Ah, audience of my imagination,
Tis been a very long time since I last posted. I guess perhaps I'm not really the blogging type yet, or I just am too much of a teacher. This year I am department chair, on the principal's advisory committee, on the professional development committee, and am a co-junior class sponsor. I started the year with 4 classes of 35 students each and one of none --AP Language & Composition. I could not grade fast enough. I got the AP class up to 9. & the other classes got down to 20ish. I could keep up if I would reprioritize my life & ignore children, tv, lesson creating, news, crossword puzzles, & sudokus, and reading novels so that maybe I can teach AP Literature next year, or at least keep the AP Language kids thinking & writing this year.
I actually try to not be on the computer much at all. I guess it might be because I have to use the computer frequently at work creating worksheets, putting in student grades and attendance, reading e-mails from principals, district honchos, and more recently students.
To help prod them into doing their homework I started sending reminders to parents and students about what work has been assigned lately. Delightfully, some students then ask for further instructions. I do like having in print that I told them to do the assignments. The e-mail versions often include helpful hints that I didn't realize would be necessary, but that I discover from the grading of the few who actually turn their work in on time. I am a softy in that I allow students to turn in late work. All they have to do is write a note explaining why it is late, and have their parents sign the note. This year's students are much more honest than ones of the past. Last year students would write, "My work is late because you assign too much." This year's students say that the fault lays in their own laziness, or preference to talk during class. How refreshing.
The school has had chaos in general. The principal we had in August was almost fired in October, but since KCMO never fires anyone she just became a vice principal at another school w/o a loss of pay. An accumulation of rumors have it that she was "sick" in Vegas during homecoming week when there just happened to be fights that made it on to the news two days in a row. It didn't help that earlier in the year we had 2 fires set at the same time & a kid reportedly had a gun another day, but the SWAT couldn't track him down before the end of the day bell rang, and the kids refused to stay in the classrooms for the lockdown. We then had a "consultant" (who is now an assoc. superintendent, & couldn't say anything to students w/o being misunderstood & thus undermining the rules) for a couple of weeks and an "administrator in charge" who really was trying to do an awesome job for about 3 weeks. For December we got a new principal, but between me going to various trainings & meetings & him going to others, I actually didn't bump into him much.
The one conversation I had with him ended up with a talent show fundraiser the junior class officers wanted to sponsor being postponed until January, and a February parent conference raffle being canceled probably... Yup, it is January, & we don't have dime raised for prom. Only need 3-4 K before April. No, I wasn't trying to get them postponed or cancelled. I was just confirming what other administrators had told us we could do, since I didn't know if he knew we were doing them.
KCMO has a new superintendent; this seems to be much needed. But boy is he keeping folks hopping. Next year is when the district is up for re-accreditation. Since it is in "provisional" status now, it really has to show some kind of progress in raising performance levels. I understand the need for change. I understand that he can't fix a problem until he knows it exists. I understand that since KC has done some things bass ackwards in the past, heads had to roll, and information he needed didn't get relayed like it should have. But Lordy, some one has got to tell the man that AP Literature can not start in January & be tested in the first week of May. Ok, I did tell him. Everyone who took the training with me wrote a letter to who ever is incharge. Our trainer told the person who coordinated her coming that what was being planned wasn't the way it worked. But they are NOT listening.
I also have had the pleasure of being in on some interesting meetings. At a two day event a group of us wrote new quarterly "MAP" predicting tests for the whole district to use. The one I worked on was chosen. They barely changed a thing; what they changed were mostly my partner's questions that she did primarily on her own. A stroke for my ego & perhaps even my resume. At another meeting, the superintendent told us that since the English 11 curriculum wasn't helping kids pass the state assessment (MAP) that it needed to be revamped. Thanks to me he was informed that my 11th graders come to me unable to read at even the 8th grade level & that I have to teach many of them phonics. He had a plan to help. All 11th graders were tested for reading levels, and those who score below grade level are going into a "Read 180" program which is for remediation. Those few who score at grade level or above will be in another type of English 11.
