I owe my readers a mea culpa for the last month or so, and I wanted to let you in on a little of what’s been going on with me both personally and professionally. No worries, however, I’ll be back blogging soon enough!
So here I sit, in bed rest, waiting for the birth of son #2 (I can’t tell you the name yet or my husband will freak out that I let the cat out of the bag before telling his own folks.) It hasn’t been the smoothest of pregnancies, and I can’t wait to meet the little guy, which will be tomorrow because we’ll be inducing at that time.
In addition, I’m awaiting the metaphorical birth of my first book. It’s title is, drumroll please, ‘Tween Crayons and Curfews: Tips for Middle School Teachers, and it’s due out March 1 courtesy of Eye On Education Publishing. It has been a very interesting process from beginning to end, and they’ve proven to be a great publishing house, very nurturing of a new author, permitting me input every step of the way.
I’ll be publishing some excerpts from the book over the course of the next few weeks over here at Tweenteacher, on my Edutopia blog, and my column at The Huffington Post- nothing too weighty, but just enough to give my readers a taste of the book and truncated advice from some of its different chapters.
Meanwhile, back at my school site, it seems that they are gearing up for more possible lay-offs. I received a scary letter in the mail earlier this week with a checklist of criteria to break ties in the event of seniority list conflicts. The checklist itself is missing so many pieces, I can’t help but wonder who had a hand in its creation. Were there teachers involved, just admin, or is it perhaps from a state template of some kind? Anyway, I dutifully checked, documented, sent it off, and will now focus on the more pressing matters at hand until there’s a more concrete bridge to cross later this semester. Besides, I spent time examining tenure and the seniority list in my 2010 Teacher Magazine article, “Does Last Hired, First Fired Really Make Sense,” so I’m not looking to spend more time and energy on it now.
Nevertheless, the issue of my number on the seniority list won’t be far from my thoughts. Last year, after lay-offs, I was left at only 3 from the bottom, so we’ll see where this all shakes down in the end. Hopefully, due to my years as a teacher and in my current district, I will have a position to return to in the fall after my maternity leave of absence.
In the meantime, I’m off to the hospital to begin a new chapter as a mom of two sons, and I’m off on a journey as a first time author. I’ll be back on the blogging horse in no time, as well, with new news, new perspectives, and new information about the educational world at large.
I’ll be in touch soon, everyone, and update you as things progress on all fronts!
Sincerely,
Heather
© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2011. |
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Post tags: author, blogging, edutopia, eye on education publishing, huffington post, k12, middle school, public school, seniority list, tenure
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