Saturday, July 28, 2012

Parenting failure

From the AJC today.

A 9 year old boy attacks several toddlers (ages 1 - 2) in a day care. He
  • Slaps a little girl
  • pushes her head down hard on a table
  • (standing) kicks a little girl in the back so she falls down
  • Punches another little girl
His aunt says
  • He is a normal child
  • They (the family) are embarrassed by his actions, but the daycare should be shut down
  • He is on medication
 The rampage is caught on tape and went on for 15 - 20 minutes. The daycare worker can be seen gazing out the window.


Why was a 9 year old with the babies? Why are the day care workers not taking care of the kids? Why is the family excusing this?


Six Word Saturday

** This is my 1300th post **



Seems like everyone wants immediate results.


For more Six Word Saturday participants, click here.

We do something different and when we don't see the BIG CHANGE - we quit. Doesn't matter if we are talking diet, house cleaning or learning lessons.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Thinking Maps

Does anyone use thinking maps - a lot - in their teaching? Does anyone use it in teaching math? I have four preps next year, each with a different special ed teacher. And we just got an email that tomorrow, the first day back, we will be having professional development on using thinking maps - because we will be using them at lest every week. Help.

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Stacked Ranking

Stacked ranking is where a certain percentage fall at the top, a few at the bottom and most in the middle. It is the favorite concept that Bill Gates is pushing to make the schools better. It is a major part of all this Race to the Top crap. If you don't embrace it, you lose funds.

But there's a problem. It doesn't work at Microsoft, where Gates is king.

Forbes points out that it discourages collaboration, which is what I am seeing at my school.

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Let's start school in the hottest month.

It is summer.

August is the hottest month.

We are in Georgia.

This is a list of the start dates for schools.

Monday, July 30
Rockdale County

Wednesday, Aug. 1
Cherokee County
Decatur City
Floyd County
Paulding County

Thursday, Aug. 2
Barrow County

Friday, Aug. 3
Buford City
Newton County

Monday, Aug. 6
Atlanta Public Schools
Coweta County
Douglas County
Gwinnett County
Henry County

Wednesday, Aug. 8
Clarke County

Thursday, Aug. 9
Forsyth County
Marietta City

Friday, Aug. 10
Bartow County
Hall County

Monday, Aug. 13
Carroll County
Clayton County
Cobb County
DeKalb County
Fayette County
Fulton County
Griffin-Spalding County

Six Word Saturday



Easy to get, hard to eliminate.


For more Six Word Saturday participants, click here.

Why is it so easy to acquire stuff that it is so difficult to dispose of? And so easy to be overwhelmed by.

Friday, July 20, 2012

No Man is an Island.

President Obama, one week after his controversial "you didn't build that" remark, claimed Friday that the criticism he's taking from Republicans is "bogus."

Though Republicans say the president was implying that business owners didn't build their businesses, Obama said he was just talking about roads and bridges.


Read more here .

You can watch the video (he was on the radio, so it is actually an audio) - the statement is at 1:01. I don't care about the blowhard who follows. But, please, Mr. President: I have heard enough about "it depends on the meaning of 'is'" to recognize backpeddling. Have the courage of your convictions or quit lecturing us.

I can't get the embed code to work. The video is here www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DwJE1VbJtU
No Man Is An Island

No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thine own
Or of thine friend's were.
Each man's death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.
John Donne

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

I love these things!!

Two men from Seattle were stopped at the border for smuggling. They had Kinder eggs.

I love those things! Just not enough chocolate.

Summer is ending

I am trying to finish up the must-dos before school starts up again. It is the South. It is July. It is hot as ..... out there.

So on that note I leave you this visual from Switzerland. (Switzerland? Don't they have snow there all the time?



Here is the whole picture.

Poorly prepared in math?

Joanne Jacobs wrote an article about math teachers feeling ill prepared to teach. And the article referenced a book, Inequality for All: The Challenge of Unequal Opportunity in American Schools by William Schmidt and Curtis McKnight.

I read a little about the book in Scientific American and what struck me the most was he (don't know which one) was blaming the teachers.

He talked about moving from Michigan to Georgia and finding that the curricula do not align (duh) but somehow it was the teachers who were not prepared.

I want to read the whole book (should arrive in the next day or two, my local B&N never seems to have the book I want in the store. Maybe the articles are so short as to misrepresent what he says. More later.

I do know that we [Georgia] can't seem to follow any course long enough to develop decent resources.

Monday, July 16, 2012

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Bye Bye Bully

(Stolen from PO)



Wonder if this would work with administrators as well?

Six Word Saturday



Teachers are the backbone of society.


For more Six Word Saturday participants, click here.

Friday, July 13, 2012

Just give the money back

That seems to be the general consensus. Lately it seems that whenever there is some major change in education, like Race to the Top, the powers that be are linking the changes (more tests, teacher evaluations, etc) with money.

Is there any indication that more tests and teacher evaluations based on student input leads to more learning?

Or is that beside the point?

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Teacher Appreciation Days Coming To OfficeMax This Weekend

Teacher Appreciation Days Coming To OfficeMax This Weekend (Taken from I want to teach forever.)

WHAT: Teachers spend roughly $1,000* out of their own pockets each year on school supplies. And, as school budgets decline, teachers face a new school year with added pressure to spend more of their personal salaries to help bridge the budget gap in the classroom. This weekend, OfficeMax is helping to ease this burden on teachers with special “Teacher Appreciation Days” honoring educators and offering major teacher-specific sales on essential classroom supplies.

WHEN: Event dates vary by market and can be found at www.officemax.com/celebrateteachers

WHERE: Local OfficeMax stores nationwide

DETAILS: Teachers receive the following during OfficeMax’s Teacher Appreciation Days (in-store only):

FREE Reusable Tote Bag
25% OFF everything** that fits inside the tote bag, including sale-priced items
Booklet of teacher-specific coupons (with big discounts) for later in the season
$10 in MaxPerks Rewards for every $75 teachers spend on qualifying purchases—up to $100 each year.


MaxPerks Rewards for Teachers
For additional savings opportunities throughout the year, teachers can join the MaxPerks Rewards for Teachers program at no charge either in-store or at www.officemaxperks.com.

Monday, July 9, 2012

Saturday, July 7, 2012

Disappointment

And here my shallowness shines.

I went to the grocery store and found NOTHING like the rainbow oreo. To heck with a political statement, I wanted the icing.

Friday, July 6, 2012

Six Word Saturday



Don't want to think about school.




For more Six Word Saturday participants, click here.

Don't want to start planning but I can see the start of school on the horizon and I am itching to get it done.

And today's news

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Vindication

I have been tutoring a girl this summer in a subject I taught a couple of years ago. She is actually taking an online course (because she failed the course last year) but her mother wanted tutoring to supplement it.

She missed some time because she was sick and fell behind to the point (since she missed deadlines) that she was failing.

Her mother got permission for her to redo 2 of the chapters and we have been flying through it and her grade was passing by Monday.

Then the online school asked her to come in and take a test there "just so that you can do this faster. We aren't checking up on you."

Sure.

She got a 95 on the test under their eyes. I am a pretty good teacher - especially when I have a student who will do the work. And I don't cheat.

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Sigh . . .

I think Funsucker will be back in my life next year.