Understanding Engineers

From a website on stumbleupon.com.

It's possible to understand Engineers.
Where there's a will, there's a way.


Understanding Engineers #1

Two engineering students were biking across a university campus when one said, "Where did you get such a great bike?"

The second engineer replied, "Well, I was walking along yesterday, minding my own business, when a beautiful woman rode up on this bike, threw it to the ground, took off all her clothes and said, "Take what you want."

The first engineer nodded approvingly and said, "Good choice, The clothes probably wouldn't have fit you anyway."


Understanding Engineers #2

To the optimist, the glass is half-full.

To the pessimist, the glass is half-empty.

To the engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.


Understanding Engineers #3


A priest, an ophthalmologist, and an engineer were golfing one morning behind a particularly slow group of golfers.

The engineer fumed, "What's with those guys? We must have been waiting for fifteen minutes!"

The doctor chimed in, "I don't know, but I've never seen such inept golf!"

The priest said, "Here comes the greens keeper. Let's have a word with him."

He said, "Hello, George. What's wrong with that group ahead of us? They're rather slow, aren't they?"

The greens keeper replied, "Oh, yes. That's a group of blind firemen. They lost their sight saving our clubhouse from a fire last year, so we let them play for free anytime."

The group fell silent for a moment. Then the priest said, "That's so sad. I think I'll say a special prayer for them."

The ophthalmologist added, "Good idea. And maybe I could examine them to see if there's anything I can do for them."

They were silent for a moment.

Then the engineer said, "Why can't they play at night?"


Understanding Engineers #4


What is the difference between mechanical engineers and civil engineers? Mechanical engineers build weapons. Civil engineers build targets.


Understanding Engineers #5


The graduate with a science degree asks, "Why does it work?"

The graduate with an engineering degree asks, "How does it work?"

The graduate with accounting degree asks, "How much will it cost?"

The graduate with an arts degree asks, "Do you want fries with that?"


Understanding Engineers #6

Three engineering students were gathered together discussing who must have designed the human body. One said, "It was a mechanical engineer. Just look at all the joints."

Another said, "No, it was an electrical engineer. The nervous system has many thousands of electrical connections."

The last one said, "No, actually it had to have been a civil engineer. Who else would run a toxic waste pipeline adjacent to a recreational area?"


Understanding Engineers #7

Normal people believe that if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Engineers believe that if it ain't broke, it doesn't have enough features yet.


Understanding Engineers #8

An engineer was crossing a road one day, when a frog called out to him and said, "If you kiss me, I'll turn into a beautiful princess."

He bent over, picked up the frog, and put it in his pocket.

The frog spoke up again and said, "If you kiss me, I'll turn back into a beautiful princess and stay with you for one week."

The engineer took the frog out of his pocket, smiled at it and returned it to the pocket.

The frog then cried out, "If you kiss me and turn me back into a princess, I'll stay with you for one week and do anything you want."

Again, the engineer took the frog out, smiled at it and put it back into his pocket.

Finally, the frog asked, "What is the matter? I've told you I'm a beautiful princess and that I'll stay with you for one week and do anything you want. Why won't you kiss me?"

The engineer said, "Look, I'm a busy engineer. I don't have time for a girlfriend. But a talking frog, now that's cool!"

Six Word Saturday

There is no satisfaction in I-told-you-so.


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The scores are back from one of the mandated tests and they are predictable. The ones who studied and asked questions did well. There were just enough flukes, people with sporadic attendance who are wicked smart and hide it so everyone thinks the test is so easy you don't have to do anything.

I had kids, while we were reviewing who wanted to play cards and talk and sleep and I will not tell them I-told-you-so. But I did tell them.

I am reviewing another group for another test. I don't know how to make it fun because I never needed it to be fun. I wanted to beat other people so I wanted to know it all. Given a review sheet - I would have worked all of the answers before the teacher went over them to make sure she was right.

Happy Saturday and happy last day of April. Then, one month of school.

You can't make this stuff up

Clayton teacher strips at school, arrested

By Ty Tagami

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A school teacher who may have been upset about losing his job was arrested after he disrobed at his school and walked around naked.

