Attitude makes the difference

Remember my earlier posts about how the money is getting tight around the district, and cuts are looming?

The list of possible cuts to our district was published Monday, totaling about $9 million. The board and district officials have to cut about $6 million, so they've built in some wiggle room, since there will be protests against some of the items.

Thankfully, I have not received a visit from the job grim reaper, otherwise known as our principal, this week. The deadline for possibly affected employees to be notified in person has passed, so I guess I'm okay (though I'm still nervous). I'm pretty sure if he would have walked in my room any time this week, even if he was really there to say "Congrats on all those state qualifiers!" my insides would have liquefied lickety-split because I'd be expecting the chopping block speech.

The classes I'm taking to get my masters are made up of all teachers from our district. I know some of them are affected. Class tonight was NO fun. People are worried about their jobs. People are worried about the two final projects we have to turn in before Saturday. People are frustrated by what they perceive as a lack of concrete instructions on the projects. Trust me, I would include myself in that camp, but I also know that you just have to buckle down and do what you're asked sometimes. It's not that bad.

For me, 9 p.m. couldn't have come fast enough tonight. I can't take four hours of people with poor attitudes complaining about work they don't want to do.

It's a necessary evil - you want your masters? You jump through some hoops, write some papers, pay a BUNCH of tuition, and there ya go. The work is not that hard for me - it's simply finding the time to complete it between grading, planning, teaching, having a life outside of school, deadlines, meetings, etc.

I wish I had the guts to just tell the other guys to shut it tonight. I am not the most optimistic person on the planet, but I know it's necessary to make the best of a bad situation sometimes. If you sit somewhere for four hours, the whole time thinking about how awful it is, then it's going to be awful.

I hope that when our next six-week class starts, people are a little more peppy. I don't want to spend my Tuesday nights being depressed for the next 18 weeks!

It's supposed to be a project progress shot, but it's more like a snapshot of me

or, at least my life and environment. I really just meant to post a quick photo to Twitter so the knitting followers could see what I've been up to.

But, when I stopped to look at it again, I realized that to a close observer, this photo says a lot about me.

You'll notice the ABC logo on the TV in the background. While we watched LOST, I worked on my knitting project. I have to multitask to get anything accomplished, and I think watching TV and knitting certainly counts. The only problem is, with a show like LOST, I have to give a little more mental energy to the show, so it's slow going on the knitting projects.

Kansas City-area readers will spot the remote that goes with our Time Warner digital cable box on the TV tray. The TV tray basically serves as my desk. I keep my laptop there, and it's where I eat breakfast each morning.

Adam and I aren't sit-down-to-the-table-and-eat-dinner types. We eat in front of the TV, hence the trays. I would like to think that if we ever have kids, we'll be the eat-around-the-table types, but since it's just the two of us at this point, we're usually just catching up on DVR'ed stuff.

Eagle-eyed observers will see the Rock Band equipment and the Wii. That reminds me, we haven't had a good Wii party in quite a while. Might be time to rustle one up over spring break.

The Snuggie and the clothes in the laundry basket next to my foot echoes the color on the TV screen. Weird.

We don't have a purple polka-dotted curtain. That's the back of a KSU quilt Mom made for me a long time ago. It's finally warm enough that we can take down our extra window insulation. Maybe Adam can do that on his day off tomorrow. With the sub-zero temps and snow for so long this winter, we needed a little help in the heating department.

In the bottom corner of the photo is our little tropical plant that we've managed to keep alive throughout the late summer and fall. We got some nice plants on sale at the De-Pot just before fall. They're all thriving at this point, despite the dark and cold wintry conditions in our house. When you've got all the windows covered with blankets, it's a little tough to get the required amount of sunlight for houseplants.

I'm sure most people who saw this photo noticed the sock and moved on. And that's fine. It is, after all, supposed to be a photo of a sock. But, like I said, I just thought it was interesting when I saw all of the other things in the photo.

Hope you've enjoyed this brief tour of a Thursday night at Casa de Chittum. I've got to sign off for a few days. One more day of school this week, and then I'll be working furiously to complete graduate school homework between Friday night and Tuesday night.

Wish me luck. I'll need it.

When's spring break again?

If I make it through the next two weeks, I'll be a happy girl. Kids' last day of school is next Wednesday, we go through Friday.

Between now and then, here are just a few things I need to accomplish:
Help yearbook make their second-to-last deadline.
Help newspaper make their deadline this Friday.
Newspaper distribution Wednesday before break.
Two final projects for my master's class: a differentiated lesson plan and a four-part case study of a student I have chosen to differentiate for.
Four forum posts for graduate class.
Trip to Manhattan Saturday with 10 yearbook and newspaper kids for publications boot camp.
Grades posted by next Friday at 3.
Newspaper late night tomorrow.
Yearbook late night Thursday.

Oh, wait, and that whole TEACHING thing. Still have to do that for another week...The good news is, the weather has finally turned just a bit, and the sun is staying up until about 6:30 p.m., so at least we have that going for us.

Luckily, I've been keeping up with what needs to be done in my master's class, so I'll just be tying up loose ends this weekend. Today was the fifth of six weeks in Differentiation. After spring break, we start the fourth class in our Masters of Education cohort program.

I should have my Master's degree by December, which sounds great, except for the fact that rumors are now flying that all non-tenured teachers will be pink-slipped, and only certain ones will be rehired, because of our district's budget cuts. The district is releasing the list to the public on Monday, March 8, so we should be notified any day now if we're on the chopping block.

I'm not tenured (I haven't quite been here for three years yet), but I think I'm pretty insulated. I don't think they'll let me go - won't go into it here, since I've already written about it here. It's hard though, to be in an environment where everyone is walking on eggshells, worried about their jobs.

You could see it on the faces of each and every student in my masters class tonight. You can see it on the faces of district coordinating teachers. You can see it on our principals' faces. It's a weight, constantly there on our shoulders - what's going to happen?

I realize that my little blog isn't going to raise a ton of awareness for support of public education, but I hope that if you're reading this, you understand how important it is for the state of Kansas to fully fund public schools. I heard today that the state didn't make its payment to the district again in a timely fashion, so our paychecks came from the reserve funds. Scary.

Even if you don't have a child in public schools, please understand what they mean for our neighborhoods, cities, and the country. Chances are, you went to a public school. Someone supported you back then, and we need you now. Please let your legislators know that the further we cut, the higher level of quality gets sacrificed.