Thoughts about the Move

Just a quick rundown on Monday activities before I get on to the subject of my title.

I finished torturing...I mean testing a 5th grader today.  The student was a real trooper.  I got all of that stuff scored and got to see the School Motivation and Learning Strategies Index in action.  While it was a little bit of a pain to score without the software, it was still interesting and I'll have to see if it will be of use.  I ordered it because I got to thinking about the number of students that get referred that don't necessarily have a learning problem as much as not knowing how to learn or study or prepare for tests.  The SMALSI is probably something that Intervention and Referral Services should be using but...

After this, I finished up two psychological reports after going to pick up my last outstanding survey from a parent.  So that was two down and two reports to go.  Then I have more kids to test.  Overall, it was a fairly productive day.

I also found out that one of my students that ended up being court ordered into a residential substance abuse facility had eloped and was now back in juvie and will likely be there for the better part of a year, if not sent to another facility for treatment.

So onto the meat of my entry.

I started thinking about the year so far and it seems very disjointed.  Perhaps this is more my perception than anything else but since this is my diary, I get to spew my view.  As I've mentioned, in a few days, me, my office mate, and another coworker are moving out of the building where our department is located and moved into a building that is about 10 yards away.  The reason for this move is that the "temporary" trailer that has housed three other staff people for much longer than the word "temporary" implies are being moved into the regular building and the trailer will be demolished.  Apparently, being a trailer is a thankless job.  I wouldn't recommend it as a career move.

One odd thing to note is that the third person that is being moved out with me and my office mate wouldn't necessarily be impacted by the move.  This third coworker is part of another series of moves that is occurring.  Along with her, several other people are having their offices switched around for reasons that aren't necessarily clear.  The reason I'm being moved with my office mate is because we are working in the same school this year but if the logic for my placement this year is followed, I will not be working in that same school next year.  Either way is fine with me.  I've known my office mate for 13+ years having worked with her in my previous year.

Two of the other people being impacted by the move are my current office neighbors who have been sharing an office together for over 2 years and, in a way, have become like family to each other.  From a morale point of view, I don't think that their separation is a good idea.

I think these impending changes are impacting the...communication isn't the right word...the flow of socialization within the department.  One part of it for me may be that I already have an alternative place to work, the office at the school, so I already feel a bit of a disconnect from the department.  I imagine that this disconnect is going to become greater after the move since my "home" office won't even be in the same building as everyone else.

I've already worked for program that was the black sheep of the company I worked for and it was a bit like being picked last for dodgeball.  I get the feeling that this move is going to lead to being forgotten by the social environment unless I/we make a concerted effort to remain involved and remind folks of our presence.  The people in the trailer already know a bit what that is like, especially since most folk already refer to them as the "cabin people", not in the redneck/ hillbilly sort of way but more in the "they are distant and different" sort of way.

The change in office mates for other people is also going to impact things.  I think about one of the theories of group development and what is going to happen as we adjust to this new system.  I hope that we have time to go through them before any other changes take place.  Otherwise we are going to be always a bit off our game.  Even though we do not have to make the types of group decisions that this theory applies to, the social environment will definitely be impacted.

Musings from Friday

Today was department meeting day and, aside from a double header risk assessment which was really pretty mundane, the highlight of the meeting to me was something a coworker brought up during the meeting.

The subject involved the I&RS team at my coworker's school reporting that they were seeing an increase in ADD type behaviors and was asking if there was a simple screening tool that they could use at the general education level to assist parents when they go to see their child's doctor.  Now putting aside the part of the screening tool and the issues regarding qualifications to administer and interpret, the real issue that sprung to my mind and the mind of the transition coordinator was the rumination of whether the ADD type symptoms is something that is going to become the norm in students.  Meaning that it may not be a disorder.

This made me think of some things that I had read in transhumanist science-fiction.  While the idea of something in science-fiction having an application in the real world may rub some people the wrong way, I do subscribe to the belief that science-fiction provides an area to explore uncomfortable subjects in a safe environment.  Such as exploring racism using alien races.

In addition to this, transhumanism isn't just something from science-fiction.  It is a movement that is involved in a number of areas: social, political, economic, technological.

So the particular piece of fiction that came to mind involved the idea that as time went by and biology and technology becomes more integrated and indistinguishable from each other, and as the internet evolves and we reach a point where we may be constantly in contact with it then part of the definition of intelligence may involve our ability to mentally multi-task and be able to access multiple sources of information.

With that idea in mind then ADD may not be a disorder but an evolutionary step.

If that is the case then perhaps it isn't the students that are the problem but the teachers.  Not the teachers but the educational institutions.

The final thought I had was that it is a shame that the current generation has to teach the coming generation because it is not a level playing field.  The coming generation always has a leg up, technologically.  I grew up in a time where I got to see cable TV and the internet has gone from practically nothing and has exploded.  The availability of information now is astounding.

I think back to my previous career and I think the type of psychiatric outreach program that I worked for wouldn't have been possible prior to the invention of cellphones and pagers.  There is no way we would have been able to respond to changing situations as quickly as we did without it.

The amount of information that children are exposed to these days is astounding and it must be difficult to adjust or manage that amount of information.  It is difficult and numbing for me.  Perhaps the malleability of young minds are better suited for it but it is having consequences that appear to be a disability to a fading society or age.  In addition, the generation that is in school now may be that transition period that is going to have the toughest time of it because they are a part of two different technological ages.

Even so, I can't help think that something is being lost.  Some sort of depth of being or loss of introspection.  But perhaps that is just the inclination to think that the time that you occupy was better than the age that is coming.

Publishers are reducing the number of picture books...

I saw this sad article today in the New York Times.

Publishers are reducing the number of picture books that are being produced in favor of more text-heavy books for young readers.  The article says it better than I can.