For us, today was cold.....New teacher tip

Winter seems to have blown a bit of its frosty breath on us here in southern California, at least as much as we get frosty. But today seemed cold to me.....
And we had students showing up to school wearing their school uniform blue shorts and white polo shirts. Were they cold? I think so, because many acted glad to be in my warm classroom. Do they have jackets? I'd imagine so. So whats up with wearing shorts and t-shirts when it is cold outside? Welcome to Junior High.

NEW TEACHER TIP. If this is your last teaching week of the year, prep now for the first couple of days after you return from Christmas Holiday/Break (or whatever you call it). Believe me, it is nice to walk into your classroom and have your lesson plans right there waiting for you after two weeks away from your classroom and students. But then again, there IS the challenge of walking into your classroom after two weeks away from classroom and students and wondering what to do with those 35 sleepy, dazed, smiling, confused little faces staring at you. :-)


Thanks for reading my blog! I welcome your comments.

History - Add it to NCLB ? Or go extinct ?

I was digging through a pile of misc. papers and "stuff" when I came across a partial article I tore out of a newspaper last summer. It was an article about the lack of a history requirement in many US universities and colleges. I may be a bit dense at times, but I just assumed that every US university or college would require their graduates to at least pass one history class. I recall that when I was in school, most people were told that it was a requirement to pass a US History course and a World History course, usually Western Civilization. This was no problem for me, as I was a Social Science major ( classes in History, Geography, Anthro, Poli. Sci., Psych and Sociology). But apparently, that is not the case today. There are many universities and colleges, including some state universities, that do not require their graduates to take and pass a history class. How sad.

Now, with NCLB, am I seeing a trend? States have in their state frameworks, that history, both US and World, are taught to upper elementry and junior high students. AFAIK, most junior high/middle school students take some history classes. But with NCLB, elementry schools have been allowed to stop teaching history in favor of more english and math so the students score better on their state tests As you know, with the emphasize on Math and English test scores, science, art, music, physical and health education have been grossly neglected in most elementry schools also. So, in its current form, NCLB creates another jab at the teaching of history by our schools. Some universities don't require it and now it is being grossly neglected at the elementry level.

Is this nation on the path of greatly increasing the number of citizens who do not know what has happened in our past? Who do not care about what happened in our past? Who IMO, do not make good citizens because they do not know the basics of how our government operates, how they should be involved in government and who do not really know much about anything? Conspiracy of *someone* (far left? ultra right?) to produce generations of people who cannot/will not think for themselves and just blindly follow or accept whatever the career politicians tell them to do? Is this the path this nation is on? What will it be like for my future grandchildren ?

I see two possible paths; the one we are currently experiencing in which history is de-emphasized to the point where it may someday be extinct from most schools, or that testing in history (and science, humanities and arts) is added to the requirements of NCLB, which in a future form, works to try to ensure no child is left behind from being a well educated, functioning, employable, politically enlightened, thinking member of our society.

NCLB is coming up for reauthorization by Congress. Those of you who read this blog are educated, intelligent and know how to voice your opinions to your elected officials in Congress. Please do so.

Thanks for reading my blog. I welcome your comments.

Still Here

Well, this blog is still here. I really appreciate the comments encouraging me to just take a break and not to destroy / kill this blog. Thank You for your support and encouragement. For now, this blog will live......

But, it has been heavily edited. Things that "could and would be held against me in the eyes of certain district personnel" have been deleted. Over 100 posts are gone. I do have something to say, and while I may not get to say everything I WANT to say, I will keep this blog (for now), to have a soap box to continue to still say a few things.


Monday, something happened to me that has NEVER happened to me in all 23+ years of teaching; a student hurled on me. In all my years, only two students have ever hurled in my classroom. The first time was just last year. Then, again, on Monday.
I was handing back student work and the student "got me" as I walked past. Got my left pant leg. And now my cruddy classroom carpet has another large splochy stain on it. I really hope this is not the start of some gross trend. And, fortunatly, no one else hurled in response to hurler #1.

Starting today on California State Social Studies Standard 7 - 2 - 6, Contributions of Muslim Culture and Civilization. In a nutshell, there will be massive Cornell Notes created and the assessment activity will be a 10 + 10 activity (ten pictures of Muslim Contributions with explainations). Then, our department Islam Post-Test and on to Africa, or maybe China, Japan or Medieval Europe.

Six teaching days until Christmas break.

Thanks for reading my blog ! I welcome your comments!

Not much to say.....

IF you read or check out this blog on a regular basis, you will have noticed that I haven't posted much in recent weeks....... I just don't feel I have much to say......or that I can be safe in saying certain things. There are things I could rant or complain about, but who wants to hear (read) ranting or complaining ?

I believe I have made a few "friends" out there in the blog world. But this blog will soon be gone.

IF you saw anything on this blog that you liked or think you want, please copy it and save it because it will disappear in a week or two. I will still be around the blogosphere, but this blog will die.
Thanks for reading my blog in its dying days.

Paper.....how do you use "less" paper ?

I am feeling like I use too much paper in my classroom. It seems like I use up reem after reem of paper to run off quizzes, pre and post tests, map activities and assignments, pre-reading assignments, vocabulary cross word activities etc., for my students. How do you other teachers, especially those of you who teach secondary, single subject classes, reduce the amount of paper you use ? Thanks for reading my blog. I welcome your ideas for reducing the amount of paper I use.

Armistice Day, aka, Veteran's Day

At one time, back in the 20th Century, the day in November commemorating the end of the "war to end all wars," was referred to as "Armistice Day". In a small way, it was the "war to end all wars" or World War I, that helped create me.

It was during this time, that two children of Polish immigrants, met in southern Massachusetts. One of them, a young man wearing the uniform of Uncle Sam's fighting men, met a quiet, shy girl who worked in one of the many shoe factories in Webster, Massachusetts. He was from Chicago, she was from Webster, Mass. He left Chicago to join the US Army, in part to serve the country of his birth, in part to escape his tyrannical father and begin to make his own way in the world. His company, Company B of the 36th US Infantry Regiment, was in Massachusetts awaiting their turn to board a ship to take them to France. He had a special skill possessed by few men had at that time and he was kept busy typing reports for his company officers.

Exactly how they met, I don't know. But a few years later, in 1920, they wed there in Webster, Mass. He continued to use his typing skills, often working as a clerk for one railroad or another. He often was sick; apparently, one of the things he got from his military service was exposure to tuberculosis. Lung disease and an average of three packs a day of unfiltered cigarettes eventually did him in. But, he and his young bride produced six children, the last being my Dad.

My grandfather's doctors urged him to seek a dry climate to help his lungs. So they moved from Chicago to Phoenix. There, my Dad, while checking out the records at a music store owned by a man named Culver, met my Mom. And a few years later, along came Polski3. All because of the "war to end all wars" ? Maybe. What do you think ?

Thank you, Veteran's for your service to this nation.

Thanks for reading my blog ! I welcome your comments.

"Whats a 6 + 6" ?

A 6 + 6 is an opportunity for students to demonstrate their knowledge on a topic by drawing and writing about it. On a sheet of blank paper, the paper is divided into six parts (squares). In each square, students draw something about their topic, and write about it (usually a sentence or two). For example, another upcoming 6 + 6 activity that I plan to assign my students is about the "Five Pillars of Islam". They will put into each square, a picture showing something about faith, prayer, charity, fasting and pilgrimage, including the proper names for each of these pillars of Islam (such as Zakah for Charity, Hajj for pilgrimage, Shahada for Faith, etc.) [ pardon me if these terms are misspelled....I am working from my fading memory here....]. The sixth square can contain the title and name of each of the Pillar of Islam.

I hope this answers the question, "What is a 6 + 6".

Thanks for reading my blog. I welcome your comments.

