Weekend Update

Last week ended with a big up and a big down.

Report card grades were due Friday, which meant that I spent all Thursday afternoon and early evening making sure all the grades were plugged in online and were averaged correctly. I decided to just stay at school late to take care of it all since the Theater Arts department was having its Winter performance Thursday night and many of my students were in the show.

It was a good thing I decided to stay for the show Thursday night because if I would have just left after calculating grades I might have quit the next day (okay, not really).

Turns out, even after I had made it impossibly easy for students to turn in their missing work so as not to receive zeros, many still did not turn the work in, and consequently received many zeros. I had a significant number of students fail Science and twice as many fail Social Studies. I was mortified when I looked at the numbers. Was it really possible that I allowed the situation to get this far out of hand?

It would be easy to blame my students, labeling them as lazy and incompetent, but that wouldn't be fair. The truth is, the responsibility remains with me. It's my job to get them motivated about their work and about succeeding in my classes. The numbers I saw last week only served to show me that my students are no more motivated to complete work than they were before I came to Miller; that it is really I who should receive a failing grade right now.

I was really upset with myself, but decided to go to the play anyway. I'm glad I did because it turns out I had 9 students in the play (out of the 13 in the cast) and they were hilarious! One of the plays was about an elf rebellion and the other had something to do with the Christmas spirit, though I still can't quite figure it out. Regardless, it really made my students feel special to see that I had stayed and really gave me perspective seeing them in a different light.

I was so proud of all my students on stage - they did such an amazing job. One of my students in particular, Anthony, who has ADHD and very rarely sits down in class did an amazing job as the lead male in the elf rebellion play. He really stole the show and I could tell he was proud of himself - a feeling I know he doesn't have very often.

After the play, I made sure to wait outside the "cast party" in the Theater Arts room so that I could talk to each of my students. Each of them was so happy and surprised to see me and I could tell that I really helped to make their night special.

As I walked back to my classroom to gather my things and leave, one of my students yelled at me from the other end of the building where the play had taken place. "MR. WILSON! Thanks for coming. See you tomorrow!"

She does not know this, but at that moment Damiya re-inspired me to commit my entire being to achieving significant gains in my classroom.

No Field Trips

Apparently field trips are out. I missed the memo.

I talked with my principal this past week about putting together a field trip to Rice University or the University of Houston for my students. Her response was rather perplexing.

I told her that I had heard the district was kind of funny about field trips and was wondering what the policy was. Her response was, "Well, I don't have a problem with any field trips, as long as they are grade-level wide."

WHAT? The entire sixth grade has to go? "Yes, Mr. Wilson." Well, in that case, I asked, could the entire sixth grade go on a college field trip?

"Funny you should ask that Mr. Wilson. I would normally not have a problem with that, but since our fundraiser was lackluster this year, I have to say no. Why don't you start planning it for next year and see if you can get everyone on board."

Are you kidding me? Next year?! My kids will be in middle school next year and won't be able to go on the field trip next year.

"Well," I persisted, "what if it's like a reward trip for my class. They set an academic goal and if we meet it, they can go on the trip as their reward."

Her response is one which I still don't understand. She said that "we" shy away from reward trips because it's not fair to those students who don't get to go. In her words, "We have to give all students the same chance to go."

Funny. I thought all my students would have an equal opportunity to go. If they make the choice to work hard and reach the goal, then they get rewarded; that's the whole point of a reward. If you're just going to give everyone the reward trip though, it ceases to be a reward. So, then, why even work hard to reach the goal? Why even work?

Why even go to school anymore?

I bet if I planned a field trip to the Texas Education Agency (the group that writes the TAKS standardized test) she wouldn't have a problem with it.

This policy sucks!

Run in with the Law

Friday was a relatively good day, especially considering it had been an abnormally long week and the day was going by without incident. But then I talked with my AP in the teacher's lounge.

She was telling us why it was that there had been two police cars at our school the entire morning. Turns out, this kid decided to put his hand through a window of a school bus on the way to school that morning. When we asked her who it was, she said "Darious."

