It's Bizarro world in IT

Survey from the IT people to the faculty ( the issue is that the huge bandwidth requirements of streaming video is interfering with the schools attendance and grading system and the email):

# Streaming is important to me. I don't mind that my mail and PowerSchool will not always work.
# I can live without streaming. It is important to access my mail and PowerSchool more reliably than I can now.
# PowerSchool and mail are my top priorities, lock down the filter.

Ummmm. Let me think. Do school work or watch videos? I'm being paid $40k + and I get a choice?

It's Bizarro World.

Crisis committee meets to discuss the crisis plan. Fire drills come up. Currently, we all walk out of the building out random exits and everyone collects on the athletic field. The students mingle, the faculty wander. (It's truly bizarre - unlike any other school I've ever seen - but I'm new here and I shut up) The students are usually called back in before everyone is even at the field, encouraging the stragglers because they get in before the mass crush.

I suggest that perhaps we should line up our classes and make sure all are present, that none stayed in the building. Give each teacher a place and have the children organized and accounted for.

Principal PJs nixes that. "Too much structure. Too many places for things to break down. What about the sub who doesn't know where to go?"

I point to the books on the shelves of the library where we sit. "It's easy to see the missing book when all is lined up. If you put plastic numbers on the fence, it'll be easy. Or line up by class along the road."

"Too much organization."

Okaaaaaaay.

Did I mention that we're talking about a fire drill here? Why else have a "Drill" if not to learn what to do when all the screaming starts? I don't need to march them with a drill sargeant's cadence ringing their ears, but P6 is always appropriate. Except for Principal PJs, I guess.

Proper Planning Prevents Piss-Poor Performance -- except here.

Once more into the Breach of Contract

I feel that we have a Contract with Students to teach them as much as possible. For ESL/ELL students, this means English. This country runs all it's systems in English, with a patchy cobweb of translated documents inhabiting the corners of our bureaucracy. Colleges are run in English. Businesses are run in English. Media are run in English. Laws are written in English and court cases are judged in English. (Sure, they're translated. Do you trust that translator with your freedom? What if he went to the same school you did and the same program and learned just as much?)

ASBJ: has an article about the struggles of ELL students to pass the state competency tests. The article is called "A Race Against Time" referring to the need to take tests soon after starting at school.

Butler estimates that a mid-level student, with average intelligence and moderate literacy in their home language, will be in ELL classes about seven years. Research shows it takes five to seven years to gain competency in English.

Which leads me to ask, "Why?" The answer is "Because they're not focusing on English."

The kid is in the US and will have to take tests in English. If he's a good student and works hard, he'll go to college - in English. Why are we teaching him math in Spanish or Vietnamese? Let him take all his time to learn English. No science. No math. No history. A class of grammar. A class of reading. Back to writing. Speaking and enunciation. A math class in English - one he has already mastered the math of and is taking for the English.

It is better to take a year off from math and science and history than to take four or seven more years to learn English. He's already at the ninth or tenth grade in math skills. He'll not lose that. His math skills are probably better than his classmates' anyway because his old math teachers didn't mess around with calculators and group learning and fuzzy math. (Yes, it's a stereotype but the reality is too often true to that stereotype. Remember the South Park episode where the Mexican day laborers teach math better than Mr. Garrison? priceless.)

As a final point, look at the language program at Middlebury College or any competent college. Total Immersion. Why? It's the best way.

Here are your choices to use the time he's got:
A) Math and science classes in which the language problem will limit him to maybe a half year of progress and lots of time staring at the wall.
B) English classes in which he'll make several years of progress, which will then allow him to take those math and science classes NEXT year.

Nevertheless, Georgia requires high school students to take the district’s graduation exams after they have been enrolled for only one year, beginning in 10th grade. Norcross’ ELL students struggle to pass any of the seven required subjects, particularly the writing exam.

I'll bet many of them pass the math tests anyway.

Went visiting

I popped into the history teacher's room today. He was laughing about one of his classes:

"Kid after kid asked to go to Guidance. I figured schedule changes, minor crisis, the usual. The number of kids rose quickly and I asked 'What's up?' It turns out Guidance was handing out free skittles and M&Ms.

Wait for it ...

During class.

What? No Mountain Dew to get them really hyped up? Just what we needed for the period after lunch."

