We Do What We're Told

Old Peter Gabriel song, stuck in my head today...

Those of you who know me know that I teach in a failing school. Our students are those you hear about on the news: the ones whose needs are not being fulfilled by the schools.

My school was outsourced several years ago because it was failing. It was taken away from the district and given to an EMO (like an HMO, but it's E for Educational). The staff wasn't fired, but 90% of them left. Since then, vacancies have been filled to a large extent by folks like me: alternatively trained, non-union-huggers. We have a boat load of Teach For America folks here, and Teaching Fellows, too. Have had, for at least 6 years (since the EMO took over). The amount of work the majority of these folks put into their jobs astounds me. They're, for a large part, dynamos. They don't stay long - 2 years, as a rule - but while they're here, they're putting in 100%.

We're still failing.

We have all sorts of new strictures this year: each teacher must have specific "words" in his or her lesson plan which shows the level of questioning (higher levels for more thought). We have to have so many calls to parents - regardless of the fact that most of the time we can't get a number that connects. We have to have certain posters on our walls. We have to have certain structures in each lesson. Our lesson plans have to be in before the week starts and are rigorously vetted by administration. We have formal and informal walkthroughs of our classrooms as many times as once a week. And the list goes on.

So, they announced last week that they're firing us all. Something like 2000 teachers are to be "replaced" because we aren't meeting goals. We can reapply for our jobs, but only up to 50% of us are allowed to come back. Next year, our school will be outsourced. Again. And this time, we're adding an hour to the school day, we're adding a day to every other school week, and we're extending the school year through July. And teachers will be even more closely watched than they are now.

I do what I'm told. I do all the required and recommended stuff - sometimes it adds to my lessons; sometimes it takes away. I generally work an extra hour at school, daily, and on weekends, I'll spend most of Sunday doing schoolwork. I would not go so far as to say I am a good teacher. But I am not a lazy teacher. I am not a stupid teacher. I am not an uninterested or uncaring teacher.

At the end of the day, I have 30% truancy, minimum, from all of my classes. And it's not the same kids daily. I would estimate that I see 20% of my students on a regular basis (missing 0 or 1 class every 2 weeks). I have a bell curve of reading levels from 2 to 11th grade (I teach juniors and seniors) in EVERY CLASS. Ditto for math. My kids can't, as a rule, point out NORTH FRICKING AMERICA on a map, let alone the city where they live.

And it's my fault.

Until last week, I really laughed this stuff off. But between the Obama "it's all the union - fire the teachers and it'll fix the school!" example that my husband told me about, and the kerfuffle at my own district, I Give Up. I give up.

It takes two to tango, and my dance partner's sittin on the floor, laughing at me and kicking me. Until the kids are held accountable for their own educations, the schools will fail. Charters succeed because they can kick out kids who don't perform or who don't behave. Schools who don't have that option will fail. And any kids who want to succeed who are in those schools? God bless 'em. They don't stand a chance.

Anybody want a sub next year? Or maybe a washed up DBA? I'm so over this crapola.

(*)>

Random Thoughts

When I was in sixth grade, I threw up on Miss Poder. Right on her. Didn't feel bad about it, either.

Today, one of my students threw up all over... my doorway. Can't get in or out of the room without squelches, though they did throw cat litter on it. I guess that's a saving grace, since there's supposed to be some major water balloon fights up here today. Maybe they'll leave my wing alone.

Right.

Sixteen more days.

~~~~~

My clothes are mostly pre-Moth, who just turned 7 Saturday. I decided I needed some new shirts. I've avoided buying shirts for a few years because I have a huge gut. Muffin Top Is Me. Shirts in the last five years have been belly shirts or high waist shirts. Lo and behold, the new shirt length is mid-hip. Yipee! I bought four! (ugly colors, but at least they're long!)

And WHY didn't the sixties/seventies crap stay back there? Polyester and puke colors are gross, no matter what the presentation. Sheesh.

