Bummer



I was supposed to teach a pre-calculus class this term but after registration, I was given a remedial class. 

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind the lower end work and I definitely don't have anything against the students but teaching this class is sometimes so depressing.

A remedy should heal, and should right a wrong.  But, how do you fix wrongs wrought by twelve years of inadequate education in just four months?  These students don't need a fix, they need an education.  They have been deprived of one for almost their entire lives. This emphasis on NCLB and teaching to the test has not taught them basic facts and it has not taught them how to think and process material.  To keep their schools afloat, Principals have instituted so many credit recovery programs that failing kids know they don't need to do a thing, or even show up for class for years and then, at the end, they will have a chance to get four years worth of credits in one year.  Believe me, I have seen it and, I am embarrassed to say, have been a party to it. (If I didn't do it, someone else would have.)  Several years ago, I had a class of seniors who had passed exactly one math class before they got to me.  I had them in a double period.  At the same time, many were going to night school and getting credit for the exact same class with a different code attached.  Kids would sleep through day school because they were tired from night time classes.  Then they would do their day time homework in night time classes.  The biggest farce was 27 out of 28 passed the regents that year.  I warned them that although they would graduate, they still had no math knowledge.  Six years later, there are some still floating around the community college trying to get though the remedial class.  Most have dropped out.

Another problem is that the kids come in expecting everything to be handed to them on a silver platter, like it was done in high school.  They miss exams and expect make ups.  They do not work without review sheets and other hand outs.  They are excessively late and absent.  They don't do homework.  And, they always expect to be given a second chance.  Last time I taught the class a young woman handed in a blank final and didn't understand why I wouldn't give her an incomplete instead of an F in the class.  High school has trained her to expect second, third, fourth,..., hundred,....thousand chance.

Then there are the ones who don't belong in remedial but screwed up the entrance exam.  Everything is so easy for them and I always feel bad about wasting their time and money (financial aid iis their money) on a course they don't need.  It is sad that there is no way out.

Lastly, the ones that break my heart are the good students who just can't get the work no matter how hard they work or how many hours of tutoring they sit through.  Face it, people are different, have different abilities and not everyone is meant to pursue academics.

The hardest thing is passing the borderline student.  Once they get through remedial, they move on to a class where they are expected to have basic algebraic skills.  Like a fish out of water, they can't survive and many don't.  I see this happening all the time.

Arthur Goldstein wrote a great opinion piece in today's Daily News about the demise of education under Bloomberg's reign of terror.  It will take at least an entire generation to repair the damage he has done to the students of NYC.

Why Do You Want This Job?



The retired teacher had the per session job for over 25 years.  He had tenure and retention and had never been rated anything other than satisfactory so it came as a shock when he was denied the position this September. He grieved.  The principal claimed the number of positions available had been reduced but this should not have been a problem because he had seniority over almost everyone in the system.  He went to the next step and the arbitrator had the nerve to ask why he wanted the job and why he wouldn't just give it up to a young person.  He smiled and said nothing.  He didn't have to.  He knows he has to win on the next step.

The process is dragging on.  When it finally ends, he will not only get back pay, he will get several sick days. The city will have lost thousands of dollars and children will have their education disrupted.

No one seems to care.  The whole idea is to make him miserable and leave.  He's not dong that.  He's not laying down quietly and passing away.

Reminded By The Snow

Today's snow reminded me of the Christmas House on 185th St and the pictures I forgot about.  Anyone who still wants to think about Christmas can find them here, on Facebook.

Use Them And Abuse Them



Several years ago, in an effort to get rid of high paid senior teachers, the state offered the 55-25 plan to encourage early retirement.  They needed our money to stay afloat and they wanted to lighten their payrolls.

Now the state is trying  to raise retirement age and do away with pensions.  In the interest of saving money, they want new workers to be unable to retire and collect.

They will just keep dumping on the us little people, using us to solve all their problems.

I Support Equal Rights For All



From the Facebook Page of a former student

Doing This Felt Really Good

Here

Bloomberg Overhauls Winter



The city has decided that, in order to save money and avoid the problems caused by last winter's snow storm, winter will now be cancelled.  Without winter, there will be no need for snow removal and millions of dollars will be saved.  The city will not be paralyzed and life can go on as usual.