Not a scheduler, either

So we have an early release day Wednesday - for the students, not us. We have meetings and other fine uses of our time set up and ready to annoy. That means that we need a daily schedule for the day after tomorrow. Administration has known about this idea since they negotiated the once-a-month special days last March.

It seemed a good thing to practice with, so my consumer math students spent a class last week putting together the 1hr delay, 2hr delay and early release schedules as well as a more logical normal schedule.

Their efforts weren't good enough because the middle school teachers would lose 30 minutes of prep time. (The high school is on a block schedule and the middle school isn't - always causes major headaches - and the middle school feels put upon.) Instead, we've got Principal PJ's attempt.

His first draft of the schedule came out this morning.

... with one too many periods.

Principal PJs hurriedly redrew the day by putting the last period first, bumping up the rest, changing the lengths of classes in a seemingly random fashion and dumping it all into an email.

Wednesday is going to be fun to watch.

I've gotta get back to work.

Group Work.

From Scenes from the Battlefield

It is always suggested that it would be a good idea if students took part in some activities during a lesson in pairs or groups. ... snip ... Of course, this is nonsense. If you want to learn how to cooperate effectively with others, then the last place you’d start is in a group of teenagers being made to do school work. This is like saying the best way to learn how to make pork sausages is by being imprisoned in a pig farm with a half-dozen rabbis. (emphasis mine)

Brilliant.

Of course, Principal PJs and the Superintendent do not agree. We need to go "high-tech" and "teach the 21st century student" and "incorporate more technology resources" into the "collaborative classroom environment" of "digital natives." We need more "collective work" and more "self-directed learning." If we stress "interactivity" and group work, the students will experience less stress and will learn more. They'll never waste time.

I'll believe it when I see it. Now, I've gotta get back to work.

NEA Mailings are a real Pain

What's with the NEA sending out loan offers and pre-approved credit card letters? If we get paid so badly that the Union is always yapping about the problem, why are they trying to add to the mess?

I know why they do it - they're paid money for their "subscriber list" - but why doesn't someone notice that more loans and credit cards are not good ways to get a better financial picture? Could it be that they don't actually have our best interests at heart?

Just sayin'

Open House - Fun for the whole family ones who show up.

Had an open house last Wednesday. Funny to watch if you're not personally invested.

No organization, not enough food for the barbeque and the grill wasn't started until after the event began so we're all waiting around staring at it, couldn't get into the box to turn on the lights so everyone ate in the dark, schedule was disorganized and was changed anyway halfway through, many teachers weren't there (coaches, other commitments, etc.) so their rooms were dark. The funniest was the attempt at an assembly - it took more time to congregate than to listen to all the speeches. (just one, actually.)

Principal Pajamas (too casual to call him Suit) was bustling about, useless. His 50 second speech to the parents ended before people really started listening. You could see them all hesitate wondering whether to clap. Then they were sent off to wander the building. Everyone is thinking "I walked in here and just sat down. Couldn't someone at least make noise for a few minutes to justify the effort? Maybe ask for donations to the "Friends of Music" or the Booster Club or something?

The teachers who usually take care of certain tasks weren't there, yet no one thought to mention that fact to the rest of us so others could fill in. We're fidgeting in our classrooms because AP told us to be there instead of mingling and making things happen. (It's called communication, guys.)

They got the wrong kind of soda - too much sugarcrap and not enough Diet Pepsi and water - what kind of parent drinks Mountain Dew? Didn't anyone think about the audience they were trying to reach?

On the plus side, parents were great. The barbeque was worth it in the final analysis - real food brings them in and the goodwill is cheap at the price. I recommend it to any school: borrow an eight-foot outdoor gas grill from whoever runs big events in town and buy a couple hundred bucks of hamburger, veggie burger and dogs. Grill and serve. Don't forget the really cheap bottled water. Parents can't bitch as well while they're eating - for some it's a matter of manners and the others mumble and you can pretend to not have heard them clearly.

Charge it to the Principal's Discretionary Fund. You know you have one.

16-year-old drops out of school to play Guitar Hero

It happens, it's stupid, but it's the parents' right to make asinine decisions for their minor child. (Not dangerous ones, mind you, but asinine ones) He "hadn't been doing well in school and wasn't liked." So the obvious answer is a variation of school choice? This kid exemplifies why I don't follow every whim and wish of my students, why I don't like school choice (too many decisions are based on flimsy junk like this) and why I don't like the trend of catering to "the 21st Century student" and his odd little educational quirks.