~~~~~

Stinky has become quite the mumbler. Whenever he disagrees with mom or dad, he starts muttering under his breath. Yesterday, he bought a combination lock, and he couldn't figure out how to get it to work. I was trying to help him and he took this "I just can't do it!" position. I said "Well, you're going to."

After a little bit, I gave an instruction and he talked back.

I smacked him.

His eyes teared up. His jaw firmed. But no talking back.

Three minutes later, he's mumbling something, and I said, "Just shut up and do it!" He muttered, "you shut up!"

I flipped him over and paddled him.

I have all assurances that he hates me and will hate me the rest of his life. I don't give a rat's patootie. If he shuts up, it's worth it.

~~~~~

Moth man did not get a lot of presents for his birthday. A big part was a new bike that he keeps leaving out in the rain. He was warned if he didn't take care of his toys, he wouldn't be getting any more.

Granny and Poppy got him two lego sets. I built him the first one with him, showing him how to keep the pieces in the right piles and how to follow the directions. It was, of course, a pain in the ass. I told him to take care of it, because I wasn't fixing it. Less than one day later, he smashed it. Tears. Recriminations. Yet I was not moved. I built it once, and you broke it in less than 12 hours.

I told him I would not build the second one. He asked if he could. I said, why, sure! So he took it up to his bed, promptly lost half the pieces, and came crying to me. I shrugged. Sorry, kid, not helping you.

He got a speedometer for his bike and messed with it til it broke the first afternoon he had it.

He got a whoopee cushion from his Aunt and Uncle (thanks for that) that he blew up til it popped, even though he'd been warned a lot to be careful.

Please note that every present, except for the bike, was destroyed within 24 hours of Moth ownership.

Moths are destructive.

I guess the name is appropriate.

~~~~~

Well, that's the news. The boys are all getting anxious for their camping trip away from Mom. It should be interesting. I get the dogs by myself for 10 days. Poor Titus and Loki. You know, the last time John took the boys overnight, it was for some Cub Scout thing. He called me from some big battleship and asked for some other parents number. "Why are you asking me?" I pondered aloud. "JUST FIND IT" he replied, paniced.

John does not panic.

"What's wrong?" I asked

"I can't find Sean. I think he's with this other parent."

"What Happened??!!??"

"Well, I lost Tim this morning, and Sean went off to find him. Now I can't find Sean."

