Me

When the bell rings, when students are in classes, no one in the educational system matters other than the classroom teacher. The secretaries, attendance clerks, maintenance crews, janitors, and the entire district office staff could be munching on potato chips and watching reruns of "Dance Moms" for all it matters. When the bells ring, there is only one person who has the eyes and ears of 40 students waiting for him or her to motivate and educate them; the classroom teacher.

So why when I go to the office because I need something am I made to feel like an imposition? Quite the opposite should be true. I should have a couple adults waiting outside my door to sprint down the halls if I need anything. I'm the one trying to teach these kids. Without me, no one else is working. Without me, there is no school.

Moms

About 4 years ago, I was walking through the halls during passing period behind a group of three or four boys. A couple of them were just walking to class, but 2 of them couldn't seem to keep their hands to themselves. There was arm punches, mini-shoves, rough neck hugs, etc. All in the span of about 50 feet. The 2 aggressive kids were big. The 2 boys bearing the "good natured" brunt were smaller. They got to there classroom and one of the bigger boys grabbed a smaller boy in a rough headlock and pretended to bring his knee up quick for a knee shot to the face. He came pretty close.

I'd seen enough.

I barked at him to stop and told him and his rough buddy to come with me. First they just stared at me while the smaller boy said they were just playing. Another bark to follow me and the boys joined me privately in my room.

I ranted at them pretty good that this is a high school not a playground. I told them that what they were doing looked like bullying and it will not be tolerated. I accused them of acting like children while we are insisting on them acting like young men. I told them I would not tolerate this nonsense in my school.

Two days later a mom contacted me. She wanted to talk to me about how I spoke to her son. I agreed to meet whenever she would like, and she suggested a Starbucks near school.

She started by telling me that she thought I was too rough on her son. My tone, words, posture, facial expressions were all too "something". She tuned me up pretty good for awhile and I just sat there and took it. Finally, I interjected. Probably went something like this,

"You son did something wrong, got yelled at, and you are hear to cry for him? Your son made a mistake and got talked to roughly and you are here complaining about it? He wasn't suspended, expelled, written up, taken to the office, ... nothing. Nothing happened bad to your son and you are here going to bat for him? He will continue to do the wrong things until you let him serve a consequence. What the heck are you thinking? You should have grounded him and taken away every bit of his technology for acting the fool at school. You should have made him come to me an apologize like a young man but INSTEAD, you think he was spoken to "meanly". Are you kidding. Ma'am. I know your son. I've watched him for 2 years. He is absolutely capable yet getting bad grades. He is always out of class, always violating dress code, always disrespectful, and you are coming to school to complain that I was mean to him. You should be mean to him. You should be furious with him....."

Something like that.

Then, she just started crying. Horrible racking sobbing flailing crying. She blubbered that he was out of control, on drugs, drinking and failing. She didn't know why she did what she did for him.

She started apologizing and told me she didn't know what to do. Inside, I knew this kid was an entitled punk who owned his parents. Nothing she tried to do now would change him. Still, I gave her my best advice.

"They don't need friends, they need parents. They need parents that insist on good character and great work ethic and they need parents that model that behavior. Can't tell a kid to read if you are watching Teen Mom on TV. Kids don't need to be given everything they want and they are begging for structure, rules and consequences. Quit worrying if they like you. Start worrying if they will learn what they need to grow into hard working citizens of good character.'

The rear view mirror

The crap that people hang from their rearview mirror makes me laugh.

The tassel from your high school graduation. Really? Ok, props to you for doing what everyone else has done. You just go ahead and keep that tassel there so you can remind yourself, and others, how very average you are.

The tassel from your college graduation. Loser. If you graduated from college, go get a great job, work hard for a bunch of years, and carve out a nice life for yourself. But hanging your tassel screams, "this is the best thing I've ever done!!". Lose the tassel and grow up.

The crystal. Come on. I get it; its pretty when the sun hits it. So is a puppy but I don't hang one from my mirror. Move to Sedona, Arizona, sit under a triangle and gain you mystical powers, but leave the crystal at home.

The cardboard evergreen tree air freshener. "But it smells good." Shut up. You have just transformed your $40,000 BMW into a car that looks like it should be driven to the trailer park. Nice going idiot.

Parking pass. Wow, you are so cool that you get to park in the parking lot. Take the damn thing off when you leave and put it on when you get there. Could you be more lazy?

Fuzzy Dice.   The 80's called and want their dice back.

Beads.  We get it.  You've been to Mardi Gras and showed everyone your breasts. Might be time to rethink your character.

To be continued

Effort

A five foot nothing, 94 pound, high school sophomore girl stopped me in my tracks the other day. 

She's a student in my Accelerated Algebra 2 w/ Trigonometry class and she earned a B (87.35%) for the semester.  Good student.  Always on time, always on task, always pleasant to be around, and she performed very well in the class.  Tough class.   Logarithms, conic sections, exponential growth and decay, etc.  

She stuck around after class and when everyone was gone, she asked if she could talk with me about her grade.   I said sure, sat down, and listened as she told me that she felt she deserved an A because she "tried her best" and "worked her butt off".  

I think the conversation went something as follows;

HER:  I know I finished with 87%, but I feel I deserve an A.   I gave my best effort and worked my butt off.  I want to know if you will round my grade up to an A. 