My heart sank as I realized it was my Darious, a student who had been in SAC (in-school suspension) the past few days. A student with whom I had experienced significant challenges since the beginning of the school year, but together with his parents, was actually making progress with.

Now Darious was facing a $500 citation from the Alief PD, along with a bill for the bus window. To top it off, my AP informed me that the reason he was in SAC the day before was because he had gotten in a fight with another student (which I had no idea about) and had been issued a $500 citation for assault in that case.

I have no doubt that Darious will be moved to ALC (alternative school) come Monday, though my AP didn't say one way or another. Darious's mother works for the Houston Independent School District, so will most likely want him pulled into an alternative learning environment.

It's just so confusing to me, because I have yet to experience Darious's unbridled rage in my classroom. But, due to his bewildering behavior outside my class, all the progress that I've made with him will now come to an end.

Unfortunately, this is the reality in my classroom; students come and go like clockwork. I have come to realize how true the saying is that your time with your students is limited. This inspires me to work extra hard today to make sure every minute of class this week is spent teaching my students the skills they need to carry them far in life.

The truth is, I never know from one day to the next who my students will be.

Just Tired

Today, I was a really bad teacher. I was just so tired. Last night, I literally passed out on my bed after getting home from my graduate course. When I awoke, it was 2:20am, I was still dressed and all the lights were on.

I was still really tired this morning and had a hard time putting together an exciting lesson for the day, so was forced to settle for mediocrity in the crunch for time. I knew it was a bad lesson when my best student (out of all three classes) asked me during class, "Mr. Wilson, what is it that you are trying to teach us?"

I soldiered through today, but then had to also get through a meeting after school. We actually ended this meeting early today, so that put me in a better mood.

Then, I helped my roommate Danny pick up his new digital piano from the music store. It is a Hannakuh present from his parents and is quite an addition to our house. Danny is quite the talented musician and plays perhaps the greatest rendition of A Whole New World this side of the Mississippi!

I know that Winter Break is only a week and four days away now, but it seems like forever. I'm actually not wanting it to get here any quicker, due to the fact that my students have their next Science benchmark exam the Monday before we leave. I'm really wanting to see some big improvements from our last overall average of 55%, but I'm not sure if it will be realized. I don't want the days to pass by until the break, I just want to stop feeling so tired all the time.

Now I'm going to go enjoy the yuletide melodies echoing from the living room!

Front Page News

The headline says it all...

Here's the story

Pullout is not PC

Man, today was tough. Even the janitor told me she thought today was rough - and she doesn't have to teach! It was mostly due to the fact that nobody wanted to be back in school, including the teacher.

I tried to teach a lesson on goal setting today, making note of the 3 weeks we have left in the semester and 3 weeks we have until the next big science benchmark exam. I thought it would be a perfect segue into "hard-work" mode for the next 3 weeks, but I was fooled.

I had to send Migueal out of my class again today. This is probably the 7th school day in a row that he's been removed from my classroom for his outbursts. I was warned at the beginning of the year about his bipolar disorder, but never had any problems out of him until about a month ago. That's when he realized how popular he becomes when he shouts disrespectful things at Mr. Wilson during class.

Today I asked to borrow his mapping packet to use as an example in front of the class. In a boisterous response, he shouted, "No! Get your own, man!" I looked down at him from my post in front of his desk with the most serious face I could muster. He looked right back and was just daring me to respond. Of course the rest of the class was in a complete uproar at this point, and so I decided enough was enough. I kicked him out of the room and called the AP's office to come pick him up. I hate having him removed from my classroom; I can't help but feel like I'm quitting on him. But, should I really forsake 28 other students for him?

I also got another new student today. My two partner teachers and I are Jeremy's third set of teachers so far this year at Miller - and we've only had 13 weeks of school! After a bit of detective work during our planning periods, we discovered that Jeremy was initially moved due to his making terristic threats to all the black students in his class (Jeremy is a white student). Turns out that he was moved a second time for the same reason, only this time he threatened to kill all the 6th-grade teachers at school that he didn't like. Needless to say, I hope that I'm not on his list, but it wouldn't be the first time I was on someone's hit list, now would it?

