Surprised By Loss

How sorry was I when I heard about Steve Jobs death last night? Completely, unexpectedly sad-- and all the media coverage today of his life and legacy, along with his relatively young age, and the fact that I am unashamedly a "mac person" (I bought my first Apple computer the minute I could almost afford it), just made me feel worse.

It was kind of nice to know of someone in the world we could count on for perfectionism in both design and function.

Which Child Left Behind?

We had dinner tonight with a teacher friend from another middle school, and the subject of high-stakes testing inevitably came up. Despite the affluence of our district, none of the five middle schools made AYP last year. When you drill down the data, particularly for the subgroups, you can come to some startling conclusions. For example, our friend's principal told their staff that if one more African American boy had passed the math test, they would have made it. Of course, there were other kids who failed, but the way the results are disaggregated and the data is delivered, their success becomes less important to the school, which is the exact opposite of the intention of the law.

As Clear as Mud

In case you haven't heard enough about the new technology upgrades and other changes in our school system this year, indulge me a little more. The report cards that we send home have never been very informative beyond the obvious letter grade and limited teacher comments: O for Outstanding, S for Satisfactory, and N for Needs Improvement, in six areas-- Responsibility, Participation, Following Directions, Initiative and Effort, Work and Study Skills, and Homework.

This year, we have revised our grading scale to differentiate between a B and a B+, a C and a C+, and a D and a D+. There are neither minuses nor an A+, because one is negative and the other is unnecessary-- according to our top students, an A is an A is an A.

In addition, the old O, S, N scale has been replaced by the ostensibly more flexible Exceeds, Meets, Approaches Expectations or Needs Improvement. But those are not noted on the report card by letters. Rather there are symbols beside the letter grade and beneath the already somewhat inscrutable column headings of RS, PT, FD, IE, WS, and HW. So a student's report card may appear like so:

                               RS   PT   FD  IE  WS HW

English               A     #    X    #   X    #    #
Science              C+     ^    ^    #     #   #   N
Math                  B     #    #   #    #    ^   X
Reading             B+    #    #    #   #   #    #
Am History        C    ^    ^    ^   #   #    N
Band                 A    X   X   X   X   X   X
PE                     B    #   #   #    #    #    #

Today in order to prepare my sixth graders for their student-led conferences, I gave them printouts of their current grades, the first they've ever received in middle school. "What is this!???" one child exclaimed in extreme confusion, but in an instant his face calmed as he answered his own question. "Oh! It must be some kind of teacher-language."

By the Numbers

Glancing at the time a little while ago, I was reminded of the many cool new things in the world when I was a kid in the early 70's, and how two of them intersected for us, children of an airline family: the ultra-modern wide-body Boeing planes and the amazing digital clock. Back then, the clocks didn't even have any kind of crystal display, they were literally just tiny mechanical shingles that dropped every minute, ten minutes, and hour, but it sure was exciting when that display read 7:47.

Sunshower

Early this morning when I took the dog out, the first things I noticed were the fresh cool breeze, the sunshine, and the bright blue sky, a perfect autumn day. As we walked a little, though, an invisible spray misted my face, and looking up, the tiniest of raindrops filled my view, although there was literally not a cloud in sight. Then when I turned the corner, a full arc rainbow spread across the sky in front of me, and after that, nothing could have spoiled my day.

Win Some, Lose Some

Once upon a time I used to be pretty handy around the house, but it's been so much easier over the last few years to hire a pro who will shop, repair/install/paint/whatever, and then clean up, that I've gotten out of the habit.

Even so, on our list of errands for the weekend we had a stop at Home Depot. It was mostly because the fluorescent light in our bathroom was out, and as a result we've spent the week with a lamp and incandescent bulb rigged up above the mirror so we can see to brush our teeth at night and make ourselves presentable in the morning. Since we were going there anyway, I added a new doorbell ringer to the list, because the plastic button on ours was broken away. It still worked, but it looked awfully dangerous, not to mention tacky, and there has definitely been a lot more knocking at our door lately.

Arriving at home I jumped into action, eager to use the new stuff and beginning with the simplest task. And now here's where you can ask how many [fill in the blank: teachers, bloggers, blonds, some other word of your choice] does it take to change a light bulb, because the answer would have to be more than one today. Try as I might, I could not get that fixture to work.

Only slightly discouraged (and resolved to call the handyman to come fix that) I turned to my next project. It was touch and go, or should I say "touch and ring" for a bit, mostly because I didn't choose the right tools and the battery on my drill is dead from lack of use, and also because I kept accidentally completing the circuit on the doorbell as I worked, sending the dog into all sorts of barking paroxysms. Eventually I was successful, and now not only is the button not broken, but it, unlike the bathroom upstairs, is illuminated.

Third Annual RSVP

As we do each year, I gave the students a writing prompt today to get a baseline of their writing skills. Their pieces will be scored holistically by the whole staff using the state rubric. We'll give them another prompt in early June to measure their progress for the year.

The topic today was the same as the last two years:

Your principal wants to invite a celebrity speaker to your school. Think about the celebrity you would choose to speak; then write a letter to persuade your principal to invite this person. Be sure to include convincing reasons and details to support your choice.

It's always fascinating to see who the kids want to invite. This year it was a runaway three-way tie for most wanted:

President Obama
Michelle Obama
Selena Gomez

A couple of other folks had more than one or two votes, also:

Lionel Messi
Taylor Swift
Nikki Minaj
JK Rowling

And here are the rest, in no particular order:

Rupert Grint
Lady Gaga
Bridget Mendler
Neil Armstrong
A member of Seal Team Six
Michael Jordan
Barbara Park
Suzanne Collins
Wendy Mass
Jeff Kinney
Lisa Leslie
Ali Zafar
Demi Lovato
Adele
Troy Aikman
John Cena
Victoria Justice
Oprah
Stephen Strasburg
DJ Pauly D
Wiz Khalifa
Justin Bieber
Jeff Dunham
Ringo Starr
A dolphin trainer for the movies
Diego Forlan
Bruno Mars
Morgan Freeman
Stephen Curry
The Washington Nationals
Barcelona Soccer
The cast of The Vampire Diaries
Kobe Bryant
Philip Pullman
Jane Goodall
Ziggy Marley
Johnny Depp
Tim Hightower
Santana Moss
Chase Utley
Kevin Durant
Janet Jackson
The KoolAid Guy
Rick Riordan
Matthew Gray Gubler
AC/DC
Big Time Rush