“Courage is fire, and bullying is smoke.” –Benjamin Disraeli (British Prime Minister and Novelist. 1804-1881)

One of the ongoing challenges amongst leaders in education is preventing and managing cyberbullying. This has been an issue for me through my entire (although short) career, and continues to be to this day. As a matter of fact, the first bullying situation I ever had to work with was cyberbullying, and it remains to be the most challenging.

Several school districts, including Lindenwold, have policies that address bullying. In the past, school districts mostly dealt with incidents of bullying that occurred in the school. Now, with increased access to technology, school districts, including ours, have policies that allow us to address any situation, in or out of school, that can disrupt a students learning, including all forms of bullying and harassment.

So, yes, it's a huge step that we have actions that we can take when someone is being cyberbullies, but how do we prevent it? This has been racking my brain for years. I have seen so many students hurt by posts that people have put on their Myspace pages. More than once, I've seen fake Myspace pages made for students with the sole purpose of publishing false information about the person, or to manipulate another. Many are done with no purpose but to completely embarrass someone.

Why is this so pervasive? Because you can be anonymous. Isn't it ironic that one can publicly humiliate someone while hiding behind their computer? It's really hard to accuse someone of cyberbullying, and, often times, the incident is left unresolved, and the victim is left embarrassed.

So what can I do? As educators, we try our best to teach students core values and ethics within the confines of our profession. We try to teach students how they must treat others in order to be successful and productive citizens. We have special mediation and conflict resolution programs for people to talk with each other. We have highly skilled counselors ready and willing to help resolve any conflict at any time. We block certain websites, we put policy in place, we focus on instruction, and we never ignore bullying. But is this enough?

got me workin' day and night

Recently, two of my best friends, who also happen to be my colleagues, were honored as Hometown Heros.  Now, between you, me, and the rest of the interweb, I am very proud of them.  Being so close to two people that are seen in such an honorable light, in turn, makes me feel honored.  

The dream of everyone who honorably enters any profession hopefully is to make a positive, and hopefully memorable impact in that field.  Whether is saving lives, the planet, or a ruined hollandaise, we all want to leave that profession knowing that we haven't spent the past 30 or more years working in vain.  To be  acknowledged by the students you've motivated, inspired, and/or hopefully educated is one form of that blessing.  Although these two educators are confident in front of a classroom full of students, they are very humble women in constant search of better and more effective ways of reaching their students and staff.  

 As I relentlessly, and often painfully, watch students move through and beyond high school, I pray that they all find that profession that makes them stay up late at night, work on weekends, and talk about it in their spare time. If in 5 years, I have former student stop by and tell me about their first out of college job with excitement, invigoration, and exhaustion, that will be my bonus.  

where troubles melt like lemondrops

Last night, I had the esteemed honor of orchestra seats at the most critically acclaimed theatrical production in recent history. It was the opening night of my 6-year old nephew's school play, Wizard of Oz. Unfortunately, my nephew's stellar performances as a munchkin and a guardsman were eclipsed by that Dorothy chick and her ruby slippers.

Yesterday was an exceptionally rough day. It's that troubling time of the year where the sky is gray, the weather is cold, seniors are anxious, and everyone is in the middle of mid-terms...the antithesis of the 4th of July. To make matters worse, I hadn't slept all night and, like most, am sick. So needless to say, I was not in the best mood yesterday. I certainly was not in the mood to drive up to the tundra of North Jersey on a school night knowing that I would not get back until well after my bedtime. So I did while simultaneously praising myself for being the best Auntie any first grader could have.

So I get to my nephew's school and I spot my sister and my niece saving seats for my mother and me. My niece runs over to me and accosts me with her hugs, kisses, and display of her newest fashion finds (she's 4 and already plagued with consuming shoe and accessory addiction). The play begins, and the moment I see that extra tall (surprising?) and lanky kid with the little gapped-tooth face looking out in the crowd and waiving for his family, my heart melts and all is right in the world. I thanked them with ice cream.

Here is a picture of my niece showing off the most recent piece in her collection

the lesson

Yesterday, I learned one of the most valuable life lessons ever...seriously, a top 5. An old boss of mine, who is now my professional mentor, decided to have a tea party yesterday. You can imagine how excited I was about going to a tea party...you know I'm not exactly the dainty, pinkie-in-the-air kinda girl. But then she said that she wanted to celebrate some of the most extraordinary women in her life, and she was inviting me. Well how on earth can I refuse that? People, when someone thinks your extraordinary, or at least wants to put you in the same room with other people that they think are extraordinary, you show up, even you have to behave yourself.

So I'm driving to Medford thinking "What on earth am I going to have in common with these women? Am I even going to understand what they are saying? I hope they don't talk about books. The last thing I read was the last issue of Elle with Beyonce on the cover." So I get there, and I nervously sit down, and the most extraordinary thing happened amongst all of these extraordinary women....I actually had a good time! We actually talked about ordinary things...which I must say is much more fun with extraordinary women.

During the tea, our hostess gave us a most extraordinary gift. She gave us a picture of a frozen lake by her home with a caption that reads "In the midst of winter, I found, within me, a beautiful summer" --Albert Camus (it's appropriately place on a bookshelf in my office..come take a look!). Recently, she had been going through a more trying time in her life, and she felt that the best thing that she could do for her self was to celebrate...and she was right. I could see this by the glow projecting through her the entire time we were together...my friend had found her summer.

Here, my friends, is the lesson. Whether is for a year, a day, or a moment, sometimes life is hard, exceptionally hard. When the going gets tough, sometimes the best thing you can do is be surrounded by the blessings in your life...even when we want to run and hide. Hopefully, we all have friends that can help us do this. If we are extraordinary, we can do this for ourselves.

umm, kids? school ended 2 hours ago

I never said the kids were shy.

Ah Brielle, looking as lovely as ever in her lemon.  

Who gave him the pipe?

I had to take this one 3 times before Sheeron (right) would crack a smile.  

are you seriously that fabulous? seriously?

I've been inspired.  We have this fabulous Senior Project Seminar at LHS full of some of the most dedicated, creative, and hard working seniors out there.   A few months ago, the suggestion was made at a committee meeting that the students should blog about there experiences.  I think every one's eyes lit up with excitement, and our fabulous teacher, Mr. Abrams, got the ball rolling. So now, everyone of of these brilliant minds has a brilliant blog.  How do I know the quality of the blogs?  Well, when I was supposed to be, oh I don't know, helping kids find insight in themselves and plan their future or something, I read every single one.  I read about projects ranging from Fashion (hey girl!)  to education, to sign language, and on and on.  Reading these reflections, not only about their projects, but about themselves, has truly opened my eyes...I will be stalking them regularly. 

 So this motley crew has inspired me to start my own blog.  I promise that it will never be as fascinating to read as theirs, but hopefully, you'll can at least enjoy the pictures!