Let's get beyond the question of whether any adolescent feels that he is doing well and is well-liked. Whether you believe that the gaming is the cause or effect of his loneliness or that both were caused by a third unmentioned factor as I believe, you probably can agree that this kid would be okay in a big public high school where there are lots of kids just like him and amongst whom he'd be liked and admired. His helicopter parents are screwing him up.

It's that third factor, a parental obsession with easing the daily details of their kid's life, has to be a big contributor. This is complete conjecture on my part, of course, but the fact that they are getting him a tutor for his entire education means they're not the homeschooler type of parents. They're not improving his schooling out of principle. Instead the kid wasn't "happy" and they're paying for his every whim. They're going to subsidize his gaming fad-hobby in the face of truly unrealistic images of financial return, which reeks of a spoiled child to me.

From Yahoo!Tech:
In fact, young Mr. Peebles is dropping out of high school... in order to focus on Guitar Hero full time. Peebles hopes to join the small but growing crew of players looking to make gaming a job. Citing his victories in Guitar Hero tournaments, which include "gift certificates, gaming equipment, and chicken sandwiches," Peebles thinks he has the chops to play competitively and earn actual money in the process. As the story notes, top gamers on the competitive circuit can earn up to $80,000 a year (though $25,000 is more common). Peebles, of course, can count his 52 Chick-fil-A combo meals toward that total.

I love that he "thinks he has the chops" and "earn actual money" phrases. Part of me wants to explain that "earn actual money" means "spend that actual money on everyday necessities like gas and still require a lot more" and part of me wants to let the kid and his parents make the decision and waste their money.

Then there's my favorite: lead them on with the promise that some other guy gets paid a lot of money collected from all the rubes. "Of course, kid, you're one of the elite, not a rube contributing entrance fees to pay the real winner."

The money quoted was for "some top gamers" and "up to $80,000 a year (though $25,000 is more common)" which implies that he has a reasonable chance at $25000 per year and an outside chance at $80,000, not bad for a kid playing games and easy enough to live on with no dependants and sleeping in his van. Later in the article, that's corrected to "in eight years his total earnings are about $25,000 total" -- a slightly different set of circumstances. Not to mention that it's only ONE top gamer who makes $80,000 - but that lets them bring in the suckers.

So far, he's won "gift certificates, gaming equipment, and chicken sandwiches." This set of giveaways is worth exactly zero in real money but sounds like he's won a lot. This is his ticket to financial independence? Later the Tech Blogger mentions training and the cost of travel and expresses a worry about the difficulties of breaking into the professional ranks. He's wrong to worry - it's easy to get in and stay in if your parents are right there to pay for everything. He won't win but he doesn't care. Churchill's maxim does not apply to him: "Play for more than you can afford to lose and you will learn the game." He's playing with house money now and it'll only be a shame when he hits the big 2-1 and his money supply dries up. (excuse me, his ChickFilA chicken sandwich certificate supply) Then what?

At least with a football player, there's a degree as athletic trainer or jobs as coach to fall back on. That'll make you a good living and be a lot more secure than playing a fake guitar.

I was at first inclined to disparage the decision by his parents to let Peebles drop out of school, but it seems a little less ridiculous when you delve into the facts. Peebles hahdn't been doing well in school and wasn't liked, and even now he isn't gaming full time. He has a tutor that provides a private education, and his parents say he's doing well with the more focused instruction and that their son now even does his homework without complaint. (Presumably he can hit the axe sooner after he's finished his studies.)

However, I worry that Peebles, who's just 16, may have a tough road ahead trying to break into competitive gaming. The costs of traveling to tournaments alone can totally outstrip earnings, and the amount of training can be grueling. Sponsorships are often a pipe dream. And then there's the issue of games going out of date and being replaced by something new. Traditional athletes never have to worry about, say, distance running being upgraded with a new version, but many games can go out of style, fast. In the end, there's just not much cash there: One gamer, quoted at the end of the linked article, says that in eight years his total earnings are about $25,000 total, and that's including a national championship in Halo 2.

The 65% solution is 100% B.S.

