TANGLE CHALLENGE ....is it #1 or #11?

This is my first attempt at a Laura Harms tangle challenge. This is #11 on her blog, but my first entry.

MONOTANGLE:

I'm not very creative yet, and I feel that I do better with borders then the free form way that I am so jealous of, that others do so easily, but I love to ZENTANGLE anyway!

TEN A DAY!

I don't know Adam, but he created this badge and came up with this idea that I heard about...

...from the The Headless Mom. Instead of just stalking or reading and moving on to the next post, decide today, that for a week, you will read and COMMENT on 10 blog posts a day.

I'm going to try it...how about you?

TIME CARD FEB 20-26

I am keeping track of how many hours I work during this school year. My contract only pays me to work 183 days a year, from 7:30-2:30 (that is 1189.5 hours in total). We are not told we have to work extra hours, but there is no way I could plan, correct papers, make copies, make phone calls, etc., just working to contract. Usually I arrive at school by 6:15 a.m. and leave around 3:15 p.m. Then when Samuel is in bed for the night, I do at least another couple hours of work. I also take stuff home on the weekends.

This week I worked 31 hours. Monday was a holiday and I took Friday off for doctor appointments.

Total to date: 1298.5 hours hours. I have now worked 109 hours for free!

HOOKED ON ZENTANGLES!!!

Have you ever heard of ZENTANGLES? I hadn't until this week. I was picking up my students from art class and saw this...

...template sitting on a table. I wrote down the web address and when I got home I checked it out and I have been hooked ever since.

And in my investigating on the web, I have found blogs and tons of links to patterns for more ideas. Here are my first attempts....

It is very relaxing!

A DOG'S PURPOSE

Being a veterinarian, I had been called to examine a ten-year-old Irish Wolfhound named Belker. The dog's owners, Ron, his wife Lisa, and their little boy Shane, were all very attached to Belker, and they were hoping for a miracle.

I examined Belker and found he was dying of cancer. I told the family we couldn't do anything for Belker, and offered to perform the euthanasia procedure for the old dog in their home.

As we made arrangements, Ron and Lisa told me they thought it would be good for six-year-old Shane to observe the procedure. They felt as though Shane might learn something from the experience.

The next day, I felt the familiar catch in my throat as Belker 's family surrounded him. Shane seemed so calm, petting the old dog for the last time, that I wondered if he understood what was going on. Within a few minutes, Belker slipped peacefully away.

The little boy seemed to accept Belker's transition without any difficulty or confusion. We sat together for a while after Belker's death, wondering aloud about the sad fact that animal lives are shorter than human lives.


Shane, who had been listening quietly, piped up, ''I know why.''

Startled, we all turned to him. What came out of his mouth next stunned me. I'd never heard a more comforting explanation. It has changed the way I try to live.

He said, ''People are born so that they can learn how to live a good life, like loving everybody all the time and being nice, right?''

The six-year-old continued, "Well, all dogs already know how to do that, so they don't have to stay as long."


Live simply.
Love generously.
Care deeply.
Speak kindly.

Remember, if a dog was the teacher you would learn things like:
When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.
Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joyride.
Allow the experience of fresh air and wind in your face to be pure Ecstasy.
Take naps.
Stretch before rising.
Run, romp, and play daily.
Thrive on attention and let people touch you.
Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.
On warm days, stop to lie on your back on the grass.
On hot days, drink lots of water and lie under a shady tree.
When you're happy, dance around and wag your entire body.
Delight in the simple joy of a long walk.
Be loyal.
Never pretend to be something you're not.
If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.
When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by and nuzzle them gently.

ENJOY EVERY MOMENT OF EVERY DAY!

GYRO BOWL

For all of you who are tired of snack bowls that spill...here is the answer....THE GYRO BOWL. I saw this advertised on t.v. and I got two (with lids), for $14.99. The only thing I didn't like was the wait...it took almost a month to finally get here. I especially like it for the car, the stroller and walks. 

CHANGING EDUCATION

Yesterday, I asked you for your ideas on how to improve the educational system in the U.S. I am a little nervous to post my ideas because of this recent case in Pennsylvania, but here are my ideas, anyway....In my opinion (...as far as I know, even though I am a teacher, I still have freedom of speech....).....nothing will change in education until......