Sounds ridiculous?  It is.  And just as ridiculous is the mayors plan to overhaul 33 struggling schools by replacing  up to half of their teachers.  The only difference is the mayor can ruin the lives of teachers.  He can't change the weather.  And, he can't improve education with this stupid plan.

NYC mayor pushes plan to overhaul 33 schoolsJanuary 18, 2012 by The Associated Press / KAREN MATTHEWS (Associated Press)

(AP) -- New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg vowed Wednesday to move forward with his plan to overhaul 33 struggling schools and replace up to half of their teachers.
"The students in these 33 schools that we're talking about deserve effective teachers, as do all of our students in all of our 1,700 schools," Bloomberg said during a visit to the Urban Assembly School for Applied Math and Science in the Bronx.
Bloomberg announced the plan to effectively close the 33 schools and reopen them during his state of the city speech last week, saying the move would allow him to sidestep a battle with the United Federation of Teachers over teacher evaluations.
If state education officials accept Bloomberg's overhaul plan, they will free up nearly $60 million in federal aid that the 33 schools are supposed to receive.
Bloomberg said Wednesday that the money is important, but overhauling the schools is even more important.
"These are 33 schools that have not been performing," he said. "We have an obligation to the kids in those schools."
Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott said hearings on closing and reopening the schools will likely take place in March or April.
"These children need to have high quality-schools, high quality teachers, plain and simple," Walcott said.
They spoke one day after New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued his own challenge to unions over teacher evaluations.
Cuomo said Tuesday he would give school districts and unions 30 days to settle a lawsuit that is blocking a statewide teacher evaluation plan or he would draw one up himself. "Education really isn't an employment program for adults. It's an education program for the students," Cuomo said.
Bloomberg praised Cuomo's action and said the governor "understands the problem."
Asked if Cuomo might impose his evaluation plan on city schools, Bloomberg said, "I don't think the governor wants to do that yet. He wants each city to negotiate with its union."
Earlier, Bloomberg visited an English class and a physics class at the Urban Assembly school.
He told the English class that since he graduated from high school in 1960, he didn't remember much about the two books being discussed, "Of Mice and Men" and "To Kill a Mockingbird."
He told students in the physics class, "What I like about science is, there's a right answer and a wrong answer.

Something To Think About

Lifted from a friend's Facebook page:--Thanks Michelle
IF ONLY THOSE WHO SEEM TO BE SO MAD AT OBAMA WOULD READ THIS AND REFLECT A MOMENT, THEY MIGHT SAY: 

Hmmmmmmmmmm... YOU MIGHT BE RIGHT!!.........

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT!!!!
...
Now, since Obama's regime, all of a sudden, folks have gotten mad, and want to take America Back...BACK TO WHAT/WHERE is my question?

After The 8 Years Of The Bush/Cheney Disaster, Now You Get Mad?

You didn't get mad when the Supreme Court stopped a legal recount and appointed a President.

You didn't get mad when Cheney allowed Energy company officials to dictate Energy policy and push us to invade Iraq.

You didn't get mad when we illegally invaded a country that posed no threat to us.

You didn't get mad when we spent over 800 billion (and counting) on said illegal war.

You didn't get mad when Bush borrowed more money from foreign sources than the previous 42 Presidents combined.

You didn't get mad when over 10 billion dollars in cash just disappeared in Iraq.

You didn't get mad when Bush embraced trade and outsourcing policies that shipped 6 million American jobs out of the country.

You didn't get mad when they didn't catch Bin Laden.

You didn't get mad when Bush rang up 10 trillion dollars in combined budget and current account deficits.

You didn't get mad when you saw the horrible conditions at Walter Reed.

You didn't get mad when we let a major US city, New Orleans, drown.

You didn't get mad when we gave people who had more money than they could spend, the 1%, over a trillion dollars in tax breaks.

You didn't get mad with the worst 8 years of job creations in several decades.

You didn't get mad when over 200,000 US Citizens lost their lives because they had no health insurance.

You didn't get mad when lack of oversight and regulations from the Bush Administration caused US Citizens to lose 12 trillion dollars in investments, retirement, and home values.

