Happy Ending

All I'll say is that administration got involved and everything was settled amicably. They were on my side!

Thank goodness Suit and Terrence are gone. I am sure they would have found a way to make the whole nightmare my fault.

These Made Me Laugh

Make sure you twirl in front of a mirror before you leave the house.

When all the respirators are sold out.

When Hell Freezes Over

Well, hell didn't freeze over but two things happened that a few years ago I never dreamt could happen, let alone happen at the same time.

1. I went to the military ball and had a great time. Actually, I have been going for years and always have a great time but I was the biggest opponent of JROTC when it first came to Packemin and I still can't believe I now support the program.


2. I sat at the same table as the principal and talked to him. I even stood up and applauded with the rest of the school. Well, that hurt a little and my husband did give me that extra nudge to get up. No amount of nudging could have ever gotten me to stand for Suit, but that wouldn't have been an issue. He never bothered to show up for this or any other JROTC event unless there were television cameras present.

How will I ever show my face at work again?

A Benefit Of Teaching Smart Kids

Our Arista bought a block of tickets for Mary Poppins and since the president of Arista is one of my calculus kids, he gave me a chance to buy two ticket. Although the seats sucked (balcony with a pipe in front), I jumped at the chance. Mary Poppins was not really in the running of shows I wanted to see, but how could I resist $25 tickets and a chance to spend an evening at the theater surrounded by the kids I love.

The New Amsterdam Theater is magnificent. I really loved the wood carving.

Hidden in a staircase

Ceiling

Faces like these are all over the place. I have a thing for faces.

Of course the best part of the evening was the walk down Ninth Ave.

All the open air restaurants and bars people can enjoy in the nice weather.

Amy's Bread

I love this place--trendy and great burgers (I only eat the veggie ones, but they are great.) The place is pricey but a nice treat. Get there before 6 or you will have a long wait. I don't understand why people want to eat on the street. The traffic from vehicles and people make the atmosphere here pretty awful.

I really liked this old fashioned barber pole.

And, of course, the walk across 42nd St

Family having their portrait drawn

There were so many mounted police in front of theater.

My husband thought Packemin HS could use one of these outside to use as a lounge or a tutoring room.
Port Authority



The there was the walk from the subway

And the walk across 41st St. My husband noticed this weird clock on the Hilton Building. I have to go back and take some more pictures.

Economy Boost

I told my kids they could be the Packemin HS stimulus package. They alone would be creating many jobs for summer school teachers.

They actually caught the sarcasm and were not happy with the comment. Maybe that will get them to star studying.

Pick Me Up

After yesterday, I needed a pick me up and got it this afternoon in the following e-mail.

Farha was one of last year's AP kids. Don't let the writing here fool you--she's brilliant!


Dear AMAZING AWESOME BESTEST!!!

i miss you a LOT... how is teaching and Packemin? I want to come by and visit before I go back to Stony for the summer and pick up my slack! ~


with love Farha-ahahahahhahahaha

Threatened

This post is on the private blog instead of the public one out of respect to my school. Everything written about this in the private blog has already been told to the administration and I am sure they will act on it. I did not think it should be aired publicly. I am sorry if anyone got he wrong idea about my school's reaction to the situation or even the idea that they caused the problem.

It's no use trying not to write this. I am trying to put the incident out of my mind but I can't. Even here, watching my evening class take their final, my eyes keep going to the door, looking for him.

Really Bad

Nothing at work ever gets me this upset. I'm still shaking and I walked out of school crying. Out of respect for my school and the belief that this kind of thing will never be allowed to happen again, I won't post details here but I have to write. I may post details on the other blog, but seeing the words might start me up again. Maybe by posting a few details here I will be able to get it out of my system. (It's so bad ice cream won't even help.)

All I'll say is that it involved a student, a parent and a baseball game. I don't even understand how the student can still be involved with the baseball team as he failed four subjects last marking period, but on the team he is. The father believes his son will be a professional ball player and baseball is all that matters.

Stupid me, I voluntarily took this kid in my class months ago to try to save him. I learned my lesson. I'll never do something like this again.

I Feel Good

I just spent 30 minutes with my Casio and I got it!!!!! It is not that hard. In fact, it is easier than the TI 83. I feel accomplished. I am as good or better than any teenie bopper who grew up with technology! (I still doubt its value in the classroom and I still think it should not replace real working knowledge of math.)

Push Button Generation

On Monday, the Casio man came to town. He spent a period enthralling us with the wonders of the Casio 9570GA Plus calculator. These things are amazing. They do everything except wipe your rear end. Passing math should be a snap. All you have to do is push a few buttons and abracadabra, the answer appears on the screen.

Well, it is not as easy as all that. We were shown how to solve an equation and all six math teachers in the room ended up with six different answers, none of which were correct.

Now, I am proud to say that I am not against the use of a calculator in the math class. By eliminating some of the tedium of arithmetic, more complex, thinking problems can be tackled. There are problems that cannot be solved by hand and the calculator is a necessary tool. (We came across many such problems in calculus.) The calculator should be used to enhance learning, not replace it.

