Thank God for Teachers

A few months ago, probably around the time school was letting out for summer, I had a somewhat disturbing conversation with a man at our church about teachers and schools. He is a very nice man with whom we have broken Wednesday night bread on several occasions, and even though we do not know his family well, we do know that he and his wife have two school-aged children.
Please do not think that I am speaking ill of him when I relate the meat of our conversation. I don't think of him in that way because this was not the first time I had heard these sentiments and I know a lot of people think this way. That's why I'm writing this post - to set the record straight.
During the course of our talk, he let me know his feelings on teachers and how our schools work. His thoughts included the following phrases:
Teachers waste too much time babysitting.
The teachers at _______ School just don't care.
The only reason the teachers at __________ School care more is because they get more money.
I'd like to address these issues, if I may.

Teachers do not "waste" time, and they are certainly not "babysitting." Every minute of every day is consumed with something they are doing for your child. I do not limit this to just the 9-12 hours they spend in the classroom every day. (What? You didn't know teachers got to school around the time you wake up and leave when you're sitting down to dinner with your family? True story.) Let me shed some light on a typical day in the life of a teacher. I can only speak from high school experience, but perhaps and elementary school teacher can fill us in with a comment or two.

4:30 - 6:30 Wake up, shower, get dressed, feed your own children, grab coffee, fly out the door, drop kids off at daycare, pray that you get to school in time to do half the things you need to get done.
6:30 - 7:20 Work on the 3-5 pages of lesson plans that have to be posted in exactly the right format, with all standards and objectives highlighted, by 7:30.
7:20 - 7:45 Morning duty. This could include bus duty, cafeteria duty, all duty, any duty that requires you to tell girls their skirts are too short and to break up fights between people who are half your age and twice your size.
7:45 - Noonish  Try to get in as much teaching as possible between filling out paperwork on absent kids, kids who are failing your class, kids who are on a field trip today, etc.
12:00-12:20 Run to cafeteria, inhale lunch, cross your fingers that you have time to go potty, be back in room before any students show up.
12:20 - 1:00 Teach some more. Pause every 45 seconds or so for the kid who can't stop talking/texting/trying to ring the trash can with balled up paper.
1:00 - 2:00 Planning period. This is a misnomer. You actually use the entire time trying to contact parents of students whose grades fall below a C, because if they don't answer the phone, it goes on record that you never tried to contact them at all.
2:00 - 3:00 Teach last class of the day.
3:00 - Whenever you can tear yourself away from the desk - Start working on next week's lesson plans, grade some papers, call more parents, go to faculty meetings, meet with parents, answer emails, etc.
When you get home, you grade papers until you fall asleep. This is also true of Spring Break and Winter Break.
At what point, exactly, did this teacher "waste time babysitting?"

The other issue I'd like to address is that of the uncaring teacher.
Teachers have to do what they're told, just like you do when you go to work. They will lose their jobs if they do not follow orders, just like you will if you don't follow orders.
Often, and I'm speaking from my own experience and well as from the experiences of former colleagues, teachers are told to, "Just teach what's on the exam, even if you have to exclude the rest of the curriculum." "If a student's grade is borderline passing, you do what you have to do to make them pass." Teachers are sometimes told to change grades so that students cannot fail, even if the student has not understood a single word of what was taught. (Not every school is like this, but please do not be so naive as to think it doesn't happen.)
There are programs adopted by schools every year that are HORRIBLE and go against everything we know is good for students. We have to teach them, anyway. It's our job.
Do teachers know all those things are wrong? Absolutely. If they didn't care, they would stand up, walk out, and never look back. It's because they DO care that they stay, hoping that something they've said will stick in a child's brain and the lightbulb will at least flicker.

And lastly, teachers don't teach for money. If you chose a teaching career, you didn't do it because you wanted to be a millionaire. You did it because you love it. You have to love it. It has to be under your skin and in your veins, or it's just not worth it. And, if it's not worth it to you, it won't be long before you find yourself taking another path.
I love it. I plan to do it all over again, as soon as I feel that it's the right decision for me and my family. It is so worth it.

So, ask yourself this question as you send your kids back to school in a few days: What would happen if you prayed for your child's teacher and sent some words of encouragement, instead of writing him or her off as a glorified babysitter? Think about it.

Movin' and Shakin'

Over the past two weeks or so (maybe three, but certainly not longer than that), Baby D has been a very busy boy.

He has grown two teeth all by himself, has gone from combat crawling to speedy crawling on his hands and knees, and is pulling himself up on...well, everything. He has also taken a few cruising steps along the couch. A couple of days ago, when I went upstairs, he decided to follow me. He swiftly made it to the fifth stair before I discovered him. Whew! How the heck am I going to keep up with this kid??

