Is my head in the clouds for thinking that it is possible to provide quality education in our public schools? Sure, our funds, programs, and enthusiasm have all been cut, but the children are still there looking at us with eyes, hearts, and brains that are so easily filled, and yet so hard to reach. We have to change what we are teaching to keep up with how kids are learning. We have to find ways to provide art, music, drama, and dance to release the potential that these children have hidden inside. 

We're faced with the same old, same old: ongoing problems, predictable attitudes and behaviours - nothing we can do so we do nothing. 

But what if we could? We could mobilize the community, adopt sponsors, approach celebrities so we could be "their" school and then, we could use the money and the talents of willing people around us to reinstate good teaching practices, provide fine arts meaningfully and engagingly, and remove the deadwood.

Here's the state of education today. What are we going to do to change it? After all, our ill-equipped students of today, are our policy setters of the future. 

I say, "Invest in the children." It's in our vested interest.

As the school year draws to a close, there are so many things to think about. All the successes and challenges we have faced in our first year as a traditional school, all the growth we have seen in our students, and all the connections we have made with people, will change after June. We won't be in our first year ever again. Teachers will assess and pass on their students to the next teacher who will help to push them along the road of learning next year. And we will say good-bye to our staff members who have become friends and team mates over the last few months. 

It is always great to celebrate the year's successes and to look back and smile at what we've accomplished. It's hard to look into the immediate future and contemplate all that we will lose in June - the Grade 7's, the dear Educational Assistants who have been laid off, our Teacher Librarian, our dear classroom teachers, and those families who are moving. 

Yet, we come back in September with a renewed sense of energy, new classes, and new staff. We move ahead, forging new relationships with our students, finding out the strengths of our individual staff members, and planning for a great school year. 

Whether it is the cutbacks so that I work 80% and have to scramble to just keep my head above water, or the general poor morale at all the budget cuts, or the sense that we as individuals are but cogs in a machine that is slowly grinding to a halt, the joy that I get from observing how children who were once surly and uncooperative are now eager to please, to learn, to lead, is what keeps it all worthwhile for me. 

What's up with surfing?

On the phone, in the car (IN THE CAR!), wherever we are, we are surfing - checking our email, checking for IMS, blogging, tweeting - constantly on the conversational move, leading and following, :)ing and lol'ing about nothing and everything. People are chatting, but not making eye contact. People are watching t.v. with one eye and half a mind on their computer/phone/game screen.  What will happen to in-depth one-on-one conversation? How long is an attention span? It used to be 'face time' and now it's "Facebook" and we Facebook during face time.

And don't get me started on Google answering every question known to mankind.