MOVE, MESS, and Stuffed Critters in your Classroom

A couple of semesters ago, I attended a one-day workshop geared towards "engagement" at the junior high level. One of the things the presenter stressed, is that junior high age students need to "move" and "mess". This means that ideally, they shouldn't sit for extended periods of time and when they do move about the room, a certain amount of "messing around" will take place. This is part of the nature of most junior high age students.

Anyhow, at a recent faculty meeting, we were introduced to an idea for "moving and messing" with our students. The teacher demonstrating this activity used a 'koosh' ball (you know, one of those soft, spiky colorful balls). When a student had answered a question or performed a task, they get to chose the person for the next question or task. They do this by either *easily* tossing the koosh ball to the person they choose, or they can physically get up and walk the koosh ball over to the person of their choice. This covers both "moving and messing" according to the ideas of student engagement.

Friday after work, I went down to our local Salvation Army thrift store to obtain several objects to try this in my classroom. (I'm too cheap to spend a couple of bucks on a koosh ball at Walmart [ where good union teachers are not supposed to shop! ]). I bought a couple of small used stuffed animals to use for this activity.... for .25 cents each. As this is being written, these little stuffed creatures are being washed in my washing machine.

For many years now, students in my classroom have been answering questions, reading aloud, performing a specific task, etc., then getting to chose who is next. (I think this is a jigsaw type of activity.) I can easily add tossing or movement to this activity. Years ago, I had a small collection of stuffed animals in my classroom, also purchased cheaply at thrift stores or at garage sales. A number of students liked being first in class so they could have one of these stuffed animals at their desk. I had these critters in my classroom for a couple of years, then removed them due to damage, squabbles over who got to have a certain animal at their desk, and this being a junior high, a few students were, shall we say, doing inappropriate things to/with these stuffed animals. One of the stuffed critters, known to the students as "Monkey-Bear" was given to a girl who just adored this raggity critter. I saw her not too long ago (her little brother came through my classroom), and after saying "Hi Mr. Polski", she delightfully let me know that she still had "monkey-bear" and that he stays on her bed. And that she'd just graduated from high school and was starting college :-).

Moving and Messing. You gotta learn to deal with this and teach your students the limits, if you want to teach junior high/middle school level.

Thanks for reading my blog! I welcome your comments.

What do You think ?

Educational "research" says that one thing teachers can do to help establish a bit of personal repore with their students is to greet them at the door of our classrooms as they enter class. Some teachers do this, and some take the time to actually shake hands or require a "high five" type of greeting.

This being said, should a teacher who makes physical "hand" contact then be seen minutes later by his/her students cleaning their hands with hand sanitizer?

Thanks for reading my blog ! I welcome your comments !

Someone asked....Cornell Notes

A reader indicated recently in a comment that they'd never heard of the Cornell format for taking notes. AFAIK, this is a two column method of taking notes; the student divides their paper into two columns, one-third of the paper and two-thirds of the paper. For right handed students, the one-third column is on the left side of their paper, for lefties, the one-third column is on the right side of their paper.

The two-thirds side of the paper is mainly where the students notes, vocabulary terms and definitions, illustrations, etc., are written. The one-third column is mainly for questions / study questions. The questions in the one-third column must be related to the material in the notes. This way, students can fold their paper so that they cannot see the notes section, ask themselves the question, respond to it, then check their notes to see if they "got it".

This can fit in nicely with reciprocal teaching.....Students can write their predictions and words for clarification in the two-thirds column, take notes, do vocabulary, etc., in the two-thirds column, then develop study questions in the one-third column. Summarization can be done in the two-thirds column or just using the whole width of the paper.

Anyone who can add or make the above more concise or clear, please add to it in the comments.

I hope this answers your question.

Thanks for reading my blog! I welcome your comments.

Vision

I was amused to read recently about the vision correction trials and tribulations of San Diego Padres pitcher Jake Peavy. He is legally blind without his vision correction. I know THAT story, I am in the same boat; without my contact lenses, my vision is a step above being legally blind. And my eyes seem to be getting worse, as they do as one navigates through their 40's and beyond....

Anyhow, how do you handle your students in class, who cannot see? Teaching junior high, I annually get several students who have vision problems. At the start of each school season, I develop the first of several seating charts. I always ask my students for several bits of information, including the question of "Can you see the boards from where I seat you?" For those students who will tell me about their not being able to see, I try to find the best place for them to sit in my classroom.

But, not all of them will freely revel such information. Throughout the year, those silent about their vision difficulties will usually be reveled in several ways; I will see them constantly looking at what their neighbors are copying from the board or I will find out from a parent that they have glasses and often chose not to wear them. Occasionally they revel that their lack of work is due to the fact that they can't see well enough to do their work, or that yes, they do need glasses and need to either get new ones or get their current glasses fixed. At times, I have brought this issue to school administration when parents have said that they cannot afford glasses for their kid or don't have the money to pay for fixing the glasses. There are social services to help these families. [ An aunt of mine once told me that as a child of a poor family, she had to wear poorly fitting glasses provided by "the welfare" people and this was part of her motivation to get an education (which she did: She graduated from the Univ. of Chicago with her LLD in 1945 ---- and she is STILL practicing law in Chicago!) ]

Likewise, I have to take my own vision problems into consideration with my students. It is a rule in my class that if I cannot easily read their work, I will return it to them ungraded and they must redo it in a form that I can read.

Vision. Just one of the many aspects we teachers must take into consideration in working with our 200 or so students each year.

Thanks for reading my blog! As always, I welcome your comments!

What to Do ????

This morning, I went through my two "World History" poster/board display boxes to separate them into the 'stuff' I use on a regular basis and the 'stuff' I no longer use or haven't used in quite some time.

However, I have box of "US History" poster/board display stuff. I have not taught US History in quite a few years now. Should I just keep this stuff in my garage ? OR, should I let several of the newer teachers teaching US History at my school use it ? OR, should I let several of the newer teachers teaching US History at my school have whatever they feel they can use of it ? [(Note: None of this stuff belongs to the school; I purchased or acquired it myself. ]

I am a packrat. It is hard for me to part with things such as teaching stuff. "What IF I decide or have a need to use it again????" Many of you KNOW just what I am talking about. I still have binders and boxes of science teaching stuff out in the garage. WHY IS IT SO HARD TO GET RID OF THINGS SUCH AS THESE ?????


Thanks for reading my blog! I welcome your comments and suggestions regarding these matters.

Whirlwind.....

We (the Polski3 family), just returned from a roadtrip to view some of the sights of the American southwest. In our whirlwind tour, we saw Boulder Dam, Grand Canyon, fossil dino tracks, a meteor crater, cliff dwellings and an old state prison.

We started off heading for the Las Vegas area, but had to detour into Arizona as part of the road between Blythe and Needles was our of use. It was ok with me as I'd never been to Lake Havasu City. I was shocked at how big Lake Havasu City was, and it contained several of the markers of civilization that I look for in a town, that being several of my favorite places to eat ---- In-N-Out and Red Robin. Neither of these places is anywhere near where I live. We also saw London Bridge. It was not too impressive. It was different, but none of us was very impressed by it. My lovely wife did think the lamp posts were unique and decorative.

Wife liked Henderson, NV., where we stayed after driving a good chunk of the day. Her favorite rib place was there, as well as several of the stores she likes to shop. The next am., we visited Boulder Dam. The boys were impressed with it. My youngest discovered that the updraft coming off the dam would take a mouthful of water up into the air with a colorful visual effect. For my classroom, I have obtained a new "Dam Cup" (the plastic soda cups they sell; I keep scrap pencils in it for my classroom....of course students get a kick out of telling their classmates who arrive in search of a pencil to "check the Dam cup!"). My prior Dam Cup is about 13-14 years old and a bit faded, so it will be retired.

