I used tracing paper. Super cool. Felt like cheating as I drew, but then I realized I was able to draw at a level of detail I’m not used to. We’ve found four scorpions in the house and one in the pool thus far.
Arizona
Basking in Arizona
Good Company
I’m in a room of about 100 teachers from all over Arizona. I feel blessed to be here. We’re all pursuing National Board Certification. Sure, we get a (small) financial award, but the biggest reason that we’ve shown up is that each of us will deepen our teaching practice and bring more to each of our 30 – 180 students each day.
The great majority of teachers are exceptional people.
And then there are these bigots (who ought to lose their jobs):
13% of their student body is Latin-American. Idaho needs to do better for the children.
Heat
+
=
Arizona Summer
Illuminate the room and observe the scene
shake your shoes out before you put them on
for his creepy form signals a torturous mien
he’s a venomous stinger, the scorpion
Can I See I.D. Please?
My newly licensed 16 year old drove herself to Target to purchase cement glue for a poster project. They wouldn’t allow her to buy it because she has to be at least 18.
In Arizona, the minimum age to purchase a gun is also 18.
You know, because they are equally dangerous.
I’m a Teacher, Not a Martyr
Mr. Wright is leaving. He’s my daughters’ high school orchestra teacher. Everyone is deeply saddened because he’s an exceptional teacher and person. In fact, he just won the district’s exemplary teacher’s award. His students were crestfallen – he’s such an amazing teacher! This is his dream job. So why is he leaving?
Because he can’t afford to stay: His wife stays at home and he has children he must support and can’t with a teacher’s salary.
This is wrong.
One of my co-workers is a single mom and her two sons are not covered under health insurance because she can’t afford it. Every sniffle, ache and potential accident gives her great cause to worry.
This is wrong.
Arizona has been identified as the worst for teacher pay and teacher friendliness by at least two separate studies. More teachers are leaving than entering with each year. Even substitute teachers are in great shortage.
This is wrong.
It’s time to make things right in Arizona’s education system. You can ignore the symptoms of any illness, but that doesn’t mean it will go away.
A Teacher Shortage, You Say?
What could possibly be the effect should this continue?
Solutions currently being considered implemented:
- Hire teachers from abroad (Philippines);
- Hire unqualified people;
- Hire long-term substitute teachers;
Raise teacher pay
Oh Wilbur!
Is there any other animal so unfairly maligned and misunderstood? Pigs are not dirty. They’re intelligent, curious and clean.
And just TODAY, it was reported that collared peccaries (javelinas) may actually mourn each other’s deaths. Thanks to an 8 year old’s science fair project, there is video footage showing javelinas nuzzling, sleeping next to and protecting a fellow corpse for ten days. (Pigs and javelinas are only distantly related…but still…!)
Fun facts: pigs have poor eyesight, but excellent sense of smell (hence the truffle finding). They are also smarter than dogs.
On Love and Life
X is for Xeriscape*
Succulents and needles,
Sand and stone,
In this arid land
I’m not alone
Quail eggs, scorpion and snake on the floor
Wren, dove, and hummingbird above
All of us move unruffled and unrushed
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust
*Part of my alphabiography series
Kismet 