Health Ed; British style

A high school in England has an unusual approach to health class; pole dancing. According to The Sun;

"Gawking teenagers watched a busty brunette give a pole dance lesson during their school lunch break.
A packed crowd of around 1,000 teenage students – aged 14 to 19 – saw the saucy display as part of a health drive.

Students videoed the dances on their mobiles.
A row has now erupted at South Devon College in Paignton after the demonstration prompted a wave of complaints from teachers.
The demo – held in a public area of the school – was run by Sam Remmer of pole dancing company The Art of Dance.

The 32-year-old said she was invited as part of the school’s Be Healthy Week.
But returning to the college two days later for the second demonstration she was told to move inside the sports hall and away from the main public area as there had been “a number of complaints”.
She was told staff had complained that after the first performance pupils were more interested in watching their mobile phone footage than they were in their afternoon classes. "

As cool it sounds, I still prefer to see this in a smoky room filled with cheap perfume beer goggling and thinking "Yeah that stripper is really into me" or "I gotta chance with that stripper"

video here:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article2186897.ece

Why are subs such a damn crapshoot?

I have been teaching long enough to know when I have had a really good sub in my classroom and when it's someone who is just collecting a paycheck until something better comes along. Here in NashVegas that usually means when/if their country music career takes off, or when one of the songs they wrote gets picked up. I swear you can't swing a dead cat in this town without hitting someone who is trying to be a songwriter or singer or guitar player.
I had to be out three days this week with a sick child, flu in a 5-year-old really sucks. I was able to get a great sub for Monday, she followed the lesson plans and the kids work was excellent.
The sub I got on Tuesday however, wasn't so good. She was the classic, "I'm going to put everything on the board and I'm done. " Thanks, that always leads to excellent work from the students, and them getting the help they need. Come on, I don't expect much from a sub, assign the work at intervals during the day, I tell what time everything is, and let the kids work on it then and help them. It's not too tough.
Wednesday we had a snow day so I didn't have to worry about who was keeping my chair warm and making sure it didn't fly off into space.

The economy and substitutes

The local daily rag here in NashVegas had a somewhat interesting article in Sunday's paper about substitute teachers and the economy. In an article titled;

In sour economy, substitute teaching gains appeal
Metro has its pick of substitute teachers

The article goes on to discuss how the downturn in the economy has attracted subs.

The author claims that during the first half of the school year, the district filled 98 percent of teacher vacancies, compared with an 88 percent fill rate during the same period last year.
Almost half of the subs looking for work at Metro's most recent orientation last week said they were laid off from other jobs, according to Naomi Hill, coordinator for special services.
But even with the increased traffic, officials say they're still looking for more applicants.
"We just want the number to increase so when teachers are absent we can cover every class every day," Hill said.

Between 650 and 700 of Metro's 5,000 teachers are absent on any given day, Hill said. Central office staff tries to have three to four potential subs to call for any one slot, which means the district needs nearly 3,000 subs qualified to work at all times.
So far this school year, the district has hired 588 new subs as part of the 2,200 cleared to work.

I agree that it has been easier to find subs this year but what I want to know is; is NashVegas different or are the norm?

Bringin' sexy back StormTrooper style

If anyone still needs proof that we live in the greatest country in the world, the above picture should end all debate. Only in the USA can you not only buy a StormTrooper outfit you can sexy it up.
It's not as hot as the Princess Leia as a slave outfit but it's okay.

It's possibly English-Only for NashVegas

Nasville voters will decide today if English is to be the official language. The feelings on both sides of the issue have been understandibly strong and both sides have their backers. If it passes Nashville could become the largest U.S. city to make English the mandatory language for all government business. What that exactly means is unclear.

Personally I'm torn on the issue because although I'm opposed to using language to discriminate, I really don't trust the people who oppose the measure.

The proponents claim the measure will make the city operate more efficiently and cheaply because the government won't have to spend time and money translating documents. The fact is the city only spends about $500,000 right now on translating so savings is negligable so that argument to me is moot. If his goal is to make government run more efficiently, I'm sure there are better ways than this. If anything this is going to cause more headaches because no one really knows what will be translated. What is considered a health and wellness document?

What about the loss of federal dollars when/if this passes?

