Six Word Saturday

I am Aliya Shell - remember her



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How backward is this: we remember the shooters and forget the victims.

What idiocy!!

I read in the San Francisco paper about a school in Manhattan using a lesson on slavery and math.

Seems like I wrote about that same lesson months ago. Can't remember where it happened but I'll swear it was somewhere around here.

**updated** I was right!! I wrote about this a year ago here. It was stupid then and it is stupid now.

Economy not looking good

A county nearby has let 120 teachers and staff know that they will probably not getting a contract next year. Looks like we are starting another round of seeing how low we can go. Ah, teaching limbo style!

The Slave Narratives

I am obviously not doing schoolwork but am cruising the Internet. I read Bob Greene's article on the Slave Narratives, a series of interviews of former slaves taken in dictation during the 1930s by the WPA.

Bob Greene is an excellent storyteller and this article is no different. I did some searching and some of the narratives are available online - here and here and here, for starters.

Since the stories were taken down 65+ years after the Civil War, the tellers were old - and very young when they were slaves. Very much worth reading.

More Chutzpah - can not make this up.

The student called. I made him talk to me about what he wanted out of life, what his goal was, where he thought he was headed. (In other words, I had a conversation and prompted answers by asking questions.) I did the on-line recommendation. I did not send an email to the mother telling her I had done it.

Today I get an email from the mom saying "I failed to make it clear that the letter of recommendation isn't one that you need to draft. The program will email a questionnaire online to submit."

I was going to reword that, but I don't think I could make it snarky enough.

There were a lot of rating questions on the online recommendation but there was also a place I had to write my recommendation. Or, draft one, to use her words. I find it easier to do so if I have some idea what the kid wants. Jeesh.

A "thank you for your time" would have been appreciated and completely unexpected. I did not answer her email.

Common Core needs Common Sense

Not enjoying the common core class I am teaching. Might work with some good collaboration, but that is another long, boring topic. I did enjoy reading this.

Six Word Saturday

Chutzpah - thy name is (student's) parent.


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Had another post in mind - then I read my email. Understand, most teachers I know (apparently) do not read their emails over the weekend. I know I email stuff on Saturday morning that I do not hear back about until school starts on Monday.

So, a mom emails me, asking for a letter of recommendation for her darling and ends with " Limited space is available for this camp. A timely response is much appreciated to improve the chances of acceptance."

My first reaction was to send her the link to this blog.

Instead I replied that generally students ask me themselves and here is my phone number.

If the student wants my time, the student can call me and ask for it.