Tomorrow, Year 5 will officially come to a close! I posted 122 times on the year 5 blog. That surpasses my year 3 blog. Yeah! I'm sure I said a lot about nothing...umm, tampon talk comes to mind. It's hard to believe that five years has passed. Year 5 was definitely stressful and exhausting. I know that there will be challenges in year 6 (and fun times too). I'm definitely going to have a better attitude about handling the year 6 stresses. I'm looking forward to enjoying the happy times when they come...and they certainly will come.
The new blog is www.sixth-year.blogspot.com (There's nothing there yet. Maybe in the next few weeks I'll post something.)
Enjoy your time off! You deserve it!
Time for me to take a walk, literally.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Friday, July 24, 2009
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
Tampon Talk
Today I had to talk to several girls about taking a tampon from the nurse's office and hiding it in another girl's bag. The owner of the bag was embarrassed. I told her tampons are not embarrassing, they are a vital part of a female's life. (I felt kind of creepy saying this.) Tampon pride!!! Several boys saw the tampon and starting teasing the girl. I had to talk to the boys about respecting girls and their privacy. I believe this is the first time I've had to talk to kids about tampons. In fact, I think I said "tampon" more times today than I have in my whole life. Hopefully, I'll go another five years or longer without having to say "tampon" again. I know you are so jealous of my exciting and glamorous work.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
The Home Stretch
FIVE DAYS LEFT! I will be a VERY happy camper on Friday at exactly 2:30 P.M. I cannot wait until this year ends. This time last year, I was practically ready for the new school year. I have done very little to prepare for next year. I think the only thing I've done has been make the meetings schedule. I just don't feel motivated to work on next year's stuff. Eventually I'll get it done. Maybe.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Kids Can Be Cute...Sometimes
Today was the instrumental/chorus concert at school. The kids did a great job. I was a bit disappointed more of the chorus didn't show up. The kids who did show up did a fantastic job. Glenda S. and I were sitting at the back of the MPR enjoying the show. One of our nicer parents and his little son were sitting in front of us. The little one was hanging on his dad and at one point lovingly bit his dad's ear. It was the cutest thing! After the show, the dad and I chatted for a bit and he introduced me to his son, telling me I was going to get him in a couple years. I asked the little one his name and he told me he was two. So cute. When our little talk was over, his dad told him to give me "knuckles." The little one gave me a fist bump! It was the cutest thing ever! I'll take a fist bump from a little kid over a "f*ck you" any day!!!
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Jury Duty
I've managed to dodge the jury duty summons for about two years now. My luck has run out. I received a summons for the week of August 10. I'm so bummed. It's right in the middle of my precious few days off. I'm probably only going to have 12 days off at the most. Oh well. I suppose I must do my civic duty. Last time I was called I had to sit through two days of voir dire. It was the most mind numbing experience of my life. On a happier note I have no meat stories to share this week.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Happy Sunday
I've officially passed the number of Year 4 posts and in a few more days I will pass the number of Year 3 posts (120). Guess I've had a lot to say this year or maybe this year I've said a lot without saying much at all. Does that make sense? Today I need to buy certificate paper for the fifth grade promotion certificiates. Fifteen more days of school left. I hope they go very, very quickly! I also need to hit the party store to pick up some stuff for Friday's BBQ. I need coffee first. Must have coffee! This morning I woke up with horrible pain in my leg and hip. It's almost kind of hard to walk. I'm trying to figure out where it came from. I didn't do anything strenuous. I guess I'm just starting to fall apart. I hope it goes away by tomorrow.
Friday, July 3, 2009
HEY! Wanna buy some meat?
I have to say that this has been a very meaty week. So I'm driving down Long Beach Blvd minding my own business. I come to a stop at the red light like I'm supposed to. A white truck pulls up next to me. The two guys in the truck start yelling at me asking me if I want to buy steaks from them. Yup, two guys selling steaks from their truck on LB Blvd. That was a first. Usually the guys selling stuff are on the sidewalk, not in the cars next to you. I politely declined the offer, but they weren't giving up. They continued to try to sell the steaks. So, I rolled up the window and inched a little closer to the car in front of me. Who buys meat from someone in the car next to them???????? I should have asked them how business was going. Oh well. Next time I will.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Can you put this meat in the refrigerator for me?