Last week, I was at a meeting that tried to plan what the latter group would be taught between now & the state assessment in April. A huge problem in that is that the 7 high schools are not on the same kind of schedule. 4 of them are on a schedule that is like block everyday, not every other. Those schools finish a year long course in a semester. 2 of the other schools are on an a/b block (actually my school has been on a traditional 7 hour day,but is changing at semester), and the last is an honors high school that is staying on the traditional 7 hour day. I helped create a basic hour plan, and then started tuping up daily plans for a unit, which quite honestly I'm in the middle of teaching, and hope to finish before the semester starts. But it is based on what is in the beginning of the textbooks, which is where 4 of the highschools will start.
Tomorrow I begin training for teaching the "Read 180."& I had to create a lesson for my students that is substitute proof. Worksheets about roots & affixes to help increase their vocabulary. They bombed the ones I gave them in early December... they were from a 5th grade level workbook. Many students just left sections blank; others can't understand the instructions "Write a sentence using the words above." How utterly depressing.
Hmmm. Do you believe now that I'm a teacher?
ON the home front, I still am a parent every other week. The kids' grades are doing better. The senior girl still hasn't filled out a complete college application yet. But she intends to go, or so she says. Dare I say actions speak louder than words? She doesn't want to go to the state college here in town, but it looks like she may end up there if she doesn't get her fingers in gear. I missed the middle child's IEP because no one told me when it was. NO ONE. I specifially told the gifted teacher that my ex does not communicate with me & that she needed to call me on my cell & I gave her my number. I also specifically said NO to a morning meeting & insisted on an afternoon one. She & the ex met in the morning. She has broken the law as far as I am concerned. My ex did communicate with me to let me know that I should have been there, but since I was NOT, he handled it & the childs' problems w/ a teacher on HIS OWN.
I really, really do not need reminders of why I left him. But the IRS gave me one anyway. He filled out his taxes incorrectly, but the IRS doesn't know who did. So if he, who hadn't done taxes for the 3 years before I met him or the 17 years we were married, doesn't realize that he claimed the wrong kid in the wrong year, then the IRS will get back to me. No, I didn't need to send them anything at this time, since I know I did it correctly. They'll get back to me... Any of you like that feeling you get when you get mail marked IRS & it isn't time for it to be the refund check??? If not, think of this feeling... mail from the bank when it's not time for a statement & you just wrote several checks for mega dollars. Very similar to the boss or significant other saying, "Let's have a talk" or the sound of a father taking his belt off very quickly. ... You got that feeling.... don't like it, never have, never will. But I am now anticipating another letter from the IRS. YUCK & it will mean talking to the ex about how he messed up. He does not respond well to being told he screwed up, which is another reason why I left him.
With the senior needing a FAFSA filled out before January 31... well, I hope I get my W-statement early. I get to be the one whose info is used, but in November the ex thought he was the one. Quite honestly, we don't want him to be the one. I earn about 60% of what he earns, plus it's my year to claim 2 kids. Last year I was so poor, that I got refunds for sales tax on food, plus Earned income & standard kid discounts, etc. The poorer she looks, the more aid she gets, the better we can actually afford to send her. It is good to have no financial funds outside of retirement accounts at some times in life, & the day you fill out a FAFSA is one of those rare times.
The day in January when the 0% interest credit card starts charging interest is not a good day, but it begins on Friday anyway. I'm praying that a request for a free balance transfer to a new 0% interest credit card will happen between now & then. But with all of these bank holidays... and another one today for a man who was never elected to be even a vp let alone a pres, I just doubt it's a gonna happen.
Gerald Ford. During his term best known for bumping his head & tripping on stairs. Oh, ok . known for not being elected & having to replace first Spiro Agnew for messing up on his taxes, and then Tricky Dick for messing up an election...or trying to hide that his men were doing that. Oh & the coup de gras... forgive my spelling I never studied french.... He pardoned many criminals including Nixon, who was one of the few actually alive to appreciate it. Forgive my seeming irreverence. I truly don't mean to put down a probably very respectable man. But I selfishly needed banks & post offices to be OPEN TODAY.