Harlan Porter was caught by another teacher walking the halls of B.C. Haynie Elementary School in Morrow with his clothes off, according to a police report obtained Wednesday by the AJC.

It was around 3:20 p.m. Friday, after the students had gone home, and no child saw him naked, said Capt. James Callaway of the Morrow Police Department.

"Had he been seen by students, he would have been charged with child molestation," Callaway told the AJC.

Porter, 31, was charged with public indecency and indecent exposure, and booked into the Clayton County Jail. By Wednesday, he was out on a $2,000 bond.

The charges are a misdemeanor on a first offense, and Porter has no prior convictions, according to the police report.

Clayton County school system officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Callaway, the police captain, said Porter was a teacher at B.C. Haynie but that he'd learned before the incident that his contract would not be renewed.

The police report says Porter had been behaving unusually. Teachers told police that he was a vegan who'd sworn off soft drinks, yet he'd gone to Taco Bell for tacos in the hours before he stripped.

The arresting officer wrote in the incident report that Porter spoke of a "new level of enlightenment" and said "he wanted everybody to be free now that his third eye was open."

"I then explained the obvious problem with his third eye being opened in public," the officer wrote. "He readily agreed that his decision to remove his clothing posed a problem and stated that he understood why I would likely have to place him under arrest."

Porter put his clothes back on at the officer's request, and the officer then double lock handcuffed him into the back of a police cruiser.

Porter told the cop that he understood his career with the Clayton school system was probably over. He said he still wanted to teach, but "on a new level, with hands in the earth, gathering the essence and learning how to love one another and fully appreciate the spiritual realm."
http://www.ajc.com/news/clayton/clayton-teacher-strips-at-927113.html

communication

Another RIF is coming and teachers are supposed to find out this week.

I have noticed around the water cooler that most teachers have missed that tenure is not to be considered.

The Hulk will get in his last digs, I am sure.

Advice to a newby

Ran across a new blogger who has some pithy advice for new teachers. She doesn't go into detail but does have some points that are worth reading.

You might want to check it out.

The Real World

In school. when there are fights, the looky-lous crowd around to egg on the fighters and, given that everyone has a cell phone whether they carry a pencil and paper or not, take videos which they then post on youtube or facebook. After all, it's a FIGHT and we must be entertained.

I try explaining that this makes them part of the problem.

So, in the real world, there was a fight in a Baltimore McDonald's. One young man took a video, which he is very proud of. (You can hear the employees laughing on the video.)

Video-taker is no longer in their employ.

I think a few others will be trying to find a job in this economy as well.

Tough but necessary lesson.

Some Rules Kids Won't Learn in School

Mamacita posted Some Rules Kids Won't Learn in School

I reposted the original list and the name of the person who wrote them. Still good rules.

Some Rules Kids Won't Learn in School

Rule No. 1: Life is not fair. Get used to it. The average teen-ager uses the phrase "It's not fair" 8.6 times a day. You got it from your parents, who said it so often you decided they must be the most idealistic generation ever. When they started hearing it from their own kids, they realized Rule No. 1.

Rule No. 2: The real world won't care as much about your self-esteem as much as your school does. It'll expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself. This may come as a shock. Usually, when inflated self-esteem meets reality, kids complain that it's not fair. (See Rule No. 1)

Rule No. 3: Sorry, you won't make $40,000 a year right out of high school. And you won't be a vice president or have a car phone either. You may even have to wear a uniform that doesn't have a Gap label.

Rule No. 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait 'til you get a boss. He doesn't have tenure, so he tends to be a bit edgier. When you screw up, he's not going to ask you how you feel about it.

Rule No. 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping. They called it opportunity. They weren't embarrassed making minimum wage either. They would have been embarrassed to sit around talking about Kurt Cobain all weekend.

Rule No. 6: It's not your parents' fault. If you screw up, you are responsible. This is the flip side of "It's my life," and "You're not the boss of me," and other eloquent proclamations of your generation. When you turn 18, it's on your dime. Don't whine about it, or you'll sound like a baby boomer.

