So, it is October 1st which is a time of year that I love, with sweater weather upon us, apple picking, pumpkin carving and piles of leaves to jump in.  This fall I have something extra on the agenda... I am running for a seat on the School Board here in Freeport.  I have been asked, "Why?" by many and given some warnings against it, but I believe that I have experience that could be very helpful in making decisions regarding our school systems.  I believe that I can be a strong voice for the community.  Along with the reasons Why I am running, I can also tell you what I am not doing; I am not running because my friends are on the board, I am not running to see if I can gain status in the town, I am not running with my own agenda.  I am an independent, I am a moderate, I represent the REAL people of the town, the people with day care struggles, the people with lunch cost struggles, the people with time struggles, the people who aren't pretentious, the people who laugh and the people who care.

I am not going to try to make a show out of things, just to "win".  I am a REAL woman, who has been working in school systems for the past 13 years, before that I was a store manager, running a store in the Old Port.  Before that, I worked in Mass in a Vocational High School teaching students how to run a nursery school.  I have experience with developing a proficiency based report card, I have experience with the Teacher Evaluation process, the Mentor process,  There are a ton of acronyms in education and I am familiar with them all, SLO, TPeg, PPeg, NWEA, RTI, CMP, IEP, LMS, MAP, ELL etc.  I believe that having this experience is invaluable on a school board.  I believe that understanding how critical a copy machine with a hole punch and stapler are to a teacher's room is going to be helpful to our community, to our classrooms, and ultimately our students.

I am not a career politician, I am a Freeport resident with a 5 year old girl and a 10 year old boy who are learning how to become active citizens.  They are the reason I am running.  I know that I can add to the school board and help  enrich RSU 5 and continue with the positive progression.  I will be representing you the REAL people of the town of Freeport.

40 Year old Baby Mommy

Morning Time REALITY

Good Morning!

                  It is now 7:30 am on a Sunday morning and this is the second time I am writing this.  The first one got deleted.  which is ironic as the blog was about time and Reality of being a 41 year old mom.

First, I LoVE my family and my life, I wouldn't change a single thing.  I have a remarkable husband, Pete, who helps with everything; cleaning, cooking, diapers and dog walks(100 lb Chocolate Lab, Otis, our first born)...Oldest child, Parker, soon to be 6 who is so loving, smart, funny and helpful, then our newest addition, Lilly, 8 months old, who is pulling herself up on anything she can find and "cruising" an easy baby who is good natured, eats and is very mellow.  I am truly BLESSED and I know it.  I just want to put out some reality.

All those of you who see cute babies and start to ooh and aahh and wish you had your baby back, or had another baby... Life is Not a diaper commercial!  I get poop on my hands changing diapers, trying to keep kicking feet out of the poopy diaper and trying to keep my active child on the changing table so that she doesn't flip herself over and off the entire thing!

SLEEP!  I have spent most of last night up and down with what little sleep I did get curled up in my sons' car bed, while Lilly crawls around the room.  Of course I am sleeping with one eye open watching her to make sure she is safe and trying to get her back to sleep.  We all are awake at 4:30 am and since then I have made breakfast for both children and fed the dog.  Immediately after that there is the diaper to change and then Otis starts whining that he too needs to go out.  I get that all taken care of and then Parker's game gets frozen and I need to fix that.  Lilly then needs to get some Momma Milk, and I become the dairy Queen:) She finally goes down for her morning nap at about 6:45 and then Parker patiently asks if now I could play with him?  Phew, I need a seat and a sip of coffee.  I wouldn't change a thing.  It would just be nice to have a little more energy and I can't help but think that a younger mom, might have more of that?  Anywho, we are all good.

I just wanted to post some REALITY rather than the snapshot profiles we all put out to the world of clean kids playing in the snow.  Let's not forget how long it takes to put those snow suits on and how many times they have to go to the bathroom after they have it on.  The outfits that we all go through with spit up and dog slobber lands in the perfect spot.  Life is Messy and Exhausting and that's O.K.

I wanted to tell the truth about my Sunday morning and the joys of being a mom, with some dirty dishes in the sink and kids that cry and dogs that whine.  I am not perfect, but together my family is!

Comment and share Your REALITY!

This Is It

It is January, barely, and that always causes an urge in me to revisit those old diaries, begin that well intentioned diet, clean out my closets, get a haircut, whatever it takes to start fresh.  A new beginning.