I was raised to be a Republican. During the Carter/Ford election, I campaigned for Ford by telling my junior high peers that Ford did do a good thing while in office. He pardoned Nixon. But alas, I went to college with professors who were Democrats. & so I am an independent. I've seen the errors of both sides, and can't join either group. Don't take me to be one of those super greenie voters, or a Nader compadre. But never in my voting career have I voted for someone who actually won. In years where it looked like a clear victory for some one, I voted for an independent (yes that does mean Perot) but is was to encourage others to consider being an independent. If kooky Perot could get 14% of the vote, imagine what a moral, nonbigotted, internationally politically savvy, financially- backed candidate could do. Blow the top off of this 2 party system. In years where it looked like a close race, I did indeed choose ... those big named guys who lost. Alas we are stuck w/ Bush. My relatives who derided me & disowned me when I wrote that his getting us into Iraq was based on faulty information & illogic, now speak to me again. No, they've not apologized for telling me to support my president no matter what, and telling me I was wrong about the war. But they don't send me pro-Bush e-mails anymore either. Strangely enough, the war I could almost understand (don't read as truly supportive, because I knew of the USSR troubles in their war ) in Afghanistan still hasn't found its target of Ossama bin Ladin (6ft tall arab who needs dialysis), but the Iraq war did get Hussein & even killed him this past week/month.
Now for one of those hypocritical inconsistent admissions in my life. I am 99.99999% against death penalty. It is not economical, nor morally consistent to Christian teachings, could allow recent converters to Christianity into heaven long before they truly suffer in prison, nor is it logically based. It is legally hypocritical, and it is not a deterrent to criminals. Hussein was a bad man; he did very bad things. He was killed for a fraction of these actions. I do not belief a government has a right to kill a man, but I'm glad he isn't alive & didn't use the time he had to accept Jesus as his savior. I am relieved that he will get to rot in hell.
It is almost 11 at night. I am to arise at 4:30ish. I do not like ending the blog or evening with these political & negative statements, but I do have to go to bed.
Perhaps some of my cynicism has been visible? Hopefully, I'll be more optimistically cynical next time ... because I really do believe that we humans could do it right, if we wanted to.
Tis been a very long time since I last posted. I guess perhaps I'm not really the blogging type yet, or I just am too much of a teacher. This year I am department chair, on the principal's advisory committee, on the professional development committee, and am a co-junior class sponsor. I started the year with 4 classes of 35 students each and one of none --AP Language & Composition. I could not grade fast enough. I got the AP class up to 9. & the other classes got down to 20ish. I could keep up if I would reprioritize my life & ignore children, tv, lesson creating, news, crossword puzzles, & sudokus, and reading novels so that maybe I can teach AP Literature next year, or at least keep the AP Language kids thinking & writing this year.
I actually try to not be on the computer much at all. I guess it might be because I have to use the computer frequently at work creating worksheets, putting in student grades and attendance, reading e-mails from principals, district honchos, and more recently students.
To help prod them into doing their homework I started sending reminders to parents and students about what work has been assigned lately. Delightfully, some students then ask for further instructions. I do like having in print that I told them to do the assignments. The e-mail versions often include helpful hints that I didn't realize would be necessary, but that I discover from the grading of the few who actually turn their work in on time. I am a softy in that I allow students to turn in late work. All they have to do is write a note explaining why it is late, and have their parents sign the note. This year's students are much more honest than ones of the past. Last year students would write, "My work is late because you assign too much." This year's students say that the fault lays in their own laziness, or preference to talk during class. How refreshing.
The school has had chaos in general. The principal we had in August was almost fired in October, but since KCMO never fires anyone she just became a vice principal at another school w/o a loss of pay. An accumulation of rumors have it that she was "sick" in Vegas during homecoming week when there just happened to be fights that made it on to the news two days in a row. It didn't help that earlier in the year we had 2 fires set at the same time & a kid reportedly had a gun another day, but the SWAT couldn't track him down before the end of the day bell rang, and the kids refused to stay in the classrooms for the lockdown. We then had a "consultant" (who is now an assoc. superintendent, & couldn't say anything to students w/o being misunderstood & thus undermining the rules) for a couple of weeks and an "administrator in charge" who really was trying to do an awesome job for about 3 weeks. For December we got a new principal, but between me going to various trainings & meetings & him going to others, I actually didn't bump into him much.
