Showing posts with label school. Show all posts
Showing posts with label school. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

School daze

A friend recently posted about one of her favorite teachers from 3rd grade, and said that she didn’t remember teachers before that year. That got me thinking about the teachers I remember, and why I remember them.

In preschool, I went to West Nashville Kindergarten (think that was the name although a quick Google search turns up nothing—then again that was *cough* nearly half a century ago so it’s not surprising). My preschool teachers were Miss May and Mr. Gordon. They seemed quite old to me, but not nearly so old as my kindergarten teacher the next year, Miss Sullivan. She had to have been in her 60s, maybe early 70s. Or then again, maybe that’s just how she seemed through the eyes of a five year old.

In first grade, I went to Eakin Elementary School, also in Nashville and it’s still there. I got to see it in 2009 on a visit to my older son and his wife. My teacher was Miss Floyd and I just absolutely adored her. I was beyond ecstatic when she stayed with my class to be our second grade teacher.

In 3rd and 4th grades, I attended Tates Creek Elementary School in Lexington, KY. I couldn’t tell you anything about my teachers, although I do remember attending anti-drug classes as well as getting tested for TB, taking gymnastic for two years (I was horrible at it but boy I sure wanted to be a gymnast) and having a massive crush on Landon King.

Fifth grade was pretty wretched for me. I went to an elementary school in Derby, KS and my teacher’s name was Mrs. Warren. She flat out hated me, and I couldn’t tell you why. But the mean things she said and her obvious dislike and utter reluctance to have anything to do with me are things I’ve never forgotten. About 2/3 of the way through the year, we moved into base housing and I thankfully switched schools. I remember Mr. Amerine being nice, not great but at least nice which was a pleasant change.

In 6th grade, I went to Coopertown Elementary School in Bryn Mawr. Mr. Schultz was my teacher for all but reading and math—he was really nice and well liked. I had Mr. Folmer for reading, and he probably never realized what a huge positive impact he had on me, and how badly I needed the lifeline he offered. I wish I could find him and tell him how much he helped me and what a positive impact he had on me.

After that, I remember specific teachers for some specific classes, but not all of them. The ones who stick out do so for good reasons: At Beaumont Junior High School in Lexington again, I had Mr. Connolly (band teacher in 7th grade), then in Cape Girardeau I had Mrs. Sharpe who taught me several liberal arts classes in high school and was also the speech and debate coach. She was just incredible. My band teacher there, Mr. Ewing, was also good—oh and I remember Miss Myers, my Spanish teacher in 9th grade. She was the one with a wandering eye so I was never sure which eye actually saw me!

Who do you remember, and why?

Preschool, I'm top row, far right side by Mr. Gordon. 

Saturday, April 4, 2009

So I wasn’t admitted

I learned on Wednesday that I wasn’t admitted to UMass Boston. As you can imagine that wasn’t a good day. In fact I was pretty bummed out about it. To make things worse, Kent was out of town all week so I didn’t even have him around for comfort.

Two things have really helped me move on. First, for Lent this year I didn’t give anything up, although I considered a couple of things (alcohol, chocolate, the usual suspects, even the internet). But giving something up didn’t feel right. I’m sure that sounds self-serving, but honestly I lead a pretty disciplined life so the giving up of things isn’t generally a sacrifice or a stretch for me. I didn’t think I would learn anything or get closer to God.

Lately I’ve been feeling like I box God in a lot, make Him a small god, lower case and all. But He’s not, He’s a BIG God. So what if I chose to live BIG and act as though I have a BIG God? That’s my Lent challenge and it’s been good for me, although not easy. Wednesday, I realized it’s not difficult to live large, to find the joy in life when things go well. But living large is a choice as is being happy. Wednesday I chose to live large, although I will tell you I didn’t feel all that large. Still, I took the baby steps and Thursday I did feel better.

The second thing that helped was the realization that all I got was one rejection from one state school that had a very strange application process. I have a friend who found out two weeks ago that she has Stage 4 breast cancer. My disappointment is minor compared to the situation she’s in—after al she is in a fight for her life. So the shift in perspective helped too. I’m disappointed but this rejection sure isn’t going to kill me.

Next steps? Well I’ll check out other schools and see what I can find. And chances are good that this pushes back a school start date by probably a year, which makes me cranky. I am not the world’s most patient woman. Maybe patience is the lesson for Lent next year.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Decisions, decisions

I’m coming up on almost a full year of unemployment, which is discouraging as well as boring beyond belief. For those of you who haven’t been in this situation, be very grateful. I know I didn’t appreciate how demoralizing it can be to apply for jobs for which I’m fully suited only to have my applications apparently fall into a black hole of oblivion. I’d almost rather have a negative response than no response at all.

To be honest, I haven’t seen lots of job openings. Generally when companies have to cut their budgets, training and development groups are the first to go so not only are new jobs not created, even the existing jobs tend to get cut. I’ve gone weeks with no suitable jobs coming up in my searches.

So I am looking into getting another graduate degree. When I earned my MS, I had originally planned to get an MA in counseling but learned about the degree I did get, which is in industrial/organizational psychology. I thought it would be a good degree to have because I could build on my 10 years of corporate experience, and also satisfy my strong desire to help people deal with stresses, just in a work environment.

The few projects I’ve been able to do in my field have been very satisfying, but alas the work has petered out—which is why I am rethinking the decision to not pursue counseling as a profession. I know the money won’t be great but as Kent has told me, job satisfaction counts for a lot.

In my heart of hearts, I’d prefer to get the PscychD which is a PhD in counseling (not clinical psych). I found one program but holy cow, I don’t know if I can swing the cost of three years of full time school (16 credit hours a semester) at $900 a credit hour. That’s about $30,000 a YEAR or almost $100,000 for that PhD. So I am also looking at the MAs in counseling.

If you are the praying kind, I’d take your prayers as I try to make a wise decision about how to best prepare for what I probably should have done three years ago. If you aren’t the praying kind but have advice for me, feel free to share your advice.