Blogging vacation

Now that spring is trying to tease us with a little bit of warm weather here in NashVegas; it means that three things are about to happen.

1. It's very close to testing time here in NashVegas which means one thing; it's time to cram as much into each day as we can. Less time to blog at work.

2. Soccer season is almost upon us which means practice and games and most importantly watching the almost 6 year-old play. Less time to blog after work.

3. Finally, the spring lawncare season is starting up which means less time to blog at night and on the weekends.

Conclusion: less blogging

Two things that won't suffer: 1. time with family 2. Beer industry

Thanks to Thisisindexed.com for the fabulous description of my life right now.

7 Boxes of math manipulatives

I received 7 boxes of math manipulatives today, it was the ETA Cuisenaire Super Source Kit. I haven't even begun to look at everything there is, it's a little overwhelming. I know we are supposed to stand up and cheer everytime we get something, or in this case a boatload of stuff, but I'm not cheering yet. My first thought was just where was I going to put all this stuff. Most should fit in the three drawer cases but not all of it will. I know what I don't see I'll never use so I have to put it where I'll use the manipulatives for teaching math. After I figure that out I'll then be faced with how to use them.

Here's what came in my 7 boxes of fun:

1. The Super Source® Pattern Blocks Kits
Everything teachers need to explore geometry and patterning with students in the classroom! Each kit comes with a Super Source Pattern Blocks Teacher Resource Book, five VersaTote® Storage Containers of Pattern Blocks in either wood or plastic, and Overhead Pattern Blocks—enough materials for 30 students. Grades K-6.

2.The Super Source® Cuisenaire® Rods Kits
A complete kit to investigate and visually represent math concepts using Cuisenaire Rods! Each kit contains a grade-level-specific Super Source Teacher Resource Book; 12 Trays of 74 wood, plastic, or Connecting Cuisenaire Rods; Overhead Cuisenaire Rods; and a Cuisenaire Rods Template. Kits include enough materials for an entire class working in groups. Grades K-6.

3.The Super Source® Geoboards Kits
Encourage students to explore shapes and symmetry and to solve problems with these exciting Geoboard Kits! Includes The Super Source Geoboards Teacher Resource Book, 30 Geoboards, 1 Overhead 5 x 5-pin Geoboard, and 1 Overhead Circular Geoboard—enough materials for 30 students. Grades K-6.

4.The Super Source® Color Tiles Kits

Here is an all-in-one resource for hands-on arithmetic and geometric understanding! Each kit contains one Super Source Teacher Resource Book, four VersaTote® Storage Containers with 400 Color Tiles each, and a set of Overhead Color Tiles (plastic or ManipuLite® )—enough materials for 30 students. Grades K-6.

5.The Super Source® Tangrams Kits
These kits are packed with grade-appropriate activities for developing tactile recognition and enhancing estimation skills! Each kit comes with the Super Source Tangrams Teacher Resource Book, 24 Sets of Tangrams in a VersaTote® Storage Container, Overhead Tangrams, and a Tangrams Template. Grades K-6.

6.The Super Source® Snap Cubes® Kits
The Super Source Snap Cubes Kits—Packaged to Meet a Variety of Classroom Needs!
Build bridges between concrete experiences and abstract mathematical concepts with these bountiful kits! Includes The Super Source Snap Cubes Teacher Resource Book, 1,000 Snap Cubes (enough for 30 students), and a set of overhead Snap Cubes. Grades K-6.

7.The Super Source® Base Ten Blocks Kits
Use this exciting manipulative kit to develop students' critical-thinking skills, number sense, understanding of place value, and more! Kit contains a Super Source Teacher Resource Book, one set of Overhead Base Ten Blocks, and enough Base Ten Blocks for 24–30 students. Grades 1-6.

Teachers; Let's be professionals

Teachers are always wanting people to respect us more and to treat us like professionals. It's not an outlandish request, treat us like you do doctors, lawyers, business people, it's not that much to ask. But in fairness we teachers have to, absolutely have to stop doing things like this.