The one conversation I had with him ended up with a talent show fundraiser the junior class officers wanted to sponsor being postponed until January, and a February parent conference raffle being canceled probably... Yup, it is January, & we don't have dime raised for prom. Only need 3-4 K before April. No, I wasn't trying to get them postponed or cancelled. I was just confirming what other administrators had told us we could do, since I didn't know if he knew we were doing them.
KCMO has a new superintendent; this seems to be much needed. But boy is he keeping folks hopping. Next year is when the district is up for re-accreditation. Since it is in "provisional" status now, it really has to show some kind of progress in raising performance levels. I understand the need for change. I understand that he can't fix a problem until he knows it exists. I understand that since KC has done some things bass ackwards in the past, heads had to roll, and information he needed didn't get relayed like it should have. But Lordy, some one has got to tell the man that AP Literature can not start in January & be tested in the first week of May. Ok, I did tell him. Everyone who took the training with me wrote a letter to who ever is incharge. Our trainer told the person who coordinated her coming that what was being planned wasn't the way it worked. But they are NOT listening.
I also have had the pleasure of being in on some interesting meetings. At a two day event a group of us wrote new quarterly "MAP" predicting tests for the whole district to use. The one I worked on was chosen. They barely changed a thing; what they changed were mostly my partner's questions that she did primarily on her own. A stroke for my ego & perhaps even my resume. At another meeting, the superintendent told us that since the English 11 curriculum wasn't helping kids pass the state assessment (MAP) that it needed to be revamped. Thanks to me he was informed that my 11th graders come to me unable to read at even the 8th grade level & that I have to teach many of them phonics. He had a plan to help. All 11th graders were tested for reading levels, and those who score below grade level are going into a "Read 180" program which is for remediation. Those few who score at grade level or above will be in another type of English 11.
Last week, I was at a meeting that tried to plan what the latter group would be taught between now & the state assessment in April. A huge problem in that is that the 7 high schools are not on the same kind of schedule. 4 of them are on a schedule that is like block everyday, not every other. Those schools finish a year long course in a semester. 2 of the other schools are on an a/b block (actually my school has been on a traditional 7 hour day,but is changing at semester), and the last is an honors high school that is staying on the traditional 7 hour day. I helped create a basic hour plan, and then started tuping up daily plans for a unit, which quite honestly I'm in the middle of teaching, and hope to finish before the semester starts. But it is based on what is in the beginning of the textbooks, which is where 4 of the highschools will start.
Tomorrow I begin training for teaching the "Read 180."& I had to create a lesson for my students that is substitute proof. Worksheets about roots & affixes to help increase their vocabulary. They bombed the ones I gave them in early December... they were from a 5th grade level workbook. Many students just left sections blank; others can't understand the instructions "Write a sentence using the words above." How utterly depressing.
Hmmm. Do you believe now that I'm a teacher?
ON the home front, I still am a parent every other week. The kids' grades are doing better. The senior girl still hasn't filled out a complete college application yet. But she intends to go, or so she says. Dare I say actions speak louder than words? She doesn't want to go to the state college here in town, but it looks like she may end up there if she doesn't get her fingers in gear. I missed the middle child's IEP because no one told me when it was. NO ONE. I specifially told the gifted teacher that my ex does not communicate with me & that she needed to call me on my cell & I gave her my number. I also specifically said NO to a morning meeting & insisted on an afternoon one. She & the ex met in the morning. She has broken the law as far as I am concerned. My ex did communicate with me to let me know that I should have been there, but since I was NOT, he handled it & the childs' problems w/ a teacher on HIS OWN.
