Tag Archives: teachers live at school

>Creativity; the kind I’d rather avoid.

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>Oh, lovely day. My students are expanding their outlook in a way I’d rather they didn’t.

They have a new vocabulary word. The word is Hob knocker; if you look this word up there are several definitions:

A Hob Knocker is a person that is considered cool but in a nerdy geekish kind of way. (Nickelodeon Definition)
Hob Knocker: one who goes around hitting people in their privates. (true English Definition)
Another definition is that one goes around hitting others WITH their privates. (true English Definition)

Student definition: it means someone that walks around, acts cool, does drugs and smokes.

What will they think of next? No, don’t answer that. I don’t think I want to know.

In other news, I intercepted the following note between two students.

R we going 2 play puppies at morning recess?
do you love me?

OMG! They’re only 10 years old! Between the HobKnockers and the puppies and the young love, they don’t leave much to chance.

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>A thousand words on work-home balance

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If a picture is worth a thousand words, this post is actually worth five thousand words toward illustrating a typical weekend’s to-do list and the feeling of ta-dah! when it’s done.

First: the laundry room with work in progress.
Next item on the list, but going on concurrently with laundry: schoolwork. Reading papers, math tests, all in need of correcting and then recording in the gradebook. Thank goodness for remote access; I can record all of these scores while watching the Olympics!
Ah, the good feeling when work is nearly done. Below are three baskets full of clean and folded clothes: one for me, one for Amigo, one for Chuck. If you look closely, there’s a stray dryer ball in Chuck’s basket. It got stuck in the sleeve of his sweater. Oops!

And finally, the table is empty of school papers! They’re all corrected, scored, recorded, and packed in my schoolbag for Monday. The package in the back is a to-be-mailed pack with two books requested from Paperbackswap.com. I included them with the schoolwork because they’re both teacher books.


Did I say the table was clear? Cleared of school files, but not totally clear. While waiting for the washer to fill and the detergent to dissolve (oh, I lead such an exciting life), I’ve been (are you ready for this?) purging the clutter on the basement shelves. Today I found an ancient, older-than-Amigo box of cancelled checks. They’re destined for the shredder now, if the old shredder can handle the volume. Maybe I should just start a fire in the fireplace; the job might go faster!

Uh, yes, that’s a gin and tonic beside the checks. Don’t judge me; the lime is a good source of vitamin C.

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>Teacher safety in Social Media

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“Teachers are connected with other teachers and the community.”

That’s what the Department of Public Instruction standards say. When these standards came into practice, I don’t think our DPI was thinking of Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Twitter, and blogs. Technology has changed a lot in the time period I like to call Decade 2.0.

When our country expanded toward the west and communities built one-room schoolhouses, teachers often had to chop firewood, stoke the stove, and clean the room before the students could arrive to learn. Many contracts put restrictions on teachers’ social lives and behavior outside of school, prohibiting dancing, dating, and drinking of alcohol.
While we no longer have to stoke the fires, we still have to live up to a high standard of behavior at school and outside of school. Today’s teachers have to guard not only their professional reputations, but their personal reputations as well.

According to a recent presentation, teachers can play it safer by using common sense and following these Do/ Don’t tips.
• Do limit access to Facebook pages by using a restrictive private setting.
• Do check employer policies – then follow them.
• Do monitor your sites and remove comments that might be inappropriate or reflect poorly on you.
• Do not post photographs of you, yourself, or your friends engaging in illegal or potentially inappropriate behavior. Okay, bunnies, behave in front of the camera.
• Do not presume that an anonymous post provides protection. Anonymous posts can be traced.
• Do not blog about job duties, colleagues, supervisors, or students.
In the spirit of teaching, I end with a top three style summary:
Top Three Ways to Protect Your Reputation in an Online World
3. Minimize Risk
2. Know and follow employer policies.
1. Use common sense.
Gee, maybe I could use this post as the required essay to get staff development credit. What do you think?

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>Big Brother has a WebCam.

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>George Orwell could only have imagined the kinds of technology we see today. In his 1984, Big Brother was always watching. The main character had to go into a corner to write in his journal, knowing he’d be seen and his words read otherwise. In 1984‘s Utopian nation, there was no expectation of privacy.

So when a high school in Pennsylvania checked out laptop computers to students, who would have thought the webcams could and would be used to watch the students? Computers that are part of a network can be monitored; it’s part of the way systems are designed. The school district’s laptops could be tracked if stolen or lost, and that was the excuse used for activating the webcams in the first place. But when a student was disciplined for inappropriate behavior that had nothing to do with computer use, families in the district hit the roof.

