Tag Archives: Voter’s Voice

The War On Teachers Goes National

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“If Scott Walker sees 100,000 teachers & firefighters as his enemies, maybe it’s time we take a closer look at his friends.”  Well said, Elizabeth Warren. In my neck of the woods, we call them his “handlers” or his “sponsors.” Walker fools a lot of people, and he has a lot of help from some very deep pockets.

A talented and caring colleague told me, “I don’t tell people I”m a teacher anymore.” This was a few months after the misnamed Budget Repair Bill became the dreaded Act 10, the one that stripped away rights that had been negotiated over decades of negotiations. We teachers were singled out by the public, despite the fact that thousands of others were affected by the damaging bill.

Today, Scott Walker officially declares his candidacy for the highest office in the land. Don’t kid yourselves, people: he is all about himself and his millionaire handlers. Today’s children? He doesn’t care. And those children? They’re too young to vote — until it’s too late.

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Upcoming Election

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It’s looking like a quiet election – Supreme Court justice, one referendum, and is our county executive on the ballot, too? Must find out.

However (you knew there would be a “however” didn’t you?) this election is important. Aren’t they all? Yes, in a word. The referendum allows the majority party to appoint the Chief Justice of the state Supreme Court. Whoa, there. Checks and balances, anyone? The judicial branch of our government has a purpose, and that purpose is not to beef up the majority.

We stepped into the Supreme Court chambers on our tour of the Capitol on Thursday. This tour felt very different to me, I’m sure, than it did to the students. I looked around the room and imagined the seven justices, remembered how one nearly strangled another (literally, folks, not figuratively), thought about the longevity of the current Chief Justice and how her extensive experience and knowledge could be lost if the governor’s lackeys decided he should replace or reconfigure her position.

I was pleased with the questions our students asked. They were observant, thoughtful, and appropriate. One spotted a brass circle on each Senator’s desk. The guide explained that those round pieces covered what used to be inkwells. The desks were original, and had come through generations of inkwells and ball point pens and now, iPads and laptops. My reaction? Pride that a young person had been curious enough to notice a detail and question it.

A few of our young people had the experience of sitting in Power Seats. Tyler sat in the Senate Majority Leader’s chair. Maggie sat in the governor’s chair in his conference room. I reminded them both that with power comes responsibility. And even though the kids and their parents chuckled at the statement, I saw each student nod in agreement.

They may be too young to vote, but they’re already thoughtful, curious, observant and- dare I hope — dedicated enough to want to make a difference someday.

That’s the best result to come out of a field trip – a look ahead to the future.

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Justice League – Not in Lego Just Yet

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Oh, Lego. This would be awesome. I’d buy a set to sit on my desk at school. After all, it’s art and it’s history, both of which are on my course load.

Justices in Lego Brick

Justices in Lego Brick

Unfortunately, this set of fancy Lego sculptures can’t be purchased anywhere yet. The Lego design team refuses to manufacture the female Supreme Court justices, claiming the set would be too political. 

I guess I’ll have to settle for the Lego White House model.

If you’d like to sign a petition to pressure Lego into making this awesome historical piece, look no further than here. 

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Teaching – it’s still political

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This is an encore from 2008. 2008?!?! How can it be that a post I wrote in 2008 is still relevant? No, don’t answer that.

I get my news from a variety of sources: my local newspaper, news websites online, and more. I find people who are like-minded online, too. This primary election — you know, the longest one in recent history — isn’t as dull as some say. In fact, even as I worry that Party conflicts may provide the opposition with too much ammunition, I’m finding it downright fascinating.

Teaching is a political profession. Besides the internal district politics, administrative power and control, my daily work is affected by decisions made in the state capital and in Washington, D.C. When my friends tell me that they just want to “close their doors and teach,” I want to grab them by the shoulders, look them in the eyes, and say, “You can’t shut out the laws! You need to help make them! And change them!” And then I want to go home and write a letter to my senators and congressional reps.

A few years ago Rod Paige, then Secretary of Education, called my national association (the NEA) a nasty name. He asserted that our tactics were terrorist in nature. I wrote letters. I sent emails. Many, many educators did the same. By calling teachers terrorists, he put us in the category of those with whom our government is at war. This kind of outlook in the Bush cabinet has been very damaging to public education.

Now the NEA (National Education Association) is looking for slogans to help publicize the need for professional wages in education. I have a few ideas, and I know there are clever educators who can access their inner salesperson and come up with a really good campaign. What do you think, boys and girls? Women and men? Ladies and gentlemen of the classroom and beyond? Educating everyone takes everyone — in the village and beyond — and it’s not cheap.

My slogan thoughts so far:

Do the math: pay like a pro.
No Classroom Left Unfunded
A “free” Public Education is priceless, not costly.

There are slogans built into existing quotes, too:
If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.

But for now, I’ll keep informed on the upcoming election and I’ll keep writing creative and effective lesson plans to connect with students in every way I can. I feel fortunate to work in a great field, one where I can make a difference. My votes can help ensure support from the legislatures and the White House.

Yours can, too.

And if you’d like an updated perspective, look to The Broad Side. You’ll see why this is sadly still relevant.

