Insight and Hindsight

  The Cult The people I surround myself with is 100% on purpose. I have been really bad about keeping up with my blog. So first off, I want to apologize for that because I know that people are actually reading this and somewhat enjoying it. I feel like I owe something to my readers to give them a schedule to keep me on. But dang it, if it's not a parallel to what I wanted to talk about. How many teachers have friends outside of work that are teachers? It's a phenomenon that I never really noticed until my wife brought it up. I don't know if it's just us or if this impacts other teachers: We have very few teacher friends. Hear me out, it's not like we weren't friendly with other teachers or were polite at required functions. I have taught with some wonderful human beings over my 13 years. But there aren't many that I would purposefully hang out with outside of school. There have been attempts at Friday Appetizers or other social events, but nothing that I rea

And I Thought Being a Parent Was Hard Before Magic claw has no children. His days are free and easy. - Bandit Heeler It's so hard to start this one on the right note. In no way shape or form do I ever want to come across as perfect, nor do I want to be cynical. If this next statement offends you, maybe it should? Maybe it shouldn't? I feel like the best way to be is to press onward hoping that you still want to come along for the ride. PARENTING AS A TEACHER IS SO MUCH EASIER THAN PARENTING AS AN 8-5er. There. It's said. It's out in the ether.  Who would ever want a meeting with a teacher at 7:00pm on a Thursday?  Why can't you come get little Johnny right after school because he is sick? Don't you love your kid?  Why aren't these parents more involved in their kid's lives? The parents should help with homework.  You forgot your homework? What irresponsible parents you must have! What do you mean you didn't have time at home to do your 15 minutes of

 New Job, Who Dis? I'm having fun learning something new?  I started my job at Reynolds and Reynolds mid August in the Remote Software Implementation (RSI) and part of the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) division. Once I actually figure out what I'm doing I'll be able to better articulate what I do. I'm learning that there is so much proprietary and confidential information that I now have access to. I have to check what I write and what I talk about. Since most people reading this probably have nothing to do with car dealerships, I shouldn't have to worry but I will probably be vague on purpose if there is sensitive information.  Regardless, I wanted to take some time to hit on what my training looked like and how I'm bring my teaching experience into what I've done so far. I arrived on Monday for my photo and badge. THANK GOD MY WIFE TOLD ME TO NOT WEAR A SUIT JACKET. I would have looked like a total schmuck on my first day. Everyone wore business l

Survivor's Guilt First day of school jitters have nothing on changing jobs. It's such a weird feeling when you have gotten so used to the "First Day of School" or "Back to School" routine and it changes drastically. As a teacher you are used to the back to school meetings: greetings from the superintendent saying how great your year is going to be; staffing changes and fresh meat to the district; new challenges that we are going to go beat together as a family. It's the same old song and dance as it was before. You zone out as you are planning what your classroom is going to look like or what finishing touches are left before open house.  Social media reminded me this was all going on last week. Teachers with Pinterest level classrooms that they purchased through Teacher-Pay-Teachers and "look at my cute kid" posts were popping up everywhere. It is usually a time to look at all the cool stuff that I could steal for my own class.  Not this time.

Welcome! Who am I? My name is Matt and I've never written a blog before, but I thought I should give it a try. This is going to be a collection of ramblings and musings--thoughts and wonders that I have been holding onto for the last 13 years in the public sector as an Elementary School Teacher. I started my educationally career at the Warren County Career Center's now defunct Teacher Academy program. It was an amazing program where I got 250 document hours of observations and walked out with a completed PRAXIS binder. For those new to teaching, the PRAXIS was the old certification system to show that Teachers knew what they were doing and could get their license renewed. You know, just something extra that they had to do to prove that teachers had the knowledge and abilities to teach. I loved my time here and found that I was more than prepared for what College would throw at me. College was at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. I'll always look back on my time there fondly