Skip to main content

Behind The Scenes


5/29
I keep mentioning how life is unfolding in my videos that focus on my struggle with anxiety and depression.  I thought I would share with those who were curious what that phrase actually meant.  Just prior to videoing the last installment (number 7)  of My Struggle with Anxiety and Depression: A Teachers Story I had a very difficult 72 hours.  My mother-in-law fell, who lives with us,  in the early morning hours. and had to be taken to the hospital by ambulance. A student who had become very much like family to me decided to keep a stash of weed in my classroom inside her purse.  On my way home I discovered my mother-in-law was diagnosed with cancer.  A friend of my son's tried to commit suicide in my house, she is better now.  And in the evening my mother had a stroke and is in the hospital on the same floor with my mother-in-law.  

Needless to say I am worn out.  My wife is exhausted and school just keeps moving forward  at a relentless pace.  When I talked about the main thing that keeps me going, I was and am very much practicing what I preach.  I know good things when I experience them and I make a point to live in the glow of those things as much and and as fully as possible do that when dark days like these happen, and they will always happen, I can remember the great feelings of the days int he past.

Keeping a physical list of achievements and events that have made me feel great helps a lot.  The Encouragement Wall I keep also helps.  I'm not going to lie.  It is hard to stay focused on the good things when so much is going on at the same time.

6/24
Life keeps rolling fast.  After one Chemo treatment my mother-in-law chose to go into hospice care on Thursday 6/13.  she passed away Friday morning 6/14.  I immediately began teaching summer school and I continue to feel detached from all that is happening around me.  It's like I'm just floating through all of this.  Summer school ends 6/27.  I will actually have break.  I just hope it is not a "break".  that is where I am for the moment. 

On the bright side my channel hit 340 subscribers.  I have over 40 scripts for future video projects.  Trying to be as productive as I can.

Managed to post a new video this past weekend...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qvmXolaqbI

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Class Size Debate Is WRONG

There’s a huge controversy boiling across The teaching and education landscape right now. Some people are saying Betsy DeVos has rekindled the flame of "Larger Class Sizes and Fewer Teachers." Others are saying That it flies in the face of common sense. Smaller classes and more teachers is the way to go. But you know what?  This is not a new debate!   "While DeVos is under siege for her comment, she’s not the first secretary of education to suggest schools might be wiser to invest in stronger teachers rather than smaller classes. Arne Duncan, secretary of education for most of Obama’s tenure, argued, “We spent billions of dollars to reduce class size when we could instead give teachers higher salaries in exchange for larger classrooms, thereby attracting much more talented teachers.”  https://www.ajc.com/blog/get-schooled/betsy-devos-reignites-debate-whether-class-size-matters/VDHjWAD0HvkusJ666SJNxM/ They’re all wrong. Every. Single. Person. That...

Hello Friend

Hello friend! Back to school is getting closer every day.  I suggest you take a look at my back to school video  for teachers.   I have started waking up at night with a growing list of things I need to get done.  one of the top things on that list is purging my teacher stuff.  I will be making a video of the process starting Monday.  My goal is "...at least one box a day."  this will get me through most boxes before I go back on contract on August 13.  And since I wont be on my campus until August 20, I think I will be able to finish the task by then.  I will be sharing my "Purge rules".  I am looking forward to taking control of my stuff.  Also you can expect a video on dealing with power struggles, and a book review in the near future.  Thanks for staying with the project. chris

New Summer Challenges and Reflection

I have got to start doing more than one pos a year.  the last post I made was towards the end of summer school last years.  Well summer school just ended for me this year.  It has been a very strange year for all of us.  the district I work for offered free online summer school this year.  We used the online software package that had been adapted from our Credit Recovery program to fill the last grading period when all the schools closed for Covid-19.  Ideally a student would simply work their way through the first half of the online curriculum in the three weeks of summer school and the score would reflect their mastery of first semester skills.  I held two Zoom meetings a day to supplement instruction and offer specific tutoring. This was not exactly how it worked out. Makeup Credit English for freshmen is an interesting and challenging experience  face to face.  These are not the students who are self driven learners.  They are all ...