Stuff

Couple things I've wanted to blog about this week.
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There was an article in the New York Times by Tom Moore a grade 10 history teacher in the Bronx talking about how teachers being portrayed in the movies as superhero's is damaging. A snippet from his article I found very interesting:

"While no one believes that hospitals are really like “ER” or that doctors are anything like “House,” no one blames doctors for the failure of the health care system. From No Child Left Behind to City Hall, teachers are accused of being incompetent and under qualified, while their appeals for better and safer workplaces are systematically ignored.
Every day teachers are blamed for what the system they’re just a part of doesn’t provide: safe, adequately staffed schools with the highest expectations for all students. But that’s not something one maverick teacher, no matter how idealistic, perky or self-sacrificing, can accomplish."

This is not to say teachers are blameless, but it's interesting to see the difference in how different careers are portrayed in the media. I'm a sucker for a good teaching movie (Dead Poets Society, Mr. Holland's Opus, To Sir With Love, and even Dangerous Minds on a slow day), but it can be damaging to both new teachers striving to be incredible, and to the public.
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We still have cable! I'm not sure why, but we do! Yaaaaaaaayyy!
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Because we still have cable, while I've been off this week I've watched more tv than I normally do during the school week. I watched Oprah and she did a show on working Mom's vs. stay at home Mom's and the whole thing was intriguing. There was one camp that worked because they wanted to, one camp that were completely against working mothers. There was a woman who'd raised her children as a working Mom and regretted the decision. There was a woman who'd raised her kids as a stay at home Mom who wished she worked.

The main question of the day was "Can women have it all?". I think this is assuming money is not an issue. Many families need to have two working parents to support their families, but what of the ones that could survive off one income? Can those women have it all? What does having it all mean? Does where you work make a difference? For example, I worked with women who worked because they had decided to - didn't necessarily need to, but we worked in a place that didn't understand the concept of being a parent, where if your child was sick you couldn't always come to work. They were not supportive of that. So can that woman ever have it all? What if she had a supportive boss?

Rich and I have talked about ideally what we would like to do when we have kids. Teaching is such a great profession for working parents - especially once your kids are in school full time, but what about the first 6 or 7 years of their life. We are in a unique situation where we may be able to swing both of us working in some capacity but always having a parent at home, but what if that changes. Rich has said he's perfectly happy to be a stay at home dad if that's what we decide to do, but I don't know if I would be ok with that. I may want to stay home.

Anyway the show really ended by saying having it all is still having a life of compromise, but some people don't consider that having it all. I have huge respect for good parents of all kinds - whether they both work, one of the works, or they have a ton of money and neither of them work. I've seen good kids come out of all those parenting situations, and bad kids come out of all of them as well. Interesting things to ponder.
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So I still can't move too much. My back seems to be getting worse not better. I attempted to go back to school yesterday and had weird sensations radiating into my extremities which was a little concerning, so I went back to the doctor. She gave me some meds which I hope will help, but she doesn't want me doing anything for a few days which is both nice and frustrating. Nice to have the validation that I'm really in pain and doing the right thing, but frustrating every time I'm alone and need something, or the dog has to go out. Oh well.
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From April 30 - May 30 I have to do a self selected Internship for the final component of my degree. I was a bit worried about finding one myself, but Wednesday I got mine all settled. I'm going to a Hamilton high school to work with the Special Education department which should be interesting. At the same time I'll be doing an online Additional Qualification course which will give my a bit of certification in SpecEd. Glad it's all settled - the teacher I will be working with seems cool.
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Off to do some homework. Only 25 days of actual classes left! Can't wait!