What a Relief

At my school, in an effort to raise money  for earthquake relief, we're doing Hats for Haiti, Hoops for Haiti, Hearts for Haiti, and Houses for Haiti. As I listened the other morning to the details of these activities, it somehow seemed wrong to me that we should be having so much fun when the people we were trying to assist were living in such misery.

It's hardly surprising though. So often in this country we combine fun and fundraisers. From galas and silent auctions to walks and telethons, it's what we do to raise money and awareness in support of most causes. But why? When did it become necessary and expected for us to receive some extrinsic reward for supporting a good cause?

When I asked the kids in my homeroom what they thought,  they said that they didn't believe most people would help without some incentive. They're wrong of course; millions of dollars have already been donated to aid the victims of the quake, but who can blame them for thinking as they do? It's what they know of supporting a cause.

Cutting Our Losses

It's getting to that time of year that many people think should be a big indicator of a teacher's effectiveness... testing season. Around here the curriculum specialists are gearing up for "targeted remediation." What does that mean, you wonder? Well, classroom teachers are asked to select students who we think may have trouble on the state assessments, but we are cautioned not to choose students who are too far behind to pass. Those kids would be "taking a seat" from a student who might pass with a little extra push. But what about the students we fear are most to likely fail? They are targeted all right, targeted to fail, and they are left in their regular classes, some special education, some remedial general education, others taught on grade level, regardless of the students' levels, because of a district pacing chart that must be adhered to. This is what high stakes testing looks like in an era of limited resources.

So Little Time

The teacher workday starts out full of promise and lengthy to-do lists. It seems like so much can be accomplished on a day when we do not have to rush out the door to get to school to greet our students, on a day when there aren't any students, just a quiet classroom and that long, long list.

Inevitably, we over plan, and that's what happened to me today: I made a good dent in my list (and of course I did a few things that weren't on the list, both by choice and by colleague request), but at 5 PM the checks do not outnumber what remains to do. I'm already looking at my calendar and parceling up the leftover tasks to slot into a few free minutes here and there during my planning time and after school in the coming week. I have some big deadlines looming, and those are always the most serious of motivators for me, so I'm confident all will get done (as usual), even if those pesky kids will be back tomorrow.

Blog posted. Check.

Advice from the Guru

Tomorrow is a teacher planning day, and on Wednesday the third quarter will begin. It is hard to believe that half the time we will spend with these students has passed already. Of course that means that we have half a school year to go, too, and in the spirit of that half-full perspective, I've decided that my students will write in class every day from now until June.

I got The Essential Don Murray for Christmas, and nulla dies sin linea, or never a day without a line is his number one piece of advice.

Another Way to Look at Things

Some teachers I know have issues with making accommodations for students with disabilities, particularly those with attention deficits. We want them to "try harder" to be more organized, more focused, less impulsive. This year, we have a blind student on our team and it has put every discussion I've ever had about special education into a new perspective. Imagine telling Jason that we know he could see if he would just try harder.

Gateways (or Have Mercy Percy!)

Every year on this weekend we drive to Buffalo, a trip that takes us about 8 hours each way. It's a long way and a quick turn around, but we go to see a little boy with whom we don't get to spend much time otherwise, and the visit means a lot to people we care about.

In the car we pass the time by listening to audiobooks. Last year, it was Twilight, a perfectly awful recording of a not very good book, but I diligently read the other three books in the series afterward. This year, it's the Lightning Thief. Percy Jackson has been a favorite of my students for the last few years, but I personally haven't been able to make it past chapter 3. The kids I have in my class right now are downright fanatical about the series, though, and I figured I owed it to them to give it another try.

Honestly? The audio version is so-so, not too annoying except when the narrator does Annabeth's voice in that falsetto that so many male readers do. The book itself is mediocre. Kind of predictable and not especially well-written or well-paced. Still, once we're finished listening to it, I know it'll be much easier for me to read the rest of the series, and then if I still need to, I can ask the kids why they like it so much.

Step Two

The kids loved the map thing, and we spent the better part of the day swapping stories of adventure, victory, injury, and loss. Now the trick will be to turn all that great raw material into writing.