Diversity

My college class will have their first exam next week.  I gave them a list of problems to help them prepare and spent the evening letting them work on problems (which they all did.)

As the class was leaving, I heard a Spanish woman calling across to a Korean male asking him to text her his answers so they could compare.  An African American student sat and worked with a boy from South East  Asia and a Jewish girl and a Pakistani girl in a hijab also exchanged numbers.

I love teaching in Queens.  I love seeing students from such diverse backgrounds bonding together and working to succeed.  Queens is one of the greatest places in the world to live.

Sunset Instead Of A Storm

September 6, 2016-Thank you Hermine for skipping NY and giving us this beautiful sunset

(From Thai Rock-on 92nd St in Rockaway Beach)

Let The Teaching Begin

I took last semester off.  I was lazy and wanted to avoid the cold, and truthfully, I was hoping I wouldn't miss teaching.  I was wrong.  I did work occasionally, covering classes for teachers who were out and I loved it.  Subbing in the college is great.  The administration only expects me to do my job in the classroom, nothing more.  I teach everything from remedial math to statistics and advanced calculus.  The students are responsive and appreciative and I can make more money in two hours than I would make subbing a whole day in a city school. But, I missed my own class.

Last Thursday was the first day of the fall semester.  As usual, the thought of having to move to get there did not make me happy but once in I felt that old adrenaline rush.  The first thing I noticed was a real black board.  Only old timers like me can understand the thrill of chalk dust flying.  I just have to remember to bring a rag to wash the board down before class.  Although the school does clean boards daily, mine is the last one of the day so it is pretty bad when I get there.  My students seem nice and motivated.  Several remembered me from classes I covered in the past, one remembered me from Packemin and another told me he took my class because his cousin said I was a great teacher.  I don't know how true that is but it was nice to hear.

My teaching day is from 8 PM to 10 PM this term.  I am sure I will be bitching every night as I get ready to go but smiling as soon as I park my car and walk towards my class. I will stop working one day, probably take the winter off again but I won't give it up for good any time in the near future.  It is great dong something I love, having fun and getting paid

Free Stuff For Teachers

A Long Island City Warehouse has lots of free stuff for teachers.

Find more information here.

Another Memorial Service

A beloved teacher and coach passed away too soon.  Family, colleagues and former students came together to celebrate his life and talk of all the good he did.

This man thought of his athletes as his sons and they thought of him as a father.  He gave advice, love, tough love and financial support when it was needed.

Today's standards and ineffective APs might not think he was an effective teacher because no tests could ever measure the good he did, the number of lives he enriched.  Danielson would never know the quality of the man.

RIP Coach.

(Pictured above is his wife, wearing the chain he always wore.)

I'm Melting

The wicked witch might have met her fate as she moves from a job in heaven to a job that is not so paradisaical.

Can it be that she will finally have to pay for all her evil deeds?  We can only hope the next chapter brings her more of what she deserves.

Nothing Better

Than being a grandparent

Tee Shirt

Found this shirt while shopping for something else.

The message speaks for itself.

Lesson From A Veteran Teacher

When I read this story in today's Newsday, I knew I had to share it.  Here is what teaching should be about.  Here is a teacher who knew teaching was so much more than a test score.  Here is a teacher that, today, would probably be harassed and rated ineffective by a no nothing incompetent administrator, threatened by a teacher who understood what it is all about.

Message To Administrators

I just saw this on a friend's Facebook page and had to share it here for many of the administrators at Packemin and other schools who read and hate this blog.

This is for all of you!!!  You can't teach and don't know the first thing about your subject area.  You have know idea who is a good teacher and who isn't one.  And, if you did notice a good teacher you would harass that person out of the building because of your fear of being shown for what you really are.

Shame on the Principals who appointed you, and shame on the superintendents who appointed you, poor excuses for a Principal because you know as little as the APs in your cabinet.

I'm gone and have the freedom of saying what others left behind cannot.

Happy and Safe Fourth

Abandoned and never used gun turret at Fort Tilden

Dilbert Explains School Administrators

Same feedback from the uneducated, incompetent administrators who are observing and rating teachers.

