Chalk Talks...

So, I decided to change the title and url address of my blog.  Yes, I owe this one to my husband.  He said within minutes of uploading my first post that the title was too wordy.  Not unlike me, most of the time.  (Yes, that is the sound of your chuckles I hear through the distance of cyberspace!)  And after a few weeks, I came to believe him.  And besides being wordy, long, the title was uninteresting, too.  I mean I am for simple and ‘to the point’ which “reflections/confessions of this teaching life” sought to be…it was general enough hopefully to encompass whatever I wrote about (which I really didn’t have a clue would be – still don’t most of the time), and it was accurate in the sense that I figured it would be my thoughts as a teacher, one who feels called to such a vocation.  And so it was.  But again, there was the problem – wordy.

LOONNNNGGGG.

So, I was thinking about it.  And somehow, found myself writing,

“Donna’s Chalk Talks.”

Now, first, let me say, “Chalk Talks” is not an original idea.  In fact, Father Martin, of “Chalk Talk on Alcohol” fame – I believe has the corner on that one.  And he’s a legend in 12-step circles and Alcoholism recovery.  Those videos of his are ones thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, for all I know, kids in middle schools and high schools, in this country have seen.  He has dedicated his life and ministry to helping people seek and find recovery from alcoholism.  The phrase is catchy – that’s why I thought of it, I’m sure.  So, thank you Father Martin.  But its catchiness isn’t why I picked it.  

It’s appropriate, really, because see, I am a teacher (most of you, if not all, know that already), but I’m also, kind of, “old school”…see I use a real chalkboard.  A lot.  Yes, I do use a computer.  I do PowerPoint, and website resourcing.  I like bullet-points, and slick videos, as much as the next person.  And yes, I (try to) use our institution’s “education management system” – Joule.  The system is on-line, accessible always, and has the capacity and capability to do more things than I’ll do in my lifetime. Those of you outside education, such systems are supposed to substantially aid and enhance the teaching and learning experience for teachers and students alike. In theory. In my reality, on a particularly bad day it can make me question my vocation, and probably most often, it offers the best that a love-hate relationship one could ever hope to have. But I digress.  The point is that I do use all that fancy stuff. But what I really, really like and use is chalk and a chalkboard.  I find a plain ol’ piece of white chalk and a chalkboard, usually green in my classrooms, but any color will do, rather refreshing and functional. 

Simple and ‘to the point’ remember.  That’s chalk and a chalkboard.  And I make use of them pretty much all the time.  Sometimes I think I drive my students crazy because I can get carried away, writing all over, scratching out, writing over, circling some important word or phrase so much, they can’t read it anymore, or writing a sentence and abbreviating every other word to the point, they can’t remember what I said.  Chalk and a chalkboard.  Simple and ‘to the point’…it works.  And so it seems appropriate for this blog, my little posting site of thoughts, reflections, sometimes confessions, musings, maybe wonderings, ideas, and questions about this teacher’s life – Donna’s teaching life.  To call it “Donna’s Chalk Talks” made sense, for in a sense, that’s what it is…my chalk talking – sharing with friends and beyond, words that hopefully might have meaning or make meaning or make one think.  Maybe even upset one’s balance (though not too much, I hope), but whatever they do, know that I appreciate ever and always that you bothered to read for a minute or minutes and might have found in so reading, a chance to laugh, to grin, to nod, or perhaps to pause.  Whatever your response, thanks. And until I take up the chalk again, blessings to you and yours…today, tomorrow, and for always.

A Week In This Life...

