Responsibility

When I was growing up I was taught to take responsibility for my actions and my words. I was taught that I needed to recognize my part in a situation and that, in most cases, when hurt by idol gossip or a hurtful situation I still ultimately had a choice and a part in it. Now I see that it is a rare person that takes their part in a bad situation, everyone is quick to dismiss their part in it and put it all on other individuals. Frankly, I see that having that reaction only hurts yourself. If you cant take responsibility in your part of drama then you never learn from it, forgive the situation and truly move on. I think people who don't take responsibility for their own actions just end up blaming the world and being the victim and never truly become a vital part of humanity. 


I admire my spouse because he has always been able to look  what he has done, take responsibility and hold himself accountable. He has taught me that it is the only way to truly grow and move forward. Mistakes are welcome in our house not feared because we use the mistakes to learn and not repeat it. Blaming others and pretending your innocence is only hurting you and it does nothing to enrich humanity. People need to see that there is nothing good in creating a patsy, nothing good comes from blaming others and not owning to the fact that you were wrong, you made wrong choices or spoke out of turn. 


We try to raise our daughter to hold herself accountable, to take responsibility for her actions but ultimately if we don't set the bar and do it ourselves she will not learn. I hope at least one person reads this and makes the choice to own their part in their life and no longer blame others for their errors in judgement. 

Oh boy

I was not going to post this weekend, in fact I was just going to relax and enjoy a quite 2 days off but a stubborn student that is dragging his feet has me a bit off tonight.

Mom and dad want me to teach him to write his essay but what happens when said student can do it but wont and wants me to write it for him. I know he knows how because he showed me he could do it the other day. He was ready; now that it is Saturday and the rough draft should have been done yesterday and he is refusing to complete it. The truth is that he wants to go out and do what boys do at his age on a weekend and not bother with boring English but that's too bad, mom and dad want it done. 

You see, I am having my own issue with my student. He was supposed to be here this morning at 11 am. Mom called and said they would be a little late. No problem, but 11:30 came and went and they were no shows. My husband and daughter went hiking without me because they figured that my student was on his way. Mom called and said he was still trying to complete his rough dra

ft that she would call me later. Later came and went. He ended up showing up at 430 this afternoon, very bitter that he wasn’t out and about and instead stuck in my house writing a paper he entitled, "dumb paper". (We will have to edit that too)

He has been here a couple of hours now and hasn’t caught on that I am not writing the paper that he has too. I have helped him set up quotes and set up ideas but I will be damned if I am going to write it. I also informed him that I don’t want to be stuck here all day either and that because of him I have been stuck and I missed fun with my family and a date with my husband and that next time he will pay me for time lost. I told mom that too in a much nicer way and I hope I didn’t overstep my ground but the kid is 16 years old, I know he knows better. I can teach him, mom can drop him here but only he can write the paper. 

Common sense

I woke up this morning and needed to put this down on paper. I have a few friends on Facebook who have been posting some great common sense rules and I had a few of my own to add to it. I am sure this list will continue as time goes on. 

Common sense rules:

• You should never allow judgment to dictate your life.
• Friends do not have to agree with you to be your friend, if we all did things the same way it would be really boring.
• A difference of opinion does not equal criticism.
• Criticizing others to avoid your own problems is a bad idea.
• Never compare your life to another; you don’t know what they had to go through to get there.
• I’m not living your life nor would I want too, which leads into… my life may look easy to you because you’re not living it.
• If your gut says this is a bad idea, then don’t do it.
• You are the only one who is living your life, at the end you have to look at it and be okay with the decisions you have made. 
• (From Aunt Cary) Be sure to taste your  words before you spit 'em out

Teaching moment

I have been a student for years and I have "taught" for a long time and it is rare that I have those moments that I see my work paying off. Recently I decided to go for my MA in education instead of running the gauntlet of the California Credential track. I have also moved from a materialistic city to a humble, quiet forest town. I love living there. I love the sounds and smells and sights. I have run into the problem that there are not very many jobs in a small town. So I am on the road to becoming the newest tutor in my little town.

I have my first student (that isn't related to me) and he is an 11th grader. I bit my nails down anticipating a student that I would have little to nothing in common with and that I had no experience teaching. You see I have taught for many years but they were children from 2 years old to 12 years old, a 16 year old was a little overwhelming.

But something amazing happened during our second session, as I was explaining why we use quotes from an article in a paper, my student pulled out his notebook and began writing.

 I stopped speaking and carefully asked “What are you writing buddy?" he scribbled some more and looked up and said

" What you just said Mrs. Stromberg, it was a great tip and I don't want to forget it."

I could have cried. I was so ecstatic that not only did he hear me, he was actively listening. As a teacher you don't get that very often but man it is worth the wait.