It's Tuesday morning. The intern and I are standing guard by the bungalow bathrooms. The 8:15 bell rings. The kids scamper to class. Some linger and sneak that last minute drink at the fountain. Fourth grader Felipe walks up to us and slowly unzips his backpack. Felipe's a good kid so I'm not thinking anything bad is going to happen (if you know what I mean). He takes out a hunk of meat that's nicely wrapped in plastic and he asks me if I would put it in the refrigerator. Of course I say yes and ask him why he has brought a hunk of meat to school. I think it's a fair question. He tells me and the intern that it's for the after school program, they're going to have a barbecue. Now it makes sense. Going to have a barbecue. I forgot to ask him if he also brought barbecue sauce, because you have to have sauce too. I explained to the intern that an important administrator job is to make sure meat products brought to school are kept appropriately chilled. We don't want anyone to get sick. I hope he wrote that down in his reflection journal. I'll check on Monday. This was the first time in 17 (22 if you count my college aide days) years in this biz that a kid has ever given me a piece of meat and asked me to put it in the refrigerator. When a kid gives you meat...that's trust, that's love.
Donorschoose.org
Need books for your classroom library? A new computer for inquiry projects? A smartboard? Checkout Donorschoose.org where you can set up an account describing your project and the project's needs. Visitors to the website can make donations to help make your project a reality. Check it out!
From Today's L.A. Times
Education secretary treads where teachers unions don't want to go
Arne Duncan, in a speech at the NEA's annual meeting in San Diego, says teacher merit pay and student test scores should be on the table when discussing education reform.
Reporting from San Diego -- The country's top education official challenged teachers unions Thursday to embrace historically controversial ways of promoting teacher effectiveness, including offering merit pay and evaluating instructors based on student test scores.
"You must become full partners and leaders in education reform. You must be willing to change," U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan told the National Education Assn. at its annual meeting in San Diego.
The proposals are particularly charged in California, where such suggestions typically are met with fierce union resistance. In fact, a state law prevents districts from using California student performance data to evaluate or compensate teachers.
Duncan's audience was slightly more welcoming than in the past. Dennis Van Roekel, president of the 3.2-million member NEA, agreed that reform was needed, especially in teacher evaluations. And many rank-and-file union members at least politely nodded during Duncan's speech, a change from last year when President Obama -- then a candidate -- was roundly booed by the same convention when he discussed merit pay.
Not that the crowd was won over Thursday. "Quite frankly, merit pay is union-busting," said one educator to loud applause during the question and answer period.
Audience members cheered when one teacher questioned the merits of linking student test scores to teacher evaluation or pay.
When one NEA member shouted angrily at the mention of merit pay, Duncan said: "You can boo [but] don't throw any shoes, please."
Duncan has mentioned many of these ideas while traveling the country addressing educators, but Thursday was his first speech focused on teacher quality. And he made it before a potentially antagonistic audience.
Still, he said the Obama administration wants to work in partnership with the unions to ensure that students have the best teachers. "We are not going to impose reform but rather work with teachers, principals and unions to find what works," Duncan said.
He also advocated changing tenure rules, saying that protecting poor teachers hurts students and effective instructors.
He also made it a point to say that charter schools -- independent, public schools that are free of many school district regulations and restrictions and often are not bound by union contracts -- should be treated the same as regular campuses.
"Charter schools are public schools, and they should be held to the same standards as everyone else," he said.
A group in the California section of the audience booed loudly when Duncan praised Green Dot Public Schools, which independently operates more than a dozen schools within the Los Angeles Unified School District with union contracts. David Sanchez, president of the California Teachers Assn., called the anti-Green Dot contingent a "vocal minority."