The student in question was accused of “improper behavior in his home.” The administrator accused him of taking pills; the “pills” turned out to be Mike & Ike candies. After viewing this behavior through the webcam, the administrator placed a disciplinary write-up in the student’s permanent file.

If the student had used the school-owned laptop to browse porn sites or shop for alcohol, for example, that could have warranted an investigation for policy violation. If the computer had been lost or stolen, the webcam could have tracked its location. In fact, according to the district, that’s the only reason they would activate the webcams.

So…what’s up, administration? When students took the laptops home, did they know the webcams could be used to watch them? Did the parents (and the adult students, over 18) know that and sign a release permitting the act? A laptop in a home is not like a FaceBook page, put out on the Internet for the masses to see. Students can be disciplined for illegal behavior discovered via FaceBook photos – and have been in many districts nationwide. But spying on individuals’ behavior in their homes through a laptop computer is a major misuse of technology.

As my friend Liberty Rose has pondered, do professionals lose IQ points and the ability to reason when they become school administrators? The shocking incident in Lower Merion, PA, would support her theory.

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>Saturday thoughts

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>Maybe I’m overworked. Maybe I’m just feeling a little cabin fever. But really, why has this robin been around our house for so long? Most of his friends headed south last fall. He stayed through the winter. He must be freezing his tailfeathers.

And who is this? Did I really work one of my students to the bone? Has he or she really collapsed and wasted away to nothing in the Book Nook?

I’m not sure, but I think it is sporting a few artificial joints, too. Did this one get retained in fourth grade a few too many times?

Perhaps it’s just the season. I think I’d better turn off the camera – or at least start teaching a new science unit!

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>Can you read me now?

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>See that dark spot in the snow? Can you read it? Nope. Neither could I. In fact, neither I nor the other two drivers knew it was there when we parked for our staff development session at a local high school.

You guessed it; it’s a No Parking sign, smashed on the snowbank and nearly invisible.

I don’t think I can afford any more staff development days. Drive-thru coffee, drive-thru lunch, and (you guessed this, too, didn’t you) a parking ticket.
I was not a happy camper. I was not a happy teacher, either. And due to the poor quality of my photos (who can take a good picture of a sign in a pile of snow, I ask you?) there’s no point in fighting the ticket.
Call that groundhog; I’m ready to be done with winter. Bah, humbug. Heck, I’m ready to be done with school!

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On Brahms, Life and Death, and Being There

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Our school counselor lost her husband Friday night. It was sudden, unexpected, and tragic.
A former colleague lost a brother recently; snowmobiling and fell through the ice. He was 29.
La Petite has been wrapped up in supporting a friend who is dying of gastric cancer. She and her coworkers at the school paper are preparing a tribute. The young man had an early graduation ceremony last week; he is not expected to last until the actual ceremony in May.

So much tragedy; big tragedies in Haiti, smaller emotional earthquakes in our circle of family and friends. What can people do? What can people say?

A long time ago, when I was young and studying piano, I was struggling to play Brahms. I could play the notes, it sounded nice, but my performance was lacking in the emotion and the intensity that makes Brahms’ works the dramatic pieces that they are.
My teacher stopped and thought. Then she told me:

I once had trouble playing Brahms. I couldn’t express it properly, and I didn’t know why. I didn’t know what was missing. I never knew what to say at funerals, either.
Then my husband died. And I realized what I had never known; that there was nothing anyone can say at funerals. All you can do is be there; and being there is the most important thing of all.
And then, then I could play Brahms.

Well, I stuck to Debussy and Chopin for a long time. But I know now; even if there is nothing to say, no way to help the grieving, it’s important to be there.

If you’d like to Be There for La Petite’s young friend, go here to make a contribution. He was an active and healthy young man until cancer hit him; swim team record-holder, computer geek, and more. The family is struggling with bills, including the rent for the off-campus apartment that he can no longer use due to his illness.

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>All in a day’s reading

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>Morning reading:

  • staff meeting agenda
  • email
  • planning book
  • math manual
  • electronic gradebook.

Mid-day reading:

  • attendance records
  • more emails
  • and again the math manual
  • science guide to set up lab activity correctly
  • data to follow up from staff meeting

Afternoon reading:

  • newspaper (several hours out of date, but why not? The comics are still current.)
  • professional book Strategies that Work to guide reading lesson planning
  • spice bottles to add to supper
  • another professional book: The Next Step in Guided Reading, for study group at school.

On the table by my side in the den:

  • The Crimson Rooms — just finished, soon to be a review. Look for it; this one held my attention.
  • the last two Time magazines; I get behind when I’m busy at school. Progress reports, anyone?
  • two Braille books of Amigo’s: a book on card games (he found out there are Braille poker chips available somewhere) and a volume of A Flash in the Pan, a cookbook of one-pan meals.

