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Dec. 31, 2009

2:04 a.m.

If I’m gonna get one more entry in this year, I guess now would be the time to do it. I’ve been home for the past six weeks and go out again on Sunday. My time home has been fantastic. A good bit of it has been tied up working on edited chapters of Becoming a Win-Win Teacher, but otherwise, I’ve been really indulging my nesting instinct.

Unfortunately, I haven’t been sleeping well. Holiday indulgences haven’t helped much. But I’m feeling pretty good and I’m in a good space, so let’s start with that. As long as I’m awake.

Life after Book

I started my current journal a week or so after the blog entry below with a comment about how once I sent in the final chapter, I immediately started to feel a change in the rhythm of my life. I was doing something beside writing, checking resources, or doing research for more than a dozen hours a day, day after day.

“In addition to cooking, baking, and crafts (knitting—new project—and beading on an old one), I’ve been out with friends three times in the past three days,” I wrote. I was busy with Italian class again, taking a knitting class, and downstairs (where my office and studio are), digging out of the piles that had accumulated during the year that I was writing or on the road. (In one day, I managed to create five bags of recycled paper from piles of catalogues and mail and expired coupons and other junk I had on or around my desk.)

Then Came November

The good news: I had a lot of work. This has been a very slow year, which has turned out to be a good thing in terms of having the time I needed to get this book done, but which left my income for 09 way down (even with back-to-back bookings last month). So this was a good thing.

Economy and income notwithstanding, My last “run” brought me to a tough decision. (This stretch involved seven full-day presentations in eight days starting in the Washington, DC area working my way across the U.S. and Canada to end the week in Vancouver.) I know people who seem to thrive on the rhythm of presenting and traveling five days in a row, but I’ve realized that I’ve never quite adjusted to the demands of this kind of schedule.

So I’ve decided to take a little break from working with the Bureau of Education and Research. These past ten years have afforded me much work, fantastic experiences, great coaching, and many new markets I might never have reached on my own. I’m neither closing doors nor burning bridges, but my schedule has taken its toll on my body (in particular) and I need some time to give it more attention than it’s gotten lately. Nothing’s wrong (and I’d kind of like to keep it that way) but I’m tired of the grind, and after one last week in February, I will not be booking any dates with BER, at least for the 2010-2011 school year.

...and the Holidays

I came home on Nov. 21 exhausted, and have been distracted with replacing some office equipment that wasn’t working, dealing with the dietary and schedule demands of having an antique dog (an absolutely wonderful 14 1/2-year-old lab-Shepherd mix), and getting fitted for (and used to) a mouth guard because apparently I’m grinding my teeth a lot these days.

I haven’t touched this site in weeks and with chapters coming back from my editor (which need a fairly immediate turnaround), pretty much everything else in my work-life is on hold. It took me until the beginning of December to write my end of year letter (which I will post on this site soon) and weeks to send out something like 250 cards.

Every year, I swear it’ll be my last, but I will admit that each card affords me a brief moment to commune with—and feel connected to—someone (or people) I genuinely care about. There’s something about a card that just isn’t the same as electronic communications, so I don’t know. But there are practical and economic considerations to take into account, so I really don’t know how much longer this habit will continue.

Thank God for online shopping, although I did do a lot of last-minute running around, as a week before gift-giving time, I hadn’t gotten a thing. (My mom’s package didn’t go out until two days ago, and I still have two more small packages to put together.)

My office is beyond cluttered—between holiday stuff (boxes, wrapping paper, miscellaneous gifts and cards), stuff to give away, a new printer, and piles of papers and books and stuff I still need to sort and either file, answer, put away, or toss, it’s actually hard to walk through the space.

More in a bit, as I’m starting to fade (thankfully...)

Oct. 7, 2009

Done! Done! Done!

Writing a book, there are several versions of “done.” On September 18, I finished the last chapter of the book for beginning teachers. Rough around the edges, but I sent it in anyway. That was the end of the constructing phase of the book, the part where I pulled material from over 1000 pages of quotes and notes and research I’d accumulated over the past two years.

The next stage of “done” was when I put the entire manuscript together and read it through, start to finish, adding data that had come in from last-minute email contributions and two final interviews. I also had a couple places where I needed to craft a couple of end-of-chapter activities, so I went back and filled those in.

And then on Saturday, Oct. 3, at 4:12 p.m. Mountain time, I hit send on an email to my editor. Of course I have since found out that one statistic I had included was off by 1 and somebody sent me a lovely quote I would like to fit in. And of course the entire thing goes through several layers of editing, but as far as the act of “writing a book” goes, I’m done.