Duncan pointedly advocated using student test score data to assess teacher effectiveness. "It's time we all admit that just as our testing system is deeply flawed, so is our teacher evaluation system."
Test scores should not be the sole measurement of teacher quality, Duncan said, and any merit pay needs to be shared on a campus-wide basis. When he headed the Chicago public schools, Duncan oversaw the creation of a program that rewarded some schools for increasing student achievement, which was measured partially by test scores, by giving extra pay to all employees.
Unions agreed to the program, said Duncan, who added that rewarding only individual teachers was wrong.
"You cannot pit teachers against each other. Such programs will always fail," he said.
He also said that administrators need to be given more support and training, but if they are ineffective they "need to find something else to do."
Van Roekel said he was willing to work with Duncan and the Obama administration because they appear to understand the complexities of reform and of using testing data to evaluate teachers. But Sanchez said he did not favor using that data.
"It shouldn't be on the table," he said.
Sanchez said local unions need to negotiate their own contracts but that he doesn't believe merit pay should be a bargaining point. Still, he said he was pleased that Duncan was reaching out to unions.
When reform "comes from the top down, it never works," Sanchez said. "We need to be inclusive."
jason.song@latimes.com
Arne Duncan, in a speech at the NEA's annual meeting in San Diego, says teacher merit pay and student test scores should be on the table when discussing education reform.
Reporting from San Diego -- The country's top education official challenged teachers unions Thursday to embrace historically controversial ways of promoting teacher effectiveness, including offering merit pay and evaluating instructors based on student test scores.
"You must become full partners and leaders in education reform. You must be willing to change," U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan told the National Education Assn. at its annual meeting in San Diego.
The proposals are particularly charged in California, where such suggestions typically are met with fierce union resistance. In fact, a state law prevents districts from using California student performance data to evaluate or compensate teachers.
Duncan's audience was slightly more welcoming than in the past. Dennis Van Roekel, president of the 3.2-million member NEA, agreed that reform was needed, especially in teacher evaluations. And many rank-and-file union members at least politely nodded during Duncan's speech, a change from last year when President Obama -- then a candidate -- was roundly booed by the same convention when he discussed merit pay.
Not that the crowd was won over Thursday. "Quite frankly, merit pay is union-busting," said one educator to loud applause during the question and answer period.
Audience members cheered when one teacher questioned the merits of linking student test scores to teacher evaluation or pay.
When one NEA member shouted angrily at the mention of merit pay, Duncan said: "You can boo [but] don't throw any shoes, please."
Duncan has mentioned many of these ideas while traveling the country addressing educators, but Thursday was his first speech focused on teacher quality. And he made it before a potentially antagonistic audience.
Still, he said the Obama administration wants to work in partnership with the unions to ensure that students have the best teachers. "We are not going to impose reform but rather work with teachers, principals and unions to find what works," Duncan said.
He also advocated changing tenure rules, saying that protecting poor teachers hurts students and effective instructors.
He also made it a point to say that charter schools -- independent, public schools that are free of many school district regulations and restrictions and often are not bound by union contracts -- should be treated the same as regular campuses.
"Charter schools are public schools, and they should be held to the same standards as everyone else," he said.
A group in the California section of the audience booed loudly when Duncan praised Green Dot Public Schools, which independently operates more than a dozen schools within the Los Angeles Unified School District with union contracts. David Sanchez, president of the California Teachers Assn., called the anti-Green Dot contingent a "vocal minority."
Duncan pointedly advocated using student test score data to assess teacher effectiveness. "It's time we all admit that just as our testing system is deeply flawed, so is our teacher evaluation system."
Test scores should not be the sole measurement of teacher quality, Duncan said, and any merit pay needs to be shared on a campus-wide basis. When he headed the Chicago public schools, Duncan oversaw the creation of a program that rewarded some schools for increasing student achievement, which was measured partially by test scores, by giving extra pay to all employees.
