Well- everyone else in the world blogs so I figured I should start. Maybe not everyone… but close.
I suppose the title deserves to be explained. I saw the ”Julie/Julia” movie over the summer (not as great as I though it’d be) and marveled at how a blog was bought by Showtime (the friend) and one was turned into a movie (main character). SO, quite frankly, here’s to hoping Showtime or a film director finds me interesting! 
I find myself having a very difficult time beginning my first blog, or rather choosing a topic. Lots of people say it’s a great way to relieve stress and take a load off of your mind, but what if you have too much stress to make a sensible blog about it? What if everything you’re thinking comes out in rambling, incoherent, irritated blurbs that make sense when you think them but certainly don’t make sense to anyone else who might happen to read them? I suppose I sound like George’s dad on Seinfeld with his “airing of grievances”. I don’t exactly think I want to air my grievances–mostly because you, whoever might be reading this, are surely not the people who are causing any grief.
The first and foremost thing to start with is what involves the majority of my time- my job. I am an educator, most days. I am daily finding new areas of expertise, however, such as law enforcer, secretary, baby sitter, mom, doctor/nurse, and custodian. I’m pretty sure my paycheck covers just the one occupation, but perhaps it will soon cover my extended job description. Today’s particular main issue is communication. If I say I like apples but hate oranges, one could assume that I do not want to be given an orange in my Christmas stocking, despite the tribute to Little Women that it may be. Within a school, one could assume the same thing and then be blasted for not providing an orange. You might be thinking- but you don’t like oranges. Well- you’re only partially right. I said that I don’t like oranges. I could very well have meant I don’t like shades of orange. But you said oranges and apples together so you must have meant fruit. No- I just said that to totally confuse you, right? If an educator is told, “Provide accurate, detailed, and timely feedback to students because it is the only way for a person to know they are doing well,” then couldn’t/shouldn’t it stand to reason that the very educator who is providing the so valuable feedback to her students should receive the oh so valuable feedback from her superior? They did say it is the only way a person can know they are doing well… so is that only applicable to little people? Only if you’re under the age of 19? I’m not sure. I’m not sure either how one person can say “Yeah! Let’s build up the morale of the school staff” and then purposefully and deliberately seek ways to cause hurt feelings or to point out trivial wrongs on the part of other persons. Did they say they like apples or oranges? Who can really tell whether they meant it or not? At what point does communication become null and void and need to be read into and analyzed so as to not misinterpret any little thing said.
I just don’t understand the lack of judgement where communication happens. If I say I want ice cream, I want ice cream. If I say discipline is important, don’t expect to cut up in my class. If I am hired as an educator, I expect my boss and the students to be seeing me educate. There’s no secret. I don’t mean that I’m an educator, but I want to have everyone win a track meet. I am not a coach. I don’t expect my students to pass a driver’s test… that’s not what I teach. Only within the realm of what I teach can I expect my students to succeed. Likewise, only within the realm of what a school/district/state/nation properly teaches/equips teachers to do can teachers accomplish reasonable goals. Not outside that realm.
Now… I’m pretty sure I accomplished the rambling part. Not sure I accomplished anything else.
