Tuesday, March 30, 2010

this may have made me tear and definitely deserves an award

Struggling with its immortality, a discarded plastic bag (voiced by Werner Herzog) ventures through the environmentally barren remains of America as it searches for its maker.


Tuesday, March 23, 2010

letter from my choir director

Ladies,

Every Thursday after choir the men need to be motivated to return the tables to their original positions. As all of you know a man's memory is very short and selective. Men's intentions are good, but they are easily sidetracked and they need to be kept on point. God made women specifically for this purpose.

Now, if the women are still lingering in the soprano section after choir, the men become confused, disoriented and unsure of their surroundings and their default reaction is to run to their cars. We need the guidance of the ladies to help us find our way of this conundrum.

Ladies, here is how you can help.

As soon as choir is over, please pick up your chair and belongings and move to the middle of the room. That sudden equilibrium unbalance should strike the male "I need to fix it impulse" and thus the men begin setting up tables restoring balance and harmony to the room.

Thank you so much for your help and guidance with yet another man in your life.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

I just told my co-teacher that we will no longer be collaborating. I am shaking. But also elated.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

bureaucracy

So back in public school, the gatekeeper for ordering supplies was the office manager, the secretaries, the supply person, the program director, and the principal. It was nearly impossible to order anything. Scratch that -- It was impossible to order anything. There was no opportunity whatsoever to say, Hey, I need this for my classroom, is there any way to get it?"

Since Charter Schools have control of their own budget, things should be different, and for the most part they are, but I'm finding that our office manager has become a sort of gatekeeper for which supplies get bought and which do not. I completely understand the need to be economical and save money, but when it comes down to ordering the cheap pencils that break and the more expensive pencils that can be used for longer, it seems like the choice should be easy. At least to me, who actually has to deal with the fallback from having cheap pencils break every ten minutes and students sharpening endlessly. I tried to explain this to our office manager but got nowhere as she continued to insist that we are really tight on money right now.

But buying cheap pencils is like throwing away your money, I tried to explain, because most of the pencil gets sharpened away! Why not buy the pencils that can be used for longer? Office manager who uses pens and white-out claimed that the pencils work the same.

More frustration because the price difference is about TEN CENTS per hundred. Good pencils are definitely worth that extra.

UGH

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

four am

Earthquake last night. Thank god I wasn't totally hallucinating. The first thing I did was put on pants. Then I went and checked the internet but couldn't find anything. Guess what, it's because I'm faster than the speed of information. I went back to sleep thinking that maybe I am crazy.

USGS reports that it was a 4.4.

Monday, March 15, 2010

NCLB lite

Fantastic article from LA Times that says everything I wanted to say, only better:

Education is a slow, arduous process that requires the work of willing students, dedicated teachers and supportive families, as well as a coherent curriculum.

if you like educational policy...

Hey Obama,

Want our educational system to be better than other countries? Go check out what they are doing. I am willing to bet my state-sponsored health insurance that not a single nation besides ours is using Open Court Reading. I would also wager that most foreign countries teach subjects besides reading and math, so that a student will have seen a world map before the sixth grade.

Behold: Your blueprint and my commentary.

We will set a clear goal: Every student should graduate from high school ready for college and a career, regardless of their income, race, ethnic or language background, or disability status.
I don't think anyone disagrees with this. Lofty goal, slightly unattainable, but that's what goals are for.

But actually, one more thing: Do all students have to graduate in the same time frame? Some kids, like recent immigrants or those with learning disabilities, need an extra year or two to catch up. In the current system they don't get that, and are swept along to later fail or drop out. Getting rid of social promotion would help. Getting more money for summer school and intervention programs would help even more.

Following the lead of the nation’s governors, we’re calling on all states to develop and adopt standards in English language arts and mathematics that build toward college- and career-readiness by the time students graduate from high school.
While we're at it, let's make sure our standards for history, science, geography, technology, music, theater, and physical ed are also top notch. Part of our educational stalemate stems from an absence of relevant content.

