The Girl loves jumping, so we did the logical thing: bought an exercise trampoline.
She wasn't always as successful as that, though.
One thing is certain: she'll jump until she's drenched with sweat.
Might as Well Jump
general
Table Rock
I've been writing all day. Planning lessons (putting the finishing touches on a unit about the memoir in which we study Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings) and preparing materials for my PAS-T notebook. The former I don't mind; the latter is a hastle.
PAS-T is an acronym for "Pain in the..." -- no, rather it's "Performance Assessment System for Teachers". It is, in short, a pile of paperwork that I am to provide three different evaluators as they come through my classroom two times each throughout the year for formal observations. My PAS-T notebook is to include things like,
- Summary of plan for integrating instruction
- Class profile
- Annotated list/samples/photos of instructional activities/materials/displays
- Lesson/intervention plan
- Summary of staff consultations
- Syllabus
- Lesson plan(s)
- Differentiation
- Annotated photos of class activities
- Sample handouts/transparencies/Thinking Maps
- Student samples of technology integration
- Record-keeping/monitory system
- Labeled and dated grades
- Teacher-made tests/assessments
- Example grading rubric
- Grading procedures
- Student work with feedback
- Progress reports/letters for parents/students
- Survey and summary
- Class rules with description of development procedures/reinforcement system
- Classroom diagram with comments/alternative room arrangement
- Class schedule
- Explanation of behavior management philosophy/procedures
- A printed copy of the teacher's home page
- Log of rapport building efforts (notes, calls, conferences)
- Copy of newsletter
- Agenda from orientation/fieldtrip
- Documentation of Technology Proficiency or letter of intent
- Resume
- Certificates, agendas, support materials from presentations given
- Certificates, agendas, support materials from presentations attended
- Documentation of membership/participation in professional organizations
- Performance goal setting forms
- Chart of student progress throughout year
- Analysis of grades for marking period
- Log of collegial collaboration
- Documentation of meeting established annual goals
It is difficult to think of this as more than busy work. I mean, how useful can a classroom diagram with comments be to an evaluator who's sitting in my classroom?
I'm all for accoutability, but this is starting to feel like an extra burden.
Still, I will perservere, and I will get only "Exemplory" ratings because anything else would drive me mad. If I'm to jump through hoops, I want to jump through them while juggling chainsaws and lecturing on Kant -- I want to blow people's minds.
Fortunately, I didn't spend the whole weekend at a desk; we spent some of it at a table, so to speak: Table Rock State Park, which means more hiking and more waterfalls.
Such a burden.
America’s “Brain-Dead” Politics
Fareed Zakaria on America's political system.
"We have lost the ability to [accept] any short term pain for long term gain. [...] We have become fat, and dumb, and happy, and arrogant. [...] Just as this world is opening up, we are closing down."
Two Projects
First major project of this weekend: the deck.
Before:
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After cleaning and sanding:
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Second major project: recovering from installing Windows XP Service Pack 3. "Within hours of its release, Microsoft's Service Pack 3 for Windows XP began drawing hundreds of complaints from users who claim the update is wreaking havoc on their PCs" I later discovered (source). That was in May, and apparently it's still not fixed.
A half-project of taking our Jetta in for a flat tire fix provides a striking contrast. "Imagine if everyone provided service like that," I said to K. "We'd go to pick up our car and find someone in the shop had opened the hood and taken a sledgehammer to the engine: it would look the same, but would never work again."
Yet another mind-numbing example of the "mystery" of the Microsoft monopoly: crappy products that rule the world.
Dupont Forest
Dupont Forest is one of those places K has wanted to go for a long time, but time and circumstance prevented us. School, exams, life...we only last week made it to the state park.
Most notable: waterfalls.
It's a short drive from our place, but it seems like a different world. Cool mountain air, wonderful views -- the perfect Sunday outing.
We weren't the only ones to think that.
At the top of the enormous rock down which kids were sliding was a covered bridge -- I swear it looked bigger from the bottom of the falls.
The Girl didn't seem to mind, though.
God of Gas
Effective use of knee time.
Forget Congress. Forget President Bush. About four months ago, frustrated by the apparently immutable laws of supply and demand, Rocky Twyman turned to a higher authority in his quest for cheaper gasoline.
The recent dip in prices, he says, is proof of divine intervention.
"Prayer is the answer to every problem in life," said Twyman, founder of the Pray at the Pump movement, whose members huddle around gas pumps and ask the Almighty to lower gasoline prices.
Group gives thanks to the Lord -- for lower gasoline prices - Los Angeles Times
Satanic Verses 2
Talking
The Girl has been talking more and more, though the developments are slow. She is, after all, learning two languages. She mainly favors English, but she does use a few Polish words, and as any child her age, she has some of her own inventions:
Polish Words
- dać
- uwaga
- tam
English Words
- hug
- socks
- shoe
- milk
- baby
- juice
- hot
- wet
- help
- more
- dog
- pizza
- down
L-isms
- "Ba-ba" is banana.
- "Moo-Moo" is her favorite cheese, aptly named as there's a drawing of a cow on the package.
- "Meow!" is cat.
- "Shhhh" is sleep.
- "Sha-sha" is outside.
The budding bilingualism can lead to amusement.
When K went to pick L up from daycare, L's now-good friend, J, helped L gather her things. It's a daily occurrence, usually looking for "Baby." L, however, has become particularly fond of a little teddy bear ("miÅ›" in Polish) and that's her daily companion.
K entered the room and immediately J, helpful as always, began running around the room, looking for the teddy bear, saying, "Misio! Misio!" And so our daughter is only 19 months old and already a language teacher.
On the way out, K told L she should say goodbye to the frog on the door mat.
"Powiedz 'bye' żabie," K suggested.
"Bye, frog!" L responded.
Resources
We often hear schools' complaints about the lack of this or that resource. I always assumed that was because of lacking something more fundamental: money.
I found out yesterday how wrong that simplistic thinking could be.
My wife brought me a computer from her office some time ago. "It doesn't have any memory," she said, "And there's no operating system installed, but maybe you can use it."
Can I use it? Of course I can use it. No teacher complains about having too many computers for his students.
The plan was simple: at the beginning of the year, I would take some of the funding I get from the state for supplies, buy a half-gig of memory, load some form of Linux on it, and I'd have a new computer for my room.
In talking to a fellow teacher, though, I learned that it might not be so simple. I went to our school's IT guy for clarification.
Short answer: sure, I can use it, but no student can touch it.
It seems we have a contract with a particular computer manufacturer that stipulates two things:
- Each computer for student use must be purchased through through Distributor X. That rules out using my computer.
- Each computer for student use must be running Windows XP. That rules out the closet full of laptops I discovered we have, sitting unused because they have Windows 2000 on them.
Now, it seems to me that if Computer Manufacturer X was really interested in educating students that they wouldn't really care whether or not we use other computers or use other operating systems. It seems that teachers wouldn't be punished for taking some initiative to get more materials for students.
But underlying that would be a mistaken understanding of the nature of the capitolistic drive, wouldn't it?
Busy
School is starting up again. I've been moved to a new room, which means reorganization. I'm teaching new courses, including English I Honors -- a high school class taught in eighth grade. Translation: bright, motivated students. Additionally, I'm coaching the girls' volleyball team this year. And I'm going through my formal evaluation this year.
In other words, no time. For this, or anything else.
Ideas abound; time doesn't.