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Ridding the World of Injustice

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The quote came from an unusual source. Let’s see if you recognize it.

“Fern was up at daybreak trying to rid the world of injustice.”

That’s right, my reader friends, it was in Charlotte’s Web. I was teaching a reading lesson to a small group, and that line just stood out. Injustice was a suggested vocabulary word, so we sought out the sentences containing the word, discussed the context, and made meaning.

“…to rid the world of injustice” – what a great phrase. Save the world before breakfast! Never fear, runts of the litters! Ferns of the world will intervene!

E.B. White isn’t the only author to abhor injustice. Remember Dr. Seuss?

“I meant what I said, and I said what I meant. An elephant’s faithful, 100 percent.” -Horton Hatches the Egg

I think I’ll make that my new catch phrase, my new slogan. Maybe I’m just a blogger, but if I get up early enough, I can do my part to rid the world of injustice.

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Do you recall?

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In which Grandma Daisy recalles the recall election of 2012 – and wonders why this misleading “leader” plans on running for president in 2016.

So, young ones, the votes were counted. Wisconsin broke all kinds of records for voter turnout. My own city, Appleburg, reached an unheard-of 84%. Madison even had over 100% turnout. All of the registered voters turned out, and new ones registered. The election was over, but the issues hadn’t died. Oh, we still had issues. 

And in the aftermath, more issues surfaced. I had issues with the mainstream media for announcing election results long before all the votes had been counted. In fact, there were still people waiting in line to vote because their polls had run out of ballots. Polls officially closed at 8:00, but anyone in line by 8 was allowed to vote. No one is really sure whether Tom Barrett knew that people were still voting when he prepared to concede around 10. Some felt that the people were done voting by then, the votes just had not been counted.But even then, important precincts (like Milwaukee!) were not included in the early totals.

So I had issues with the mainstream media on election night. I also had issues with our local paper. Their headline said that Governor Walker had won “easily.” Easily? I think not. Estimates of his campaign spending hovered between forty and eighty million dollars. Millions! I believe the lower end of that range is more accurate. Even so, Walker and his rich buddies outspent their opponents by at least a 10 to 1 margin. That speaks of challenges, not winning “easily.” 

Easily? The man should have won by a huge margin if he won easily. As the late votes were counted and the absentee ballots came in, the gap between winner and loser got progressively narrower. Walker still won, but he didn’t win easily, children.

There’s a lesson here; make your own value judgments. Don’t let the media decisions become yours. You do your own research, my dears; read, listen, talk to people close to the candidate. If a major bigwig on national television tells you it’s over, stick around. It’s not over until all have voted and all the vote totals are in. Predicting a winner too early can discourage voters and even affect a close race. Did I ever tell you about the presidential election of 2000? Oh, that’s a great story. I was teaching fifth grade that year, and we were learning about American history. I told my students to pay attention to the world around them because they were living in historic times. But back to the story — 

The Wisconsin Recall Election of 2012 made waves worldwide. The BBC ran stories about it. Canadian media covered the events. Nationwide, people were watching us. We were, indeed, making and living history. Many of us felt that Election Night wasn’t the end; it was just the beginning. 

Kiddos, would you like to hear about the presidential election of 2000? Well, not now. I’m bushed. Tomorrow morning over coffee, that’s when we’ll talk. 

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If Jeopardy held a Governors’ Tournament

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Alex Trebek made my day. He mentioned having just finished the Teachers’ Tournament, and then he said that based on his observations, the country’s children are in good hands.

Consider the following. Instead of a Teachers’ Tournament, Alex Trebek would host a gathering of the great, er, the leaders of several states. I can see it now: Scott Walker, Chris Christie, and — well, who would you like in the third spot?

Alex: And the categories for the first round are — Roadblocks, Foreign Policy, Involuntary Quarantine, College Honor Codes, Scandals ending in -Gate, and Everything’s Better with Koch. Where should we start?

Walker: I’m going to punt on that one.

Christie: Wait, let me get my fleece. It has my name on it.

Alex: Gentlemen, a category, please.

Christie: Scandals ending in -gate for 200, Alex.

Alex: The first -gate named scandal started with a break-in at this hotel.

Walker: What is the Farm Bed and Breakfast gate?

Alex: No. I know Wisconsin is the Dairy state, but, um, no.

Christie:  Foreign Policy for 200, Alex.

Alex: Yes, Scott?

Walker: I just don’t think you talk about foreign policy while you’re on foreign soil.

Alex: We’re in Hollywod. Southern California.

Walker: Then we’ll go to College Honor Codes, whatever they are, for 400.

Readers, you get the idea. Today’s children are in good hands for now. But if the narrow and uber-conservative right get their way, none of will be in good hands. If we want representation of the people, by the people, and for the people to remain, it’ll take more than a game. Stay informed, and stay active.

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School Board Elections – or not

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It happened – or didn’t happen- in Hagerman, New Mexico. There were three open seats on the school board. There were three candidates. No one voted. None of the candidates received any votes. None. Zero. Zilch.

Now what?

