My students have been following the saga of my house hunt quite closely. Some will tell me when any houses in their neighborhood go up for up for sale and a couple have even attempted to sell me a relative's house. One kid was so excited at the prospect of my moving in next door, he crawled under the house to check out the foundation and gave me daily reports on remodeling.
On Friday, my offer on a house was accepted and I'm on my way to making western Washington my permanent home for the next several years. You can read more about the house on Hedgetoad Cottage, but I can tell you it's surrounded by my students. I'm still debated on the positiveness of this... when one student asked what I would do if "he accidentally tripped on 'Egg Night' and one his eggs happened to land on my house," I was silently thanking the heavens for vinyl sidding and calculating the cost of renting a power-washer.
The reading/writing portion of the WASL is two weeks away. It's become a annual ritual of panic and self-doubt. Have I covered everything I need to cover? Will they remember what we covered at the beginning of the year? How can I convince them that despite evidence to the contrary, they cannot express themselves fully (with supporting details) using the word 'Dude'? OHMIGOD! I forgot to explain irony! (FYI - Alanis Morissette is evil! Nothing in the song is ironic! It is nearly impossible to convince students of this because, of course, a rock star knows more about literary elements than any stupid english teacher... right? bitch.)
Anyhoo, the pressure is really on this year. This year's testers must pass in order to graduate from high schoo. Controversy is flying around like bats to a mosquito swarm. Everyone is hoping that somehow all of the non-passers will be spared... that sad thing is that most of the "non-passers" are too lazy/afraid/cool to try and pass. Out of 120 students, I have one who probably won't pass because of honest skill deficit. The other 60 can't be bothered with reading or writing and no high stakes test will change that. Somewhat humorously, an east-side teacher told me that all of his students are hoping that west-side students do so poorly it will force the state legistlature to back down. Someone forgot to tell the kid that failing students don't vote and their parents generally do not either.
OSPI recently released the "reading assessment module." This is probably what will be taught during summer school arround the state in an effort to get all the sophomores past - but it can be used to prepare for the next couple of weeks. You can also find tons of good information and practice prompts/readings on this website.
On Friday, my offer on a house was accepted and I'm on my way to making western Washington my permanent home for the next several years. You can read more about the house on Hedgetoad Cottage, but I can tell you it's surrounded by my students. I'm still debated on the positiveness of this... when one student asked what I would do if "he accidentally tripped on 'Egg Night' and one his eggs happened to land on my house," I was silently thanking the heavens for vinyl sidding and calculating the cost of renting a power-washer.
The reading/writing portion of the WASL is two weeks away. It's become a annual ritual of panic and self-doubt. Have I covered everything I need to cover? Will they remember what we covered at the beginning of the year? How can I convince them that despite evidence to the contrary, they cannot express themselves fully (with supporting details) using the word 'Dude'? OHMIGOD! I forgot to explain irony! (FYI - Alanis Morissette is evil! Nothing in the song is ironic! It is nearly impossible to convince students of this because, of course, a rock star knows more about literary elements than any stupid english teacher... right? bitch.)
Anyhoo, the pressure is really on this year. This year's testers must pass in order to graduate from high schoo. Controversy is flying around like bats to a mosquito swarm. Everyone is hoping that somehow all of the non-passers will be spared... that sad thing is that most of the "non-passers" are too lazy/afraid/cool to try and pass. Out of 120 students, I have one who probably won't pass because of honest skill deficit. The other 60 can't be bothered with reading or writing and no high stakes test will change that. Somewhat humorously, an east-side teacher told me that all of his students are hoping that west-side students do so poorly it will force the state legistlature to back down. Someone forgot to tell the kid that failing students don't vote and their parents generally do not either.
OSPI recently released the "reading assessment module." This is probably what will be taught during summer school arround the state in an effort to get all the sophomores past - but it can be used to prepare for the next couple of weeks. You can also find tons of good information and practice prompts/readings on this website.
Comments
Not an egg or sheet of toilet paper has ever touched my house in the decade I have lived there, and now I have a black belt in martial arts.
No problem.