I hate this f....ing hell hole. I was in a good mood before I got here. Thank God it's Fri. cause I sure wouldn't be here tom. if it wasn't. I already wrote out 7 suspension, while being interrupted for some pain in the ass every freaking 5 mins.
NCLB- where do I freakin start. What does it mean to us. It means we can only suspend a special ed. child 10 days out of school a year. By sp. ed I do not mean sweet little Johnny with down syndrome or little Lisa who is learning disabled. I mean Bob the criminal, dope head, who is 17 in the 8th grade and hits someone or curses every other day. Imagine having to go to school with that when you were in 8th grade. Would you have been afraid. Think Bob's gonna use the ed. we try to give him?
It also means as a teacher you are held responsible because
Tim who smokes weed with his mom before school is not learning properly.
Please God give me the strength to make it through this day. 2:20 please

Denise - HUGS HUGS HUGS - Isn't your tummy hurting right now - I think you need to go home cuz you are sick - there is no way a 17 yr s/b in 8th grade - that's to frickin scary - don't the have alternative schools for these kid in LA???

We must keep sp. ed. until they are 17. They have an alternative school if they are caught with drugs, a weapon, or commit SERIOUS bodily injury (it would require a hospital stay). Our region is under corrective action for suspending too many sp.ed. kids. They are scared to get sued. Sped children are running our schools.

My favorite from Jesse's "Stages of Banding" list was the one about taking no crap from anyone!! Poor DH got the brunt of my wrath yesterday! Oh, well! He won't be tellling me how to do my diet/exercise again for a while!! :)

You go girl !!!!!

CONGRATS ON 20/20 for February.....

Denise - Here in Cali - alternative school is for kids who don't do well in reg school - need to catch up on credit (the reason my GS goes) but in cali if you have any wepons etc - you get kicked out period - and home schooled.

OMG, I had no idea what schools were like now. My kids are graduating from college this year, but they went to private Christian schools before that. Sure, their schools had their share of problems, but NOTHING like what you guys are talking about. Why would anyone want to be a teacher? It blows my mind. My DIL is a teacher, but couldn't find a job, so since she is certified in pre-school - 6th grade, she's working in a child care center. Maybe she's lucky that she didn't find a job!? Thank you guys for all you try to do to improve the lives of these kids. The problem seems to be so much bigger than anything you have control of. I wish the legislators would stay out of the education business (which they know noting about). I have the same rant about health care, howevr, with the insurance companies--not the doctors--deciding what patients need/don't need.

See, these kids are comming to us in post-secondary education now expecting to be coddled the same way in college as they were in high school. I can relate to what someone said before about critical thinking. I can't tell you how many times a student complained because a test question was worded differently than the way their textbook (or my powerpoint, which was printed out and handed to them) had it stated. They can't understand that the meaning is the same. They expect that recognizing some words is all they need to do! They're shocked when I tell them that the doctor has no idea how something was worded in their textbook! And I think I was frustrated until now that I am beginning to udnerstand what you high school and K-6 teachers are up against. I fear for my kids to think about what the world will be like in 20+ years. . .

As for me, I am back in bandster hell. Thankfully, I did manage to lose 2 pounds this week, but I don't think it was anything that I did. Seriously, I haven't been this hungry since before my first fill. I do have an appointment for next week. Maybe she'll start filling me back up. For now I'm fighting (and so far winning) the urge to eat pizza, McDonalds fish sandwiches, and bread. I am allowing myself a small amount of Bailey's ice cream at night if I have been good all day.

Phyl--good to see you back on! Ya need to put DH in his place once in a while.

Janet--Congratulations on being overweight! (Only a bandster would take that as a huge compliment.) You are going to make it, girl! I can't wait for the new pics. One of these days I'll find one to post. BTW: I am in the pact with you. I am here to stay; like it or not--I just can't post as often as I'd like.

It's the weekend! I'll be around--or out shoveling snow. . .who needs to go to the gym?

As I said before, I have the greatest respect for teachers, so my rants are not directed at any of you, but rather the "system" that we are all so caught up in.

My son is 10 and doesn't really have an official learning disability, but he does have to work a lot harder at "getting it" than most kids. Once he does, he's like a runaway train, but getting there takes a lot of blood, sweat and tears. And that's just me.

There are certain parts of the curriculum, like spelling, that I feel he just regurgitates each week, only to disappear from his memory the following week. It's been like that for the past 3 grades despite spending extra time in Reading Recovery and speech therapy. And I certainly don't blame anyone for that either. In fact his teachers, the principal and the counsellors at school have all gone out of their way to help me get him on track. It's just taken a lot of time to get him there.

