Thanksgiving Week

Thanksgiving Week – Nine Days

My wife, Diana or Di, to her English family and Charlie to the rest of us is still teaching. This year she had the whole of Thanksgiving Week off. A good week to relax and veg-out.

Saturday – relax, watch college football, and fix spaghetti for dinner.

Sunday – as above, but pro football and took Charlie to have a mani-pedi.

Monday – relax, we went to MNF dinner at Mike and Sandy’s (nice tradition as Mike and I have been doing this for somewhere around thirty years).

Tuesday – took Charlie to her “pain management” doctor and had one of her “heavy” meds dosage reduced—less med in the same number of pills for the same cost.

Wednesday – one of Charlie’s good, retired friends came over to visit for several hours and I then took Charlie to another doctor’s appointment.

Thursday – the two of us had a quiet Thanksgiving dinner together: turkey, mashed potatoes and peas. Her brother called and was quite chuffed that he had prepared a good batch of roast potatoes. I’ve found that a 16-pound turkey has plenty of meat for the two of us for dinner and several days of leftovers—oh, yes, gave the cats a bit of turkey, too.

Friday – quiet day with leftovers and football and Charlie grading English class essays (7th & 8th grade). When I see her doing this I give quiet thanks that I was able to retire when I did.

Saturday – basically a copy of Friday except I started out watching Premier League “football”—Go Arsenal!

Sunday – should be a copy of Saturday except for the angst of Charlie having to go back to work tomorrow and the Grey Cup is on this afternoon.

The above list is not an exhaustive one. There was grocery shopping to do, including the purchase of cat and bird food. Clothes washing, dishes, general cleaning, etc. that needed to be done. The gardener came by yesterday and the front yard and backyard gardens are beautiful, if lacking in summer flowers.

Charlie finished reading the latest Aloysius Pendergast book, Blue Labyrinth, by Preston and Child. She is now on the patio reading Relic and drinking her second cup of tea. We actually have dark clouds overhead so, maybe, we’ll get some of that promised rain this week. (Maybe, even today.)

I’m a half-dozen chapters into Heritage of Cyador by Modesitt and it promises to be a good read.

I’ve written the first eight chapters of my book, two more full chapters and two partial chapters farther on in the story. My goal is a hundred thousand words but I’ve got more story than that in my head and will have to do a “bit” of trimming.

Downloaded Annie Lennox’s new album, Nostalgia, marvelous. I’ve got 18,000+ songs and tunes on iTunes and have music playing in the house most of the time—on Apple TV and playing through our stereo. (Still waiting for Diana Krall’s Wallflower.)

The OC Register is again a no-show today—haven’t had a copy delivered since Thursday a week ago, but I still get their emails. The LA Times hasn’t missed a day or been late. (This really bugs me as the Times does not cover Orange County high school football. It’s playoff season now.)

School Teacher Alert

—and anyone else who has ever had a “pointy-haired” principal or boss: Today’s Dilbert (with apologies to Scott Adams).

Principal: Would you like some feedback on your (teaching) performance?

Teacher: No.

P: You’re supposed to appreciate feedback because it makes you feel valued.

T: How does listening to you belittle me about things you don’t understand make me feel valued?

P: Well, I don’t know. It must be an indirect thing.

P: Maybe we should just try it and see how it feels.

T: Whatever.

P: I don’t actually watch you (teach) work, so I’m mostly guessing about the things you do wrong.

P: I accuse you of being slow and disorganized!

P: Is it working yet?

T: Yes. If that makes you go away.

I don’t know if this accurate for your current situation, but, if you’ve been a teacher long enough, you’ve had at least one, and maybe several “pointy-haired” principals. (I know I have. I, of course, won’t mention any names, but, if you’ve taught with me, you will probably name the same ones.)

Etc.

Charlie’s sister, Tricia, has confirmed that she’ll be here for Christmas. (She lives in England.)

Sunday Morning Company
Sunday Morning Company

The cats are keeping me company: one on the back of my chair, from which position he sometimes washes my hair, and the other atop her castle.

And, as I look around at all I possess and think on all I am thankful for one thing stands out: Charlie, without whom nothing else seems to matter.

And, one more note, Charlie reports that it is now raining.

Vacation Travels 2014 – Part 2

Travels – We’re There

We arrived in Warroad, Minnesota late on a Friday afternoon and found the house in good order with the

A view of a Minnesota sunrise from our deck.
A view of a Minnesota sunrise from our deck.

exception of the water being turned off. I had thought that the water was on because the new garden was in and had been watered. My mistake. The gardener had put a pump in the golf course water hazard, with two long extension cords connected to our outside electrical outlets, and a long hose.

I made a phone call to the gentleman who owns the water system that brought him out to the house after 5 pm and made him late for a family dinner. With his aid and that of a neighbor my wife and I had running water and

Smoke and Mist dream of a walleye dinner.
Smoke and Mist dream of a walleye dinner.

did not have to spend the night in a motel.