Grand Canyon was our next big stop. Boys were impressed with it. We also hiked a few hundred yards down the Bright Angel and Grandview trails to get that "in the canyon" view and feeling. If any of you have not been to Grand Canyon, you really must go down into the canyon when you do visit. I have hiked far down into the canyon, back in my younger, pre ankle/foot surgery days, but my wife and boys had never been down into it. My wife was really awed by this experience. I bought an interesting book, ("Over the Edge: Death in Grand Canyon" by Ghiglieri and Myers) about the people who have died/been killed at Grand Canyon.....falling off edge, river accidents, murdered.....signs in the gift shops said it was the number one selling book at GCNP. A highlight for us was also going on a ranger led hike to view fossil marine organisms found in the limestone. I never knew these fossils were there and we all had a good time searching the outcrops for the various types of fossils (corals, crinoids, brachipods, bivalves, sponges). Seems these all lived in an ancient Pangean bay that extended from what is now eastern Grand Canyon to Las Vegas. We also saw living wildlife; the usual begging squirrels, ravens, a turkey vulture, lizards, and some elk. Lots of foreign tourists too....German, Russian, Italian, Japanese and Chinese.

Unknown to many people, there are some exposed fossil dinosaur tracks in northern Arizona. They are found at a "private" area just off highway 160 between US 89 and Tuba City (in the Navajo Nation). I am a bit surprised that the feds or state or even the tribe haven't taken over this exposed bit of ancient history. A Navajo guy who lives nearby and who claims that it is part of his family land allotment was our informal tour guide. I'd visited these tracks before, but not in the 'detail' that he showed us. He used a bottle with water to highlight the tracks, most of which were from three-toed hunting/predatory type dinosaurs. There was also a partially exposed bit of a skeleton. My youngest son is a junior dinosaur expert really thought this was a great place to visit.

We visited the famous Meteor crater. It was impressive. They also have a good display with educational activities for people to do.....and it all worked, unlike what we seem to find these days in many public museums. They have a teacher packet available for teachers which I signed up for.

We visited two sets of "ancestral puebloan" ruins on this trip (apparently the term "Anasazi" is no longer used, but the cultural regions are [Chacoan, Mesa Verdan, Kayenta, Fremont, Mogollon, Hohokam, etc]), the ruins of a small pueblo at Tusayan in the eastern part of Grand Canyon NP and the cliff dwelling built by the Sinagua culture near Camp Verde that is known as Montezuma Castle. I had been to Montezuma Castle before, but it has been expanded; I found out that what is viewed at Montezuma Castle was the smallest part of the ancient village that the Sinagua people built. There had been a larger pueblo structure built at the base of the cliff 50 yards away from the cliff dwelling, and that out of view for visitors, were at least 25 cave homes the people had carved into the cliff.

Almost home, we stopped by the famous (infamous?) Arizona Territorial Prison at Yuma. This Arizona State Park has been much restored and much improved over what it was years ago. Interestingly, along with murders, forgers, and burglars, the prison also held some Mormans convicted of bigamy, some Mexican revolutionaries convicted of violation of US neutrality laws, a guy imprisoned for "seduction and failure of a promise to marry" and a couple convicted of child abuse. Some prisoners got in trouble for drugs, marijuana and morphine, and inmates were more severely punished for talking back to a guard or failing to obey a guards order than if they fought with each other, refused to work or refused to bathe.

But, it is good to be home.

Thanks for reading my blog. As always, your comments are welcome!

ESL and NCLB

I hear US Secretary of Education Mrs. M. Spellings (AKA: The Queen of All Testing or something like that....ask EdWonk) wants to address issues with the education of ESL students. On the surface, this sounds like a good idea. These children of immigrants may need more assistance in learning the English language skills they need to be educationally and economically successful in mainstream US society.

But, if the Feds grant funds for ESL education, what strings will be attached by the heavily lobbied Edcrats in Washington DC.? Being a federal thing and tied to educational funding, will this become a mandate to offer bilingual education to students in California, even though the majority of voters recently rejected Bilingual Education in California?

In my experience around ELL students, SO much of what happens with student advancement in English language skills depends on the student and the home they live in. In my observations and experiences, far too many lack the drive or desire to make the effort to learn the English language skills that can help propel them out of the lower socio-economic-educational muck that too many of them are living in. IMO, the teachers and schools cannot do it all. It does not matter what program is offered them at their schools, if the student and their family do not buy 110% into it, the students won't be very successful. From what I have seen over the years, those students who are from non-English speaking homes who do succeed do so because of a number of factors: it is expected of them by their parents, the expectation that they WILL go to college someday, their parents often have a good education themselves and expect their children to acquire a good or better education, their parents have taken the time to attend school conferences and learn how the US educational system works and parents who actively participate in their children's educational opportunities (monitoring homework, modeling reading and value for education, getting their children involved in healthy extra curricular things, etc.). Children without both parents, whose parent(s) cannot effectively conduct themselves in English and who are not even attempting to learn English, children who are taken out of school to babysit younger siblings or other relatives, children who miss school for weeks at a time due to returning to Mexico to visit family, children who have parent(s) who cannot or will not attend school conferences or educate themselves about how the system works here in the USA. Lets be honest here, the vast majority of these children are already doomed to stay in the lower socio-economic-educated level of society. They will forever work minimum wage jobs, have a low standard of living, and not be able to provide much for their children. So the cycle continues. Or, they join gangs and make this country a worse place to live and end up being a drain on tax dollars to pay their various expenses (emergency health services, prison, welfare....)

Here in California, I really believe there are an expanding group of people in power who rely on having a large, uneducated, functionally illiterate group of people to claim as their supporters. These "jefe's," as I shall call them, will occasionally toss their base supporters a bone or two. Many of these people are comfortable with this, because it is very much like how things worked in their homeland. Heaven forbid their supporters become educated and start thinking for themselves, they might start wanting the whole steak, not just an occasional steak bone. So, the 'jefe' group, wants bilingual education programs because these programs, along with the societal problems that go with the vast majority of children who would/are in bilingual programs, DO NOT WORK. Look at the record for California bilingual education for the past 25-30 years.....it is SAD.

So, IMO, throwing more money towards bilingual education, will not bring up test scores. To bring up test scores, you need the student, parents, schools, teachers and community to do the job. Schools and teachers cannot do it by themselves.

Thanks for reading my blog! I appreciate your comments!

Summer break, so far.....

As the few of you who pop in here on occasion have noticed, I haven't been blogging much. I really don't want to think too much right now.....But, here is a bit of what I have been up to, in no particular order.....

Taking my boys to the summer reading club activities at our local library.

playing games on line.....GO, Chess and Mah-Jong

Keeping an eye on my boys while they splash about in our seasonal backyard pool.

Staying indoors and trying to stay cool....today it is about 115 degrees.

Trying to find a hotel/motel room in San Diego at the last minute (my wife
and I are going over for a couple of days while the boys are at summer camp.)

Trying to find some new living room furniture. We are replacing "my" sofa.
I bought it Colorado in 1987 when I taught in Arizona.

Piddling around with some of my other hobbies and interest.....philately,
conflict simulation gaming and genealogy.

Reading. I have a huge pile of stuff to read.....Currently reading "The Last
Templar" by Raymond Khoury, previously read, "Darkness, take my Hand" by
Dennis Lehane, and I am not sure what is next to read. Also reading through
a big pile of magazines.....National Geographic, Archaeology, Armchair General,
Sunset and Linn's Stamp News to name a few. Just received today, Steven
Saylor's "A Gladiator only Dies Once," George McDonald Fraser's "Flashman on
the March" and Andrew Greeley's "Irish Cream" (that one is mostly for my wife,
but I'll read it too.)

Looking at the big pile of unorganized "stuff" in the study and thinking about
what to do with it/about it.

Starting to think and plan for where to take the family for our summer
vacation. I already have a room reserved AT Grand Canyon for one night,
but the question is, do we stay around Flagstaff or go on to southern Colorado
too ? It is mostly a question of money and car space. We bought a new car
shortly after son number one (of two) was born, and it just doesn't have the
room that it used to have. I'd like to take the boys to visit Mesa Verde and
my wife to the San Luis Valley of Colorado (her grandmother was born there....
one of the old Spanish families of NM/Colorado).

