Sleepy!

As a teacher I spend the majority of my day attempting to keep students on task. Redirecting off-task behaviors is the #1 challenge in my classroom. A close second is attempting to keep students awake. It's clear that many of my students go to bed too late and are not getting enough rest. It would not be an exaggeration to say that I tell kids more than 50 times a day to put their heads up or to wake up altogether. I mostly blame the parents for allowing their children to stay up as long as they want and for not placing limits on their use of technology (TV watching, computer use, cell phone use etc...). I also blame the kids themselves.

On a different note... there may be some (somewhat) valid reasons for sleepy students. I present the following with a bit of a skeptical eye.

FAIR enough!

I am really looking forward to Thursday. We will be taking the grandchildren to the Aurora Farmers Fair. This will be Sveta's third one and Elliott's first. Sveta will ride the ferris wheel with her Goppa and Elliott will ride the kiddy rides with... well, just about anyone. It's going to be a grand time and I think there may be a funnel cake or elephant ear in our future. Just sayin'!

Pay it forward!

I was never much for the movie "Pay it Forward". You know, it was a nice, feel good movie, but I never viewed the whole concept of paying it forward as very practical. With that being said, let me tell you what happened last night.

I went to Penn Station to pick up a couple Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches. When it was time to pay I handed the cashier my American Express card and she politely shook her head and said they didn't take AMEX. Normally this wouldn't have been a problem, but Abby happened to have my MasterCard last night. I never carry cash, so you can easily see how this was going to be a problem. I was telling the cashier I would have to leave and come back to pay for the food. Before I could finish my statement, a woman's voice behind me said, "I'll pay for it!". I turned around to see a young woman (not dressed very modestly) reaching into her purse. I told her I appreciated the gesture, but said no thank you. She pressed the issue saying she had a really good night at work (it turns out she is a cocktail waitress at the casino) and wanted to take this opportunity to pay it forward. I once more tried to decline, but she would have none of it. In the end, she paid for my dinner and of course, her own. What should have cost her about $8, cost her $23. I thanked her profusely and explained I had plenty of money, but just had the wrong kind of credit card. She was very nice and seemed genuinely happy to pay for our meal. It was quite a strange experience, but it did restore my faith in humanity. The world is full of selfish, rude, egotistical and sometimes stupid people. But last night showed me there are still good people out there. Even a person who is not necessarily dressed modestly enough to be in public can still be a decent and generous person.

I still don't know if I buy into the whole "Pay it Forward" thing, but I do know I would be more than willing to do the same for someone else if the opportunity presented itself.

The Rat Race

Going to work day in and day out has been referred to as the Rat Race. I have to admit this is how it feels most of the time. I gave up the notion of a new career long ago. At some point you have too much vested in your current career and retirement is just a little too close to consider any type of job change. There comes a time when you accept your decision to become a teacher and just go with it.

This is TRUE

This is so true! Education nowadays has nothing to do with learning and has everything to do with test results.

It sure is funny how teachers are expected to differentiate their lessons (i.e. teach to the individual learning styles of students), yet we give standardized tests and measure the achievement of kids based on these flawed tests.

Huh? What?

This is really funny, but only because it gets more and more true every day. I know I'm slowly losing my hearing and I'm still RELATIVELY young. I can't imagine how bad it will be in 15 or 20 years.

The weekend starts tomorrow

It has been such a busy, busy week. Tomorrow my schedule will ease up quite a bit and it almost feels like the weekend will be starting... on a THURSDAY! How crazy does that sound? I still have two more days of work this week and I almost feel like the weekend is here.

Out of the frying pan...

Out of the frying pan and into the fire!

I got through my formal observation/evaluation and all went well.

Now I have another monumental task ahead of me. I have a mountain of pretests to grade. Results of these tests are due tomorrow. Each test is 50 questions and I have 50 students. That's right ladies and gents, I have to grade 2,500 test items by tomorrow.

