Don't Hate the Player, Hate the Game!

The signs of the time have really changed!  I say this, only because it's more....I repeat MORE evident now that the times have changed!  I've heard Tyra complain about having "real " models on the cover of magazines.  I've heard actors complain that musicians are taking all the box office movie roles; and most recently I've heard teachers complaining about alternative certified teachers! 
I'll tell you this:  people need to step up their game!  Sorry, but generally speaking; with a recession, college education expenses, the demands of the workplace and, not to mention those of us that are go-getters, or highly motivated- you shouldn't even be concerning yourself with the path it took someone to get to their success, but their intentions and/or how successful they are now that they have the position. 
Just to break in to my own conversation for a minute- I don't mean if they got to a position illegally or anything.  I just mean; it shouldn't matter if all your life you were an engineer, or a doctor, or a hairstylist, or worked as a customer service rep for Macy's; if and when you decide you want to be on the big-screen, or open your own franchise, or become a teacher...hell, just change career paths altogether...DO IT!
Who cares that I went to college and got a formal education in Communications Radio and Television.  I spent four years learning and studying everything there is to know about broadcasting, communications law and theory, news writing, digital design, principles of public relations, voice and diction, media criticism, and on top of all that and much more; I interned in my field.  Who gives a flying flip if, when I graduated, I decided to teach.  Or who really cares that, now I want to open my own businesses in the two passions I most love in the world; mentoring and dance.
I know someone that spent their life in merchandising and sales, only to one day decide they wanted to pursue real estate.  I know someone else that spent a majority of their life working on docks and loading ships, now they trade by day making lots of money and offering seminars to those that are interested in building wealth.  Another person I know studied law and passed the bar, only to pursue a career in film.  I also know someone that spent all their life in the medical profession and just continually built upon that.
Who cares?!
It's never too late to start over, unless you're dead! 
In fact, when I was in high school and I received this one scholarship through a college that required us to  participate in enrichment seminars; I learned, or better yet was told, "Don't want to become a doctor and only study biology in college.  It's great if you do, but medical schools look highly and choose students that are well-rounded.  Major in something you love.  Or that's a polar opposite.  Like business or theater.  Do well in it and then do even better on the MCAT (medical school test) and you'll be in the top picks!"
It's absolutely true.  Stop allowing people to stifle your endeavors and dreams.  Go after what ever you want.  There's no need not to.  Stop thinking you can only master one thing in life and that's all.  Something that I bring to my district and my kids in particular, is my unique style of teaching!  It engages them.  I project.  I entertain and on top of that I teach.  I motivate.  I inspire.  I change the game of boring classroom styles and bring in something different, and of course it's due to my background in radio and tv!  Everything else; they made sure I was trained for in my alternative course.  Then I still subbed (interned, if you will) for an entire year!  So get over yourself!  I trained and now am highly qualified, per the state of Texas, to teach any subject 4th through 8th grade!
Now, I will admit that there are some of us that can't see the gold at the end of the rainbow, for watching the storm; but BUMP that!  Then there are also some of us that take a quick run to the grocery store and turn it into a trek!  (Meaning that, they act as if they can't plan anything else for their day, due to having to make groceries!)  I absolutely loathe that type of personality.  But you know what?!  Do you!  If that's how you are, do you; but for goodness sake, leave the rest of us alone!!
So I'll leave you with all that to ponder on....and then this...Step Up Your Game! WWDD!! Stop complaining and make it happen!!  Don't hate the player, hate the game!


~Khrystian

5 Years in the Game...

Lo and behold I received an invitation in the mail to get honored by Dickinson Independent School District for 5 years of service!  Who'd have thought after 5 years I'd still be in the profession of teaching!  The day I decided to become a certified teacher, I was also contemplating becoming a financial advisor for American Express.  My original plan was to go to law school, and while I prepared for the l.s.a.t (law school admissions test), I was to earn some type of living (I had been living off the fat of the land for 2 years).  And by "fat of the land", I mean "Daddy"!  Anywho, taking the advice of many, I decided to embark on a career in teaching.  I figured it was the best of the best because I would get summer off and all major holidays (Yay me!)  It would be like I was still in college, only better 'cuz I get money twice a month AND insurance!