As little yard work as I can....


So, what are you doing this summer?

Thanks for reading my blog! I welcome your comments.

At long last.....

Today, at 12 noon, THEY departed. Summer break is at long last here. Teacher "Check out" tomorrow. Next paycheck in 105 days. You teachers out there, have a good summer, try to enjoy a well-earned rest from the rat race of discipline and testing issues, grading student work, dysfunctional parenting, ignoramus administrators and all the other stresses of modern day teaching life. ! I sure plan to!

Thanks for reading my blog! As always, your comments are welcome!

Are you Ready for School to Start ?

Well, this school season is almost over. Only seven and a half more school days for me. That gives me time to get ready for the first week of the next school season, which opens up Aug. 28. I have found, over the years, that for the most part, the first week of school is almost always the same; class requirements and expectations, samples of the various activities we do in my classes, rules and procedures. So, why not prep for it at the end of the school year, so that it is ready to go when your new flock of students flys in ?

Thanks for reading my blog! Your comments are welcome !

What Next ?

You know you teacher middle school/junior high when:

* a kid gets their foot stuck in their desk. (It happened today, in Period 6).

How do YOU know you teach in a middle school/junior high ?

Thanks for reading my blog! As always, I welcome your comments....add to our list!

Torturing Students in Spanish ????

Well, I am "back to work" now.....my student teacher successfully completed his tour of internship with me and has departed. (FYI, he has a teaching contract offer already!) As I was walking about my classroom the other day, checking for understanding and to be sure my students were working on their proper assignment, I came across one who was just sitting and doing nothing. "Jane," (not her real name), "Why aren't you working? Do you understand the assignment?" I asked her. "I don't have any lead, Gimme some!" she informed me and demanded. "Whoa!" I replied, Yo soy no su Padre! Esta no mi dinero para tu, esta para mi familia!" This led to a burst of laughter from the class. Yes, I have been known to torture my students with my Spanish. I told her to check the dam cup ( a souvenir cup from Hoover Dam where I keep scrap pencils ) and if there isn't one in there, get one off my desk.

Then I noticed a boy in the back of the class raising his hand. "Yes Mario," I replied, (not his real name). Mr. Polski (not my real name either), you are embarrassing me with your Spanish! I'm Mexican and I can't speak it as good as you!" OF course, with this the class burst out laughing again. I smiled.

Just a glimpse into my classroom. Do you "torture" your students somehow ?

Thanks for reading my blog! Your comments are welcome !

Letter from their School, AGAIN !

Wow. My oldest son, in fifth grade, brought a letter home from school today requesting we attend a meeting, yep, the same meeting that his little brother is being requested to attend, for being chosen OUTSTANDING STUDENT in his class! Their proud Momma and I are batting 2 fer 2 this year.....!

Any tips from you parents out there for parents with "normal intelligence" dealing with teen children with very high intelligence? Thanks!

Thanks for reading my blog! As always, your comments are welcome!

My Son's placement....

Thanks for the advice and suggestions. FYI, I cannot talk to our counselor about it.....our junior high of almost 900 high minority, majority low socio-economic student population does not have a counselor. Not one. Scheduling is done by one of the vp's. We had a "counselor" a couple of years ago, but she was grossly ineffective and made it clear that she didn't like kids. Or any teacher that was not of the same ethnic background as she.

Also., Teaming is pretty much dead. This is due to the mandates of the almighty testing, many of our students are placed in alternative lang. arts classes (High Point) and or alternative math classes where they are part of the herd of 30+ students in those classrooms and don't get much real help from the single teacher stuck trying to work miracles with them.

I believe that when the time comes, I will ask for my son to be placed with teachers of my choosing. His educational opportunities will be limited at the jhs where I teach (lack of more intellectually challenging classes in science, math and social studies), but his mother and I will keep working to fill in those gaps.

Thanks for reading my blog! Comments and suggestions are welcome!

Starting to wonder about......

I am starting to wonder about what to do when my oldest son is ready to move on to junior high. He will probably be attending the same school where I teach, the "other" jhs/ms in our district is not an option for my children. Should he be in my class? My initial inclination is that he should not be in my class; he's heard me all his life and needs to experience other teachers. Should I request specific teachers for him? Or, should I just let the dice land as they may (as in let him get scheduled like most of the other kids, without parental input regarding placement)? We have had several other 'staff' kids come through our school. As far as I know, their staff parent did not have their child in their class or make requests to enroll their child with specific teachers. Any suggestions or thoughts are welcome. Thanks!

Thanks for reading my blog! I welcome your comments!

Letter from the school.....

My third grade son came home from school yesterday with a letter from the school. It is requesting that we come to a special school board meeting to honor him as "Outstanding Student of the Year". Cool. We are so proud of him! I don't know if this is for his class, for all the third graders or for his school. Whatever. Now, if he can keep this up for another 16 years......!

Thanks for reading my blog! Your comments are welcome!

Teaching on the Rez, Part V

Years ago, for my first teaching job, I taught in the Navajo Nation. This teaching location was good for me to get outdoors, as the four corners region of our country offers a host of cool outdoor places to explore. There was the usual touristy type stuff; visiting the various national parks and monuments featuring the Anasazi culture (Mesa Verde, Hovenweep, Aztec....), places to hike (Canyonlands NP and the very cool Grand Gulch), and a river to raft (the San Juan).

One weekend, I set out from the school compound on my mountain bike to explore the neighborhood around the school. A couple of miles away, was a "unimproved" road that connected rural living Navajo families with paved roads. I decided to do a loop trip, and it was very interesting. The "unimproved" road passed through some exposed sedimentary rock outcrop. In this outcrop was a small alcove that contained a wealth of Anasazi pottery shards. For those of you knowing about Anasazi ceramics, they were a combination of Mesa Verde black and white and Kayenta black on red. No, I didn't scoop up a bunch of these shards.....that is not legal (Antiquities Act of 1906). There parts of this large outcrop that featured hills that were loads of fun to slowly ride up, then speedily zig-zag down. The sound of the tires on the sandstone was really cool.

Also in this area, was another "unimproved" dirt road that headed off to the west. I rode down this road for a bit, finding a natural arch, a sorinkling of pinon pines, a spring, a larger alcove featuring numerous stones where the Anasazi ground their corn (there were even pieces of old corn cobs scattered among the rocks in front of this alcove) and a small cliff dwelling! I was a bit frustrated at discovering this small cliff dwelling as I couldn't get up to it. I couldn't find any of the stone steps the Anasazi often carved into the cliff face to help ascend to their cliff homes, so I guess they used ladders or had a means of descent from the cliff top. But it was so cool to find this place.

Heading back eastward, I passed a windmill and water tank. Many of the rural families living in the Navajo Nation used these as the source of their water. They load up the back of their pickup with blue plastic 50-gallon barrels, fill them with water, then take them home to use. The route home also passed by a small Anasazi site that I called "Oil Change Rock", it is the ruins of a small storage room with small pottery shards scattered around, and just below it, is a large exposed slab of sandstone where, judging from the stains and slew of used oil filters, some of the locals apparently used as a place to change their vehicle oil.

Over the next few days, I mentioned to several other teachers about the places I'd discovered the past weekend. No one I spoke to had ever been out there or heard that such places were nearby. Several did express an interest in seeing it, so I took them out there. They were amazed at such things being so close to the school compound and no one really knowing much about it.

The Navajo reaction to my adventure was interesting. IIRC, "Anasazi" is a Navajo word for "Ancient Enemies" Traditional Navajo stay away from any ruins or obivious places where they lived, believing it is best not to distrub the spirits of the dead. A person could become contaminated by exposure to these spirits, and have to undergo a cleansing ceremony. It was interesting to me how many of my students were eager to tell me about such places near where ever it was that they lived. There seemed to be a divide between the traditional Navajo and those who did not follow or believe in the old ways.

