Two vastly different newspapers have recently blamed me for the problems in education.  I am too greedy, too selfish and out for all I can get.  I am apparently, not at all interested in teaching… Read full post »

Grades for the first trimester closed on Friday, 11/13.  I had to turn in my report cards, completed, today for review by my principal. 

When my report cards were returned to me, they included a memo that outlined how my report card graded did not reflect the online assessment tool… Read full post »

No one is going to win this "Race to the Top".   It hurts to listen to President Obama or Education Secretary Arne Duncan talk about it.   It is wrong to set up education as a competition.  Compulsory education for everyone cannot be a race or competitive.  This sets up… Read full post »

The information, as presented to me today, was akin to someone telling me the world was, after all, flat.  And here is the proof.  And what you thought about the world has been wrong all along.  And it was presented with such assuredness, that I had to see the truth in… Read full post »

I have started reading The Evolution of Calpernia Tate to my class.  I actually downloaded (uploaded - I can never get that right) it to my Kindle over the summer and loved it.  I decided then that I would have to read it to students.

The book tells… Read full post »

We had a meeting after school today.  The other shoe has dropped.  Even though our school has an API of over 800 (Academic Performance Index), and overall we made our AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress), we missed the mark in two subgroups - Hispanics… Read full post »

Today, we talked about tape in class.  We use tape (yes, the sticky kind) quite a bit.  We have notebooks that we write in and add information by taping it in.  If the tape is left on the desks, it is soon gone.  Ten year olds find quite a bit of… Read full post »

One of the teachers at my school told me that she just received the h1n1 vaccine.

The CDC guidelines are as follows: 

CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has recommended that certain groups of the population receive the 2009 H1N1 vaccine when it first become… Read full post »

This weekend, two of my former students were accepted to college.  They went to Humboldt State University's early admissions day and were accepted on the spot.  I am not surprised, but it still makes me very happy.

At the end of each year, students leave the classroom and I don't… Read full post »

Whenever something comes up at school that we want to do, the first question is "how are we going to pay for this?"  It is the big question for every thing we do.

There are so many things we want to do and need to do, but the funding just… Read full post »

We have a new math curriculum (see previous post re: thumb tacks).  It has been a huge adjustment for both the students and the teachers. We are trying.  We are persevering.  We are not being too successful.

One of the limitations to the program is that it is a… Read full post »

I was out of the classroom a couple of days last week.   I was helping my school assess all of our English language learners.  Every year, we need to administer the California English Language Development Test (CELDT) to every student who is still acquiring English language skills.

&n… Read full post »

I teach fifth grade.  My students are 9 and 10 years old.  They are nice kids, and usually well behaved (well, ignore that earlier post about the fight). 

This is a diret quote from my new math curriculum.  See if you can spot the potential problem. 

"Demonstrate how you wan… Read full post »

My school is very diverse.  There are students in my class whose parents come from all over the world, and those who were raised right in here in the bay area.  Each student comes with an amazing and rich world of different experiences, as well as the common experiences of living… Read full post »

An entry in three parts:

 Substitutes:

I had a substitute today.  Michael is his name, and he subs at our school often.  It is so much work to have a sub.  You basically have to tell someone else what to do minute by minute for the entire day.  It… Read full post »

When we leave or enter the room, I let them in the room a few at a time, to minimize the craziness when they come in or rush out.  When giving this instruction the first time, I tell the students about the Who concert in 1979.  I am not having a… Read full post »

When we were teenagers, my sister and I were on a swim team.  I wasn't good, but I wasn't terrible either.  I was fine.  My father, who hated all kinds of competition in a super competitive way, used to tell us that he knew a way we could win every race… Read full post »

When we were teenagers, my sister and I were on a swim team.  I wasn't good, but I wasn't terrible either.  I was fine.  My father, who hated all kinds of competition in a super competitive way, used to tell us that he knew a way we could win every race… Read full post »

Our test scores are fine.  They are better than average, but low for our district.  Our school does very well compared to other schools with 35% free/reduced lunch qualifying students, but that is not what people use to compare us and decide if we are doing a good job.  Sure, our… Read full post »

Sometimes I think I have heard everything - that there isn't something a student could tell me that I haven't heard before.  I had a student tell me about the accident his father was in before he was taken to jail.  I had a little girl tell me her father… Read full post »

A couple of days ago, our principal experienced a personal tragedy.  A close relative and dear friend of hers is dying.  She has had to take some time off and this has affected us all.

We are a close-knit family at our school.  Our staff of 23… Read full post »

Today, as was discussed on Friday, we all tried to fill in to the MPU (multipurpose room) to watch our President address the school children.  In doing so, we faced two big barriers, neither of them political. 

First and foremost, our custodian was out.  She has been overworked l… Read full post »

Today is Labor Day.  We (my family) are all home - including the one daughter who has just started college hours away- and doing what we like to do best - nothing.  We are enjoying the nothing, knowing that it won't last.  

 Tomorrow, though, I face controversy.  My class, al… Read full post »

Today, I got up and did it all over again.  It was the second day of school.  Today, they lined up in the right spots and seemed to have some of the routine down.  It was smooth as laughing cow cheese.

 Today did bring the first assessment I had to… Read full post »

Today was the first day of school.  It was short and sweet.  Everyone is always on thier best behavior on the first day.  The students seemed intimidated, as I know few of them.  For the few have had brothers and sisters in my class, things were a bit more relaxed.  All… Read full post »