* PARENTS GET INVOLVED!
* STOP CHANGING PROGRAMS EVERY YEAR!
* GET RID OF USELESS MEETINGS AND STOP WASTING TIME!
* DEAL WITH THE UNDERLYING PROBLEMS THAT ARE SOCIETAL BASED!
* GET RID OF BAD TEACHERS!
* USE ELECTIVE PROGRAMS TO ENHANCE LEARNING!!
* NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND IS SCRAPPED!
* END SOCIAL PROMOTION!
* REVAMP SPECIAL EDUCATION!
* LENGTH THE SCHOOL YEAR!


For a more detailed description of each of the ideas above, read more below!

1. PARENTS GET INVOLVED! I am putting this as number one because, although most teachers do and will continue to do all they can for kids, even when their parents aren't involved, we will never be a substitute. Parenting classes, for those with kids who are struggling, attending conferences and volunteering (in some way) at your child's school should be MANDATORY. Yes, there have been a number of cases where kids succeed despite their parents and even whole schools that do amazing things with high risk kids, but those teachers spend tons of hours above and beyond what they are paid, to encourage, mentor and basically be substitute parents.

2. WE STOP CHANGING READING/MATH/LANGUAGE ARTS (etc.) PROGRAMS EVERY YEAR! There is no way to really do well with, learn the in's and out's of and track students progress when we are constantly having to learn a different program, plus it's a waste of money. You would be APPALLED to see the amount of text books that are DISCARDED each year because a new program has been started and so the old books are just collecting dust or tossed. Over the past 21 years I can remember using 4 math, 5 reading and 3 language arts programs, yet social studies books are so old the maps still show THE U.S.S.R! I would think you would want to start a program in kindergarten or first grade and (unless it is proven to be totally useless and lacking in information related to the standards) follow it through with a group all the way to 5th grade. It also helps to have all the materials available and training completed if you are going to require teachers to successfully implement said program.

3. WE GET RID OF USELESS MEETINGS and OUR TIME IS NOT BEING WASTED! I get more out of eating lunch with my other grade level teachers then from the three, hour long, mandatory meetings that I am REQUIRED to attend each month.

How about giving us time to REALLY "collaborate." Requiring us to discuss the latest data, when it's last year's student data (Yes, in 5th grade we are given the results from last year's 5th graders instead of the students we have now.), or to share a piece of student work (Most of the time I pull this out of my butt because Tommy won't turn in any work, in the first place.) or to discuss a chapter in a book that not all of us have, when what we need from our collaboration time is a forum to discuss how to get Tommy to be successful or to plan our next unit together or even time to hash out the newest "program" that we are being required to implement.

There is SO MUCH PAPERWORK that is a total waste of time. I spend the vast majority of my prep time compiling lists, lessons, standards (Why do I have to write them over again when they are written in the text books?), plans for differentiation, best practices and graphs, that we are all required to turn in to a folder in the office when, we all know, "the powers that be" will never even look at them. Shouldn't my prep time be put to better use by say....oh, I don't know....prepping for the lessons I need to actually teach.

I also think, most teachers, differentiated way before the buzz word became popular. Isn't part of teaching finding new ways to get the kids to learn the information. The kids aren't getting "IT" one way, so you try something different, or you SUPPLEMENT the program (eeekkk....some programs frown on this.....NOTE: No publisher wants to consider that their "baby" they created for the entire U.S. population could possible be missing anything because, after all, they are the "professional" with the masters degree in curriculum development.) you are using with some drill and practice, or you use a different learning style. Too many administrators have gone to micromanaging their schools. Everything is so spelled out that there isn't time, nor room for creative teaching ideas. How can teachers help those who just don't get "IT" when they are required to be on chapter 7, lesson 8 on February 7. Most of those OUT of the classroom (administrators and politicians) have totally lost touch with what goes on IN the classroom.

4. WE DEAL WITH THE UNDERLYING PROBLEMS THAT ARE SOCIETAL BASED: As URBAN TEACHER puts it, "The schools I've worked in all attempt to educate students who: sell drugs in the bathroom, have mothers who promote the use of their children for prostitution, lack places to sleep, never had a parent, are already addicted to alcohol and come to school drunk on a daily basis, have witnessed murder, lack the ability to fluently speak or write in any language, meet strangers off Craigslist in order to feel loved, and are regularly stabbed on the street. In any given three-minute class change, I probably witness upwards of a thirty violations of the...discipline code. At the same time, the system, as it exists, provides these students with a lunch hungry students regularly refuse, a building that's falling a part, the least experienced teachers it has to offer, very few support systems principals can't offer themselves, class sizes the richest among us would scoff at for their children, a dearth of technology, and incompetent administrators who wouldn't know their ass from their elbow when it comes to pedagogical practice."

