No it isn't a one horse town, or even a one stoplight town. It is a one Radio Station Town, a one Newspaper Town, a one Post Office Town. Horses though... there's no shortage!
Well you'd think I'd be whining about the hot weather, but I'm not. 91 degrees doesn't feel unbearable when it is this dry. Low 40's at night and high 80's or above during the day. I haven't even noticed. My classroom has an Air Conditioner I've never turned on. I was told that this town has two seasons. Summer and Winter. Since I'm allergic to spring and fall that works for me! I can't believe it is the end of September and how warm it is. The snow shovels are stocked at the grocery store. As well as all the other cool weather devices you think you don't need till the ground is white. I brought my snow shovel with me so I should be good!
I am really enjoying my work. I do have moments when students are so sarcastic that it makes one go GRRRRR. I like my co-workers as near as I can tell so far. I like my job. I'm learning more everyday. I find out more and more what they do have to offer at this school. There are Professional Development opportunities that I am excited about. It is work.. I come home exhausted with tired feet and collapse. I come home with a sore back after using the die cutter. I am not super tall... but come on why do they always put those items on short tables so you're bending over like Quasimodo to do your work. Then you go to stand up straight and you're feel like you need to be snapped back into alignment! Sometimes I feel the world is arranged for Shorter people. I guess no matter your height some things are inconvenient! Back to work... finally I am doing what I love to do. Every day I feel that my skills are improving and that I am learning new things! If I am not learning every day I don't think I am doing my best for the students.
This week the school has been preparing for Parent Teacher conferences. That is one thing I do not have to Participate in. Other than I will be working in the computer lab helping parents sign their students up for a new publishing program we are using. It is pretty cool because the students can create their own book. The parents can pay to have it printed in color if they like. However, they can also print for free in black and white as well as the teachers. So the kids who do not get much exposure to technology will through this program and it allows them creativity with that technology. I do not know too much about it yet but I can't wait to start playing around with it. There is no cost to the parents or school unless they choose to pay for something done in color.
I know I have more exciting and wonderful things to share.... I need to write notes so when I sit down to the computer I'm not wondering what is new with me! :)
September 29, 2010
September 27, 2010
Who should be held accountable?
I was talking with a teacher today. She was fighting a cold, was tired, was overwhelmed, and feeling like she was failing her students. She told me how low some of the kids were in her class and how she was struggling to teach 4th grade material because some were reading at a kindergarten level, doing math at a first and second grade level, and most didn't have math down at a 3rd grade level. Some of the kids went home and played video games for hours. The parents didn't read with them or require them to do homework. She even gives daily rewards for returned homework.
Don't get me wrong. I know there are some Teachers who just need to be GONE. They need to take up gardening or chasing kids out of their yard with brooms. I know this. However, if we want teachers to be held accountable how can we do that without making parents accountable too? If you don't read at home how are they supposed to see the value in reading! If you don't talk about learning, reading, etc etc at home and teach them the importance of school. How can you expect the teacher to do all of that. When your 3rd grader doesn't know how to wipe their tushie... and wash their hands afterward... IS that the teachers fault? That is something that should have occurred during potty training with continuous reinforcement.
LEFT RIGHT and in between keep talking about the importance of education. However, you've tied the hands of good teachers SO tightly that they are struggling to motivate a group of kids whose only motivation is ( How long till school is out so I can go play Halo?) You want Teachers to be accountable when the way the system is set up is so that NO ONE is held accountable. The students aren't taught at home respect, values, appropriate behaviors. The administration ties the hands of teachers that try to hold students accountable. The Federal Government says everything is test scores, test scores, test scores, when individual student progress should count for something.
We all know what makes a good teacher: That is a well trained person, with a love for learning, who helps you to learn. It really is that simple. When you start to make it more complex than that.. you lose sight of what's important. I have had teachers I learned nothing from, other than what not to do. I've had teachers that helped me to make huge progress in learning because they put in time and effort to help me shore up those week areas. However, they helped me because I put in the effort, I asked for help, I worked at it. I was motivated to learn. So tell me who should be held accountable for students learning?
Don't get me wrong. I know there are some Teachers who just need to be GONE. They need to take up gardening or chasing kids out of their yard with brooms. I know this. However, if we want teachers to be held accountable how can we do that without making parents accountable too? If you don't read at home how are they supposed to see the value in reading! If you don't talk about learning, reading, etc etc at home and teach them the importance of school. How can you expect the teacher to do all of that. When your 3rd grader doesn't know how to wipe their tushie... and wash their hands afterward... IS that the teachers fault? That is something that should have occurred during potty training with continuous reinforcement.
LEFT RIGHT and in between keep talking about the importance of education. However, you've tied the hands of good teachers SO tightly that they are struggling to motivate a group of kids whose only motivation is ( How long till school is out so I can go play Halo?) You want Teachers to be accountable when the way the system is set up is so that NO ONE is held accountable. The students aren't taught at home respect, values, appropriate behaviors. The administration ties the hands of teachers that try to hold students accountable. The Federal Government says everything is test scores, test scores, test scores, when individual student progress should count for something.