A bit of a snag

I actually would have had the thing done a bit sooner except that on Friday, Sept. 25, I was coming back from a lovely job in Indianapolis and managed to do the unthinkable: I left my laptop on the plane when we landed in Atlanta. Unbelievable. And worse, when I went back for it, it was already gone.

I held onto the hope for the next week that somebody would have turned it in to Lost and Found (which, from my experience, exists in name only—I have never once recovered anything I left on a plane) but nothing. Zero.

So in the middle of everything, I’ve had to go through all my accounts and change all my passwords, buy a new laptop, upgrade software, and reinstall everything. A very expensive venture, in time and money.

And although I take full responsibility for being too (choose one: tired, distracted, stupid, careless, whatever) to remember to take my laptop, which I’d been using the entire trip, it’s really hard to get my head and heart around the idea that somebody could just assume it was OK to walk off with the thing.

I’m trying to think of the loss as a cleansing, an opportunity for a fresh start. And no complaints about my new laptop (a 13" MacBook Pro that’s really just lovely), but for the first few days it was hard to look at it without thinking about the one that was never turned in.

So yeah, it’s a computer. A thing. Except for two days’ worth of work on the manuscript and (maybe) my notes from the last Geek cruise, I had everything backed up. Could have been much, much worse. Letting it go...

Sept. 15, 2009

Down to the last chapter now

I haven’t had a minute to work on any part of my site for the past month. In fact, I have simply stopped paying attention to the rest of my life to get this thing finished. I missed a friend’s party after I promised I’d come and didn’t even realize I’d spaced it out for an entire week. I just happened to stop down at my desk (I haven’t been in my office hardly at all since June!) on the day the pile of tax stuff needed to be sent in. I pulled a file for a job next week and panicked when I didn’t see my flight information in there. (I actually had booked my travel but forgot to run off anything to put in the file or on my calendar.)

Stuff like that.

The good news: I have, since my last post, turned in chapters 10-13 and I started 14 today. My intention: To finish the rough draft of the final chapter by this weekend and then spend a couple days going through the entire thing and turning it in.

And then, getting back to my life. I’ve been posting my progress on Facebook and Twitter, but thought I’d at least drop a line here as well.

August 22, 2009

Starting Chapter 10 today

I sent in Chapter 9, a long, weighty chapter to help beginning teachers build their support teams (with administrators, parents, and certified and classified staff) about a week ago. I’ve been going through the remaining 500 pages of notes I have for this book and guess what! They don’t all fit.

No surprise there. I knew as this book was taking shape, that it would focus more on the political environment (becoming a successful win-win teacer in a win-lose system) and it’s become clear that the management and organizational topics I had originally planned to address don’t fit conceptually at this point either (in addition to space considerations).

In fact, I’ve officially proposed to my editor that we actually consider doing a third book in the “win-win” series, this one on managing a win-win classroom—after I’ve had a bit of a break from writing so I can get back to the rest of my life, that is! I haven’t heard back yet, so stay tuned.

I started work on chapter 10, but got distracted going through some of the initial reviews of Being a Successful Teacher. This book was originally scheduled to be a new, significantly updated edition of that book, but has spun off in a very different direction, and as a result of some of the suggestions, spent much of the day researching the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act so I could include two additional sentences and a rather lengthy footnote regarding that legislation.

Two sentences. The result of several hours’s work. Crimony. No wonder this thing is taking so long.

So here’s the plan: Finish chapter 10—another weighty chapter (on the importance of connecting, gathering data, resolving power issues, and maybe some stuff on the social and emotional climate) finally dealing with what goes on inside the classroom after spending the previous 9 chapters addressing ways to deal with the system itself.

After that, two short chapters on issues related to growing your career and taking care of yourself. And then, other than some polishing and tweaking, that should be it.

A master of procrastination, and a couple days to play

If I stand back and objectively look at where I’m spending my time when I’m at my computer, it’s clear that only a small portion is devoted to the work I need to get done. I’ve set my email to only check for mail once an hour, but I find myself going back to manually see if anything new has come in, or going on Facebook to see what all my friends are up to, or (more likely) launching Bejeweled, “just to play one level.”

Ha!

I think the distractions are an indication of the lack of balance I’ve been writing about as long as I’ve had a blog. I took a couple days off this week, sort of, to have lunch with one friend and, the next day, breakfast with another, after which we went to see the latest Harry Potter film. (We’d seen the previous five films together.) I also went out for dinner with Jerry as a belated celebration of our 30th anniversary last month, after which we went to see Suzanne Vega perform at the Kimo, a beautiful Pueblo Deco Theater in downtown Albuquerque. A wonderful evening and a fantastic break.