Well, so far this month has been a bit rocky.  I started it off by rearending a car that had to stop suddenly for a pedestrian in an unlit crosswalk.  Smashing my car and the one in front.  Not something I care to repeat, ever:)  As accidents go, this one was very Undramatic, thank God!  Everyone was very civil and kind, the man I rear ended was honest and understanding and the police officers even joked at me that I had made the "top 10" as this was accident number 9 of the new year!  Here are shameless plugs for all the help:
      *Progressive Insurance was easy and accomodating! 
       *Moody's in Lewiston was AMAZING and it's too bad they fixed smashed cars because I would like to go back there and give them more business, but I don't want me or anyone else I know to have to use them, Hhhmm?? 
       *Enterprise Car rental was exceptional as well, upgrading my rental to the minivan I am now addicted to with no extra charge.  As a mom commuting with an infant and wanting do everything together as a family, we need the room.

Meanwhile, Little Lilly got the flu!  She had gotten the flu shot as soon as she could but the timing wasn't perfect and the poor thing got sick. Talk about scary.  She is so little and helpless and we just kept feeding her and keeping fluids in anyway we could.  She recovered without having to go to the hospital, but she did need a nebulizer.  She loved it and appreciated the fact that she could now breath!  We are all so grateful to the best doctor in the world!! Dr. Brian Knighton and the entire staff at Freeport Family Medical went above and beyond to make sure that Lilly and the whole family were well taken care of!

So here it is the end of January and I've been a little busy with life to think about all those fresh start things and ideas, which may be a blessing in disguise.  Instead I have been refocusing on "This Is It" and appreciating every day we have as a new beginning with endless possibilities.  I am making a re-commitment to living my life One Day at A Time.  I have a healthy family, a warm home, a job I enjoy, groceries in the cupboards and am surrounded by Love, and Laughter:)  I for once do not have the incessant gnawing that I should be changing things just because it is a new year.  I love my life just the way it is:)  

Post Graduate

Here it is...I graduated from Full Sail University with a Masters in Education Media & Design Technology.  My family and I flew down to Florida and had an amazing vacation ending it with me walking across the stage at Full Sail on June 30, 2011!!

I graduated with the feeling of pride and enthusiasm to infuse new ideas and technologies into our school systems.  I graduated feeling hopeful and idealistic that I can help to make a change in education and help the students develop a new love for learning, as I had through this program.  I graduated in amazement at how fun and fulfilling it felt to learn new things and then be able to use these new tools.

It is now the Middle of August, I have been applying madly for teaching positions all over.  I have sent out almost 50 applications.  I have gotten a few interviews, most I knew at the end that it was not meant to be, although I had to wait for weeks for them to get back to me with the official rejection.  I am at a loss!!  I  keep getting the "you don't have enough experience"  You know what? You are right!  I don't have enough experience doing the same old thing, setting up the same old projects.  I have NEW ideas, NEW visions, NEW methods that are exciting and fun and motivating students to learn how to learn!!!

The news last night commented on jobs that are available and that no one is prepared for, math and science is needed more focus on in school.  So, the nation is in a bad way because they aren't being taught math and science...yet HELLO!!  NO one is HIRING teachers who have NEW IDEAS!!!

If you have a connection with a school that is open and willing to use new technology and make learning fun... please contact me:)  I am a passionate teacher who loves to learn and wants to share that love of learning with students.

Wk4 Pub_Lead Presentation

This past month we have been deciding whether to publish a paper or create a presentation.  In an earlier blog I discussed my decision to present at an upcoming conference this summer.  I look forward to the opportunity to share the work that I have done this year and showcasing Learning Management Systems to teachers in the area to get them excited about using them in their classrooms and discussing the advantages.  I have made my presentation very interactive and I hope this will be an engaging and informative time for both my audience and myself.  The following is the presentation, without the notes.  The notes can be viewed at the following link...Jones_Tiffany_Pub_LeadProject

Please feel free to leave your comments, ideas or questions regarding my presentation or Learning Management Systems. 

