DC Metro Moms

Memories of Michael

Thriller was the first album I ever purchased with my own money.  I remember walking by the music store at the Hillsdale Shopping Center while out shopping with my parents when I was 10 and needing Michael Jackson’s album so badly.  At the time, Thriller was all over the radio, along with Madonna and Huey Lewis and the News, but I wanted Michael’s album more than any of the others. I handed over the $8.99 plus tax and proudly carried my tape home with me.  I pulled the cassette out of its plastic box so many times to listen to Thriller, Beat It, Billie Jean, Wanna Be Startin’ Something, and others over and over again on my Sony Walkman, memorizing the lyrics to all the songs on the album. 

Tonight when my husband came home, we talked about the death of Michael Jackson as we were preparing dinner.  We reminisced about some of his great songs, our failed attempts to learn to do the moonwalk, humanitarian efforts through the recording of We Are the World, and all the sensationalistic news that the media loved including Michael’s hair catching on fire during the filming of a Pepsi commercial, rumors of sleeping in an oxygen chamber, a marriage to Lisa Marie Presley, and his appearance on an MTV awards show to accept a fabricated award.

The Effect of the Recession on Public Education

Dear Recession,

You know it is hard to be a teacher.  It is even harder to be a public school teacher in a recession.  The budget shortfalls have finally trickled down into the schools meaning that positions are being cut, cost of living raises are being overlooked in favor of keeping class sizes small, and budgets are basically nonexistent.  We have a new president who has a vision of this generation competing on a global level but I just don’t see it happening unless you turn around soon.

How can we do an effective job of imparting the knowledge to this generation of children when we lack funding?  Enrollment is projected to increase again next year but where will the money for teachers come from?  You can’t hire teachers and not give them a salary.  Everyone wants smaller class sizes but having 20 students in a class means more teachers that our school system just can’t afford.  Remember earlier this year when you cut our staff by 4 teachers?  Not cool.

PBS and Me

PBS has always been part of my life, beginning in childhood, following me throughout my career as a teacher, and now as a mom.  As a kid, I woke up early on Sunday mornings to watch 3 hours of back to back Sesame Street episodes on our local PBS affiliate each Sunday morning. As a teacher, I’ve taught PBS TeacherLine online professional development courses for educators and now work as the Community Manager for PBS Teachers in a role that connects me to the education division, a select group of brilliant Teacher Leaders, and 40,000 teachers in our online community. And most importantly, PBS has been instrumental in providing high quality programming that my children are exposed to on a daily basis.

As a parent, I’m very particular about our children’s screen time.  I scrutinize what my kids watch and limit the amount of time they spend on the computer and watching television.But I grew up on PBS and I think I turned out pretty darn well so it was natural for me to turn to PBS when my children were old enough for some screen time.

As my kids have grown, their preferences for shows has grown along with them. First Sesame Street was replaced by Clifford, then Super Why came on to the scene, and now our DVR is loaded with on demand episodes of Between the Lions, Curious George, Word Girl, and Sid the Science Kid.And of course both children like to get on PBSKids.org or PBSKids Island to play interactive games and video clips that accompany their favorite shows. 

Make Teacher Appreciation Week Last All Year!

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week.  As a teacher, I have to say that while I love the gestures by our fabulous PTA, I would like to be appreciated all year long and not just one week during the year. 

Before you throw rocks at me for thinking that I’m greedy, I’m not asking you to spend money on me.  I don’t want you to organize lunches for me and my colleagues every day, have your children make me cards as part of their homework, nor do I want fistfuls of flowers on a regular basis, or teacher tchotchkes to adorn my desk.

Instead, I’d prefer to be appreciated by ongoing gestures that occur throughout the year.  They aren’t grandiose but I always loved it when parents showed up on time for conferences, kept their child home if they were sick, checked their child’s backpack on a semi-regular basis, kept the lines of communication open (even to complain), and displayed a genuine interest in their child’s learning.

Swine Flu is in My Montgomery County ‘Hood- Let the War Begin!

While Yahoo News may be proclaiming that Swine Flu cases are leveling off in Mexico, there’s a case of suspected swine flu in my neighborhood.  This afternoon Montgomery County issued a press release saying that there is a probable case of swine flu in our county and the location of the newly suspected case?  In a high school student who lives right behind our house.

I’ve been following the news and tracking the instances of Swine Flu through the realtime Google Map that updates suspected cases in the country.  Three days ago there were no reported cases and now news reports indicate that there are 8.  All week I’ve been feeling like it’s only a matter of time until Swine Flu comes to the DC Metro Area.  Now that it’s here, I wonder about the possible implications for me and my family.   

I’m not taking Swine Flu lightly.  To me, it is like the enemy who is ready to make its move on our family at any moment.  I’m determined to keep the foe at bay by battling it at work and not letting it infiltrate our home.