If he calls me from the OkeeFenokee swamp - or whatever that is - asking for the number for the Ranger station, I'm gonna slip exlax powder in his fiber shakes.

~~~~~

One final surreal note... the Metro - a free paper available in most major cities - had a really strange letters to the editor section today/ (That's on the same page as sudoku and crosswords.)
Every single letter was pro-conservative. I can't figure out if they're trying to get their readers angry or if they're just trying to highlight what they consider "freaks" (they're MSM, no way are there conservatives on that staff). It was downright weird.


Later, gators!
(*)>

The Other Woman...

The bird man has worked with women over the years. Many of them - most of them - sound totally cool. But two of them, from his first mention of them, made me grit my teeth. They were the kind of girls - and girls, you'll probably know what I'm talking about - who gravitate toward married men. And men never seem to see through them.

Each of these women is 1/2 responsible for breaking up at least one marriage - documented. It wasn't until this happened that my dear husband would acknowledge that these girls were, indeed, harlots.

Of course, the married men were creepheads, also. Goes without saying. But it takes two, and when the woman is the pursuer - as both of these chickies were - they should have to pay a price! They have purposefully helped to destroy a contract - like corporate sabotage.

It seems that there are these archaic laws in 7 states that allow the cheated spouse to go after the other woman/man. North Carolina is one of them.

Although I hate lawsuits in general, and I think this lawsuit in specific is exhorbitant, I am very glad to see the other woman pay a price.

(*)>

What can I do?

I feel absolutely furious and helpless at the same time. It's all out of my control. I don't know what to do. I know others are in the same boat, and we all have the same feeling. Down with the bastages, I say. Get them out.

But I've yet to find a cold sore medicine which actually works. So I have a huge open sore on my face. Furious and helpless in the wake of these virus chumpies. And I don't know how to get rid of them.

What, did you think I was talking about something else? Healthcare, per chance? I could liken the herpes virus to our government officials, and my coldsore to the stupid ass healthcare bill that does nothing about skyrocketing costs yet obliges all americans to buy health insurance. But that would be mean to the viruses and might hurt the self-esteem of cold sores everywhere.

(*)>

Is it the age, or is it the time?

I recently assigned my third project to my kids. They had to keep a science journal for the marking period. Each week, they were to cut out or print out an article from a newspaper. They had to write three paragraphs: summarize the article, link it to science (and explain the science), and give an opinion about the article or the science.

Of course, it was "too much, miss!" If I had a dollar for every time... anyway.

One of my better students handed hers in. It was hand written, which makes the fact that it was grammatically correct and almost completely spelled correctly much more awesome. She had articles on a new FBI database (science: technology), unsolved shootings in the city (ballistics and forensics), the new soda and sweets tax (health), and many others. The thing that struck me was, every opinion of hers came down to this: there aren't enough laws or enough law enforcement. Every problem - including obesity - can and should be litigated.

I remembered back to an essay contest I was required to enter my sophomore year of high school. We had to write a letter to a world leader, letting them know how we could make the world more peaceful. I was angry - I hated writing essays. So I wrote my letter to "Joe", the average man in the streets. I asked him how he could expect his leader to make a difference when Joe did all sorts of mean things. Blah blah blah. Filled it with sentimental sap. My teacher was peeved, but whatever. He couldn't prove I had done it tongue in cheek.

I won second place. He laughed his butt off with me.

The first place essay, I think, was to Ronald Reagan - telling him to cool his jets. But it stuck to me, even then, that we all expected someone else to solve our problems for us.

So, my question: is it the age (teenager) who thinks that government can actually do something worthwhile, or is it the time (now, 21st century) where we put more faith in law than in humanity?

(*)>

Poor IT Team

So, unless you've been living in a cave (and since Osama's living in a cave, that's probably not an excuse), you know about the attempted bombing of that plane around Christmas. And you've heard all the hullaballoo about lack of responsibility, where does the buck stop, etc, etc.

The media has been justifiably hard on The Powers That Be. How could this happen, post 9/11? But then, I read the details. I see the complaints about "how hard is it to follow and connect data" and "misspelling of suspect's name not caught" in a completely different light. And I think I know why no one was fired.