On my bedside table:

  • Cold Mountain — So far, fascinating. I’m taking my time.

All right, bloggy friends, what are you reading? I’m sure I missed something in my stack.

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>Not bad, for a (insert day of week here)

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>Not bad, for a Tuesday.

Tuesdays are my Yucky Days with a capital YD. My schedule has no breaks in it, I often have meetings with other teachers before school, and it’s just an exhausting day. If it weren’t for recess, I wouldn’t even make it to the bathroom.

But there are ways of seeking relief. There is a bright side to Tuesday – sometimes.

My colleague takes advantage of a strategically scheduled prep time to pick up Starbucks.
Starbucks mixed up my order. I don’t know what it was, but it wasn’t the Pike Place Blend I usually get. The note on the cup said BU. Bland Usual? Boston University? Boring Underwear? How did they know? It smelled like good strong coffee, so I sipped it anyway.
Whoa, Nelly, that stuff was STRONG. I wiped the sweat from my brow, blinked a few times, thanked the 6th grader who’d delivered, and growled “Get back to work!” at my class. If I start growing hair on my chest, I’ll blame the B.U. coffee.

Let’s summarize the day so far: awards assembly, three of my students honored, parents attended, kids behaved well in the audience. Plus.
Ordered coffee. Plus.
Coffee was wrong. Minus.

So on we go —
That Student (every teacher has one) had major attitude problems after recess and during reading class. Another student is bouncing off this one and causing troubles. Reteach behavior, reteach, reteach. Tomorrow, these two shape up or else; they’ve had their second chances. Minus.
Somehow, I managed to teach reading strategies to a few groups; that’s a plus.
Then a few trustworthy students told me they were supposed to get out early for lunch. What?! I had no information, no communication, so I said no. Oh, my goodness, you would have thought I was the Worst Evil Teacher in the world. Minus for the confusion.
A good number of my kiddos attended the Service Club meeting and signed up to help with a school fundraiser. Plus.

Later on, sixth grade students made an announcement for a special fundraiser. A group of children found out about Water for Africa and decided it was a cause worth supporting. They did their homework, put together a plan, and got it going. Major plus.
Someone or several someones are giving them grief because they should be raising money for Haiti. Epic minus.
I remembered a post on the Art of Non-Conformity regarding seeing the changes in safe water supply on a visit to Liberia. To encourage the students, I found a way to connect them with this post. Plus for the post, plus for the kids, plus for all.

Well, fellow working minions, what is your bad day of the week? And what do you do to make it better? I splurge on (usually) good coffee. How about you?

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>Doing more with less and teaching, too

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>Teacher, after staff meeting to discuss budget cuts: “I just take what they give me and supplement it with my own money.”

Student’s Mom at Open House: “Don’t you get an aide when the class gets this big?”
Teachers: “No.”

We know; there’s less money available. We know; benefits are getting more and more expensive. We also know; public perception is often inaccurate.

Right now our local taxpayers are calling for teachers to make contract concessions. Concessions? We make concessions each and every day. Every time I use my own paperbackswap credits to get books for my classroom, it’s a personal concession. Every time I print papers at home using my own paper and ink, it’s a concession. Every time I go in to work at my desk on a weekend, it’s a concession. We pay for our own continuing education, including required credits to renew our licenses and program credits toward advanced degrees. We consider this a fact of life, but in truth, it’s a concession, too.

Those are concessions that affect students indirectly by affecting teachers. Let’s look at concessions that directly hit the students.

Students have to provide their own tissues; schools no longer buy them. I buy my own box so the parents of my students don’t have to provide for me. Administration recommended we get hand sanitizer and anti-bacterial wipes for the classrooms to help prevent H1N1, but no money was provided. This comes out of our own pockets or out of parent donations. If no one donates, then what?

Specialty programs such as reading teachers and teachers for the gifted and talented do not get substitutes. The students do not get services when their teachers are ill.

Repair and replacement projects get put off for years because they don’t fit in the budget. The windows in my classroom, for example, are 60-some years old. The room is drafty and cold in the winter. In fall and spring, it’s too hot. Out of five windows that still have screens, only three open and only two can easily close.

As new research clarifies effective teaching methodology, students need materials. Books. Dry-erase boards and markers. SmartBoards. Math manipulatives. Maps. Computers with up-to-date software and access. Budgets, however, shrink rather than grow.

We look for donors. Grants, foundations, businesses, parents, fundraisers, any sources possible.

Most of all, we look for a better funding formula in our state and federal budgets: a funding formula that recognizes that educating our public, young and old, is not optional. It’s essential.

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