You finally got mad when a black man was elected President and decided that people in America deserved the right to see a doctor if they are sick. Yes, illegal wars, lies, corruption, torture, job losses by the millions, stealing your tax dollars to make the rich richer, and the worst economic disaster since 1929 are all okay with you, but helping fellow Americans who are sick... Oh, Hell No!

And one of my own--Bush's NCLB--the beginning of the end of education as we know it.
Obama might not be a bargain, but look at the alternatives.

Unbelievable



That someone like this runs a department.  More time in the job doesn't mean she is getting better at it.  You won't believe what she is up to now.

Use Money For Schools



Catholic schools are closing allover the place.  They say it is declining enrollment but we all know the bottom line is money.

I visited the Vatican several years ago.  The money being spent there to keep the floors clean would be more than enough to send every Roman Catholic child to a Catholic school if it was desired.

(The opulence I saw there sickened me when I thought of all the children here being denied the education they and their parents wanted.  My husband was not happy about my giving voice to this topic.)

Don't Blame The Unions



I just finished reading this bullshit piece by Alexander Nazaryan and once again, I say thank goodness this guy and the editors of the Daily News who published it are no where around or I would be seeing the inside of a jail cell.

I don't think anyone can deny that there are some bad teachers out there, just like there are bad doctors, nurses, plumbers, sales clerks, etc.  But, the fact that these people have kept their jobs has nothing to do with union protection and has everything to do with the administrators highered to keep their schools moving ahead successfully.  If a principal is only seeing what the teacher is doing during formal observations, that principal is not doing his job.  The principal of Packemin, much to the annoyance of many teachers (no one likes Big Brother constantly looking in on them even when they are doing nothing wrong) , roams the halls on a daily basis, peering into classrooms constantly and he knows who is doing their job and who isn't.  He knows which teachers are prepared.  He knows about kids being locked in closets and he knows which teachers have no knowledge of the subject being taught.  And, in spite of what Nazaryan says, good administrators can get rid of incompetent staff.  It takes work, but it can be done.  I've seen it done at Packemin HS under the auspices of four different principals and in my former school, the math AP also weeded out the ones who weren't very good.

Unions are now being blamed for all the ills of society, probably because many of these ills can't be fixed.  Unions, and especially teachers right now are being scapegoated.

Nazaryan insults the female union leaders, saying they could play for the Giants (this has absolutely nothing to do with what he is writing about) and insults his former principal because she happens to be Caribbean.  He thinks working in an all Black or Hispanic school gives teachers the ability to sit and do nothing but I disagreee.  I taught in one of those schools with some of the best and most competent people around, all who have gone on to bigger and better things (still working in education) when the school was broken up.  Back in the '80s, it was not the teachers who caused the schools to be disfunctional, it was some of the children, the ones who snuck guns into the building and started fires during drills.  Many of the students were top rate.  I went to a 30th reunion from this school and met former students who are now doctors, lawyers and Phds.  The teachers were given choices of where they wanted to go because everyone knew the teachers were fantastic.

Union protections is a necessity.  Principals today often have no knowledge of what goes on in the school.  A 28 year old leadership academy graduate does not have the ability to know who is good and who isn't.  The recertified ISS AP who knows nothing about special education students and little about anything else should not be in a position to have life and death decisions over a career. The math AP, who believes he is still living in a Communist regime and wants little marching soldiers, teachers who show no individual initiative, and favors only young teachers of his own race should have no position of power.

This opinion editorial is another example of union bashing.  The edtiors need to go back and reread history to see the importance and necessity of unions for everyone's protection.  This article makes me happy I dropped my Daily News subscription years ago.

Maybe Doing Nothing Isn't So Bad

I can get used to this--watching the Colbert show I slept though last night while wearing my pajamas at 9:30 in the morning. 

Success Story



Jimmy was restless.  No matter what his teachers did, they could not keep him interested in the classwork.  Numerous calls to his parents did nothing but upset them as they did everything humanly possible to get Jimmy working in school.

When Jimmy turned 16 he did what he wanted, he legally left school.  His parents, teachers, and guidance counselors told him his life would be ruined without that little piece of paper.  He didn't care.  Jimmy liked the outdoors and was not afraid of hard work so when he was offered a job laying asphalt, he jumped at it.  It was hard work, unbearably hot in the warm summer months but he persevered.  He learned that he liked what he was doing and got interested in other construction projects.  Little by little he not only learned every job, he mastered them.