Rule No. 7: Before you were born your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way paying your bills, cleaning up your room and listening to you tell them how idealistic you are. And by the way, before you save the rain forest from the blood-sucking parasites of your parents' generation, try delousing the closet in your bedroom.

Rule No. 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers. Life hasn't. In some schools, they'll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. Failing grades have been abolished and class valedictorians scrapped, lest anyone's feelings be hurt. Effort is as important as results. This, of course, bears not the slightest resemblance to anything in real life. (See Rule No. 1, Rule No. 2 and Rule No. 4.)

Rule No. 9: Life is not divided into semesters, and you don't get summers off. Not even Easter break. They expect you to show up every day. For eight hours. And you don't get a new life every 10 weeks. It just goes on and on. While we're at it, very few jobs are interested in fostering your self-expression or helping you find yourself. Fewer still lead to self-realization. (See Rule No. 1 and Rule No. 2.)

Rule No. 10: Television is not real life. Your life is not a sitcom. Your problems will not all be solved in 30 minutes, minus time for commercials. In real life, people actually have to leave the coffee shop to go to jobs. Your friends will not be as perky or pliable as Jennifer Aniston.

Rule No. 11: Be nice to nerds. You may end up working for them. We all could.

Rule No. 12: Smoking does not make you look cool. It makes you look moronic. Next time you're out cruising, watch an 11-year-old with a butt in his mouth. That's what you look like to anyone over 20. Ditto for "expressing yourself" with purple hair and/or pierced body parts.

Rule No. 13: You are not immortal. (See Rule No. 12.) If you are under the impression that living fast, dying young and leaving a beautiful corpse is romantic, you obviously haven't seen one of your peers at room temperature lately.

Rule No. 14: Enjoy this while you can. Sure parents are a pain, school's a bother, and life is depressing. But someday you'll realize how wonderful it was to be a kid. Maybe you should start now. You're welcome.

This list is the work of Charles J. Sykes, author of the 1996 book Dumbing Down Our Kids: Why American Children Feel Good About Themselves But Can't Read, Write, Or Add. (Sykes' list was published in numerous newspapers, although it did not appear in his 1996 book. It did, however, form the meat of Sykes' 2007 book, 50 Rules Kids Won't Learn in School: Real-World Antidotes to Feel-Good Education.)

Interesting ethical question

If you found a video on youtube of a friend's classroom, with the jackaninnies misbehaving, and the friend oblivious at the computer, would you tell your friend or let them continue to live on in ignorance?

Does the answer change if the teacher isn't your friend?

Six Word Saturday

How do I unteach learned helplessness?


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Trying to review a year's worth of material. They talk. They walk around the room. They do EVERYTHING but copy the information on the board or pay attention.

I herd cats. Sit down. Stop talking. Wake up. Do you have questions?

I do not understand it.

One step forward, two steps back

I thought I had reached a student and that she was going to succeed. Another really bad (as in character-flawed) decision and I will not see her again.

She didn't do it to me, but to herself.

I still feel like I have been sucker punched.

Transformaiton model as a way of repairing the school

A friend in another county is in a school similar to mine. But, apparently, they are in even worse shape as they are about to go through one of the transition models to turn their school.

Has anyone who reads this had any experience with similar things?

When he talks about it - while it is great that they are throwing money at the school, the money cannot be used to decrease class size or hire more teachers. They can hire people to supervise the teachers, though.

Seems like it will mean more paperwork.

So, any voice of experience out there?

How to raise the bar and make it accessible simultaneously

The phrase of the year is "depth of knowledge" and we are supposed to increase rigor by asking questions that tap into the students' knowledge.

Ok.

How do you do that successfully when you cannot be heard over the inane talking they do?

I told them the classwork was a quiz grade. I wrote it on the board. I said (and wrote) that I would not accept it tomorrow. I DID MORE THAN HALF OF IT ON THE BOARD. I graded for completion not accuracy (shoot me - I am behind and that was easier).

Half did not turn it in.