Unions agreed to the program, said Duncan, who added that rewarding only individual teachers was wrong.
"You cannot pit teachers against each other. Such programs will always fail," he said.
He also said that administrators need to be given more support and training, but if they are ineffective they "need to find something else to do."
Van Roekel said he was willing to work with Duncan and the Obama administration because they appear to understand the complexities of reform and of using testing data to evaluate teachers. But Sanchez said he did not favor using that data.
"It shouldn't be on the table," he said.
Sanchez said local unions need to negotiate their own contracts but that he doesn't believe merit pay should be a bargaining point. Still, he said he was pleased that Duncan was reaching out to unions.
When reform "comes from the top down, it never works," Sanchez said. "We need to be inclusive."
jason.song@latimes.com
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
The Countdown Begins...
Sixteen (16) days left. I will be so very happy when this year ends. Of the five, it's been the most stressful, the most difficult, and the most unpleasant.
So Long, Farewell...
For the next three weeks an admin intern will be working with us. He's a very nice guy. I was really dreading having this extra task. After giving it some thought, I've decided to use this opportunity to reflect on my practice. I'm sure his questions and observations will help me to know more, so I can do better. Yesterday, during lunch, we guarded the milk. I wanted to make sure he knew about one of my very important jobs. Of course, the kids asked if he was the new principal. I said he was. I was doing my best acting. I was very convincing. And guess what??? They weren't sad!!!! One kid was actually happy!!! He jumped up and down with delight. I couldn't believe it. Not one of them broke down in tears. I didn't even get a goodbye, so long, see ya. I have to admit I was a bit sad. Oh well.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Day Off
Today I took a day off. I didn't go into work. It felt a bit weird. I'm such a creature of habit. I pretty much stick to the same routine every week. Cleaners on Tuesday and Friday. Groceries on Friday. Target on Saturday. It's A Grind on Saturday and Sunday. If someone wanted to take me out, they would have a very easy time of it. I guess I should get a little wild with the schedule. Maybe I'll get groceries on Thursday. Go to the cleaners once a week. I enjoyed my day off, even if it felt a little weird to be off schedule.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
The World is a Mess!
The world seems to be crashing in all around us. Jon and Kate are getting divorced. Perez Hilton was assaulted by the Black Eyed Peas manager...allegedly. Barack is still smoking. Britney is having trouble selling her concert tickets. How much more of this horrificness can we take???? Personally, I'm not sure how much more I can take. Excuse me, I need to go meditate and then medicate.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
F*ck Bubbles
Bubbles are coming. Friday will be Bubble Day. Each good choice-making kid will get a bottle of bubbles to blow during lunch. I spent a couple of hours today taking the plastic coverings off the bottles of bubbles...900 bottles of bubbles. I'm starting to hate bubbles. Lupe and a student aide helped. I'm so thankful to them. I cut two of my fingers trying to remove the stupid plastic things. The second time I cut my finger, I said something I shouldn't have said. I said it a bit too loud. There was a kid sitting in the hallway taking a make-up CST test. She heard me. I said "FUCK!" After I said it, I realized there was a kid in the hallway. I wanted to say "FUCK!" again, but I didn't. Please know that this is so unlike me, to use foul language at school or really anywhere. I peeked my head out the door and looked at her. She looked back at me and smiled. I said nothing. She said nothing. Our looks to each other spoke volumes. My look was one of pure horror. Her look said "I have something on you. Mess with me and I'm going to tell everyone what you said." I saw her again at lunch. She gave me the "look" again. I just smiled at her. I don't think she told anyone. I think she's saving it for just the right moment. I'm going to be blackmailed by a fifth grader! In a way, I'm really curious when she'll use her little tidbit of information. I'll let you know. Did I say I hate bubbles?
