These are in no way ordered or connected.
Sometimes, it's really, really, REALLY fucking frustrating being a teacher. Very few people respect us, we get very little feedback as to what we did for the year with the students actually made a difference, and well, we make shit for pay...and that's how I feel on a good day.
I always think it's cool when someone local is on a national program. Woody Paige is always on "Around the Horn" on ESPN and I feel a sense of pride that someone from Colorado was good enough to be on there. Also, I think I know enough about sports that I could be on ESPN...never mind the fact that I'm not nearly pretty enough and I'm most definitely not young enough.
Why is it easier for me to drink water out of a Camelbak than a regular cup or water bottle?
I'm very sad because FedEx was supposed to deliver my new phone to school...and I'm not there! Darn you for canceling school!!!
Although I always said that I would be a die-hard "real book" person until I die, I have to admit, I love reading ebooks on my iPad. It's way easier to read at night, so my booklight isn't blinding Babe all the time and well, it's pretty frelling cool.
Do you think the "official training bike of the Tour de France" is as awesome as it looks on the commercial? Is anything?
Showing posts with label teaching. Show all posts
Showing posts with label teaching. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Monday, February 28, 2011
Pssst...I have a secret
I really don't think standardized testing is the devil.
There.
I said it.
Does it take away from instruction? Yeah. Does the possibility of ONE TEST being a huge determinant of my salary scare me? Yep.
However, these tests hold value. Really, they do. Imagine you're a teacher (and for some of my readers...that's not too hard to do!) and there you sit, a blank lesson plan book in front of you, you know that20 25 30 35 bright, shiny, new faces are going to be staring at you in a matter of days. After the preliminary "getting to know you" activities parents, and your administrators, expect you to actually start teaching. (I know...the nerve!) Where do you start? What are your goals? WHAT THE HELL DO I TEACH THESE KIDS?
Those evil, no-good, dirty, rotten tests actually give me a starting point. The bulk of my kids struggled with extended writing last year? Great! Guess what a focus of mine is going to be? Their grammar and conventions suck? I'll start pulling out the Michael Clay Thompson books.
Not only does looking at the data help drive my curricular planning, I look back at how my former class performed. Did they struggle with identifying theme in their writing test? Looks like I should hit it harder from now on, etc.
Granted, once kids get to the upper-elementary/middle school grades, a ton of their test scores really do depend on their attitude. There's a story of an 8th grader at my school that, while he had the ability to do well on one of his tests, he spent the majority of the testing sessions drawing sea life in the test book. I'm assuming he didn't score too well...and I would also gather that his teacher didn't look to his scores to help her figure out her areas of strength and weakness as a teacher.
There's also parents that don't put much stock into it, a friend of mine had a parent last year that said, "Well, all the kids know it doesn't really matter how THEY do...it's just a report card for the teachers."
^That^ statement scares me, but I'll save it for post some other day.
Does state testing foster "teaching to the test"? Well...yeah. But, the test reflects the state standards, which are reflected in my district standards, which are then reflected in my school expectations. What is wrong with that?????
I know the horror stories of teachers just doing "testing workbooks" all year long, but honestly...how many of you have really seen/experienced that? I know that my students will have to analyze some poetry, so I have them analyze some poetry throughout the year. I also know that my students will be required to respond to a persuasive, descriptive, or explanatory prompt...yeah, they've been sharpening their writing skills in those areas throughout the year.
Frankly, if you are doing your job, and teaching to the standards and grade-level appropriate curriculum..you ARE teaching to the test, and that's okay. I'm lucky to be in a school that allows a great deal of teacher-autonomy, so I can get my kids to write persuasively any way I want. I had them identify propaganda techniques, read persuasive writing, analyze persuasive writing, research an issue, and finally, write a persuasive essay about the issue. <----That, my friends is how AimCo " teaches to the test".
So, long story longer, I don't mind the period of testing. It gives me some data, I can get end of the quarter grading done, read some books, and organize my file cabinet...not a bad week, in my opinion.
There.
I said it.
Does it take away from instruction? Yeah. Does the possibility of ONE TEST being a huge determinant of my salary scare me? Yep.
However, these tests hold value. Really, they do. Imagine you're a teacher (and for some of my readers...that's not too hard to do!) and there you sit, a blank lesson plan book in front of you, you know that
Those evil, no-good, dirty, rotten tests actually give me a starting point. The bulk of my kids struggled with extended writing last year? Great! Guess what a focus of mine is going to be? Their grammar and conventions suck? I'll start pulling out the Michael Clay Thompson books.