Jimmy is now approaching his 60th birthday.  He owns his own company and has 100 people working for him.  He just built an 8000 square foot house complete with two swimming pools, the inside one filled with salt water and a gym.  He also owns a house in Florida which he visits every 6 to 8 weeks and vacations in the Caribbean several times a year.  Jimmy is ready to retire but doesn't want to leave his workers in the lurch so he agreed to keep on for several more years, giving them a chance to find other employment.

Test scores weren't so important when Jimmy went to school but if they were, he would have been a major mark against the school he went to.  This shows how insignificant these statistics are.  Jimmy makes more money and has a better life style than the people that would have marked him a failure and he is probably doing a lot better than most of his classmates who went on to receive advanced education. 

Jimmy, well read and self educated happens to be one of the brightest people I have ever met.

Some Aruba Pictures

Wifi Aruba sucked big time so I couldn't post too many pictures while there.  Here are a few, posted in their usual spot on Facebook.

One Thing I Miss

Lifted from a former student's Facebook page:

okay midterms BRING IT!! good bye to everything for now. Its just gonna be me and my buddies the textbooks!!!

Kids like her make me miss being in the classroom.  (Maybe not enough to give up a trip to Aruba for.)

Home

But I will be back.

After Sunset

They say that home is where the heart is.  Mine is in Aruba.  I can't believe the week is over.  It went so fast.  Next year I need two weeks.

At the airport with no plane in sight.  Hopefully it will be here and we can leave on time. We'll be back to the cold soon.

Dumber Than Dirt

Mayor Ass Wipe wants to pay teacher who graduate in the top quartile of their class up to $5000 a year for 5 years to repay student loans.  Did the Mayor actually graduate from college?  If he did, he should know that the best and the brightest are not the most capable teachers.  They cannot empathize with kids who have trouble learning.  I bet he would feel differently if he had an MIT professor with a Phd trying to teach him remedial math or even an introductory calculus class.  These guys find the material so easy they cannot understand how average mortals cannot comprehend.

This is just another example of the piece of crap the city elected mayor saying and trying to do things he knows nothing about.

FU Bloomberg

I'm fortunately not home so I missed the ass wipe we call mayor's address.   This freak hasn't learned a thing about what teachers do although he is spent part of his own fortune to keep the throne.  Since I can't address him personally, I'll address him here.  He won't read this, but writing it will make me feel a whole lot better.

MAYOR ASS WIPE, YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT EDUCATION.  MERIT PAY DOES NOT MAKE TEACHERS PERFORM ANY BETTER.  WE ALL DO OUR BEST, MANY DO ABOVE AND BEYOND DAILY.  WE DON'T NEED YOUR LITTLE CARROT DANGLING IN OUR FACES.  IN FACT, MERIT PAY WILL HURT THE PROFESSION.  IMAGINE A TEACHER WHO GOES ABOVE AND BEYOND AND IS NEVER GIVEN A NIBBLE BECAUSE HER PRINCIPAL DOESN'T LIKE HER.  MAYBE YOU CAN'T, BUT I CAN.   TYPE SUIT INTO THE SEARCH BAR ON THE SIDE AND YOU WILL SEE WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT.  MERIT PAY WILL ENCOURAGE A TEACHER TO GO TO LUNCH RATHER THAN HELPING A STUDENT NOT ON HER ROSTER AS THIS STUDENT'S IMPROVEMENT WILL ONLY HURT THE TEACHER'S OWN STATISTICS IN COMPARISON.


THANKFULLY WE WILL NEVER MEET SO I WON'T RISK JAIL TIME BY STICKING MY MIDDLE FINGER IN YOUR FACE AND YELLING FU FOR THE WORLD TO HERE.  YOU WON'T READ THIS BUT OTHERS WILL AND GETTING OUT OF MY SYSTEM IS WHAT I NEED AT THE MOMENT.  I DON'T GIVE A DAMN THAT YOU DON'T CARE.

Don't Begrudge My Pension--I Earned It

I was talking to a guy on the beach and I told him I am a retired teacher.  He told me I must be doing really well, living high and mighty on a big fat tax payer subsidized pension.  I told him I am living comfortably on money I worked hard for and saved.