Monday, June 15, 2009
Suction Yourself
This afternoon I made my once every fourth month visit to the dental office for my cleaning and check up. I was so looking forward to it. Forty-five minutes of just lying down staring at the ceiling with NO ONE bothering me. I LOVE it! This time I had to have x-rays taken. The office has a new digital x-ray thingy. No more paper things in my mouth. Just a futuristic plastic thingy in my mouth. I could actually see my x-rays on a computer screen. Cool. The hygienist zoomed in to get a closer look at my tarter build up. Not cool. After the x-rays and zooming in and out were over, something very weird happened. The nice hygienist (she really is nice) told me I would have to suction myself. Huh? Suction my own spit? You have got to be kidding. She wasn't kidding. She handed me the little plastic suction thing. I made a joke about wanting a discount if I had to suction my own spit. She laughed and said I could ask. Should I be outraged by this? I mean, please, suction my own spit? Pffft! Am I being too bourgeois about this? I don't go to grocery stores where I have to bag my own groceries. I want my groceries bagged for me. I HATE buffets. I want to be waited on. I refused to suction my own spit. I just swallowed it. What is this world coming to when you have to suction your own spit at the dental office? Outrageous. OMG! She didn't even floss my teeth. She usually flosses my teeth! What is the world coming to???????
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
"F*ck You, F*ck you, F*ck You"
Today was sort of a horrific day. At times, I felt a little bit like a punching bag. It started out pretty great...coffee from Cheryl, bagels and cherries from Outey. Full belly and caffeined up...what could be better? It quickly went down hill as soon as I spit out the last cherry pit. I wish I could share details, but I can't. Believe me, it was a bad day. I will share one specific detail that is just too full of juicy goodness. It's about 2:15 and I'm making my way across the playground en route to the bungalow village to deal with yet another problem. Many kids are waving and saying "hi." One of the Head Start kids runs up to me to tell me he likes it when I read him stories. I say something like "I'm glad you like the stories" as I'm rushing off to my destination. Then his little brother, who must be late 3 or early four, comes up to me and says in broken English/little kid speak what sounds like "fuck you." Initially, I just smile and keep walking because there's no way this little kid just said to me "fuck you." No way. The kid follows me and stands in front of me as I continue to walk and again says "fuck you." I stop and look at him. He says it again! "Fuck you." OK, who paid this kid? I look down at him and tell him, "those are naughty words, you shouldn't say them...naughty words...palabras malas!" Then his mom comes over and I try to tell her what he said. She doesn't speak English, so an older kid tries to translate. Oh brother. I again tell him not to say those words...palabras malas!!! I'm sure he didn't understand me. I continue on my way to the bungalows thinking now I'm even pissing off the four year olds.
Monday, June 8, 2009
100th Post
This is my 100th post. Yeah for me! So many sad things happening at school lately. Some days are just down right depressing. In between all the downer stuff, there are brief moments of sunshine. For example, the other day a kid went on and on and on about the book she read. I live for the sunshine moments. Sadly, there are way too few sunshine moments. There was a sunshine moment at the end of today...the Think Tank. Seven people showed up. We talked about ways to improve our collaboration. I thought the ideas we generated were great! I can't wait to try some of them out. It's too bad more people don't attend the sessions. I would love to hear from more people in a relaxed, speak your mind atmosphere. I want to believe that everyone wants to know more, so they can do better.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Readicide
"...the overemphasis on testing is playing a major part in killing off readers in America's classrooms."
The previous is an excerpt from Kelly Gallagher's book, Readicide, How Schools Are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It
That excerpt rang so true today as I spent the morning in a fifth grade classroom proctoring our first day of STAR testing. I felt sadness, anger, outrage, and frustration as I watched almost all of the kids do their very best to carefully read the several passages and answer the 41 questions. They definitely were winners and not quitters. It just seemed like overkill to me. Why so many freaking passages? Wouldn't two or three passages and 25 questions suffice? Why are we doing this to our kids? Why are we sucking the joy of reading out of them? I'm so angry that this ONE assessment is what makes or breaks us. These 8 days of "testing" determine whether or not we are "distinguished" or whether or not we are in "program improvement." I guess no one cares about what happens during the other 172 days. Something must change or we will continue to turn kids off to reading and to learning.