I know his teacher's hands are tied with regard to what he has to know and how he has to learn it and there can be deadlines that have to be met. This year he has TAKS tests in reading and math that he has to have a passing grade of 70 in order to progress to 4th grade. He's worked so hard this year and last to get his grades up and he's done an excellent job. But in spite of all the effort we all put into it, he's still on the border of pass/fail.

What I find frustrating a lot of the time is that they're being taught to memorize and regurgitate, they're not taught how to find answers. Again, not the teacher's fault. Using his spelling tests as an example, when he's at home and is trying to figure out how to spell a word, he knows how to use spellcheck. In my day we were given a dictionary. His weekly spelling tests only have him holding that information for a week. Is it not better that he learn how and where to find answers than to spit out information that disappears over time?

I think that if I were a working mother, it would have been SO much harder to get him to where he is now. I'm (or more importantly he) is lucky that I'm home when he gets back from school and have the time to spend with him to go over things. So many working parents don't have that luxury. And so many others as mentioned just don't give a damn. I recognize that I'm not always the best person teach him. I just don't know how to explain things in a way he might see or understand. Mostly because we see things in very different ways. Learning came naturally to me, but he has to work hard to attain knowledge. He can read a question to himself over and over again and just not get it. I can read it aloud to him and suddenly the light goes on. So that can be frustrating. He's not going to have someone read the questions in a test. And that's perfectly understandable.

So once again my undying respect to those of you who put yourselves out there and go the extra mile for kids like my son. It's just so frustrating that there are others who really don't want to be there make it so much harder for those who do. And even more troubling is the fact that it's businessmen that make the decision for education standards and not educators themselves.

Ruby - I was/am a working Mom and the problems are really difficult with kids, teachers & school district - My grandson may know the subject - but when it comes to test - he isn't very good - I know grownups who are smart and can't do tests. I guess I was lucky like you - school came easy to me - but now - I can't help with math homework at all - too big of classes students vs teachers ratios (except for Steph) - I am just so glad I have only the rest of this yr and next and I am DONE!!!

My son had a GREAT teacher in 4th grade and got her again in 6th grade - she was burnt out by then - not the same teacher at all .. My Grandson had her when he was a freshman - she remembered the last name and gs resembles his dad (my son was her pet in 4th grade - she loved him) and asked if he was his son - and the rest of the class said "omg you are that old that you taught his dad"

All I can say is my hat is off to you teachers - I applaud you - and I sure and the heck don't want your jobs - I guess my job isn't that bad - just have to deal with stupid insureds

Linda - I am sending sunshine your way - it's beautiful here right now..
Yep being overweight for a morbitly obese person is a big deal and only us who have been classified as MO & Obese - can relate.

Ok Gang

I am reporting that I am going out for drinks after work with some of my office mates.

This is why I have put the 5 lbs a month goal on myself - I am ready to start enjoying life a little...

We don't do this often - about every couple of months - so IF I don't over do it - I will go exercise tomorrow since we will be starting a new month

But who knows - when I get started - the old Janet wants to comes out and wants to play.

Just a little history - I use to be the PARTY girl - clubs dancing until 2 a.m. then the after hours would be at my house - I have done my share of partying !!!!

Seriously don't think I will be partying all night - (most likely home by 7) - but just want to warn you in case you don't hear from me in the morning
I might just be pulling a Jackie - (us old farts can still hang :biggrin2:)

Karri - I am so glad that you haven't followed in my footsteps about partying and drinking & ???? - Proud of you girl....

Well, off to my cocktails.... Ck with ya'll later
xoxoxo
J

That's great Janet. You have a good time! These past months have been hard work for all of us. I'm glad you're ready to relax and enjoy life again. I'll bet you'll get loads of compliments while you're out too.

Okay to add a little about teaching. Our school is really trying to make the steps to getting kids to know how to learn. Nothing I teach these kids is going to help them in the future. No one cares how many protons there are in a Cesium atom and no one will ever use stoichiometry (big hug for anyone that knows what that is!) but what they will need to know is to "learn how to learn" I actually gave my kids a dot-to-dot picture this morning and told them that my job was to give them the dots. It is the basic information that they need to get a general picture, but it was there job to draw the lines to create the whole picture. It got to some of them and others will always think they should be coddled.

As for student behaviors I taught in Las Vegas for the 1st year and I have seen it all. Riots (encouraged by teachers!), drug deals in my classroom (told not to say anything cause it could get me killed), had a student arrested for quadruple homicide in my classroom, kids peeing in sinks (secretary didn't get a sub to cover my class for 1 period!). I have seen it all. So behavior wise I am at a dream school, motivation wise...Different story.

Well I may not be around tomorrow. Didn't want my mommy to worry! Get to spend the day with BF...but no partying. He drinks occasionally but nope I didn't get the partying gene!!!

Off to bowling!!!

Stoichiometry- I faintly remember this from chemistry 20 yrs ago but don't exactly remember what it is. Has something to do with calculating the equations??