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.