I really, really do not need reminders of why I left him. But the IRS gave me one anyway. He filled out his taxes incorrectly, but the IRS doesn't know who did. So if he, who hadn't done taxes for the 3 years before I met him or the 17 years we were married, doesn't realize that he claimed the wrong kid in the wrong year, then the IRS will get back to me. No, I didn't need to send them anything at this time, since I know I did it correctly. They'll get back to me... Any of you like that feeling you get when you get mail marked IRS & it isn't time for it to be the refund check??? If not, think of this feeling... mail from the bank when it's not time for a statement & you just wrote several checks for mega dollars. Very similar to the boss or significant other saying, "Let's have a talk" or the sound of a father taking his belt off very quickly. ... You got that feeling.... don't like it, never have, never will. But I am now anticipating another letter from the IRS. YUCK & it will mean talking to the ex about how he messed up. He does not respond well to being told he screwed up, which is another reason why I left him.
With the senior needing a FAFSA filled out before January 31... well, I hope I get my W-statement early. I get to be the one whose info is used, but in November the ex thought he was the one. Quite honestly, we don't want him to be the one. I earn about 60% of what he earns, plus it's my year to claim 2 kids. Last year I was so poor, that I got refunds for sales tax on food, plus Earned income & standard kid discounts, etc. The poorer she looks, the more aid she gets, the better we can actually afford to send her. It is good to have no financial funds outside of retirement accounts at some times in life, & the day you fill out a FAFSA is one of those rare times.
The day in January when the 0% interest credit card starts charging interest is not a good day, but it begins on Friday anyway. I'm praying that a request for a free balance transfer to a new 0% interest credit card will happen between now & then. But with all of these bank holidays... and another one today for a man who was never elected to be even a vp let alone a pres, I just doubt it's a gonna happen.
Gerald Ford. During his term best known for bumping his head & tripping on stairs. Oh, ok . known for not being elected & having to replace first Spiro Agnew for messing up on his taxes, and then Tricky Dick for messing up an election...or trying to hide that his men were doing that. Oh & the coup de gras... forgive my spelling I never studied french.... He pardoned many criminals including Nixon, who was one of the few actually alive to appreciate it. Forgive my seeming irreverence. I truly don't mean to put down a probably very respectable man. But I selfishly needed banks & post offices to be OPEN TODAY.
I was raised to be a Republican. During the Carter/Ford election, I campaigned for Ford by telling my junior high peers that Ford did do a good thing while in office. He pardoned Nixon. But alas, I went to college with professors who were Democrats. & so I am an independent. I've seen the errors of both sides, and can't join either group. Don't take me to be one of those super greenie voters, or a Nader compadre. But never in my voting career have I voted for someone who actually won. In years where it looked like a clear victory for some one, I voted for an independent (yes that does mean Perot) but is was to encourage others to consider being an independent. If kooky Perot could get 14% of the vote, imagine what a moral, nonbigotted, internationally politically savvy, financially- backed candidate could do. Blow the top off of this 2 party system. In years where it looked like a close race, I did indeed choose ... those big named guys who lost. Alas we are stuck w/ Bush. My relatives who derided me & disowned me when I wrote that his getting us into Iraq was based on faulty information & illogic, now speak to me again. No, they've not apologized for telling me to support my president no matter what, and telling me I was wrong about the war. But they don't send me pro-Bush e-mails anymore either. Strangely enough, the war I could almost understand (don't read as truly supportive, because I knew of the USSR troubles in their war ) in Afghanistan still hasn't found its target of Ossama bin Ladin (6ft tall arab who needs dialysis), but the Iraq war did get Hussein & even killed him this past week/month.
Now for one of those hypocritical inconsistent admissions in my life. I am 99.99999% against death penalty. It is not economical, nor morally consistent to Christian teachings, could allow recent converters to Christianity into heaven long before they truly suffer in prison, nor is it logically based. It is legally hypocritical, and it is not a deterrent to criminals. Hussein was a bad man; he did very bad things. He was killed for a fraction of these actions. I do not belief a government has a right to kill a man, but I'm glad he isn't alive & didn't use the time he had to accept Jesus as his savior. I am relieved that he will get to rot in hell.
It is almost 11 at night. I am to arise at 4:30ish. I do not like ending the blog or evening with these political & negative statements, but I do have to go to bed.
Perhaps some of my cynicism has been visible? Hopefully, I'll be more optimistically cynical next time ... because I really do believe that we humans could do it right, if we wanted to.
posted by Pete | 9:02 PM
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3 Comments