From the Tennessean:
"A third-grade Metro Nashville teacher is on paid leave after he confessed to taping several students' mouths shut and taping another student to a chair.
Kevin Ray, a teacher at Park Avenue Elementary, was suspended Feb. 6 after he reported the incident to the principal, said June Keel, head of human resources for Metro Schools. Ray could not immediately be reached for comment.
Keel said Ray reported the incident after realizing it was not an appropriate form of discipline.
He allegedly taped the students with packaging tape after they would not quit talking and taped one little girl to the chair while she took a test.
District officials are investigating the case and said they expect to have a decision on Ray's punishment by the end of the week. This is Ray’s first year teaching in Metro Schools. Park Avenue is located in North Nashville and has an enrollment of about 228 students. Principal Deltina Braden declined to comment. "


Finally, since Mr. Ray isn't tenured I would venture to say that he can find work elsewhere, if he were tenured, he would probably be moved.

What does an E mean?

This is the story about the kid, his parents were tired of him not getting better grades, of not even trying to get better grades. According to his parents they had done everything except turn in the work for him. So fed up by their son's lack of effort, his parents came up with the idea as a way to get through to the 15-year-old Western Branch High School freshman.

"He hadn't been trying at all," said the Rev. Donald General Jr., pastor of Perfecting Saints Church of God in Christ in Virginia Beach. "He's not even handing in work he does when we supervise him. My wife and I are not going to give up on Tre."

General and his wife, Tanyeil, say there is no excuse for lousy grades, especially since they said they both have several academic degrees.
As for their son, he hates it and has no plans to do be out on the street again. "It sucks," said Trenton, who apparently got the message. "I don't want to be out here again. I know that much."

I would agree with him except I have no idea what a grade of "E" means. I have the sneaking suspicion that it has something to do with students' self-esteem, and not wanting to make them feel bad if they have done poorly in a class.
Anyone know for sure what an "E" is and why it's being used.

The required list of 25 things

Since I cannot get Facebook at work, I am limited to how much time I can waste finding people I was friends with, people I don't remember going to school with and avoiding others. Despite these obstacles I have completed my required 25 things so here they are.

25 things about me

1. I ’m thankful for my wife and our lovely daughter

2. I’m looking forward to going skiing in Colorado

3. The first car I had after college was a 72 Dodge Dart with a slant-6, it was a step up from the 77 Civic I had in high school

4. The only Van Halen on my iPod is from the Diamond Dave years, especially Diver Down and VH1

5. I miss “Survivorman”

6. I love reading to my daughter at bedtime, especially Knuffle Bunny and SkippyJon Jones

7. I watch the First 48 whenever it's in Memphis to see if I can figure out where they are

8. There is nothing better than a cold beer after working outside in the summer, or during a football game or with couple of buddies around a campfire, I could go on but I won't.

9. My best friends are all from college and after, I was finally a little more comfortable with myself after high school

10. I wish people who say they were Christians would act alot more Christian

11. I like teaching especially the interactions with the kids, I hate the paperwork and grading papers

12. My wife and I met in bar in downtown NashVegas, I told I might call her back, she thought I was a complete jerk. Thank goodness I called her back.

13. Whenever I don't like how things are going for me or in my life, I can think of at least 10 kids in my class who's families have it so much worse than I do

14. I've always treated the secretaries, custodians and cafeteria ladies as well as I could at every school where I have worked. Each one can make your job a living hell in their own special way.
15. I was just getting to know my dad when he passed away, in a weird coincidence he died on the same date as his mother and the exact same day of the Oklahoma City bombing

16. I want to go backpacking and camping with my family and friends more often

17. I love living in NashVegas, it's the only place in the country you can see Nicole Kidman, Taylor Swift and Peter Frampton in the same day and not see anyone taking their picture or hassling them.