IS there a message here ? Yes. It is one that I have noted in my blog before.....you new teachers, don't hesitate to accept a teaching job in some rural, out-of-the-way place. And while you are there, learn about where you are.....get out and explore!

Thanks for reading my blog! As always, I welcome your comments!

Links to pictures of Postage Stamps

This little bookmark project has sparked a bit of interest from some other teachers, and that is good. Here are some links to finding pictures of postage stamps that can be used to create bookmarks:

American Philatelic Society: www.stamps.org. (Check out the "sales" pages....Browse.)

U.S. Postal Service: www.usps.com (source for new U S Postage stamps)

www.stampsofchina.com (Chinese postage stamps dipecting the great wall of China (early airmail stamps), and junks (see section featuring the 1913 London printing)

www.linns.com I'd suggest this as a source for finding a dealer or two selling packets (packets are usually an envelope of postage stamps all about the same topic, such as animals, dinosaurs, trains, space, flowers, etc.)

www.regencySuperior.com This is an auction house that deals with philatelic material. Their website has good photos of many postage stamps.

E-bay.com They have a whole section featuring stamps, most of which have photos of the stamps for sale. Be careful printing some of these images, many are not too sharp.

Your neighbors. Ask around, you may find someone who collects postage stamps and would be happy to help you with what you seek.....stamps, pictures of postage stamps, etc. AND, do you have a shop nearby that sells postage stamps for collectors? If you collect used postage stamps, tear off the corner of the envelope with the stamp, soak them in water to separate the postage stamp from the envelope fragment, dry on paper towel or newspaper, then using clean blotting paper or even paper towels. press them for a few days to make sure they are dry and flat.
Again, Linns.com, a local stamp shop, or a collector can help you with how to do these things. NOTE: Many recent US postage stamps that are the self-adhesive kind, do not soak off paper easliy. If you use these, you might want to just cut the stamp off the envelope and use it like that.

Your local library may have copies of the Scott Publishing Company "Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue." The world postage stamps are divided up into about five or six volumes, there is one volume for US postage stamps and one for "Classics", those published in the first 100 years of postage stamp publication (1840-1940). These can help you identify postage stamps, the huge variety of topics shown on postage stamps and their country of origin

Note: the postage stamps of Britain do not say "Britain" or "UK" or "United Kingdom" on them. The Brits believe that since they printed the worlds first postage stamps, they did not need to put the name of their country on their postage stamps. Many will have a silhouette of the queens head in one corner of the postage stamp
Several of these websites also have links to other philatelic websites that may contain useful images of postage stamps. Some postage stamps, mostly older issues, from some Middle Eastern and southern Asian nations do not have the name of the country of issue in English on the postage stamp.

If you should wish to use real postage stamps, there are also stamp dealers who will be happy to help you select some interesting postage stamps for your project and of course, sell you postage stamps....many nice ones are fairly cheap. You can buy whole sheets (often 50 stamps) of US postage stamps from the 50's and 60's for about face value. There are also available on today's postage stamp market many packets of topical postage stamps, that is, stamps that all depict animals, trains, ships, flowers, etc. This postage stamp bookmark project that can be useful for science teachers too..... creating a bookmark of postage stamps which depict US Space achievements, animals of Australia, rocks and minerals...... The world of postage stamps contains postage stamps depicting just about everything.....

Linns.com has a sales section, which can link you to dealers who sell whole sheets of US postage stamps.

Postage stamps come in two basic forms, used and mint. Used means they were used for postage or are "canceled to order". Mint means they were never used for postage.

There are many Christmas postage stamps available, usually cheap. You could use these to make "Christmas Postage Stamp" Bookmarks that younger students could give their family members as gifts.

When I see a postage stamp image that I want to print, I right click my mouse, click on "print picture" Then print a copy or copies of the stamp. I suppose you could save the image then play around with your computer programs that can put three or four images together like you want them for the bookmark, then just print out the whole image on stock card weight paper and cut out each bookmark. Me, I like to cut out individual postage stamp images, glue them on the stock card paper.....I believe this makes more individualized bookmarks. This project is not that complex, try it and have fun with your kids.

I have a few small packets of postage stamps depicting Australian animals and US space achievements that are from a short lived business venture. If any of you are interested in obtaining some of these postage stamps, let me how to reach you via the comments section.

I hope this helps. Please feel free to ask questions in the comment section.

As always, thanks for reading my blog! I welcome your comments!

Chinese Postage Stamp Bookmarks

As requested by a reader, here are images of a couple of the bookmarks I am making to use as prizes in my upcoming China Unit. If any of you want to know more about finding images of postage stamps, how I am making these bookmarks, etc., just let me know; I am happy to share this with you. Note, these bookmarks have not yet been laminated.

Thanks for reading my blog! As always, your comments are welcome!

High BP or a pencil ?

Scenario One:

Teacher (to student talking to another student at start of class): "Why are you two talking ? YOU SHOULD KNOW OUR PROCEDURE BY NOW! Enter Class QUIETLY, SIT DOWN, FILL OUT YOUR DAILY PLANNER AND COPY OUR OPENER! HOW HARD IS THAT????? "WHY aren't you filling out your daily planner and copying the opener activity like you're supposed to ?"

Student: "i was jus askin' him for a pencil cause i ain't got one."

Teacher: "WHY NOT? Don't you know by now, here toward the end of grade seven, that you ALWAYS NEED A PENCIL ?????"

Student: "I lost it"

Teacher: "SO ???? You're in Seventh Grade!, don't you know to have several pencils ready to use for classes????? What's the matter with you???"

Student: (slumped at desk, head down) "I donnknow".

Teacher: "You better be prepared tomorrow!"


Scenario Two:

Teacher (to student talking to another student at start of class): "Whats going on, you two....come on now, you know the procedure and routine, please enter class quietly, sit down, fill out your daily planner and copy the opener activity."

Student: "i was jus askin' him for a pencil cause i ain't got one."

Teacher: OK, so just quietly go get one from the pencil cup. IF there isn't one there, then just ask me. I usually have a hoard of pencils I get free from different places....just ask!"


So, what do you think ? Dealing with junior high kids, does scenario one or two happen most often? In my classes, my pencil cup is a souvenir cup from Hoover Dam, and is smilingly referred to as the "dam cup". For you newer teachers, these kind of things are the little things that can make your teaching easier. YES, a seventh grader should know by that level of time in school to be more prepared. But some of them just aren't. So, as the teacher, is this worth a rise in blood pressure? In my experience, no. Just get the kid a pencil. Hollering at them about it doesn't get them a pencil and doesn't set a good tone for anyone. Even if it is a kid whom you have already given a dozen or more pencils to. I have been there in scenario one.....and it is not worth it.

What other "little things" do you do that make teaching easier for yourself and your students? Please share them with us!

Thanks for reading my blog! Your comments are welcome!

Kom to Amerika !

As you know, many people have been protesting our national governments most recent attempt to deal with illegal immigration. Sadly, too many of the young people who are protesting these proposed laws are alienating people by waving the flag of Mexico, carrying signs written in Spanish, shouting to the cameras "Viva La Raza!" and ditching school to participate in these protest marches.