This man owns his own business and two huge houses with swimming pools. He is staying in a penthouse suite with 4 other people.  He is paying for everything.

I don't begrudge him the money he earned.  He got it doing business with people like me, people who might have a little more if he only charged a lot less for what he did for them.  I didn't earn anywhere close to what he earns and my pension is not even close to his income now.  He, and others like him, shouldn't begrudge my pension now.  I contributed to it and earned it and I am entitled to what it buys me now.

(Pictured is what I am looking at as I post.)

Hotel At Night

Another Sunset

I could live here forever.

The Purpose

The purpose of  most of my negative posts are two fold.  One of course is revenge for the way I was treated and the way other senior teachers have been mistreated too.  The other is to hopefully keep this from ruining the careers and lives of any future teachers and the lives of  students.  And I really want to protect the ones of the "wrong" race or with disabilities.

(The only thing wrong with their race is that it is not that of the person in charge.)

Memo_012 Part III

Please get familiar with your class rosters so that you know roughly how many freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors.  If you teach MM!PPC (Pre-cal), you should not have any seniors in your class.  If you teach MG21, your best students are probably freshmen or sophomores.  And if you teach MR21, your best students should be sophomores and your weakest students are probably seniors.  In other words, the more freshmen you have in MG21 and more sophomores you have in MR21, the higher the passing percentage should be.  Please make sure you also know how many students have an IEP in your classes and who are entitled to extra time and separate locations for taking exams.  You should also follow the recommendations in the IEP.

Imagine, the best students, the ones you  should expect the most from can be determined by their year in school.  If you have seniors in your trig class, don't expect much from them.  It is not probable that a child who has not advanced to be bright.  But, if your stats are bad, don't use any of the above as an excuse.  Just call the parent and maybe they can change the child's birth date to make them younger and smarter.

Facebook Justified To Me

I'm not much of a Facebook user, except for posting pictures but I finally see its use.  It was great to sign on all week, and particularly this morning to see all my friends remembering my birthday and sending along good wishes.

Celebrating in the Aruba sunshine.....

View

As I ate breakfast and surfed the Internet this morning.

Aruba Sunset

Nervous Chihuahua



Memo_012 Part II

In case I forgot to mention it during the last department meeting you attended, our mission is "To prepare students to success in College, Career or Life."

And to test and retest and then test again so they may squeak by with a 65 in a subject they know nothing about.

Hello From Aruba

Continental screwed up our airline reservations so we had to leave out of Newark.  I came up with the idea of staying in a motel near the airport which worked out great.  $124 bought us a night with breakfast and a week of parking.

The flight was smooth, the weather is great.  Right now I am sitting on one of our two balconies overlooking the ocean and the pool using the Internet and sipping my beer.

Enjoy your 60 degree weather.  I know I will enjoy the weather here.

Memo_012 Part I

My former colleagues know how much I loved the department memos and they arrive in multitude.  Thanks guys for sending them so I can share them here.  The latest, memo 012 is so good it will be displayed in three different postings.  This time, the word please was only used five times.  Don't think it was ignored just because you don't see it in this paragraph.

In order for us to improve as a department, everyone must contribute.  That means the teachers with the higher passing percentage continue to make sure the passing percentage is above the department passing percentage and the teachers with lower passing improve their passing percentage. [What it really means is that Mr. AP will continue stacking classes, putting the good kids with his friends and giving the more difficult ones to the senior teachers and the teachers he would like to leave.]   It is vital that we communicate with, not sending a letter or leaving a message, parents of those students who come everyday and try, yet, they still have not passed. [This sentence isn't in English but what I think he means is teachers should call and call again until a parent is reached.  After all, every child, even the ones with 70 IQ's can pass if the teachers make enough phone calls.  Mr. AP would be chancellor right now if some teacher had called his mom and dad.] It is also important to communicate with the parents of chronic absentees.  [Kids would never be absent if the teacher called.}  The Quality Reviewers are only interested in knowing that we try our best to reach everyone, not just those who want to or capable of learning.  [I don't think that is the only thing they are interested in. I wonder who gave him the inside information.]  The American educational system is about trying to help everyone to learn, not just those who want to or capable of learning. [Let's not forget getting everyone to pass the test, even if they know nothing.]