I imagine there's a 25 man (person, sorry) dba team somewhere whose job it is to make 172 archaic database systems talk to each other. They're probably given a nightly batch window to synch these db's that's 40 minutes long. None of the db's is probably newer than 2005, and most are probably older than 2000. Things like spelling correction and fancy google like searches just aren't possible.

My guess is that the intelligence problem in this case was completely database driven. And when only 2 people know how any given database system works, any manager is hard pressed to fire either of them.

Have I mentioned how glad I am to be a teacher these days?

(*)>

Repeal Suffrage?

OK, here's my new thesis.

It seems that, ever since the early middle of the 20th century, our government has followed more social supporting trends. Government has gotten more empathetic, and, by necessity, less logical.

This coincides with allowing women to vote.

Are politicians leaning more toward social programs and less toward pugilism and balanced budgets because they think this will (does) appeal to the female vote?

Whether or not you agree with all of the spending on social programs, new and old, do you think this idea has any merit? Discuss.

(This is my shot at being a social studies teacher. See why I'm a chemistry teacher?)


(*)>

Anger Management

So, I started out the day angry at everything that came in my direction. I started in to work, listening to the radio...

Radio station A talks about how Watson and Crick "discovered" the structure of DNA. No mention of how they took the work of Rosalind Franklin... grrrr... change the station...

On to Rick Santorum talking about how big Pharma is shooting themselves in the foot for no reason... Then he waxes poetic about how good Pfizer is... Pfizer that just took over Wyeth and is laying off people left and right. Change the channel.

What's todays news? They're talking about Tiger's philandering. Who The Hell Cares If He Boinked Every Woman From Florida To Canada And Back?!?!? Jeezus. News? Please?

So I turn back to the first channel which is talking about identity theft and how it happens and that gives me agita, so I go to another channel...

where they're talking about how 20,000 new people are signing up for food stamps What the dump?! They said some chick in Ohio has a paid in full 300k house and Mercedes. But she has low income, so she qualifies for aide. So I, who am still paying off my 150K house in PA, am giving HER food?? Do people have no shame??

So, I get to school and start to try to teach. My kids were working on a lab when two girls asked me to settle an argument. Ms R? How long do you have to wait to have sex after you have a baby? 6 weeks or 9 months?

I wanted to say: until you are 21 or can pay for a child yourself, but I did not. Instead, said, "I teach chemistry, not biology." And I went on my way.

is it saturday yet?

(*)>

What is left, what is right?

I got to thinking on the way to work this morning on the differences between the dems and the GOP. The impetus for this crazy thought process was the lost congressional seat in upstate New York. Apparently, the "party?" appointed a moderate-to-liberal woman as the candidate for the republican side. The right wing of the party didn't like that, so they put up some "carpet-bagger" from a neighboring district who had more of the "right values" (I'm using a lot of quotes here because I am only loosely aware of this situation, and the specifics aren't particularly essential to my thought process.) In a primarily Republican district, after the stooge dropped out, the republican got trounced. And the big talkers are, supposedly shocked.

So, I'm thinking - why are they so surprised? I don't know a non-contrary republican. I think, in fact, that being opposed to being told what to do is the ONLY thing that republicans have in common. We are, in essence, true rebels. How strange that we have this image of lockstep automatons.

On the other hand, the Democratic party has the image of a bunch of bad-boy fight-the-system cool cats - protesting every cause. But their actions belie this. Whatever the party says, that seems to be what goes. If it means stomping on the bill of rights, eh, so what. They'll look out for us. Whoever they are. Whoever we are.

Is it just my skewed vision of the world, or do you see some kind of kernel of truth to this? Please discuss this theme in a 5 paragraph essay... oops, wait, this isn't school... never mind. Comments?

(*)>

Even After Doing Research...

One of the big stories in the Philly region this week was the closing of Colosimo's Gun Shop in Philly.

I read the Inquirer - it's mostly skewed WAAAAAYYYY left, but it's still the news. From the ink's coverage, it seemed as though this shop sold 99% of the guns used in gun crime in Philly. At first, I was thinking - "GREAT! a dirty little haven for bad guys is gone!!"

Then I remembered, this is the Inquirer, where no story can be written without spin and agenda. And to see a column by Monica Yant Kinney cheering the closing and targeting another gun shop immediately? Well, my crusade detector has gone off.

