Dog Daze
Personal Success
Red4Ed Update 5/2/18 5:15pm MST
Just now, I received this:
#RedForEd must act now. Call, text, or email your legislators. The Governor seems close to passing his partisan budget that we oppose. The House of Representatives is now on the floor with all sixty members taking the first official vote on the budget and debating the budget bills and amendments. The bill is expected to be heard in the Senate soon.
#RedForEd has friendly legislators who will be introducing amendments to the budget that support the #RedForEd demands. This is our chance, and you need to contact legislators now with a simple message. Tell them to support the four #RedForEd amendments:
- Cap class size at 25 students per classroom
- Defines “Teacher” as: any non-administrative personnel who teaches students or supports student academic achievement as defined by the school district governing board or charter school governing body including, but not limited to nurses, counselors, social workers, psychologists, speech pathologists, librarians and academic interventionists.
- Cap student-to-counselor ratio at 250:1
- Student support services personnel should receive a 10% increase equal to the teacher pay proposal, go into base level and be paid for by tax conformity.
Contact your legislators NOW to ask them to the #RedforEd amendments.
Here’s the “Problem”
To the teachers who do not support the Red4Ed Movement – the teachers who actively engage and complain with members of the community who hate us:
What do you tell children who say they want to be a teacher someday? That the job is awesome, but the pay sucks?
How do you reconcile in your mind that schools are using 20-year-old textbooks? What do you suggest I do when I have 37 students, but a computer cart that holds only 15 laptops, with 8 that work?
What is your solution to this?
A new teacher to our district makes $38,500 (gross).
She decides to opt for maximum take home pay, so let’s say she takes home $2,000/month (net). She wants health insurance (of COURSE) and health insurance for her kids. Here are her options:
HDHP 2500 (Cigna Choice HDHP 2500 Plan)
- Employee Only: $10.00 per month
- Employee with children: $452.54 per month (actually, closer to $800/month because we get 18 paychecks, not 24).
These quotes are for a very high deductible – all the other options are more expensive.
And then there is the requisite retirement 11.5% taken out of each paycheck.
And food.
And shelter.
The cost of everything goes up (inflation). And yet, our salaries have been frozen for the past ten years, until this year, when we received a 1% raise. And guess what the Governor was planning on doing? He was going to give us another 1% raise. Gee, so generous!
You say, “Well, I agree with the grievances. It’s just that…I don’t like how it’s happening. We should have walked out just once a week until our needs were met.”
My reply: There is never a good time for a walkout. Never. But if you act like a doormat, you get treated like one.
What will you say when you get a (much) bigger – overdue – raise thanks to the Red4Ed movement? There are teachers out there demanding better for you, for the kids and for our future. Don’t disparage them.
Zzzzzs Are Good
Get 8 Hours of Sleep
“Sleep when you’re dead,” we say. Like it’s some badge of honor how little time we allot to it. Bullshit. The body needs its rest. Schopenhauer said that sleep is the interest we pay on the loan of life. Be glad to pay it. It’s what keeps us alive. Guard your sleep carefully, it’s an obligation. All the other habits and practices listed here become irrelevant if you don’t have the energy and clarity to do them.
Connect to Something Big*
*From Ryan Holiday’s Thought Catalog: Find a Way To Connect To Something Big— Marcus Aurelius would look up at the stars and imagine himself running alongside them, he’d see them for their timelessness and infiniteness. Try that tonight or early in the morning and try to make it a daily practice. A glance at the beautiful expanse of the sky is an antidote to the nagging pettiness of earthly concerns, of our dreams of immortality or fame. But you can find this connection from many sources: A poem. A view from the top floor. A barefoot walk across the grass. A few minutes in a church pew. Just find something bigger than yourself and get in touch with it every single day.
Put the Day Up for Review*
From Ryan Holiday’s blog “13 Habits to Try to do Every Day”
#11: [*] Put The Day Up For Review — We prepared in the morning, now we reflect in the evening. The best way to improve is to review. So, each evening you should, like Seneca did, examine your day and your actions.
The question should be: Did I follow my plans for the day? Was I prepared enough? What could I do better? What have I learned that will help me tomorrow?
I write make a list of tasks (aligned with my goal(s)) on an index card daily. A quick way to review is to check my list. Did I get them all done? And then reflect on how I spent my time. I’ve definitely been checking news too much. Red4Ed affects me directly, so I check to see Ducey’s reaction. But then I fall down the rabbit hole and read irrelevant “news.” Reflecting this way helps me get back on track the next day.
Thanks to the Good and Bad*
First of all, sushi. Definitely a good thing!
*From Ryan Holiday’s blog, Thought Catalog:
[*] Say Thanks—To The Good and Bad — The Stoics saw gratitude as a kind of medicine, that saying “Thank you” for every experience was the key to mental health. “Convince yourself that everything is the gift of the gods,” was how Marcus Aurelius put it, “that things are good and always will be.” Say thanks to a rude person. Say thanks to a bungled project. Say thanks to a delayed package. Why? Because for starters it may have just saved you from something far worse, but mostly because you have no choice in the matter.
Epictetus has said that every situation has two handles: Which are you going to decide to hold onto? The anger or the appreciation? The one of resentment or of thanks?
#Red4Ed (Arizona) Update
The Red4Ed Walkout was a stunning success: 75,000 teachers, students, parents and other supporters marched from Chase Field to the Capitol.
But, of course, there are detractors and fear-mongerers. People who criticize and tell us we’re letting the children down. Who’s letting the children down? Governor Ducey won’t even meet with our AEU! The Legislators took TODAY (a FRIDAY) OFF!
Chandler teachers were told to show up for work on Monday (4/30) or else (!)
But when realizing that too many teachers were standing up for their students and education in Arizona, they backtracked:
Seize the Alive Time*
Ryan Holiday recommends seizing the “alive time.” You know, the moment in front of you – the only one that counts. Look into the eyes of the person speaking to you, don’t check your phone when at lunch with others.
Alive time.
“Face fears. Reach out and connect with someone. Do something you’ve been putting off. Expose ourselves to sunlight and nature. Be still and empty. Prepare for what lies ahead. Or just live because who knows how much time we have left.”
Ryan Holiday
Today, educators from all over Arizona are marching from Chase Field to the Capitol. We are working to create change. Change is uncomfortable. It’s not easy. But it’s necessary and unavoidable.
I march for Lily, who wants to be a teacher someday.
I march for my students, who deserve resources to learn and become critical thinkers and productive adults in our society.
I march for myself and my peers who deserve to have resources to get our jobs done and to feed our families.
I march for education which is the only antidote to discrimination, violence and inhumanity.
*9th Habit from From Ryan Holiday’s blog “13 Habits You Should Adopt Every Single Day” (Thought Catalog)
Think About Death*
*From Ryan Holiday’s Thought Catalog
Kismet 