I don't know how to raise their grades. And they don't seem to care.

Just shoot me part 2

I wrote about the current challenges here.

Now there is no tenure in Georgia. Which means, when your power-hungry principal gets a hair up his/her butt and decides that you are the worst teacher in your department because it's Tuesday (not because you are awful but because he/she can), there is no protection.

FML WHY did I decide to teach at a point that it is not much more than slave labor? Between what some kids expect, what some parents expect, and what some administrators expect, this is the job from hell.

And the short answer is because of THOSE students who you touch, who look at you when you have solved a problem and say (sincerely) "You don't know what this means to me." Yes I do, Grasshopper, yes I do.

Six Word Saturday

I got no attitude problem - oops.


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I don't just teach math.

I try to teach (uncomfortable but relevant) things that will help them in life.

A couple of weeks ago I suggested to Diana that she was smart enough and capable enough to accomplish great things but that she has developed an attitude that will sabotage anything she attempts. She took exception to this and - well - she took exception to this.

I shouldn't have said it - I was tired of the way I was being treated in my class.

This week we have both tried harder with each other.

Thursday she asked a question and I answered it with great thought. While I was in mid sentence (and obviously in mid sentence as the thought was not complete) she turned, talked to a friend and walked off, leaving me standing there.

But, and this may be hard to fathom, I am sure Diana thought she wasn't being rude. She wasn't angry. She had heard what she needed to know and dismissed me by walking off. And that is what I mean by attitude.

At some point Diana will ask other questions and my answers will not be snippy but they will not be any longer than I can get away with, lest she be bored.

Another student asked a question, and the immediate answer is no. But I knew what the student wants and (while it falls outside the rules) it should be possible. I told him that I had his back and would keep pushing the people who could make it possible. And we have had 3 or 4 conversations, answering his question, pursuing the answer.

Some of what I said was not of intense interest to that student, but you or I would be incapable of determining which parts, due to the intense attention to the conversation.

Which student will I go out of my way for?

Had the Diana asked me the question the second one did, the answer would be "no" and no more. Because that is the immediate answer.

I wonder how often I offend someone inadvertently as Diana did me?

Diana would assume I am discriminating against her because she is ________ (fill in the blank with whatever reason you want: race, color, creed, attributes). And I am discriminating against her. Because of the attitude she thinks she does not have.

Just shoot me now.

1) I give a test in an Algebra 2 class. One question has something like a = b/c and NO MORE THAN 3 INCHES AWAY FROM THIS QUESTION is a series of numbers, including b = 42 and c = 30. So, one would think they could substitute and get a = 42/30 or 1.4.

No.

This was too hard, they couldn't get it, oh my what are you doing to us.

Are you kidding me?

I explained it on the board (with an example) and gave their tests back. Lord knows what the grades will be like.

2) My seniors have checked out. Unfortunately, they owe me a lot of work and I am getting peeved.

3) A boy libeled me because he thought I was picking on him. I had my hand slapped and was told I do not discipline enough and that I am selective in my discipline. I put a sign on my door that I am enforcing each and every school rule, no exceptions. I have written up 30 things this week. Can you hear me now?

4) But the kicker is a faculty meeting we had today, talking about Common Core and that we will be required to test 4 times a year, instead of the 1 we do now. By computer. We don't have enough to do all of a department at one time.

Shoot me now.

Then I read this. Oh, God, that's what they mean.

Shoot me now.

We know the path we are on, maybe

Let's see = what is today's status on education - and mathematics education - in Georgia.
1) We require 4 years of mathematics in high school. That will be Math 1, Math 2, Math 3, Math 4. Or maybe Math 1 with support and Math 2 with support. Or maybe . . . Let me get back with you on that.
2) We will teach Integrated math. After 7 years - or before we have anyone get all the way through anything with it - let's scrap it and go to common core.
3) We have a graduation test that is required for the seniors, modified for the freshmen - juniors and obsolete for the current 8th graders.
4) We'll let the juniors (sophomores and freshmen) substitute a passing EOCT for the grad test. Oh, we didn't release their freshmen math eoct scores 2 years ago? Let me get back with you on that.
5) We'll pay extra for national board certified - oops, only kidding.

