WELCOME BACK Practitioners & WELCOME Family Members

I enjoy inviting family members to our graduate research seminar to meet each other and to meet me.

I am the person responsible for some of the sacrifices your spouse/parent/partner will make this semester. 

I am their editor, fan, coach, mentor who will successfully see them through this capstone research process.

They are an example of what research is, the importance of it, and how you need to support them.

Powerpoint of Cohort  Members

Family Presentation (2017)

You can support them in the following ways this semester:

• They will be involved in a project that they are not sure about-so they will be more fragile than usual.

• Provide routines and do things on a temporary basis to relieve some of this stress.

• Your parent/partner will be preoccupied-do not interpret this as indication that they do not love you, care for you, or are neglecting you. There is a reason every book has an Acknowledgement Page. Those who live with writers and researchers are understanding, cognizant that their counterparts are working on something for the greater good.

• Let us feast today for tomorrow will be challenging work to do. We will celebrate in May at the completion of their diligent and focused work.

• Sometimes they may just need to talk and for you to listen to play out their thoughts and to articulate and to make meaning of what they are thinking. Build in some scheduled time together. On Saturdays-family time. Sundays-give them the freedom to work on their project uninterruptedly.

• Practitioners also need to establish a productive working time free from distractions and interruptions and temptations. Support them in accomplishing this.

• Not all of their stress will come from me. They are the ones who will be conducting research in their classrooms. If they are unusually stressed, be proactive and offer to make dinner or suggest to order out to relieve some of the stress. Have a family meeting where responsibilities may be divvied up.

• We all know that this is temporary! By Spring Break (March 21) they will be near the end of their project. Their draft will be due but there may be some minor adjustments which they may still have to take time to do. APRIL TBA is their ORAL EXAMINATION where they will present their classroom research in the SHARED KNOWLEDGE Conference and at RED MESA Education Conference.  I am responsible for their grade in this capstone experience. However, their classroom research is an extension of who they are as professional teachers. They may continue this research on their own in the future.

• We encourage students to simply tell their story-no need for fancy bells or whistles or fancy delivery. We honor the storytelling approach. Practitioner research is the storytelling art of research. So by simply telling who they are, what they did, why and what happened along the way; what new questions arose; where it led them and where they are going from here, comprise their story.

• Questions, concerns…

On May 12, you are invited to their Graduation reception 5-7pm & May 13 Graduation at SJC (UNM ALB GRADUATION is also May 13). When you come to graduation/reception, you will be familiar faces to celebrate their successes together. There is no doubt that they will be successful. That is a given

SYMBOLIC Artifacts:

Ants = Natural, authentic learning

Crayon = Drafts & Revisions

Money = Investments already made & future gains

Puzzle Piece = Piecing the puzzle of your research story together as you go

Rubber Band = Flexible, stretchable thinking

Quote = Trusting yourself & students in the process

Block Letters = Art & craft of your writing and storytelling

Candle = Light of Inspiration & Intuition along the way

Candy = Elements of surprise, satisfaction & enjoyment

TIW Workshop Day

All,

That was an excellent morning of discovery and discussions.  Thank you for your participation, but mostly for your great inquiries and ideas.

To help all of you, I am sharing this link with my TIW, the one that I shared with you earlier about new and experienced teachers.

Having this framework really helped me when I completed my first TIW.  Each one has these components:

your basic info
your purpose
your rationale
your materials
your process (must include a writing prompt and a few activities)
possible extensions
your resources

Hope this helps.

This is the link to my TIW on Evernote...

Pat's TIW

I wish you well with your inquiries!

Passion project: Teacher as Other

Passion is so fickle, change one little aspect of the environment and passions follow along.  Passion is a fashion, it's a tune we artists dance to while others shake their heads and call us crazy.

My new role:  coaching teachers into a fairly rigid, set curriculum that will in some instances, go against long-held beliefs about things like "comprehensible input" and the use of multiple languages in a class organized to teach English.