I brought the outdoor furniture from the living room to the patio deck and we now had a little room to move in. I connected the various electrical appliances and lamps and fans as well as getting the wi-fi up and running. HUG, Inc. had put on new storm doors and a new kitchen before we got there and they looked good.

It took a couple of days to unpack the large containers of kitchen goods, foods, cleaners, tableware, etc. and get the upstairs livable. That and a trip to Doug’s Supermarket for milk and fresh food.

Smoke and Mist soon found they liked the house. Plenty of new nooks to explore, carpet on some of the floors and stairs to chase each other up and down.

Gas Price Warroad, MN
Gas Price Warroad, MN

Ahhh . . . summer vacation in a town with only two stoplights and non-California gas prices.

No golfing this summer but I drank coffee, ate breakfast, “worked” crossword and Sudoku puzzles, read books and watched the world go by on the golf course from our second story deck. Charlie read, played on her iPad, worked on lesson plans and spent a couple of hours in Seven Clans Casino most days. Pleasant and Relaxing.

We put in an air conditioner—yes, in the Summer it gets quite warm and muggy in northern Minnesota. G&B Carpet and Furniture put in new flooring in the kitchen and bathroom upstairs and in the office, laundry and entries downstairs. Charlie also bought a table and an electric recliner from G&B. (Next year we’ll get a new bed.)

Saint Peter’s is the Episcopal Church Charlie attends while in Warroad. The congregation is small so services are

St. Peter's Altar Window
St. Peter’s Altar Window

held on Wednesday evenings with a traveling vicar who is in charge of several like parishes. The people are friendly and a potluck dinner is served after services every couple of weeks. There is a large stained glass window behind the altar that Charlie likes and had me take pictures of. (As the window is in the east it really needs a morning sun to be seen at its best—ah, well, maybe next year.)

I’ve found a number of small churches in northern Minnesota with character and plan on doing a photo-essay of them in the next year or two.

Ate dinner at the Lakeview Restaurant one night and had a delicious plate of walleye (Walleyed Pike). Lots of sandbags around and streets closed as the lake (Lake of the Woods) was at near record levels (or setting new records).

Doug’s Supermarket is undergoing renovations and what used to be their video section is now a Caribou Coffee shop. Charlie has become addicted to their scones that are much like those from Starbucks. So far as I know, it is the only location that has an actual caribou head mounted inside.

Pelan Pioneer Chapel
Pelan Pioneer Chapel

Drove to Grand Forks one day to do some shopping and that same detour was in effect from Donaldson west. So we went south intending to catch the I-29 later. The drive took us through Warren, Minnesota which has an operating drive-in theater; I didn’t have one of my “good” cameras with me that day so I took pictures a couple of weeks later on our way back to California.

During the last week of our stay, I took a drive by myself. (Charlie was enjoying the casino that afternoon.) I took some pictures of the

Dewey Townhall
Dewey Townhall

Dewey Townhall and Pelan Pioneer Chapel.

Too soon it was time to come home.

Fitness, Testing and Evaluation

LA TimesThe Los Angeles Times this week came out with an article on a tentative agreement between the L.A. Unified SD and the teachers’ union to use student test scores to evaluate the performance of teachers – http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/11/la-unified-teachers-union-agree-on-teachers-evaluations.html .

and

Friday’s Orange County Register contained an article by Scott Martindale about students failing the California Physical Fitness Test – http://www.ocregister.com/news/students-379296-percent-school.html

To me, these articles are related. Both of them revolve around issues which seem to be societal in nature rather than the responsibility of an individual – the teacher. Orange County Register

The Register’s article on fitness seems to realize this as there is nothing about relating a student’s performance on the test to his or her physical education teacher. Weight and fitness are rightly seen as problems which cannot be attributed to or overcome by individual teachers. Although if we are going to hold English, Math and Science teachers responsible for the test scores of their students and, at least partially, evaluate them based on their students’ test scores, shouldn’t we hold physical education teachers responsible for their students’ scores on the physical fitness test? (I have no idea on how we use student test scores to evaluate teachers of other subjects.)

But, rather than using standardized tests to evaluate teachers, I’d like to see subject matter pre- and post-tests used to do the evaluations.

Seemingly ages ago I gave my social studies students pre- and post- geography tests. These were fifty question multiple-choice tests of my own design. They covered the geographic knowledge and skills related to being able to understand the seventh grade social studies curriculum. I gave the test to them at the start of the academic year and at the end of the academic year. The first test did not count on their grade, unless it was higher than their first grade report average; the test at the end of the year counted on their last grade report, regardless of their score.

These tests allowed me to see whether or not my students learned what I thought they should learn and, what I needed to do better at teaching. 

If you are going to evaluate teachers based on the test scores of their students, you should base the tests on what the teacher is supposed to have taught the students.

Here is the seventh grade curriculum. Test to see what they know at the start of the year; test again to see what they have learned. Did the students learn what they were supposed to have learned; did the teacher adequately teach what he or she was supposed to have taught? Evaluate the teacher based on factors that the teacher can control; do not evaluate the teacher based on factors beyond that teacher’s ability to control.