Mind you I'm not complaining. I'm just giving you a glimpse into the not-so-glamourous life of a teacher. My work day often doesn't end when the bell rings. There are many times work extends well into my evening.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have 2,500 test items to grade.

Observed

Tomorrow I will be formally evaluated by my Principal. My worth as a teacher is largely based on this one hour process. As the mood of my students goes, so goes my evaluation. I can only hope they come to school well rested and in a good mood. Lord Help me if they don't. Please pray for me as I go through this difficult process. As always, I will be glad when it's over.

It's sad

The graphic below is all too true. Schools nowadays are being forced to do way too much and way too many things we are not trained or designed to do. I am a trained educator. I was not trained as a nurse, psychologist, therapist or social worker. Yet I am asked to be all those things and much, much more.

Schools today are a mess because of the breakdown of the American family. It really is THAT simple. No amount of money or social programs will fix the root of the problem. Until people wait to have sex until they're married, stay married and act like real parents, nothing will ever change. Too many broken families and too many single parents. Neglectful parents, incarcerated parents, indifferent parents, lazy parents. It's all part of the big picture... and it ain't a pretty picture.

Grounded!

Why didn't I think of this? Whoever came up with this plan had a brilliant idea.

I didn't have to ground my kids very many times, but when I did, it seemed like the punishment was worse for me than it was for the kids. If I had used this system, things would have gone so much better!

This is true!

Times sure have changed. I think kids live in a spoiled, "wimpified" culture nowadays.

As a teacher I see an epidemic of kids who cannot pay attention to save their lives. I do not believe 99%of these kids have ADHD. I think the real problem is these kids live in a world where they are constantly stimulated. They have television, computers, cell phones, Facebook, texting, and video games. When they are expected to sit quietly and still for any length of time they absolutely cannot do it. The solution IS NOT medicine or therapy. The solution is parents spending time time with their children, talking to them, teaching them and making very clear expectations for how they should behave. Please don't misunderstand me. There are children with legitimate learning problems and disabilities, but I think we are way too quick slap an ADHD label on a kid when in reality they are just victims of an overly stimulating world and seekers of constant and instant gratification. As a teacher I do my best to keep my lessons interesting and to be as entertaining as possible, but I will never be able to compete with cell phones, computers and video games.

Back in my day you never heard of anybody suffering from depression. That's not to say it didn't exist, but once again I think we are way too quick to label somebody as depressed. Sometimes people are loners by nature (ME for example). It doesn't mean these people are depressed. Sometimes people go through a period of feeling blue. This doesn't mean they're depressed. It means they've hit a rough patch and are feeling sad for a while. Once again, don't misunderstand me. There are people who are legitimately suffering from depression. I just think we use the label of depression as a catch all for a lot of problems that really aren't problems at all.

Check out the graphic below. It is so true!

The Hofbrauhaus

Guten Tag!

In just over a month, Michael will celebrate his 21st birthday. Tami and I offered to have a party for him here at the house. However, Michael decided he would rather celebrate at The Hofbrauhaus in Newport. I've heard The Hofbrauhaus (even though I've never been there) is your typical German beer hall. Long tables with benches, beer in mugs, sauerkraut, pretzels and bier cheese (and other traditional German dishes) as well as accordion and Polka music (think Festhaus at Kings Island).

Michael is looking forward to his first legal beverage, but has absolutely no interest in getting intoxicated. Many kids on their 21st birthday go out and get totally smashed. That's not what this party is all about. A lot of family members and friends are likely to attend. This is a simple celebration with good German food and a little bit of beer. Nobody will be getting schnockered (the proper German term is betrunken).

This will be a come one, come all event. Michael turns 21 on October 20, but we will not celebrate until Friday, October 24. We would love to have you join us.

Honestly, I can't imagine a better way to celebrate than Michael embracing his German heritage. His Grandpa Mick and great grandpa Meyer would have been proud.

Auf Wiedersehen!

Christmas Present

No, not THAT kind of Christmas present. This post is about the ghost of Christmas present from Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol".

