Why I Am Not Writing

Posted on May 19, 2011 by Jennie

Ask any teacher this time of year and they will tell you why they are not writing in their blogs — or doing much else in their personal lives either.

I am frantically grading all the last assignments so that I don’t have to pull all-nighters on the days before grades are due.
I am cleaning, sorting, and packing up my room so that they can hold summer school classes in it practically before my heels cross the threshold.
I am trying to keep order in a schoolroom full of rambunctious eighth graders who are SO DONE with middle school but still have more than two weeks left. It wears me out.
I have retirement, celebration, end-of-year, and graduation events almost every night starting next week. (Somebody’s got to eat that food and drink that wine.)

I can hear you all muttering about how lucky I am to have eight weeks of vacation. Yes, that’s part of my employment contract, and I double dare you to spend 180 days EVERY YEAR with 75 hormonal teenagers. See you in a couple of weeks!

Why I... This post is linked up to Vanderbilt Wife’s Why I… carnival. After reading and sending me some comment love, please go visit some posters at The Wife.

Why I Came to My Senses

Posted on May 5, 2011 by Jennie

Two weeks ago I got all starry-eyed about being the next big blogging sensation. I linked up to a few workshop sites and got a significant amount of traffic. In my zeal to be a famous blogger, I wrote a semi-long post about how my little darlings at school were cutting into my blogging time. I was kind, but I did whine a little about the papers I had to grade instead of working on the blog. What I forgot was that blogging isn’t my job.

In my fledgling path to blogging success, I stumbled on an amazing writer who actually brought me to my senses about begrudging my students the time I owe them. Hannah Katy’s post about her preschool students was poignant and reminded me why I am a teacher. She’s right; my students are not going to remember much about me or what I taught them in eighth grade, but they will remember if I loved them and proved it to them by my actions.

At least for now, that’s my job and I’m lucky to have a job that I love.

This post is linked up to the Why I… carnival at Vanderbilt Wife. After reading and commenting on my post, go visit the Wife and read what others have to say!

Why I…Don’t Tweet

Posted on April 22, 2011 by Jennie

I am old. I don’t tweet. That’s basically it.

I can’t continually look at my smart phone. It’s locked in my teacher desk, while I maintain desperate hope that I’ve remembered to turn off the ringer. I can’t even imagine how embarrassing it would be if I forgot and my phone was tweeting all day. I’m so old I probably couldn’t hear it. Not to mention bad for my street cred as a disciplinarian and buster of illicit phones in classrooms.

Didn’t Al Gore create the Internet so that I could look anything up that I needed to know? And then Mark Zuckerberg made it even easier for me to ask ALL of my friends for help. Why do I need Twitter?

I know more about my grown-up kids than both my parents combined and all of their friends ever knew about me. I like that, but do they? I don’t think they want me to have access to their Twitter lives as well. Facebook is enough disclosure.

Blogger Arik Hanson says that Twitter is a time-sucking black hole. That’s the last thing I need in my life.

If you think I’m missing something, please let me know. It has been known to happen that I’m the clueless one in the bunch.

This post is linked up to the Why I… carnival at Vanderbilt Wife. After reading and commenting on my post, go visit the Wife and read what others have to say!

Why I … Still Watch American Idol

Posted on April 14, 2011 by Jennie

This post is linked up to the Why I… carnival at Vanderbilt Wife. After reading and commenting on my post, go visit the Wife and read what others have to say!

I have been watching American Idol religiously since the second season. I missed the Justin/Kelly drama, but I was there for Ruben v. Clay and Adam v. everyone. I groaned when Jennifer Hudson was voted off early and I applauded when Carrie Underwood went all the way. I really thought about going to the racetrack to see Lee DeWyze in his “coming home” concert. I’m a fan, and I’m proud to say it.

Most of my faithful Idol-watching friends have fallen off the Idol bandwagon. The lunchroom doesn’t vibrate with the next-day post mortem. I don’t get those emergency text messages expressing shock, amazement, or disgust about Idol performances and results. It’s all ho-hum. Or is it?

As a performing musician myself, I fully realize that there are a hundred equally good or better singers out there in the real world for every contestant on American Idol. That doesn’t take away from the outright miracle that is happening for THESE musicians. We should wish them our best and support their endeavors. They got their chance to make it big, and I don’t begrudge them a single minute on television or a single dollar they will earn. Every musician who makes a living performing live music because of his American Idol connection means that other musicians will continue to be employed, and we know that American Idol has given hundreds of musicians an opportunity that they would never have had without it. Even William Hung is still making money from American Idol.

American Idol has been charged with fixing results, and the cartoon character behavior in the judging booth over the last few seasons has diminished the credibility of the process. This season is different; the diversity of the contestants and their artistry is keeping it interesting. I have enjoyed the chemistry among Randy, Steven, and the luminous Jennifer Lopez. It’s pretty impressive when the singer with the current number one hit on the pop charts tells a performer that his or her song gave her chills. I don’t always agree with the judges, but I feel like there is balance and compassion. Ryan has grown with the franchise and is now a seasoned host who knows how to handle the talent effectively.

The first decade of American Idol has been worth watching and has been good for the music business. It seems impossible that there might be a second decade, but I’m likely to be there for that, too. It’s reality TV that is actually real; all of those contestants actually have to learn a new song every week and then perform it in front of millions of people knowing that immediately following, they are going to be critiqued. There’s not much on television that has real-life stakes as high as that.