

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    • Hi Ms. Liz! Thanks for the good vibes for our new school year! Oh, I totally agree with you on it being insane! And it certainly does not seem to be improving. We can’t seem to work towards remotely solving any problems, and boy, do we have a lot of them!

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  14. While we never had active shooter training when I was in grade school, we did have the “duck and cover” drills that had us scrambling under our desks to protect ourselves from nuclear annihilation. I can’t remember how many years those went on, but I know I went through them in second through fourth grade. When my friends and I talk about them now and then, we agree that we weren’t particularly scarred by them. What makes things worse today is that gun control has become a political football, too many people are ramping up the fear level for their own purposes, and viral social media posts make the threat seem worse than it is — not to mention encouraging those who might have violent tendencies.

    Caution and precautions are good. Fear-mongering is bad. As long as your district is simply cautious, I predict a good, and violence-free, year.

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  15. Thank you for sharing!!.. you have had a busy week indeed and perhaps the first few days of school will be a learning process for everyone and maybe a bit hectic… it would be wonderful if society would put as much effort in dealing with guns (and other issues) as they do trying to make schools safe… 🙂
    Hopefully all will go well for you and your school and perhaps together can come up with ideas of how to make this world a better place….. 🙂

    All the best for you, family and your school, good luck with the Civic and until we meet again..
    May your day be touched
    by a bit of Irish luck,
    Brightened by a song
    in your heart,
    And warmed by the smiles
    of people you love.
    (Irish Saying)

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  16. Hi L, thanks for stopping by my little space. The encouragement is much needed! We’re (husband is a teacher, too) looking forward to meeting all of our great young people tomorrow. It will be an exciting and exhausting week for sure for all! 🙂 I hope you’re are enjoying the summer!

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  17. I thought you were saying that you used CBT oil for your ailments. So much reading lately, perhaps I misunderstood you and your banner blog. To answer your question, I have led a varied career and became a teacher later in life. I don’t have many years with the public school system but I want to retire somewhere not too early and not too late. I have a friend who continued until she was 80! I don’t suspect that will be me.

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  18. I guess I am naive and associate CBT with against the law. I am probably behind the times as hemp is used for many things but it is outside my experience. I hope your writing about it can give me more information as it sounds helpful for your lyme disease and perhaps for other afflictions. As to how that teacher passing 80 years was to move so much faster than many of us….it must be in the genes!! My brother retired in his 50’s but that is early. I have worked in public school system about a decade.

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  19. That character traits sounds interesting… It reminds me of how when a politician, judge, or law enforcement agent here does something really sleazy (theft, murder,rape…) and the official in charge says something stupid like ‘we may have to review our procedures to look at incorporating more training in this regard’. Like what? Teach their people to be human beings? Just wierd in my mind. Still sorry you have to worry about active shooters. Stay safe. 💞

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August 2022
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