Not only does looking at the data help drive my curricular planning, I look back at how my former class performed. Did they struggle with identifying theme in their writing test? Looks like I should hit it harder from now on, etc.
Granted, once kids get to the upper-elementary/middle school grades, a ton of their test scores really do depend on their attitude. There's a story of an 8th grader at my school that, while he had the ability to do well on one of his tests, he spent the majority of the testing sessions drawing sea life in the test book. I'm assuming he didn't score too well...and I would also gather that his teacher didn't look to his scores to help her figure out her areas of strength and weakness as a teacher.
There's also parents that don't put much stock into it, a friend of mine had a parent last year that said, "Well, all the kids know it doesn't really matter how THEY do...it's just a report card for the teachers."
^That^ statement scares me, but I'll save it for post some other day.
Does state testing foster "teaching to the test"? Well...yeah. But, the test reflects the state standards, which are reflected in my district standards, which are then reflected in my school expectations. What is wrong with that?????
I know the horror stories of teachers just doing "testing workbooks" all year long, but honestly...how many of you have really seen/experienced that? I know that my students will have to analyze some poetry, so I have them analyze some poetry throughout the year. I also know that my students will be required to respond to a persuasive, descriptive, or explanatory prompt...yeah, they've been sharpening their writing skills in those areas throughout the year.
Frankly, if you are doing your job, and teaching to the standards and grade-level appropriate curriculum..you ARE teaching to the test, and that's okay. I'm lucky to be in a school that allows a great deal of teacher-autonomy, so I can get my kids to write persuasively any way I want. I had them identify propaganda techniques, read persuasive writing, analyze persuasive writing, research an issue, and finally, write a persuasive essay about the issue. <----That, my friends is how AimCo " teaches to the test".
So, long story longer, I don't mind the period of testing. It gives me some data, I can get end of the quarter grading done, read some books, and organize my file cabinet...not a bad week, in my opinion.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Biting the Hand That Feeds
Ever since I wrote the title, I keep hearing Trent Reznor in my head.
I've been mulling over this topic for a while--it started after some random student (an 8th grade girl, I believe...well, I *know* she was a girl, I *think* she was in 8th grade) came into my room and asked what time the Talent Show started that evening.
My reply, "Um...7:00 p.m."
Girl: "Where do we get tickets?"
Me: "Um...it's free. But Student Council will be selling snacks, so you might want to bring money for that."
Girl: "Kthxbai!"
I didn't even bother to remind her that there are about 20 posters all around the school (one of them being RIGHT OUTSIDE MY DOOR...the one she just came through) with all of the pertinent information on them. I didn't even dream of mentioning the fact that information about the Talent Show had been on NHN (our daily announcement news broadcast) for the past 4 days. I just didn't.
What was the point? Despite spoon-feeding the information to the 1,300+ students in my building, they still weren't paying attention. But that's the problem...we're raising a generation of helpless kids. They have gone through life with everything at their fingertips: information, conversation, movies...all on demand and they've gotten to the point where they struggle to merely access information that should be simple.
Obviously, I'm over-generalizing, there are plenty of kids who don't have everything given to them, but in my school, those kids are few and far between. Is it a result of their parents being crazy-rich? Perhaps. Is it a result of their parents being raised in (most likely) very strict households and these parents are swearing, "I'll never be THAT kind of parent!"? Perhaps.
I don't have the answer, and trust me, if I did I wouldn't be working in a district that will most likely forgo raises for the third year in a row, nor would I be in a field where the more educated you are and the more "loyal" you've been to a district bites you in the ass. Oh, no siree! I'd be writing books and giving lectures on how to fix these problems. But, I don't know how so here I sit...writing while my students are creating skits.
One thing I do know, however is we need to teach kids how to figure stuff out on their own. These students HAVE to be able to problem solve and learn how to think for themselves. Parents have got to quit getting up teachers asses if "little JoeBob" isn't getting an A. Guess what? Teachers don't "give grades" we merely record the choices and decisions students have made.
I'm not saying that we need to raise kids under the totalitarian-type rule that was the norm in the 50's, but c'mon...we need to do something because frankly, if these are the kids that are going to be in charge of the world when I'm older...I'm really hoping they've colonized Mars.
I've been mulling over this topic for a while--it started after some random student (an 8th grade girl, I believe...well, I *know* she was a girl, I *think* she was in 8th grade) came into my room and asked what time the Talent Show started that evening.
My reply, "Um...7:00 p.m."
Girl: "Where do we get tickets?"