So I did a little background reading to see if this place was really a den of iniquity. I'm not as familiar with Philadelphia Weekly, but this story seems more fair. So, the Brady Bill targeted Colosimo's as a source of straw purchases. But it does so much business, and is the only gun outlet in the area, so that's not surprising... It did seem that he followed the rules with purchases, checking the ages and validity of the purchasers. What a purchaser does with a gun after buying it cannot be blamed on the shop owner!

What it comes down to, it seems to me, is that they tired the owner out. So he left. My guess is that gun crime will not go down, but honest citizens who want to have a gun (I am not one of them, but I will defend those who are) will now have to go outside the city to buy a gun. For people who are in the worst neighborhoods of the city, this is not an easy proposition.

It seems to me that John's experience in Africa sums it up. The bad guys get the guns. The good guys end up dead, because the bad guys like it that way. The gun is the great equalizer. In the hands of a 4'10" old lady, she has the same power as a 6'7" young buck. But now, not only does she not have that option in North Philly - I doubt that he will lose that option. If they can't buy them in Philly, they'll go elsewhere. Criminals aren't bothered by inconvenience.

So, good on you, crusaders. I dearly hope this doesn't come back to... shoot you (or me) in the foot.

(*)>

Emergency Room Visit

(joke via my bro, john. Picture bandwidth stolen from some store. I have like 4 visitors; I don't think they'll care.)

The other day, I needed to go to the emergency room.

Not wanting to sit there for 4 hours, I put on my old Army fatigues and stuck a patch onto the front of my shirt that I had downloaded off the Internet.

When I went into the E.R., I noticed that 3/4 of the people got up and left. I guess they decided that they weren't that sick after all.

It cut at least 3 hours off my waiting time.

Here's the patch. Feel free to use it the next time you're in need of quicker emergency service.

A Joke My Mom Made Up

So, we were sitting, talking about politics.

She says: "Poor Mr. Obama. He has such a bad economy. Why, the economy hasn't been this bad since George Washington threw the silver dollar across the Delaware! A dollar sure doesn't go that far these days..."

My sense of humor is inherited.

(*)>

Townhall Meeting - my first

And last.

Oh. My. God.

My local Congressman, Joe Sestak, had a town hall on the phone tonight. Stumping the stimulus, I suppose. I decided to listen to hear what the word on the street is.

The first question I heard was this codger asking what was in this for seniors. You see, he explained, he had never had to pay for health insurance in his life. And he was peeved that now, when he is retired, the government made him pay $90 last month.

Congressman Sestak assured him that he was fighting for more money for seniors.

It went downhill from there.

There was the woman who wanted more money for child care. She has child care businesses, but not enough people can afford her rates. Why don’t we subsidize more childcare?

Congressman Sestak assured her that they were pouring as much into education as they could, and he was going to get more. It’s a priority for him.

There was the woman who wanted more money for mental health care – they need long term care. They need drugs and places to live, otherwise they are going to come back to their parents. And then it comes out that her child is one of these, and she’s tired of caring for him.

Congressman Sestak says that they’re going to appropriate over 3 billion dollars for mental challenges mostly because the soldiers are coming home with post traumatic stress disorder. Mental Health is “the biggest health challenge of any disease in America.”

I get the feeling with him, everything is the worst, and money is the only solution.

There was not a single, solitary soul who questioned where the hades this money was coming from.

People are completely nuts. Completely. Nuts.

 (*)>

complacency...

This is a shortie, as, being immersed back in school, I don't have much time for long posts!

Anyhow, John and I were talking tonight... it started with how cute the Moth and Stinky are and somehow turned to Sarah Palin and her interview and her telling her National Guard to go fight the dudes who caused 9/11.

I said, John, those dudes were trained in Afghanistan, not Iraq, right?

He says, yeah, but now Al Quaeda or however you spell that stupid thing, is all over Iraq. The New York Times apparently refers to them as Al Q of Mesopotamia, because that's what they call themselves, I suppose. I'm like, no way. Give me a break. So, I guess my fellow teacher who is getting shipped next Thursday will be going to historic Mesopotamia. Maybe he'll stop by Persia on the way! And pop over to Byzantium whilst he's at it...

Anyhow, we were talking about 9/11. Remember when... we live next to the Philly airport, and it was silent for a week. And the next year, there was a conference for John's job in NYC on 9/11. It had been planned for years in advance. His boss wanted him to go. I wouldn't let him, not that he was willing. We were all so scared of what THEY would do next.

