Live and Learn New Mexico!

I've been noticing that New Mexico school districts are advertising on TV, appealing to qualified educators to teach for them. Los Lunas comes to mind. Still trying to find answers for the teacher shortage through traditional means... What if we instead networked across the state and enlisted teachers to teach for the district online so that they wouldn't have to relocate?  What if we opened up enrollment to learners statewide? If someone moves from a district they can keep their kids in the same school or continue learning from a favorite teacher. It's a thought. Live classes could be more manageable if there are some learners learning from home. They can still maintain a presence in the classroom with video conferencing. Learners could also take classes with different schools, like a combination of online learning with a school like Pecos Cyber Academy and live classes in their own district. Homeschoolers could benefit as well. One criticism of remote learning is that it ...

You would think that with my background and education, I would be a stickler for correct grammar and punctuation. Quite the opposite. I studied the English language and its history for my BA, and I have come to realize over the years that language changes and we need to stop holding on to what doesn't serve us anymore. Punctuation for example. Let's start with the apostrophe. There are actually two reasons we use apostrophes. The first is to take the place of a missing letter or letters. Contractions are a good example.  When we smoosh two words together to make one word, or when we shorten a single word, a letter or two are dropped and the apostrophe takes their place. "Do not" becomes "don't", "cannot" becomes "can't", and "we are" becomes "we're." Sometimes we drop the last letter of a word to make its tone more casual. "I'm just thinkin'," again, a missing letter. Another u...

Usually, whenever I get messages from birds, they are positive, affirming that I am headed in the right direction. My bird friends fly overhead or sit on wires and say hey as we drive by. A nod from a raven is a good thing. Lately, however, it seems like their messages are telling me to stay away --away from what, I don't always know.  The first and loudest incident I'm still thinking about was with a raven that hung out at the local day-care I worked at for two really long, discouraging days.  Whenever I was out on the playground with the kids, this huge bird would fly down from its tree, touch the sand briefly near me, cawing loudly. I asked another caregiver if this was normal. She said it lived in tree nearby but never landed like that. And it wasn't usually so vocal.  At the end of day two, my second and last, I knew I was in the wrong place -- for many reasons.  The raven confirmed it. At day's end it flew from the back of the building, over the ro...

I just worked my first -- and my last -- two days at a preschool. I learned a lot but most importantly, I learned that I cannot work with so many little ones. I'm too old and arthritic to do even the fun stuff. I also learned a lot about early childhood education that I was unaware of before. One thing I learned is that the caregivers who work in the business are knowledgeable about raising kids.  They do a good job socializing them and helping them learn to clean after themselves, use the bathroom, etc.  We tend to think of preschool that way. The teachers are parental figures. I held hands and walked with several sweet souls during afternoon playtime, and I was sad to sense anxiety in so many. Some craved my sole attention, asking question after question, grabbing my hand like it was a lifeline. Some followed me everywhere. Some cried if I came near or even looked at them.  I felt powerless to help them, feeling like I could use the help of a counselor.  We are pay...