No matter what cognitive science researches and publishes about human learning, people have deeply anchored beliefs about who, what, and how is best to teach.  Administrators, policy-makers, those who make purchasing decisions about curricula - these folks are often far from the latest science on how humans learn and their decisions often rankle the experienced teacher that stays current on learning theory and practice.

So, teachers are justifiably wary of anyone who is coming into their classrooms from the "district" to "help" them teach in ways they might not understand or support.

Then there's the more personal aspect of receptivity to coaching - what if the coach is crippled, or old or ugly or votes differently from the teacher or has a different way of planning or grading or managing classroom behaviors?  Humans are fairly brutal with "others" and can do great harm to each other in their attempts to bring the wayward other into line.

Teachers themselves face this down everyday - WE ARE OTHER to our students, they have no experience with being the teacher.  We forget the importance of empathy in this struggle.  We have been students, we can empathize with the powerlessness and subjugation of being told what to do, when and where to do it, and with the degradations inherent in institutional settings that often trigger the most vulnerable of our students.

Coaches of teachers can benefit by remembering how they empowered their students, how they did their utmost to downplay the hierarchical and build agency and equity among the students they taught.  But still, at the end of the day, the teacher or the coach needs to see a change.

Is it ok to say, "I can't learn from you.  You are too healthy, sick, young, old, ugly, fat, skinny, white, black, rich or poor for me to believe a word you say!"

Is it ok to say, "I can't teach you.  You are too young, old, healthy, sick, ugly, beautiful, skinny, fat, white or black"?

So now my new passion is finding a way to be credible.  Finding a way to establish trust between teachers, coaches, administrators, true believers in oppressive reformista mindsets, and freedom loving philosophers who started this whole "school" thing in the first place.

Any ideas?

Traveling Mercies

Hello writing family,

Anne Lamott's book, Traveling Mercies, is a blessing.  I just wanted to recommend to to you as I go a-traveling again.

It's kinda cool, when I first taught for the District my family did all sorts of things that left me feeling like I somehow, was an imposter, that I hadn't earned it for myself.  And I'd been teaching in all sorts of venues already, but this was the first time I would be a public school teacher, just like, mom, aunt, sister, grandparents, daddy, and on the list goes.  The imposter thing, it's real and true.

In the way Anne Lamott thinks, all that has happened so far has allowed me to have a chance to see that I was always meant to be a teacher, to know that I'm not an imposter, I'm real. I can bring that reality into service, communication and understanding, to everyone's benefit. We all learn when service is our purpose and language is our tool.

So thanks, keep me in your prayers as I cross the desert and go to the sea.

Drug and Prostitution charges against a FMS Teacher!

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FMS didn't fulfill it's offer to hire me, but criminals go undetected for years. What's up with hating the neuro-atypicals? 

Local teacher faces drug, prostitution charges

Joshua Kellogg, jkellogg@daily-times.com6:12 p.m. MDT August 10, 

(Photo: Courtesy of San Juan County Adult Detention Center)

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FARMINGTON — The Farmington woman arrested on allegations of drug trafficking and promoting prostitution Tuesday is a teacher at a local middle school.

A Farmington Municipal School District administrator confirmed that 40-year-old Anna Marie Schroth of Farmington is a teacher at Mesa View Middle School.

Chris Pash, the district's executive director of human resources, said in a statement that Schroth has been placed on leave while the district investigates the incident. She has been teaching at Mesa View for about two and a half years, Pash said in telephone interview.

"We are aware of the charges against Ms. Schroth. We are looking into the situation," Pash said in the statement.

Schroth, 40, is facing felony charges for promoting prostitution, conspiracy to commit drug trafficking and a misdemeanor charge for tampering with evidence. Her charges are in connection to the arrest of 41-year-old Jordan Carter on July 15.

No attorney had been assigned to Schroth's case as of Wednesday evening, according to the New Mexico Courts website.

