Snow Day Chaos - the Lament is over!

What a difference two weeks makes.

On January 13th I wrote a blog about how my students were lamenting the lack of Snow Days this year (Check it out at: http://bit.ly/SnowDayLament).  Well, the lamenting is over.  Between the snow accumulation and the squalls and the polar vortex, our buses have not run much. This past week has had enough Snow Days to last us for the rest of the year.

I've noticed lots of Social Media posts from upset parents, especially today, the last (at least I hope it's the last) in a long line of cancellations.  The roads here are mostly clear and it is not snowing, but the cold is nasty (Not Winnipeg nasty, but -36 with the windchill nasty).

The decision about bus cancellations does not have anything to do with the school board or teachers.  It's the consortium that runs all the buses that service our schools.  I understand parent's frustration with the disruption, but I also understand that the bus companies do not want to take on the legal risk that an accident, or a child getting frostbite (or worse) waiting for a bus, opens them up to.

It's frustrating for us too.  This is exam week.  Exam schedules have been cancelled, adjusted and  changed repeatedly.  We have been able to get 3/4 written, but will have to finish the last one next week.  Teachers changing schools, or retiring or going on secondments or sabbaticals with exams unwritten are also in a bit of a conundrum - how will they get that exam written, marked and marks submitted, when today is their last day of work?

My students don't write exams, but these snow days are disruptive for them as well.  I work with students with high needs.  These students need a high level of structure and routine every day.  So, when the buses are cancelled, some stay home, but some are driven to school.  I try to run as normal a day as I can, but....

We were supposed to go bowling on Monday.  We've rescheduled it repeatedly and today we finally had to give up on this trip.  Mother Nature just does not want us to go bowling right now.  This was upsetting for a lot of the kids in the program.  Some who were at school wanted us to continue with life as scheduled and demanded to go anyways (impossible with no bus).  A parent called in to let us know her child, who had stayed home, was inconsolable because he thought we would go without him and he could not be persuaded otherwise. Yesterday, one of my students had an emotional meltdown.  She was sobbing and wailing.  "Where are the other kids?"  We had a few stragglers from other classes in our room.  "Who are these kids?"  And the one that broke my heart when I heard it, "When are we going to get back to normal?"

It's frustrating for everyone. (OK, a few of my students are loving the extra days off - but it's going to be tough for them to get back into routine again once we "restart.")  As hardy Canadians and flexible educators,  we will do what we always do, and make the best of it.

In the meantime, I have a message for Mother Nature.  But I can't print it here.  I'm sure she knows.

Frustrated or loving the snow days?  Leave me a message in the comment section below.

Snow Day Dreaming

This week, my class was lamenting the lack of Snow Days this year.  This may be something that many City schools don't have much experience with.  But for any kid that rides a school bus (and that's most of my class), the dream of a Snow Day starts in November and doesn't die until late April. We often have a few each year. This school year, there hasn't been one yet.

Early in the week there was a forecast for Snow Squalls in our region, and that got the Snow Day talk fired up.  I reminded them of my theory about Snow Days.  If you talk about them before they happen, you've jinxed it.  You cannot talk about it and you should avoid thinking about the possibility of one.  For a Snow Day to occur, there has to be the right mix of weather conditions, happening at just the right timing (so the roads can't be cleared before the bus routes begin), with the important element of no expectation of it.  If you are dreaming of a Snow Day, you have to keep that dream as a silent little kernel of hope in the back of your mind.  Say the words, "Snow Day" and you can pretty much guarantee you will be at school the next day.  They said the words.  Hence, no Snow Day this week.

I got a little nostalgic talking about this with them.  Or maybe I'm just reading too many of Doug Peterson's "Whatever happended to.." blog posts.  As an adult, Snow Days don't have the same excitement for me as they did when I was a kid.  In my 24 years in the classroom, they have only closed the school twice.  So, for adult me, a Snow Day means that I will be bundling up in my heavy coat and snowmobile boots for the miserable drive into school on hazardous county roads.  I've had days where my travel time doubles or triples thanks to Old Man Winter.  That white knuckled drive is not fun.  At school, I always have a few students who make it in, so we can't really run a regular day.  Generally those intrepid Students and I use the day to catch up on work, get some good one on one consultation time or work on our Passion Projects with lots of help available.  It's a good day for the students that attend, but it's not the same without our whole tribe there.

I grew up on a dirt road in rural Elgin County.  I remember many Snow Days.  There were so many days where the buses didn't run.  I seem to remember being sent home early on more than one occasion.  There was even a day where we got in the school at the opening bell and our teacher told us not to take our winter gear off, because the buses were on their way to come to take us home.  Once when I was really young, there was a terrible blizzard ('77 or '78 - maybe both) that shut things down for at least a week.

Picture from www.theweathernetwork.com

I remember one nearby school had to call the army out in their caterpillar track vehicles to get students home safely in the storm.  Lots of folks had no hydro for an extended period.  Dad had a generator, so we were still toasty warm.  But, I do remember he had to go to town on the snowmobile to get milk and essential groceries.  The snow piles on the side of our road were legendary.  They seemed to be trying to cover the hydro poles.  One year, we could literally step off the roof of the garage onto a snow drift.