Eulogy to A Principal

Picture from Bronx Zoo

Yesterday my former school held a memorial service for a past Principal.  I did not make it to his wake or his funeral so I decided to pay my respects there.  As anyone who had read any part of this blog knows, I am not a fan of any administrator and he was no exception.  But, as the saying goes, we always miss what was and looking back I realize he was one of the good guys.

I transferred to this school through a back door.  I was on child care leave when a friend called and told me about a special education vacancy in math.  I had only a few special education classes and my only experience was with a few special needs students who had been main streamed before I went on leave, but I liked working with needy students and applied.  The AP who interviewed me liked what he saw and brought me to meet the Principal.  During that interview the Principal asked me what kind of students I disliked.  Without missing a beat I said, "the ones with the guns" as I came from a pretty rough school where many of the students packed weapons.  He laughed and offered me the job immediately.  Unfortunately I had a hard time getting a former Principal to sign my release.  Armed with a letter from the new school I went to Brooklyn, met with Rufus Thomas and my career at Packemin began.

At Packemin I taught emotionally handicapped and educationally handicapped students both math and computer classes.  Computers were new and I was learning along with my students and I had zero experience with the emotionally handicapped boys I was now responsible for.  During the first week the Principal came to observe me.  The lesson was awful.  The boys in the room saved me.  When they saw the Principal, they sat down and started putting on a show for him.  He understood that the show was to make me look good.  During our post op, while criticizing the lesson, he praised the way the students responded to me and let me know that was more important than the questions I asked or the lesson I wrote.  Of course with experience I got better and won his praise on lessons too.

When my son was small he suffered from terrible ear infections and asthma and too often I had to leave to take care of him.  When I apologized to this Principal he said, "How can I expect you to take care of the family here if you can't take care of your family at home?"  Another time he gave me a last minute personal day to catch an earlier flight to Texas as I had to be there for a Bat Mitzvah and the weather in New York was supposed to be horrendous.  He told me he appreciated my honesty in coming to him rather than just calling in sick.

I was fortunate to teach in a time when I did not have to worry about losing my job at the whim of an incompetent administrator.  As long as I showed up and was prepared I was safe.  But, I was always a little intimidated by this man because he was so smart.  Although his field was English, I knew he could pick apart my lessons and find any mistake I made, even in a calculus class because he would research anything he did not know before our post op conference.  After he left, I always felt I could organize a totally bogus lesson.  As long as the kids responded well and worked in groups it would get a wonderful report.  No administrator would bother to check the math and realize it was all made up.

Don't get me wrong.  Life under this Principal was not a bed of roses and I could fill up a post with things I did not like about him.  But, he is gone and it is time to remember the good and to hope by talking only about his good, his work can help today's administrators focus on the important things teachers do, the way they impact their students and to realize this has nothing to do with the questions they ask,  whether their students raise left or right hands to show understanding, or the percentage of students passing. He told me once that I think with my heart and I know that was meant as a compliment.  Hopefully his intelligence will inspire administrators to learn the subjects they are supervising and make smart decisions about who is effective and who is not. and to realize the heart has a major part in what makes a good teacher.

Last Night's Moon

Music under the stars and fireworks!--Wonderful listening to NY Philharmonic at Cunningham Park.

So Much Better Than Marking Papers and Writing Lessons

Sunday night from Anable Basin Sailing Bar and Grille in Long Island City

Incompetence

Thirty two year old APs who know nothing about teaching and everything about harassing those who do and incompetent Principals who appoint and support them and care nothing about them and everything about statistics, it is no wonder this is happening every where.

The criminals are the principals who should know better, who claim to care about kids who let these miseries keep on going.  The kids are the ones suffering.  

Looking West

The clouds and rain stopped me from seeing Manhattan Hedge but this view was pretty cool-
looking west on 43rd St from 5th Ave.

LincolnTunnel

Saturday night, around 9 PM-no traffic!