5. WE NEED TO GET RID OF THE BAD TEACHERS....instead of basing a "good" teacher on how well their kids choose to perform on a standardized test (what if the kid is sick, death in the family...any number of other reasons for not performing well)...how about starting with something easy like making it easier to get rid of those teachers who: spend all day outside playing, watching movies every day, playing/shopping on the computer while their kids read/write and create a hostile working environment. I bet 20% of BAD teachers could be eliminated using parameters such as these. Second, 30% could be eliminated by having the evaluation process changed. I think, having the principal "pop" in randomly, 5-6 times throughout the year (or even randomly taping my lessons) would give a much better, overall, picture of my abilities, then getting stressed out about one lesson, on one particular day. Another 20%, who are ready to retire, could have their contracts bought out or allow them to use the rest of their sick leave and end the year early. I have 4 1/2 months of sick leave accrued and when I retire I will lose whatever I don't use. 10% are probably abusive in some way and just haven't been caught yet. Then the last 20% are not being mentored well enough and have no idea how to improve. I lay the blame for this on the administration and the superintendent.

6. WE NEED TO USE ELECTIVE PROGRAMS TO ENHANCE LEARNING! ART, MUSIC, DRAMA, GLEE, COMPUTERS, WOOD SHOP, HOME ECONOMICS, SPORTS etc....will help those kids who are just not interested or good in the text book area. How about an elective where kids get to dissect owl pellets, visit a veterinarian clinic, build a model rocket, use a pottery wheel, act in a play and play the drums all in the same week. Kids need to be exposed to the world around them. They need to have other avenues opened to them to see that even though they are not "book smart" they are talented in other areas. I think it's just as important to know what you don't like and aren't good at, as it is to know what you do like and are good at. Wouldn't this get kids excited about math, art and science?

7. NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND IS SCRAPPED! This idea came from schools in Texas where teachers were teaching "to the test" and what do you know (...SARCASM...)....the kids did great. How can you expect a kid that just arrived in the U.S. to be on grade level in three years. That's just ridiculous!!! I do think, however, that some kids are being left behind that shouldn't be.

8. WE STOP PASSING AND GRADUATING KIDS, JUST BECAUSE! We need to put an END to SOCIAL PROMOTION! If you don't know the required information, if you have missed more then X amount of days, if you aren't doing the assignments then, IN MY OPINION, you shouldn't have the option of moving forward (I know there are certain kids in special education, that have special circumstances....I am not talking about those children.). As an example, I have a boy in my room that has been absent 18 days, so far, does 0% of his work and is failing in almost every subject. However, it is pointless for me to try and retain him because the school doesn't see it as a valid reason and the mother has the final say in that happening.

9. WE NEED TO STRUCTURE SPECIAL EDUCATION DIFFERENTLY! I don't know all the in's and out's of this one, but I do know it needs to be changed and I can tell you what isn't working. The length of time this process takes is ridiculous. I understand that you want to give a child plenty of time to grow and to try other strategies first, but when all the testing shows a clear deficiency, why do we have to prolong things, just to fulfill some random wait time. I know so many teachers that will "fudge" dates just to speed up this process. On the other hand, there are students in special education who are not making gains and are losing valuable learning time. We have students in Gifted (Yes, this is considered special education because they get special classes for having a high IQ too.) who would be better served by having the classroom teacher expand their assignments, then by having them miss class time to just read or play games. Since I have to differentiate (see # 3) for the lower ones, why can't I just do this for the higher ones also. Some of the evaluators are so useless. They see a student once of twice and think they have more knowledge of what's going on then 6 teachers that see the same student every day. I cringe when I think of all the students, over my 21 years, that have fallen through the cracks because of being put in special education when they shouldn't be there or not getting the help they so desperately need because they miss the cut off score by 1 point.