Somehow, I'm not scared anymore. We had a squad of fighter jets go over the other day, and I thought, how neat! Five years ago, I would have come in to look at the TV and see What Happened? But now, it's all in the past. We have reached complacency.

God help us.

(*)>

Memories Triggered

I was driving with my sprogs today, and this song came on the XM 60's channel.

Mary, do you remember this?



I have nothing to blog about. Reading A LOT. Went to the beach for a few days. My back is now molting (ewww). And that's all!

Oh, If OIL goes down to $50 per barrel, go to youtube and search for Lindsey Williams on Alex Jones. Stephen, if you're reading this, this guy is a paranoid whack job. But entertaining!

(*)>

I Have A Dream This Afternoon...

Once Upon A Time

Americans could name the enemy... and we could make fun of him!






Could you see this ad today, with a fanatic muslim at the microphone and a woman in a burqa parading on the runway?

Nope, me neither. Sad, isn't it.

(*)>

how come I have never seen a lead story...

that connects the price of gas with the fact that all reasonable avenues to domestic power have been blocked by politicians for years? From Jimmy C's ban of the breeder reactor to everyone blocking any kind of drilling for new oil to the closing of coal mining operations...

Do so few news people see the cause and effect here? Or am I missing something major?

(*)>

the week to end all weeks

OK, I started my new job, took my mom to the ER, got my mom out of the hospital, got reamed in a review, and got the flu. All in a little more than a week.

Does that count as excuse enough to not blog?

So what, besides that garbage, has happened?

Hmmmm....

I read an article detailing how our Wonderful Mr. Fumo from Philly has a little bit of a bookkeeping issue. It seems his home, which he purchased for about $200,000 a number of years ago, has increased substantially in value. He put it up for sale at 7 million.

Problem is, he's been paying taxes on a $200,000 property the whole time.

His house was reassessed, but somehow, that reassassment paper vanished.

Just another case of the rich getting richer. But since he's a democrat, you'll never really hear about it.

Speaking of Democrats, I've decided I'm voting for Mr. Obama in the primary. (yes, I'm a registered Democrat. Believe it or not.) The reasons? 1) he earned his chops. Ms. Clinton got elected because of her name. 2) he has the least clout, therefore the least ability to forward the socialist agenda.

On the personal front, not a whole lot is going on. Stinky and the Moth are ready to play outside again. Stinky has cub scouts to get him through. The Moth, though, doesn't have a lot of outlets. This morning, he was putting together trains and singing along with a CD his grandma gave him. I never thought my suburbanite kid would be singing about moose and milk cows. He does like to sing. Especially while making train tracks. weird kid.

I'm torn about telling stories about my job now, but I guess I can tell this one. One of my kids was really unhappy on Friday. She told me she wanted to stab me. I said, "OK, just do it quick and use something sharp." Then I said, "wait, my life insurance isn't paid up yet, can you wait a few months?" She looked at me like I was from another planet, which, I guess, I am. But it diffused the anger!

I'll tell you what, my days do fly by now! NEVER a dull moment

(*)>

Hope Is Dead

So, our Sunday paper comes mostly Saturday morning. Today's paper had today's Parade, which features Benazir Bhutto on the front cover.

"Is Benazir Bhutto America's best hope against al-Qaeda?"

Gosh, I hope not! Talk about going to press too early!

(*)>

Who Made You Judge?

I was up in dear old Tunkhannock yesterday – took my mom Christmas shopping and such. It’s really pretty up there, especially at Christmas. But it’s COLD. I shiver just thinking about it. Anyhow, I was reading her paper this morning (the Wilkes Barre Times Leader) and saw this story on the front page.

In case they take it down, I’ll sum it up. There is a woman who sued a doctor, but not for malpractice.

It seems she sued a local business up there for negligence when she tripped on their steps. She won a million in that lawsuit. (I wouldn’t be surprised if that was a contributing factor in putting the wonderful Beaumont Inn out of business. And that is a true loss.).

Her doctor disclosed some of her health information to the owners of the Inn during the trial. She sued him for that.

She lost. The jury awarded her nothing.

THE JUDGE OVERTURNED THE RULING IN THE CASE.

It’s like he was saying: “You stupid jury. You don’t know what you’re doing. I’m so much smarter than the twelve of you put together.”

The higher court overturned his overturning (is this egg over-easy yet?), striking a point for the side of the jury system.

This judge ought to be fired.

And I hope the woman has a really nice life. And that someone sues her and takes her for everything she has.

(*)>