Catching Up With Friends

Inside the Tea House in the Chinese Scholar Garden at Snug Harbor.

Life in retirement is good.

Summed Up By Dilbert

 The same way school APs are chosen and these morons decide who is effective and who isn't.

Retirement

Time to look at old photographs and try to make them better.

This one is sunset in Iceland.

Rumor Has It

I heard a rumor that this guy is an assistant principal in one of the biggest schools in the city.

The weather was so good he took a walk on the High Line this afternoon.

Chihuahua

The chihuahua is squashing those who work under her like she is squashing these burgers.

My Dream Car

Well, a truck, not a car.

Chihuahua Rides to Success

The chihuahua stays successful by sticking to the back of the big dog.

UFT Ballot--MORE ALL THE WAY

Going in the mail today.

How Teachers Are Evaluated

Teacher Appreciation Week

It's teacher appreciation week and I found the following in a post on Facebook from a former student:

Pissedoffteacher, as my high school math teacher well I meant to hate you, because everyone knows I hate math, but you made us laugh which in turn made me want to learn, and I left high school with a greater appreciation for what a good teacher could get out of even the students whom struggle.

Comments like that are what helps me believe I was a good teacher, one who made a difference in my students lives.  I'm glad I left before a bunch of incompetent administrators had the power to rate me ineffective because I was old and not afraid to stand up to them.

The pictures above are by an art teacher who took his students into the street and painted over a dreary, filthy, graffiti tunnel and made a little part of the city beautiful again.  This teacher is one who is making a difference.  Thank you Joel Artista from St. Gregory's.

Bring Your Drugs but Leave Your Beer At Home

Importance of Proof Reading-ad for festival in today's Daily News

Penguins

I highly recommend all NYC residents get a city ID and head over to the Bronx Zoo to pick up Wildlife membership.  This gives entrance to Bronx Zoo, Central Park Zoo, Flushing Zoo, Prospect Zoo and the Aquarium.

I only had a half hour today but I got to visit the penguins, my favorites in the Central Park Zoo.  These two little guys were busy flirting with all their visitors.

Of course there are tons of other benefits to be had with this ID.  I had to buy a new case just to keep all my membership cards together.

The Cabinet Meeting

I posted this on Facebook with a comment about how administrators think.  A friend pointed out, they
SCHEME are incapable of thinking.

Hard To Get Excited

It is kind of hard to support an institution that treats people poorly.  No wonder so many will not respond to an invitation to join them in this endeavor.

Puma

Flushing Meadow Queens Zoo, today.

Making School Look Good

Schools keep their top ratings doing exactly this.  Shame on them.  They are helping themselves at the expense of their students.

Post Observation Conference

The teacher was observed, rated ineffective of course.  She had a conference with her supervisor and this is what occurred.

A Day Out

Learned how to do HDR from UFT photo class for retired teachers.

Took these on a class trip to Norman J Levy Preserve in Merrick.

Three photos combined to one and then three separate looks.  Infinite number of looks possible.

Two great teachers--Richie and John

Springtime?

Park Ave and 64th St

63rd and Lexington Ave

The flowers and blooming trees say spring but the raw weather says something else.

NYC-you got to love it no matter what the weather does.

Letter To The Editor

If only the media knew what we knew, about what really goes on in schools and how certain schools manage to keep their top ratings.  True, these schools are better than most but they are still far, very far from how they portray themselves.

School Suspensions-Another Case of Playing With The Stats

Today's Daily News had an article where Chancellor Farina is bragging about the decline in suspensions in NYC schools.

I wish the newspapers would really care about what is going on in the schools and go to the people that know, the teachers, students and deans.  They should stop relying on these statistics that hide half or more than half of what actually happens.  School administrators are more interested in keeping their A ratings and making sure they are attracting the most students than they are in being truthful.  When I taught I saw way too much being unreported.

When people ask me about my former school, I hesitate, not wanting to tell all that I really know because it is better than most schools around.  Still, it is not nearly as good as it is portrayed and while it is pretty safe, no one will ever hear of incidents swept under the carpet that keep the safety rating so high.