I can't help but feel overwhelmed in a system that sends children like Migueal and Jeremy to my classroom with the deep psycological problems they suffer from, expecing that I will be able to get them where they need to be academically. The problem is not that I can't bring them up to a sixth-grade level, it's that I can't give them the individualized resources they need and give all my other students what they need at the same time.

It's not fair to treat Migueal and Jeremy like every other student - they aren't like other students! They have psycological disorders that require medicine, therapy, one-on-one attention, and instruction in a resource-room type environment. However, due to No Child Left Behind and a new state law, all pullout programs have officially ended at Miller Intermediate. No students are pulled out of general education classrooms for small-setting instruction anymore. Texas has decided it is more politically correct to have "inclusion" classrooms.

Too bad "inclusion" really means Migueal and Jeremy will be excluded from learning because they are being denied the resources they so desperately need to excel. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE?!

Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is America

I made it to Atlanta and then to Athens, where I've enjoyed spending the last three days catching up with friends and doing what I can to help recruit for Teach For America.

While staying with my friend Casey, I came across a book he was reading. Written by former Clinton budget official Matthew Miller, The Two Percent Solution posits a radical shift in national priorities. Miller argues that many of the current national crises we experience can be solved by dedicating two percent of our national income (gross domestic product) to putting our money where our mouths are.

I am particularly galvanized by his incredible platform for education.

Miller correctly identifies teacher quality as the defacto hindrence to student performance. He points out that this problem does not intend to demean the outstanding teachers who have dedicated their lives to the profession and produce excellence, but rather narrows his focus to those teachers who, based on their qualifications, are basically being hired to babysit.

Moreover, Miller argues that despite urban schools that are too often targeted as the reason for our substandard state averages, "when we are failing 10 million poor children, the problem is national."

Miller argues for $30 billion to create a system of enhanced teacher pay based on experience, student performance and content knowledge. Teachers in poor schools would have their salaries rasied 50%; conditional upon teacher unions agreeing to raise the salaries of the top half of performers another 50%, as well as streamlining the dismissal process for incompetent teachers to a four- to six-month period.

In real numbers, this would mean that a teacher in Houston would start at $62,000 and the best would earn somewhere in the neighborhood of $130,000. For content-rich college graduates, teaching will actually become a profession they can ligetimately consider as a career, without taking a vow of poverty.

In Miller's words... "With the amount they would be able to put aside in savings at these salaries, the aim would be to make America's best teachers of poor children millionaires over their careers. We need nothing less if we're to change the way this essential career is viewed by our brightest college graduates."

This is it folks - this is the start of an answer to our national education dilemma. In a nation that has the foremost system of higher education in the world, it is a sin that we should have a k-12 system that ranks last in the world.

This proposal would double our national spending on education from 7% to 14% of our annual budget, but would place the much-needed (and hereto much-lacking) priority on reform. Rather than making the stakes higher for teachers in place now, this proposal correctly targets the underlying problem of attracting the brightest scholars into a profession for reasons other than altruism.

**Many thanks to Casey Mull for letting me crash at his place for three nights and having books laying around his house that I find intelectually stimulating!

Two Days Left...

I desperately need a break. Today was the roughest yet and the outlook does not portend well for tomorrow or Friday.

We started homeroom this morning with another power failure. The last time it happened, my students remained relatively calm - not the case today. I had them write letters to me about what they were doing for Thanksgiving. One of my students addressed her's to "Mr. Williams."

By the time we got into Block 1, I had to abandon my lesson which required us to use the computer lab. Since we were so off schedule, I had already lost my time slot for the computer lab, so I somehow managed to turn checking last night's homework into a 15-min activity. That's what I call stretching!

Block 2 was bouncing off the walls today. They were so incredibly loud. For some reason, they really got investing in working with the computers. But, as soon as we returned to the classroom is was all downhill. At one point, my partner teacher had to come over from one room over and yell at them because we were disturbing all three classrooms that surround mine. Ridiculous. This is the third time that's happened for me in that particular block of students. While I welcome my partner teacher's help in getting them under control, it's just really humiliating to me that she feels it necessary to come over.

