There Are Weeks and Then There Are Weeks....

     To say that this past week has been rough would be what we would call an understatement.  Returning from Turkey to my rural school district is a bit difficult, but the smiles from students helped with that hurdle.  The work, the apathy, the feigned investment in what is going on...it all seems so trivial when the world just got so much smaller last week.
   
      On a good day, in a good week, I find small-mindedness and trivialities challenging.  Couple that with jet lag, general disinterest in progress and myriad other organizational issues and the annoyance is multiplied thousand-fold.  I have been able to talk with some of my new-found friends and supporters each day, which has been immensely helpful, although also distressing because they all believe that they are aspiring to what we have here in the United States education system, but little do they know....

      Upon my return, I sent out an email to key persons in my place of employment asking if anyone had any interest in hearing about the research that I traveled (on my own dime, I might add) half-way around the world to present, and which was generally well-received, as unusual as it was.  Of the forty people to whom I sent an email, including the highest individuals in the organization, I received a statement of interest from three.  Of those, one is an administrator who previously worked for the state, one is an outside coach who does not work for the district and the third is in a district-level position, but has no direct dealing with me on a professional level.  I don't know,,,I feel like I would want to know about any research that had been conducted in my organization, especially if it had seen positive results.  I guess I am weird like that.  Probably why I bothered to even try new and unconventional methodology in the first darned place.

      After all is said and done, I personally approached one administrator and she gave me permission to speak at a staff meeting in May.  I have not decided if I will present or not because staff meetings are not really great venues for such discussions at the end of a long day when everyone just would rather be on their way home.  Seems counter-intuitive to me, but that was the only option I was given.  I think I will ask if I could use some time allotted to professional learning committee time and speak to them in small groups at a better time of day,

       I still have a bit of a way left to get work completed for this week, so I will sign off now, but if you are reading this, thank you very much for tuning in, and I hope that you have a lovely week!  I hope to see and hear from all of you very soon!