Traci's questions

Traaci, screen name deleshtraci,has asked me some tough questions.

Thanks...I am having to dig down deep for these answers.

 

"I really like your answers.  Especially about the children.  It would change our world for sure!  
1.  What was the hardest event in your life?

The hardest thing I have had to go through so far in a very happy life was leaving my old school where I taught for ten years. My Girl Scout troop was there. Caitlin went there. I was very thankful I got to stay until they had all graduated.from elementary school.

Budget cuts and the new fad of putting exceptional children in a regular classroom with teachers who have not been trained to teach them caused us to loose a unit.Hollinger's Island is such a wonderful school, no one leaves there unless they are in a box, so at ten years of service I had the least seniority, so I had to go.

I went from a self-contained classroom in the country to an inclusion classroom in the inner city , to work with two teachers who didn't want to do inclusion at all and were forced into it. They tried to treat me like an aide. I was miserably unhappy and totally unsuited for the job. I only stayed one year.

The school where I teach now is much better, but I still miss Hollinger's Island.

2.  What did you learn from going through it?

Hopefully, I have learned to stand up for myself better and not let people take advantage of me.

3.  What is the biggest lesson you have learned this year

 what I really learned is not to trust a teenager unless your eyes are right on them and maybe not then!

Lying is a part of the development of a teen just like tantrums from a two year old!

When your two year old lays on the floor of the grocery and screams, it doesn't mean she will be a shreiking harridan all her life and when your teen says she is at the Mall , but is really in the woods sharing a bottle of whiskey with her friends, it doesn't mean she is destined to be a drunk or a pathological liar.

Don't take it personally, dont' get upset, just plan for it and expect it.

 Just like when they are two, you avoid a tantrum with regular naps and meals, you avoid a teen's lying by regular phone calls and checking up!

It' s like a game, you try to keep one step ahead and hope for a lucky roll of the dice.

 

Traci, thanks for playing and come sit on The Porch for coffee tomorrow.