"Gravy on my Mashed Potatoes Life"

So, finally a post that pertains to the title I gave this blog.  What I really do, in the routine, regular everyday life of serving as a teacher in higher-education.  You know, who coined that phrase?  (No, I don’t think I’ll take the time to google it.)  “Higher-education”…as if it’s loftier or more important…really, maybe the proverbial they decided on “higher” because saying thirteenth grade and fourteenth grade, etc. began to sound a bit silly.  And it covers it, too.  “Higher” can mean one year of college, four years, graduate school, post-graduate, etc.  “Higher” – covered.  The funny, not “ha ha” funny, but paradoxical funny, reality of it is that many of the things we absolutely need (ought!) to know we really learn all the way back in the very earliest years of our education.  Robert Fulghum indeed got that right, I think…I was just saying that to one of my classes the other day:  those rules, like
·        Put things back after you use them.  And only take as much as you need.
·        Share.
·        Rest some. Play some. Think some. Work some.  Repeat.

Or things similar, anyway, are pretty good rules. Kind of like the Ten Commandments.  Regardless of your belief system, worldview, or the like, you’re hard-pressed to argue with the wisdom of those.  And if you attend any Kindergarten worth its salt, or something like it, you learn those.  They’re needed for the classroom not to spin out of control into utter mayhem and chaos.  No teacher likes utter chaos.  Maybe a little chaos (I’ve done small groups with college students in a class of 50 people, in fact!), but not utter.

Anyhow, recognizing that much of what we need to learn should happen when we’re quite young, choosing to further that education in our “higher” years is important these days, and I’m blessed to participate in that process from the teaching side of the equation.  And so, this is much of what that life looks like for me on a regular basis.  Here is a sample of what happens in a given week (these things, in fact, happened within a 7-day period recently):

·        I gave 3 exams to 110+ students.
·        That resulted in 110+ exams to grade.  Still need to grade.
·        Due to a newly scheduled softball game on the day of my exam, I had to prepare the exam early to accommodate my students, who were seeking to be responsible and take the exam before they left campus for said game.  And they were.  They all took the exam in my office – one even sitting on the floor, diligently and respectfully fulfilling their academic responsibilities before meeting their athletic ones, which for some provide the means (scholarship!) to the academic ends.  Impressive!
·        I received exactly 4 emails from students with exactly 4 different reasons for why they could not take the exams as scheduled, after the fact.  Meaning no discussion with me prior that they had some problem preventing them from taking the exams.  Have to deal with them later!
·        Attended 2 committee meetings.
·        Held 10 classes – prepared for, led/facilitated, including hand-outs, lecture, powerpoint, and web-video material said classes.
·        Had the audio/video technology fail on two occasions in two different classrooms for said classes.

Those aren’t all the things that happened that week.  Just a sample of the kinds of things that go on. 

If you’re still reading (and I can see how some may not be), you can see it’s not particularly scintillating when you read a summary of such activity on paper (or in this case, virtual paper).  It’s not particularly eye-opening.  It’s not glamorous or sexy.  Certainly not revolutionary.  But here’s the thing…it’s what I feel called to do.

And that my friends, makes it priceless.  I get to spend my days doing something I absolutely feel I am meant to do, placed here in this moment of space and time to do with and for and in relation to others, here in the heart of Appalachia, no less.  I spent years and lots of money and energy and some sacrifice sure, to arrive here, but it was and has been all worth it, for I am a teacher.  Yes, it requires the tedium of paperwork and assessment and evaluation of others and putting up with politics and excuses (! Good golly, excuses, the likes of which…well, I must just be old!), and a complex, at times confounding, “new” generation, and digital everything and all that that means, but at the end of the day, it also means I get to share with my students about subjects that matter.  The institution sees value in them, society sees value in them, and if, by chance, at least a few students do, well, then, I have done my job.  And not just done it; I have done it well.  And that is joyful.  It is no small thing to feel blessed. And as a teacher, I am.

 
Here’s another way to put it:  You know my husband jokes that I’m a mashed potato girl.  And it’s true…given the choice I’d pick seconds and thirds of mashed potatoes over ice cream or any other dessert, pretty much. And see I have a family beyond words – one of love and light and laughter and beauty and wonder.  My family is the mashed potatoes of my life. How lucky am I! (And how ‘bout that sentence?!)  Well, here’s the thing, to find such things in work, too, well, that’s just gravy.  Can’t get any better than that!  I wish for those of you reading that your life might too know such blessings.