Wednesday

Sad to say nothing really interesting happened today.  It was a busy yet quiet day.  I didn't get into too many classrooms today.  I'll make up for it tomorrow. 

Mr. Obvious

Today I visited a third grade classroom and sat down next to one of the kids and asked him what he was reading.  He said, "A book."  Guess I need to increase the rigor of my questions. 

Do You Work Here?

Today, during lunch, one of the kids asked me where I worked.  I didn't really know how to take that.  Hmmm, guess I need to stop slacking off and start actually doing some work around the place. 

CalPADS & CalTIDES

Obscure database is key to U.S. educational funds for California
The data system tracks student, teacher and administrator performance year to year but has barely gotten off the ground. Other states' systems improve student performance and hold schools accountable.

Read the L.A. Times article. 

A Long Week

This has been a long week. I'm totally exhausted. I'm so tired that I can barely type. I was going to stay up late and catch up on my DVRed shows, but I don't think I'll be able to stay awake. Skins and Project Runway will have to wait til tomorrow. I was thinking about vlogging (video blogging), so I set up a YouTube account. Funny thing is that I can't remember the username I set it up under. That's sad and pathetic. I'll try to remember tomorrow. I'm totally fascinated by YouTube. I really got into it over our summer break. I can't believe all the crazy and goofy videos people post. It's so cool to see videos of my favorite tunes from the 80s and the old cartoons and shows like the Banana Splits and the Buggaloos. Good times. If I can't remember my YouTube account, I guess I can set up a new one. So if I start vlogging, I'll really have to be careful what I say...or maybe not.

From Today's L.A. Times

Dropouts costing California $1.1 billion annually in juvenile crime costs
Study finds that cutting the dropout rate in half would save $550 million and prevent 30,000 juvenile crimes a year. Law enforcement urges more dropout-prevention programs.

Read the article.

Race to the Top - So education is a race now?

California's State Superintendent of Public Instruction Comments on Race to the Top

July 24, 2009
State Schools Chief Jack O'Connell
Comments on "Race to the Top"

SACRAMENTO — State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell today issued the following statement regarding President Obama's launching of the federal "Race to the Top" competition, which allows states to compete for $4.35 billion in education funds if they fulfill the competition's criteria.

"Without question, 'The Race for the Top' fund will be one of the boldest and farthest-reaching efforts to implement meaningful reform in our nation's schools in generations.

"The over-arching goals of the education community must be to increase student achievement and close achievement gaps, and I applaud the Obama Administration for making these two points a focus of their education reform efforts.

"While every one of our states is unique in the needs of its students, as a nation we must make a united commitment to a number of important, core philosophies, including increasing effective teaching, developing globally competitive standards and assessments, turning around low-performing schools and improving data systems to become continuous learning systems that guide decision making.

"As the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, I am wholly committed to ensuring that California is actively engaged in this national conversation. And so, I look forward to joining Governor Schwarzenegger and the State Board of Education in working with the President and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to move forward this ambitious agenda for change.

"Of course, as with any push for significant change, there will be legitimate concerns. Certainly, these guidelines call for some hard decisions by California educators and policymakers, and while this is not an easy conversation to have, it is the right conversation to have.

"While I generally agree with the intent and the focus of the proposed guidelines, there also are some specific areas with which I disagree. Specifically, I would like to point out what I believe to be a misunderstanding about the law surrounding our data systems. California law does not prevent any school district from using the state's student assessment results for purposes of evaluation or compensation. It only prohibits the use of this data to evaluate individual teachers at the state level. This is simply a matter of local control that appropriately ensures school districts handle their own personnel decisions.

"Regardless of this disagreement or any others, I look forward to beginning this effort to effectively communicate our thoughts and any potential changes to the guidelines over the next month."

Get to Know Arne

Mr. J

Last week a third grader came up to me and asked me "Can I call you Mr. J." I look puzzled at him and said "no." He shook his head and said "wait" and counted his fingers and then said "I mean Mr. G." Then I said "ok" and walked away. Someone needs to take another look at his Open Court sound/spelling cards.

Beautiful

Second Week of School

The honeymoon is over.  The kids are definitely feeling a bit comfortable with being back at school.  Three suspensions last week.  Not good.  Two of them involved a fight after school.  There are just too many of them and not enough of us.  Our rec aide budget has been almost slashed in half.  If we could double our rec aide staff, I'm sure we would have very few problems.  A larger rec aide staff would mean I could have rec aides assist with supervision of recess (which is also a problem time - but shouldn't be).  Such a small amount of money would make such a huge impact.  We'll continue to do the best we can with what we have.   

State Budget Impacts Class Size Across the State

Interesting article from today's L.A. Times.  I'm wondering if our class sizes will go up in the near future?  How are we going to squeeze any more kids into those tiny first grade rooms?  What a nightmare. 

Check out the article.

Safe Harbor

Great news came across my computer screen today...NO Program Improvement!!!  Nice!  Due to our strong ELA and Math gains, we got a one year reprieve from PI.  The alternate method of calculating our PI status is called "Safe Harbor."  When I hear that, I think of Gilligan's Island.  I guess that makes me the Skipper?  I'd rather be the Professor.  Hmmm, who would be Gilligan?  Mary Ann?  Ginger?  Would Carlos and Myra be Mr. and Mrs. Howell??  Got to find me a fog horn to use at Staff Development meetings.

I'm Boring

Today I held behavior expectation assemblies for first, second, and third grades. As the first graders were leaving after their assembly, the cafeteria ladies overheard one of the first graders say, "That assembly was boring as hell." I thought I was pretty enthusiastic, almost peppy. Everyone's got to be a critic. I guess I should be grateful that he didn't come up to me during the assembly and take the microphone out of my hand and say that someone else should be leading the assembly.

Haircut Thoughts

Today I decided to get my hair cut. It was a total spur of the moment thing. I usually never get my hair cut on the weekend. The place is always so busy. Today I lucked out. I didn't have to wait. Nice. I'm such a weirdo (in so many ways). I get my hair cut every two weeks. Like clockwork. I can not go more than 15 days without a cut. I know, weird. Another weird thing is that I don't really like to talk to the stylist as she's cutting my hair. I hate it. No chit chat, just cut the hair. Luckily, the place I go to has stylists who don't like to talk either. It's a win, win. So, today as I'm sitting and getting my hair cut I was wondering what do people think about when they're getting their hair cut? Usually, I'm thinking "Please don't screw up my hair, please!" Or, "Dayum, this floor is dirty!" Or, "Will someone please tell that kid to shut up!" Or, "Hmmmm, what should I have for dinner tonight?" Lots of times I'm thinking about what I need to do at work. Or, I'm rehashing an unpleasant incident and wondering if I could have handled it in a different way. Too bad they don't have TVs in the place. That would be awesome! What do you think about when you're getting your hair cut (if you have hair)?

First Week

I can't believe it's year six already. Time is fun when you have flies. The first week of school was GREAT. I'm not lying (this time). It was scary calm. I kept waiting for the crazy stuff to happen. It didn't happen. The kids seemed to be pretty excited about starting school. During my visits, they were focused and engaged. Even lunch recess was calm. Such a huge difference from last year. I hope it lasts. Only time will tell. I'm definitely excited about the possibilities for this year. Despite all the craziness last year, our scores increased big time. Yup, it's going to be a great year. Word?