From Schools Matter:

TALLAHASSEE | In a stunningly swift move, the Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday knocked three politically contentious constitutional amendments off the November ballot, with the most important ruling eliminating a complicated plan to cut property taxes by 25 percent that was linked to an uncertain promise to increase sales taxes.
Amendment 5 would have traded a huge property tax cut for other tax increases, amendment 7 would have provided a basis for reinstating a public school voucher program, and amendment 9 would have required public school districts spend at least 65 percent of their money directly on classroom activities.

It's funny how this shell game keeps popping up all over. The first one is just political gamesmanship trading a tax break now for a tax hike later, the second is just a bad idea floated by people who hate public schools and the last one is just amateurs looking at statistics and pretending they understand what makes a school successful.

The 65 percent thing is a national movement started by the founder of Overstock.com. Another outsider who has been successful in business and who is now convinced that he knows the secrets of the Universe and has all the answers to our educational blues. ^TM

When will these guys learn that just attending school thirty years ago does not mean you can translate your business sense to the local public school?

At first blush, he seems to have a good idea, until you start looking at the definitions of what is and isn't considered "classroom related" and you realize that the game-playing is pervasive and essentially ruins the whole argument. Library books, librarians, and library media are not considered classroom expenses but athletic uniforms and equipment is. How screwed up is that?

They don't have weaknesses anymore ...

So, the inservice was in full swing. Educational buzzwords are flying hither and yon. Curriculum mapping is being discussed. The trainer is screeching about techniques for writing the "Essential Questions" and someone includes the wrong word in a sentence ...

"The kids in my class have certain strengths and weaknesses ..."

"No!" she is interrupted by the trainer. "Students don't have weaknesses. They have needs."

I had forgotten the prime directive of teaching. Changing a buzzword makes all the difference. It really IS JUST THAT EASY. Just look at all the success we've had now that we call them English Language Learners Students (ELL Students) instead of English as a Second Language Students (ESL Students).

Don't I feel dumb?

English, and Bilingual education.

For generations, the French have fiercely guarded their language against the horreurs anglais. But France's education minister yesterday admitted for the first time that the secret to success is speaking better English. Xavier Darcos claimed poor English is now a 'handicap' because all international business is conducted in the language, and said French schools would offer extra lessons during the holidays. He also admitted that, because of globalisation, very few people outside France will being able to speak French in the future.

Daily Mail link

Can we now extend that to this country? How many businesses can you get a job with if you only speak Spanish? How many US colleges will award a degree if the student only speaks Chinese? How many stores, restaurants, policemen, neighbors, and other daily conversationalists will be able to deal a friend who only speaks Vietnamese?

Can we admit finally that the use of English is the biggest key to success in this country and that putting off the learning of English is more damaging to the future of a student than probably anything else? Can we understand that allowing a kid to get through high school without a clear command of English is essentially committing him to a life of only watching Telemundo and only getting jobs in businesses that cater exclusively to Hispanics - a vanishingly small portion of the job market.

So why do we still insist that every ESL ELL (English Language Learner, because we all know that changing what we call them makes all the difference) student get a bilingual education? All students who can't speak English should get 7 straight periods of English. Nothing else. This phase might even take a couple of months. It's called a crash course and it's effective.

When they get enough to make it in a math class, add one. When they can handle a social studies class at an ESL-level, do it.

Think back to your own time - you took one class of French and then everything else in English. How much did you learn? Maybe enough to not get lost the Metro but nowhere near enough to matriculate at the Sorbonne. Giving them one period of English and six other courses taught in Spanish, knowing they're going home to a home that doesn't speak English and knowing he's surrounded with friends who also don't speak any English? That's just prolonging the time until that kid learns the language. It may even be too late.

Try going to any other country and demand that people teach you in English - oh, wait, they all know enough English that you can get by.

But then, what do I know?

Principal Suit doesn't do English either.

How to refer to the principal? Pissed Off Teacher simply calls him "Principal Suit." This conjures up a mental image of an empty suit mindlessly emitting noise disguised as insightful comment.

If my principal wore a suit or a tie, even some of the time, it would be a perfect nickname for him. As it is, I am reminded of PS whenever he sends out email and the grammatical errors simply scream. I've never pretended to an ability to write well and I am always subject to typos so I don't care when an email contains some mildly tortured grammar or a misplaced comma or a bad caes of keybaord fumble, but even I can't ignore this:

"I am hoping there are a couple people out their that have the gift ..."

How does anyone write this way without cringing?