Nevermind the fact teaching, training and mentoring young lives is a big responsibility!!  Leave that as it may.  I substitue taught to get experience, got certified, and got offered a position before I finished my program!!  (Again Yay me!)  Lol!  Each year after the first, I reluctantly signed my contract; loving my job, but still contemplating and desiring to go to law school!  Well from the opening sentence, you can see where that's led....5 years later, and I'm still a 5th grade teacher.  Still grading papers, still meeting parents, still attending faculty meeting, still holding tutorials, still giving lunch detentions, and still...well you catch my drift!!

So thank you Dickinson ISD for giving me the opportunity to teach and shape young minds!  Thank you parents (of my students) for sharing your children with me!  Thank you mentors and administrators for shaping me into the educator I am today!  I've grown, I've become compassionate, I've become a better speaker and motivator.  I've learned patience and resilence, and most of all...I've learned all the happy hour specials for teachers in Galveston County!!  (just kidding) So again thank you and God Bless...this is my official (teacher) Oscar acceptance speech!
XOXO~ Ms. Cunningham ;-p

inservice~NOT!

Today I honestly believed was an inservice day. Thank goodness I didn't wear jeans to work. I came with no plan and no temperment to deal with pubervescent 5th graders. Little did I know, as I drove up to the school, dark skies, cold wind...even as I walked inside the building head shielded from the brisk morning air, that a swarm of kids would be standing by the entrance next to the water fountain!! WHAT?!! Are you kidding me!??!! NO!!!
I scrambled to get a shred of energy and make use of the day. It won't be so bad, I told myself, as I mustered Good morning, to all the students waving, nodding and smiling at me as I quickly moved to get to the opposite side of the building into the comfort of my classroom.
Good thing I had throughly cleaned and organized before the Christmas break. But I had no lesson plan, not even a hint of where we left off, I usually like to reorganize the desks before the kids return for a fresh start and that wasn't going to happen. I hadn't even had my morning cup of joe, or breakfast; nor did I pack a lunch, because I just knew the day was a teacher day of scantily preparing for the upcoming week. Full of lesson planning, meetings, staff development, sitting through slide-shows, and impromptu mottos and speeches of how great the remainder of the year will be and how exemplary the TAKS scores will be. Complete with laid out continental-style breakfast, hot coffee brewd and ready to drink, and an hour and a half (if we're lucky) lunch.
NOT!!!
I wondered why my colleage had called me the night before ( I curse anyone who contacts me outside school hours to discuss school) Seriously...don't do that!! LOL! However, in the back of my mind, I wished I would have taken the call. Then, and only then, would I not be so baffled as to what I would have on the objective for the day.
Others in the department came to me asking what I had on my plate for the day. I had no time to discuss. I raced like a mule horse to the teacher study to get a coke and hopefully a smile. I wasn't exhausted, but heavy eyes were sure to adorn my face within the hour. It was inevitable!
After I got myself together, drank half the bottle of coke, I sat at my desk, turned on the computer and began to sift through the dozens of emails I had recieved in the course of the morning. Are you kidding me?!!?? I ask again. I collectively looked for any indication of what I could do for the classes. Then it doned on me. I was in this alone.
First class. "Good morning! Happy New Year! Today you will create a review poster. You will work in groups and to complete this assignment. Your job is to visually teach others about your assigned topic!" Perfect I thought. Group activity. Thinking. Collaborating. Heck, but not every class can do this. Keeping it real, not all classes are on the same level to produce the same results. I have to come up with a back up lesson. Mission accomplished. By the end of the first class I was ready to conqueror those little 5th graders. I had energy and a PLAN!!