We're experiencing a little bit of whining and separation anxiety, but from what I understand, that's normal at this age. (?) Madeline didn't really go through that. She didn't do any of the other aforementioned stuff, either, though.

Yes, they are two quite different children. There are some things they have in common, though. They are both pretty even-tempered, loving, affectionate babies. They're both beautiful creatures with big hearts and they both learn quickly. Oh, and obviously, they are the two most beloved children ever to grace this world with their presence.

It's August.

Do you know what that means?

That means another miserable month of summer's unrelenting, burning heat is over.

It's August.

The first day of fall is in September.

Can I get a hallelujah?

The Baffling Mind of a Toddler

Forgive me for stating the obvious, but I'd like to observe that most toddlers, at least the toddlers I know, have a fear of things like ghosts, monsters, and the general creepy-crawly population. As any parent (I think) would, I often worry that Sweet Pea's young sensibilities are going to be frightened when we begin to watch certain things on TV or read particular books. You never really know what little kids are going to fear. I, for instance, was afraid of The Incredible Hulk, The Secret of NIMH, and my great-grandfather's feet. (Don't ask. Just read.)

So, you can imagine my surprise when M saw a commercial for Sesame Street and went nuts. She was tearfully pleading for me to change the channel. Now, she loves Sesame Street books, toys, and the like, but seems to be terrified of the actual show.

What makes this even more strange is that the kid will happily watch any of the Harry Potter movies, has been in the room with Pirates of the Caribbean without complaining, and would watch The Princess and the Frog and Sleeping Beauty, which both have some pretty sinister villains, over and over again if I would let her.

Just to make this clear, and perhaps you can help me to understand it a little better, here is what we have concluded:

Scary.

Not scary.

Scary.

Not scary.

Scary.

Not scary.

Are you as baffled as I am?

What We're Reading

We've been doing some fun reading here at Head Manor, as of late. Baby D is finally at an age to be interested in looking at the pictures and enjoy having books read to him. (Woohoo!!)
Madeline has, of course, loved books since she was capable of turning their thick, cardboard pages.
So, what are the kiddos reading these days?

Here's a sampling of what we do during the day, and before we go to bed. Does anything look familiar?

Madeline loves Fancy Nancy. She will not go to sleep at night until we read at least one Fancy Nancy book, and she knows which ones she wants each night. She also knows which ones have been returned to the library and what she wants to bring home from our next visit there. Olivia is a favorite, and she has the entire book memorized. (If I were one of those moms, I would tell you she could read it. I'll give you a bit more credit than that.) For obvious reasons, we love Madeline, which she has also memorized. In all these books, she has her personal favorite lines that she likes to recite, so I pause when we get to the "good parts," and let her have her say. She's so dramatic when she says her lines, too. I think we have a future Julie Andrews in our midst. ::sigh:: I love Julie Andrews.

I've been checking out the How Do Dinsosaurs... series from the library and reading them to both kids. David seems to like the pictures and Madeline enjoys reading them. She calls them dragons, not dinosaurs, but whatever. She likes books. Lizards are lizards.

This one is David's favorite. He smiles and giggles when I read it, even if it's bed time and he's protesting sleep. When Madeline was David's age, her favorite was from this same series. I can't blame them. I loved Sesame Street before Elmo existed and when Snuffalupagus was still only visible to Big Bird. (Did you know everyone can see him now??)

So, how about you and your little ones? Read any good books lately?

9 Month Checkup Report

Baby D is still tall and healthy, and has tooth after tooth after tooth sprouting through. The good doc told us to be on the lookout for ANOTHER ONE in the next few days! Holy cow!

He weighed in at 21.3 pounds (75th percentile) and measured up at 30 inches tall (90th percentile). Yes, I know I said he was 30 inches tall at his last appointment, but  Dr. G says there is probably very little chance that a 6 month old baby was 30 inches tall. Baby D must have, not surprisingly, wiggled as they were measuring him back in April.

He isn't quite as big as Sweet Pea was at her 9 month checkup, but he is starting to wear size 18 month clothes now.

Love, love, love that baby boy!!

9 Months Old!

Can you believe he's nine months old, already??? Holy cow!!
Baby D is still doing the combat crawl, but moving much faster and has quite a case of "the grabbits." He also has one tooth, and another one is just starting to peek through.
Oh, and his vocabulary is quite impressive. Now, in addition to "Dada," he can also say "Gagagagagagack," "Dohdohdohdohdoh," and "Ah-ba!" I know. Genius baby.

And, yes. He is still the sweetest little boy I've ever met. That smile you see is genuine and almost constant.

I'm such a blessed mom.