This would be funny if it weren't so pathetic. Oh, well, we're still better than Alabama and Mississippi. (And sadly, that last line is not original with me but the fall back position of most of the stupid positions the politicos take.)

Are you better off now that 4 years ago?

Today's email

Next Season on Survivor

Have you heard about the next planned "Survivor" show?

Three businessmen and three businesswomen will be dropped in an elementary school classroom for 1 school year. Each business person will be provided with a copy of his/her school district's curriculum, and a class of 20-25 students.

Each class will have a minimum of five learning-disabled children, three with A.D.H.D., one gifted child, and two who speak limited English. Three students will be labeled with severe behavior problems.

Each business person must complete lesson plans at least 3 days in advance, with annotations for curriculum objectives and modify, organize, or create their misconduct, implement technology, document attendance, write referrals, correct homework, make bulletin boards, compute grades, complete report cards, document benchmarks, communicate with parents, and arrange parent conferences. They must also stand in their doorway between class changes to monitor the hallways.

In addition, they will complete fire drills, tornado drills, and [Code Red] drills for shooting attacks each month.

They must attend workshops, faculty meetings, and attend curriculum development meetings. They must also tutor students who are behind and strive to get their 2 non-English speaking children proficient enough to take the SOLS tests. If they are sick or having a bad day they must not let it show.

Each day they must incorporate reading, writing, math, science, and social studies into the program. They must maintain discipline and provide an educationally stimulating environment to motivate students at all times. If all students do not wish to cooperate, work, or learn, the teacher will be held responsible.

The business people will only have access to the public golf course on the weekends, but with their new salary, they will not be able to afford it. There will be no access to vendors who want to take them out to lunch, and lunch will be limited to thirty minutes, which is not counted as part of their work day. The business people will be permitted to use a student restroom, as long as another survival candidate can supervise their class.

If the copier is operable, they may make copies of necessary materials before, or after, school. However, they cannot surpass their monthly limit of copies. The business people must continually advance their education, at their expense, and on their own time.

The winner of this Season of Survivor will be allowed to return to their job.

Pass this to your friends who think teaching is easy, and to the ones that know it is hard.

The Stillness at Appomatox

We should remember that when the civil war came to an end the 2 generals in charge handled it with a grace we could use now.

I love the last paragraph of this:

In no other nation on earth might such a fiery trial, one that claimed 630,000 lives, have ended so magnanimously as ours did at Appomattox. Britain hanged rebels—in Canada in 1837—and shot them in Ireland in 1916. The Mexicans killed every Texas rebel at the Alamo in 1836.

Only in America could we have seen “the stillness at Appomattox.” It was a miracle then.

Six Word Saturday - second for the day

Raising the roof - what a concept!!


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They are rebuilding the porch roof to give more shelter and headroom. Literally, raising the roof (after razing the roof - bad pun).

Sometimes we have to do both - raze the roof and raise the roof - to achieve greater things.

Six Word Saturday

Procrastination is beating my good intentions!


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While I have accomplished a lot this week, the main thing I accomplished was recharging.

Now to wrap up enough that I can accomplish something at school on Monday.

Top 100 films

In honor of the movies (and stolen from Mrs. Chili) here’s the American Film Institute’s list of the top 100 films. I’ve bolded the one’s I’ve seen.