Guess What? I'm Addicted to the Internet

Does your internet habit:

• Keep you online while your family sleeps
• Include reading the news online
• Allow you to facilitate in your real life friendships
• Involve reading blogs or writing your own blog

If so, you may be addicted to the internet.  I know I am.

CNNHealth.com's Why Moms Are At Risk for Internet Addiction states says that moms like me are “contributing to a growing global addiction.”  Psychiatrists are moving to recognize the internet as an addiction just like alcohol dependency which would make it an official mental disorder.

A mental disorder?!?  I’m online a lot both personally and professionally but I don’t my use of the internet should be classified as a mental disorder.  As a modern mom who juggles work, family, and tries to have a little bit of a life outside of being a parent, my

 internet usage is just a way of life

Elation to Frustration...Trying for White House Easter Egg Roll Tickets

How did you spend your Thursday?  If you were like me and so many other DC Metro parents you probably spent a portion of it online trying to secure White House Easter Egg Roll tickets for your family only to experience hope, disappointment, and frustration repeatedly throughout the day.

This year the White House abandoned the old practice of waiting in line on the Ellipse the weekend before the event.  When I first heard that tickets were going to be distributed online, I thought this was a brilliant idea.  No longer would families be camping out, trading parenting shifts to secure highly coveted tickets.  Going online to reserve tickets seemed like a much more humane method of ticketing.

Or so I thought. Since the ticketing information was quite vague, there was a lot of speculation about the process for obtaining tickets.  The official website did not say what time today the online ticketing portal would open and there were also rumors of a lottery system.  Speculation abounded on my various DC mom listservs, Twitter, and through my friends on Facebook. 

When ticketing finally became available, it was clear that the Obama Administration and/or the online ticketing system powered by Front Gate Tickets did not to understand the lengths that parents will go to for White House Easter Egg Roll tickets whether waiting outside in the cold or camping out online. 

Teaching Today's Students Lessons on Digital Citizenship and Consequences for Cyber Bullying

I’ve always been proud to say that I’m from Palo Alto, California, the heart of Silicon Valley.  I grew up in two blocks from Steve Jobs’ home on a street adjacent to Sand Hill Road, home to numerous venture capital companies that helped fund the dot com boom.  I never really gave it a second thought when I biked by the garage where Hewlett and Packard developed their first computer en route to a friend’s house.  Now when we visit my family, we walk right by Facebook’s headquarters when we head downtown to grab a bento box at our favorite sushi joint.  Yes, I’ve always been proud to say that I’m from Palo Alto because the prestigious technology originating from Silicon Valley has changed our lives but not always for the better.

Imagine my shock to discover that 100 students at my former high school used Facebook to cyber bully another student with mean, cruel, vicious comments that defamed his character through personal attacks. Students launched an online assault through a Facebook group “just for fun.”  No one should ever be subjected to bullying whether in a physical face-to-face altercation or one online.

I am horrified to learn about the behaviors of these students and appalled that nothing more than deactivating their Facebook accounts will be done. Nothing is being done to protect the victim or punish the perpetrators.  The Palo Alto Unified School District says that the students will not be punished because the comments were posted over the weekend and not during school hours.  The victim is truly the victim and it seems like the only consequence for the 100 bullies is to have their Facebook accounts deactivated. The Palo Alto Unified School District should take responsibility for ensuring that its students are responsible digital citizens and make them take accountable for their actions even when off campus outside of school hours like other school systems across the nation have done.

I Want My MTV

After splitting my days as a WOHM and a SAHM and spending my evenings as a WAHM, I have the need to sit down in front of the tube and watch television as an escape. Some nights I clamor for the mystery of LOST, the high drama of ER, globe trotting adventures of Anthony Bourdain, or hilarity of The Office. But other nights I just want my MTV.

I may be well beyond the target MTV demographic but there’s something so mindless about the shows that just sucks me in. I’m not embarrassed to admit that on any given day there are episodes of Cribs, The Real World, Run’s House, Daddy’s Girls, The Hills, The City, and My Super Sweet Sixteen waiting for me on our DVR. So maybe the drama is manufactured, the characters are fake, and the reality of the reality TV is far gone but there’s harmless fun in sitting down and being a voyeur into the world of Lauren, Whitney, and Reverend Run or getting a laugh out of the antics of Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, and Chris.

Ready for Kindergarten! Ready for Testing?

Last week our little girl turned 5 and as she prepares to leave her idyllic world of preschool, I’m not sure if I’m ready for her to go to kindergarten this fall.  Kindergarten not only means that she’s growing up but also signifies a world of public school and the start of standardized testing.

As a teacher for the same public school system she will attend, I know first hand what testing looks like.  It starts off innocently with a reading assessment and some running records to determine what reading group she will be in.  Then math timed math tests and spelling tests come in first grade.  Second grade is all about practicing and honing skills to prepare for third grade and the battery of standardized tests that follow.
CTBS, MSA, MAP-R…Will