Don’t evaluate my ability to teach seventh graders how to use Word, Excel and Powerpoint by the girl who just came from Poland and doesn’t speak English (The counselor says she can just sit at the computer and type.); don’t evaluate my ability to teach seventh grade social studies on the student who reads at less than second grade level and speaks Spanish at home because neither of the parents speak English (“Joe, we don’t have anyplace else to put her; just put her next to another student who speaks Spanish.”).

An individual teacher cannot solve society’s problems; he can do his job and teach what he is supposed to teach – evaluate him on how he does that job. And, when he has time, he’ll do what he can to help those who need it most, even if he can’t speak their language.

12.2.2012

Education – Working Conditions

When people talk about education today most of the conversation seems to revolve around three things: standards (Common Core), evaluation (testing) and money. One item usually left out of the mix is working conditions – the working conditions of teachers.

Education Computer Class 1Teachers, at least here in California, have college degrees and state certification, i.e., credentials. A college degree should show that you have subject matter knowledge and a credential that you know how to teach. Of course, nothing beats experience; it takes time and experience to make a good teacher.

How do you keep a good teacher? A good salary and benefits are part of the mix but they are not the total story. I have known good teachers who have left education after only a few years and some who have taught for decades; they have left not because their salaries were too low or their health benefits weren’t adequate but because they could no longer deal with the conditions under which they were supposed to teach.

I don’t speak of the sweatshop conditions of the Industrial Age or Third World classrooms; I speak of things like “potty duty”, student-teacher ratios (overcrowded classrooms), homework and the like.

In my school district junior high/middle schools have seven teaching periods; teachers teach six periods with one planning/conference period each day. There is a ten-minute nutrition period following the second period class and lunch follows either fourth or fifth period (at least at my last school). Classes are forty-five minutes in length with four minutes between classes. (It was changed to three minutes this year.)

If a teacher has Nutrition Duty and an after lunch conference period, he or she has only three or four minute breaks between classes to use the restroom. You cannot leave your classroom with thirty-five to forty twelve to fourteen year old students unattended while you take a break. Yet, this is how we treat college graduates with advanced degrees and certifications in our schools. This is how we keep good, experienced people in our classrooms?Education Computer Class 2

When I began teaching in the 1970s, my woodshop and metal shop classes had load limits of twenty-six. (We had twenty-four work-stations.) When my friend Paul retired with me last June he had classes of up to forty students in his woodshop – six classes a day. (I subbed for him one afternoon when he had to go the doctor. Forty eighth graders with sharp hand tools and a dozen woodworking machines going at the same time. Never again – I did not understand how he could do it day after day.) My computer classes maxed out at thirty-nine students – thirty-nine working student computers. History, Science, Math, English and Foreign Language teachers also had classes of up to forty students. Music and Physical Education classes were much larger.

Times these class sizes by six and you get student contacts for every full-time teacher on campus, except for Special Education teachers, of over two hundred, and for PE teachers of three hundred, every single day. How long does it take to learn the names and faces of two hundred plus students, not to mention the needs and learning styles of each and every student? Yet, we expect our teachers to do this almost immediately.

As an aside to the above, a couple of years ago we were told to begin color-coding our seating charts. A GATE (Gifted and Talented) student was one color, a Special Education student another color, a 504 student another color, a CELDT student another color, and a fifth category, I forget which, still another color. These categories overlapped and a student could have two or three colors; I don’t remember any having four. This was when I began to think of retirement.

Above, I mentioned homework. I did not mean the homework given to our students; I meant the homework we expect our teachers to do. You cannot plan for six classes, especially if you are teaching different subjects and levels, and grade student work in just a forty-five minute planning/conference period. Back in the days when I taught six History classes, I did six to eight hours of grading/planning at home every week. This equates to an entire extra workday every week.

I shudder to think of the work done by English teachers. They teach writing. The only way you can teach writing is by having the students write. The teacher must grade their writing. Grade the writing of two hundred plus students during a conference period? RIGHT! If it takes one minute to grade a student’s writing, it takes five to six hours to grade all of your classes. Can writing be taught to a student who gets only the equivalent of one minute of feedback once a week? And, think of the time a teacher spends reading student work and grading if more work is assigned.

My wife is an eighth grade English teacher. She is grading papers in our living room right now, during her Thanksgiving Week holiday. She seldom has a day or night during the school term when she is not grading/planning; the same is true for most English teachers.

Education Joe in Classroom 2It takes time to train a teacher and time for that teacher to gain experience and become a good or great teacher. We cannot keep all of the good teachers we need without the wages which reflect the actual work that they do and working conditions which allow them to do it and keep on doing it.

I taught junior high/middle school for forty years. I did not retire because of salary and benefits. I did not retire because of the students – I still enjoyed the kids and teaching. I retired because I was no longer willing to put up with all of the other things with which I had to deal.

Do I miss it? I miss the kids; I miss teaching; I miss my friends and colleagues. I miss nothing else.

Those who can – do.

Those who can’t – criticize.

Those who understand – teach.