On my father's side of my family, I am third generation Polish ancestry. (My Mother's side of the family has been in the America's since about 1630.) My fraternal great-grandparents immigrated to this country about 1890. One of them, Marczel Kuczynski, left the part of Poland under the dictatorship of the Tsar of Russia. He claimed he left Poland to avoid "killing people". You see, at that time, young men of his social class (the small Polish middle class), were expected to serve in the Army of the Tsar when they turned 18. At that time, one of the things the soldiers of the Tsar did, were the polgrams, the random terrorization and killing of Jews. Marczel claimed he didn't want to be a "kozzack", those who were in the forefront in the Tsar's polgrams. So, from sources unknown, he scraped up the money to immigrate to the United States. He settled in Chicago, and became a naturalized US citizen. He worked as a janitor and laborer in various factories in Chicago. They lived around other immigrants (Poles, Lithuanians, Hungarian, Irish)in the Chicago neighborhood called "Bridgetown", not far from today's Midway Airport. He married a girl from Poland and they had some children. My great-grandma, Maryanna died at age 36, probably from TB. His son's went to the local city schools, but when they became teens, they were expected to work and bring their money home to Papa. My grandfather, Stanislaus, finally decided to leave Chicago in 1917, at age 20. He took the train to St Louis and joined the US Army. He did have a skill that his company commander could use, he could type. Not many men could type in 1917. So he was a company clerk. They trained, then set out for an embarkment camp in Massachusetts. While there in Massachusetts, Stanislaus met a girl named Josephine who worked in a shoe factory. She'd worked in the shoe factory since she was about ten years old, never attending school past third grade. Her father, Tomaz Morus had also immigrated from Poland, I don't know which part of Poland he came from, the Russian part, the German part or the Austrian part. But he settled in Massachusetts, got a job at a shoe factory, married a Polish immigrant girl named Kristina Macijewska, and they had a number of children, mostly girls.

Anyhow, after Stanislaus was discharged from the US Army in 1919, he and Josephine married in Massachusetts. They moved to Chicago, then New York City, to Dorchester (Boston), to Chicago, and eventually to Phoenix. Stanislaus had a hard time keeping a job, he was sick much of the time with a lung ailment he picked up while in the Army. He also smoked at least two packs of cigarettes a day. Of course back then, if you missed too much work, you were fired. They lived poorly. But their children went to school. Every one of the five children graduated from high school. Their eldest daughter earned her LLD from the University of Chicago. Another daughter earned two master's degrees. Their oldest son would probably gone to college, but WWII came along and instead of attending college, he was in the Army Air Corp. The plane he was flying to drop paratroopers over the Cherbourg Peninsula of Normandy on the night of June 5-6, 1944 was shot down. He survived being shot down, but ended up in various German POW camps. After the war, he married almost as soon as he set foot in the US, began a family and just didn't have time to go to the university. But all four of his daughters graduated from college and hold professional positions. Stanislaus and Josephine's youngest son, my Dad, went off to work to take care of his family every day. He never really attended college, but earned credentials for his technological field (electronics). But three of his children are college graduates. This branch of the family tree isn't Polish, We're Americans, and we're Americans who are proud of our ethnic heritage.

Anyhow, I don't know if my great-grandparents immigrated here legally or not. They didn't "take" from those in this country who work hard; they joined them in the shoe factories of Massachusetts and the factories of Chicago, and became part of this country. And, the children and grandchildren of many of yesterday's immigrates did too. Undoubtedly, the children and grandchildren of many of today's immigrants will become part of this country too. I hope. What I see online, on TV and in the newspapers is making me wonder about where lies the loyalties of many of these young people. I doubt many of them have ever been to the small villages that were the home of their parents or grandparents. I won't even get into it here, about the fact that many do not seem to understand that the proposed laws are about illegal immigration, not Hispanics as a group or about legal immigrants. IF anything, they are going to cause problems for those who are here legally and perhaps bring about some unwanted attention from government authorities that they own families might not appreciate. Anyhow....

Today, as you know, there are legal limits for immigrants from all countries of the world. But our government seems to have a problem in enforcing our immigration laws today. And many, many people are breaking our laws to come to the United States. I don't blame most of them for coming to this country. Like my great-grandparents, there is nothing in their 'home country' for them. This country is still a "land of opportunity" for people. But I do have an issue with people, whether here legally or illegally, obeying our laws. Laws are a necessary part of our existence to ensure some level of civility. Break the law, and bad things happen. To some people, seeing businesses advertise in Spanish is a bad thing. Seeing the changes that are happening to the US is a bad thing. Seeing many people living in your town who are not "like you" is a bad thing. It is bad to watch the cost of health care keep going up and up and up, in part due to those people who must be medically treated at our hospitals and whom have no insurance, be they living in the US legally or illegally. Personally, I welcome anyone who wants to come here to work, contribute and join our great nation. But our nation will not remain great if too many keep taking and taking and not joining our people. To me, this is the real issue that must be delt with. Are they coming here to join with us, or just take from us ? IF they are here to join us, then lets continue to welcome them and help them become part of our great nation. But it they are here for other reasons, no; send them back to where they came from and keep them from returning.

Thanks for reading my blog. As always, you comments are welcome!

Assessment/Test/Quiz Design

As many of you know, I currently have a student teacher "interning" in my classroom. He is discovering the challenge of working with middle/junior high students, but so far, he says he prefers junior high students to those he experienced in his first section of student teaching at one of our local high schools. I did gently remind him that I have seventh graders, NOT eighth graders, many of whom are a completely different species....anyhow......

I wrote up a short piece regarding aspects of developing assessments/tests and quizzes. Here it is:

Tips for creating Quizzes, Tests and other assessment activities....

1. Stick to the standards you are expected to teach and students are
expected to know/learn.

2. For multiple choice questions
* try to keep the question short......
* do not use conflicting letters to represent answer choices......
have letters like c and e , i and j, m and n, u and v , x and y
etc. in the same set of answer choices.
This can cut down on the number of challenges in grading these
questions and in students questioning a question being marked
as wrong or not correct.

* it is ok to include a (none of these answer choices) or (all of these
answer choices) answer choice.

3. For True and False questions:
* I suggest using ( + ) for True and ( O ) for False statements.
This eliminates the mutant variations on the letters T and F.

4. For Fill-in-the-blank questions, I often put a few answer spaces at
the beginning of the statement to help remind students to capitalize
the first word of a sentence. Hold students accountable to
capitalize proper nouns.

Example of some fill-in-the-blank quiz questions:
1. Egyptian rulers were called _______________.
2. The river that flows through Egypt is the __________ River.
3. ________pharaoh_________ was the boy pharaoh whose treasure
laden tomb was discovered by Harold Carter in 1921.

5. Skills:
* include questions in which students must use a map, graph,
chart, timeline or other graphic material provided by the
teacher.
* I often include a chronological ordering activity to evaluate
the students grasp of the order the events we study took place.

6. Provide multiple parts of the assessment activity, for example, a
quiz that contains true and false questions, multiple choice
questions, fill-in-the-blank, and perhaps an activity asking the
student to draw something and explain the drawing (such as a 4+4
type of activity.

7. Use at least 12 point type size. Leave at least one line of space
between each question.

8. To modify a test or quiz for ELL or Special Education students, you
can offer fewer answer choices on multiple choice questions, by
providing a choice of answers for fill-in-the-blank questions, by
reading aloud each question and its answer choices......
You may also test students orally, either as a small group or
individually.

9. Keep in mind the purpose of the quiz, test or assessment.....to
monitor and evaluate student learning and intergration of the presented
material.

10. OF COURSE, you can just use whatever assessment, quiz and test
materials come with the bundle of stuff from the text book
publisher; but I find that these are often lacking in supplementaluse
many other supplemental teaching materials that may contain data
or skills not included in the publishers bundle of stuff for their
textbook, etc.

What do you experienced teachers out there think of this ? Too much to bite off and chew at once? Anything you would add or change? Please let me know. I have been doing this for a long time and find that it is an ongoing learning process for me in designing and developing assessment, test and quiz materials. Anyhow, please feel free to share your personal expertise in this matter (or anything else about classroom life and survival!)

Thanks for reading my blog! As always, I welcome your comments and suggestions!

Nasty letter from a Parent.....

Friday, at the end of my teaching day, I was served with a letter from an "irate" parent that ended with these words: "We have fretted and worried for 2/3 of the school year. We are not going to let (our student) give up and quit and we will continue to help him no matter how hard you try to keep (our child) from succeeding. We hope (our student) makes you proud when (our child) repeats (current school grade).

This parent wrote the same letter to four of her child's teachers. And provided a copy to the principal. She noted that she and her husband feel it was a big mistake to talk to her child's teachers right after Thanksgiving, and that the problems for their child would only get worse if they chose to meet with us now or in the future.