18. If I could make money writing a blog about football, or if I could cover the NFL, I would quit teaching

19. I'm pretty sure I'm going to see some of my former students on either Dog the Bounty Hunter or Gangland

20. I have gotten a speeding ticket in at least 10 different counties in TN and have gone to traffic school in each of those counties

21. I'm sad that my daughter has already finished half of kindergarten

22. I'm 6' tall and I'm the shortest guy in my family.

23. September is too damn hot here, I'm ready for cool fall weather after Labor Day, not more August heat

24. My wife and I are on the wall at the Villager, we dressed as Pamela and Tommy Lee for Halloween, still the funnest costume of my life

25. I prefer Cracker Barrel to Starbucks

There they are, you can read them, comment on them, enjoy them or just ignore them.

Bonnaroo: The Best Music Festival of 2009

If you, or anyone else, are looking for four days of great music, you can't beat Bonnaroo. The Bonnaroo Music Festival has always gotten a wide range of musical acts and this year is no different. The acts this year span the music spectrum for The Boss to Snoop Dogg to Merle Haggard, truly something for everyone. The 8th annual Bonnaroo Music Festival will be held on June 11- 14 on the same location as previous years, a 700-acre farm in Manchester, TN. Here are the scheduled acts of this year's festival:

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

Phish (2 Shows)

Beastie Boys

Nine Inch Nails

David Byrne

Wilco

Al Green

Snoop Dogg

Elvis Costello

Solo

Erykah Badu

Paul Oakenfold

Ben Harper and Relentless7

The Mars

Volta

TV on the Radio

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Gov’t Mule

Andrew Bird

Merle Haggard

MGMTmoe.

The Decemberists

Girl Talk

Bon Iver

Béla Fleck & Toumani Diabate

Rodrigo y Gabriela

Galactic

The Del McCoury Bandof Montreal

Allen Toussaint

Coheed and Cambria

Booker T & the DBTs

David Grisman Quintet

Lucinda Williams

Animal Collective

Gomez

Neko Case

Down

Jenny Lewis

Santogold

Robert Earl Keen

Citizen Cope

Femi Kuti and the Positive Force

The Ting Tings

Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus

3Grace Potter and the Nocturnals

Kaki KingGrizzly Bear

King Sunny

AdéOkkervil

RiverSt. Vincent

Zac Brown Band

Raphael Saadiq

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists

Crystal Castles

Tift Merritt

Brett Dennen

Mike Farris and the Roseland Rhythm Revue

Toubab Krewe

People Under the Stairs

Alejandro Escovedo

Vieux Farka Touré

Elvis Perkins In Dearland

Cherryholmes

Yeasayer

Todd Snider

Chairlift

Portugal.

The Man.

The SteelDrivers

Midnite

The Knux

The Low Anthem

Delta Spirit

A.A. Bondy

The Lovell Sisters

Alberta Cross

Band of Horses

Appoint or elect?

Tennessee has never been at the forefront of education reform, unless you count your state not requiring districts buy textbooks for every student progressive. Now the Tennessee legislature is looking into allowing school districts to elect their district superintendents.
A bit of history; 17 years ago, when the state launched another major effort aimed at catching students up with the national average. Back then, those who advocated for appointed superintendents said they were key to catching Tennessee's students up with their national peers.

The appointing advocates won and elected superintendents were abolished. Guess what happened? That's right; Tennessee remained in the bottom half of most educational rankings.

Studies by the state comptroller's office and the Southern Regional Education Board show that how superintendents are installed makes little difference in student performance. The only states where elected superintendents still call the shots are Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, and even in those states, some counties opt for appointed superintendents. The three states were ranked at a C-plus or lower in Education Week, a respected national K-12 education journal.

The idea of picking school chiefs through ballots instead of job interviews isn't common outside the South, education experts say. Some in academically high-achieving states say they wouldn't consider a switch to elections.

If the way a superintendent is chosen makes little to no difference to student achievement then why is the legislature taking up the issue? Because they can and it seems like a great idea.