Angels in the City

Time Zoning Out

I was in Texas for close to 24 hours.  I wish I would have been there longer because I think I could dig Texas for real.  The high school I went to visit there is UNBELIEVABLY AWESOME. I have seen a lot of schools that are really incredible, but I think it might have been one of my faves.

It did pour down rain on me from the school to the car (about 100 ft) and the result was ridiculous amounts of water soaking me all the way to the bone.  Tejano weather capricious.

The airport is lousy, if you ever rent a car from DFW,you have to allow yourself an extra hour (so plan on arriving 2 hours before your flight).

Anyway, the real purpose of the blog is report that I got home at 10 pm last night and I am leaving tomorrow at 5 pm to go to NYC until Thursday after getting back from California last week.

And to let you know that I feel tremendously blessed that my body continues to serve me with health and comfort in spite of the travel.

Ride it out with me:

1 week on ET
2 days on MT
1 week on PT
4 days on MT
1 day on CT
1 day on MT
5 days on ET

When I set an appointment in ET for 2 pm, I show up in MT and my phone converts it to 12 pm.  Great, right?  But what if in my head, I naturally translate the time to 12 because I know that is what time it is when I am in MT?  When I get back to MT, my phone translates it to 10 am.  And then I email someone in California to remind them of the time and they say, wait, I thought you said 11, not 9.

The trick is to realize that time is in your head--so when I travel from one time zone to another, I don't say to myself "Oh to me it is actually 3 AM!!" If I have to get up at 5.  I just say "Hmm what time is it?  Oh, 5 am, great.""

I feel the drag, I really do--but I just do a little zumba, have some strawberries, yell at my kids, and I get over it.

More Junior High Experience

Disclaimer:  I am just complaining here.  Boring to you non-educationgeeks

Me:  {sigh} I guess I will go try to get Casey registered at local junior high x

Me:  {in front office} Hi, we recently moved to the area and I still have not registered my son for 7th grade yet

Lady:  Okay, you need to go the counseling office

Me: {Returning after finding door locked} Actually, just like the other junior high we tried to visit, the counseling office is closed on the one day I can get here before school is out.  Sorry, we are just trying to adjust to such a big school system, we came from California.

Lady:  Uh, you came from California and you think THIS is a big school system.

Me: Yes.  Well I mean the schools here are really large.

Lady: {Getting on the horn} Yeah, counselor chick?  You have a parent up here who wants to register her son, and your door is locked.  Yes. Okay.  Sending her over.

Counselor:  {blah blah paperwork}

Me:  Great.  Okay, so do you have a paper that describes your mission, vision, or your educational approach or whatever?

Counselor (and now another counselor hovering): Uhhh....Well we do some GREAT stuff, we just don't write it down.  I mean, people come from all over the state to see the stuff we do!

Me:  Of course, that is wonderful.  Can you give me an example?

Counselor duo:  Welll....Oh I know!  We have this cool thing called *free time where kids can go get extra help if they want, or they can just play around and stuff, really motivates them to get their work done so they can play.  It is awesome.  Our principal is really data driven and we really help kids by allowing them to learn at their own pace--so it isn't IF they learn, it is WHEN they learn.  So teachers are really flexible in allowing them to make up work, get extra help etc.  We totally allow late work and that free time is their chance to get the help they need.

Me: {Actually that IS kind of awesome, I LOVE free time}  Oh cool, I get it, that is great, you really help kids if they don't get it the first time, that is wonderful to hear.  What about the first time around, you know, the first time the teachers teach the material?  What is their educational philosophy, or what kind of professional development do they get or.. you know?

Counselor duo:  Uh... I am not really sure what you mean by educational philosophy, but they go to trainings and stuff.  I mean, I always hear people say "Man that teacher has been around FOREVER" so we have really good teachers.  We also have really high attendance due to our new tardy and attendance policy.  He goes to district meetings and they are like handing out stacks to everyone of their attendance and like one page to him.

Me:  Oh really, what is your attendance rate?

Counselor duo:  Oh.  We don't know.  Wait here comes the principal! He might know.

Data-driven principal:  It's high.  Way high.  I don't know if off the top of my head.

Okay stop.  Collaborate and listen.  (Wait that line makes NO sense because you don't really need to collaborate to listen). 

If you are a non-educator and still reading, you might miss this subtlety, but I have worked with close to 100 principals in the span of my life and I have NEVER met a principal who did not know his attendance numbers within a few percentage.  Do you know why?  Because THAT is the number that funds your school.  Like literally, you get dollars for attendance.

Every high school, every junior high, every elementary school principal knows that number because it represents your success in keeping kids at school.  The attendance rate represents your ability to take kids out of poverty and change their lives, or teach second language learners to adapt.  The attendance rate is what separates a good school from a great school.  The attendance rate is almost the sole criteria for principals in low performing broken urban schools AND if you have a higher attendance rate than your neighboring schools, even in a high performing school district you know it.