I have to find a way to get them under control. I fight the urge to constantly be stern, but the minute I show them a human side it's like they don't know how to act. They respond by either behaving completely barbaric or by laughing so loud that it becomes a disturbance.

Then, I had Taylor in Block 3. Within the first 15 mins of class, Taylor had already received two discipline marks for not following directions and for chewing gum. One I gave him the second mark, he got so angry that he literally got up and walked out of my room. He went into the hallway and sat down outside my door. I decided to give him room to cool off and chose to ignore his behavior - at least, I made him think that. As I was keeping my distance but with an ever-watchful eye, Taylor proceeded to get closer and closer to the doorway, desperately trying to bait me into a confrontation. When he realized that it wouldn't work, it proceeded to start crying. He got louder and louder and finally until he was finally lying in my doorway, sprawled out, crying like a crazy person.

That's when my partner teacher walked by with her class, headed for the restroom. They had no idea how to take Taylor's behavior. The students in her class were befuddled at his childish tantrum. I gave Taylor the ultematim of acting like a sixth grader or going to the office. He chose to act like a sixth grader.

Is this really happening? Is my life really this crazy right now?

The good news in all this is that I had a lot fun last night at the UGA Archway to Excellence event held at the Houston Country Club. It was so great to see the administration and advisors from college. I even met a women who wants to give me a donation of 300 books that she's been trying to find a home for.

Two days left...

Election Night, Part 1...

Today I hit the brick wall. I ran slap into it and then it crumbled on top of me.

For some reason, I just kept waking up last night. Six times before 5:30, I awoke and had trouble getting back to sleep. When I finally did get out of bed at 5:20, I felt very tired and my sinuses were already in full rage. All day today, I was fighting to have the energy to do anything.

Blocks 1 and 2 were tough. I fought tooth and nail to keep their attention and get them excited about the lesson that I was actually pretty proud of. But then it was all over in Block 3. No matter what I tried, I never had full control of the class. At some point, my AP walked into the room and I almost just threw my hands up and walked out. She said that she was just "walking through" and did just that as she entered my classroom. I'm positive she could see the chaos that was my classroom, as well as the complete dispair that was my face.

The thing is, it was a good day today. Considering the worst that happened was that I had trouble keeping Block 3 in their seats, it wasn't that bad. Things could have been, and have been before, very worse.

Once I got home, I started getting ready for our election watch party and received a rather disheartening phone call.

It was Renece's mother. She called to apologize for Renece's absence today and for the fact that her Science Fair project will now be late. Her reason: Renece's mother was arrested last night for disturbing the peace and her car was therefore impounded. What am I suppossed to say to that?

Sadly, this is the second parent that has called to apologize to me for being arrested. I had another student whose parent called to explain why she wouldn't have her homework - her father had been arrested the night before. That happened during my first month of teaching - they don't prepare you with what to say to a student that tells you this. How can they?

Thank God for politics; my respite in all this bedlam.

To Be Continued...

Sunday is a Work Day

Last week ended pretty well. I still have to grade the tests from Friday to see how much was learned, though I am pretty optimistic. Meanwhile, I'm trying to get a lot of work done today - trying to lesson plan through Fall Break.

James Baker (former Reagan and Bush-41 Chief of Staff, former Secretary of Treasury, former Secretary of State) sat in front of me at church this morning. It was funny because I had seen him on "The Daily Show" and "da Ali G Show" earlier last week.

I'm getting excited about the election Tuesday. My roommates and I are having some friends over for an election watch party. I'm getting pumped about a Democratic takeover, though I doubt the blue wave will reach Georgia. This blog entry is brought to you by the numbers "6" and "15."

6 - number of seats in the Senate the Democrats need for a majority
15 - number of seats in the House the Democrats need for a majority

November Already?

Is it really November already? Has it already been 3 months on the front line? I tried to think back today to my first day in front of my Miller 6th graders and I had a hard time remembering back that far. It seems that I live my life in weeks so much so now that I can't remember events that occurred 3 months ago.