1.CITIZEN KANE (1941)
2.CASABLANCA (1942)
3.GODFATHER, THE (1972)
4.GONE WITH THE WIND (1939)
5.LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962)
6.WIZARD OF OZ, THE (1939)
7.GRADUATE, THE (1967)
8.ON THE WATERFRONT (1954)
9.SCHINDLER’S LIST (1993) *read the book
10.SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN (1952)
11.IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946)
12.SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950)
13.BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI, THE (1957)
14.SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959)
15.STAR WARS (1977)
16.ALL ABOUT EVE (1950)
17.AFRICAN QUEEN, THE (1951)
18.PSYCHO (1960) *also read the book "I have the heart of a young boy. In a jar. On my desk."
19.CHINATOWN (1974)
20.ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST (1975)
21.GRAPES OF WRATH, THE (1940) My mother forbade us to see the movie OR read the book. Can you tell where she is from?
22.2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968)
23.MALTESE FALCON, THE (1941)
24.RAGING BULL (1980)
25.E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (1982)
26.DR. STRANGELOVE (1964)
27.BONNIE & CLYDE (1967)
28.APOCALYPSE NOW (1979)
29.MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON (1939)
30.TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE (1948)
31.ANNIE HALL (1977)
32.GODFATHER PART II, THE (1974)
33.HIGH NOON (1952)
34.TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (1962) *duh
35.IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934)
36.MIDNIGHT COWBOY (1969)
37.BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES, THE (1946)
38.DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944)
39.DOCTOR ZHIVAGO (1965)
40.NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959)
41.WEST SIDE STORY (1961)
42.REAR WINDOW (1954)
43.KING KONG (1933)
44.BIRTH OF A NATION, THE (1915)
45.STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, A (1951)
46.CLOCKWORK ORANGE, A (1971)
47.TAXI DRIVER (1976)
48.JAWS (1975) *which led me to read a lot about the USS Indianapolis
49.SNOW WHITE & THE SEVEN DWARFS (1937)
50.BUTCH CASSIDY & THE SUNDANCE KID (1969)
51.PHILADELPHIA STORY, THE(1940)
52.FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1953)
53.AMADEUS (1984)
54.ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (1930)
55.SOUND OF MUSIC, THE (1965)
56.M*A*S*H(1970)
57.THIRD MAN, THE (1949)
58.FANTASIA (1940)
59.REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE (1955)
60.RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981)
61.VERTIGO (1958)
62.TOOTSIE (1982)
63.STAGECOACH (1939)
64.CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977)
65.SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, THE (1991) *and read the book. The author is disturbing.
66.NETWORK (1976)
67.MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE, THE (1962)
68.AMERICAN IN PARIS, AN (1951)
69.SHANE (1953)
70.FRENCH CONNECTION, THE (1971)
71.FORREST GUMP (1994)
72.BEN-HUR (1959)
73.WUTHERING HEIGHTS (1939)
74.GOLD RUSH, THE (1925)
75.DANCES WITH WOLVES (1990)
76.CITY LIGHTS (1931)
77.AMERICAN GRAFFITI (1973)
78.ROCKY (1976)
79.DEER HUNTER, THE (1978)
80.WILD BUNCH, THE (1969)
81.MODERN TIMES (1936)
82.GIANT (1956)
83.PLATOON (1986)
84.FARGO (1996)
85.DUCK SOUP (1933)
86.MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (1935) All three versions - and read the trilogy.
87.FRANKENSTEIN (1931)
88.EASY RIDER (1969)
89.PATTON (1970)
90.JAZZ SINGER, THE (1927)
91.MY FAIR LADY (1964)
92.PLACE IN THE SUN, A(1951)
93.APARTMENT, THE (1960)
94.GOODFELLAS (1990)
95.PULP FICTION (1994)
96.SEARCHERS, THE (1956)
97.BRINGING UP BABY (1938)
98.UNFORGIVEN (1992) *and read the book but I do not remember the author.
99.GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER (1967)
100. YANKEE DOODLE DANDY (1942)

I have seen most of these. I should make it a point to watch the rest!!

"School leavers unfit for work"

It is the same story all over: dropouts are not work-ready, although I love the term school leavers and toyed with, but abandoned the idea of saying shovel-ready.

There are students in my classroom who will not be ready to work when they graduate. If they graduate. They will take the same work ethic to their job that they bring to class. Some have already met the revolving door that you get when you fail to show up at work.

They tell me they would try at school if we pay them.

I tell them, it usually works the other way: you work and then you are paid.

Have we destroyed this generation?

Most have the inner strength to overcome adversity. If we don't continue to rescue them. But how much formal education will they have? How much do they need?

Build your habits.

