I Am Still Learning

Today’s journal topic was:  Tell me about the song at the top of your MOST FREQUENTLY PLAYED song list on your Ipod or MP3 player.  What is the song, who is it by, and why is it important.  Here’s what I wrote:

The song on the top of my current play list is I’m with the Band by Little Big Town.  I’ve been a fan of  country music for years, and right now country music is a LOT like the music I listened to when I was a senior in high school.  I’m so involved with this song because the harmonies of this band are amazing.  Four-part harmony is really hard to do well, and Little Big Town has mastered it.  It reminds me a lot of the sound of Fleetwood Mac from the late 70s and early 80s.  I don’t even know the names of the members of Little Big Town but one of the females sounds a great deal like Stevie Knicks – I mean remarkably, but with less vibrato to her voice.  This band is going to open up for an upcoming George Strait concert, and I’m looking forward to seeing them.  I want to be able to say “I saw them when” – in the time before they were big, in the time before everyone else has gotten on the bandwagon, in the time when they’re the opening act, and not the headliners.  Reminds me of seeing Garth Brooks and Brooks and Dunn at Camden Park years ago, before they were on Legends or headlining tours of their own. 

I love the excitement that a musical journal topic gets started in my students.  Music is such an inspiring art form.  Most people mark their lives by the music they’re listening to at that time.  Sometimes, the music that is in the background helps to imprint a scene in a person’s memory, and anytime after that the song is heard then the person goes right back to that moment.  An example of this for me is the song I can Only Imagine by Mercy Me.  I had never heard that song before the morning my grandmother died.  We lost her very unexpectedly in the middle of the night, and we left the hospital around 10 a.m. or so that morning, on our way to do the business that must be done after death, and I heard the song come on WVOW radio – the Hymn and Gospel Hour.  I had to pull my truck over and cry as I listened to those words, and knew that my grandmother was at that very moment going into the presence of her eternal creator for the very first time. Now, whenever I hear that song, I am immediately taken to that October morning.  I think about the quality of the morning sun through the leaves, the temperature of the heat through my windshield, and how West Logan looked as I sat in the parking lot of Pond Funeral home crying with all the desperation of my soul, because of a beautiful piece of music. 

What’s the caree for you, and why do you think you’re so perfectly suited for this career? 

I have known since I was a little kid that teaching school was the career for me.  I have always loved school.  I’ve loved everything about it.  I love new school clothes in September.  I love October homecoming and the excitement on the day before Christmas break begins.  I love the slog through the hard cold winter months of January and February, and the rush of March, April spring break, and the turning of the year toward prom and graduation.  I was perhaps the only student of Mill Creek Grade School to once pretend to be well, so that I could go to school on the Christmas party day, knowing that if mom knew how sick I truly was she would keep me home.  But what about school is it that makes teaching the career for me?

For one thing, I crave structure.  I am a person who loves schedules, deadlines, and due dates.  Nothing makes me happier than a new calendar in my possession, and the promise of events yet to come.  I love routine.  I like living by the ring of the bell.  It’s probably my mother’s training still embedded in me, as she made sure that our earliest lives were scheduled and regimented in her household.  It could be that I’ve just ever been a nerd who loved calendars a little too much, but whatever the reason, I LOVE the schedule of school, and the way I think of the year based on the school calendar.  I don’t count years from January.  I could years from September.  I always have, even when I was a young child.

Another thing that I love about teaching is the paradox of change.  In a world of schedules and routines, school paradoxically provides a place where there are never two days the same.  There’s never been the same two weeks, or the same two years.  Teaching high school allows me to have new faces and new interactions every 46 minutes or so.  I get to embrace my need to be ever changing, in a way that is constructive, and not destructive in my other, harmful, ADD way.  When I tell a class “You’re my favorite __ period,” they always laugh because they’re the only period that matches their number, but the real hidden truth is that in that time that class really is my favorite.  It will change when the next class comes in, but for that moment they are the favorites.

I love the subject I teach.  I can’t remember a time when I didn’t know how to read.  My first memories of strong clarity involve learning to read, well before I was scheduled to go to Kindergarten.  My childhood Easter baskets always contained books.  They’re my most memorable childhood Christmas presents, and a gift card to a book store is my all-time favorite adult gift, even today.  Books have always been my favorite past time, and the way I understand the world in which I live.  Teaching high school, as a literature teacher, allowed me to spend time sharing my love of great books with others.  It gave me an outlet for my passion.  I mean wow – I get PAID to read and interpret literature.  What an amazing event!

