Are We Done Yet?

April 18, 2012

When you get to the STOP sign, you have come to end of this session.  Finally, we got to the last STOP sign this afternoon and we are done with FCAT.  Well, 7th grade is done - 6th and 8th have a little more to complete.  So, tomorrow we'll take a little break and do something that is educational but not strenuous.  Then, we'll get back to the business of learning Math.  Sadly, at least five of my students will say to me, "Why do we have to do this?  FCAT is over!".  We seem to be to the point in school where students think that the only reason they learn things is for FCAT and not because the LEARNING is actually important.  But, I will keep on teaching and pulling them along in the hopes that someday at least a few of them will look back and realize that they learned math that they are using in their adult lives.

I Wonder

April  17, 2012

When I was in 5th grade I decided that I wanted to become a teacher.  From then on, that was my goal, and only one person that I can recall tried to talk me out of it.  Mr. Pete Smith, my high school Biology teacher did his best to convince me that I didn't really want to be a teacher and that there was something else out there I could do instead.  He gave me many compelling reasons, but when I finally asked him in exasperation, "If you're so against anyone becoming a teacher, why are YOU one?".  His reply was, "Because I love it."  His advice to me went unheeded and I continued my quest to become a teacher, never considering that there might be something else I would enjoy doing for a living.
Don't get me wrong - I love teaching.  There's just something amazing about watching a a child/young teenager learn something new, especially when s/he struggles and struggles and then, suddenly, that lightbulb of awareness comes on and his/her face lights up and there is that declaration of "OH, I GET IT!", accompanied by a huge smile.  But, still, I wonder what I would have done if I had not chosen to become a teacher.
I truly don't know what other field I might have pursued.  At the time I was in high school and college, I didn't think I had any other marketable skills.  But, I knew I could help people by being a teacher.  I have a lot of interests - scrapbooking (a business, yes, but not one I've been able to turn into a career), photography, writing, baking, traveling, and others - but none of them are things I feel I could do full time.
And, so, I continue to teach and to try to make a difference in my little corner of the education world.

FCAT

April 16, 2012

Today was the first day of the 2012 FCAT.  I have a variety of feelings about it.  I am not against standardized testing.  In fact, overall, I think it's a good idea to test students on a yearly basis to see how they are doing academically.  The first year I taught in Florida was the year of the pilot test for the FCAT. The idea of the math portion of this test was, in my opinion, a good one.  It consisted of three types of questions:  multiple choice, gridded response, and extended response.  I was particularly pleased to see the extended response questions as these questions required students to show work and explain how they arrived at their answers - a practice I was already using with my students.  The test was rough around the edges and needed quite a bit of improvement, but it was a great concept.
Over the past 15 years, the test has morphed into the monster it is now.  The extended response questions have been eliminated due to the time and cost of grading them.  The other questions are now so involved and convoluted that it has become more of a reading test than a math test.  The security surrounding the giving of the test now makes me feel anxious and as if I'm doing something wrong when I know I am not.  Students who have been in this country for less than a year and speak very little English are required to take the test IN ENGLISH.  How, exactly, does this show their math skills when they can't read the questions?
I can remember taking Standardized tests as far back as Elementary School, but I don't remember it being such a huge deal or such a media circus.  In fact, I'm pretty sure it was never reported on the local news that the schools were giving tests during a particular week.  We were lined up and taken to the cafeteria where we sat in every other chair at the long cafeteria tables.   Someone stood up in the front with a microphone reading the directions and we then proceeded to take the test.   Then it was over.  And, it was ONE way of evaluating us rather than the ONLY way of evaluating us.
Standardized testing (now called High Stakes Testing) has become big business for test makers and scorers.  It has also become a way for the media, parents, administrators, all levels of government (local, state, and federal), and anyone who has ever set foot inside a school (which, as we all know, makes one an expert on education) to beat up on teachers and students.
Standardized testing is a good tool, but it is only a tool.  When a student doesn't perform well on a test, it is as a result of a variety of factors including, but not limited to, their emotional state on that day, the number of days they've been absent from school (20+ days of absence in a semester probably makes a difference in what you know), their attitude each day in class, their effort each day in class, their behavior each day in class, how many schools they've attended in the current school year, parental support (of the child, of education in general, of teachers), and much, much more.

