To buy, or not to buy - that should be the question.

Happy Holidays!

I know it is the season of giving..stuff. So why am I irritated? Why do we need so much stuff? Here are a couple of observations: It seems that people over buy - especially for kids! I mean, lots of time I have witnessed a child open a bunch of gifts and then just play with one. Or the really little ones just want to play with the paper, or the box it came in - hmmm... what about putting all that money into a savings account for the child? I know why - because people don't really have the money, they are using credit. Doesn't that seem like a problem? But our government does it? Spends more then they have, then others have to pay for it. This year I did not get a lot of stuff, almost everything I got I will use frequently - and it felt great! Being a financially responsible family we decided to scale back on the amount of gifts to purchase, how smart is that? How did we figure that out? Basic high school consumer economics, sign your child up for Consumer Economics or better yet - Financing.

Cellphone etiquette - necessary?

I am in Subway ordering my $5 footlong veggie, it's not really busy but the customer in front of me is on her phone. From the sounds of it, she was speaking another language. The Subway worker was trying to be patient asking her the same questions over and over again about her sandwich. I starred at her, trying to give her the none verbal - "can you concentrate here?" but it did not work. I passed her up and got my sub. I told the worker helping me that that is very rude.

After I left I thought, can a worker refuse to help someone who is on their phone and not paying attention? Should I have said something since the workers did not feel like they could call her out on her rudeness?

Stop pushing kids through

What is annoying to me is students who get pushed through the system when they should clearly not be graduating to the next level.

First of all, if they have not worked at the current level why would he/she work at the next? Then the next teacher has to take more time out to help this student, which ends up being wasted time since the student obviously does not care about school.

Second of all, parents need to step up to the plate! If their child is failing, they need to re-evaluate what they are doing to help their child pass. Parents made the decision to have kids, they need to realize that educating their child is partly their responsibility.

Third, administrators need to back their teachers and make parents responsible. If traditional behavior plans do not work (detentions, suspensions) then think outside the box - community service. This child is costing the district money by wasting teachers time and affects other students education - so they should give back to the district. I am sure the custodians have plenty of jobs they could do - or something.

What if the parents refuse to do anything except enable their child to continue to be a problem at school and fail multiple classes... well I have already talked about tax credits being associated with students grades. Another radical proposal is if the student is held back a year, the parents have to pay a certain amount. Yes, pay for public education - if they have to repeat a year because of behavior and/or grades.

Do I have kids yet? No, but if my parents could get me through school then other parents can do it also. I went to summer school, grounded, no TV in my room, loss of phone priveldges (which was HUGE to me) and etc. Nowadays, there are even MORE things to take away from kids - but that does not seem to happen for the majority of poor students (that I have seen).

What are parents afraid of?

I am no K-12 teacher

OK...well... I have come to the realization that I love education, I love teaching - but NOT teaching K-12. You have to have be a special person to be a K-12 teacher, it is difficult. First of all, you have the students who after the 7th grade start trying to become individuals and sometimes that includes being disrespectful to adults. What is interesting is that sometimes you get to meet the parents of these students and I find it disturbing how much the apple does NOT fall from the tree. Sometimes the parents will say, "I'm trying everything" of course you can not dispute this but REALLY??? You've tried EVERYTHING?! Why does your child still have a PSP? a cellphone? out with friends? REALLY???!!!! Of course a teacher would never try and give parenting advice, but if you are lucky you do get teaching advise from parents. For example, "What ever you are doing is not working" What I am doing? You are the parent, with all the power. As a parent you can take things away you can even HOLD YOUR CHILD BACK A GRADE - WOW...novel idea. Now grant it, there will be some teachers extremely upset with having to teach that child again - but you are actually DOING SOMETHING extreme to get your child's attention so he/she knows WHO'S THE BOSS...