I have a feeling that this calculator will not be difficult to use once I am used to it. I remember my frustrations when I began on the TI-83 but once I learned to use the menu, I became a pro. I am certain I can do the same on this. What I am not so certain of is that my students will be able to become a pro. There are just too many buttons to press and too many steps to go through before the answer can be found. I know that the kids will eventually get this, but by then we have wasted valuable class time teaching them button pushing skills and their math skills will still be lacking.

I might be old fashioned but I have a problem having kids using a matrix on the calculator to solve systems of equations when they have no idea as to what a matrix is or does. They are pushing buttons with no understanding. I taught the same thing in a college class but it was only after we had done several by hand and understood how they worked and what they could be used for did we use the calculator and the computer. And, finding zeros using Newton's method is absurd. The kids should at least have a little understanding of what is going on before they hit the buttons. True, my calculus classes are better students, but I never go over the root button without first explaining iterations to them.

Many of students are graduating high school and attending the local community college. They place out of remedial math by scoring a 75 or better on the Math A or Integrated Math regents. Lots of them can do this. I'm guilty of teaching a whole class of students how to pass the exam without really knowing anything. I'm guilty of sending these button pushers on to failure in college. I'm guilty of doing what my supervisors wanted me to do without thinking about what was best for my students. (I really tried to teach them the math. Some actually learned a good part of it. They all passed the regents and most got over a 75. Most of them did not learn any more than how to pass an exam.)

My department is complaining about the Casio, complaining because they have to learn to use a new calculator. It's sad. They waste so much energy on nonsense. Instead they should be arguing about how the calculator should be used and what the kids should be taught to do on it.

One more comment on this topic, but you will have to read it here.

The Push Button Generation

Mallard Fillmore 5/19/09

To be continued...

I Don't Care Which You Choose

Love me or hate me for who I am, not for what others say about me.

If you loved me last week, don't hate me this week because I pissed your friend off.

If you did not like me last week, keep on disliking me. Don't give up this feeling to go along with your friend or a person in authority.

I'm me, I'm the same person I always was and always will be. Accept me or not, but do it for your own reasons, not the reasons of others.

A Girl Can Dream

Surprise, surprise, we had a meaningful departmental meeting today. A guy came in to teach us how to use the new Casio calculator and not only did he know what he was doing, he was interesting. Most of us were actually upset when the meeting ended. Maybe the upcoming staff development days will be just as good. Maybe dreams really do come true.

Upcoming post--The Push Button Generation.

I just have to decide whether I want to post it here or on the other blog. (Don't look now, I haven't written it yet.)

By the way, I have a strange feeling that there are people trying to get into that blog under assumed names so I have decided to keep it open to only those of you that already have access. It really isn't that interesting anyways.

Lower East Side

The Jewish Teachers Group of the UFT ran a trip today to the Eldridge St Synagogue. This was the first synagogue built in NY for worship, built in the late 1800's. Before it was built, the Jews worshipped in converted churches, homes, stores, or anywhere they could get a space. The building was in total disrepair but has undergone a 20 year renovation to bring it back to its original beauty. It is a national historic spot, a place for all immigrants to see how their culture and religion has grown in the United States. There are Jewish stars in everything. It was important to immigrants to be able to proclaim their Judiasm after the persecution they faced before they emigrated to the United States.

This is the view from the women's section, in the balcony. Although women were segregated, worship here was much better than it was in Europe. Here they were able to see and hear the service. In Europe, they were forced to listen to the service through holes in walls and floors. In spite of the segregation, women played an important role in Jewish heritage, forcing butchers to roll back the price of meats and in keeping the synagogue open for everyone.

Ceiling light was important in the temple as many of the immigrants lived in dark, dank overcrowded tenements.

Rose Window

The glass blocks were put in these windows after the stained glass windows were destroyed. The synagogue did not have the money for stained glass. There is a big controversy as to whether they should be left this way (they were put in 1940) or if they should try to go back to something like the original windows. There are no pictures of the original windows so an exact replication is impossible.
Chandelier--an original

Stained glass window--lets in lots of light.

The ark. The red velvet inside is original.

After the tour, we had lunch at my favorite vegetarian Chinese place on Mott (Vegetarian Paradise) and then walked back to tour the lower East Side, an area I don't get to visit very often.

Manhattan Bridge

Gus' Pickles-the best in the city or anywhere.

Forward Building--Yiddish newspaper.

Loved this building,but it looked out of place.

Found this in the facade of an old building.

New construction--the area is really changing.

Orchard St--where everyone came for socks, underwear and overall bargains.

Orchard St used to be lined with these stores. Notice the new building on top of the old one. There are many of these in the area.

Hat display on Orchard St.

This is the Orchard St I remember from my youth.

Old name on this tee shirt shop--kind of funny, I thought.

I loved seeing the clothes flying from the fire escapes.

Maybe this will help the job market--get paid to pray. For the non Jews, at least 10men are needed or services cannot go on.

Looking into the cellar as an old Rabbi does some work for a Jewish family. It is a shame that all these bars are necessary today.

The beautiful and cheap produce we bought under the Williamsburg Bridge. All of this cost less than $7.00