G-Town Talks

Here’s the thing about working with kids. It’s not like managing employees where we can talk about separating one’s personal life from one’s professional life. It’s all mixed in together and sometimes it’s messy.

Take today for example. It’s only Monday and I spent a good portion of the day talking to students and parents about everything but academics. We have relationship issues, kids who were living at home when they left for the weekend and now are not, ex-boyfriend/ex-girlfriend disasters, Prom ticket sales, and kids expressing their individuality a bit too much. I swear I don’t solicit it and sometimes I wish I weren’t so approachable.

It seems there’s so much “stuff” coming through the door that I wonder how we teach kids anything. Better said, I wonder how they retain anything we teach. How do they even notice us?

I honestly would like to just stop everything and say “I don’t want to hear one more word about what he said/she said or what color your hair is today—let’s talk about your social studies class or what you’re learning in Science!”

But then I know it’s about connecting with every kid. Helping them as a whole child to deal with growing up. I know that kids are sometimes self-centered and that how they express themselves is the most important thing to them, now.

I just want to maintain focus. I want to remind every kid who’s hung up on whatever of our purpose, our mission, our academic goals. It’s my job to maintain this focus for everyone, to keep our eyes on the prize. I just don’t have it figured out yet, how to be supportive and at the same time, say “okay, enough support, let’s get focused on learning now!” Maybe I say just that more often?

G-Town students, someone, anyone, please have a meaningful conversation with me tomorrow about something that you’re learning. . . any subject will do.

Here we are in Frankfurt, Germany waiting for the connection to Philadelphia. We have a four hour layover. Having left the hotel at 3:45 this morning and facing about 24 hours of travel, our small group of nine is surprisingly upbeat, though anxious to be home with our families. It hit me yesterday, missing my husband and daughter, but perhaps it was just the anticipation. I truly cannot wait to see them tonight.

We finished our trip with churros con chocolate, a delicious thick creamy chocolate served with long donut type churros. Some of the students stayed up all night, I assume to make the trip last a bit longer. Mrs. Dempsey and the rest of the group were leaving for the hotel at 8:00 am, we wish them safe travel. We have been such a connected group of 22 for these past 10 days, I am not sure I can walk without looking behind me and counting heads.

For my techie readers, you can see I found easy access to the Internet on our trip, 10 minutes for 1 pound in London, 7 euros for 30 minutes in Paris, and for free in Spain. The keyboards have been a bit of a challenge. For example, here in Germany, I keep hitting the z key where our y usually sits.

As is often said about travel, one of the things that is so nice about going away is the coming home part. Hopefully, we will all appreciate our families a little bit more, be a little more tolerant and try to be a lot more tolerable. 

Going away and seeing some of the other places we could have landed on this planet is “nice, very nice”, but it also makes me happy to have landed in G-Town. On our way home, cannot wait to see everyone.  I’m Gypsy Mama  just a bit longer.

We returned to the hotel at 1:40 this morning, so if you expected a phone call and did not get one–that is why. We saw so many wonderful things yesterday, but Allison crying in amazement at the top of the Eiffel Tower was probably the best. Sometimes I wonder if they get it–then something like that happens and I know that they do.

Today is the Louvre and shopping in the afternoon on the Champs Elysses. Since someone already bought something in the Louis Vuitton store yesterday, maybe that is a dangerous stop! Love to all as we head to Spain tonight.

Good Grief. 7 euros for 30 minutes and a French keyboard, I must be dedicated to this blogging gig. Yesterday, we traveled by train to France and then visited Notre Dame and Sacre Coeur. My favorite part of France is the artist square and I purchased a wonderful trio of paintings there to remember my trip by. Our students learned tolerance with the gypsies trying to tie bracelets on their wrists and then charge them–which no one fell for, but some tolerated better than others. Then the sketch artists hit and some thought they were just being sketched for the heck of it– only Otis told the guy forget about it, I am not paying for that!

We had fun at dinner, the students have really bonded, laughing and having a great time. But none more fun than on the stroll to the bus after dinner; through the Red Light district to the Moulin Rouge. Thought I might lose John or Tallon for good there! It was all in good humor and since my son is by far the youngest at 14, I am sure they will all survive it–Jimmy says he is definitely coming back to Paris now.

Today is going to be really terrific. We have a guided tour of the city, followed by Versailles, and tonight–a river ride followed by a trip to the top of the Eiffel Tower. It will be one of the most exciting days of the tour.

The days are very long, the students excellent, and the trip well worth the time and money. Know that we are safe; getting along fantastically; and missing you all. My traveling companions are wonderful, Mrs. Dempsey and Mr. Schindler excellent to work with. Love to you all, from Paris. Kimberly 

Here are a few interesting things coming out of this blogging gig. . .

1. One of our BOE members reads the blog and was kind enough to tell me at last night’s Board meeting that we are getting our desks after all–it’s a planned expenditure for this budget year. WOO HOO! I’m glad he read the blog post from the other day and shared the great news.

2. There’s an article by Will Richardson in the April, 2007 DistrictAdministration magazine, p. 89, called “Administrators Who Blog”, in which Will talks about G-Town Talks–feels very cool.

3. I mentioned in a post the other day that Jeff Archer is writing an article about blogging for Education Week. He’s reviewing my stats with his tech expert, Jeanne, and I’m hoping to really understand what my “referers” information, my daily hits, means. In edublogs, there’s a referers list and this is where I’ve seen my counts grow over the past nine months. For example, so far today my referers hit number is at 1217. What does that mean? Is it that my blog has been accessed 1217 times today? My high number was 1800+ and I’ve hit it twice. How does that differ from page views? Techie friends, an explanation please. . .