She specifically cited my failure to respond to questions in her child's daily planner and is baffled as to why her child's teachers cannot write down exactly what assignments are missing in the child's daily planner.

She goes on to say how her child gets home from school and tells "us" how much four of his teachers HATE (the student).

Anyhow, if you have taught for awhile, letters like this crop up from time to time. Parents get frustrated with their child's lack of performance in school, and sometimes there are other things going on within the family that lead to a lashing out at the teachers.

I personally have a major problem with this letter, in that I have only had this child in my classroom for about the past five or six weeks. This child entered my class in February, transferred out of his previous History class and into my class. These parents have NEVER spoken to me, regarding this child (I have had other children of their pass through my classroom, and there were no problems). This child has been absent from my class about 20% of the time. IF there were any notes or questions from the parents in this child's daily planner for me, the child failed to show them to me. I have no idea what I may have done to this child to lead this child to use the word HATE about me or my class. Maybe telling him he could do better or that he needs to make up missing work led to this ?

At this time, I am not going to respond to this letter. IF there is a meeting, which I will not attend unless the principal is present, I will show the evidence in my grade and attendance books to justify the child's current grade. He is not a behavior issue for me, other than he often drums on the desk.

Thanks for reading my blog! As always, I welcome your comments!

Left Behind......

I had a "parent conference" this afternoon. The "parent" in attendance was not the students 'parent', it was his half-sister. She explained to us that they have the same Mom. However, "Mom is a drug abuser." His "Father" is currently "incarcerated" and will probably get out sometime this year. He lives at the house of his father's mother (his grandmother), who has several other grandchildren living with her. He has a bed and chest of drawers set up in the utility room, ("but there are no washers and dryers in there," we were told.) He has to keep the door to this utility room locked to keep his aunt (Fathers sister) from stealing what little bit of stuff he has to help support her drug habit. This being said.......

Half Sister has been having him go to her apartment after school to do his homework. This is a start. But this kid is so far behind. He failed his core classes for the first semester and is currently failing most of his classes this semester. The number one reason is failure to turn in work. From the sound of it, this kid has been Left Behind from the time he was conceived.
I wonder how many more like him we have at our school? I can think of several students in my classes who are probably living like this. Is that living ? They say we are supposed to "relate" to our students. I cannot relate to this. Such a life was no where to be seen in my environment while I was growing up. So, U.S. Secretary of Education Spellings, what would you suggest the schools do to advance kids like this ?

Thanks for reading my blog! Your comments are welcome!

Teaching Ideas.....

I am still in a funk about my grades. I assigned an assessment project that was due last Thursday, for the end of our Islam Unit. The project was to complete a 6+6, 10+10, poster or booklet about the "Contributions of Islamic Culture and Civilization", which is one of our California State Social Studies Standards. And, just like THESE students have been over the past several months, not many of them bothered to do this project. So, I had an alternative assessment lined up for them. Those that did not turn in a project received a regular test to take in class. It is worth less than the project was worth. But, at least there will be something to go in the grade book and they have the opportunity to demonstrate to me that they learned SOMETHING. This alternative assessment will be put in the gradebook as an alternative assessment, and should an parent conferences be held, I can point out to the parents that their child did not do their project. And the students at least get some points. What about those who did turn in their project? They have the opportunity to earn more points (aka a higher grade) than those who took the alternative assessment. Those that turned in their project also got class time to either quietly work on their biography project (due next Friday), or read their AR book.

What do you other teachers do when students do not turn in projects ? I'd be very interested in hearing how you deal with this.

Thanks for reading my blog ! As always, I welcome your comments !

Tagged ! The Four Meme.....

I've been tagged by Darren over at "Right on the Left Coast". Here be an opportunity to delve into the mind of the blogger known as POLSKI :

Four Jobs I’ve Had

Waiter
Asst. Manager of a movie theater
College Journalist
Teacher

Four Movies I Can Watch Over and Over

Outlaw Josey Wales
The Sand Pebbles
In Harm's Way
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Four Places I’ve Lived

Phoenix, Yuma and Red Mesa, Arizona
OKC, Oklahoma
Imperial County, San Diego, California

Four TV Shows I Love

My Name is Earl
Baseball or Football on TV
CSI Series
Law and Order Series

Four Places I’ve Vacationed

Arizona
Utah
California - Oregon Coast
Chicago

Four Places YOU want to visit/vacation to

( Yes, I added this one to the meme ! )

Europe - Britain/Ireland/Scotland and Poland
the East Coast of the US
Australia
China

Four of My Favorite Foods

Carne Asado Burritos
Pizza
Cheeseburgers with Bar-B-Que chips and strawberry milkshake
Sweet and Sour Chinese stuff/chow mein/chow fun


Four Blogs I Visit Daily ( or at least places on-line )

EdWonks
online GO or Chess
ConSimWorld
various teacher blogs

Four Places I’d Rather Be Right Now

the wilderness of the Colorado Plateau
snorkling in the Caribbean or some other cool place
eating REAL deep dish pizza and watching a Cubs game at Wrigley Field
on a vacation to anywhere with my wife

Four Bloggers I Now Tag

Abigail at Social Studies
Graycie at Today's Homework
Ms. Cornelia at Shrewness of Apes
Mike at Education in Texas


Thanks for Reading my blog! I welcome your comments on my meme answers.

Tears and Vampires Loose on Campus

Tis the season, a time for tears on our campus. Recently, our students received their semester report cards and the administration has, to the shock of many parents, begun sending out notices requiring students earning multiple "F's" to attend 12 weeks of Saturday School.

This has also led to our February blizzard of parent conferences. Yep, a blizzard here in the desert. And oh, how the tears are flowing. Tears from students who have been caught lying to their parents about having homework completed, turning in said homework, passing tests, and behaving themselves in classes. Tears from the parent, usually a mom who has discovered her child lies to her, is a rude, viscous little snot at school, and is making choices in their young lives that might greatly impact the parents financial future. We make suggestions for the parent; demand your son/daughter show you their daily planner and the homework they claim to have completed, take away all their electronics; CD players, telephone, games, tv., etc. until the next report card where they have shown real improvement, encouraging them to make their son/daughter visit their teachers for help if they need it or attend the free after school tutoring, and to enroll in the "Parents helping their children with homework" class that is soon to be offered. We have a large box of tissue in the tiny room in the office where these conferences are usually held.

But, unfortunately, most of it seems to be crocodile tears. Most of these students quickly seem to go back to their lazy, lying, scheming ways, and the parents fall back into their non-involved mannor of parenting......
And us teachers will get hammered next fall because our test scores will not have gone up enough according to the edubureaucratic scale........


Happy Valentines Day! Yep, it was yesterday. Today, I asked a student to see the parent signature I required on a note to his mother I wrote in his daily planner.
"WELL, she saw it". He declared.

"Why didn't she sign it," I asked.

"Because we were at the hospital," he declared.

"Was someone sick or hurt?" I inquired.

"No, I was there because "Suzie Q." bit me in the neck and it was bleeding!" was his reply.

"OK, I've heard enough !" I stated.

But oh no, this blabber mouth kid wanted to tell me and of course, the class all about it. Such was five minutes of my period 3 History 7 class. Sometimes it is better to 'waste' five minutes than deal with all the side talks and notes that might erupt over such big news being reveled.

How was your day?

Thanks for reading my blog! As always, you comments are welcome!

Endorsing Lying?

My soon-to-be 11 year old son brought home a new book today. He purchased it from the Scholastic Book 'catalog' that is distributed on a regular basis in thousands of classrooms across America every month or so. His new book is "A Boys Guide to Life, The Complete Instructions," (Written by kids for kids, from the "editors of Planet Dexter". This book bears the Scholastic Inc. Publishers information.