I can remember summer school though. Second grade was a cake walk compared to sixth. I had it so easy then and never realized it. It's not so bad now though. I've settled into weekly and daily routines that help me to minimize the work and stress I bring home each night. So, basically I've transitioned into the real world.

Two weeks left until I fly home for Thanksgiving. Can't wait to see everyone again and actually get to take some time to enjoy home - not having to worry about grading papers or lesson planning, though I'm sure a little of both will be going on.

As I was grading the Science tests from last week, it seems my students didn't do as poorly as I had originally thought. They did pretty well with physical and chemical changes, and after spending two days this week re-teaching the material, I feel pretty confident they will nail the test this week.

Now if I can just get through Thursday...

By the way, I lost two students and gained two new students today. New vocabulary word for next week - "revolving door."

I Feel Like A Person

This weekend was really great (especially after Friday's day-long adventure), giving me a chance to put school-life on hold (harder said than done, as you'll see) for a moment to just feel like a person again, doing normal things.

The 5-and-a-half hour car ride with my roommates was actually a lot of fun, minus the constant razzing over my selection of music. It seems country and hip-hop are just not that popular with guys from the Northeast.

We had a lot of fun discovering the French Quarter. We never really left this area since our hotel was in walking distance and so was the Superdome. Kyle had been before several times, so was able to give us the 50-cent tour. Our romp across New Orleans included stops at Mother's for some po' boys, Cafe du Monde for some benients, and Bourbon Street for some... bourbon.

We topped it all off with a trip to the Superdome to see the Saints battle the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens are Brian's hometown team, so you can guess who the rest of us were pulling for. Unfortunately, the Ravens dominated the entire game. I have to say though, I was thoroughly impressed with the Saints' fans - the Superdome was the loudest place I have ever been, and the game wasn't even that close.

We got back around 10pm Sunday night, so I've been playing catch up since then. I did get a little work done on Saturday. We found a sports bar in a nearby Hilton and graded papers and lesson-planned as we all watched the Georgia-Florida and Mizzou games. But I still had a lot of work to do Monday morning since this week is my observation window. That means that my AP has to observe me for 40 mins and submit an evaluation to the district. I also have to take a test over the 7 hours of ESL training I received last week for my certification.

Luckily, today I had both occur. My AP dropped in during my second period today. I'm not sure if it went well or not - it was up and down as per usual. She kept getting up and helping kids also, which I'm not sure was due to her perceiving me as a bad teacher so much as is in her nature to help out while she's in the classroom. She said that I did a "nice job" so I guess I'll be looking for good marks on that evaluation that I should see sometime next week.

I also went ahead and knocked out my ESL test this afternoon. I actually scored an 80% on it. The training required me to read writing samples of English-as-a-Second-Language students and categorize them according to their ability. Out of 15 sets of writings, I only missed 3. That sounds easy, but considering the ESL coordinator at my school has been teaching for some 20 years and is a native speaker, I was shocked to learn that she didn't pass this test on the first go-round (neither did my partner teacher). I have a whole laundry list of reasons why our ESL coordinator is too inept for the job, though.

No Lights = No Fun

Editor's Note: This story was written last Friday, but due to reasons you'll soon understand is only now being published.

This morning I was really excited about the day. It's Friday and I'm headed to New Orleans right after school, so there's no way it was going to be a bad day. Then the lights went out in homeroom.

The power company is installing a traffic signal in front of our building to accomodate the new elementary school going up across the street. Somehow, they cut the wrong line and the power was out for about half an hour. We thought we had it restored, but due to it being an extremely windy day today (not typical) the lights have continued to flicker throughout the remainder of the day.

A classroom of 11 year-olds is crazy enough without surprises, but take away the lights then turn them back on and take them away and turn them back on and take them away again... well, it just creates chaos. We were in lockdown mode through lunch, which we had to eat in our classrooms by the way. The only thing that got me through that little treat was the Chick-fil-A milkshake one of the teacher's had her husband bring us. Thank God for cookies and cream!

