No Subbing For Me Ever

 

Racism

Covid 19 means more time to speak to the people we don’t often talk to.  I have been speaking weekly to my 94 year old aunt, a woman I avoided for many reasons I won’t go into here, and not for the reasons in this post but underlying sentiments of hers must have been coming through loud and clear for years.

Our conversations started out light.  We talked about health, loneliness, family, children and grandchildren.  She then started complaining about two of her grandchildren’s liberal ideas, surprising to her since they grew up in a family that gave them everything. I told her I thought that was wonderful. Her son raised great kids and I told her how my kids felt the same.  She then went on to tell me how lucky kids were today and how easy it was for them to do well.  I didn’t agree and told her so.  Things might be easier for those who came from prosperous backgrounds but those without the background or education still struggled.  In her day it was easier to succeed if you had the drive.  Inflation is way ahead of income now.  From here we moved to the protests.  She kept insisting Black people have it much better now than they did when she was young.  And, while I agree things are better, I kept trying to tell her that better was not good enough.  Just because she sees some Black faces on the news doesn’t mean all have the same opportunities. Blacks are still being treated differently and harshly by law enforcement.  I couldn’t convince her of the inequities I saw at Packemin and how, while no one would admit it, there was still a big difference when it came to race treatment in advanced classes and in discipline.  I ended up saying goodby and hanging up.

Racism is alive and well.  

Once A Math Teacher, Always A Math Teacher

Pollock's Fractals

I saw an exhibit recently of some very abstract art, including the art of Jackson Pollock and commented to a friend that, no matter how hard I try, I cannot understand his work.  She told me she had read an article about Pollack's use of fractals in his work.

If only we had time to teach this in math classes, this and all the other uses of math in things our students would be interested in.  If only we had an opportunity to make math relevant instead of just teaching to the test.

Goals

This cartoon reminded of a major argument I had about goals with Mr. AP.  He never approved of my passing statistics.  If you just looked at numbers, mine were never good.  But, if you looked further, you would see that they were excellent.  I always taught the students with the worst records and I usually got most of them to pass, never all and never as many as the other people in the department but I did better with these kids than anyone had done in the past.

When he asked me to set a goal, I said I wanted 100% to pass.  He told me that was impossible and I should be realistic and suggested an 88% passing.  I said, I would set my goal at 12% failing.  He didn't like that.  We ended the meeting without setting any goals.

Poor little Hammie is as frustrated as Mr. AP.

CommonCore

Wishing Everyone A Good Year

A Little Fun

Why The AP Took The Job

A Little Math Humor

Bringing Back Memories

Reminds me of my great days teaching AP calculus at Packemin.

Dilbert Does It Again

Dedicated to all the teachers who are still sitting through hours of meaningless professional development run by people who know nothing about what they are saying.

Dilbert Explains School Administrators

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

How Teachers Are Evaluated

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.

Happy Pi Day

Everyone Needs Math

Too Bad This Isn't Real

For all you teachers headed back to school, this is something you could really use for professional development and never ending meetings those first few days.

Packemin Packs Them In

I know hardly anyone reads this blog anymore and I hardly ever write anything, let alone anything interesting yet all I have to do is mention PACKEMIN in the title, body or tag and I get a ton of hits.

People must love reading the dirt on that place and believe me, there is tons of it.  I don't write much of it because doing so would reveal my source.  Still, it is fun to know certain people are sweating just because the word came up in their reader.

Enjoy the Hagar cartoon.  Tell your students another reason they need math is so they can understand the funny pages.