Analyzing the analytics

Do you ever wonder how people find your blog? Some of the links that show up on my analytics make me wonder. And then there are the search engine terms that bring up my blog. Those can really surprise me. Like this one that showed up this morning:

professional wear — hoodies

I can only assume that my blog came up because I have two posts about hoodies and that term gets lots of hits. The first post was written while I was still teaching and taking my students on all those fieldtrips. We were going to the GAP distribution center and students were specifically told they could NOT wear hoodies. The second post was written in San Francisco after a  walk I had taken while wearing MY hoodie. The hoodie not only kept me warm and dry but helped me fit in on the street.

As for that search term that brought today’s reader: NO, you cannot wear a hoodie as professional dress.  You don’t want to look like this when you go into an office building:

Not if you want to be taken seriously.

More sweet words

Yesterday, after an inservice day (don’t ya just love ’em), I came home to find this lovely email, all the way from Wisconsin:

Hi Mrs. Zody

It’s been so long after high school and can’t believe it but I have three kids already. Trying to be the best mom also working full time job and keeping myself very busy, I miss the days in the Marketing Class listening to Mrs. Zody giving us the instruction on what to do next. 

Right now I’m in the process of help the Asian Community with the interview process. Getting them ready for a interview, which I think that you did a very good job with letting us know how to dress and what to aspect. I still remember when you said “ 4 to 5 years from now your going to call me and thank me for making you do this.” I think what you said was so right. It’s just that we were young and stupid at the time to really think what’s good and what’s not good for us.

But now that I’ve realized please help me so I can serve other better. With you guide for the professional profile and the interview guide that you had for us would be very good resources for me. Once again thank you for your time and hope to hear from you ASAP.

Thank you,

I’m going to send her a copy of our portfolio directions, a list of common interview questions, and the rubric we use to grade professional dress.  I’m beginning to wonder if there is money to be made in the real world with all this stuff I’ve been doing in public education all these years.

Where are we going?

I teach in an inner city school with students who live in a very narrow territory.  Each year, we try to broaden their horizons by taking them to as many places as possible. These are the fieldtrips we have planned for the students this year:

September

local college, yearbook printing plant, major department store

October

bottling plant, UC campus, local water treatment plant, various job shadowing locations

November

students will spend a day working for a local department store, wholesale buying trip

December

city hall, federal court house, corporate office of major department store, trade fair

January

San Francisco

February

GAP distribution center, local baseball stadium, printing firm, surveillance camera factory

March

San Jose, trade fair, ropes course

April

Sacramento, Monterey, NYC (depending on cost)

Not all students attend each trip each year, but by the time they finish their senior year, the majority of the students have taken all these trips.  The San Francisco trip is for those who earn a 3.0 gpa or higher in the first semester, and some students go all three years they are in our career academy, some never get to go.

We get to know a lot of bus drivers throughout the years, and one turned out to be the parent of one of our graduates this year.  He approached me, introduced himself, at graduation and reminded me that he had taken us on many of our local trips.  I know how hard bus drivers work, especially when they have to deal with a bus full of teenagers and negotiate the roads.  My students are usually professionally dressed for the trips we take, and they behave well.  I have taught them to say hello to the driver, and to thank the driver when we are done.  This father had remembered all of this, and he told me that he always went home at night, after one of our trips, and told his wife how nice I was.  It made me glad to know that we weren’t a burden on a driver, but rather, made his day a little better.  Sometimes, maybe, the fieldtrips help more than just my students.

 

 

 

On the road again

This time to San Jose, California.   We took 31 juniors to Santana Row and Westfield Mall so they could get a feel for how other cities design their shopping areas.  The science teacher requires this class to design a city, from the ground up, for their end of the year project.  She takes them to the waste water treatment plant, too, so they will understand utilities.  

Our students have travelled so little, and not seen even much of their own town, much less other, better designed towns, that we decided to show them something different this year.  They all marvelled at Santana  Row, and how all the restaurants had tables set on the sidewalks with linens, cutlery, and salt and pepper shakers.  One student commented that could not happen in Fresno, because someone would steal everything.  Also, they were impressed with how quiet it was, that no one was screaming obscenities.  Ah, my kids come from some interesting neighborhoods.

I enjoyed the day, seeing new stores that we do not have in Fresno, and, like the kids, did some shopping.  I love toys, so bought some finger puppets at a great little paper store.

Because we require the students to professionally dress for our fieldtrips, they are treated much better than most high school students who show up in their usual school attire.  I was especially vigilant about that for this trip since we were going to a much more upscale location.  I don’t want my kids to be mistreated.