This is Abby's senior year and she only has two more plays until she graduates. The winter play this year is "A Christmas Carol" and Abby is playing the ghost of Christmas present. It's one of the lead roles and she has a large number of lines. Her Junior Prom date is playing Ebenezer Scrooge. I am looking forward to seeing East Central High School's presentation of the Dickens classic.

The play is the first weekend of December (Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday afternoon). If you are interested in seeing the show, let me know. I know Abby would love to see you there.

Bah Humbug!

Arrrrrrr!

This pirate joke made me chuckle :-)

No-Nut!

We had a wonderful visit with our grandchildren tonight. Sveta was a pure joy as usual. Elliott has changed SO MUCH since we saw him a few weeks ago. One area where he is growing by leaps and bounds is in his speech. He is saying new words every time we see him. One of his favorite new words is "No-Nut" (Translation=Doughnut). During a recent breakfast he refused to eat what was being offered as he shook his head, "No". When asked what he wanted he plainly stated he wanted "No-nut". He was told there were no doughnuts and he began to whine/cry. The boy loves his "No-nuts" and makes his desire for them well known. The Morton family has a tradition of having doughnuts for breakfast every Friday morning. This means 6 out of every 7 mornings Elliott is going to be displeased with what he is being served for breakfast. Rest assured his momma will not be feeding him "No-Nuts" for breakfast every morning. But, hey, who doesn't like a good "No-Nut" in the morning?

Tami's recent sale

As mentioned yesterday, Tami's most recent sale went very, very well. She spent weeks preparing for it and setting it up. Friday and Saturday the merchandise went flying out the door. Tami and her clients were both happy with the results.

On another positive note, there is a quick turnaround until her next sale. The first weekend in October she will have another sale in Florence, Kentucky.

We've learned one very important thing through this business. Provide a quality product (i.e. operate things like you have a brain), provide good customer service (i.e. show people you care about them and their accumulated possessions) and you will get more business than you can handle. This is exactly what Tami is doing and the business keeps pouring in.

It will be interesting to see what happens this winter. It seems that estate sales would be a seasonal thing, but we'll have to wait and see. Maybe people will want to have sales in the cold weather. Either way, I'd expect things to at least slow down if not stop.

More Success

Tami completed yet another successful estate sale. I helped today and worked for 12 hours. I'm too exhausted to give a report tonight. More later.

Minimum Wage

When I was in high school, I worked as a fry cook at Long John Silver's. When I started the job I made minimum wage ($3.35/hr). After a year of sweating my rear end off I was deemed worthy of a raise. I was granted a full dime raise... $3.45/hour and I felt like I was making a lot of money. Keeping in mind I could fill my gas tank for about 10 bucks and a movie ticket was a only a couple of bucks, I was making decent money for the job I was doing. Working at LJS served as more than a source of income for a high school student. It served as a way of showing me that I needed to go to college if I wanted to make more than minimum wage in my life. Never during my time working a hot, grimy job did it occur to me to DEMAND more money. The job was offered to me at minimum wage. I knew I could take the job or leave it. There was never a promise for great increases in my income. In the end, I took the job and it brought in the money I needed at the time.

I bring up this topic because of the recent reports of fast food workers walking off the job in protest of the low minimum wage. These people claim they cannot make a living at a minimum wage job. In turn they are demanding salaries of more than $15/hr. My response to the claim of not being able to make a living on minimum wage is pretty simple. I say, "No kidding!". Minimum wage jobs are not intended to be full time jobs with which people support their families. Traditionally these jobs have been for students and for people looking to make some extra money. Working at McDonald's is not intended to be a career. If these burger flippers want a good job with a decent wage, they should apply themselves in school. If they are not college material (let's face it, not everybody is cut out for college) they should at least look into a trade school or vocational school. Instead many of these people mess around and sleep through school or completely drop out. If you party through school and put forth absolutely no effort, you shouldn't expect to get a well paying job when you suddenly decide minimum wage is not enough. This is not a snobbish attitude. It's a realistic one. If you want to make a healthy living, quit acting like a knucklehead, apply yourself in school and stop blaming other people for your lack of income. The government DOES NOT owe you a competitive salary. Get out there and EARN it.