Unfortunately, a good bit of time has been devoted to seeing my chiropractor and acupuncturist to reduce some of the stress on my body that comes from 14- to 16-hour writing days.

Do you Tweet?

Yes, I am now on Twitter and finding all kinds of fun things to tweet—some about what I’m up to, but more about links I’m finding for parents and teachers. I am wondering how many educators are actually on Twitter and, of those, how many are actually using it for educational, informational, or professional development purposes.

We educators have always been a little behind the curve on these things, but usually manage to catch up, so I’ll keep tweeting. In the meantime, let me recommend two resources by people I know and count as friends. Check out John Kremer’s free resource, “138 Ways to Tweet: What to Tweet, How to Tweet.” And here’s a review of David Pogue’s The World According to Twitter.

In the meantime, there’s a link at the top of this page as well as on my home page to click if you want to get short and sweet (and generally informative) messages from me.

August 1 , 2009

Home again after 3 weeks in Asia

Six countries in three weeks including three new additions to my list: Indonesia, China, and South Korea. (Also, although I had counted Japan because of two transfer stops at Narita airport, I actually got to visit two towns on this trip, Fukuoka and Nagasaki.)

I actually got home on July 20th and had started this entry the next day and just got distracted. I was on Vampire time for a week, although unlike a good little Vampire, I didn’t have the sense to sleep during the day. Couldn’t actually. Just wired and wide awake except for maybe a couple hours here or there around daybreak. Worst jet lag I’ve had in years. Coming east over 10 time zones is really tough and a few people I’ve spoken with still aren’t on local time!

What a remarkable trip! I had hoped to blog the trip, started a page and never got back to it. No time. Every minute of those three weeks was jammed with something—a meeting, a presentation, travel, changing hotels or rooms, a meal, a class (another Geek cruise with classes all day or after excursions), or yet another shower (it was really hot and muggy everywhere I went). And I came home to Chapter 8 (since sent off to my editor) which required every spare minute and brain cell, and I’m now working on Chapter 9. So I doubt I’ll ever get back to posting details, but I do have photos up (links below), at least for now.

I wouldn’t have done this trip any other way, squeezing as much into every day as humanly possible, but as always, I came back fried. Fortunately, not sick this time, just exhausted. This was such an eye-opening experience, and especially those last two days in and around Beijing, even those of us who are seasoned travelers and have seen a lot of this world were walking around with our mouths open, like we’d never been out of our own back yards.

As a bit of background for my time in China, I read The Good Earth (somehow managed to miss reading that before now), which I finished in my hotel room the night I got to Beijing. And serendipitously, I found a copy of In Mao’s Shadow: The Struggle for the Soul of a New China by Phillip P. Pan in the airport in Albuquerque just as I was leaving! I’d strongly recommend both books for a look at what’s been going on over there for the past hundred years or so.

Amazing place! Some serious problems (pollution, corruption), but the transformation (in the cities, at least) is astonishing. I’d go back in a second.

See the photos

I have posted some photos from each part of the trip:

July 3: Singapore
July 4-5: Jahor Bahru, Malaysia workshop
July 6: Batam, Indonesia (and a few other photos)
July 13: Cheju, South Korea
July 14: Fukuoka, Japan
July 15: Nagasaki, Japan
July 17-18: Restaurant in Beijing and Temple of Heaven
July 18: The Antiques Market, Beijing
July 18: The Great Wall (and a surprise dinner)
July 19: Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City
July 19: Gardens, Hutongs, and Olympic Buildings

I would love to fill in some of the details—of being the only American, apparently, in Batam (Indonesia), of coming out of an intense ten hours of computer classes to everyone else on the ship speaking Chinese, of the two-day seminar in Malaysia or dinner on Arab street a few days later to follow up with some of the participants and some friends of theirs, of the presentation at the International Principals’ Confederation and the number of people I met from all over the world there, of the kids...

Oh, the kids were just fabulous! I have added more than a hundred new photos to my pre-presentation slide show. The teens (and little ones, too) who wanted to practice their English with me. I wanted to take them ALL home. I’ve included a few in the pictures linked above.

Now on Twitter

Like I have time for this! But, apparently, I can not be without Twitter. I got an account months ago and had people following me (where? why?) and am finally getting back to it.