Me: "Um...it's free. But Student Council will be selling snacks, so you might want to bring money for that."
Girl: "Kthxbai!"
I didn't even bother to remind her that there are about 20 posters all around the school (one of them being RIGHT OUTSIDE MY DOOR...the one she just came through) with all of the pertinent information on them. I didn't even dream of mentioning the fact that information about the Talent Show had been on NHN (our daily announcement news broadcast) for the past 4 days. I just didn't.
What was the point? Despite spoon-feeding the information to the 1,300+ students in my building, they still weren't paying attention. But that's the problem...we're raising a generation of helpless kids. They have gone through life with everything at their fingertips: information, conversation, movies...all on demand and they've gotten to the point where they struggle to merely access information that should be simple.
Obviously, I'm over-generalizing, there are plenty of kids who don't have everything given to them, but in my school, those kids are few and far between. Is it a result of their parents being crazy-rich? Perhaps. Is it a result of their parents being raised in (most likely) very strict households and these parents are swearing, "I'll never be THAT kind of parent!"? Perhaps.
I don't have the answer, and trust me, if I did I wouldn't be working in a district that will most likely forgo raises for the third year in a row, nor would I be in a field where the more educated you are and the more "loyal" you've been to a district bites you in the ass. Oh, no siree! I'd be writing books and giving lectures on how to fix these problems. But, I don't know how so here I sit...writing while my students are creating skits.
One thing I do know, however is we need to teach kids how to figure stuff out on their own. These students HAVE to be able to problem solve and learn how to think for themselves. Parents have got to quit getting up teachers asses if "little JoeBob" isn't getting an A. Guess what? Teachers don't "give grades" we merely record the choices and decisions students have made.
I'm not saying that we need to raise kids under the totalitarian-type rule that was the norm in the 50's, but c'mon...we need to do something because frankly, if these are the kids that are going to be in charge of the world when I'm older...I'm really hoping they've colonized Mars.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
The Evolution Will Not Be Televised!
(But I am going to blog about it...)
Ahhhhh, New Year's...a time to work off the hangover and make a bunch of resolutions that won't see the light of February.
Or maybe not...
On Facebook yesterday, the founder/owner of Tokyo Joe's (a Japanese-y type of quick food place--think Noodles and Co. but with Asian flavors) posted this: "...and to steal a phrase (thanks Lindsey) ... go make yourself a great NEW YEAR'S "EVOLUTION" ... better than just a Resolution :)
It's Time Out to Re-invent Yourself ... so make 2011 YOUR best year ever."
(Yes, I'm friends with "Tokyo Joe's.)
As cheesy as it sounds, it got me thinking...it shouldn't be about "resolving" to completely change, but life should be about "evolving" into a better you. I like the idea of evolution--I am a godless heathen after all and I *do* consider Darwin one of my peeps--so if I embrace the thought of evolving into a better AimCo and then take steps (baby steps, mind you) to become the better AimCo, then I really will evolve into a better me by the end of the year.
So, here's what I'm thinking...I want to:
1. Evolve into a better teacher/educator: I don't phone it in that often--I'm not a teacher that will do the same thing overandoverandover again because I know that it worked once. However, I'm becoming more disenchanted with the education system--the changes, the battles we fight, the shit teachers take from the media, parents, administrators, the district, the union, the school boards, etc. Instead of just letting the changes happen to me, I want to be a force of change within the system. Crazy, right?
How do I do this? No fucking clue. ;D I think my first step is to get my EdS (Education Specialist) degree with the emphasis in education. I have my Masters, but I think in order to move ahead, I need the admin experience. I DO NOT want to be in administration in the traditional sense of the word--I don't want to be in charge of a building. I get my feelings hurt too easily to do that, but I think knowing how schools work will help me get out of one.
Another think I need to go to evolve my career is to dump the thankless shit that I do in my building: Student Council, planning the yearly trip, being the "go to" person for everyone. I need to quit, period. Frankly, I never get props for it, very few people care, and frankly it takes a ton of time and energy away from other things I could be doing.
2. Evolve into a better wife/mother: See above. By letting go of some the things that I do at work, I can focus more energy into my family. I want more family dinners, I want less time spent on cleaning up the disaster-area my house can become, I want to have more fun and quality time.
In order to do that, I need to be more organized. Today is a start. I prepped as much food as I could for the week (lots of chopping going on) and labeled everything I could. I've made a Google calendar with EVERYTHING on it so I know exactly what's going on. I'm going to plan my clothes for the week so I'm not stressing out about what to wear. Finally, I'm going to be asleep by 9 (yes, 9!) so I can get up in the morning around 5 and not run around crazy to get ready. (In order to faciltitate this, there may be some Xanax ingesting, but hey, whatever works, right?)