If minimum wage goes up to a level that people say they need in order to make a living, I say get ready for automated fast food restaurants. Look below for the fast food employee of the future...

Please note this should read, "$15 AN hour".

Patriot Day

September 11th. We all know what happened and how it has changed our world forever. As a social studies teacher, I will try to explain the events of 13 years ago to children who weren't even born when it happened. I know we all remember the horrors like they happened yesterday, but for these children it will seem like it happened a million years ago.

We will never forget.

Tipping off the enemy

Tonight our President will go on national television and lay out the strategy for fighting ISIS. Am I the only who thinks Mr. Obama is telegraphing his punches? Why in the world should he broadcast ANYTHING about how we plan on knocking the terrorists on their keesters? Nothing like giving them a chance to prepare for our every move! There must be some great Generals rolling over in their graves. Can you imagine General Dwight D. Eisenhower going on TV and telling the Nazis he was planning on invading France at the beaches of Normandy. Or even the Japanese broadcasting their intentions to bomb Pearl Harbor. If these things had happened, the Nazis would have heavily fortified Utah Beach and the U.S. Navy would never have been caught flatfooted. The crew of the USS Arizona would have gotten up early and would have been at the ready to blast Japanese Zeros out of the sky. I don't care how vague the President is tonight... he shouldn't be telling anybody our military plans. Period.

I agree

Yes, I would totally agree. Imagine the possibilities!

Happy!

Do I really need to explain why I'm posting this photo?

Or this one?

S'mores no more?

Michelle Obama has been launching an assault on school lunch programs since the beginning of her husband's presidency. In an effort to get kids to eat healthier foods and in an attempt to slim them down, Mrs. Obama and her cronies have been systematically removing so-called unhealthy foods from school lunch menus. Schools that receive government subsidies (almost all public schools I'd guess) must adhere to the government standards or risk losing funding. While it's a noble thought, there is a flaw in the plan. Kids won't eat the healthier food. In schools across the nation more food is ending up in trash cans than in the bellies of hungry students. The whole initiative is a mess and has done absolutely nothing to help American children.

There was an article on the Fox News website today about a school district in Elyria, Ohio. Their school cafeterias have been serving a cookie with pink frosting for 40 years. Apparently all the kids love these cookies and they are famous throughout the entire town amongst all the locals. These cookies have been a fixture in Elyria for as long as a lot of people can remember. The article went on to say the government is now forcing the Elyria schools to stop serving the cookies because they have too many calories. If the school does not comply, their federal subsidies will be yanked. Unbelievable, right?

In yet another story on Fox News, the United States Forest Service (A branch of the FDA) is RECOMMENDING the removal of chocolate from s'mores. They suggest ditching the chocolate and adding fruit. That's right people... FRUIT! I'm no rocket scientist, but, if you remove chocolate from the graham cracker and marshmallow, it's a s'more no more. In an even more fanatical twist it was suggested to put roasted tofu and celery on a whole wheat cracker. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Can't you just picture it? "Honey, I'm going to Kroger to pick up the groceries for our camping trip. Tofu? Check! Celery? Check! Whole wheat crackers? Check!". How can they think ANYBODY would ever eat that garbage? YUCK! A s'more is a gooey roasted marshmallow and soft chocolate smooshed between graham crackers. I say the government should keep its nose out of America's campfire treats. Don't mess with perfection!

