First posted back in 2013…Almost ten years ago…I was close to my retirement in 2015… thirty-eight years dedicated to teaching young children…

Being reminded …

Teaching our children has always been impacted by the political climate…And back ten years ago… Funding definitely was an issue making our profession less of the regard it deserves…

And truthfully, even back when I began in 1972…We did have that critical moment because of the political policies of the sixties…

Integration and a strong focus on the young child were given that priority…

We were needed, and in demand!! We had so many of us wanting to become teachers…I was willing to travel ninety miles a day just to teach…

We had such Hope!!…I so believe, we go into teaching because it is a calling.. “our passion”…

Here we are, 2022…Our teachers are dealing with insurmountable obstacles… pandemic, staggered teaching… shortages with staff… political interference …

Yet, teachers still put their “Heart” into teaching!!

The joy I get from my children each year, has sustained me all these many years…

I have so loved their special writings and pictures; and personal, little notes…that some, I have even saved over the years…

That many of the momentos are displayed in my home and classroom that my children have given to me through the years…

I can even say that I do have a place setting for twelve, in “teacher mugs”…

I have truly loved reconnecting with former students, and I may still have that special momento they have given to me…

In fact, there are those special parents that I taught, now with their own children, at the very school where I am presently teaching first grade…

I feel such joy, I am still remembered…And see who they became!

All of which are part of my…World of Teaching, that resides in my heart and memory…

The joys of teaching are impactful… I feel so blessed to have touched their lives…

The Joys of Teaching…

Posted in Mission, Reflections, Thoughts About Children

Big Brother in our Classrooms?…

Our Florida schools have been dealing with such an authoritative control… Making it quite challenging for teachers to feel secure, safe and even continue to teach…We have a critical shortage here in Florida…

And moreover our precious children suffer the consequences!!

First, back in the nineties, it was the “No Child Left Behind Movement” where children were being classified by a standardized test, taught from developmentally inappropriate curriculum…

That outcome led to the privatization of schools, taking resources and funds away from our our public schools… giving it to private and charter schools, And we still are grappling with these issues today!!

And in these last twenty year, safety issues have been a major concern for schools…where arming teachers was one of the solutions…And since the pandemic, social media influences, and the divisive of our Country, has gotten much worse…

Thus leading to what many school districts teach…Controlling what children learn in classrooms… Especially when it comes to history!!

Florida Lawmaker Files Bill To Put Cameras In Classrooms & Mics On Teachers โ€“ CBS Miami…

Author: Jacqueline Quynh
January 12, 2022 at 11:14 pm
Filed Under: Broward County Public Schools, Jacqueline Quynh, Local TV, Miami News

https://cbsloc.al/34C9Bbe


FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) โ€“ While lawmakers in Tallahassee debate a new proposal to allow schools districts to put cameras in classrooms, a select few in Broward County Public Schools already have them.

โ€œThat is happening right now, yeah,โ€ Broward Teachers Union President Anna Fusco said.

According to the Broward County Public Schools website, parents of a student can request a camera system with visual and audio capability be placed in a classroom if the child is a student with a disability and is an individualized education program from where the majority of the students have a disability. This came into existence after Florida House Bill 149 passed in July 2021.

โ€œAnd itโ€™s not in every classroom. We have parents that have not exercised that right. Itโ€™s kind of two fold. If one parent wants it, the camera goes in the room. If the other 10 parents donโ€™t want it, they donโ€™t have a say,โ€ she said.

โ€œEverything that happens in a classroom is monitored and watched and heard all day. There is absolutely zero privacy for anybody, even when the students are in the room and the teacher needs to do a parent conference on the phone,โ€ Fusco said..

The bill filed by Rep. Bob Rommel, a Republican out of Naples, is proposing to allow districts to adopt policies that could install cameras in classrooms and require teachers to wear microphones for all students.

โ€œI think if we can do it in a safe way to protect the privacy of students and teachers I think we should do it. I havenโ€™t heard a response good or bad from any teachers but you know what itโ€™s not their private space, itโ€™s our childrenโ€™s space too,โ€ Rep. Rommel, R-District 160, said.

โ€œIt can be looked at any time. We donโ€™t know how theyโ€™re going to keep in in record, so they never get that piece out, and also the funding, there is no funding,โ€ Fusco said.

However, should there be a window into a studentโ€™s classroom in the first place?

โ€œYou want to play Big Brother every moment? Thatโ€™s not how society should be. We need to get back to where we have trust, we have value, we have faith we have conversations, and we can work things out if something happens,โ€ Fusco said.

The bill is still currently in the house…

https://miami.cbslocal.com/2022/01/12/florida-lawmaker-bill-cameras-classrooms-mics-teachers/?amp

Todays educators dealing with the realities…Most definitely need to be addressed;

I am hoping 2022…Will be that year!!! Our children must be safe and provided the critical resources to make the learning happen…

New Year Message.. Secretary of Education… Miguel Cardona

Columbine…Sandy Hook… Parkland school shootings…and the list can go on…

I truly believed after Sandy Hook…We would have addressed gun reform…Then we even had a shooting here in Florida, with the Parkland shooting!

And still nothing got done… School shootings really are a sad reality of our society….Today’s children practice gun safety drills, regularly in their classrooms…

And how many more times before this catastrophic occurrence will be enough?…
When our precious children are dealing with so much?…

And then… once again;

A dangerously troubled young boy, with the ideology he may have learned at home with guns available…kills four students…

This truly is the time!!!

We must have gun reform and resources for children…

๐Ÿ’ž๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿ™๐Ÿผ

BREAKING: The parents of the Michigan school shooting suspect have been charged with involuntary manslaughter in the aftermath of the horrific Nov. 30 attack that left four teens dead and seven people injured, including a teacher.

The decision to pursue criminal charges against James and Jennifer Crumbley โ€” who once thanked Donald Trump for โ€œmy right to bear armsโ€ โ€” is a rarity in the U.S. legal system.

Parents of shooting suspect ‘had every reason to know he was dangerous’: Prosecutor…

How many more times before this is enough…???!!! #GunReform

Posted in Mission, Reflections, Thoughts About Children

Today Is the Anniversary of Ruby Bridges’ “Historic” First Day of School…

This is why our children must learn history…

Six years ago, I was teaching young, impressionable first graders, who came from diverse cultures… brown and black…We were a celebration of “Rainbow Ethnicity”…

I felt it was my role to provide them with their history at a developmentally appropriate level that would embolden their spirit…I made sure they had that understanding…

I, myself growing up during the civil rights of the sixties, and began teaching in the seventies when our schools were recently integrated…I would tell the children their history from my own experiences of those times…

This gave them such insight and a feeling of empowerment…They were proud of who they were…

On this day in 1960, six-year-old Ruby Bridges was escorted into William Frantz Elementary School by a team of U.S. Deputy Marshals, desegregating the public school system of New Orleans…

In 2011, the painting was put on display at the White House and Ruby Bridges Hall visited with President Barack Obama; โ€œI think itโ€™s fair to say if it hadnโ€™t been for you guys, I might not be here and we wouldnโ€™t be looking at this together,โ€ he told her.