Bloom Where You’re Planted!

I received an email the first day of 2nd quarter from one of the office attendants. Apparently, one of my students withdrew, transferring to another school. She failed two classes first quarter, one of them mine, and got D’s in the other four. While the email gave no reason for the withdrawal, I had spoken to the father last month and knew the reason. She left because there are too many black students at our school and she felt uncomfortable--or so the father claimed. In reality, for those of us who had watched her interact with the African American students in the building, she had no problem getting along with blacks. Those of us, who know her, speculate that she wanted to leave in order to escape the work load and exploited the parent’s prejudices in order to go into a less rigorous environment. One of my colleagues even reported that she was rather close to a young African American man, hardly the behavior of a person who didn’t feel comfortable around blacks. As reprehensible as this situation is I would be lying if I did not confess that I see a similar attitude in many of my colleagues who believe that the overall ability of our students has been lowered significantly because of the increased population of African Americans. To this I would disagree.

My graduating class-more than 40 years ago--had two blacks out of 250+ seniors, less than 1%. As the communities that feed into the school have changed, so has the school population. Today, blacks make up about 39% of the students here, and that percentage is going up. It is clear that some day in the future we will probably be an all black school. Whether this happens before I retire (in less than 10 years) is unknown, though not likely. What is certain is that someday, before I retire, I will teach in a school that is more than half black. Based on my experience with the type of black student we attract now, I am not concerned.

Many of my colleagues are quite upset at this state of affairs. Some publically complain that the “students” we get now are not as good as the students we had in the past. While it is never spoken out loud, it is clear they are referring to the increasing number of blacks. When I told a colleague that I saw no such change in the abilities of my students over time she looked at me with the famous, "I just smelled something bad" face and told me I was crazy. Luckily, she is going to retire at the end of this year. Another colleague told me that I didn’t see the drastic change in ability because I teach only honors students, implying that I did not have as many blacks in my classes as those who taught the average students. I was curious about this idea and decided to collect some data.

As I said before, African American students make up about 39% of the school population. My classes break down as follows; A.P. Chemistry 34% Black, Honors Chemistry 37% Black, and Chemistry A 37% black. While the number in AP seems to be significantly low, it is not. If one student changed from white to black in that class, blacks would be 39%. So I can say with numbers to back me up that I have a representative mix of students. Do the blacks do significantly worse than the white students do? Well—no! The average grades (%) for white students vs. minority students in my classes breaks down to; AP Chemistry- blacks 86.7%,white 87.6%; Honors Chemistry- white 90.6%, black 90.4%; and Chemistry A- white 83.7%, black 87.5%. The numbers indicate that there is no objective evidence of a significant difference between white students and minority students in my classes—except if you take into account that blacks do much better than whites in my Chemistry A class. I hypothesize that the suggestion that blacks are bringing down the achievement level of our students is subjective, and based on a pre-existing belief that blacks are not a bright of whites.

The students I have now are as good as any I have ever had—the evidence for this is clear, AP scores in all subject areas are increasing at my school, even as the percentage of minority students increases. Academics are color blind—subject matter doesn’t care if you are black or white. The skills students needed 20 years ago are the same skills students need today,
Many of my colleagues need to silence their prejudices and teach students regardless of the color if their skin.

Welcome Back!

There were only three new teachers in our building this school year, one of which had taught here for a time two years ago. She is a language teacher and, while we are not close friends, I can say that we are acquainted. Her last year here we shared a free period; having coffee each morning and grading papers in the teacher’s room. My impression of her was that she was highly competent and professional, well liked by her students, and motivated to do a good job.

I have little contact with her this year, having different free periods. In fact, Friday was the first time I saw her long enough to ask how things were going. We met in the copy room and I asked, “How do you like being back?” This seemingly innocuous question led to a 20 minute discussion of how bad the other school was and how happy she was to be back; having escaped the land of juvenile delinquents and incompetent administrators.

