Miscellaneous Missives

It's official. More than 700 (729) Minnesota public schools are not making AYP (adequate yearly progress) according to NCLB (No Child Left Behind). My school is one of those schools. As usual the Star Tribune did a stellar job in their reporting on school issues (note the sarcasm). According to the Star Tribune, "The results released Thursday by the state Department of Education led some educators to question whether the goal of having every child proficient in math and reading by 2014 is realistic." I hate to be cynical, but I really think most (if not all) educators have been questioning this for some time. The questioning didn't start Thursday. What does this mean for my school? It means we have the embarrassment of our name in the paper. We continue to work as a building to improve math and reading scores. While we are doing this, we also improve writing skills (as well as many other skills). Plus we not only teach our individual subject areas, but we de...

Today I lost my school keys. Lost is a harsh word; I misplaced my school keys. I realized this when I went to get my lip stuff attached to the keys. We had three meetings this afternoon. The keys turned up missing prior to the first of three. When we started the second, I asked to leave to look for my keys. As I was digging through my bag in my room, a former student appeared at the door. It was as though I was meant to leave the meeting to talk to her. A is a very intelligent kid, but she has a history of major drug abuse. Currently she is living with her mother up north and has been moved up a year in school, so she will be with kids her age (to 11th). The conversation started by my mentioning how pleased I was to see her and ended with my questioning her sobriety. Actually it wasn't the end of the conversation. M- Are you clean? A- I just went through eleven months of rehab. M- That doesn't mean you're clean. A- (small smile) M- You are a very intelligent youn...

When I taught high school, I had a paper on "Senioritis" that I automatically handed my seniors around January 15th. After working in the middle school for ten years, I realize that high school teachers have the same "ego" as that second semester senior. I DREAD any meeting involving 7-12 teachers. This morning we met with one of the high schools because our power is still out. 95% of the questions (complaints) were brought forth by the high school staff. The saying, "There are no stupid questions," is not factual. Yes, there are stupid questions. Later in the morning came the second round with the three middle schools and both high schools. I'm not sure why other middle school teachers sit back and listen to their high school counterparts without voicing their opinions. Surely I'm not the only one offended by their attitude and snottiness. Truly it's not as much their words as the tone of their voice. Examples: "...as it turns...

This may be the best back to school week of workshops. Yesterday bowling, today the option to work or stay home. The power is out in the building. My 6:30 alarm clock call came saying we were not allowed to go into the building because of the power outage. After I slept for two more hours, another call... no power go, in or stay home. Of course I went in but on my time. After six or so hours of work, not including my time yesterday while many were at the all district meeting, my room is ready to go. Life is good!

Today was our first day back at school. Staff meetings were scheduled all day. At the am meeting an announcement was made about the afternoon meeting. We were to meet at Lariot Lanes (a bowling alley) at 1:00. Our afternoon session was bowling. Even though our test scores released this summer were lower than expected, community building proved to be more important, and I appreciate it. Bowling is definitely not my game. I can probably count the number of times I've bowled on one hand, even after today. The afternoon was still enjoyable. Besides, it's a great way to get the staff enthused and willing to work harder which we will need to do this year. Now I'm ready to start the new school year!

Basically we used Dad's camera on the vacation because it has a better zoom. As I took pictures, I deleted quite a few and need to delete more. Tonight I looked through the pictures instead of "dealing with reality." I have a total of 372 pictures downloaded to iphoto from the week vacation. During the vacation I posted some pictures I liked. Tonight I tried to come up with my favorite five photos that had not been posted. My final count was 28. Now I've narrowed it to five. Notice I left off the otter and other animal pictures.

I'm back in Minneapolis. A wonderful friend picked us up at the airport this am (6:30). Although it is nice to be home, I'm quite overwhelmed. Kitty Klaus has been meowing non stop. My unpacking is done and the laundry is piled. Layers in Alaska are wonderful but a bit overwhelming on my bedroom floor. As soon as the bank opens, I'll get quarters and start. Actually I've also opened the mail... not bad for 7:30 am. The problem is I really want to take a nap, but I will probably take a shower and proceed with the chores of the day. Birds are chirping, but it's not Alaska. Did I mention I'm not at all prepared for work tomorrow?