We will support the development and use of a new generation of assessments that are aligned with college- and career-ready standards, to better determine whether students have acquired the skills they need for success.
If a student DOESN'T have the skills they need for success, are you going to allow them to fail? Do they get a redo? Because I have taught several children who were clearly not ready to advance but were denied the opportunity to relearn the skills they missed. It is virtually impossible to retain ("flunk") a kid these days. Those are the students that are going to get to high school and be so behind and so overwhelmed that they drop out, which will ruin our aforementioned graduation goal.

This here is a huge part of the problem with NCLB. Testing gives you data, but it does not solve any problems. Teachers themselves can probably give more reliable predictions about students' future academic successes. We don't really need more fancy tests.

Students need a well-rounded education to contribute as citizens in our democracy and to thrive in a global economy – from literacy to mathematics, science, and technology to history, civics, foreign languages, the arts, financial literacy, and other subjects...
Finally.

...We will support states, districts, school leaders, and teachers in implementing a more complete education through improved professional development and evidence-based instructional models and supports.
Oops, lost me at "evidence-based instructional models." Do you know how hard it is to design a lesson plan that will be successful with every single classroom in the country? That's basically what they are asking. "Evidence-based" means they tested the shit out and students scored higher than when they tested the other stuff out. Students are human, though, so scientifically-testing instructional models is hardly reliable and usually impossible. (How do you gather reliable evidence of thoughtfulness?)

Effective teachers and principals.
This section goes on and on about how we need better teachers but what they don't say is how they are going to measure "effectiveness." It damn sure needs to be something other than test scores. What if Consumer Reports rated stereos solely on how loud they go?

Greater equity. To give every student a fair chance to succeed, and give principals and teachers the resources to support student success, we will call on school districts and states to take steps to ensure equity, by such means as moving toward comparability in resources between high- and low-poverty schools.
I do like this and am curious how the administration proposes to close the resource gap. One suggestions is let schools control their own budget. My old school, for example, really didn't need to spend all that money on a literacy coach who sat around and fussed with test data. We would have been better off with some teacher aids.

Fostering a Race to the Top.
Just because you raise the speed limit does not mean your cars are going to be safer.

Investing in Innovation Fund will support local and nonprofit leaders as they develop and scale up programs that have demonstrated success, and discover the next generation of innovative solutions.
Again, I have a problem with how they define "success." Some programs are successful because they keep kids out of gangs. Some programs are successful because kids grow up happy and enjoy learning. Their test scores might not be high, though, and with current legislation, they are labeled a failure.

You know what this blueprint forgot to mention? Teachers deserve greater respect and more pay. It's not us who's broken; it's the system.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

texts! twenty-ten edition!

Just saw a guy with a ponytail mullet but no ponytail holder.

Discovered a really boring cheese today. Cotswald double glouster. Don't bother.

My go-to question is zombies or unicorns.
Truly does hit at the heart of a person's character.

Remember the Yearners of Zion? National Geographic has a hole spread this month so we can finally learn how to do our hair.

Nice! Has the group grown, or do they keep leaving to be part of our world?

These commercials are great. On, and the few scenes of Lost in between are ok too.

Slept over at W's last night no fooling around whatsoever but he was wearing those silly gay underwear again only this time in red.

These Nerds are too good. It is hard to stop. You will have to pry them from my cold, diabetic hands.

You missed a touching bio of the skater who grew up homeless and then was adopted and then discovered. He would be a visa commercial but he's french.

I think I'm on Team Asian Richard.

Drink every time they mention lindsey jacobellis disappointment. Double if they use the word redemption.
Sorry. Couldn't read that. The alcohol has already clouded my vision.

I really like the look. I was confused at first about who he was. I thought he was david and i wondered why he looked so chipper.

Curling is so intense...

To his credit he did not try to mash any boner into my backside.

Everyone love a giant inflatable beaver.

Crap, now I don't like his eyebrows.

They're killing their resident by leaving him in there this late. That's all three!

Now I hate how he walks.