She had taught in public schools before, even substituting at the public school she left us for. This teacher reported to me that she knew something was different the first few days of her new job. There were 36 desks in her classroom, but was assigned 42 students. Upon bringing this to the principal’s attention was told not to worry because after a few days many of the students would stop showing up. There was no tracking in her area, so she had students of all ability levels each period. Some, she said, were intelligent and hard working, but many were functionally illiterate delinquents. She claimed that the local police were in the building every day taking students away for crimes they had committed outside of school. On numerous occasions, security was called to her room to remove an especially disruptive child who was preventing her from delivering instruction.

School policy prevented her from failing students. Students not completing enough work to pass were to be given an “incomplete” and allowed to redo work and retake tests as many times as necessary to successfully get credit. As a result of this policy, students had no incentive to work hard and pay attention in class. The school policy—“Failure is not an option.”—was scam being played on the parents. It did not prevent students from failing; it only prevented their failure from being acknowledged publically.

Things got really complicated for her when she finished her Master’s degree and requested the pay increase their union contract required. The administration initially denied her pay increase but the union stepped in and forced them to comply. At this point se claimed that the administration became very hostile toward her; doing everything possible to get rid of her. She was continually observed by assistant principals, blamed for every class problem that arose, and run around the three stories of the building changing rooms every period. She reported being told that students not paying attention in class, being disruptive, or even absent were the result of her not being engaging enough in the classroom. When she pointed out that many of these problem students were problems for everyone she was labeled as uncooperative and told that there were no “problem” students in the district.

When one of our language teachers retired last year, she was enthusiastically hired back.

Escape from Chemisry!

When I was in graduate school I was taking a statistics course and, when the first exam was returned, if the student had failed, the teacher stapled a filled out add/drop form to the student’s exam. It was her not so subtle way of letting you know that you did not belong in her class.

Some of my colleagues have similar ways of getting rid of students they don’t think measure up. I, on the other hand, am not as quick to press the matter when I feel a student should drop. In my experience, if you force the matter, the student and parent will always believe that you acted rashly and that they could have passed if allowed to stay. I prefer when the student or parent throws in the towel and requests the change in schedule, which usually occurs after the student’s grade has tanked and they have their “epiphany.”

Surprisingly, some teachers make it difficult to get out of their subject. I don’t know why, you would think that a bored or failing student would become a discipline problem in class and you would want to get rid of them. I have often spoken to teachers who take a student’s underachievement as a personal insult to them; the punishment being that the student has to stay.

I have already lost one student this year to a schedule change. She requested to be moved from Honors Chemistry to regular Chemistry because she was struggling, while in reality. she had a B- and was not doing that poorly. I think that she realized that Honors would require a level of study and commitment that was more than she was willing to give. The mother emailed me requesting the change; asking it be done as soon as possible. When I approached the assistant principal in charge of approving the schedule change she was reluctant, feeling that the student should be required to stick it out. I was able to convince her that the change should be made and the paperwork was processed that day.

I have two other students who I feel should drop, one in AP Chemistry and one in my regular Chemistry class. As is my policy, I am not pushing the change now. Both parents have been contacted and neither parent wants their student to drop. I am waiting until their situation is serious enough that neither parent will fight the process. This should occur for both of them in about three weeks at the end of the quarter. Both of them are failing now.

Another student has made it clear, through nonverbal communication, that he is not happy with me as a teacher or the amount of work I require. After the quiz last Friday, he asked to get a pass to Guidance. The average grade on the quiz was 83% while his grade was 35%. I said I could not, explaining that all passes to guidance had to be made through his study hall teacher. He responded with mild disrespect, but went back to his seat, put his head on the desk, and fell asleep. Soon a request will come from his mother to arrange a schedule change; a request I will honor as soon as the quarter ends. He will then become some other teacher’s problem.

School just ended its second full week things have been exciting to say the least. The extreme heat and humidity, coupled with a case of food poisoning landed me in the emergency room at the end of the second day of school. I was diagnosed with extreme dehydration and given an IV to restore my fluids. Two days later, when my blood work returned to normal, I was released.