Picture from www.theweathernetwork.com

As a kid, Snow Days were heavenly.  We'd hear Bill Brady give the bus cancellation notice on CFPL AM radio and we would cheer! We could go back to bed.  We could sleep late and then get up and watch TV (not that there was much on for us on daytime TV back then.  Maybe Mr. Dress-Up or the Friendly Giant before lunch on CBC.  In a storm we only got 3 channels - CBC, TVO and maybe CTV). I always liked to read whatever book I was engrossed in at the time or play board games or barbies with my sisters all day.  You could watch out the window and mentally estimate or exaggerate the height of the snow accumulation.  When it was really blowing, it was a thrill to notice if the snow had obliterated the ability to see the mailbox at the end of our lane way.  If the storm died down, you could go outside for a bit and build forts in the snow drifts.  There was always hot chocolate with extra marshmallows for us on a Snow Day.  It was like a holiday that you hadn't planned on.  A gift in the depth of winter.

Nowadays, we don't seem to have as many of them.  Maybe it's global warming, or weather cycles or better snow removal equipment or more snow efficient vehicles with 4 Wheel Drive.  Possibly, it's all of these things.  But, I still remember the excitement that the possibility of a Snow Day brings.  So keep dreaming of those Snow Days, kids.  April is still a long way off.

Does your school experience a lot of Snow Days?   What memories do you have of them from your childhood, or even recently.  What do you do as a teacher when the buses don't run and you only have a few students in your class for the day?  As always, I welcome your comments below.

There Are No Rules in Blogging

What makes a good blog post?  I'm not sure I have the answer to this one.

I was podcasting with Sean Gaillard recently and we talked a bit about this.  I asked him what made him hit publish and were there blogs he started but then abandoned? He said once he started a post, he generally worked at it and hit publish, rarely abandoning an idea.  He then turned the question back on me and asked what my response to the same question would be.  I decided I needed to reflect more on this, as I have abandoned posts I've started before.  He challenged me to blog about that.  Well, Sean, here is what I've come up with...

If you do a search for writing a good post, there is plenty of advice out there.  Most of these Blog-sages" look something like this.   They all talk about having a catchy title, tailoring your post to a specific audience, adding in visuals, keep the post short and sweet and end with a call to action.  I must admit, until today, I haven't really considered this.  I like a catchy title, but I don't always come up with one.  I tend to keep my topics centered around education, but I can meander too.  I often ask a few questions at the end, but more to encourage some feedback, than a call to action.

If I think about blogs that I enjoy reading, I don't think they follow all of these rules or sometimes any of them.  They may be about teaching, but often they are not.  Sometimes I interpret them through my educator's lens, but sometimes they are just fun.  I love Doug Peterson's weekly post "Whatever happened to" - it often brings back memories of my childhood or forgotten technology.   Some blogs I enjoy are long, some are just a paragraph.  Debbie Donksy's  blog is always one that challenges me to think deeper or in a new direction about something, but they are generally much longer than one paragraph.  David Carruthers  has a great blog that generally is short and to the point - but so powerful.  Heidi Solway has a personal blog that always makes me laugh.  And Sean Gaillard's posts almost always bring up a Beatles reference that make me start to sing along.

I guess I follow the "there are no rules in blogging" maxim, whether it's one I'm reading, or one I'm writing.

So, what prompts me to hit post?  Hard to say.  Sometimes I am driving home from work and reflecting on something that's gone well, something that's gone horribly wrong or just something I'm thinking about.  Let me tell you...I've written some pretty amazing posts in my head on that drive home.  Then I sit down at the computer and it all just spills out of me like a tap has been turned on.  Or, I sit down at the computer and... nothing.  The idea that formed on the drive home just doesn't work when I try to put it to paper.  Maybe it's because I've had too much time to think about it, and talked myself out of it.  Maybe the fire I felt on the drive home has been extinguished by the time I get home, or I get sidetracked by some other chore or some other idea.  Perhaps that is a post that just wasn't meant to be.  I still save the false starts.  Maybe they are an idea that needs more time to become fully formed.  Eventually, I come back to them with a clearer idea of what I'm trying to share and finish the post.  Maybe I don't go back to that original idea at all and go on to something new.

A while back, I saw a tweet that said "podcasting is the new blogging."  For me this is not the case.  At least with my I Wish I Knew EDU podcast it isn't.  The podcast is a chance for me to talk to other Educators, get them to share the great things they are doing and share some of the wisdom that they've gained in the classroom with new and experienced Teachers.  It's not about me.  I may be directing the questions and reflecting on what they share, but the podcast is about them.  Certainly, talking to these folks has lead me to blog (like right now), but it really isn't the same as blogging.

Blogging comes from inside my head and heart.  It is less in the moment and more reflective.  I don't spend a lot of time writing it, but I may spend a bit of time thinking about it before I actively start typing it out.  I've spent a few weeks thinking about this post.  But, I'm writing it down in one sitting and will likely hit post once I've read it over once and checked it for spelling mistakes (undoubtedly missing a few).  Once I've got the idea out of me and digitized, I need to set it free by hitting publish.

I guess if I'm going to sum up my definition of a good blog post, it would not be about the rules.  A good blog post, whoever writes it, comes from inside the writer.  It's real.  It's passionate.  It gets me thinking, gives me something new to try in the classroom, makes me laugh or it chokes me up a bit.

My blog posts aren't going to always connect with every reader. That's cool.  Maybe this one hasn't connected with you - although if you've read this far... 😉




Your thoughts on what makes you hit publish, or what makes a good blog post?  Drop them in the comment box below.