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| I got a nice new digital camera for Christmas. So, I thought I might make an offer. I'm thinking of getting back into the whole xanga thing again. I've been so ridiculously busy at school, etc that I haven't even had time to read YOUR xangas, but I think it might be a good idea for me to start again. So here's the deal: I'll promise to post (w/pictures, if requested) and check/comment on everyone's xangas at least once a week IF folks are interested in reading and IF someone can tell me how to make this majigger private so I can keep this private and vent about work without hurting feelings. Let me know if you'd like me to recommence the ol'postin'. It'll be my p. to get back to the j., what? Happy New Year's Eve Eve!!! | | |
| By popular request, a brief description of my day.
What I said before this is: I usually meet informally with students on my floor for about 45 minutes after sign-in three of four times per week.
RutherfordTheBrv (12:11:53 AM): that's why I'm often not around
RutherfordTheBrv (12:12:24 AM): and the student senate asked me to a sort of assistant advisor, I advise the cooking club, the Boffer club, the Adventure Club, and I'm in charge of student work assignments in the dorms
RutherfordTheBrv (12:12:31 AM): plus I'm working on rewriting the handbook
RutherfordTheBrv (12:12:47 AM): and I go to Creative Writing and AP Lit every day except Wednesdays
RutherfordTheBrv (12:13:08 AM): with Dr. Bolstridge, who you MUST meet eventually (we went out for coffee and dessert tonight)
RutherfordTheBrv (12:13:43 AM): and then I'm on duty from 6 until the following morning on Sundays, Tuesdays, alternate Wednesdays and every other weekend
LilithLaDiosa2k2 (12:14:47 AM): geez!
RutherfordTheBrv (12:14:51 AM): which means I need to supervise and facilitate interwing visitation (7-7:45), study hours (8-10), nightly sign-in with the help of my student RAs (11 on weekdays, 11:30 on weekends), and give out student meds (6:15 and 10:00, usually)
LilithLaDiosa2k2 (12:14:53 AM): i didnt realize just what all you were up to
RutherfordTheBrv (12:15:11 AM): yeah 
RutherfordTheBrv (12:15:29 AM): I should post that in my xanga, huh?
LilithLaDiosa2k2 (12:15:45 AM): totally
LilithLaDiosa2k2 (12:15:49 AM): just copy and paste
RutherfordTheBrv (12:16:04 AM): will do
LilithLaDiosa2k2 (12:16:09 AM): awesome
LilithLaDiosa2k2 (12:16:10 AM):
LilithLaDiosa2k2 (12:16:18 AM): oh, michael, i'm so proud of you though, this sounds so great!
LilithLaDiosa2k2 (12:16:33 AM): hugely busy.....pretty much as busy as i was last year, but i bet you are loving it so much!
RutherfordTheBrv (12:16:41 AM): almost all the time
LilithLaDiosa2k2 (12:16:53 AM): of courseO
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| I can't explain how excited I am about what I'm going to be doing.
August 13th is going to be the beginning of my career. Not my job. Not the preparation for my job. My career. My vocation. I'm finally going to start professionally making a difference ... and I don't think I've ever been more excited.
It's going to be a pretty massive shift. I'm going to be homesick, sometimes bored, sometimes lonely, sometimes overworked.
The school isn't what I always pictured. It isn't beautiful. It's old. It's in poor shape. It's in the middle of nowhere. I always expected it to look like this:
instead, it looks like this:
But everyone who works there, everyone I met, has this totally unquenchable spirit. They believe in what they're doing. It's a kind of missionary. AND they want ME to help them recreate this world ... to help them make it something even better.
The kids are who really sold me. Mrs. Bowker was charming and enthusiastic ... I can't wait to work with her. Mr. Warner was very nice, very complimentary. He was also comforting and familiar. I'm looking forward to learning from him. The old RIs were very energetic and honest. I think they may become friends. But the students. They were incredible. They were wonderful. They were excited to learn. They were tripping over one another to talk with me. I always thought my problem would be getting students to speak in class. I think now I may have to learn how to get them to listen!
I can't wait to begin. I can't wait to see what the environment of this place is going to be. I love finding out what students need. At the college, my advisees needed to learn to think outside the norm, to be pushed beyond their goal-oriented view of education. At the Academy, my students needed to learn that college wasn't everything. I don't know what my students at MSSM will need from me and I can't wait to find out. I hope they bug me ALL the time. I hope they come to me at midnight with problems and dreams and questions.
I think I've always looked for a mission. Maybe I've found it? I was reading this story today and it reminded me of missions. I think I've always craved missions. I think I've always wanted to lead and show. I hope my students want that from me as well.
Woodrow Wilson once wrote the following:
"You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand."
I think that is the bottom line for it all. If this place is as good as it sounds, I'm going to encourage all the friends I've worked on my school with to come here and teach with me, as posts open up.
I don't want to get too excited about things, but I think it's best to express how I'm feeling!
This entry is dedicated to the character who, honestly, made me want to do all the things I want to do:
1.) Create a home for like-minded individuals dedicated to finding other like-minded individuals and helping them exceed their potential
2.) Teach tolerance, the beauty of life and strength of diversity
3.) Dream big and never give up
"The essence of optimism is that it takes no account of the present, but it is a source of inspiration, of vitality and hope where others have resigned; it enables a man to hold his head high, to claim the future for himself and not to abandon it to his enemy."-- Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-45),
This one's for you:
For more information, click here or ask me to fill you in.
"Any dream worth having is a dream worth fighting for." | | |
| I'm just writing to let you know that I was offered and accepted a job at the Maine School of Science and Math. It's a really interesting school. Unlike a lot of the places to which I've applied, MSSM is, technically, a public school. It is also a boarding school. Essentially, it is a school for gifted, motivated kids. It offers a liberal arts education with a very strong emphasis on Science. Its Humanities Department (which includes Art, English, History, and Foreign Language) is tiny and the school is looking to expand. They were eager to accept someone who specialized in British Literature.
So this fall, I'll be moving back into the dorms. I'm going to be what they call a Resident Intern. I'll be performing basic RD-type things (with student Proctors to help). During the first term, I'll be shadowing one of the three English teachers. In the second term, I've been invited to design an elective of my choosing. At this point, it will either be a general overview of British Lit or it will be a course on Arthurian Literature. I have PLENTY of time to decide.
The school is absolutely, positively more fundamentally in the middle of nowhere then I have ever been in my life. The folks who work there say that the life of the school keeps one so busy that it doesn't matter. I hope to heck that they're right. Nevertheless, the reason I chose this school is because they offer a private school education to any student, virtually free of charge. The school is a meritocracy and the merit isn't even grades, it's the desire to excel.
Anyway, I'll send you more info as it becomes available.
For more info: The Maine School of Math and Science | | |
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