My symptoms began just as school ended with nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea followed by extreme sweating. I thought it was an insulin reaction and had another teacher get the school nurse. After a quick check of my blood sugar—which was normal—I experienced another violent bout of vomiting. The nurse feared I was having a heart attack but I was not convinced, having experienced food poisoning before. My friend in the Theology department and another from the Math department volunteered to take me home. I called my wife and told her what was happening. Half way home she called me on my cell phone, insisting that I meet her at the emergency room. They immediately determined that I was not having a heart attack. While with the triage nurse I began to violently vomit again in a garbage can. My blood work indicated abnormal kidney function and a very high potassium level. The diagnosis was severe dehydration, resulting in me getting a shot to reduce the nausea and IV fluids. I felt better after about an hour, but was kept under observation Thursday and Friday night until my blood work came back normal again. I was released about 11am Saturday.

The next week I was back at full strength, being careful to drink fluids all day and wash my hands better when handling raw chicken in an attempt to stave-off a reoccurrence. Later that week we had our annual “back to school” night, when parents get to meet the teachers and run through their student’s schedule. Teachers characteristically dislike this evening. After a long day in a hot and humid school the last thing most of us want to do is come back at 7:00pm and spend two more hours in a hot sticky building. Many young teachers don’t understand the purpose of this evening. As unpleasant as it is, especially when the temperature is hot, the night serves an important purpose for the school. Getting parents involved and engaged is essential to educating their children. Only about half my parents attend the evening; much less than half for the seniors and much more than half for the freshmen. I see it as an important duty that needs to be done, even if it is a minor imposition on my free time.

As they run through their student’s schedule, the parents have 5 minute sessions with each teacher. During my time I introduce myself and explain how parents can monitor their student’s progress and assignments. One parent, who arrived late to her student’s period, asked me to repeat everything she missed. The request was obnoxious and insensitive considering it was her fault. I smiled and suggested that she come during her son’s study hall period so she would not be late for his next period. She agreed and thanked me for the suggestion, but never returned.

After leaving the house at 6:30 am that morning, I got back home at about 9:45 pm.

Back to School!

Back to school time is here and, as usual, one more month of vacation would be greatly appreciated. As one of my colleagues commented when I made the last statement, just think of it being that much closer to retirement. Actually I am not desperately longing for the day when I can retire; I enjoy teaching and getting back to school time is not as depressing as you might think. The excitement and anticipation of a new school year dulls the pain of having to get up at 5:30 a.m. again.

As usual, my year began with a 9:00 a.m. department chairman meeting on Monday, followed by a department meeting, lunch, and a useless hour spent at a technology in-service. Tuesday included mass (we are a Catholic school), a faculty meeting which was not so bad that I wanted to kill myself to make it end, lunch, and an afternoon of setting up my classroom for the return of the students. Tomorrow the new freshmen run through their schedule and get acclimated to the school. “Senior friends” are assigned to walk small groups of “freshies” through where everything is in the building and how to open their locker—you would be surprised at how difficult this can be for some. Five minute classes give the students a chance to meet their teachers. I have at least one freshmen four of my five teaching periods with no more than three any period, so I have to be present for the morning sessions. I really don’t mind, taking into consideration that I would be there anyway setting things up for tomorrow. The day’s activities end before noon for everyone.

Thursday and Friday are half-days with 25 minute periods. By the end of the week I will have gone over my class policies with the new chemistry students, passed out text books, run through the schedule for the first unit, and set up a seating chart so I can learn their names quickly. Only a painfully inexperienced or incompetent teacher would allow the students to choose their own seats.

Monday marks the first full day of classes. My students will check into lab and have their “materials check” for their first grade. Tuesday is a quiz on the safety rules before we jump into Unit 1. Later the first week parents will return for “back-to-school night.” All in all, the first two weeks proceed at a frenetic pace, a real kick in the pants, culminating with the three day Labor Day weekend. Just the prescription to get everyone back in the grove; and an early start that results in the end of school coming before June begins.

My situation is better than many others; my concerns minor. I could be one of those teachers that have been laid off because of funding cuts with no prospect of being hired because of the budget cuts in most school districts. I could be a member of the Chicago Teachers Union whose president has predicted that the teachers will strike because of the loss of their promised pay raise and a perception of disrespect by the rank and file. I could be employed by a school where nobody cared if anyone learned anything; mailing it in until I reached retirement age.

I work for a school that is committed to excellence, teach students who are eager to learn, and work with many colleagues that I can respect and admire.