Good Grades = Tax Credit

Ok - So I have worked in a couple different districts and it is obvious to me (and I am sure others) that when parents are involved their kids do better in school. I am not sure if you are aware, but there are parents out there that don't take their job as a parent very seriously. Who knew parenting was going to be hard? UM HELLO?! You made the choice to have sex, the choice to have a child so take on the responsibility. If they do not want to take on this responsibility then they should not be able to get any tax credit. More paperwork - but if the parents are not helping their kids get a C average or above then they are not parenting! Its not just teachers doing their job, the parents have to back the school and make their child realize how important it is!

Streamlined Education

Since I have been in multiple districts I believe I have discovered something profound. This is the first district that after I was hired was sent a day by day plan of what is taught in each subject. When I arrived at the school I was shown where all the materials are - huh? You mean I do not have to create my own curriculum? Which I have done in 2 other districts, all together making 8-9 different curriculums from scratch. Insane? I agree. I have come to believe that EVERY subject should have a day by day plan created, that has associated standards and can be repeated every semester/year. That being said, once it is set up then the educator can update a unit each semester - which is much more manageable then an entire curriculum. SO, when new teachers come in they are not overwhelmed with creating a curriculum or what has been done in the past - all they have to do is get through their first year in a new district. Aside from teaching a new teacher has to worry about so many other administrative things let along just learning people's names and understanding the culture.

Now, there are teachers out there that would think I am insane and others that would agree. I have experienced both sides and since I am working with a standard curriculum I am able to contact parents, do more differentiated learning, deal with discipline issues better and the list goes on.

NewJob: The Faculty Lounge

I have to say that this is the first district I have been in that the faculty lounge actually is a de-stressor. I walk out of there feeling like I just sat down with my friends and "kicked it" for a little bit. I am thoroughly enjoying it, too bad I will be leaving at the end of the school year because I am now moving. It is a good move, but I actually think this district would have asked me back.

New job...back to the weirdos

Ok - So I have started in a new district, lots of meetings - some with only 4 days notice. This is my 3rd district, sounds kinda bad huh? Well - it is all due to budget cuts and priorities. I mean, I just teach students life skills - nothing that important. I guess some do not realize that "Home Ec" has graduated to a new level "Family and Consumer Education", why? Because we teach more then sewing and cooking. ANYWHO - new district new observations... so stay tuned.

Change in Education

As I get through another year of teaching I start to realize why there are so many older teachers - because the new ones get used, abused and cut! I can not help but compare the education world to the business world. In this business world, you are constantly trying to gain a new skill, get better, improve your "product" - so you can move up, get respected and keep your job. On the other hand, in education all you have to do is stay around long enough to get tenure and then BAM your safe! Then you don't have to get better - but some get BITTER! I am a little irritated with how teachers get complacent accept the status quo of deliver information and hope for the best. Todays child is full of energy and sitting in a classroom is not the way they learn. GRR....

Plastic Bags - JUST SAY NO! (Set to Scarborough Fair)

In memorance of Earth Day April 22

But they are doing this...

So I realize that there is always something to complain about, sometimes the complaining is legit and other times not so much. I also have to consider that everybody's expectation of legit is different - but SERIOUSLY folks it does not take much to get some teachers in a tizzy. Let's take scheduling, which is a nightmare, and each school type (Elementary, Middle and High) has different issues with scheduling. I braved the faculty lounge YET AGAIN and got into a polite disagreement with a fellow teacher who was in a tizzy about scheduling issues. Over the year Elementary has assemblies, Middle has field trips and High School has pep assemblies and finals - NONE of this is a secret. To me it all evens out, but the other teacher did not see it this way. WHY is this something to stress over? WHY? WHY? Someone explain it to me.

Health Care

It started out so positive, talking about what's going on in the Third Ward, good places to eat and then it turned ugly. The other day switching insurance was brought up, and as you probably know health insurance is a sore topic with alot of teachers. I am young, so I don't depend on my insurance as much as others. I figured I need more information, I would like to find out if anyone else has UnitedHealth Care insurance, well do you?

I feel this is going to be a touchy subject and I would like to be able to take a stand on the issue either way.

Are teachers not trusted?

