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[History Buff]

You may enjoy this, Swoosh:  at our first PBS "collaboration" meeting, a guy came to tell us how bad he was in elementary school.  In middle school, he was allowed to break the rules and be in both band and orchestra.  That, he claimed, is what turned his life around and allowed him to be successful.

My biggest concern is that I, too, am unique.  Why am I not professionally being allowed to use my own personality in my classroom?  Why must I conform to someone else's ideas of what works for them?  In my opinion, consensus forces mediocrity, and the best ideas - the ones that have worked for me - are lost.  I was a contender for Missouri's Teacher of the Year a few years ago and have won many awards for doing my job, and yet I feel like I'm starting over.

[Swoosh]

Wow, we have some award weiners here on this here board... I was Teacher of the Year in my district last year.  (won multiple media awards from MSTA as well, but that's another story).

Maybe I'm too "old school" but I feel when a kid misbehaves, he needs to have his butt swatted by the principal if he is a repeat offender.  It worked when we were in school why are their precious egos so much more fragile now then when we were in school?

[History Buff]

I whole-heartedly agree.

Which media awards?  I am a recipient this year.

[Firstvisit1967]

If you think teaching school is tough on this generation you should try having them work for you.  Now the corp leaders have human resources (term used for people who can't really do anything so they try and tell you how it should be) to give credit to all the clowns who can't and will not do their jobs.  A server can drop the F-bomb in the dinning room in front of guest and still not be fired for this.  They can be late, not do their job, not dress to standards, and take three smoke breaks in four hours and still not lose their jobs unless you have paper trails.  If you want to talk extra work you should try being upper management in todays corp world.  To quote a answer to how much more are they going to ask "You still have a job don't you?"  That is after six days a week 11-13 hours a day. 

Can't wait for the late fall, Indian Point, and SDC.

[rubedugans]

I, firstly, am blessed to have a job in today's economy. Let alone one that I went to school specifically for. I love what I do, and I wouldn't trade it (except for my SDC dream job!). I have a hard time doing what I am supposed to do, like many others in the lack of accountability on the students behalf. Merit pay, PBS, AYP, MAP, all say whether we are doing our jobs for the students, making steps to meet their needs albeit in a "Stepford Wives" sort of way. What happened to the students doing their job LEARNING? I do everything I can to make the education individualized, and differentiated enough to reach ANY student, and when they do not reach out to take what I have crafted specifically for them, how am I to blame? as far as NoChildLeftBehind I will post a short item from an anonymous author , but it explains for teachers and non-teachers the "tip" of our iceberg.

The Football Metaphor for No Child Left Behind

    1. All teams must make the state playoffs and all MUST win the championship. If a team does not win the championship, they will be on probation until they are the champions, and coaches will be held accountable. If after two years they have not won the championship their footballs and equipment will be taken away UNTIL they do win the championship. If a team does not improve after four years, the entire staff may be fired. If the team does not win after the fifth year, the team may be sold to a private corporation. Think ENRON for football.

    2. All kids will be expected to have the same football skills at the same time, even if they do not have the same conditions or opportunities to practice on their own. NO exceptions will be made for lack of interest in football, a desire to perform athletically, or genetic abilities or disabilities of themselves or their parents. All kids will play football at a proficient level, even those in wheelchairs.

    3. Talented players will be asked to workout on their own, without instruction. This is because the coaches will be using all their instructional time with the athletes who aren't interested in football, have limited athletic ability or whose parents don't like football.

    4. Games will be played year round, but statistics will only be kept in the 4th, 8th, and 11th game. Football teams must use their own resources to pay for the statistics.

    This will create a New Age of Sports where every team is expected to have the same level of talent and all teams will reach the same challenging goals, rendering the challenge meaningless. If every team meets the challenge, it obviously can't be challenging. If football fans do not like this new law, they are encouraged to vote for vouchers and support private teams that can screen out the non-athletes and prevent their children from having to play with bad football players, ultimately leaving the bad football players behind.

[Swoosh]

Which media awards?  I am a recipient this year.

Classroom Website of the Year.  I was the back-to-back winner in 2007 & 2008

[KBCraig]

http://www.sepschool.org

[History Buff]

Which media awards?  I am a recipient this year.

Classroom Website of the Year.  I was the back-to-back winner in 2007 & 2008

OK, I remember looking at yours last year.  I didn't realize that was yours.

[Swoosh]

We've completely overhauled the site now and it doesn't look anything like it used to.

http://www.novingerbands.com

Let me guess, you won best classroom website for 2009?

[sdcforever]

^That's a really nice website, Swoosh!

[Swoosh]

^thanks 

[History Buff]

We've completely overhauled the site now and it doesn't look anything like it used to.

http://www.novingerbands.com

Let me guess, you won best classroom website for 2009?

Yup.

[Swoosh]

Impossible to locate on the web, can you post a direct link to it?

[StaceySue]

Well, my maternity leave is over.  I had a speech tournament yesterday (in Branson, actually).  I go back to the classroom tomorrow.  Time has flown by.  I hope my school days do, too...

[Swoosh]

Well the first quarter flew by quickly and in fact we're already in our 2nd week of the 2nd quarter at my school -- here's to hoping that Christmas Break gets here quickly (looking forward to going to the Bahamas)