School Funding Crisis

Almost every day there is a story in the media about the government taking some punative action against some government workers union. The shit first hit the fan months ago when the Republican governor of Wisconsin took action against his state workers unions. The result was the disappearance of the Democratic state senators so a vote could not be taken along with statewide demonstrations that could easily have become riots. Things have seemed to calm down for now, but the public is tense and things could explode again. The action by Wisconsin was followed by similar actions by several other states; leaving many state workers feeling like they were under siege, with most of the public animosity directed towards the teachers unions.

In my state, Illinois, the mayor of Chicago--by way of the school board-- canceled the teachers scheduled 4% pay raise resulting in the Chicago Teachers Union president comparing the rank and file to slaves. (Can anyone say hyperbole?) Had the mayor and governor been Republicans the city would have been burned to the ground the next day, but since they are Democrats nothing of consequence will occur. I feel it’s doubtful that the union will strike, and for the sake of the students I hope I'm correct. With 70% of the school budget going to salaries this is probably only the beginning of the government attack on the teachers union. With a +$700 deficit to close more cuts are certain.

Two weeks ago I was at a gathering of family and friends where the topic of the teachers pay raise came up. The group included tea party members, ultra-liberals, and everything in-between. I was shocked to find that all but one individual were soundly against the teachers. Even the unabashed progressives agreed that the teachers were paid too much and the unions had gone too far. The sole person in favor of the teachers’ position was herself, a public school teacher. The consensus was clear—unions were once necessary to insure workers rights, but were now out of control and had to be reined in.

The public school teacher argued that teacher pensions were not out of control because people didn’t think of them correctly. She proposed that the teachers’ pension debt was like a mortgage—it may seem large but does not have to be paid today, but in small installments over time. You could tell that she was instructed what to say, probably by her union, and really didn’t understand her own analogy. As I pointed out, your mortgage doesn’t increase by 3% every year along with medical payments. The pension situation is unsustainable and has to be changed. Unfortunately, teachers will probably never get what was promised to them.

This leads me to the three things that are to blame for the present education funding crisis; (1) unions that over the years pushed for higher salaries and more benefits without regard for how the state would pay for them, (2) an educational system that pays teachers based on how many years of experience they have rather than the quality of their work, and (3) the misguided attitude that more funding is always the answer to why students don’t achieve. Teachers will argue that a small increase in taxes could set everything right.

Using the most recent demographic information the +$700 million school deficit for the next school year corresponds to approximately $320 per person in the city—approximately $1300 per family of four. The median city income being approximately $75,000 and assuming an overall tax rate of 40% each family of 4 would have to pay 3%of their take-home pay just of close the school deficit. How many people would be willing to take a 3% pay cut so teachers could have their 4% pay raise? Try selling that one to the general public.

Blago Guilty!

Critical Thinking Activity

Propose a real-world example that correcponds to the series of cartoons below.

Values

Reported in many newspapers, the “Hooters” controversy in a Pennsylvania middle school has made national news. The comment below was posted by a more “progressive” reader in response to a woman who said she was a parent of one of the students and expressed outraged at the actions of the school chaperones.

“Really, please, you are the reason the world has sex addicts. Your post was so absurd and ridiculous I could not get through it. It’s a restaurant, not a strip club, your 14 year old will be fine, what do you do when he is at the beach? Or maybe you don't take him because of all the so called sinful things his raging hormones might think. So he might get a chubby now and then, might jerk off...so what it’s perfectly normal....sexuality is a part of life and they are learning it early in school.”

What strikes me as most offensive is the way the legitimate concerns of the parent are dismissed so condescendingly by the writer. I would not be surprised if she had no children of her own.

I am not usually characterized as a sexual prude, and I have been to Hooters, but taking a group of 8th graders to lunch at Hooters as part of a school sponsored field trip is irresponsible—period. I was amused by the cowardly statement by the district superintendent who said he wished the chaperones had made a different choice, but no parents had complained. The decision by the chaperones was wrong and should have been confronted as such, whether any parents objected or not. I am fairly certain that such a decision would never have been made by one of my colleagues. If it had, I am sure my principal would have treated such a poor decision privately with an appropriate reprimand and publically apologized to the parents whether they complained or not. It would have been treated as a serious lack of judgment, not an unfortunate mistake.