Ok - So tonight I went to a parent input meeting where the parents were able to give some feedback on the schedule that we are proposing for next year. In the past, parent input was not asked for, but this year it is (not so sure it was a good thing). I sat and listened to many comments being made, some which were personally attacking my subject area and realized that the parents need to be educated on some more basics of the education process. How are parents suppose to understand a new schedule when they don't know what we do in a days work? Plus alot of their information comes from their child, hmmm... do we think that could be skewed at all?

Overall, I felt that the parents did not trust that the teachers and administration had the knowledge or intelligence to create a scheudle that worked for everyone including the kids. It's a little difficult to take, but WHATEVER, if there is another listening session I will open my mouth more.

Faculty Lounge - face lift

Just thought that I would let you all know, I and another teacher have been asked to give the faculty lounge a face lift. We are painting, covering chairs and getting rid of alot of stuff. We have been doing it gradually so that the CHANGE does not shock anyone into cardiac arrest - but suprisingly the staff has been pretty welcoming to the change. Then atleast I can say I tried to change the mood at lunch by creating a warm, comfortable and happy envionrment.

Reasons why I avoid the lunch room

Ok - so I ventured into the faculty lounge and BAM it hit me AGAIN! So, a little background on me - I was not a very good student in MS or HS. I know it is hard to believe since I am such a geek now, but I was a C/D student. ANYWHO - I am a firm believer that I did not have teachers who taught using multiple intelligences. Atleast I have a better understanding why they did not teach that way. Considering through my undergrad I realized that education has not been studied for very long. HENCE the need for CHANGE in the way we teach - yes I said it CHANGE.... I know it is a dirty word but GIVE IT UP! I struggled through school my WHOLE life and it took alot of failures for me to figure out how to succeed. I think that now we are expected to do alot more to help students succeed, AWESOME! So I say GRRR to those teachers who do not want to change or work harder. Am I alonng with this?

Use trash in school

When I was in high school I was on the fore front of making reycling mainstream, soon it took off and now people expect it. Now I think that we can use recyclable materials in school to teach creativity.

On Treehugger TV they have a couple videos that show how an interior designer used recycled materials to create a modern eclectic space that is eco-friendly.

Currently in one of my 7th grade classes we are making board games out of recycled materials that serve as an educational tool on earthday. I am hoping in the process the students learn a little about the environment while learning to creatively think about "trash". We'll see.

Do we live up to our own expectations?

After reading The Coming of Age article Peter Ford said something so simple that made me more irritated with "stuck in the past" teachers. He said "practice what we preach", how many times have we (adults in general) said this? Well, as teachers we ask students to learn something new everyday, retain it, apply it and remember it for all the classes to follow. On the other hand, many teachers teach the same static content - how much is history going to change? or mathematics? Science theories? Grammar? If the content is rarely changing - why be resisitant to new ways of teaching it? Atleast, I have come across many teachers resistant to change their teaching methods. I mean, how long have we been looking at teaching methods and there effectiveness? I don't think it has been that long, although I have not been able to find the supporting material for this (I remember it from my undergrad).

So I digress, as adults, people, teachers we need to model to the youth how to problem solve by doing ourselves. I am suggesting that we need to learn new ways to teach the static material - or look into how that static material is changing and being affected by technology.

For example, I tried something in my class that I had never done before - so I told the students that and we read the directions together and our first try did not work, we failed, we reflected and tried again - we were successful! Many teachers are affraid to fail in from of the students, I found they saw me as human and able to make mistakes. I am hoping they see that making mistakes is just a way of learning - if you take advantage of the learning moment.

Are you sure you are meant to be a teacher?

SO - I started out the "real world" in a large consulting firm, where I had 3 careers. I had an epiphany and decided to get into something that I felt that I was giving back, which led me to education. Once I got to education I am amazed how many ineffective teachers there are. Why in most industries do people leave when they realize that they are not enjoying or are good at what they do. Hmm... I have pondered this and I think it is all about the pension. So I am still wondering how ineffective teachers keep their jobs - I mean, if you are not good at your job why do you get to keep your job? I am new, still learning.