Here in the cold Midwest, we rarely get news from Hagerman or even its more famous neighbor, Roswell. Here in Wisconsin, we do take our public education seriously. When my fair city holds elections, people vote. If there’s an open school board seat (or two, or three), we’ll usually have a primary election to narrow down the candidates. Then we’ll get out the vote.

Unfortunately, Wisconsin voters did not vote for education last November. Our governor is poised to make massive cuts in public education (Kindergarten through High School) and proposes devastating budget reductions on our University of Wisconsin system.

I haven’t actively volunteered since the 2012 presidential election. I’ve made donations and signed election papers and blogged and spread the word, but I haven’t stepped up and given of my time – yet. I blame my health.. I also blame issue fatigue. One troubling law after another, and eventually I had to focus on the one issue that matters the most: doing my own job well and keeping my family fed.

Folks, I predict a rise in activism in Wisconsin. I predict letters to the editor of the paper, facebook groups, blogs, and more. As you’re waiting, look for green lights: green porch lights and outdoor lights. The weather may be too cold for yard signs, but the green lights will quietly send a message of solidarity.

Support public education: K12 and the University of Wisconsin.

Support public education: K12 and the University of Wisconsin.

 

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Dear World; election day?

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Dear candidates: remember what you learned in grammar school? A double negative isn’t effective in American English. Well, politicians, when I hear negative from both sides of a race, I tend to discount both reports.

Special interest groups ans PACs, this means you, too. The negative ads ain’t got no purpose or meaning to them, ya know what I mean?

Dear clerks and poll folks; we appreciate you. I don’t think you hear that enough. I know that many, many voters are stopping by at the city clerk’s office to vote early. You are crazy busy, and that’s a good sign. This is what democracy looks like.

Dear bake sale donors; I might arrive later in the day this time. Please save some goodies for me! I hear cookies calling my name.

Dear voters: A woman voting for Scott Walker is like a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders. Or maybe it’s a frog voting for Doc Hopper. Remember Kermit the frog feeling devastated at the thought of all those little frogs on crutches? Never mind.

Dear 24/7 news outlets (you know who you are); doing a special all about Ebola Panic increases the panic. Got that? Stick to the facts, people, just the facts.

Dear farmers; do you really support the governor enough to put up several huge signs? It’s rather misleading. Drivers going down the rural highways may think the gov has a lot of supporters, when it’s really just one farmer with one vote.

Dear lawmakers; the concealed carry law actually made it harder for police officers to wear their weapons in a school, even if they are liaison officers there. Local school districts had to renegotiate with law enforcement to allow their police school liaisons to do their job.

Dear candidates; stay classy. I mean, get up and take the high road. This negativity hurts everyone. Let’s get Wisconsin out of the mud and make it a great state again.

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She’s baaack – an encore from Grandma Daisy

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She couldn’t stay quiet for long. Grandma Daisy is back, just a few weeks before election day. This is an encore, but it didn’t need much modification to be current.

Fiddle-dee-dee. Tomorrow will be another day.

As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly!

Big Brother is watching.  

All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.

Wilbur didn’t want food, he wanted love.

I have created a monster!

 

Well, grandkids, all of these are lines from classic books. Let’s see how many you or your mother can identify. What? So few? What are they teaching these days — never mind.

Let’s look at the last one. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein,  of course. Truth be told, though, young ones, this particular quote isn’t a direct quote from the novel. It’s kind of like crediting  Buzz Lightyear with “To infinity and beyond!” when he only said it twice in the first Toy Story movie.

The truth is that Shelley’s work inspired the phrase.  An English teacher I knew (they’re always handy when you need a good literature quote) mentioned that there is no exact quote in which Dr. Frankenstein says or another character says that he/you have created a monster–it’s more of a thematic draw from the overall text. Frankenstein warns the man who meets him at the end of his life how “dangerous is the acquisition of knowledge,” as a way of saying, “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should!” in keeping with the “created a monster” idea.

So, young ones, back to the upcoming election issues – like the state budget. Governor Talks-a-lot claimed to have innovative changes for our fair state’s education system. His changes consisted of a straining-at-the-seams budget for public schools and a significant increase in a program called Vouchers. Vouchers were grants, money, scholarships paid by the state for students to attend private schools. Private. Not public charters, not home-schooling, but private schools. Governor Walk-on-by ignored the evidence that current voucher schools in Milwaukee were not doing any better then their public counterparts down the road. In fact, if they measured success by the standardized tests of the day, voucher schools did a poorer job of educating their students.

Governor Walk-all-over-you decided that his “innovative education reform” would expand the voucher program into other middling to large-ish cities. Make it bigger. Spread the money around. Around the state, that is. One city, one school district at a time.

The Governor, despite his lack of scientific or educational background, had created a monster. He wanted to open up the private vouchers, damage the state’s education budget, and further gut public schools.

Governor Walkerstein was ready to create his monster. He didn’t have the wisdom of my English teacher friend to tell him that just because he could, didn’t mean he should.

Oh, young ones, it was a tough time to be a teacher. In fact, I could use a cup of coffee. Let’s take a break and talk about classic television. Have you ever seen WKRP in Cincinnati?

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