The quote below is from a woman who was trying to defend Representative Anthony Weiner for his recent bad actions. She is trying to minimize his responsibility by blaming it on the women he texted.

“Everyone always blames the man! What about these women who send lewd pictures of themselves to entice these men who already have this problem. They send them these lewd, half naked pic's and talk dirty, sexy, and everything you can imagine to these men to get them to do these things, ( send nude photos, talk nasty to them ) and then all of a sudden they decide to go public with it. I myself think that is very low grade. If you didn't like where it was going on you should have put a stop to it before it got out of hand. I (BLAME) the women too, if not more. They can put an end to it anytime their little heart desires, but no they keep playing the game, and then decide to cause a public scandal with what has been going on for 3 yrs. Why? Why bring it out now? All you did was ruin a man’s life, granted he was a big part of it, but after all "HE"S A MAN” You women have to learn to live with the fact that "ALL" men have a strong sex drive, and your teasing them just makes it worse!!!”

What this says about our society is significant as well as a little distressing. Taking both of these comments into consideration two things are clear; (1) Anthony Weiner should have spent more time at Hooters when he was 13, and (2) he could still get reelected in his district.

Why I hate Politics!

My mother-in-law, God rest her soul, observed that the continuum between liberals and conservatives was a circle not a line. In other words, as the two positions became more and more extreme they actually moved ever closer together rather than apart. This observation is crystal clear to any objective observer; assuming there are any objective observers left. Sadly, almost everyone who votes has rationalized their position to the extent that they are blinded to the truth.

The problem, in my opinion, is that the media has taken sides and has stopped presenting information without also spinning it to sway opinion. This is done by both the movements, liberal and conservative, each maintaining they are impartial, when in fact they are both full of shit. Let me give you an example.

In my opinion Rush Limbaugh is an arrogant, self-important ass, who mistakenly thinks that his success is based on his superior intelligence and talent. In reality, his success can be attributed to being in the right place at the right time with a marketable “monkey trick.” The fact that he is insufferable does not affect the validity of his arguments or positions. Being basically conservative, I would agree with much, but not all of what he proposes, even if I would rather plunge a knitting needle into my ear than spend any length of time listening to him. His counterparts on the liberal side are equally detestable.

Yesterday I was listening to our local “progressive” radio station and was assaulted by one of the most vile, detestable programs I can remember. The host (I don’t recall his name) who apparently prides himself on being civil and not allowing any negative talk on his program referred to Limbaugh as hateful , suggesting that something terrible must have happened to him during his life to make Rush the way he is. When a caller challenged his commitment to civil discourse the host spent twenty minutes explaining how calling Limbaugh “hateful” and implying that he—along with his audience--are mentally ill was not uncivil, essentially because it was true. How he kept a straight face during his explanation is a mystery to me. The program also contained a commercial for a book that outlined how conservatives were horribly bad people, with an entire chapter concerning the Cheney family and how wicked and corrupt they are. There are numerous counter arguments against the conservative solution to our social/economic problems, but you won’t hear any on this “progressive” station. Just vote against them because they are “bad” people—that should be enough reason.

If the founding fathers could have known the extent to which these examples of political propaganda and character assignation would be publically decimated by the media, they might not have written a right to free speech into the constitution. These propaganda machines, left and right, liberal and conservative are shameful, appealing to the most bigoted and ignorant in society.

Hopefully, one of the hottest levels of Hell is reserved for the media who promote this circus for personal gain and those political partisans who use this propaganda to decide who to vote for. They are the problem.

Another Ho-Hum Day

Some days are more interesting than others. Tuesday morning I awoke at 4:18 a.m. with a pounding sinus headache. I took two Advil sinus and two extra strength Excedrin and lay back down, trying to go back to sleep. At 5:40 a.m. my alarm went off and even though my headache was gone, I hit the snooze alarm twice before getting out of bed.