Right now, my students are reading silently as part of DEAR-time (Drop Everything And Read), a half-hour we devote to reading each day. This is the first point today where I've been able to catch a breath and mentally regroup. Because of all the chaos, we haven't had a break all day (which is technically illegal) and I'm stretching this silent reading out as long as I possibly can.

NOLA-bound

It's Thursday night, which means it will be Friday in a few hours. And that means that I'll be on the way to New Orleans very soon. Brian's birthday was Tuesday, so a while back all my roommates decided to go to New Orleans for the weekend to treat Brian to the Saints-Ravens game (Brian's from Baltimore).

Today was a little out of control in my third block. I blame it on the rain. We've had a lot lately, and it doesn't bode well for recess tomorrow.

There's just something about rain that affects a person's psyche. You know what I mean - that feeling you get when you look outside and see a gray sky and a downpour. Now imagine you're 11 years old.

We have no windows in my room, but we can definitely hear when it's raining. Whenever it rains, my students flip out. They suddenly can't sit still, can't keep quiet and can't stay on task. All this makes me go crazy too, which means my classroom is just one big nuthouse.

Life is not so bad though. Today I bought an EZtag so that I can take the tollroad to school, saving me 900 hours of driving a month!

All I Ask for is Respect

I had it in college - from everyone. Teachers respected me as a student and treated me as an adult. They knew my time and money were both precious and wasted neither. Advisors/Supervisors knew that I had little experience, but respected the hard work and effort I put into all my endeavors. They helped to point out areas where I could improve, but in doing so, treated me as a professional, with respect.

At Miller Intermediate, life is a little different. While I feel that I have respect for the most part from the parents, the administration, and my supervisors, it is more than lacking from the students. It's just so hard to put so much into a job when your target audience treats you like shit everyday.

Today, my nastiest student crossed a line. I threw her out of my classroom and called the AP. I told the AP that I refused to take verbal abuse from a 12 year-old. And I shouldn't have to.

Sierra entered my room today chewing gum (there has been a severe breakout of gum-chewing lately), so like I do with all offenders, I asked her to spit it in the trashcan and asked for her planner so that I could give her a discipline mark. At first she complied, understanding that she violated a rule. But she refused to let me give her a mark and wouldn't give me her planner, despite my stern protests.

Finally, I gave her an ultimatum. I told her that she could a) receive a mark and we could move on, or b) she would have to leave my room. I refused to allow her to hijack my classtime, as happens on a regular basis. Eventually, she folded and handed over her planner. As I walked away after marking her planner, I heard her mutter "I wish he'd die."

I was on my way across the room to help another student when I heard it. My instinct was to go ballistic, but instead I stopped. Allowing Sierra to bait me into a confrontation never works, so I chose instead to ignore this comment since it was said under her breath and only 1 or 2 other students heard her. I pretended that I never heard the comment and proceeded to help other students.

Meanwhile, Sierra decides that she is not going to do the in-class assignment and out of the corner of my eye, I notice she is throwing hers away in the trashcan. Fine, I tell myself; that's her choice. I decide not to say anything about it and allow her to sit quietly at her desk and make paper fans, which is currently keeping her silent and in her desk. As long as she's not disturbing any other students, she can make origami for all I care.

The portion of class dedicated to Science ends and I ask for everyone to turn in their assignments. Sierra is continuing her silent protest, so I continue to leave her be.

Then, the downward spiral suddenly entered hyperspeed.

As I was beginning Social Studies, Sierra takes advantage of a pause in my instruction to blurt out a question.

"Mr. Wilson, why did you decide to teach? Because you suck!"

That was it. That was beyond it. She not only crossed a line, she was running past it. Without missing a beat, I demanded that she leave my classroom as I walked over to the phone and informed the AP that I was putting her out in the hallway and she would have to come get her. I will not be the verbal prisoner of a 12 year-old!

I mean, ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?

The one factor compounding the situation is that Sierra is one of my highest performing students. She made one of the highest scores on our most recent DCA. Why, then, is she resorting to such belligerent misbehavior?

I called Sierra's Dad and he'll be meeting with me at school tomorrow to further discuss what happened. He kept me on the phone tonight while he chewed her out - that was nice to hear. Hopefully it has some impact on her behavior.