The life of a teacher

I'm not one to complain about my job (at least not too much). In fact, being a teacher has a lot of perks. All weekends, holidays and summers off. Decent working hours, rewarding experiences and a true avenue to make a difference in the lives of others. However, there are times when being a teacher is not so much fun. Take today for instance. I spent the majority of my Saturday writing a high stakes test for my school district. I worked for hours and hours and I am still not finished. These are the things people don't know about teachers. Sometimes there is extra work to be done. If you're asking why I can't do this extra work during school hours, the answer is simple. There is too much time spent teaching and managing the classroom to allow for any extended period of time for a task like that. This is not a complaint. It's merely a glimpse behind the curtain of a teacher's life. It's not all ABC's and 123's.

Saturday Night Live!

The recent passing of Don Pardo prompted me to write this post. Do you know who Don Pardo was? He was the longtime announcer for Saturday Night Live.

I am definitely not a Saturday Night Live fan. I used to watch it a little bit in college, but even then it was a bit too risqué for me. I just don't enjoy potty humor.

Even though I'm not a fan, I could still name every person in this photo. Can you? Here's your 70's SNL quiz. Look below the photo for the answers.

From left to right:

Garrett Morris, Jane Curtin, John Belushi, Lorraine Newman, Dan Akroyd, Gilda Radner and Bill Murray.

Truth be told

This is more true than I'd like to admit.

NFL

The NFL season begins tonight and you know what... I don't really care. The prima donna football players making a gazillion dollars are growing tiresome. Watching football is just not as much fun as it used to be. I don't know, maybe I've outgrown it a little bit or maybe things have just changed too much over the years. How long will the NFL continue if it doesn't change its ways? NFL means "Not For Long" if they continue on their current path. The NFL is the richest sports league on the planet, but it will eventually self-destruct. How do I know? Well, consider the recent news story that said the NFL is considering asking musical artists to PAY for the privilege of performing at halftime of the Super Bowl. How greedy can you get? Team owners are billionaires and anybody in the business is richer than rich. Talk about unbelievable nerve! If I was a famous musician, I'd tell the NFL to go jump in the lake. What a crock!

The NFL season is underway. Here's my reaction... meh!

It makes you think

It turns out my colleague's grandson was only a year and a half older than my own son. He was actually MUCH younger than my eldest daughter. It really causes you to think and makes you realize how fragile (and short) life is. I am truly grateful that my children have been blessed with good health their entire lives. I know my colleague's family must be completely devastated. Who wouldn't be? Again, my prayers go out to them. It's just tragic!

A sad day

Sad news from the weekend. A colleague of mine (I have worked with her for 25 years) lost a 22 year old grandson. We don't have any details yet, but have only been told he died in his sleep. I can't imagine the devastation the family must be suffering through.

This is yet another tragedy my small school will have to endure. Last year we lost my good friend Nancy Long, lost an assistant high school principal and had a student commit suicide.

My prayers are with the family.

September

September is here and brings with it the promise of autumn. As you know, autumn brings about an emotional letdown in me. I've never been able to explain it. The fall season has crisp air, beautiful foliage, harvest time and nights by the campfire sipping hot apple cider. All of that stuff makes no difference to me. I will never love fall.

Green Day sings a song called, "Wake me up when September ends". I have no idea what the song means, but for some reason I always think of it on September 1st. If I fell asleep on September 1st, I would not want to be awakened when September ends because then it would be October and October is even worse. I think the song should be called, "Wake me up when autumn and winter ends".

Here's a small snippet of the song:

Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
wake me up when September ends

here comes the rain again
falling from the stars
drenched in my pain again
becoming who we are

as my memory rests
but never forgets what I lost
wake me up when September ends

Like I said, I have no idea what those lyrics mean. But it does somehow sing a song of sadness to me. A mournful song of the fleeting days of summer and a time when everything begins withering toward a slow death. Goodbye summer. Goodbye long days of leisure. Hello short days of weak sunlight. Hello long cold nights.

Fireworks on the River

Last night was as advertised. The evening began with drinks and appetizers and then there was a charity auction. After the auction we went inside for dinner and I ate way more than I should have. The evening concluded with the fireworks. We had a really nice time. There were no complications (always a plus for me) and the weather completely cooperated. It was a really good night!

Here's Dinner:

And here's the finale'