By the time I got to school a combination of the coffee and the cool temperatures had me awake and feeling pretty alert. My mood changed for the worse after I entered the school. Before I could walk the 100 feet from the door to my classroom I heard a young man scream and obscenity at a young woman in the hall. His back was to me, but everyone around saw me standing behind him, waiting to see what I would do. He is a senior and Tuesday was their last day. I could ignore the infraction and go along my way, but the crowd around him was waiting to see what I would do, and I feared that doing nothing would give the students permission to behave in a like manner. I confronted him, asking the young man to follow me to my room. I recognized him as someone I had taught two years before, but pretended that I did not know him. I asked for his ID to which he said he did not have one, and then asked if he had any identification and he replied no. I told him that he would have to accompany me to the office and on the way he produced his old ID from last year. I reminded him that students were required to wear their current ID all the time they were in the building.

When we arrived at the office we ran into one of the assistant principals at which point the student produced his real ID. I explained the situation to the administrator and he called on his walkie-talkie for the Dean who took charge of the miscreant. I wrote him a detention for his misbehavior. Because this was their last day of school he would have to serve his punishment before he could receive his cap and gown or graduate. He was not a bad kid when I had him in class and the Dean assured me that he had no significant discipline record--but some things just can’t be tolerated in a school building; obscene language, lying, as well as significant facial hair, even for a Senior on the last day of school and he was guilty of all three violations. The detention created a significant and well deserved inconvenience for him.

The day then reverted into the normal hum-drum associated with the end of a school year. During my free period later that day I was approached by another student who needed a signature for his Chemistry class next year. I took care of his problem and we had a chance to talk. He is a transfer student from the local Public High School and I found him to be intelligent, mature, and articulate. I asked how he liked it here compared to his former school and he said it was much safer and more conducive to learning. His former school is widely considered to be below par, even though their per-student expenditures are more than if costs to send a student to our state university. My contact with this young man was far more pleasant than the interaction with my before-school friend.

I ate my lunch alone, as usual, opting for the solitude of my empty classroom over the crowded faculty dining room. It is the only time I can be alone with my thoughts during the day. After lunch I sat through two AP Chemistry research presentations and oversaw an Honors Chemistry lab. After school I helped a young lady in my regular Chemistry class work through a review problem she was having difficulty with.

I had two regular tutoring students after school; both attend another local Catholic School. Getting home a little after 7 p.m., I used the last half hour of daylight to water the flowers I had planted Monday, ate dinner, and wrote an Honors Chemistry exam for Thursday. About 9:30, exhausted from a long day, I went to bed.

Liar Liar Pants on Fire!

The fact that students lie should not surprise any teacher or parent. The reasons students lie are as varied as the students and the situations. Like many things in life, people generally look for a simple explanation that covers every situation. Take for example two posts I found on the website “tachnology”, both by anonymous posters;

“Students lie because they have been taught to lie. For example, when the phone rings in their household, if mom or dad doesn't want to be bothered than they will say, tell them I'm not home. So when a child thinks it's okay to lie because their parents do it often, they believe it's okay to do so in any situation.”

Most teachers would probably nod their heads in agreement, but all lying can’t be explained by blaming it on the parents. Another post said. . .

“It doesn't matter where the child comes from. ALL ethnic children groups tell lies. Their ages are not important. Where they live is not important. Whether they are rich or poor it doesn't matter. What matters is whether the lie that has been told is told to hurt someone or whether it is told to benefit from a situation; get a job; get out of a punishment; get even with someone. The true reason kids lie is to get out of trouble or to better themselves in some way. They don’t do it to hurt people they do it because they want something. They will lie to get money "hey mom I lost my money at school can I get some more?” , , ,

This probably represents the best explanation for why students choose to lie. My friend from the Theology Department would argue that students sometimes lie even when the truth would result in a better outcome for them. They lie because we represent authority and you never cooperate with authority. In my mind they reflexively lie because they view a lie as always helping them. They lack the thinking ability to weigh actions against consequences.

The other day, before one of my classes, a young lady approached my desk to inform me that she did not have her homework, explaining that she forgot to do it. I reminded her that she could turn it in tomorrow for half credit. Later that period they were given time to work on their next homework assignment, and I noticed that she was wasting her time talking to the girl next to her. I confronted her, asking why she felt she could waste time when she had two assignments to complete before tomorrow. She assured me that the missing assignment was done and that she had just left it at home. She is so used to lying that she did not even notice that in thirty minutes she had told me two different stories, one of which had to be a lie. The embarrassed look on her reddened face when she realized she was caught made me laugh out loud.

