Line In The Sand

I had a meeting with my dear supervisor today. I told her that if I don't get a therapy/office room, I will not stay at my current school. My profession, my students and I DESERVE a space in which to work. It is a deal-breaker for me. Therapy will NOT happen in the cafeteria, hallway, entrance to the auditorium. I refuse. This is my line in the sand, I tell her. (Aren't I tough?)

By the end of the meeting, she had fed my soul and ego. I'm laughing. I hug her. I'm putty in her hands. I'm staying at my current school. I'm going to make it work. They NEED me. Dang that supervisor!! She KNOWS I'm a total SUCKER for being needed. I love her and although I suspect she is using me to fill a very difficult position, I can't help but be seduced by being needed and by her masterful way of managing me.

I guess that's why she's the manager and I'm the hothead therapist.

BTW, today was a good day. I love my students.

Upsucking

Today I went to my old school for a meeting. My God, it felt like going home. Know what I got? HUGS! LOVE! And 5 job offers (although I don't think that legally a teacher or secretary can offer me a job)!

Only the principal saw me cry.

I am determined to be an Upsucker. So this morning, I Scotch-taped together 8 pieces of copy paper and taped them to the door of my borrowed therapy space for the period. (Did I mention that I don't have a room in the school? Just a desk in a shared office.) I brought my personal laptop and my personal projector and projected my lesson about Context Clues on the copy-paper "screen." I couldn't project it on the wall because this borrowed therapy space is the room where all of the props for the auditorium/plays are stored. It has dark wood cabinets from floor to ceiling on all 3 walls. In the end, the lesson was a success!

My fourth period kids are learning to use the SmartPen by Livescribe. It's the best listening comprehension they've done all year. It's worked better than activating prior knowledge and creating prior knowledge by watching video clips. And it helped them finish their late assignments in Human Geography! Hallelujah! Did I mention that I love those kids?

Did you hear that sound? It's me...sucking it up.

Challenging Myself Was A Stupid Idea

In order to make myself feel like I've done something worthwhile today, I googled the lyrics to Rocket Man. I've always wondered what the hell Elton John was saying..... "Rocket Man! Burning out his fuse up here alone...." Well, that's one mystery solved. Whew.

I have wondered if I should start a blog about my journey to high school. It started out as The Incredible Journey---my path to further understanding and kick-ass-ive-ness as a speech-language pathologist. After 12 decidedly UN-kick-ass weeks, I wonder if I shouldn't just step away from the keyboard. After all, does explaining and complaining make things more real? Should I just keep quiet, put my head down and make it less real by not acknowledging it out loud? HA! My people know that just sucking it up silently is Lico's forte, NOT MINE! So, my goal is to acknowledge publicly my challenges so that I am more accountable to make positive changes. I don't want to be a quitter and I do want to love my job again.

I invite you to lurk, to comment, to question. Just please don't say, "I'm sure you're doing a great job!" or "you are your own worst critic!" or "Don't worry!" I appreciate your kindness and intentions, but my goal is to learn, grow and change.