wk4 Response to Monica Heaney

                                            Monica Heaney

    “Being the Board” is something I’ve learned this year with a full time job, Graduate school, three young children, and a husband. Making the choice to go back to school was difficult, but I committed myself and here I am. If I decided not to go through with this Graduate program, I am certain that I would have blamed my husband for not being able to help out, or the ages of my children and their needs.  I don’t think it was a conscious decision to “be the board,” I needed it to be that way and it has actually benefited my family and me.  Through this crazy year, I have learned to give everyone in my family an A for helping and understanding. They have all kept that grade up. My husband has especially earned the A. I feel like this year we have all become game pieces who worked strategically to get through homework, tests, games, holidays, and special occasions. Now, I can happily say that the end is almost here, my kids are happy and well, and I think food shopping is going to be my husband’s new permanent job. More importantly, my kids have seen the value my husband and I place on education rather than just hear about it. We were all students this year and we have all learned so much.

         My favorite part of Chapter 11 was reading the words of Marianne Williamson. After reading those words over and over, I typed and printed them. I will frame them and hang them in my children’s room. As I read her words, and thought about how I wanted to share them with my children, I also thought how I often want to pass along messages as great as this one. My new goal is to hear them and live them myself first, then pass them along.

Monica, you are such an example of the Marianne Williamson quote.  You have let your own light shine this year through it ALL and by doing that have allowed your family to show their true lights as well.  You have also allowed your group to shine along with you.  This has been a life changing, empowering year, I could not have done it without you!  Thank you for all of your chats and encouragement and laughs and fun!  I know that it is because of our group that I got through this year.  There were times when I wanted to surrender to the negative thoughts of my mechanical self, that I was not good enough to do this.  I too could have come up with a million excuses as to why I shouldn't complete this year.  You were always there with encouragement and support... I am eternally grateful, thank you!  I look forward to seeing where our new journeys bring us:)  

Wk4 Response to Jeannine Berube

Jeannine Berube

Am I willing to live in the Universe of Possibility?  That is the most honest question I can present to  myself as I finish reading this book.   Knowing now not only of this new universe, but also having been given the tools to navigate, am I ready to embark on this new adventure, to learn to be the “BOARD” on which my life is played?  Am I willing to enroll others in the “game” rather than scare them to death; to begin to create new frameworks of possibility, to truly tell the story of WE instead of me? 

I read the Coda too.  The choice is mine.  No condemnation for not practicing is mentioned.  No judgments are made.  Only possibility remains:  CHOICE.  The problem has been and continues to be about choice.  Choice is always the key to making a change, to make possibilities happen.  I can choose to be a “victim” I can choose to be a leader from any chair; I can choose to invent new rules.  I can even choose to invent the game board on which my life will be played. What will I choose?

I can stay where I am, fearful, trying to survive, watching out for me.  I can stay here, worried about what others say or think, or long for connection to others that will not come, at least not according to “their rules”. 

I can choose to create a new universe for my life.  A universe of possibility, where connections are made, where fear or survival does not dictate, but rather love and generosity.   Where students are inspired to learn rather than forced to endure; where colleagues value each other’s gifts and do not undermine each other because their subject is more “important” than another.  To truly lead from any chair means to take the risk that others secretly want to live in the realm of possibility, and simply haven’t realized it yet.     

The practices are just that-PRACTICE!  I will not get it right every time.  I will make mistakes.  I will fail at times.  HOW FASCINATING and I AM SORRY... will become phrases most familiar in my vocabulary. 

What do I want?  Am I willing to make the life-changing effort?  Am I willing to read this book again, and again?  Am I willing to become the being that I am meant to be?  The measured self is crying out in fear and anger.  Who do you think you are?  You can’t do this!  You’re too lazy, you’re too...........

 The central self however has found her voice.  She has something to say!  And her voice is becoming more loud and more clear.  There is nothing to lose and only everything to gain...

BTFI-one moment, one day, one week, one month, one year, one lifetime left at a time...

 I CHOOSE TO LIVE 

 IN THE UNIVERSE OF POSSIBILITY!

Jeannine- you have summarized the empowerment of this book!  Choice, is so powerful, once we grab onto that and develop choice as our center of focus, the possibilities are Endless, much like your rainbow:)  I also loved that you are going to read this book again, I see this book as one I will truly read over and over.  Already, I have gotten so much, I know my next read will be on another level and I will get even more.  We have begun a journey of Joy in finding what the universe has in store for us.  I am thrilled to know that I am not alone on this path and ever grateful to be a part of the WE! Glad you are in the WE with me:)!