Let me begin by saying the following things to the Youngsters who are thinking about becoming a K-12 Teacher.
If you have any doubts about liking Youngsters. Save yourself a lot of time & Money and DON’T DO IT!
Most Rookie Teachers quit after a year or two. On your 1st day look to your left & right during orientation day. Those folks will not be there in a year or less!
It will be the hardest job that you will undertake. I still say that the US Army was a little bit easier but not by much.
I met more Characters in my District than I ever did in the Army.
In the Army I would just have to say that I wanted something done. Most of the time, Folks would actually do something about it. Both Good or bad.
In Teaching, you will have to learn the fine art of nagging to get close to the same results at times. That & when to do it!
I was a very lucky teacher as I almost never had problems with my students. But I can not say the same about the so called adults involved at school.
Everyday was a struggle to keep my reputation at work
Never count on anybody at school! They will always let you down. But always do your best to keep your word. It will really pay off later!
Be interested in your students and ask them questions. It will pay off in spades!
Be nice to the Support Staff as nobody else does! Especially the Janitor, Who ever is in charge of supplies and The School Secretary (The Power behind the Throne) As they can make or break you!
More later, Good Luck as you are going to really need it!
Grumpy
Category: Dear Grumpy Advice on Teaching in Today’s Classroom
Activists demand more social justice in Medieval Studies
- Conference organizers, however, insist that workshops like “How to Be a White Ally in Medieval Studies 101” and “Toxic Medievalisms” were rejected based on standard criteria such as lack of intellectual justification.
A prominent association of medieval studies scholars has pledged to boycott the discipline’s largest annual conference over a lack of social justice programming.
On July 11, the BABEL Working Group published an open letter to the organizers of the International Congress on Medieval Studies (ICMS), which is planning to host its annual conference of about 3,000 academics at Western Michigan University in May 2019, outlining two “concerns” about the conference.
On July 11, the BABEL Working Group published an open letter to the organizers of the International Congress on Medieval Studies (ICMS), which is planning to host its annual conference of about 3,000 academics at Western Michigan University in May 2019, outlining two “concerns” about the conference.
“Decisions that seem in favor of ‘academic freedom’ or ‘fairness’ to the current small group of decision-makers, for others, reinforce structural inequalities.” Tweet This
“The first is that there seems to be a bias against, or lack of interest in, sessions that are self-critical of medieval studies, or focused on the politics of the field in the present, especially relative to issues of decoloniality, globalization, and anti-racism,” the letter explains, adding that the second concern relates to an alleged “lack of transparency around the process by which ICMS programming decisions are made.”
[RELATED: Profs fear ‘alt-right’ is taking over Medieval Studies]
The letter, which has been signed by more than 600 people as of press time, argues that by rejecting workshops such as “How to Be a White Ally in Medieval Studies 101,” “Toxic Medievalisms,” and “Intersectionality and the Medieval Romance,” the ICMS organizers are hurting scholars of color and excluding their perspectives.
“The rejection of multiple sessions co-sponsored by Medievalists of Color (MOC) in particular minimizes the intellectual guidance that scholars of color would provide at the conference, when these scholars are already severely underrepresented in the field,” the letter protests.
Other workshops rejected by ICMS organizers included “Toxic Medievalisms: Misuses and Abuses of the Medieval in Contemporary Culture,” “Race and the Medieval,” “Translations of Power: Race, Class, and Gender Intersectionality in the Middle Ages I and II,” and more.
[RELATED: Prof: ‘white marble’ in artwork contributes to white supremacy]
While the BABEL Working Group suggests foul play, a review of previous conference schedulesindicates that social justice issues are not typically discussed at the conference.
Instead, workshops on topics such as “Commemorating Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians,” “Transmaterial Dynamics between Italy and Iran,” and “Law as Culture: Inquisition, Landholding, and Murder” are more likely to be seen during the event.
In an effort to influence the topics of discussion at the upcoming conference, the BABEL Working Group demands that the ICMS organizers allow at least two of the previously rejected workshops to be added to the 2019 schedule, threatening to withdraw thousands of dollars in annual support if the ICMS does not comply.
“If ICMS chooses not to recognize the special urgency of supporting the Medievalists of Color this year…the BABEL Working Group does not anticipate putting more of our collective resources into the Congress,” the open letter warns.
[RELATED: University drops ‘Crusaders’ nickname to be ‘welcoming and inclusive’]
“Now is an urgent, contested time in medieval studies and in the world at large,” the letter asserts. “What may look like duplicate sessions to the current small group of decision-makers are, for others, urgently different conversations that need to happen for the field to be inclusive and to move forward. Decisions that seem in favor of ‘academic freedom’ or ‘fairness’ to the current small group of decision-makers, for others, reinforce structural inequalities.”
The letter goes on to invoke “the current political climate here in the US and abroad” as justification for why the rejected workshop proposals should be reinstated, suggesting that the field of medieval studies should serve as “a site of resistance” against the “darker forces” of nationalism and academic freedom.
“We implore the Congress Committee to work together with us to ensure that the discipline of medieval studies will act as a site of resistance to, and also refuge from, these darker forces,” the letter concludes.
[RELATED: Prof: ‘Privileging of standard English’ is ‘linguistic racism’]
In an interview with Campus Reform, ICMS spokeswoman Paula Davis said that conference workshops are approved based on a strict criteria, including “the intellectual justifications offered for individual sessions,” “the balance of topics addressed,” “the balance of sessions of various formats,” and “apparent redundancies among proposed sessions.”
