Memorial Day

This photo was taken in July 2005 at the American Cemetery in Normandy, France.

You can read about the history of Memorial Day here. It should be noted that the history goes back to at least the Civil War although there is some speculation that it goes back even further.

As a child growing up, I can remember every year on Memorial Day, my grandparents (on my Mom's side) and my family would go to the cemetery and place flowers on the graves of loved ones. And, the local cemetery would have a Memorial Day parade go right through the cemetery. The cemetery had all the American flags of vets that had died hanging on flag poles that lined the parade route. Once my grandpa died, his flag would be flown along the route as well. My grandfather fought in World War II (Battle of the Bulge).

Even back then, I remember feeling thankful and appreciative of what our veterans did to sacrifice MY freedom today. This also may be another reason why I enjoy History so much - that I would not be here today if not for the sacrifice of my relatives during the Civil War, World War I, and World War II.

At 3:00 pm today, please remember to do a moment of silence. You can read more about it here.

Happy Birthday to my Sis - Mandy!!!!

This is a picture of Mandy with her favorite band group - the Goo Goo Dolls! Mandy is the girl in the jean skirt and light greenish top. Yes, that is John Rzeznik (lead singer) in the middle! :-)

Mandy spent a few days down in Florida for a relaxing vacation. She returned to lovely Chicago weather . . . in the 60's.

Happy Birthday to my baby sis - you turn 33 years old today and you don't look a day over 30! Ha!

Seriously, I love ya and thank you for being a great sister.

Hugs!

It's been a long school year . . . .

Thank you for all your comments and words of support on the last post.

My last day of school is June 20th and it can't come soon enough. I hate wishing my life away but it's been one hell of a school year.

Still don't know anything about the cuts. My principal is still going through cut process. The rumor mill claims that 19 teachers will be leaving on their own merit at the end of the school year anyway so maybe that will save some jobs.

Because of the horrible contract that was voted in and all the teacher cut drama that occurred in January, I think most people are fed up with my school system.

Not a lot of teaching jobs out there for History/Social Studies. And, when I do apply, I'm guessing the reason why they won't call me in for an interview is that I'm too expensive to hire. Why hire someone with 10 years teaching experience when you can hire someone under 3 years and pay them less money? I'd like to point out that you get what you pay for but school districts don't care in this day and age of saving money.

So, it's the waiting game. We shall see what happens over the next few weeks.

I'm not posting a lot because this time of the school year is very busy and rough with activities going on almost every single day after school or in the evenings. My calendar for school has no empty time after school or in the evenings. And throw in all the correcting, grades, and trying to finish up my World History curriculum (World War II come hell or high water!) by the end of the school year and my brain is on overload! It's crazy! And, I'm not able to read a lot of blogs until the weekend. I actually had Saturday off so I was able to catch up on my blog reading and comments.

I've also been thinking a lot about how negative this blog has been or gotten the past school year. Over the summer, I'll be doing some "housecleaning" of my life and my blog. :-) I'm going to work on trying to put myself in a better mind set, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Stay tuned . . . . .

So, be good. Be safe. And, I'll be writing soon. Just a break. :-)

Updates . . . . . . and Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms out there!!!!

Happy Mother's Day to my Mom - Joela. She's a rockin' lady!!! :-)

Updates:
*Budget cuts will occur at my school by the end of the school year. The stress and drama returns. Please be thinking happy thoughts . . . . I've been applying to schools but I'm too expensive to hire (It will be 10 years of teaching next school year for me).

*I applied for a Summer Institute for a week in July and got it. They are going to pay me $1000 stipend and 3 graduate credits for five days of work. Bonus! :-)

*It's been a rough school year. Between no contract, budget cut drama in January, rough students on my team, my team (teachers) not getting along, having an "illegal" teaching schedule (by contract, I'm supposed to get a 90 minute planning period every day; I'm getting a 40 minute planning period on the second day which is in violation of our teaching contract), and having the SPED teacher from hell, I'm really ready for the school year to be over. I'm exhausted. :-(

*A few weeks ago my colleagues and I were lucky enough to have a Professional day to write out our Common Assessment for final exams. The four of us were excited to be collaborating since we all get along and work well together. For the first hour, we were doing great. Then guess who decided to join us? That SPED teacher that I've been complaining about for the past two years! He invited himself to our common assessment day! He did nothing! I mean it! Nothing! Except sleep of course! I actually took a picture of him sleeping w/ one of my colleagues cell phone! I know . . . not the most professional thing to do but we all thought it might provide photo evidence of what is actually going on in our classrooms. We ended up deleting the photos but it was funny! Sad but funny. He would occasionally interrupt us and talk about stuff that had nothing to do with the Common Assessment. At one point, one of my colleagues got fed up. So, I went down to our Housemaster to tell him what was going on (The Housemaster is the one that arranged for us to meet to complete the Common Assessment). My Housemaster was annoyed that the SPED teacher was not doing what he was supposed to be doing and that the SPED teacher crashed the "party" so to speak. BUT, he still allowed the SPED teacher to stay with us for the entire day. I swear my administrators need to grow some balls and stop worrying about "hurting" feelings (this is how it was explained to me). Never mind that the SPED guy does nothing and doesn't accommodate the students needs.

*My co-advisor and I will be resigning at the end of the school as class advisers to the Class of 2010. The Sophomore Social stuff and all the drama from the past year is ridiculous so we've had enough. The Class President is difficult to work with and the rest of the class officers do nothing. And, I'm sick of it. And, I'm sick of the President telling me that I'm not doing everything when in reality I do a lot. It is not my job to do HIS job. I tell him what needs to be done because I'm trying to teach him responsibility. He doesn't see that so I'm the bitch and bad guy.

*Wish I could report more on my love life. The online dating just didn't work. I'm such a romantic and kept wishing for some great, nice guy to sweep me off my feet. True love is not meant for me. It's sad but it's the reality. I'm accepting that it's not meant for me to be married or have children. At 37 years old, slightly overweight, and not a catch . . . . it is what it is.

So, these are the updates in the life of M-Dawg.