The previous is an excerpt from Kelly Gallagher's book, Readicide, How Schools Are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It
That excerpt rang so true today as I spent the morning in a fifth grade classroom proctoring our first day of STAR testing. I felt sadness, anger, outrage, and frustration as I watched almost all of the kids do their very best to carefully read the several passages and answer the 41 questions. They definitely were winners and not quitters. It just seemed like overkill to me. Why so many freaking passages? Wouldn't two or three passages and 25 questions suffice? Why are we doing this to our kids? Why are we sucking the joy of reading out of them? I'm so angry that this ONE assessment is what makes or breaks us. These 8 days of "testing" determine whether or not we are "distinguished" or whether or not we are in "program improvement." I guess no one cares about what happens during the other 172 days. Something must change or we will continue to turn kids off to reading and to learning.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Part-Time Legislature?
A ballot initiative is in the works that would transform the California legislature from full-time to part-time. Less time to screw things up?? California legislators are the highest paid in the nation. They receive a daily expense stipend and the taxpayers pay for their cars. Nice perks. Normally, I wouldn't even think about criticizing someone's salary, but what are they doing that deserves the nation's highest legislator salaries?? Just asking. Check out the story on LBReport.com. Good idea? Bad Idea?
Susan Boyle in Peril
I just finished watching Susan Boyle's latest "Britain's Got Talent" performance. Not impressive at all. I think all the attention has gotten to her. I'm looking forward to seeing Shaheen's performance. Did he even make it through??? I hope so. That boy can sing.
California Students Are In Peril
The new Secretary of Education says California students are "in peril." Check out the story in the L.A. Times.
Saturday
Saturday was a busy day. I got a lot done. Got coffee. Went to work for a few hours. Got coffee. Went to the post office. Went to the bank. Went to Target. Checked out Ikea for little kid chairs. No kid chairs there. Went to Party Depot for plastic bags. Got the car washed. Went to the cleaners (when I walked in they had my clothes waiting for me...impressive). Had a phone chat with my mom. Had a great dinner with two great friends. The Dodgers won. It was a productive day.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Your American Idol...
Kris Allen? Who would have thought? I was sure Adam-mania would win out. Either way, they both are going to have lucrative careers. This is a bad time of year for TV. No more Idol, only one episode of The Tudors left...so sad.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Another Great Book!
Just Like Bossy Bear is a GREAT book to teach kids (and adults) to NOT be bossy. It's a great book! You must have it!
American Idol Finale
I forgot to announce last week's Idol winner. I'm so sorry. I'm sure so many have been waiting for this announcement. It's Kris, of course. I'm hoping he wins the finale. Nothing against Adam. I'm just not into his sound. Vote for Kris!
Edward Has No Self Control
The last post got me thinking about things I used to love to do when I was a kid. I don't remember being a high maintenance kid, but maybe I was. I'll have to ask my mom when she gets out of jail. Just kidding, she's not in jail. I remember loving to take the layaway boxes from Zody's...remember Zodys? and make little boxes out of them. I have no idea why I liked to do that. Looking back, that was really weird. Yup, really weird. I used to LOVE to eat Flix (kind of a flat Hershey's Kiss) with a mouthful of cold milk. They are making the Flix candy again. Too bad I can't eat chocolate anymore. I loved riding my Big Wheel. I loved that thing. I loved going to a restaurant that was just down the street from our house, Arturo's. Arturo's is still there and I'm going to have dinner there this Saturday! I loved going to the grocery store (Market Basket) with my mom. Remember that place? I think I liked to go so I could get Flix. I used to love going to Harbor Park and catch tadpoles. That was the best! I used to love watching the after school specials on channel 7. I think they were on channel 7. Ironically, I didn't really like school that much and I sure didn't like to read. In fact, I hated both. I was such a bad boy. I remember my third grade teacher telling my mom I had "no self control." Mr. Third Grade Teacher, if you are reading this blog, I want to apologize for all the horrible things I did to you during that third grade year: throwing erasers at you when your back was turned, hiding your shoes when you took your daily nap during math time, not paying attention to your teaching, talking probably way too much, getting out of my seat and chatting up my friends right in the middle of your teaching, and other stuff I've forgotten but I'm sure was extremely entertaining to my classmates. So very sorry. Perhaps if you had engaged me in learning, showed you cared about me, and had given me a reason to be interested, I would have paid more attention in class and been more focused on learning and not caused you so much grief.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
From The Huffington Post
Tara Stiles
10 Ways To Be A Kid Again
Kids can be our best teachers. We should remember to be more like them. They haven't developed bad habits, defenses, and fears that we build up our whole lives. Yoga can help us get back to that child-like state, but as conscious adults.