I entered a grade of zero for her missing assignment which dropped her grade to an “F.”
Because she was now failing I decided to email her parents with the news, and the story of how she got caught in a lie about the assignment. Her parents did not return my email, but the next day her missing work was on my desk before school.

I'm Mad as Hell, and I'm not Going to Take it Anymore!

How many of you work with someone who appears to be losing his/her grip on reality? For the past few months I have seen a colleague act increasingly angry and irrational. The other day it got so bad that, for the first time, I actually became concerned.

The beginning of the story dates back several months. He and I were talking after school and the discussion went to the vote in congress that was coming up concerning extending unemployment benefits past 99 months. His sister has been unemployed and receiving benefits for the maximum allowed time; the upcoming vote could have cut off her only means of support. He was noticeably angry and agitated, vowing to go to “war” with the Republicans if they did not vote to extend benefits. He blamed them (the Republicans) for causing all the countries troubles. You need to realize that I respect and like this man even though we tend to see politics differently. I have been a witness to his liberal leanings for years, and we even agree on some issues, but his behavior was becoming more like furious ranting than informed dissent. He is a bright man, but is not good at considering alternate points of view (hearing is not the same as listening). He tends to prejudge a position based on whose position it is rather than the merits of the argument. He did not specify what he meant by “war”, but he has never been the kind of person to tolerate violence and I didn’t think much about it.

About three weeks ago he announced that if the Republicans got the cuts to the budget they wanted, there would be “armed violence” in the streets. He told me that he was sure that the “militia” groups would move to “violently” overthrow the Republicans in congress. In his mind they (the Republicans) were evil, hateful, and only cared about the rich. He made several things clear; first he is angry and frustrated, and second, he “hates” the rich and the Republicans. He also made it clear that he believes the racist right-wing crazies in the militias who hate Democrats and blacks have been deposed by socialist left wing crazies who hate the Republicans and the rich. Somehow I must have missed that on the nightly news. While I did not respond to this stream of insanity with any noticeable distress; the hair on the back of my neck stood up and I became very concerned. I struggled with whether I needed to report this to the principal. The exchange between he and I was a private conversation, and as such, need not be any of her business unless he had a made a specific threat to someone at work. He had not. My other concern was that he was making his “thoughts” known to his classes. If he was talking about this in class I would need to inform the principal and action would need to be taken. After some investigation it became clear that he had not shared his feelings with the students, and I decided to keep the exchanges to myself. It was probably just him using me to blow off steam. I still feel he is harmless, if not misguided and uninformed.

Two days ago after school I was talking to my friend from Theology when my liberal friend came in the room. We were discussing an incident where she (Theology Teacher) had witnessed one student being inappropriately physical with another. Both students claimed it was a joke and nothing was meant by it but she wisely told them that it was wrong and could not happen again. I advised that she report the incident to Guidance. Our discussion then went to other stories we had heard where the bully had done significant harm to the person being bullied. My liberal friend wondered out-loud how the bully would feel if the parents of the other person hired a “sniper” to “take him out.” He left the room after telling us that violence was the only solution to some problems.

Back Again!

It has been just about two months since I posted anything; mostly because of the chain of events that has required my attention and time. In early March my wife went to her doctor complaining of some unusual symptoms that had been bothering her for a few months. On March 17th she was diagnosed with uterine cancer and surgery was scheduled. I am thankful to say that the surgery went well and the final pathology report showed that the cancer had not moved into the lymph nodes. Her surgery should take care of the problem with no chemotherapy or radiation necessary. She has been home and restricted in her activity, unable to return to work for at least another month. In a shocking turn of events, two of my best friends from high school were also diagnosed with cancer at the same time.

During the last two months I have thought several times about posting something, but always found myself too preoccupied with my situation to get anything done. Now that things have calmed down I am inclined to post again.

It is surprisingly close to the end of the school year. We are on a short Easter break now and when we return to school there will be only four Mondays left to wake up early before summer vacation. I have always liked to measure the time till summer vacation by counting down “Mondays left to wake up early” with a notation on my board. The last semester exam this year is the Friday before Memorial Day.