It wasn’t until later in life that I understood more completely the possibilities of a teaching career as a life of service, or even the need to live a life of service to others.  By the age of 22 I had an inkling that a career in teaching would allow me to find fulfillment in a very personal way, but it has been as I’ve aged that teaching has been my outlet for a “life well lived” as someone once said.  Today, I believe that I have been called to teach.  As part of my faith I believe that to do anything less than teach would be to deny the deity that lives inside me.  I take my job, my calling, very seriously.  I believe that beyond a shadow of a doubt that when I reach the end of my life I’ll have to stand before my creator and give an account for the life I’ve lead, and for the work that He gave me to do – teach.  I treat every day of school like it is Holy, because for me, it is.  I know that I have many sins in my life for which I’ll have to answer at the end of it, but I don’t ever want to have to say to my maker that I didn’t do the work he gave me to do well with all my best effort.  I teach, as if I’m giving service unto God, because I fully and deeply believe that I am. 

Do I have had days?  Yes.  Are there sad days?  Yes.  Are there failures? Yes.  But there are successes as well, and it’s those daily successes that pull me back from the brink.  Sometimes I lose my temper.  Sometimes I’m just plain tired and don’t have the emotional energy to give the students who need me most.  But overall, on most days, I go home tired, but good.  I returned to my little yellow house on the hill knowing that I’ve done the work that I’ve been given to do, and I’ve been fortunate enough to do it happily. 

Special thanks to Nathan Bush in 3rd period today, who gave us the journal topic . ..

Senior Projects make me want to jump off a bridge

My students just think projects make them want to jump off a bridge.  They make me want to, as well.  Senior projects are a HUGE headache for teachers.  There is so much work in preparation for the project, and then during the project.  Getting it all organized.  Getting the judges scheduled.  Making sure HIPA training is going to happen for all students.  Keeping the staff updated about the schedule of events.  Organizing and holding the parent meeting.  Plus, I absolutely HATE to grade those research papers.  They’re boring.  They are nothing but informational research writing, about topics I’ve read over and over and over and over and over for the last 8 years or so, and they are brain draining.  There are the parent phone calls and emails.  There are the questions that must be answered over and over, unendingly, repeatedly, when the question is just the same as the question before.  Then of course there are the unending student complaints.  They moan.  They gripe.  They itch and begin that word with a B.  It’s all bad.  And even though I try not to take it personally, I invariably end up doing so, at least to a certain extent.  After all, I am only human myself. 

However . . .

 I know that the benefits far outweigh the problems of senior projects, and so I continue to advocate for and require annual senior projects on career choices. When I moved up to teaching senior English a number of years ago one of Mr. Lucas’s mandates was that we develop a serious and correct career senior project program at LHS.  I promised him faithfully that I would, and I have, and now, all these years later, I know that it’s likely I will always keep these projects evolving.  I don’t imagine that I’ll ever feel compelled to do away with senior projects.

 What’s good about senior projects?  For one thing, they help students learn to manage a big project over a long period of time.  While we’ve done long-term projects, of a week or two-weeks length in the past, senior project is student’s first project of this length.  Eight weeks is a long time to work on a project.  They have to learn time management skills, and really apply them.  Students have to begin developing the ability to see far down the road, and work to meet some long term goals. 

Another benefit of senior projects is that students really have to work on a project for which there is no easy, correct answer.  For students, coming up with a product for the presentation is really stressful, because I can’t tell them what to do, and even if I could tell them what to do, I would withhold the information.  The truth is that life’s problems, from now till death, don’t involve easily recognizable 100% right or wrong answers.  The answer is as unique as the person, and that depends on so much.  It’s hard for students who want to succeed , who are driven to get good grades, to have to work on a project like senior projects, when they don’t know what the final answer should be.  It’s much easier to get a study guide and learn the expected answers, then puke them back on a test.  Senior projects, and their accompanying products, have no easy, black and white, clear answer.  Senior projects require students to tap into their creativity, into their problem solving and critical thinking skills, and really apply them to a real world situation.  And that often makes students uncomfortable at the least, and mad at the most.

The truth I want students to know the most is that real learning is not comfortable.  Students who stay in their comfort levels, who are always happy, and who never experience a feeling of stress in class, lack challenge.  And lacking challenge means that students miss learning opportunities.  Real and valid learning should never be scary or terrifying, but at the same time, it should place an amount of pressure on the learner. 

No, I won’t throw myself over a bridge, certainly not over senior projects, but I am not unaware of the stresses they cause – both for me, and for my students.  In the end I hope that we’ll all come out learning something new and useful for our future lives, and developing skills useful in both future education and work place endeavors. 