We all know what makes a good teacher: That is a well trained person, with a love for learning, who helps you to learn. It really is that simple. When you start to make it more complex than that.. you lose sight of what's important. I have had teachers I learned nothing from, other than what not to do. I've had teachers that helped me to make huge progress in learning because they put in time and effort to help me shore up those week areas. However, they helped me because I put in the effort, I asked for help, I worked at it. I was motivated to learn. So tell me who should be held accountable for students learning?
September 22, 2010
First Week
Since the 10th of September life has been moving at top speed. I packed and loaded the U-Haul in 3 days. I had help thank goodness or it simply WOULD NOT have happened. I Drove to my new town on day 4. Day 5 I found a place to move into and I set up the water, power, etc etc. Day 6 We unloaded. Day 7 we unpacked, I started work, and Mom and Dad went home. I had Saturday and Sunday (Day 8 and 9) to plan and get my bearings before starting school on Monday. Planning was a laugh without internet access, or even a computer with a working keyboard. The keyboard went Kaput on the way here. This is Wednesday and It feels like at least 2 months have passed.
I am working very long hours trying to get organized and create lesson plans. Every day just gets busier and has more to do. That time spent preparing for I didn't know what was a waste of time. It has been fun to actually start creating lesson plans and put them in to action. However, it is a bit daunting because I have the entire school of four hundred kids come through my classroom in one week. Every grade level has a different lesson. Imagine preparing an Art lesson and ALLLLL the supplies needed for 400 students. It is a bit daunting. I also have time spent as an Intervention teacher every day. More kids to serve more lessons to plan based on their needs. I will get into the swing of things soon and be able to plan and prepare in advance. I am looking forward to maybe getting a little bit ahead and not being twenty steps behind. It is great to get to know all the kids in the school. I even get time with Developmentally Disabled students who get to come to art class. It is nice to be at a school where students are exposed to children with serious disabilities. It is less shocking to them when they encounter a person with disabilities and they learn patience, respect, and empathy.
Enough about school for a minute.. The town here I really enjoy. It is a small western town and if you can't find it at Ace, True Value, or the Grocery Store... well you probably won't find it. The isolation of this town hasn't really bothered me yet. Maybe when I have free time it might. So far though no free time so no worries. I finally got the internet installed. The only decent option is DSL.. and I can't figure out how to connect my desktop to the DSL in the livingroom. Oh boy! the challenges. The computer may have to be moved from the guestroom into the living room. Yuck!
I found a place to live the first day. Everyone told me that finding a place to rent here was a challenge. Finding a place that was decent was an even bigger challenge. To find both on my first day here was amazing. Since being at school I've barely unpacked any boxes, I'm fishing through plastic bins and boxes to find clothes to wear. I keep saying this weekend I can do this, that, or the other thing. Welll.... by the weekend I may lack the energy, and the time to do everything I left for the weekend. Another thing I really enjoy here is one of the churches has bells. They ring on the hour throughout the day. They may ring at midnight and if so... well I've slept right through it without noticing. Most of the original part of town was built in a canyon and grew up the sides of the "hills/mountains". It is cooler in the canyon but windier up on the hill. I am looking forward to seeing what kind of precipitation we get this year. Oh yes and speaking of precipitation and driving to work. I DON'T HAVE TO DRIVE TO WORK. I simply walk out my door, down a short side walk, across the street, and I walk into the playground of the school, then inside. It is perhaps a 3 minute commute to work.
My landlord let me move in before they were finished with activities like hanging the blinds! I really appreciate the rush they put on everything so that I could get my stuff moved in. I still don't have blinds but they say those are going up tomorrow. Whooo hooo! It all happened so fast but went relatively smooth. I really think I'm going to like it here. There is this one bird that... oh the horrible noise. It scared the heck out of me where it had nested in a sign. I'll let you know later what it was because that is a bird call that makes one want to put cotton in their ears. WOW! Oh by the way the newspaper comes out once a week and I haven't had time to get a subscription yet. Woe is I. Also I bank at the grocery store. Really doesn't get more Convienient than that. However, there isn't much privacy either :)! You wait in line down one of the grocery aisles. Well.. I'm rambling and I have much to do to prepare for tomorrow. So now that I am internet ready I expect to hear from you.
Any errors you find in this message have may have something to do with my fried brain, so keep them to yourself.
I am working very long hours trying to get organized and create lesson plans. Every day just gets busier and has more to do. That time spent preparing for I didn't know what was a waste of time. It has been fun to actually start creating lesson plans and put them in to action. However, it is a bit daunting because I have the entire school of four hundred kids come through my classroom in one week. Every grade level has a different lesson. Imagine preparing an Art lesson and ALLLLL the supplies needed for 400 students. It is a bit daunting. I also have time spent as an Intervention teacher every day. More kids to serve more lessons to plan based on their needs. I will get into the swing of things soon and be able to plan and prepare in advance. I am looking forward to maybe getting a little bit ahead and not being twenty steps behind. It is great to get to know all the kids in the school. I even get time with Developmentally Disabled students who get to come to art class. It is nice to be at a school where students are exposed to children with serious disabilities. It is less shocking to them when they encounter a person with disabilities and they learn patience, respect, and empathy.