Somber Numbers

I spent this weekend grading the DCA that my students took prior to my leaving for Georgia. It took me a week to come to the realization that the answer Scan-trons that I had to turn in were never actually coming back to me, bound instead for district headquaters. Sometimes you just wonder about people who come up with these rules that make absolutely no sense.

Regardless, I was a bit disappointed to see where the numbers fell. Out of 72 students taking the test, I only had 17 pass it. The class means were 66%, 46% and 41% - none of which are passing. Overall, the all-student mean was 55%... somber numbers to say the least.

My Science Curriculum Specialist at my school assured me that my numbers were right on par with the rest of the 6th grade, as well as the school average. I'm not depressed at these numbers - they're actually pretty good considering where my students started. One class' beginning-of-the-year diagnostic score was a measly 19%, so these numbers are significant improvements.

I am realizing, however, just how hard it is going to be to push them over the 80% bar. I thought that I had really laid everything out for my students, in a way that they were sure to make at least an 80%. But now I realize just how layered the instruction is going to need to be.

Now if I can just get a chance to make some changes! If there's one thing that I've learned at Miller that I didn't learn at Wainwright (summer school) it's how much time you really have to spend each night tweaking the next day's lesson based on the information you received that day from your students. These DCA numbers show me that I'm going to really have to tweak some things, in a major way.

It frustrates me though that it will be next week at the earliest before I'll be able to change anything in my classroom. I found out Friday at 4pm that I was required to participate in two Professional Development courses Monday (tonight) and Tuesday from 4-7:30pm. Since I also have my graduate class on Wednesday from 5:30-8:15pm, my nights this week will all be spent in class - ridiculous.

Why Can't I Just Teach?

Today was my first day back since I was out, and let's just say my desk was a little cluttered. I also found out today that we lost one student, and gained another. What does that bring the total up to now - I've lost count.

That's not all - Monday night one of the 6th grade Science teachers resigned. He sent the principal an email letting her know that he wasn't coming back to school. On one hand, I understand how he must have felt overwhelmed and underappreciated. But on the other, what a freakin' jerk! Are you kidding me? He's just going to up and leave the 9th week of school?! Like that's going to solve anything - now his class has a long-term sub until they can hire someone new. Then that person has to go through a learning curve, so at best, the students in that class will only be about 8-10 weeks behind come Winter Break!

I'll stop that rant right there, because it's actually not what I wanted to tell you about. I found out today that I have to scrap my lesson for next Wednesday because the entire school will be in TAKS-mode. TAKS is the "Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills" and serves as our "high-stakes exam." Since we are a Title I school who didn't pass our AYP (Annual Yearly Progress, a part of 'No Child Left Behind') last year, we HAVE to pass the TAKS in every subject this year, or risk the state taking over our school.

So, this means that on 5 occasions this year, every teacher in the building will be administering either a math or reading TAKS test (full-length) to prepare our students to take the actual TAKS tests in February. This means that on those days, no teacher will be able to actually teach the material that we were hired to teach; that no teacher will be able to actually teach the material that our kids need to know in order to pass the TAKS test; that no teacher will actually be able to do the one thing that we are expected, but never allowed, to do - TEACH!

I was furious when I learned of this information this morning - ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! My kids have a Science Fair in 3 weeks and a Science benchmark exam administered by the district in 8 weeks - and right now we're behind! This goes without mentioning the fact that poor Social Studies has been sacrificed for about 2 weeks now so that we can catch up in Science - the one subject that is tested of the two. But now, I'm expected to just put all that on hold a day - AN ENTIRE DAY - so that they can practice reading? I THOUGHT THAT WAS WHAT READING CLASS WAS FOR!

I know you might be saying, "But Matthew, it's only one day." That's true, but that one day is a Wednesday. And that means that the entire week will be a sacrifice because whatever we learn on Monday and Tuesday will be put on hold for Wednesday, then I'll spend all of Thursday reviewing what we learned Monday and Tuesday and then it's Friday, which is suppossed to be test day. By the way, there is no substantive material that can be taught in two days. I NEED FULL WEEKS HERE!