ME:  That would be a heck of a rounding... 3%.... No,  I'm not comfortable issuing you an A.  You had a very good semester and should be very proud of that B.  My class is fast and complex and rigorous and I agree you made a great effort.   But, at the end of the day, your grade is determined by your performance, not by your level of effort.   Grades are a microcosm of life.  If you become a salesperson after school and you try really hard, do your best, work your butt off and still don't sell anything,  your family doesn't eat.  Again, at the end of the day, it isn't about how hard you try, it is about what you ultimately accomplish. 

HER:  Is there anything else I can do?  Extra Credit?  I really need an A.

ME:   No.  You earned a B.

HER:  You know you are a hypocrite right?

ME:  Excuse me?

HER;  All year long you harped on us about putting forth great effort.  You said things like, "Great effort is always rewarded"  and "In this world all you can really control is your effort and attitude.  If you put forth a great effort, maintain a positive attitude, good things happen"   Well, I guess you didn't mean any of that.

She left, and I just sat there stunned.  Now, a week later, I'm still shaken.

Everything Else

There is a good chance that the state of California will soon be announcing mid-year cuts to education. My district will be carved to the tune of about $19 million dollars. The blogs and editorials I read all assume the district will cut days from the year to recover the money in the resulting teacher salary cut.

It may come the that. But I'd suggest that the very last thing we do is cut the school year. We are charged with teaching children. With our last nickel we must teach children.

When the bells ring on a school campus, and children are in their seats learning new material, no one else in the district matters other than the classroom teacher. Most everyone else has to go.
If there are 4 custodians, we go to one. For every 10 office workers, we go to one. Close the library. Go to a skeleton crew.

At the district level. everyone goes. All available monies must go to the classroom. If we cannot afford to pay the light bill, I will take my students into the stands of the football field and teach them exponential decay formulas and how to determine the half life of an isotope. If we can't afford lunch personel, I'll stay after school and make 1000 PB & J's. WITH OUR LAST NICKEL we must stay open and educate kids. We have one job and it isn't to answer phones at the district office. It isn't to schedule meetings for new teachers. It isn't to implement new second language programs. Our one job is to stay open. With our last nicke we must keep the doors open.

Then, if we are still at a shortfall, then ask the teachers to work for free. Cut my pay by the week you would have cut school. I'll take the hit and I'll stay and teach. Many of my colleagues may not. I respect that. But I'll stay and I won't be alone. Most of the teachers will stay.

Cancel the buses and the games and send home the lawyers. With our last nickel, we have teachers in classrooms because at the end of the day, no one else matters.

Fight the Power

I'm thinking of calling for a revolution. I'm getting close.

The conservative bumper sticker I saw said it all; The less they do, the more they get.

I now live in a country that pays its citizens to take care of their parents when they get old. For thousands of years children have looked after their parents without being paid. Now, we have a full blown governmental program with an unholy amount of fraud that gives out my tax dollars to the fat lady who sits at home watching Oprah with her perfectly fine mother.

I now live in a country that provides citizens of other countries a cheaper college education than it provides the citizens of the U.S.A. In Texas for sure and probably in many states, illegal immigrants have been granted in-state tuition rates to the state schools. That means that over a 4 year period, an illegal imigrant will pay roughly $100,000 for his education while a kid from South Dakota or Oregon or New York or Arizona or anywhere other than Texas, will pay about $400,000.

I now live in a country that blames teachers for the actions of the children in the community instead of blaming the demise of the American family. Dad is raising another family somewhere and the step dad is powerless because mom is a woman who cares more if her kid likes her than if her kid is well behaved, respectful, honorable and with good character. Nah, she'll just lie for her kid. Lets blame the teachers because the little brat won't try in class.

I now live in a country that continues to provide "aid" to foreign countries by handing checks to their "governments" and hoping some food gets to the starving. This list of countries we are funneling money to angers me. Then, when those bastards bad mouth us?. Grrr

I'm thinking of starting my revolution.

Mixed Emotions

I get it. There are no jobs out there so we should extend unemployment benefits.

I have a problem with it. In a nutshell, by extending benefits, people have just a little bit less incentive to go out and work. With no money, many of the unemployed would be out there pounding the payment and knocking on every door until something happened. Now, not so much. We have already extended their benefits to 99 weeks. 99 WEEKS. That's just under 2 years. 2 years of getting paid without working. My President wants to extend it even more and I fear that fewer good men will go get jobs. They mustn't be allowed to wait until something comes up in their field in their community. I just read about North Dakota. It has the most natural gas and oil resources in North America. They are drilling like crazy, hiring everyone, and paying $120,000 a year. Why are not more men flooding into the state? If money were allowed to run out, men would be forced to relocate. That's the way it should be. Do whatever you must do to take care of your family.

On a another note,

I played a round of golf with a guy who is getting disability checks from the government. Said he had a bad back. Sure looked ok to me. A friend of a friend is getting disability checks because she has depression. $1400 a month because she gets sad a lot. I get sad a lot. Do I get a check? I watched an episode of The People's Court, (I have a thing for the judge) and listened as she was stunned that a plaintiff was receiving a disability check because when he went off to college, he got anxiety.

I know of a woman who'se welfare check gets substantially bigger for every child she has. In know a guy that gets paid by the government to take care of his 70 year old mother who has to drive him around because of his DWI.

If my humble opinion, we are ruining people. Our hearts are in the right place but man are we damaging people.

We have to love tougher.