When you make a test harder..

I think this is very interesting. I just saw the internet article about the Chicago Bears chances of beating the Packers. Here is Tillman's response:

"Mr. Amrein,

This is Charles "Peanut" Tillman of the Chicago Bears and I'm shocked that you would have a problem like this for your students. The probability that the Bears would win in my opinion is 100%. Please do not and I repeat DO NOT send them home with math homework that is disrespectful to our team, city and our beloved Chicago Bears.

Your All Pro Corner
Charles "Peanut" Tillman
33
Geaux Bears"

His grammar, spelling, and punctuation are nearly flawless. He had no time to revise and edit. Compare that to the hack that is the Director of Curriculum and Instruction(Mr. Hack) in the ISD referenced earlier.

He had plenty of time for revising and editing. He also has a secretary who works for him, who could have helped revise and edit his email for him.

In fact, before I ever heard from Mr. Hack, I heard from his secretary:

"XXX xxxxxxxxx is in receipt of your email. He has been in meetings all day today. His calendar is just as busy tomorrow. He is sorry he has not been able to respond, but asked that I let you know that he did receive your email."

Notice her grammar, spelling, and punctuation are so much better than Mr. Hack's.

I really think this guy would have trouble earning a 70% grade on the 4th grade STAAR revising and editing test.

One more thing. I emailed the principal, and I received a prompt, professional reply from him. I thanked him for his professionalism.

His answer is that he is not losing an Instructional Specialist, he will have both an Instructional Specialist and a Dean. I told him we just disagree on the best way to deploy ISs. I explained to him how a good IS can be both a teacher of teachers and tutor students before during and after school.

I don't expect another response from him. This principal has provided the most professional communication I've experienced in the last several months from this district.

This district has some people who are totally incompetent at using email.

To me, this begs the question. If you're really that bad at using email to communicate to your taxpayers, how well can you complete even the simplest task that your job requires?
 
WE have so many great teachers on WM.
I would like to know how you were taught when you were in school?
looking back do you think it was as convoluted?Do you think your school districts held meetings each year with the newest techniques comprised of the most buzz aords one can put in a paragraph?

In today's Dallas paper Irving ISD announced a new ' exciting' approach to education wherein a SAFE nuturing atmosphere for learning would be created.

whiteflag.gif
 
6721, I don't know if you're serious or not, but I will tell you a story or two. I attended elementary school in the early 70s, in Austin ISD. Summitt was an old, and I mean old building.

We had no air conditioning, no PE class, no Art class, no Principal, it was nothing like today. (we had a "head teacher" who acted as principal)
We did have music class!!!

There was one teacher for each grade level. I remember we had 30 something kids in 3rd grade, exactly 40 in fourth grade, and something higher than that in 5th grade.

In fourth grade we all became experts at alliteration, because our teacher was Mrs. Killian. Her nickname was "killer Killian", because she was so mean. You can imagine the sentences we came up with.

In hindsight, of course she was mean, she had 40 students in one classroom.

In fifth grade the head teacher would take about half of us outside during a good portion of the day to have some kind of extended recess or something, that way the 5th grade teacher had a manageable group of about 20 something. (we had plenty of time outside in 4th grade also)

We had SRAs. We had the record player spinning, shouting out multiplication facts. I was an expert at the record player math facts exercise. The facts were shouted out every 5 seconds or every 3 seconds. When the teacher put on the 3 seconds pace, you didn't have time to do anything but write the answer on the paper.

In my class, we had a kid who today has to be one of the world's greatest aerospace engineers. That's because during one of our extended outdoor times, we made parachutes and threw them up in the air.

One day Jimmy threw his up in the air and the chute caught a gust of wind, and went higher, and higher. We all went nuts, yelling and screaming. It was incredible. The thing finally came down in a nearby field.

By itself, no big deal.

But, the next year we were making paper airplanes. That's right, the same thing happened. Jimmy!! I don't remember which went higher, the airplane, or the parachute.
 
orangecat
That is EXACTLY what I was asking.
And in spite of everything , old building. NO Ac ,no facilitators, no coffee bars etc would you say most of your class actually learned?

or perhaps some did but many did not and that is why things changed?
What happened to the ones who didn't learn?

