Monday Morning Memo Number Four

Where I reside there are lots of orchards.  Lots and lots.  Especially popular, for reasons unknown to me, are cherry orchards.  Because of this, around the middle of July to the middle of August, cherry harvest mania grips southern Utah County. 

What does this mania consist of you ask?  Well, it consists of many, many, many teenagers, Nebo School District employees, and others heading to the various cherry plantations to stand at conveyor belts watching cherries roll by for three to four weeks of intenseness (some of my brothers, who who worked said conveyor belts during their high school days, probably still have nightmares).  There are two different shifts: 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. or 7:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. six days a week.  (This clip will give you a good idea of what it is like but there are a lot more cherries than chocolates.)

Luckily for me, I avoided the conveyor belt madness and was able to drive a forklift around all night on the graveyard shift.  Although I didn't love all of it (especially from about 2:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m. when I wasn't sure the shift would ever end), I actually really enjoyed "working cherries".

Here are some observations:    

- There's something about really difficult work that, upon completion, makes you feel good about yourself.  (Kind of like when you go running).

- There are obviously some less than impressive people in this world, but there are also a lot of really good, really honorable people of every age, gender, and race out there.  People are good. 

- This was my view all night.  Pretty cool right.  (Disclaimer: Just so you know, this is not a picture I took because both my camera and the camera operator are total garbage).

Monday Morning Memo: Number Three

I have decided that Daniel Tiger can basically give you everything you need to survive emotionally.  Here are the five of my favorite lessons (with a couple of honorable mentions added because I couldn't leave them out).

- "Saying I'm sorry is the first step, then how can I help."

- "In some ways we are different, but in so many ways, we are the same."

- "It's okay to feel sad sometimes, but little by little, you'll feel better again."

- "When you feel so mad that you want to roar, take a step back and count to for."

- And my personal favorite: "It's alright to take a break, to be alone, to step away.  Sometimes you want to be alone." (I might have had a few tears when I first watched this.)

Honorable Mentions: "If you have to go potty, stop and go right away" and "When you're feeling frustrated, take a step back and ask for help."

Monday Morning Memo: Number Two

Next Tuesday we teachers in the Nebo District for Schools report back to our posts. I'm excited, I love my job and summer has worn out its welcome.

Some people wonder how I could possible enjoy a profession where I have to interact constantly with teenagers.  I admit, teaching is not for everyone, but here five things I love about teaching:

I love . . .

- November.  This is when my students start to not hate me.  My teaching style is an acquired taste (kind of like Pork Rinds) so when the students first come in they are not sure what to make of me.  By November they start to understand my sense of humor (although they don't always appreciate it) and they realize I'm not as boring as they first thought.

- when students turn in something to me and tell me how stressed they were about the assignment.  I like when they get a little stressed (but not too much) because then I know I'm pushing them.  And if I'm pushing them, then I know I'm doing my job.

- the excitement that accompanies the beginning of a school year.  Not everybody loves school, there are some who seriously hate it, but a lot of students (although they would deny it if you asked them) enjoy being at school, at least at the beginning of the school year.  By February that's not always the case, but in August it's kind of exciting.

- knowing that when my kids get to high school, I am going to have all kinds of options of checking up on them. 

- those rare occasions when the majority of the class thinks I'm funny.  I know that is hard to believe, but it does happen.  In twelve years it's happened only two or three times, but when it does, man, those classes are fun to teach.