Skip to main content

And now for something completely different...

As it is October, we are now in the midst of examining goals set in September, the School Improvement Plan and a whole host of other documents that largely make everyone feel like they're doing something. For the first time, we got some actual statistics - these are usually horded by one staff member. Unfortunately, they didn't really tell us much more than each grade level class has different issues. Big shock. So, we wrote up a plan to get past scores of the students actually in our courses, instead of the ones who've moved on. It's a revolutionary idea, but it just might result in better results.

Next week we're also starting Navigation 101. We're not getting a lot of prep for it - the lesson plan for the day will be given to us the morning before. Lack of planning makes teacher nervous and it's becoming a recurrent theme. According the website, the first lesson is become aquainted (insert ice breaker game here) and then create the high school portfolio. That should be interesting. Transcript review (hey! how many F's do you have? Hah! I haven't passed anything by PE since 6th grade!), work samples (see first comment - we don't have any work!), High School and beyond (I plan to attend long enough to stay out of jail; damn becca bill), 4-year plan (get out of here as soon as possible, with the fewest number of juvie stretches), Community Service Plan (does giving my drugs to the homeless count?). Doesn't it sound like fun?

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

“They Don’t Get It”

I hear that a lot these days. It used to be mostly from various teens trying to negotiate the drama unfolding in their lives as they wandered into that no-man’s land between adult and child. These days it’s from adults trying to navigate the education scene these days. So many people talking and no one listening. The other day I was reading a post by a blogger I’ve been following for several years. Before there was such a thing as “blogging.” We all know spring is IEP review season. This blogger wrote about his daughter’s. Among the various elements, there was the discussion about the state assessment tests. She did not pass. There was discussion about what this means… and why said student needed to pass this test. Would she be taking a modified test? While reading, all I could think about was what would happen to that child as she entered middle school and high school. A history of not passing the assessment test vs. teachers who will now be evaluated on how many students pass t...

Summer Notes

Books to Read: New Kelly Gallagher   Make Just One Change: Teach Students to Ask Their Own Questions  by Dan Rothstein and Luz Santana  Notes for Art: Group Project for the First Day Expectations from group project exit question

The Cruelest Month

I know T.S. Eliot favored April as the most cruel, but we teachers know that May is… even more so these days. Most importantly, it is the final testing month. National ‘assessments, state ‘assessments’, district ‘assessments’, school ‘assessments’… on and on. It’s impossible to actually get anything done. Toss in graduation activities, planning for the upcoming year and the 2011 bonus, lay-offs and transfers, and you have to wonder if it wouldn’t be better to save money by simply shutting down school entirely except for a few test proctors. Meanwhile, there seems an air of hopelessness permeating the education world. Plans to lay-off thousands are coming to fruition. Schools are being closed, despite protests. Charters are increasing where they can whether they should not. Unions have lost a lot ground and teachers are trying to decide if it’s even worth it any more to continue talking about education . ( not that I blame anyone for that, we all have lives to live ) For myself, I...