I wrote a kind of nasty email to one of the APs, expressing my discontent with the situation, but doing so in a manner that would allow me to return to work tomorrow. I think she got the message, but it's not going to change anything.

The one ray of hope in all this is that I was appointed to the school committee that is able to make executive decisions about things like this. Granted, this is probably a district mandate, but at least I can bring it up at the end of the year so that I can at least get the administration to understand how little sense this makes.

A test is a test is a test. The more we practice for the test, the less teaching we can actually do. So in February, our kids will be very familiar with the layout of the test and how to bubble-in answers on a Scantron, but will have no idea WHAT THE ACTUAL ANSWERS ARE!

Sick Day 2

Today I'm feeling a lot better. Granted, I panicked a little when I woke up at 9:30am and momentarily forgot I took the day off.

My voice is definitely coming back and should be back to 90% by tomorrow. The meds I've been taking have definitely made a difference. I felt so good today that I decided to go run a few errands. As I began driving, I realized that although I wasn't tired, my brain seemed to be running sluggishly. After a little bit, I recalled the doctor saying to me not to do anything that involved mental alertness after taking the medicine he gave me. Hmmmm.... driving must be on that list. I cut my errands short and went home from the bookstore.

I stumbled into quite a good deal at Borders today. I was wanting to buy a new book with what was left of a graduation gift card. I took a long time before finally deciding on "Second Acts," a book about presidential life post-White House. It was a little over what I had left on the gift card, but hey, why not splurge a little, eh?

Once I got to the checkout counter, I was asked if I was ever a teacher. Well, yes. Turns out, I got a 25% discount - just for being a teacher! How awesome is that!

Once I got home, it donned on me. I wonder if the discount will work on a DVD boxed set... say West Wing?

Diagnosis

So I went to the doctor, and only after having to explain that I wasn't in high school and was actually a middle-school teacher, I received the diagnosis. It appears that I have a viral infection with laryngitis.

The doctor told me that under no circumstances was I to return to school prior to Wednesday, so I get tomorrow off also. As bad as this will be once I return to school, I'm actually taking this as an opportunity to get caught up on all the little things I've been needing to do - vacuum the house, go grocery shopping, write my paper for grad class, etc.

There was major rain all night and day in Houston today. Flooding was rampant. I drove through three lakes on the way home from the doctor today. Several school were cancelled - of course mine was not one of them.

In true Houston fashion, the forecast for tomorrow is all sun and 96 degrees.

General Update

Now, for a more-generalized update.

1) Master's Degree - I've been considering the past few weeks staying for a third year in Houston, in order to earn a Master's of Education degree from the University of Houston. I keep going back and forth on this. On one hand, I really like the idea of spending another year exploring big issues in educational policy. On the other hand, knowing that I am headed to law school, I don't really need a Master's degree. And another year in Houston, is another year standing between me and being a lawyer.

I don't have to have a decision until the end of the year, so I have plenty of time to weigh the pros and cons.

2) Dogs Fall - I went home this weekend for Homecoming and while I had so much fun catching up with all my friends and advisors from college, Saturday was depressing. The fact that we, the Georgia Bulldogs, allowed a win to Vanderbilt - VANDERBILT - is just sad. We've only allowed a win 3 different times (in 26 years!) and the last one was 12 years ago. That's also the last time we lost a Homecoming game.

Wow - this is bad. Our season is all but over. This loss, coupled with Thomas Brown's season-ending knee injury and a host of others, we're done for.

3) Athens - Despite Saturday, I had the most fun I've had in a while. It was so great to have the time to catch up with Raj and Casey, Laurie and Laura. I also got to spend some time with Ashley on the drive from Hartsfield to Athens. I also had the chance to catch up with several of my advisors at Georgia, which provided much-needed inspiration and motivation.
All in all, it was a great weekend.

The one bad thing (number 2 above as an aside) was this illness that I've gotten, most likely from going from 87-degree Houston to 62-degree Athens all weekend. I'm starting to feel better already though, thanks to being able to sleep in until 10:30 this morning.