Since my last post; we have finished current student registration, registered the new freshmen class, and had a budget for the department approved for next year. Last month the principal finished her interviews for next year and there are no changes expected in the department. All in all the past few months have been a typical spring at school, if not a typical time for me outside of school.

Snowzilla 2011!

The wind is howling outside my office window as the great snow storm of 2011 rages on. I am in a state of exhaustion as a result of overwork, lack of sleep, and a nagging upper repertory infection I have been battling since Christmas vacation. My day begins at 5:45 am when my alarm goes off and ends sometime around 7:00 pm when I get back home from teaching all day and tutoring. Last week was especially exhausting because of four discipline board meetings over two days, a department meeting, and a pile of papers to grade. The storm has caused many problems, but the day off tomorrow from school and tutoring because of the snow will provide a welcome period of rest—at least until I have to take out the snow blower and take care of business outside. I pray that the snow will be so deep that we will be off Thursday as well.

I am old enough to remember the great storm of 1967 when I was a freshman in high school. The snow began early morning and was bad enough by 11:00 that school was called off and we were all sent home. I lived about four blocks from school so I got home without a problem. About 20 students and a teacher were stranded in the building for two days because their bus could get through to pick them up. School was shut down for three days. In ‘67’, the storm was a complete surprise stranding many who did not react fast enough to the weather emergency. In contrast, this storm was predicted well in advance allowing people time to prepare. Not wanting the same situation to occur, the principal decided to send everyone home at 1:20, several hours before the main storm hit. We got the automated phone message calling off school for tomorrow at 7:30 this evening.

This week we are at the midpoint of 3rd quarter. I have several students failing at this point, mostly because they have been absent and have not made up the work they missed yet. I plan to spend tomorrow grading make-up work and will contact parents by email if anyone is still failing after everything has been recorder.

My yearly evaluation has been completed, but the administrator in charge of my observation has not yet scheduled a meeting with me to go over his notes. I did meet with the principal today about some minor department matters. I want to drop my final exam in AP Chemistry and replace it with a lab project; something the principal has indicated that she would be in favor of. I got her permission to set up the project and approval to let the students off for their regular exam time. We then needed to edit some of the class descriptions for the B-Level courses; the lower level class for the less capable students.
Apparently, these descriptions need to be edited to meet NCAA standards. The NCAA needs to approve all high school courses for college bound athletes. Everyone in the high schools knows the process is a joke, but for a student to obtain an athletic scholarship we must “word” our course descriptions appropriately.

The stack of papers to grade on my desk is eight inches high and awaits my attention tomorrow. I plan to dive in after my coffee and breakfast in the morning. Thank God for the snow day!

Second Semester Begins

Today is the last day of Christmas vacation and I am spending my time relaxing in preparation for school tomorrow. I spent two solid days making lesson plans, copies of student materials, and new seating charts. Yesterday I spent six hours at school in preparation for “go time” tomorrow. Getting ready for second semester is similar to getting ready for the beginning of school.

My class lists have changed little from first semester. Two AP Chemistry students have seen the light and decided to drop my class, while another is “thinking about it” for now. Two students were moved up from regular chemistry to my fifth period Honors chemistry class—both coming highly recommended from their former teacher. A new student was added to my regular chemistry class. She was not in chemistry last semester and is not a transfer student, so I assume that she is someone who failed second semester last year and has to repeat.

The first two weeks of second semester is the time period this year for my observation and evaluation by administration. I was assigned to an assistant principal for my evaluation, someone who has evaluated me in the past. I emailed him over break; attaching copies of my syllabus, schedule, and study guide for the unit. Protocol suggests that I we would have an initial meeting to go over the syllabus and schedule several observations. Last year three observations were scheduled, but only one occurred. From talking to other faculty members I have found that the observations can be meticulous, getting to the minutia of a teacher’s work, or superficial to the point of being worthless. As a consequence, many faculty members fear being observed, and lack the proper respect for the process. Many believe that our administrators have preconceived notions concerning their competence, using the observation process to harass teachers they find fault with, while letting their “pets” skate by with little or no supervision. While I find this conclusion false, I can see why it persists.

At any rate, I am going to bed. I anticipate a long day ahead of me and will need my sleep.