Davis noted that the ICMS is aware of the open letter, but explained that the group will only respond if and when the letter is formally presented to the organizers of the upcoming conference.
CORRECTION: This article has been corrected to reflect that the International Congress on Medieval Studies conference will be held at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, not Kalamazoo College.
Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @Toni_Airaksinen
Your Students Parents & Administrators usually don’t have much of a sense of humor for some reason on this subject!
The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest military decoration awarded for valour “in the face of the enemy”. It takes precedence over all other orders, decorations and medals. VCs are cast from the bronze cascabels of two cannons that were captured from the Russians at the siege of Sevastopol in 1854-1855.
Lance Corporal Joshua Leakey receives the Victoria Cross from the Queen at Buckingham Palace. L/Cpl Leakey became the first living British recipient of the medal from the Afghan conflict for his courage in three times running through heavy fire to set up machine guns and beat back a Taliban attack in August 2013. The 1 Para man showed “complete disregard” for his own safety as the group came under attack from around 20 insurgents armed with machine guns and rocket propelled grenades in Helmand province.
This medal by the way is awarded by most of the British Commonwealth / Empire Armed Forces. The troops call it the Very Careless Medal by the way. As you really have to not have a care / death wish in the world to win it.
Somebody here picked the wrong guy to piss off!
Ditto for this idiots in Afghanistan lately
Lance Corporal Joshua Leakey receives the Victoria Cross from the Queen at Buckingham Palace. L/Cpl Leakey became the first living British recipient of the medal from the Afghan conflict for his courage in three times running through heavy fire to set up machine guns and beat back a Taliban attack in August 2013. The 1 Para man showed “complete disregard” for his own safety as the group came under attack from around 20 insurgents armed with machine guns and rocket propelled grenades in Helmand province.
This medal by the way is awarded by most of the British Commonwealth / Empire Armed Forces. The troops call it the Very Careless Medal by the way. As you really have to not have a care / death wish in the world to win it.
Somebody here picked the wrong guy to piss off!
Ditto for this idiots in Afghanistan lately
Stand Your Ground
U.S.A. –-(Ammoland.com)- After being in the firearms self-defense instruction business for over 40 years, I have been asked many times what it the most important skill I could pass on to a new student. It made me think each time it was asked. And the answer has been and still is……. Awareness and mindset.
It never ceases to amaze me that most concealed carry permit holders have never been in a violent encounter or even a fist fight.
I have developed a syllabus that covers awareness and mindset in all our curriculum regardless of the platform. Pistol, shotgun or carbine.
We start with several issues, warrior mindset, both definition and application. Next the OODA Loop, history, and usage. Then on to Color Codes of Awareness of USMC and Jeff Cooper fame. The history and usage. How it applies to everyday use. Then on to the dynamics of a violent encounter or patterns of conflict.
The final piece of this puzzle is to know what the TELLS of a violent encounter with another person looks like. A TELL will give you an idea in advance of a violent encounter. A violent criminal does not start a violent encounter in a vacuum. There are many tell tale signs of the oncoming violent encounter, but you must know the signs or tells.
So here we go:
- Verbalization- “I am going to kick your ass” “So, you think you are a badass?” “You will be sorry” “. Those are easy ones. But they can be very offsetting also. “Hey, can you help me out?” “Have any spare change?” “I need some help” Those are meant to get you to lower your guard, gain sympathy and allow invasion of personal space.
- Visable overt awareness- Visible weapons, unusual nervousness, hidden hands.
- Asumption of a fighter stance or bladed stance.
- Looking around to see if they are alone, no witnesses. Looking for an escape route, a possible assistant assailant. Overall assessing their battle area.
- Invasion of personal space .
- Change in Body Language
- Clenching of jaw muscles, clenching and unclenching of fists.
- Blinking eyes unnaturally or squinting. Eye movement changes from the normal 20 closures a minute. Staring hard at or through you.
- Aggression redirected to other objects or people. Kicking cans, kicking or shoving chairs. Smacking walls, breaking pencils, or glasses and inanimate objects. Yelling at others.
- Sweating
- Flared nostrils, heavier than normal breathing. Lips part showing teeth to intake more breath.
- Tensed up posture.
- Stretching back and arms. Opening and closing elbows. Head rolls and neck stretches.
- Removal of excess clothing.
- Pacing, finger pointing shaking fists, over exaggerated hand, and arm movements.
- Facial discoloration, normally to red.
- Dress, what they wear and how they wear it.
Most of these have been noted in a survey that was done by two researchers from University of Toledo, Richard Johnson and Jasmine Aaron in “Adults’ Beliefs Regarding Nonverbal Cues Predictive of Violence. Criminal Justice and Behavior.
When we notice these TELLs, we want to create space and time to make the attack easier to manage or to Avoid, Evade and Escape.
Always remember violent encounters are a mathematical equation of time and distance. The problem is we do not know the digits until the encounter is over.
Time and distance are your friends or your worst enemies.
About Bob Harvey
Bob is a veteran Marine Corps veteran firearms coach PMI, Marine Security Guard, PPSU Instructor, NRA Training Counselor and Instructor. Owner of both South Florida Gun School and SDK Security Consultants. Subject matter expert, an expert trial witness for firearms and their use.
