Domesticated House Panthers and the National Emergency of Education

I just completed another one of my 30-day challenges! Yay! Now, my next challenge will not be 30-days, because Fall Break is rapidly approaching, and I am not going to be healthy on Fall Break. I am going on a cruise to the Bahamas with my grandmother, and cruises are not the place to eat healthily OR workout. Besides, right now, I'm just hoping that we still get to go and that I can cross off country #30!

For my books this past month, I read The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan and The Necklace by Claire McMillan. I finally read The Joy Luck Club because one of the chapters was featured in our English curriculum for 7th grade. And the book as a whole really enforces the theme that you can't make someone be something they're not. Although the mothers tried, their daughters often went their own way. My students REALLY related to this theme.

The Necklace was good, too. It's this sort of romance, mystery book that goes back and forth between the 1920s and present day. The necklace in question is based on an Indian artifact, and the novel does touch on the fact that most things in western museums are, in fact, stolen. Also, I didn't like that the main female character accepted this guy's proposal at the end. I just felt like he didn't deserve it. 

The necklace in the book is based on the real life Patiala necklace.
https://www.facebook.com/207031419334813/posts/2000211853350085/

As far as my outings for the month, I did make it to the Cooper Young. And I was sad that the House of Mews, a cat rescue located in that area, was temporarily closed because of COVID. I could not cuddle those kitties, so I cuddled Coco. Also, I often see between 2-4 cats on walks around my parents neighborhood. At Shelby Farms, I see ducks, geese, bison, deer, and, most frighteningly, snakes. I hate snakes. 

This is the domesticated house panther I often see on walks.   

As far as podcasts though, I am now listening to the Ologies podcast. 10/10 would recommend.

And as I head into my next challenges, I often think about the one challenge I currently don't have the power to address: the teacher shortage. It's rough. We are lacking teachers in every grade level, and have a dire need for special education teachers in particular. We don't even have subs, which means kids often get split into other classes when a teacher is absent. Splitting them disrupts not only their learning, but the learning of the classes they are sent into as well. I was talking to my colleague about this issue, and she mentioned that in some places they've even called in the National Guard to drive busses because of the shortage of drivers. And she said we should call in the National Guard to at least sub and cover classes, and I agree. Education is incredibly important, and it's not being delivered in the ways it should. Doesn't that count as a national emergency?

But anyway, I'll keep going to work and doing the best I can for my kids. Maybe a nice soldier can come back me up. Or maybe all those politicians and pundits who moan about how the system needs to be fixed or about how we need more standardized tests can come cover my classes for a day. I'm sure they'd do great (eye roll).