Teaching is Demeaning!

If you were to think of a profession that can be insulting, what would it be? Thanks to the new rating system, teachers definitely fit into this category. Teachers used to be rated by getting an E for excellence, S for satisfactory, or a u for unsatisfactory. It was not the best way to rate teachers. However, it was much better than it is now. The powers that be (I call them Lucifer) decided on a new plan. If you are a teacher or have a child that attends school, you know that your child gets his/her score based on a rubric generally scored from a level 1 (being low) to a 4 (high score). Today, they decided to rate teachers on the same scale of 1-4. Teachers are being equated as to how children are scored which is very demeaning. They are also being evaluated by surprise visits from assistant principals/principals. If you have a lesson prepared that you must do because it is part of the curriculum, but you don't feel strong or comfortable teaching it, then hold your breath. Prepare to score a 1. Teachers tend to get bad names from silly movies such as, "Bad Teacher." Unfortunately, they now made this into a TV show which I am sure is disgraceful. The new system puts pressure on teachers causing them to have an overabundance of stress which leads some to illness. Instead of nitpicking and analyzing teachers constantly, think of ways as a whole in order to appreciate teachers and take away some of the rigor and expectations from children. Remember, they are children and deserve to be until they reach adulthood. When teachers and staff feel appreciated, it motivates them to perform effectively. Don't treat teachers like children, but rather educators that were hired to help our future generations.

April 8, 2014
Dear Diary,

This may appear to be one of my strangest blogs by far. However, I am letting you in on my life tonight and I want to share with you a very emotional moment. Tonight, I am pretending that you are my diary and you are part of my deepest secrets, emotions, and inner being.
Tonight I went to my friend's wake. If you are reading this and you are young, you are probably thinking that I am elderly and my friend is in her seventies. However, I am young and my friend was only forty. Mastocytosis is what caused her demise as I have blogged about before. I never heard of this malicious, evil disease before her. At the wake, I saw beautiful photos her family displayed from her past. I looked at pictures of her from her childhood. She was an adorable girl. She also made a beautiful bridesmaid at her brother's wedding. I was able to see how the disease was able to cause her to look deteriorated. When I came home, I decided to go on Facebook and look her up. To my surprise, I found an old email she wrote me wishing my dog, Lucky a happy belated birthday. This put a tear and smile on my face as it showed me how selfless she really was. As sick as she was, she was kind enough to think of my dog. I know that she is no longer in pain, but hope that she is truly happy in a wonderful place as she deserves. Thank you diary for letting me vent my emotions.

PS As you can guess I am not attaching any videos or pictures as usual as you would not see that in a diary entry.

Farewell To A Dear Friend

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about my friend who was not doing too well in the hospital. She suffers from a horrid disease called, Mastocytosis. I wrote a previous blog about the disease as it is not too common. Unfortunately, my friend passed on last night. We all have guilt when someone dies. I feel bad that just this year, at my birthday, I did not really spend as much time with her as I would have liked. If you go in a large group, you generally hang out or gravitate toward two or three close friends and forget about the rest, which is not right, but it is a fact. At least, that is the way it is for me. Unfortunately, I can't say that I was truly close with her. I am thankful for the time we shared together. We once traveled with another close friend of mine to Texas. We went for vacation purposes and visited the Alamo. However, my tummy did not do too well in Texas so it was not the most memorable time for me. Two summers ago, my friend and I decided to have plans and go to a movie,. It would just be the two of us which is a first because we never hung out one on one before. It was always with a group. However, I cold honestly say that we both opened up to each other about many things. She opened up to me about her disease and that is when she had asked me to blog about it in hopes of educating others. I am truly thankful for the day that I was able to spend with her. In honor of my friend I am going to write a simple poem.

She is now an angel in heaven's sky
Did not have time to say goodbye
Inflicted with a rare disease since birth
Did not have too much time to spend on earth
She is no longer in pain and has been set free
Flying on her angelic wings, but taken too early.