Mrs. Hillbilly Mom is going out with a blaze of glory!
She was the subject of an impromptu discussion at the convening of the Newmentia Lunch Time Think Tank. The Woodsman mentioned something about those pesky S L O requirements concerning the U O I, and the man in charge announced, "If you'd like to see a good one, look at Mrs. Hillbilly Mom's. It's EXEMPLARY. In fact, I saved it in a file marked "EXEMPLARY." I think I'm going to print it out to use as an example."
OH, YEAH! Said in Mrs. Hillbilly Mom's head, with the inflection of The Kool-Aid Man.
Uh huh. Mrs. HM has never been used as a good example. Even though she IS a good example. An EXEMPLARY example, to be exact. And has been, all these 28 years. It's just that she went unrecognized. And now credit is being given where credit is long overdue.
So...to be humble about it, I told The Woodsman, "Well, I have SO many years of experience." You know. I didn't want to brag, being such a Master Teacher and all.
Then, as irony would have it, a rain cloud shouldering its way in on Mrs. Hillbilly Mom's moment in the sun...I turned to the man in charge, and commented how I was not impressed by those new standards that I received in an email this morning. The ones that still have to be approved by the state of Missouri. Told him how I read through all three sciences, middle school and high school levels, comparing them with what we teach now. This new IN thing in Missouri education. The final version that is being sent for a vote of approval.
"I'm really not that impressed with the Sidewalks."
If only Mrs. Hillbilly Mom was more limber, she would have crawled right under that lunch table in embarrassment. Because the man in charge gave her a quizzical look, and said,
"Oh. You mean the Crosswalks."
Teachers who are THAT emplary should take one sick day/mental health day/lunch with Mabel day/writing day off every week... and as the school year comes closer to ending, two or three... to equal, say... 96.
ReplyDeleteSioux,
ReplyDeleteI choose to lead by example. To Pied-Piper my way out the door. Smug in the knowledge that at my eventual funeral, all those colleagues will say, "That Mrs. Hillbilly Mom! She was an exemplary example to the very end, accumulating 96 sick days when she KNEW she was only getting $20 apiece for them!"
Or, as Mabel puts it, they'll say, "Who was Mrs. Hillbilly Mom?"