Natalie Munroe- Teacher by Day, Blogger by Night

Hello, yes it has been a while since I have written. I have recently taken many exams and honestly there hasn't been much going on. Yes I did (and still am in a way) celebrating Valentine's Day. That's the reason why I haven't written anything on it yet. I know you are probably looking at me like, "say what?!?" , but don't worry I will talk about that soon. And by soon I mean at least before Easter. :)

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I came across this article by accident. I was on a website called BuzzFeed and I found it. This one teacher, Natalie Munroe, got fed up with her classes, students, teachers, etc. She wrote all about it on her blog here. However this is not even the original blog. I can't find it, I have tried. It might be shut down or something because of investigation. Or she shut down the website so fast that only the awesome tech geeks of the world could figure it out. If anybody that is skilled enough finds it, let me know, I want to see it and read the posts for myself.

According to reports on her blog she wrote in different posts saying that the students are lazy, rude, uncaring. Other times she calls them disrespectful, not brilliant and even has said that some of them dress like streetwalkers. Truth is...she is probably right.

Seriously the clothes that a lot of people wear today, they are slutty, trashy, and unpresentable. Some of the styles that you see girls (and guys too) wear is the reason why when they are in their 30's a picture of them will end up on the site People of Walmart. Either that or they lose their jobs when the boss finds pictures of them on facebook barely wearing anything.

And these people wonder why people are being so mean? Or, even more astounding, what did they do wrong?

Also I am not saying all kids, but a lot of kids today that I have run across, really don't show respect those in authority. It is a rare and beautiful thing when I come across a child that is listening to and doing what the adult tells them too.

Of course the reason for all of this comes down to one simple thing.... parenting. We all know the many arguments about this and frankly I know that in the future I will talk about this topic. True I am not a parent, but I have great and wonderful parents that taught me a great deal about it all ready and I have a brother who has a disability, so I have had to help raise him.

Sorry for the sidetrack.

So overall though, she probably was right in what she said.

Same time though....it is still wrong. I agree with her, there are probably some really stupid/lazy kids in that class. There are probably people that dress like streetwalkers and gangsters. I don't know if she named the students, or the teachers. As far as I am aware she did not name the school, so at least she did that right.

She could have gone about this differently though:

1. Make it more anonymous: on her blog, she put her first name, the initial of her last name and a picture of herself. She should have used a different name completely, a name only really close friends would know it was her and there should have been NO picture of herself. Just post a picture of a a nice landscape, an animal or heck a cute cartoon, everyone does that.
2. If you don't feel like listening to the advice above, then you should just get a diary/journal and write/rant about it there: the reason for this is obvious unless a student plots to break into your house, find your dirty secrets and just happens to randomly come across your diary...I don't think anyone will find out.
3. Email: Email your friends about it, if you honestly have time to post on a blog, you have time to rant/rave about your awful students to your bff through email. Although be careful with this one, make sure this person is not on the faculty and just make sure you don't accidentally send it your coworkers.
4. Talk it out Girl: this is just like the above, except its on the phone and if you are accused, its all heresy and there is not proof. Well save the phone bill.

There are probably many teachers, professors that feel this way. However they have the tact and the reason to know to not do this. This incident does raise up something really interesting though. Although teachers have some authority, they have kind of lost it overall. Many don't care about their grades, others lack motivation, and others lack parenting.

I can see why this teacher would be frustrated and upset. To her what is the point of going there every day when she doesn't have an audience willing/ trying to learn. Of course a paycheck is a big motivation, but after a while, you need something more than that.

It does not excuse her behavior. She should have been more of an adult and removed herself from the situation if it was really that terrible. It was unprofessional and made her look bad, despite the fact that most of the world would agree that she was right in what she said.

This is definitely one of those occasions it's not what you say, it's where you say it.

Here are some links on this topic:

• Natalie Munroe Suspended
• Teacher's Frustration shows up in Blog

Life Goes On..

So far my month of July has been great. I hope that it will stay that way, because I like have this happy content feeling I have been having. Right now I'm in the Pellissippi State Library right now waiting for my class to start.

Good news about the last class I took this summer.

My American Literature I class (that I worked so hard in) was a sucess...I got an A!!!! I'm still overjoyed about that. Since I was sick all last year the highest grade I made was a B, so seeing an A right now, really, really boasts my confidence.

Also this past weekend was an awesome weekend, I got to see some of my friends, hang out with my family and my boyfriend got to come up and spend the weekend with my family. He and my family got along really well. That made me very happy. I was great we went to a few bookstores, drove around K-Town, spent time together playing the new Harry Potter lego game (Years 1-4), it was the awesome!!! We also went to the World's Fair Park, and saw the fireworks and listened to the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra. That was fun, but I'm not sure I would do it again....still on the fence.

This past 4th of July was pretty important and special for me. Not just because of my family, friends, and my boyfriend. It's because of everything that has happend these past 2 years. It's not just because Barack Obama is the President and we have a democratic majority in the House & Senate. That is a part of it, but not the reason. They helped play a part when it comes to question everything I have known and been told since I can remember.

An example with education, how many of us ever thought we were going to question what our teachers and professors told us? After all they are the "experts" they are the ones that know there stuff. How many of us read about history, science, and literature beyond what we are told in taxtbooks and the classroom? I know for me science would be a little hard seeing I am an English Major ( I also want to be a History major as well, I have just not filled out the paperwork yet to do this). But for me reading Literature and learning about History is not a hard thing. But others find it boring....which is a shame.

I use to not read a lot of historical non fiction books, after all it just wasn't my interest. But I started watching Glenn Beck. I honestly originally did not watch him even though he was on Fox News because he was on Headline News ( supported by CNN). But I started watching him and was amazed with how he was able to go after both parties with completle honesty. Then there was the fact that he talked about history and how it can apply to today, this was exicitng for me simply because I always thought that this was true. Then he really started to go into detail about history, that's when my brain went, "Wait....what!?!?!?!?"

He started talking about all these people, places and events that I have never heard of in American History, especially Colonial era during the time of the American Revelution, which my family and friends can tell I love readin about that era and I am an enthusiast. So for me not to know these things, immedialty put me into action. I started doing more research on what he was talking about and at the same time trying to find at the same time to see if there is any evidence that contradicts it. However I soon realized that I wasn't finding any evidence to contradict what he was saying, in fact I was finding more evidence to support it.

As a result I feel what I have learned in all of my class cannot be taken at face value. Like I said in my last post I really can't know who or what to believe anymore. I have to go straight to the sources.

I almost done reading a book called "The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette" by Carolly Erickson, it is quite good. After I finish reading that I think I will be reading a biography she wrote called "Misstress Anne".

Yes it is about Anne Bolyen, but I find her just fascinating and also since I checked it out of the library I should try to read that first instead of the other numerous books I have. I don't think I should check out books for a while, unless I have a paper to write. I always do this, I try to not to, it's just that I love books so much.

Anyway I should get going my class is in about an hour and I want to be able to read more of my book before class starts.

Oh and by the way for all those that live in Knoxville, Tennessee. it may reach 101 degrees today (which may be a record for the area of Knoxville). Stay cool everyone during this hot summer and have a great day!