3. Evolve into a healthier me: I need to become more focused on my health. See above...that whole meal planning/prepping thing is so we're not eating crap at the last minute because there's nothing in the house. I'm turning my classroom into a mini-workout studio where I can work out after school on a regular basis. Once I get home, I'm on mom-duty and I won't work out. So, in my room it is. I also ordered a Polar FT7 heart rate monitor so I can track my progress and really see how many calories I'm burning. Babe and I are also taking a "sober week" once a month to just give our bodies a chance to detox. Yes, I know if I just avoided alcohol altogether I wouldn't have to worry about it, but I'm vodka's bitch and I just can't quit it.
Notice how the 3 things fit together? I figure if I keep with the K.I.S.S. philosophy, I should be able to make some changes and I won't overwhelm my brain. I'll keep you posted.
Ahhhhh, New Year's...a time to work off the hangover and make a bunch of resolutions that won't see the light of February.
Or maybe not...
On Facebook yesterday, the founder/owner of Tokyo Joe's (a Japanese-y type of quick food place--think Noodles and Co. but with Asian flavors) posted this: "...and to steal a phrase (thanks Lindsey) ... go make yourself a great NEW YEAR'S "EVOLUTION" ... better than just a Resolution :)
It's Time Out to Re-invent Yourself ... so make 2011 YOUR best year ever."
(Yes, I'm friends with "Tokyo Joe's.)
As cheesy as it sounds, it got me thinking...it shouldn't be about "resolving" to completely change, but life should be about "evolving" into a better you. I like the idea of evolution--I am a godless heathen after all and I *do* consider Darwin one of my peeps--so if I embrace the thought of evolving into a better AimCo and then take steps (baby steps, mind you) to become the better AimCo, then I really will evolve into a better me by the end of the year.
So, here's what I'm thinking...I want to:
1. Evolve into a better teacher/educator: I don't phone it in that often--I'm not a teacher that will do the same thing overandoverandover again because I know that it worked once. However, I'm becoming more disenchanted with the education system--the changes, the battles we fight, the shit teachers take from the media, parents, administrators, the district, the union, the school boards, etc. Instead of just letting the changes happen to me, I want to be a force of change within the system. Crazy, right?
How do I do this? No fucking clue. ;D I think my first step is to get my EdS (Education Specialist) degree with the emphasis in education. I have my Masters, but I think in order to move ahead, I need the admin experience. I DO NOT want to be in administration in the traditional sense of the word--I don't want to be in charge of a building. I get my feelings hurt too easily to do that, but I think knowing how schools work will help me get out of one.
Another think I need to go to evolve my career is to dump the thankless shit that I do in my building: Student Council, planning the yearly trip, being the "go to" person for everyone. I need to quit, period. Frankly, I never get props for it, very few people care, and frankly it takes a ton of time and energy away from other things I could be doing.
2. Evolve into a better wife/mother: See above. By letting go of some the things that I do at work, I can focus more energy into my family. I want more family dinners, I want less time spent on cleaning up the disaster-area my house can become, I want to have more fun and quality time.
In order to do that, I need to be more organized. Today is a start. I prepped as much food as I could for the week (lots of chopping going on) and labeled everything I could. I've made a Google calendar with EVERYTHING on it so I know exactly what's going on. I'm going to plan my clothes for the week so I'm not stressing out about what to wear. Finally, I'm going to be asleep by 9 (yes, 9!) so I can get up in the morning around 5 and not run around crazy to get ready. (In order to faciltitate this, there may be some Xanax ingesting, but hey, whatever works, right?)
3. Evolve into a healthier me: I need to become more focused on my health. See above...that whole meal planning/prepping thing is so we're not eating crap at the last minute because there's nothing in the house. I'm turning my classroom into a mini-workout studio where I can work out after school on a regular basis. Once I get home, I'm on mom-duty and I won't work out. So, in my room it is. I also ordered a Polar FT7 heart rate monitor so I can track my progress and really see how many calories I'm burning. Babe and I are also taking a "sober week" once a month to just give our bodies a chance to detox. Yes, I know if I just avoided alcohol altogether I wouldn't have to worry about it, but I'm vodka's bitch and I just can't quit it.
Notice how the 3 things fit together? I figure if I keep with the K.I.S.S. philosophy, I should be able to make some changes and I won't overwhelm my brain. I'll keep you posted.
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