Do Not follow DUMB Advice

We tell students and our own children all the time to think about the advice they are following - or at least I do.

"If someone told you to jump off a building, would you do it?"

A friend was forced out of the profession this week for following, you guessed it, dumb advice. The administrators (or at least one wack job) lectured us in a meeting that if students say something that offends us, we should repeat the same word/phrase back to them so that they see how offensive it is.

Right.

Most of us realized this is an unsustainable piece of advice. I mean, I don't know what your students say daily but I know I am not repeating what mine say unless it is writing it on an office referral.

Friend had a student ask if he was the "only n***a" required to do something and she told him, yes, you are the only n***a. Sorry, most of us cannot say that word without penalties. Her penalty was her job.

Don't get me started on how THAT word needs to go away.

But, to go back to my point, it was dumb advice to begin with and it was dumb to follow it.

Shaking my head - you can't fix stupid.

Now is not the time to become a Georgia teacher

The state took a survey of teachers earlier this year. The methodology is flawed in that teachers received and email and could choose to answer it. Basic result, more than half would not recommend that their students or children become teachers.

I know I would choose a different route, even though I derive a lot of satisfaction from the successes my students have had.

Here is a story of the survey and here is the state's report.

Today, the same columnist is talking about the state's evaluation system which is designed to run teachers out of the profession.

Let's see. A large percentage of teachers quit teaching before they have taught for 5 years.It would seem if you are already eliminating the ones who cannot teach, if you know that that the stress of the profession is wearing on the teachers, AND you chose to implement an evaluation system where most cannot win after 10 years with furlough days and no increase in pay . . . the result seems obvious to me.

Those people with children under the age of 14 or who intend to have children in the future, you may want to plan on paying for private school or homeschooling. I do not think the public school system will survive much longer.

You teach all kinds

As a teacher, you run across all kinds of students.

Today I learned that one girl (I taught her several years ago) has just purchased her first house. She is 19 and had an incredible work ethic.

I also learned about a current student with a different set of ethics who was arrested over the break for robbery.

Nightmare

Had an interesting nightmare last night, last night of vacation. I can tell what it means, so I thought I would write it down.

I was being chased through the school by someone who wanted to kill me. I believe it was a teenager, but not one I know.

At one point I needed to go through the ladies' bathroom to get to the other side. An principal wha had it out for me was standing at the door, monitoring the long line of women teachers waiting to use the restroom. I went to the front of the line (since I just wanted to go through) and got some catcalls and some rude remarks from the ex-principal. Then he left and I went through and couldn't find the door that was supposed to be on the other side of the room.

So I went back outside and I don't remember anything else.

Happy second semester.

Why learning math is important - regardless of your life plans

This is why a good grasp of number sense is important.

The trucker didn't know that her 43,000 pound load plus the weight of her truck exceeded 6 tons.

The trucker did not realize that the height of her vehicle exceeded the height of the bridge.

What a great example of the importance of math in the everyday world.

The police report is interesting.

OK the link won't work, so here it is. From the Orange County Indiana Law Enforcement facebook page on December 26 at 9:25pm ·

On December 25, 2015, on or about 1200 hours, Mary Lambright, 23 year old female from Fredericksburg, Indiana was driving a 2015 Volvo Semi Truck with a 53 foot box trailer containing 43,000 pounds of bottled water. Ms. Lambright stated her intentions were to park her semi in the parking lot of the Paoli Wal-Mart. Lambright entered the square from East Main Street and missed the exit heading to Wal-Mart and exited onto West Main Street. Ms. Lambright then turned left onto Southwest 1st Street in an attempt to turn around. She travel down Southwest 1st and turned left onto South Gospel Street. She made several attempts to turn left on to South Oak Street but was unsuccessful. Ms. Lambright was aware of a parking lot further north on South Gospel Street and determined she could turn the truck around in the lot to get back to Southwest 1st Street. When she approached the parking lot she discovered it was full of heavy equipment and could not use it to turn around. Ms. Lambright was aware of the iron bride stating she had driven on it several times in her personal vehicle and was also aware of the posted signage “no semis, weight limit of 6 tons”. When asked by Paoli Police why she continued through the bridge knowing the weight limit was only 6 tons she admitted to not knowing how many pounds that was. She was advised the weight of the vehicle at the time of the crash was close to 30 tons. Ms. Lambright stated she wasn’t comfortable backing the semi up and made the decision to try to go through the bridge. When the semi entered the bridge the trailer immediately began ripping open due to the trailer was taller than the top of the bridge. As the vehicle continued the weight of the vehicle caused the bridge to collapse. Ms. Lambright and her 17 year old female cousin, who was also in the vehicle, exited the vehicle and were unharmed. Ms. Lambright received her CDL endorsement on 5/12/2015. She currently works for Louisville Logistics out of Louisville, Kentucky. The vehicle and trailer were hauled to Wilcox wrecker service out of Salem, Indiana and is being held pending an inspection by the Indiana State Police. Agencies/Companies involved in this incident are;

Paoli Police, Orange County Sheriff Department, Paoli Fire and Rescue, Paoli Town employees, IU Health, Wilcox Wrecker Service, Hankins Corvette Sales, and Kendell Trucking

Ms. Lambright is cited for the following;

Indiana code 9-21-8-50, reckless operation of Tractor-Trailer, a class B misdemeanor

Indiana code 9-21-8-41, disregarding a traffic control device, a class B infraction

Indiana code 9-20-7-1, overweight on posted bridge.

Why in the world would you buy this?

One of the freshmen brought one of these into school today and pointed it at a group of students - in front of the principal.

I don't know why you would buy one of these phone holders - or allow your child to buy one.

It is an accident waiting to happen.

I have no idea what happens to the student.

A tale of 2 students

Last night I got a call from a student. Haven't thought about him in 2 years, since he dropped out of my class and out of school.

He is one of those who makes bad decision after bad decision, convinced that he is so charming that the rest of us losers won't impede whatever progress he sees himself accomplishing.

He wanted to borrow $50. Maybe I should say "borrow". I took him the money because of what he said next. His family wouldn't help him and he is living in his car.

I have to be close to the bottom of his list. I have no delusions that I was his favorite teacher - or favorite anything. I cannot imagine being in a position that my family and friends have written me off.

So I took him the money. He wasn't in the parking lot he said he would be in. Apparently he had been involved in a fight and been told to leave. {while he was waiting for me to bring him money. Couldn't stay out of throuble for that short period of time.] So I gave the money to the manager of the restaurant where he hangs out and asked her to pass it along. And I went home.

Maybe he will get the money. Maybe he will turn his life around. Maybe not. But, beyond prayers, I have nothing else for him.

So keep him in your prayers.

If I could have talked with him, would I have told him what I was thinking on the way over? Get a job. Get your GED. Grow up. Lose the attitude and drugs. Mend your fences.

Probably not.

I contrast this with another student who traveled for several hours to help one of my current students, who gave of self to help someone who is unknown and hurting.

I know which person I would rather be. And which one I would rather have in my life.