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Showing posts from December, 2017

Charging

"If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome." -Anne Bradstreet When I speak with non-educators, and the topic of breaks comes up, I always brace myself for the comments. You know the ones... "Must be nice..." "Jeez, wish I got that many days off..." I generally just nod and agree that it is nice. The truth is that it is nice, but that isn't why I say it. I say it because the bigger truth is something they can't understand. The bigger truth is that without these breaks, educators simply wouldn't be able to do what we do. Few other professions require such an absolute dedication from the minute we walk in the door until the minute we leave. Actually, for most educators, even leaving the building doesn't mean we've actually clocked out. I know that your evenings are consumed with grading and planning. Sometimes, while the rest of your family i

Roll with the Changes

"As fast as each opportunity presents itself, use it! No matter how tiny an opportunity it may be, use it!" -Robert Collier It is an old cliche that the only constant is change. I am proud of what we do here at Sullivan Middle School. I truly believe that we provide a level of education that is at the top of the class in this area. Our staff here does amazing and remarkable things with our students with far fewer resources than those afforded to staffs at larger schools, and we do it with joy and passion. Our students see it, and I have been told by community members that they are amazed at how polite and helpful our students are here in Sullivan. That is a reflection of their teachers. With that said, there is likely change on the horizon for us. It remains unseen how dramatic those changes will be. There is a lot still up in the air, but I feel confident in saying that some things will look different when we walk through the doors in August of 2018. We do not alw