Enough about school for a minute.. The town here I really enjoy. It is a small western town and if you can't find it at Ace, True Value, or the Grocery Store... well you probably won't find it. The isolation of this town hasn't really bothered me yet. Maybe when I have free time it might. So far though no free time so no worries. I finally got the internet installed. The only decent option is DSL.. and I can't figure out how to connect my desktop to the DSL in the livingroom. Oh boy! the challenges. The computer may have to be moved from the guestroom into the living room. Yuck!
I found a place to live the first day. Everyone told me that finding a place to rent here was a challenge. Finding a place that was decent was an even bigger challenge. To find both on my first day here was amazing. Since being at school I've barely unpacked any boxes, I'm fishing through plastic bins and boxes to find clothes to wear. I keep saying this weekend I can do this, that, or the other thing. Welll.... by the weekend I may lack the energy, and the time to do everything I left for the weekend. Another thing I really enjoy here is one of the churches has bells. They ring on the hour throughout the day. They may ring at midnight and if so... well I've slept right through it without noticing. Most of the original part of town was built in a canyon and grew up the sides of the "hills/mountains". It is cooler in the canyon but windier up on the hill. I am looking forward to seeing what kind of precipitation we get this year. Oh yes and speaking of precipitation and driving to work. I DON'T HAVE TO DRIVE TO WORK. I simply walk out my door, down a short side walk, across the street, and I walk into the playground of the school, then inside. It is perhaps a 3 minute commute to work.
My landlord let me move in before they were finished with activities like hanging the blinds! I really appreciate the rush they put on everything so that I could get my stuff moved in. I still don't have blinds but they say those are going up tomorrow. Whooo hooo! It all happened so fast but went relatively smooth. I really think I'm going to like it here. There is this one bird that... oh the horrible noise. It scared the heck out of me where it had nested in a sign. I'll let you know later what it was because that is a bird call that makes one want to put cotton in their ears. WOW! Oh by the way the newspaper comes out once a week and I haven't had time to get a subscription yet. Woe is I. Also I bank at the grocery store. Really doesn't get more Convienient than that. However, there isn't much privacy either :)! You wait in line down one of the grocery aisles. Well.. I'm rambling and I have much to do to prepare for tomorrow. So now that I am internet ready I expect to hear from you.
Any errors you find in this message have may have something to do with my fried brain, so keep them to yourself.
September 11, 2010
Just when you think you know.....
Just when you think you know what your plans are.. they change. It is just another confirmation of who is in charge :)! I am Very, VERY, excited to start a new position in a new state! YAY!!! I Can barely wrap my wee brain around the changes that have occurred in just one week!
Packing Packing Packing... miserable packing. There is no good way to pack. Luckily I have people willing to help me. Not sure but they might be crazy. I look around and think where did all of this come from. I have this??? Really?? Remember when I moved with one suitcase and thought that was enough. I guess this just shows my age. I now require a big truck!
Every single time I move I wonder "Where did all these papers come from"??? Are papers mating like bunnies in the spring time and am I shuffling paper off-spring around my desk? Hmm it is possible.. I am nearly convinced.
The local U-haul store is great they are very cheerful and helpful. That may have something to do with every time I go in there I buy some very useful thing-a-ma-jigger to pack with. I am banning myself from the store. The best thing they sell in my opinion is the Labeled Box Tape
Now it is such a simple idea but w/o even knowing what is in the box you know what room it needs to go to. Which is a great clue to the boxes content. It is just wonderful. Every person who moves should use it..unless.. you enjoy playing mystery box! Packing amnesia occurs somewhere between packing and moving. Maybe it happens upon arrival to your destination, but it definitely occurs. You look at the boxes in puzzlement as if you'd never seen your own stuff before.
Well enough on the joys of moving. Come visit me on the "loneliest highway in America" that's where I'll be... More later
Packing Packing Packing... miserable packing. There is no good way to pack. Luckily I have people willing to help me. Not sure but they might be crazy. I look around and think where did all of this come from. I have this??? Really?? Remember when I moved with one suitcase and thought that was enough. I guess this just shows my age. I now require a big truck!
Every single time I move I wonder "Where did all these papers come from"??? Are papers mating like bunnies in the spring time and am I shuffling paper off-spring around my desk? Hmm it is possible.. I am nearly convinced.
The local U-haul store is great they are very cheerful and helpful. That may have something to do with every time I go in there I buy some very useful thing-a-ma-jigger to pack with. I am banning myself from the store. The best thing they sell in my opinion is the Labeled Box Tape
Now it is such a simple idea but w/o even knowing what is in the box you know what room it needs to go to. Which is a great clue to the boxes content. It is just wonderful. Every person who moves should use it..unless.. you enjoy playing mystery box! Packing amnesia occurs somewhere between packing and moving. Maybe it happens upon arrival to your destination, but it definitely occurs. You look at the boxes in puzzlement as if you'd never seen your own stuff before.
Well enough on the joys of moving. Come visit me on the "loneliest highway in America" that's where I'll be... More later
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