Doesn't this sound like a great book for a soon-to-be 11 year old ? It contains much data that a young gentleman in training might find useful. The chapters include topics such as "Money," "Social Skills and Graces," "Fixing and Making Things," "Safety, Hygiene and Grooming" and a few others. HOWEVER, in the chapter about "Social Skills and Graces" there is this:

"HOMEWORK - Making Excuses for Not Having Your Homework Done"

I do not find this appropriate and I am appalled that such a long-time publisher of quality books for our young people would include such a thing in one of their books. No, this does not seem to be an attempt at humor, it gives readers seven things to say as an excuse for not having their homework. Among these tips are:

"My baby brother drooled all over it. (This actually works, a teacher said so).

"Guest came for dinner last night and my mom had to clean the house really fast. She put it somewhere, but she can't remember where."

"We got last-minute tickets to see (check the newspaper for a game or show that night). I fell asleep in the car going home."

Am I off base here? Over-reacting? No, I don't plan to take this book away from my son, or tear out that page. Its his book. And, (his mother and I hope), he knows better than to try to pull any of the crap suggested in this book. But in a book that appears to contains so much good, useful information for soon-to-be young gentlemen, why do they suggest telling lies about homework ?

Thanks for reading my blog! As always, your comments are welcome!

Rez Life Part IV, Not in Balance or in harmony.....That's why it blew up.

Twenty years ago today, the US Space Shuttle CHALLENGER blew up shortly after taking off. (May our brave astronauts RIP) I recall sitting quietly as I heard about this tragedy on the news. At the time, I was teaching social studies and science up in the four corners area of Arizona, at Red Mesa High School. A week or so after the accident, I created a small classroom bulletin board display about the CHALLENGER, its crew and the accident.

The next day, I was seated at my desk grading some papers on my prep period when our building custodian, I'll call him Ben, came in. Ben was not just a custodian for our building. That was his "second" job. His primary job was as a Navajo "medicine man". (The section of the Navajo Nation where I taught still included many "traditional" Dine'. Medicine men were very respected members of this community.)

There are many types of 'medicine men', each is a specialist in providing one or maybe two of the many ceremonies for those Dine' who still follow the traditional path. Those seeking the services of a medicine man seek one who is a specialist at curing what ails them or providing the traditional guidance for a new stage of their life. (such as the young girl's puberty ceremony, or, the Enemy Way ceremony for someone has been away from the traditional lands of the Dine' (Navajo), as defined by their four sacred peaks for an extended period of time) The medicine man will guide the participants through the necessary steps or conduct the ceremony seeking to restore harmony and balance to the 'affected' person by having a ceremony. Think of these ceremonies as treatment.

Anyhow, Ben spent at least five minutes looking at my bulletin board display about the space shuttle disaster. Then he turned to me and said, "You know why that happened?"
I said, "Why".
Ben looked at the display, pointed to a picture of the CHALLENGER crew, and said, " Nakai Jin'nie, not supposed to do things like that." (Nakai Jin'nie is the Navajo term for black people. I was told it literally translates as "Black Mexicans" The Navajo referred to the Spanish and Mexicans as "Nakai") Ben went on to explain that it was ok for Biligaana (white people), even the women, to do things like fly up into outer space, but not the Nakai Jin'nie. "It made everything out of balance" he explained. Ben told me that the Dine' believe when someone does something they are not supposed to do, it throws things off balance and can make things dangerous. That's why it happened. It was all a matter of balance.

I wonder if there is a ceremony for restoring balance and harmony to teaching and teachers ?

Thanks for reading my blog! As always, your comments are welcome!

The Seven Things Meme.....

I got memeed (is that a new blogging word???) for the meme about the Seven Things......Sheesh, these take some thinking! I will start here, with just one of the seven.....So, here are the Seven Books or Series that I Love, in no particular order:

* The Adventures of Richard Sharpe Series by Bernard Cornwell

* Most of the series by W.E.B. Griffin (about the USMC in WWII, Cops and Good Guys
v. Bad Guys)

* Just about all the great novels written by Wilbur Smith. This got me thinking
about the parallels between the historical settlement and development of the
Western US with what occurred in Southern Africa. We (US) had Battle of the
Little BigHorn, Brits had Isandhwana, we had Mexican-American War, they had Boer
War, they have gold and diamonds, we had California Gold Rush and Comstock Lode...

* Mysteries. I like the mysteries set in Feudal Japan written by Laura Joh
Rowland, featuring Sano Ichiro as the Shogun's investigator, the Roman Mysteries
written by John Maddox Roberts (SPQR Series) and the Gordianus the Finder by
Steven Saylor, Medieval mysteries such as the Brother Cadfael series written by
Ellis Peters, the stories by Michael Jenks (Medieval West Country Mysteries)

* I like the Naval action stories of Douglas Reeman (the Blackwood Family, Royal
Marines), the Dewey Lambdin series featuring Alan Lewrie, the great series by
Patrick O'Brian featuring Jack Aubrey, RN and his trusty sidekick, Dr. Maturin.
And reading about naval actions of WWII (an uncle of mine was in the USN in
WWII).

* Westerns, such as Louis L'Amour. Many of them are like watching an old John Wayne
movie. One of the more interestingly written western novels I've read was
Blood Meridian, by Cormac McCarthy. It was about the Glanton Gang, scalp hunters
of northern Mexico who muscled in on the ferry business at the Yuma Crossing in
the early 1850's and were "massacred" by the local Quachan peoples who they
abused. (Historical note: paying for the new state of California militia to go
to the Yuma Crossing to "put down this Indian revolt" was one of the first big
debts for the state of California, about $30,000.00 dollars)

* There are SO many more, it is hard to name them all. BUT, no Harliquins or Romance
novels. Those just are not my cup of tea.

I will get to the other six "Seven Things" meme later.

Thanks for reading my blog! Your comments are welcome!

Home ?

A teaching colleague of mine, whom we'll call "J", stopped by my classroom afterschool the other day. This teacher is in his second year of teaching and I was a bit of a mentor to help him out some in his first year. He just stopped by to say hi. In the course of our conversation, I asked him how things were with his possibly someday significant other, who is living, in his words, "back home." This got me to thinking about something that I faced as a young teacher many years ago and is still being faced by many young, new to the profession teachers. Where IS home ?

My first full-time teaching position was in a public highschool in the Navajo Nation (reservation), Red Mesa High School. When I got this job, my father reminded me that I had stuff in his house, and that I needed to take it with you. "Your Mother and I have plans for your old room," he said. (It became their library). So, I loaded up my stuff and the stuff I had at my parents house and headed off to the beautiful Colorado Plateau country. My living accommodations there was a one bedroom half of an old trailer/mobile home, which was standard teacher housing for many reservation schools. Rent was dirt cheap compared to "back home" in California. It provided me with a place for my stuff.

Have you ever listened to George Carlin's great routine about having a place for your "stuff?" Its worth listening to and like much of Carlin's sctick, many of us can relate to it. Anyhow, I had a place for my stuff and a place to sleep. But it really wasn't "home". Thinking back on it, I didn't really have a "home." By definition, I wasn't homeless, but yet, I didn't have a "home." I was kinda in transition, so to speak. What exactly defines a "home?" I don't know for sure, but I know when I see it. Like right now, my boys, who are supposed to be getting ready for bed, are in our HOME. My lovely wife is getting ready to go out for the meeting/practice of her weekly local singing 'club' We have a home. A place with caring, loving people. Is it people that make a home? Can you have a 'home' by yourself?

How many young teachers leave "home" for their first teaching job and find that there is a chunk of life missing? They have no "home" and this sense of loss is tough. They have to make new friends and find new things to do in the new place they are teaching. How many schools make an effort to assist their new, from someplace different teachers get comfortable in their new locale? (from what I have seen and heard, none - let me know if you know of any). How many colleagues in the school go out of their way to make a new teacher feel welcome? Probably many. But is it "home" for the newbys ?

Thanks for reading my blog! Your comments are welcome and appreciated !