MCC Friday Reflections

      On Monday I had to take our youngest daughter to see her orthopedic surgeon.  We’ve been keeping a close eye on her spine and hips; monitoring her scoliosis and hip displacements (respectively).  Among other things, Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) is a “progressive” disease in that those afflicted with it get progressively worse over time.  Needless to say this dictates that we must keep a close eye on her muscular as well as skeletal systems. The appointment did not go quite the way we expected it to go…without going into too much detail I can say we had to make some hard decisions…and we are working through the logistics of those decisions. The last thing that day I needed on my mind was to have to think about how my class was faring with a sub.  My energies needed to be with my family, they needed to be with the thought processes my wife and I went through, they needed to be with Ella. When I returned on Tuesday I sat at my de...

     There’s always a bittersweet feeling after Spring Break.  At this time, as a teacher, I fully realize that it’s all downhill from here.  April quickly turns to May and summer is upon us.       I reach back to August of last year…the room was fresh, the air warm, and the novelty for the kids was abound.  Methodically time marches along and I find myself sitting in an empty classroom early this morning.  The desks are all in their proper places, the morning works sits idly on top of the desks waiting to be completed.  The floor is clean and the wastepaper baskets are empty.  Silence permeates the room.  All of this, of course, will change dramatically quite soon as the students arrive and they bring with them much.         Twenty-one individuals…each have a story to tell of their own.  Each one has a plethora of emotions that follow them through their days.  They have as...