According to the opponents English First policy may not survive a court challenge because Title VI of the Civil Rights Act requires agencies that receive federal dollars to provide free translation services. That loss of federal dollars will total in the millions, possibly $25 million for the health department alone. Although I despise the federal government's method of compliance; "Do it or we won't give you money," it's the world we live in.

One bit of inforamtion that has gone unnoticed in all this is who is contributing.

Some of the largest contributors to Nasvilleforallofus.org represent several industries/companies that employ large numbers of immigrant workers, legal and illegal. The list includes; Steve Turner, a Gulch developer with Market Street Management, $50,000; HCA Inc., $50,000; Caterpillar Financial, $25,000; Ben Rechter, president of Rogers Group Investments, $25,000; Gaylord Entertainment, $10,000; Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau, $5,000; Vanderbilt University also gave $10,000. Each of these companies including Vanderbilt have had their issues with hiring illegal immigrants.

I guess that I can't vote for something that I feel will discriminate even if I believe that many who oppose it are doing it to ensure they can protect their bottom line.

How to spend a weekend

Winter in Tennessee isn't as bad as winter in many other places which is nice because it lets me get out and do one of my favorite things; go backpacking. With the unexpected day off on Friday, I decided to head to a wilderness area about 2 hours from NashVegas and enjoy the peace and quiet.

I went with a friend of mine who I've hiked many thousands of miles with and who shares my love of the sport. Our wives however think we are crazy for doing this and so when we get back and tell them about the trip they just shake their heads and say, you two are idiots.

Back to the trip. We hiked about 5 miles on Sunday in bright sunshine checking out several overlooks and waterfalls in the Scott's Gulf wilderness area.

After hiking down to the Caney Fork River we decided that it was a great idea to ford the river and head further south to a better campsite. So we ate a little lunch, changed into Crocs and headed out into the river. Everything was going very well despite the bitterly cold water, the only reason it wasn't a sheet of ice was that it was flowing, until my friend shouted out, "Oh sh--! I just lost one of my Crocs." Right in the middle of the river in mid-thigh deep water he was stuck with his backpack on, no socks and just one shoe. I watched the pitiful Croc float away and then turned to try to help him the rest of the way across a fast-moving freezing river barefoot. We did get across then hiked another two miles to a beautiful campsite at the next river crossing. (Yes we were going to have to do it all over again.)

We spent the rest of the evening getting a fire going to dry out our wet clothes and get ourselves warmed up. After a hearty meal of Ramen Noodles and chicken noodle soup with a side of Fig Newtons and M&Ms we discussed the world's problems, which we of course solved, and caught up on other stuff. We headed to the tents to try to get a good night's sleep before facing the freezing river again in the morning.

Monday dawned a balmy 28, with the first flakes starting to fall. At first, we thought, no biggie it's going to stop before we get too far. Nope, it snowed all morning and was still snowing when we got to the truck to head back to NashVegas.

All in all a great trip. more pics on the way.

4 day weekend

We just got a wonderful gift this afternoon here in NashVegas; Metro Schools are closing Jan. 16 due to extreme cold.The official memo:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Jan. 15, 2009) – Metro Nashville Public Schools will be closed Friday, Jan. 16, in response to forecasts of extremely cold temperatures and out of concern for student safety.
District administrators made the decision to close after reviewing weather forecasts and consulting with local meteorologists who are forecasting lows of 0-2 degrees Fahrenheit during the early hours of Jan. 16. Many MNPS students will be waiting at school bus stops, walking to school or waiting for MTA buses at the time of these low temperatures.

As a reminder, Metro Schools will also be closed Monday, Jan. 19, in celebration of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

There was much celebrating when we got the news, and yes I told my students as soon as I heard, it's pretty damn mean to keep that kind of a secret.

Not so fast little man

One of the advanages of having your child attend the same school where you teach is that you get some control over who they get as a teacher. You also get inside info, or rather unedited info, about what happens in the classroom and what the other students are doing in the class. This week I got a pretty shocking one, of my daughters' classmates wants to marry her when they get older. Some are saying, " How nice"; "Isn't that cute";

Not dad.

