Perception and Reality

Is perception reality?  Are you busy?  Is your job too stressful? Is the country doing better economically today than five years ago?  Does my stock going up really mean I have more money?  What perception do we create? Do we create our life or does our circumstances or some greater power?
I had to spend a day this week waiting in court because of a subpoena from a discipline issue.  It was a big waste of time from my view point because no one some to be concerned that they were waiting to appear before a judge.  No one seemed concerned that they had a record now that would follow them through every application they fill out in the future.  Their perception was very different than mine.  Almost an unconscious believe that either I really didn't do anything or everything is going to be all right.  The other perception is that this is something everyone in my family goes through and I'm no different.  Wow!  This can be a scary thought because is my perception of truth the real truth.  We all exist through our perception and only rarely change or morph into anything different and education and mentors are the way that happens.
1.  Think about your reality.  If you are reading this you are probably looking for something.  You may not know what it is but you realize change is progress.
2.  I read twitter and blogs because in my business I have very few people to talk about with what I do and why?  Yes, educators are over worked, underpaid, and policies aren't written by us.  However, I'm going to work on Monday and I'm going to be better than I was last week. Time management! Discuss topics that some people would rather not hear.
3.  How do we balance different realities with our work environment.
Let's go through the list of perceptions that affect your classroom or school.
1. Federal government - Standing in the world - Not good according to PISA test
2. State government - Budget Shortfall - We spend too much money on education and the results are the same.
3. Local government - budget, Does the community really respect education/  Go to your public library and find out - then compare to the money spent on athletics.
4. District School superintendent - Do you know his or her name? What is their goals or agenda?
5. School administrators -
6. Teachers
7. Parents
8. Students
9. Community Members
10. Media
I'm sure I left out someone.
I put two links below that may help with your perception.  Your students need to be engaged and that should always be our focus.  Our perception as educators should be to seek from our students ideas that help us incorporate their perceptions into an education we know they need.  They need to be able to read, think logically, communicate, and write to express an opinion or fact.
Games in class , Inquiry Learning 
Thanks to Seth Berg, because his blog on perception helped me rewrite my mammoth blog post about my weeks experiences.
Also, I found a great slide show about why to blog the link is below!
Why blog?

I leave you with this thought - Reflect and what you do everyday with more than just yourself, because you never know what perception you are viewing the world unless you share.