People forget that decisions we make today can return to bite us tomorrow.

I recommended a former student for a job this week. I had another friend who needed help that the former student (I will call him Bob) could have provided. Unfortunately for Bob, my friend knows him. And knows, that while Bob is a hard worker and a nice kid, he is unpredictable.

When kids are late to class - or fail to come at all - I tell them they are building their reputations and the habits that will serve them (or fail them) their whole lives.

They don't get it. Presumably Mayor Bloomberg knows this - but like many politicians , feels the riff raff are too stupid to remember. So far, he's been proven correct.

Well, she lasted 2 and a half months longer than you thought she would

And, Cathie Black is out as NY's school supe. Yes, you have to know something about the education biz to run a school district.

Happy days for my Noo Yark friends!!

Wow, more stuff to worry about!

If it isn't how they are going to evaluate you, it thieves taking your stuff.

Work - I could watch it for hours

I wish I could get students to see that the choice is between working your brain or working your muscles.

1 in 5 part 2

I wrote about this yesterday. As did Mr. W.

I cannot tell you the number of pregnant (and unmarried) girls in the school. I know that there are many with children.

Their friends celebrate with them - although they are making a choice which will make their lives (and those of their children) harder.

I listen to the boys talk about hos. And the girls act like this is ok.

I listen to the ones who give me the hardest time - because I am disrespectful to them (I ask them to follow the rules, how dare I) - and know they live in single parent homes with siblings with different last names and I know that they will perpetuate their lifestyle with their children.

And I do not know how to change it.

Make Adams writes about the level of college students he receives but I know he gets the best of what we have. (I know the dialogue was made up. There were no F bombs or N words in what he wrote. And the students cannot talk without this.)

One of the teachers I had in high school used to compare the last names of his students with the last names of their parents. And in the 1970s most matched.

I do that and it is less than half.

Do you ever look at the last names of your students? Or how many parents are in the home?

1 in 5 American women has children by multiple men.

One in five mothers have children from multiple fathers. The same ratio as Americans with college degrees.

If you have children by different men, do you suppose all those men are invested (time) with their children?

Of course not.

Is it a problem?

Of course it is.

One that cannot be solved however good the teacher is.

"This type of family structure was, however, more common among minority women, with 59 per cent of African-American mothers, 35 per cent of Hispanic and 22 per cent of white mothers reporting children with more than one father."

Awesomeness

(Yes, I am procrastinating again)

I love imaginary numbers and April Fool's jokes. Here is both.

You don't have to poke a finger in their eye

It doesn't matter how you feel about Muslims. You shouldn't desecrate another religion. Jesus took on the Pharisees. That was his own religion.

And, why would the lamestream media report it?

Some things are not newsworthy.

The man is an idiot.

Now, move on and let's hope this calms down.

Six Word Saturday

My to-do list is consuming me.


For more Six Word Saturday participants, click here.

I have too much to do, but it has to be done.

Some can be delegated, but not much.

I have to prioritize, delegate, and quit procrastinating.

Ahhh, coffee. I'll just sit here a second. . . .

And once again the 5% outweighs the 95%

I do know that most of the kids that I teach are good kids - not great mathematicians, but good kids.

I know that it warms my heart when someone tells me that I explain math in a way that they get it. That math makes sense when I teach it. That they like me. Oh yes, I don't want to be their friend, but it matters that they come around and say that they like me.

I like most of the kids I teach. Not all of them, I will admit, but most of them.

It mattered when one of my classes turned the corner this week. They started working, they were enthusiastic, they were fun to be with.

It mattered when 4 of my former hellions, came up to me, individually, and asked me to teach them next year.

But that all got wiped out my an awful email from a mother who wants my job. I don't know why, she cannot do it. Her daughter thinks that just because teachers have an education doesn't mean they should be able to tell her anything. She does fine on her own.

I was surprised at the kids who defended me.

I am not surprised that the administration did not.

(I am fine - they are jerks.)

And I ask myself - again - as I did last year. Why am I letting the 5% outweigh the way I feel about the 95%? I am an idiot.