He's saying, "Um, little man, you're in kindergarten, the only thing you should be worrying about is learning how to tie your shoe and learning how to read." It's nice you like my daughter and you're a nice kid, but let's wait 15, or better yet, 20 years or so before we start deciding who we are going to marry. You've got nothing but time.

That isn't a picture oof the boy who wants to marry her in the picture. Duh, I have to protect the innocent.

My ultra-creative reading program

I am currently using, with great success the most creative, exciting and simplest reading program ever.

Unfortunately I won't make any money off my invention because it's not really my idea.

I can't even re-package it into the latest thing. I wouldn't feel right even if I could because it's so simple that every teacher should do it yet it's only done in Kindergarten, in 1st and sometimes in 2nd. It's rarely done in 3rd or 4th and from 5th grade on up it's totally abandoned. It a program all parents can do yet most would rather spend hundreds even thousands of dollars sending their children to any of the tutoring services and/or to private school.

This ultra-creative program is reading aloud to my students and they in turn read to the Kindergarten ESL/ELL classes every Friday. I choose one book for them or I check out a class set of the same title and they choose one to read to their Kindergarten reading buddy.

What? Reading aloud? Where is the comprehension questions? The vocabulary? The predicting? The analogies? In short where are the worksheets?

I'll answer them from last to first.

1. There are no worksheets. 2. The analogies are in many stories and come from the vocabulary building we do. 3. That's an easy one, just ask them what is happening next and why they think so. 4. Vocab is all over in the books we read. I pick the some words I think they don't know and then add to the list or take away from the list as we read the books. Sometimes they know more vocab than I think they do and sometimes my list to too short. 5. I have them write comprehension questions to the books they are reading, they ask their book buddies the questions as they read to them.

Is it perfect? No. But it is the best thing I have found to help my ESL/ELL students learn how to read fluently and to increase their comprehension. And it teaches them the most important reason most people read; for the pleasure of it. The pictures are from my class reading to their book buddies.

Is this even news anymore?

It's a tired story but one that reappears in the news all the time.

Teacher seduces and sleeps with student. Teacher has Facebook and MySpace accounts and talks about student on both. What makes this case different? They had sex over 3o0 times between February 2006 and November 2007 and it didn't happen in Florida, it happened outside Boston. The teacher, Christine McCallum is 29 and is on leave from her position at Abington Elementary School. The picture is her and her husband Scott from Facebook.

According to the Boston Herald; "Her alleged teenage conquest told police they had sex more than 300 times - almost “every other day” while he was 13, 14 and 15 years old. The boy told police they had sex for the first time Feb. 7, 2006, on a couch at McCallum’s Rockland home while her husband slept upstairs, according to a police report.
McCallum and the boy had unprotected sex in the shower, on the kitchen floor and the living room floor on a green shag rug that was seized yesterday as a result of a search warrant, court documents say."

The teacher is denying everything saying; McCallum’s lawyer, Frederick McDermott, said McCallum took in the boy and his younger brother, who were being raised by a single dad. She denies all the allegations.
“She tried to mother the child because she felt sorry for them,” he said.

But the boy and several other facts seem to tell a much different story.

McCallum weaved her way into the boy’s life in late 2005, prosecutors said, when she became a tutor for his younger brother, let them stay at her house, emptied their backpacks after school, fed them dinner and gave them rides.
But within months, prosecutors said, McCallum was plying the boy with cranberry and vodka drinks, Jell-o shots and rum, and sleeping with him in her house and his house.
McCallum ended the relationship in November 2007 in a fit of jealousy, after she found out he was using the cell phone she bought him to text other girls, police said. They had sex that night for the last time, police said.
“She was crying. She kissed him and told him she loved him. He told her he loved her,” according to a police report.
Plymouth prosecutor Michael Scott said McCallum was “obsessed” with the boy, writing the boy 10 love letters. “I would choose you over this job,” she wrote, Scott said. “I trust you that ‘this’ can work.”
In a MySpace [website] message, McCallum wrote that she struggled with her desires, Scott said. “It’s hard to be with you and set boundaries,” she allegedly wrote. “It’s hard to kiss you and tell you no.”

WTF?!

Atlanta ends alternative learning program

The Atlanta Board of Education has decided to end it's alternative education program and dismiss alternate education Director Elven Duvall. The internal investigation conducted by superintendent Teresa Stauffer found that Duvall was providing students with answers on their GED tests and in several instances, completing the tests for them.