I’m thinking about parenting tonight and I’m feeling sort of melancholy. Our son started playing hockey in the Hamburg Hawks house league when he was in the second grade. He played his final game for the league tonight. Eight years on the ice, eight winters of driving 30 miles to the rink every Saturday and Sunday, once for practice and once for the game. Eight years of 6:00 am practices, for which we had to leave the house at 4:45 am.

And I wouldn’t trade a minute of it for anything. We’ve literally watched him grow up on that ice, from a tough little second grader, through the years when it seemed he spent more time in the penalty box than in the game, to the young man I saw tonight. He played with heart, especially tonight, and it was bittersweet because we all knew that this time in our lives was ending.

Through eight years, the boys in this house league have played with and against each other countless times. They’ve learned sportsmanship, how to take and give a hit, how to listen to a coach, how to work together on the ice, and how to rib each other in the locker room. Their coaches have given of their time, energy and hearts, with no pay in return. The experience has helped shape who my son becomes as a man.

As parents we’ve all cheered for our kids, becoming friends along the way. It was a toss up who would go for the Tim Hortons on a given 6:00 am practice, but someone always did. I’ll miss seeing them from week to week, but most of all I’ll miss watching their sons continue on their way to becoming men.

From Coach Klumpp who told each boy ”you’re a champion young man, you’ll always be a champion” after they won that year to Coach Cislo who called my kid when he sat in Children’s Hospital to dedicate the game to him, and every coach in between–we say thank you. In every possible way our experiences at the NIKE base, watching our son play in this house hockey league, have been extraordinary.

I’m conscious of the fact that these changes bring with them new experiences and Tallon plays lots of sports so it’s not that I’m worried about missing his games. More so I realize that this has been a big part of our family experience and as our kid rushes toward graduation, I just want to slow him down. To slow it all down and make it last a bit longer. I wish I could keep life as it is right now, it just doesn’t seem like it could possibly be any better than this.

I’m thinking a lot about retirement lately, despite the fact that I’ve got another 13 years to go until I’m eligible. Why? My mom is retiring in 59 days and like me, her work identity is center to who she is as a person.

I’m the daughter of a working mom. This simple fact has certainly shaped my perspective on career and family. Donna’s  worked for Jendoco Construction since 1965 as a secretary and for the past several years, as their office manager. For my entire life, she’s been connected to the projects, the bids, the owner and his children, the “guys” in the office, and her coworkers. I’ve been to company picnics, Christmas parties, and sadly, funerals. Her work life has largely influenced who she is as a woman. Her closest friends were made at work, and maintained after many of them moved on. These are the women I grew up studying, the women I most considered and wondered about as I became a young woman.

I’ve watched my mom worry over every detail at work, including a decision about pantyhose. Yep, the girls in the office didn’t want to wear pantyhose and my mom insisted. Each time I entered my own work place without pantyhose, I guiltily thought of my mom. After all, Pearl, Mom’s office manager of the sixties would never have allowed it! Those were the standards set for her and she believed it was her role to maintain that standard. She’s also worried over every job, every bid, every letter–always expecting the best performance of herself and of the women she managed.

She’s taught me a work ethic, a loyalty to the organization, and a dedication to the job. Donna Lee’s also taught me that giving 100% effort on every task is the only option. Now that my mom’s retiring, I wonder how she’ll let it all go. The worries about each bid and document completed–what will she fill that time with?

I hope she fills it with longer walks. And more time to read. And coffee with my dad. And many, many trips to New York to see us and to Virginia to see my brother. And shopping. I hope she takes the time to do nothing and to allow herself to feel good about doing nothing. To write in the journal I gave her for Christmas and to fill its pages with every memory that enters her head.

Most of all, I hope she finds the time to breathe deeply. And that the breathing gets much easier. I can’t imagine my life without my mom in it. She’s my dearest friend, my champion. She’s the one who always thinks the best of me, who really listens to every word. I’m looking forward to the opportunity for more time with her.

Mom, I hope you breathe deeply and easily. You definitely deserve it.

I’ve been playing around with the presentation of my blog, but I’m now returning to the original so that my friends on the Macs can read the posts. Hope this works better for everyone.

I usually keep the posts on this blog to G-Town, seldom mixing in much that’s personal and only when it relates to the topic of the post as it relates to school. But today our border collie, Reggie, was hit by a car and he didn’t survive. He was the greatest dog, relentless with playing catch, good natured, and beautiful. I obviously didn’t do a good enough job of taking care of him. Our cairn terrier is going to be so lonely.

The worst part is telling my kids. We talked to our son and are waiting for our daughter to get home from work to tell her.

It makes me think about the times I’ve delivered bad news to students, along with whatever family member has come in to tell the student. It occurs to me that I have no idea what the “right” way is to do this, especially now that it’s my own two kids who I hate to see hurting more than anything. Factor in my own sadness and it just really stinks.

I understand that helping a child with the grief of losing a pet isn’t anything like the grief over losing a loved one, but how do you handle it in any case? Is there anything good that I can read that offers advice?

I am the proud high school principal in a 9-12 building, with about 500 of the greatest students on the planet. We are improving every year, with a supportive and caring climate, wonderful teachers, and a strong administrative team and Board of Education. Gowanda is in rural Western New York and includes the Cattaraugus Territory of the Seneca Nation of Indians.

I am also the happily married mother of two, Bryna who is 19 years old and Tallon who is 14 years old. Bryna is studying education at SUNY Fredonia and Tallon is a lucky G-town freshman. We live in the district and because my husband of 20 years, Derek, is a major motor head, we enjoy fast boats, fast cars, and fast snowmobiles. Me? I like camping, where I can sit quietly with a book and watch the fast boat go by.