And if you are data-driven, you doubly know it.

So here is the real quandry--did he lie?  Or did he really not know it?  And which is worse?

Sorry friends, I must record these moments as my personal journey through the public education system gets worse by the minute.

We are sending him to that school by the way. Why?  Because they have mandatory music class so I can be a Tiger Parent via sending him to high-performing, high-attendance junior high schools in my community.  I always wanted to be a Tiger mom I just don't have the guts.  Now I can let the school system at least force him to take the music classes and live in peace.

Plus I am going to formulate some good public comments for the school board meetings next year.  Can't wait until my travel slows down.


*Names have been changed to protect the innocent

Things I Should Remember

The last few months have been so happy for me.  I can't decide if it is because I have been exercising regularly, because we live in such a beautiful house, or if we just haven't gotten entrenched in the community enough to have responsibilities beyond our family.  Regardless of root cause, I feel like I have been so happy lately when I am at home.

I have been traveling way too much but will cut back as of June which makes me even happier.

A sampling of things I have done here and loved:

1.  Helped at a friend's wedding--I thought this basket that the brother of the bride put together was so beautiful of all the homemade breads (chocolate, garlic asiago, whole wheat, tomato basil, etc.)  Isn't that a gorgeous way to display bread?  I am going to have to remember this little catering tip for the future.

2. Inspired by my friend Tiffany's little crafty self, I called her for some ideas on making cake truffles.  Believe me, these things were tasty and just used up some leftover cake and frosting we had sitting around. These were for teacher appreciation week btw.

3.  One of my recent trips to NYC--this is the Lincoln Center and the sparkly little lights are the word "Welcome" in a million different languages.  I guess the droid camera doesn't capture that kind of light intensity, but I liked the way the picture turned out and feel like it captured how I felt when I was there.  I am going back in about a week.  

4.  Up the canyon--we had a nice little Friday night picnic up there last week and it was so enjoyable.  I definitely will be adding this to things to do around here.  Here are some shots of what we did together--I include the first one so you can see Meg is now cast-free and participating (with a limp) in more active family time.

Gillian took this and I felt like it just captured Meg's joy at the river.  She wanted to just sit at the water's edge and play the whole time.

Casey was off doing his own thing....

5.  Work meeting--our entire staff got together in Napa this week and here at the end of the table standing up is my boss.  She is lovely and tremendous and everyone I work with is incredible.  I can't say enough how much I love the job I have and the people I work with--though the travel has been really intense for everyone on our team, we still enjoyed the opportunity to hang out together during meals.

I need to remember to blog these as separate events rather than try to squeeze it in one post, but that is how I have felt anyway.

Maybe next week.

A Quiz

This bookshelf belongs to:
A.  Harry Potter
B.  Merlin
C.  Maleficent
D.  Steve Fleming

How to Throw a Zumba Party

I attended a fantabulous Ladies Night at the Orem Rec Center last evening.  I was fortunate to have my marathon-running friend Chellese join me to which I am tremendously grateful.  Lady Night just doesn't have the same ring to it.

They had some beautiful fruit and vegetable trays set out, some giveaways (I didn't win) and then they had a bunch of physical fitness activities.  They had a woman who showed you around the weight room giving tips on weight training, water aerobics, spinning class, and of course a 90 minute Zumba party.

It was one of those legit parties, complete with spotlights and a stage, and I kind of felt like I was going to a high school dance without the nervousness of a wallflower (again, thanks to my hot date).  The party coordinators and Zumba instructors were wonderful, high energy, organized, and in general great hosts. 

Since this was my first Zumba party, and my brain is immersed in conference planning for my job, I couldn't help but pay attention to the details that make for a great Zumba Party experience.  So, as a gift to all of my certified Zumba instructor friends (current count: 0) here is a list of the details you might want to keep in mind in planning one of these babies:

• The stage needs to be about eye level--anything lower, it is tough for the people in the back to see
• Lower lights, to keep anxiety low for new people
• Flashing color lights to keep the energy high
• Lots of Shakira
• Encourage people to spread out and ask them to stand with their arms wide out to both sides to do a quick check
• Have 3 instructors on stage to have more people to follow and to keep the energy high
• Stick with songs with a steady beat; remixes and syncopated songs are hard to follow
• Stick a plant in the crowd to periodically yell out encouraging words or exciting cheers
• Aim for surround sound--placing speakers in the back can help pump up the jam
• Keep a sound person on call so that if anything goes wrong with the sound, you have someone there to keep the instructors free
• Hand out some little belly dancer/gypsy scarves so people can shake their hips with an amplified sound track

I highly recommend the Zumba Party and hope to attend a few here and there when possible.