That's correct, the director was not only providing answers to the tests but doing it for them. With help like that why are people so worried about a few parents doing their kids homework or a project. What about the kids who didn't get help and failed these tests? How do they feel? We'll probably never know ho many kids actually passed the tests on their own or which of them got a diploma or passed to the next grade because of this. It's also pretty sad that it was a kid who noticed this practice and not another teacher or an administrator.

From the Atlanta Journal Constitution:
The first complaint was from a girl who had left some of her answers blank," board President Janette Sarkozi said. "She was told to go to lunch and when she came back to resume the test, the answers were filled in. She informed us, because she wanted to pass the test herself."
Another student twice had failed the reading section of the GED badly. The third time the test was submitted she scored 550 out of 600 possible points. The score differential raised red flags to the staff, which also noticed the handwriting was not that of the girl, but Duvall's.
"The whole matter was resolved very quickly and in the long run the proposals Teresa brought us will help the students who are struggling," Sarkozi said. "I think everything is out in the open now and we can move on."
The alternate education program itself has been a cause of concern for Stauffer and the board. There are questions remaining about attendance numbers. In the end, a decision was made by the board to close up shop.
"The closing has been coming since last year," Sarkozi said. "We have been concerned it wasn't being run properly and didn't know if it was in compliance with state regulations. If it wasn't, the state could have stepped in and closed it for five years."
The students have the option of transferring to Atlanta High School for the second semester if they choose. There, they will take regular classes and several online courses. As it stands now, five students are on track to graduate this spring.
"We want to do what is best for the kids, Sarkozi said. "We didn't feel the alternate education program was functioning correctly and the kids weren't learning the life lessons the way they needed to be."
At least one teacher who was involved in the program will be moving to the high school. Math teacher Crystal Horrocks will join some of her students when the second semester begins.
Sarkozi believes Duvall will put the incident behind him and stay away from legal action against the school and its governing body.
"I don't think there will be any fallout from him," Sarkozi said. "He requested an open public meeting and so we did. He didn't even show up. We went to his house to let him know what the board's actions were and he wouldn't answer the door. Time to move on."

I'm not going skiing with this moron

I'm heading out for a few days of skiing in the glorious Colorado mountains. I haven't been in about 5 years but I'm pretty sure I can handle the lift better than this guy.

I can't figure out what he was doing, the quad lift is a pretty simple machine, you sit down and wait, not too damn difficult.

Judging by the first picture, it was pretty cold in Vail when dumbass did this.

Photo from the Smoking Gun.

Home-schooling

As if we teachers didn't already realize it, more children are being taken out of public schools are are being home-schooled. For years parents were pulling their children out of schools because they wanted a more religious or moral education than was being offered in public schools. But in a recent survey a new reason has emerged why parents are choosing home-schooling: too much testing in public schools.

Really, what gave them that idea, the fact that it's in every newsletter we send home, it's on every school district website or is it that we are always sending home little hints and ideas on how to help your child test better. Is it because we talk about it at every conference we have with parents?

The 2007 survey by Education's National Center for Education Statistics added a seventh: an interest in a "nontraditional approach," a reference to parents, dubbed "unschoolers," who regard standard curriculum methods and standardized testing as counterproductive to a quality education. What a shock. You mean a parent who didn't take hours of education classes can figure out that we test children too much while our education leaders still think that the answer to improving education is to test more?

Good thing Barack Obama has appointed Arne Duncan, the former head of Chicago Public Schools who believes in one thing: testing and more testing. Yup, change we can believe in.

Some data:

The ranks of America's home-schooled children have continued a steady climb over the past five years, and new research suggests broader reasons for the appeal.
The number of home-schooled kids hit 1.5 million in 2007, up 74 percent from when the Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics started keeping track in 1999, and up 36 percent since 2003. The percentage of the school-age population that was home-schooled in-creased from 2.2 percent in 2003 to 2.9 percent in 2007.

Back to work Monday

After another great Christmas break, it's back to work on Monday. The students return on Tuesday so Monday will be spent wasting several hours in meetings, interpreting data and listening to someone complain about how much paper we are using to make copies. Man am I looking forward to next week...