October Sky Field Trip Preliminary Information 9.7.07Goal:  To attend the annual October Sky festival held in Coalwood West Virginia, to deepen our understanding of the novel October Sky that we will study in English this year.  We will have the opportunity to tour the entire town of Coalwood, and see locations from the book including:  the community church, Reverend Richard’s church, the clubhouse, the machine shop, the Hickam residence, and many others.  During the festival we will get to meet each of the surviving Rocket Boys and speak with them about their experiences.  There will also be other special guests, including astronauts and engineers from NASA.  This year is the 50^th anniversary of Sputnik, the satellite which inspired the Rocket Boys to reach for the stars. 

Date:  Saturday, October 6, 2007Leave Logan High School at 7:00 a.m., travel on bus to Coalwood.  Arrive back to Logan High School approximately 3:00 p.m. (notice how I won’t disrupt date night).  While I can’t require attendance on for a Saturday field trip I would like to say that I highly recommend it.  Some (but not all) of the project choices for the October Sky novel study will involve attendance at the festival.  It’s a terrific program, and I believe you’ll really enjoy it.  Work now to ask for work schedules to accommodate a school activity. If needed I will make contacts with employers to help with this.  Students who do attend the festival will earn 100 bonus points.   

Websites to check out:http://www.coalwoodwestvirginia.com/october_sky_festival.htm http://www.homerhickam.com/coalwood/festival.shtml  

Current Cost to Students:  Transportation will be provided.  All students who attend will ride the bus together.  At this time the only cost to students will be for food at the festival.  Students can attend for as little as $10 for food.  Food vendors and the church will have food available.  I’ll be working on maybe getting a group discount for lunch through the church, if that’s possible.   

I’d like students to offer some ideas for an easy fundraiser, that we could use to cover the cost of lunch that day, so there would be no cost to students at all.  At previous festivals there have been vendors in attendance, selling things like T-shirts and sweatshirts, as well as books by Homer Hickam and about West Virginia History, and other WV made items.  Students can bring extra money if they want, but it’s not needed.  There is no charge to attend the festival or for any of the day’s events.  During the festival Home Hickam, the rocket boys, and many of the town’s people featured in the book are on hand.  They meet and greet all day.  Attendees have the chance to meet them all, and talk as long as they want. 

LHS T-Shirt Design Contest for Bonus PointsSince in our English class this year we’ll be doing a close study of literature and history of West Virginia, I’m asking interested students to design a T-shirt that we can have made for all of us to wear on the field trip, and for other special occasions throughout the year.  The design should incorporate these elements:  Logan High School, Rocket Boys, Hatfield McCoy Feud, Coal Mining, and West Virginia.  It should be a design for 1 side of a T-shirt, in 1 color.  Designs will be voted on by the senior students in my classes.  The winning designer will receive 25 bonus points.  Designs should be submitted on 8 ½ x 11 inch size unlined paper, ready to be reproduced on a shirt.  Due date for the designs will be Tuesday, September 11, 2007.  Designs can be done on computer, but a printed copy must be brought to class to show for the voting competition.  Because the design will be screen printed on a T-shirt remember it should be a line drawing, with solid shapes.  No shading should be in the drawing 

Top Ten Things to Know About Mrs. Baisden

 1.       L. T. is her “teacher name.”  The only people who call her that name are students and teachers, so she doesn’t mind if it’s used at school.  It’s not her family name.

2.      She is married to Ernie Martin III (aka Bald-headed Ernie).  Her father-in-law is Mini Martin, and her uncle-in-law is Mr. V. Martin, the math teacher.

3.      She is a Christian.  She was ordained three years ago, and serves her church, the First Christian Church of Logan (Disciples of Christ), as an Elder.

4.      She is a teacher consultant of The National Writing Project (NWP).  She works with The Rural Sites Network, a group within the NWP that supports teachers in rural areas.  She has travelled around the county to teach in rural areas.

5.      She is an animal person.  She loves animals of all kinds (except snakes).  She has one dog, Peanut Parfait, who is a Yorkshire terrier.  If she didn’t teach school she would do work that involved animals.

6.      She and her husband also share their home with three cats.  They are Bandit, Cookie, and Ginger Jingles.  The only one who likes her is Ginger.  Bandit belongs to Ernie, and Cookie wished that he lived anywhere else.

7.      She is an organized person.  She loves calendars and watches because she values anything that helps her keep track of her busy schedule.  She is a firm believer that any meeting or event should start on time and not run late.

8.      She spent part of the summer of ‘98 teaching at The University of Utrecht in Zeist, The Netherlands.  She taught poetry. 

 9.      Her family is very important to her.  Her mom and dad are Joe and Sara Baisden.  Her sister is Libby Jo.  On Friday evenings she and her family usually meet out for dinner. 

10.  She has many favorites.  Her favorite color is red.  Her favorite food is anything cheesy.  Her favorite movies are science fiction.  Her favorite books are fantasy.  Her favorite month is October.