Count Your Blessings

Thanksgiving is a time to spend with family and loved ones, but too often those we love are far from us. For some it is miles that separate us, for some it is circumstances, and sadly for others Thanksgiving is a time where we remember those we've lost.

This Thanksgiving I spent with many of my family and yet those I love most were far away. While miles may have separated us this year, they do not break the bonds and the love I feel for them transcends the distance.

However, this Thanksgiving some of my family and my extended Propel family have experienced some sadness. There are those that spent this holiday time together with family grieving those they have lost. For them, this holiday was filled with sadness. My heart is heavy for them as they mourn for those that past.

And yet... just as each new day gives way to a promise of a better tomorrow, so too does life renew itself. This holiday also brings the latest member of our Propel family. Little M, a wonderful bundle of joy, whose smile reassures us that life continues.

So as we give thanks this year, remember all we are thankful for, those people that bring meaning, joy, and love into our lives. Remember those whose presence makes our life easier and filled with purpose. Count your blessings for the time you have with your loved ones, and for the memories they have helped you create.

May your holiday season be filled with joy and blessings.

Forget the Turkey- We are all just plain NUTS!!!

My Propel Pals and I are ALL NUTS!!!

While many of you are buying turkeys and cranberries and planning your Thanksgiving menus... My fellow Cohort Members and I are delving deep into data, searching archives for strategies, and developing instructional plans to raise student achievement for students considered at-risk.

"What are worthy endeavor" you say...

I would agree except for one small detail, it is a paper plan. And when I say paper... I mean 12 pages, A.P.A., research and write it in a week and a half, shoot me now because I'm hating my life, paper! AND... if working full time trying to do two jobs (my curriculum specialist job and teaching 3 blocks of 6th grade science) isn't enough, lets add... mentoring two teachers, serving on several committees, organizing our CC Implementation Plan... AND...

Oh Yeah... FULL TIME GRAD SCHOOL... and by full I mean... are you ready... 14 GRADUATE Credits in 1 semester!!! Remember 9 Grad credits is considered full time, and I am currently taking 14!!!

Yup... It is great training for the craziness that awaits me as a turn around leader, if I survive the training process that is!

Uhh Huh... We're nuts!  But a very talented group of nuts, in case you are in need of an Assistant Principal in August... If we are alive, we will be ready!!!

 Go Cohort 2!!

Time to Move Forward America... We have work to do!

It has been a long time since my last blog. During that time I have completed my course on Governance, and I am getting ready to wrap up two more courses by the end of November. There has been a hurricane... not in my state of Florida but in an area of the country that had no idea of what to expect AND we have had an election during which BILLIONS of dollars was spent by various parties and organizations trying to buy influence in Washington.

Ordinarily I would consider myself to be "ANTI-Political." In fact, I was brought up in a house that believed that politics, religion, and a woman's age and weight were things better left as conversations in the privacy of your own home. However, after reflecting on the last comment that my Governance teacher gave me on my final reflection... she told me, "I am not sure how politically involved you are, but when you get your own school, and I know you will soon, I hope yours will be a voice for change" and the fact that the media kept touting the obscene amounts of money being spent on the various campaigns across the country... I could not help but speak up!

Now I have no intention of bashing either candidate. You see, I believe that both candidates truly believe that the vision they were sharing with the American people COULD work, that their policies would benefit THE people, and that CHANGE was needed. My major objection with this presidential campaign, and all the races for the various senate, house, governor positions as well as all those local offices being sought throughout our nation is this... WHY would companies/ people pay MILLIONS even BILLIONS of dollars to get a candidate elected, unless they thought they were going to get something in return?

Worse... WHY would the American people continue to allow this to happen when those millions and billions of dollars could have better been spent on educating our young people and helping our seniors? It is time to quit arguing across party lines, it is time to quit putting personal agendas before public interest. I spent the last 5 weeks in a class examining the issues related to social justice and what I have seen in the last several weeks of this campaign are sickening. Our country is destined to fail if Americans can not find some common ground. It is time to move forward America and if the leaders in Washington can not move past the petty bickering and come to a consensus that is good for America, then it is time we get rid of them. We have work to do, let's get to it!