How Can I Keep From Singing?

April 15, 2012

This morning I had the privilege of singing an offertory solo in church - "How Can I Keep From Singing", which includes the chorus, "No storm can shake my inmost calm, while to that rock I'm clinging.  It sounds an echo in my soul.  How can I keep from singing?".  As I was reading over the words, it occurred to me that my soul has every reason in this world to sing all the time.  I live in an amazingly beautiful place in an even more beautiful country.  I am surrounded by flowers and beaches and year-round sunshine, and have easy access to other types of scenery, land forms, and weather.  Also surrounding me are loving, caring people - my family, friends, church family, co-workers, people I've known my whole life and those I've known for only a short time.  But, more than any of that, I have a God who loves me and Lord and Savior who said, "I am with you ALWAYS" and died for me.  God, the Rock to whom I cling, is the one who makes is impossible for me to keep from singing.

Mom's Time Out

April 14, 2012

Saturday morning...a time for quiet, for coffee that can be consumed slowly while enjoying every drop, for reflection, and for gearing up for the day.  I'd like to say that every day begins like this, because it SHOULD, but it doesn't.  Most days begin with a rush to get ready, trying to gulp down enough coffee to jumpstart my system as I run out the door.  In my reflection time this morning (which includes time on Facebook catching up with everyone), I read a plea from a friend that got my brain revved up on overdrive about how we, as women, have been trained by society to think and behave.
Basically, we have been raised to believe the old adage that "idle hands are of the devil" and that we are not allowed time to ourselves.  For many women, this is what a typical day looks like (realizing that many of us don't do ALL of this, but we do a lot of it):  get up, perhaps throw in a load of laundry or clean some part of the house, wake up child(ren) and get them ready for school, fix breakfasts and lunches, pay bills, take child(ren) to school, go to work, spend lunch time working out or running errands, leave work, work out or run errands, buy groceries, pick child(ren) up from school or activities, fix dinner, help with homework, take child(ren) to activities, supervise bathtime, read books with child(ren), put child(ren) back to bed, take care of sick child(ren), clean house, sign permission slips and fill out other papers for child(ren), plan weekend activities, plan summer activities, do more laundry, and so on.  Now, to be fair, many have husbands/significant others who take charge of some of this (and some of us are lucky enough to have a husband who takes charge of a LOT of it).  The difference is that when something doesn't get done, men don't have the same feelings of guilt and remorse that women do.  Women tend to take care of everything and everyone else while neglecting ourselves and our need to have quiet, alone time to do NOTHING.  Yes, I said NOTHING.  Think about it.  When was the last time you allowed yourself to send the child(ren) to another room, ignore the chores that were calling your name, pour yourself a cup of coffee/tea/wine/whatever and just BE?  We, as women, don't do that very well because we feel guilty if we do.
Here is my contention.   It is our duty to do this and to tell our child(ren) that this is what we're doing.  They need to know that when they grow up, it's OK to have alone time to do something they enjoy or to simply do nothing, and that this will make them better, more productive people.  We need a balance of alone time, play time, and work time.  

Rocks

April 13, 2012

All of my life I have had a fascination with rocks and stones (what IS the difference, by the way?).  When I travel I usually bring home a rock I have found.   There are rocks sitting on my bookshelves that I collected as a child and that have moved with me from place to place since then.  I think it probably frustrated my parents that there was often a rock in my suitcase when we packed to come home from a trip!  I don't just pick up any rock I see, though.  I look for rocks that are unusually colored, patterned, or shaped.  This picture was taken in Arizona in the hills behind my dad's house.  The green on the rocks is copper.  At one time this area was a copper mining area.  Several of these rocks came home with me!  I put them in my checked luggage so I didn't have to try to explain to security why I was carrying rocks!

Love

April 12, 2012

Today is not special in any way...it's not our anniversary or his birthday, Valentine's Day, or another day that usually evokes messages of love.  It is, however, a special day at my house, and that's because every day is a special day.  I know that no matter what kind of day I've had (good or bad), what kind of stress there is going on for either of us, how busy we are, or anything else, I am going to come home to a man who loves me, takes care of me, tries to make me feel better even if there's something he can't fix for me, and makes me laugh.  Wayne is the BEST and I feel very blessed to be married to him.