10. LENGTH THE SCHOOL YEAR! Yes, a teacher saying make me work more! To compete with other countries like Japan, who has one of the highest literacy rates in the world, we need our kids to be learning more and since I don't have a magic button to put more hours in the day (although, I also think we could extent the school day from 6 and 1/2 hours to say 7 and 1/2 hours), we need to have the kids attend school on more days. My idea: I started with 365 days in a year and subtracted the weekends (105 days), all of July (21 more days) and holidays (Christmas, Thanksgiving, Mondays...20 more days) and we are down to 219 available days. I also took a week off in the spring and one in the fall (10 more days) and that brings us down to 209 days. Right now we go to school 180 days a year. This would give us 29 more days of school. That's almost an entire month, folks.

So these are my ideas....what do you think?

EDUDRONE

URBAN TEACHER is so eloquent in how he writes.

Love this quote "What annoys me perhaps even more, however, are those in and out of education who listen to teachers explain the immense complexity, frustration, and despair that often comes with trying to educate our most vulnerable students, and react by accusing them of complaining about their predicament. These opportunists (along with a generally ill-informed public) see little value in acknowledging the sheer degree of absurdity many teachers are forced to deal with."

There has been a lot of talk lately about balancing the budget and spending cuts. Just like with a personal budget, you have to be willing to say that NOTHING IS SACRED and you have to put EVERYTHING on the table, if you expect to balance anything and make changes that really work.

The same is true in education. NOTHING CAN BE SACRED and EVERYTHING has to be on the table if you want to make changes that really work

Nothing will change in education until......

What are your ideas?

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY #101...THE CIRCLE OF LIFE

For more WORDLESS WEDNESDAY pictures go to 5 MINUTES FOR MOM.

BUY USA and CANADIAN MADE

This may be useful to know when grocery shopping, if it's a concern to you.

If the first 3 digits of the barcode are 690, 691 or 692, the product is MADE IN CHINA.

471 is Made in Taiwan .

This is our right to know, but the government and related departments never educate the public, therefore we have to RESCUE ourselves.

Nowadays, Chinese businessmen know that consumers do not prefer products "MADE IN CHINA", so they don't show from which country it is made. However, you may now refer to the barcode.

If the first 3 digits are:

690-692 ... then it is MADE IN CHINA
00 - 09 ... USA and CANADA
30 - 37 ... FRANCE
40 - 44 ... GERMANY
471 ... Taiwan
49 ... JAPAN
50 ... UK

BUY USA and CANADIAN MADE by watching for "0" at the beginning of the number.

We need every boost we can get!

TIME CARD FEB 13-19

I am keeping track of how many hours I work during this school year. My contract only pays me to work 183 days a year, from 7:30-2:30 (that is 1189.5 hours in total). We are not told we have to work extra hours, but there is no way I could plan, correct papers, make copies, make phone calls, etc., just working to contract. Usually I arrive at school by 6:15 a.m. and leave around 3:15 p.m. Then when Samuel is in bed for the night, I do at least another couple hours of work. I also take stuff home on the weekends.

This week I worked 40.5 hours.

Total to date: 1267.5 hours hours. I have now worked 78 hours for free!

WE'VE ADOPTED 2 MORE.....fish that is!

We just expanded our family by two more!

What do you think we should name them? How about "ONE" and "TWO" or maybe "THIS" and "THAT!"

God promises a safe landing, not a calm passage!

We complain about the cross we bear but don't realize it is preparing us for the dip in the road that God can see and we can't.

Whatever your cross, whatever your pain, there will always be sunshine, after the rain....

Perhaps you may stumble, perhaps even fall; but God's always ready, to answer your call.....

He knows every heartache, sees every tear, a word from His lips, can calm every fear...

Your sorrows may linger, throughout the night, but suddenly vanish, dawn's early light...

The Savior is waiting, somewhere above, to give you His grace, and send you His love....

THE MOM SONG!

BIRTHTINE'S DAY CELEBRATION!

February is a big month for Richard and I. He was born on the 10th, Valentine's Day is the 14th and I was born on the 22nd. So, we combine all three events and celebrate BIRTHTINE'S DAY! Today is that day!!!!

I actually secured a babysitter for the evening and we are going out for some of this....

 YUM! YUM!.....and to see this......

I am very excited!!!! HAPPY BIRTHTINE'S DAY TO YOU ALL!!!!

HOW WILL OUR MARRIAGE SURVIVE?

How could I have married a man that doesn't like DIPPIN DOTS?!

We go to the mall and I am instantly drawn to the little store that has these, however, for my husband, it's like he's a vampire and the sun is coming up as he runs for his coffin! What do we do? I don't want Samuel to grow up with this affliction!