Carter was pulled over by a Farmington Police Department officer after the officer spotted a vehicle speed through a stop light at Tucker Avenue and San Juan Boulevard.

During the traffic stop, Carter allegedly reached for a handgun that was next to a bag filled with a white powder on the floorboard, The Daily Times reported.

Ammunition and 11.11 grams of methamphetamine were found during a search of the vehicle, according to the affidavit for Schroth’s arrest.

The vehicle Carter was driving was registered to Schroth, according to San Juan County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Kevin Burns, an operations supervisor with the Region II Narcotics Task Force, which is handling the ongoing investigation.

According to the affidavit, Schroth admitted to law enforcement officials that she received a phone call from Carter from the San Juan County Detention Center telling her to “clean the house,” and she understood that to mean clean up the drugs and drug paraphernalia in her home. She also stated Carter was living with her at her Farmington home.

Schroth also admitted to helping Carter package and deliver methamphetamine, according to the affidavit.

A search warrant was executed on Schroth’s home, where drugs, including prescription medications, marijuana and a brown powdery substance that tested positive for codeine were found, according to the affidavit. Drug paraphernalia and two guns — a .22 caliber revolver and a bolt-action rifle with a scope — also were found.

According to the affidavit, Schroth admitted to authorities that she set up an ad on a website for a woman called Star for “the purpose of sex activity,” that she paid for Star’s motel room, clothes and cell phone, and that she received money from Star's activities with her clients.

Carter remained in custody today at the San Juan County Detention Center with no bond, and Schroth was released on a $30,000 bond Tuesday night.

Joshua Kellogg covers education for The Daily Times. He can be reached at 505-564-4627.

Equity Immigrant self-deports op-ed piece for Daily Times

Equity Immigration and New Mexico


People who try to benefit from their earned equity in states that are richer than New Mexico, that would be the 48 states, except for Mississippi, will not succeed.  On purpose.

In 2005 I brought my heart, soul, talents and money to San Juan County.  At the close of escrow in 2005 I should have known what was coming - the seller's agent was the only agent working the sale.  No wonder I am getting sued for possession of my driveway 11 years later.

And then there's the thing about working here.  Schools are pork, the money is for the locals.  But the problem is that the locals lack education.  Locals administer and outsiders work, but not easily or for long.  Job performance is irrelevant in New Mexico.  Pay to play, if you know the right person to pay.

Last year I earned top evaluations, but still was terminated for NO REASON.  The district refused to give a reason, or even a termination notice for that matter.  Get a lawyer?  Not unless your injuries killed you, then the lawyer will represent your estate and take as much of it as possible.

In 2007 my neighbor physically attacked me.  The sheriff who wrote the incident report wrote things that even in SJC, nine years later, cause alarm.  Painful as it was to see things so ignorant and prejudiced in print about me, I'm glad I reviewed the record.  It was written by a guy named "Webb." The clerk who printed out the report read it, and told me I needed to see the captain.  She said "none of these people still work here, and this is not how we document cases now."

This is bad enough, but the San Juan County principal who has made it his mission to see me destroyed has the same last name.  He said the same things about me as were written in this battery report.  When my neighbor succeeded in using physical violence against me, I ws so scared I left and went back to California.

Equity immigration doesn't work from poor states to rich states.  I left California over quality of life issues, crowded, not enough land too much pavement.  As if we can really improve our lives.  Most people who move here cannot leave.  New Mexico will beat you down financially, physically and emotionally, and gloat as you circle the drain.

Farmington boasts of being American's fastest shrinking city. Everywhere in the press the deplorable state of New Mexico, New Mexicans and the patronismo that fuels corruption is news that others use to avoid this state.  What's up New Mexico?  Are you so scared of being a fair, just and productive society that a citizen of the United States cannot safely move here and expect to enjoy the same rights to property ownership and employment that those in less benighted states do?

Guess so.

THANK YOU!

I just wanted to say thank you Bisti Writing Family.  I am going back into the classroom as a third grade teacher at Apache.  My class will be writing the first day.