The next segment of this memo will be posted from sunny Aruba.  Mr. AP probably did me the biggest favor of my life since his actions helped me make the decision I should have made a long time ago.  But, I haven't forgotten him and I will do my best to make sure no readers forget him and what he is doing to education today.

How To Improve Minimum Wage

From my friend at etc, etc, etc

Rising To The Occasion

A good friend spent six months caring for her dying husband.  She lifted him and supported him although he outweighed her by 40 pounds.  She cleaned his shit and his vomit and never complained.  I told her how much I admired her and expressed what I thought was my inability to ever do what she did.  She answered that she just did what she had to do.  I still thought it was great and something I could never handle.

This week I found out she was exactly right and our bodies do what needs to be done.  I learned to lift and after initial gagging, I learned to wipe butt and clean the uncleanable.  It still is something I would rather not do, but I rose to the occasion.  I've always respected the aides and health care workers that do this for a living, but after doing it myself my admiration has grown immensely.  These people are over worked and way under paid.  I remember hearing recently about a bill to raise their wages and the argument that people will not be able to afford them.  I don't know how we cannot pay these people, or anyone else for that matter, a living wage.  These are the people that care for our loved ones in the most intimate manner possible.  I will be employing one of these individuals soon.  Not paying properly is criminal.

Beggers Shouldn't Be Choosers

The people I am stealing Internet from need a stronger router.  I keep losing the connection.

Thank goodness for people who don't protect their connections.

Is There A Prize For Who Says Please The Most?

Memo 011 just came out, barking orders for the uniform final and for end of the year activities.  Every paragraph starts with the word please but the tone is Hitlerike all the way.

Term after term we have all pointed out the folly of uniform midterm and final exams when the same exam, or two slightly different versions of it are being given all day long.  By 4th period, the kids have the exam in advance and I've seen countless students put down answers without even reading the questions.  Sure there are cell phone restrictions and calculators are supposedly cleared but since the beginning of time kids have found a way to beat the system and the system at Packemin is very easy to beat.  And, to top it off, the overworked teachers often use exams from previous years, and questions from an exam generating program, questions they have done many times in class.

Mr. AP likes things his way. Even though his way is not an academically sound way, he never changes.  And, why shoud he, he gets away with this time after time after time.

Here is memo 011.  Why should the math department of Packemin be the only ones to feel the love.

January 3, 2012 Welcome back and happy New Year!

 If you are a grade leader, please make sure you communicate with every teacher teaching the course before you make up the final exam.  It is impossible to change the final.  Please submit all copies to me on or before January 11, 2012. 

Please make sure you use proper headings.  Part II should be 40 points and Part I should be 60 points.  Please make sure there are at least two versions of each final. Please make sure there are instructions going on at all times.  No parties should be held during a math class. I suggest you give a multiple-choice exam on the last day of this term.  You can substitute one low grade with that exam grade if it is higher.  Unless you are teaching a class that terminates in the Regents exam, trying to teach the last day is going to be very difficult. 

If you are teaching ME41, ME21, ME43, MG21/R/H or MR21/r/h, you must give a grade at the end of the term.  If you are teaching an elective, you have the option of NC or CR.  Please discuss with your individual students how you intend to grade them. Too many of the students in electives have come to me with great concerns.  Please address their concerns with them instead of sending them to see me or take no actions. 

Please be advised that Regents tutoring hours have been extended for Algebra and Geometry.  Please let your students know. 

Please make sure you communicate with the parents of the students who are failing your class.  We still have one more exam and the mid-term exam to hopefully bail them out.  Let the parent know how their child can correct the situation and that we will never give up on their child (some of them might have). 

Thank you very much and have a great week.

This Parent Knows



I got the following e-mail friend, a parent who also happens to be a retired teacher..  Thought I'd share what parents in the know say about education.

I have to tell you Tom got an 80 on his most recent Algebra II/Trig test.  Apparently the teacher had to give the kids a 10-point curve because the results were obviously way below expectations.  So he would have gotten a 70.  All these teachers are giving the kids so many chances….gee is that real life????  He is retaking a Greek test that he got a 65 on.  The teacher e mailed us during the vacation and said that the results weren’t very good so he’s retesting the kids.  I’m not thrilled with it even though this pumps up his average.  I recall failing when I failed and that was the end of it, I had to go for extra help and study.