I wish I believed that all the bs going on in schools now really does result in more students actually learning. instead i see a cash cow for companies that come up with the next new best thing and I see overpaid administrators spewing the stupidest inane crap and no one calls them on it.
When that newest next best thing doesn't work they find another.
meanwhile the kids seem to be learning less and less.

I don't know how you stay sane
 
Ivan,

Go spend some time at Crockett or LBJ (non magnet classes) or Travis High. What you will see is that many of these kids have only one parent at home, or have two parents but are first or second generation Americans who might not have English spoken at home, and whose parent(s) have jobs that do not require a degree. Many of these kids do not value college. They simply want to work. There is no emphasis on higher education, only work.

The state of Texas is oblivious to this fact, and the testing standards penalize this. The system is broken and is trying to force all these kids at these schools to conform to a system much more suited to Westlake or Lake Travis where kids have parents who do have degrees and who do stress higher education.
 
mrD
to your wife
bow.gif

She says, "I need a chalkboard, chalk, and to be left alone."


From having read Cedar AB and larry I am pretty sure they feel the same way.

As much sa i did not want to risk the ire of my parent( yes My Mother was rearing us in a single parent home back then) I also did not dare to risk the ire or disappointment of my teachers.

I understand many kids have single parent homes and parents who work very hard BUT for crying out loud we are offering these kids 2 meals and a snack all year round, free school supplies and in many cases extra money for clothing
and FREE Education with extra teachers who teach them in Spanish until the 5th grade. Most schools provide tutors. Notes get sent home daily to encourage involvement, Notes written in spanish.

And the thanks for doing all this?
Rude undisciplined students who do not care and know nothing can be done to them. stidents who become dangerous to teachers by 4th grade.
When a teacher tries to do something then the never before seen parent sues.

And NOW we get people who think we aren't doing enough.

to those who think schools are failing what exactly more would you do?
 
TEKS sound like they could work if the powers that be simply rolled out the answers they wanted and then turned to teachers loose to lead the children to the answers in the manner they saw fit.

I don't see any easy was for public education to meet the goals that have been set for it. Education is seen as much more universally important that it previously was and, rightly or wrongly, future well being is seen as stemming from the opportunities that come from education. Public education is burdened with the task of trying to ameliorate that inequities of our society and economic systems. It can't really do that, though education is no doubt a very important part of the formula that will lead most to having control over a fairly comfortable material existence in this nation,or even in the shrinking world at large.

Ultimately, the admins are being asked to produce a satisfying, unified result from conflicting interests and dynamics and there is some strangulation occurring. Meanwhile, some of the core issues connected with poor student performance are not at all addressable by anyone.

If we want some sort of egalitarian set of opportunities to be attached to public schooling, then our society needs to change rather than the tests or the curriculums or the phonics or the math, etc.
 
re: good old days, things weren't great later on. I think my elementary school experience was incredibly good, but it went downhill from there.

6th grade, everybody in Austin went to a "sixth grade center". Not impressive, and then the big move to Round Rock before 7th grade.

Nothing remarkable there, but then we went to another single grade school in Round Rock, the freshman center. We called it the "fish tank".

It was within walking distance to Round Rock High School, so we got to walk to the high school for band. As a freshman, band was a blast, and it couldn't have come at a better time. I was slowly being introduced to the concept of coaches as teachers. OMG. Ugggh. Coaches.

One coach did have a famous name. Dr. Bailey Marshall, former chief of the UIL, had a daughter who was my World History or World Geography teacher. I think her name was Jana Marshall. Awful teacher, and very young.

Sophomore year, four coaches, one english teacher, and one band director.

At least one of the coaches had some athletic success in her background.

Linda Waggoner, then the UT record holder for women's basketball career points, was my American History teacher. To be polite, she umm, let's put it this way, it was pretty obvious this was her very first teaching job.

Now THIS is where an instructional facilitator would be very useful. These new coaches, good grief.

The rest is pretty much a blur. Thank god for band.
 
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