I sat in on Leo Laporte’s presentation on Social Networking and have been looking at John Kremer’s “Tips on Tweeting” and am still just getting the hang of it, but I’ve found some interesting sites and videos and facts to share in addition to personal stuff (“Still can’t sleep...” “Watching this cool show on...”).

If you’d like to get in on what I’m finding, learning, seeing, and doing, click here to follow me on Twitter.

July 4 , 2009

Greetings from Malaysia!

I arrived in Singapore about 72 hours ago and am nowhere near on local time yet. (I keep falling asleep at 5 pm.) I am working with my friend and colleague, Siti Hamidah Bahashwan, presenting a two-day seminar on win-win strategies for parents, counselors, and teachers. It’s a small group, lovely people.

I am always so touched by how similar the issues are for adults dealing with kids—no matter where I am, no matter who attends. The questions and concerns always seem to be the same, regardless of geographic, cultural, religious, or economic differences. It’s very satisfying to be doing the work I’m doing, and I’m very grateful for these opportunities.

I have made several attempts to work on the book since I left home, but am having a very hard time focusing. I’m blaming jet lag and general exhaustion (which is not entirely unreasonable), not to mention a simple lack of time. I have more to share, but am simply too tired to add anything else right now.

May 19, 2009

Part One is DONE!

Yesterday around one in the morning, I finished reading through the first section of the book (out of two, but the second “half” will be longer, I’m sure). I moved a couple sections around and things kind of fell into place. After nearly two years of agonizing over this thing, despite the fact that I still have a really scary amount to add to this manuscript, this feels really good.

I spent the day today going through the files with all my scraps and notes and articles and papers. (Anybody who suffered through my work on Creating Emotionally Safe Schools back in 1999-2000 may remember the 1500 index cards I had—in shorthand no less!—from hundreds and hundreds of articles and books.

I didn’t have the time I needed to do that for this project because of having agreed to a stupid and unrealistic deadline that’s actually been making me sleepless and sick (REAL smart, Bluestein!) so what I have are cut up pieces of over 800 pages of printed out stuff, some stuff (books and articles) that never made it to the electronic file, and recently, some stuff I entered into the “source” Word file that I haven’t printed out and probably don’t know I have.

(Does anybody actually care about this?)

Add to that the fact that my outline and organization have changed at least three, maybe four times, so I’ve had to go through the hundreds of scraps and pages (etc.) and sort them into the current (and certainly LAST) incarnation.

So that’s where I’m at, as they say. The next step is starting in on the section on “your professional identity,” which includes stuff on expectations, politics, organization and management, and perceptions about your role.

I need to keep this really tight or this book will be a thousand pages long. Always a problem when trying to keep a “big picture” perspective. (And yes, Mom, I really do have that much to say!) I’m really getting desperate to have this done and get on with the rest of my life.

I have been writing for hours and hours on end every day, and that’s pretty much what’s necessary to make this kind of progress. (And I really liked what I turned in yesterday, so this really is the best I’ve felt about this project since I started working on it.

At some point (tomorrow) I will have to get down to my office and bill my last job, install some software on my desktop computer, call tech support about the scanner that doesn’t work, and follow up on a few potential jobs and orders. But even if this entry is all the celebration I do, I did need to acknowledge this big step!

Other Books in my Life

My book group has picked some real winners so far this year, so I’ve got a couple recommendations:

The Book Thief

I love young adult literature and this book, about a young girl in Germany (beginning in 1938), was incredible. So many engaging characters and great examples of people’s potential for simple decency in horrific circumstances. Cool device: The book is narrated by death.

The Worst Hard Time

A non-fiction account of the development of the dustbowl and the people and towns primarily in Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado and northeastern New Mexico. So much I didn’t know or hadn’t realized. And if anybody wants a little perspective on the economy, check out how people survived in the early 30s, with no safety nets in place. I also found that keeping the prosperity of subsequent decades in mind helped keep me in a much more positive space than I might have been, reacting to what’s happening now.

The Art of Racing in the Rain

I just finished this one about 3 days ago and still feel like the characters are with me. I don’t know that I’ve read many books that have touched me the way this one did, when a book has made me laugh as loud or cry as hard. (The book is narrated by the coolest dog in the universe.) Being married to a Formula One racing fan (who read the book before I did and couldn’t wait for me to finish so we could talk about it), I was not only familiar with names and events, but had been to the track in Imola (and Senna’s memorial) as well as the museum in Maranello just this past November, which made the book even more personal and special. And I understood every word of the few lines in Italian. I absolutely loved this book.

2009 Blog: January through April.

Other “Highlights” pages: 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011. For an index to all blogs, photos, and other personal information, click here.

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