It's no wonder kids know nothing.  Bloomberg has done a real bang up job on education.  I bet these teachers are only doing what they have to doto keep their jobs.  How sad.

Strength In Numbers



The math department had a room full of old computers that hadn't worked for years.  The computers were covered with graffiti and made the room look awful.  Principal Fire told Mrs. Oola to get the room cleaned up.  Mrs. Oola, in turn told us we had to clean the computers.  I objected.  It is not a teacher's job to clean and the chemicals we would have had to use were toxic.  Mr. Oola (Mrs. Oola's husbaand) sat in the back of the room and gave us all his evil eye.  We stood together and refused.



Mrs. Oola solved the problem the only way she could.  She and Mr. Oola came to school on a Saturday, donned long rubber gloves and spent the day cleaning.  And this my friends, is what happens when people stick together.

Big Review



Chihuahua is getting nervous.   The big pound review is coming up and she knows they might not survive it.  There are some dogs present that just cannot be trained.  She's been yapping orders, giving everyone a headache and accomplishing nothing.  She probably shouldn't worry.  She always finds someone else to take the heat for her. 

We Don't Do Them Favors When We Exempt Them From Remediation



Alice is one of those kids who managed to place out of remedial math.  While Alice can handle signed numbers and some equations, she can't do much more.  I suggested she go to the department and request a move to the lower level class where she would get a chance to improve her skills. She refused and kept coming to class, doing her best to succeed.  Unfortunately, her best only got her a 5 on the final.

If Alice had been in my class in high school and I was going for merit pay, she would have brought me a step closer to it.  She passed her regents and this improved my stats.  Unfortunately, this did nothing to help her.
I have been trying to convince Alice to take that remedial class before she retakes the class he just failed.  She can always find a teacher to let her audit the class to save the cost.  I don't know if she will.  She's afraid the no credit class will hold up her progress.  I  think I convinced her that failing term after term would be a lot more detrimental to her pursuit of a college degree because I just got an e-mail from her asking to borrow the text I promised to lend for the class she so desperately needs.

Stop Cuomo

I just heard about Cuomo's new education plans and was going to write, but Perdido Street did it so much better than I ever could.

Go read what he says and make the call.  Let Cuomo know we won't take this lying down.

Good Teaching Is Not Bought With Merit Pay



I hope those special education students in Washington D.C. know how lucky they are to have  Tiffany Johnson, as their teacher.   Ms. Johnson puts so much effort into figuring out what her students need and that has caused them to improve immensely.  These kids are fortunate to be living in Washington D.C. where 476 our of 3,600 teachers gave up job security for money and now have teachers who will stay with the profession and make sure they succeed.  I pity the ones that have the other 3,124.  Can these teachers possibly be doing as good a job if holding on to their paycheck is a priority?

I'm being sarcastic here.  Teachers like me,  NYCEducator, Chi Town Girl, Ricochet, South Bronx, Norm, Chaz and countless others have stayed in the profession for the love of the job.  Sure, money is important but I know the countless hours we have all devoted to helping our students have nothing to do with merit pay because we don't get or want any.  (We want decent pay for everyone.)  There is no way to justify who deserves it and who doesn't.  There are countless teachers in the profession for upwards of 30 years, teachers who didn't leave because the pay wasn't good enough but, in some cases, stayed in spite of the pay not being good enough. 

I'm not disputing Ms. Johnson's effectiveness.  She probably is an excellent teacher.  But, if her excellence is only brought about by the almighty dollar I pity the children when these dollars run out or when the system realizes that bonuses don't buy good teachers.

Charity Begins At Home



My husband, a product of corporate America, often fails to see the horrors of Bloomberg in spite of being married to me, an individual who speaks out often and loudly about this monster.  Last night, as we watched Bloomberg lowering the ball in Times Square, my husband pointed out all his philanthropic activities.  My friends and I cut him short and reminded him that charity begins at home and he should start taking care of the working people of NYC.  In his seemingly infinite tenure as mayor, he has done nothing to help us and plenty to hurt.  My husband shut up.