Why are we so serious? You may be thinking that acting like a child is for irresponsible burnouts that live with their parents. We have responsibilities, jobs, lives, and families to take care of. If we let ourselves loose the house might crumble under us! This is where the yoga comes in. That whole duality and balance thing comes in handy for not turning into serious robot people who live, breed, pay our taxes and die. We can keep our responsibilities, drop the worries, and have fun too.
We all know adults with successful careers who are very stiff in their bodies and minds. They hold on so tight physically, mentally, and psychologically to their stuff that there is no room to enjoy life. Day to day existence becomes about worrying that all their stuff will go away. The first step for us is bringing awareness to our tendencies. If you are someone who worries, you have to bring awareness to that. You have to sit with yourself and deal with that. From there you'll be able to start losing the worries and enjoying life a little more.
On the other end of the spectrum, we probably also know some adults who live like children, afraid of responsibilities, career and family. These people are too open, too flexible and have problems holding onto money, building a career or a family. They have a lot of entertainment in their lives, but are lacking something fundamental and can feel it. When you are too open and flexible, self-worth starts to dwindle. You may act and feel occasionally like you're having the time of your life, but ultimately there is something missing. There are good things about growing an adult life! From that realization you can see the need to build strength and boundaries. Building strength in your body and life takes time but from the moment of awareness it can start.
We probably all have one or the other of these types in us to some degree. Maybe we even flip flop back and forth during different stages of our lives. We have to remember to have compassion with ourselves, just as we do with children, to deal with our struggles in finding balance. Balance is never a final point. There is always adjustment and refreshment that takes constant attention over your whole life. So we might as well start now.
10 Ways to Be a Kid Again
1. Make a silly face at a stranger. Everyone likes a silly face. I bet you'll crack someone up.
2. Eat ice cream for dinner. The fun part about being an adult is you can do what you want when you want. We are already aware of our immense responsibilities so for one night let it go.
3. Go to bed early. Some kids hate bedtime, but once they're down they sleep like rocks. Give yourself a ridiculously early bedtime one night this week. You can TiVo your shows and watch them another day.
4. Hang out with your friends. Kids have play dates. We stay in touch on Facebook. Call a pal and actually get together and do something fun like go to the park and play Frisbee.
5. Color or draw something. Coloring brings back memories for most of us. Dig up some of your old coloring books if you can. They're better than the new ones, although the Care Bears are back!
6. Try to say the alphabet backwards. Kids are great at crazy tasks. They try with all their might. I learned to say the alphabet backwards fast as a kid. It was my favorite party trick. See how fast you can say it.
7. Have a race. The next time you are walking with a friend race them to the corner. It's fun to see other adults reacting to spontaneous racing.
8. Skip down the hallways at work. Mid-day sluggish getting to you? Skip to your meeting and you'll probably brighten up the whole office.
9. Wear what you want. Kids come up with interesting outfits when they're allowed by their parents to dress themselves. Come up with your own interesting outfit one day this week.
10. Try a handstand. Kids do yoga poses naturally, just for fun. Try a handstand and don't worry about falling over. See video below for my childish handstand experiment inspired by my pal Verena Von Pfetten.
10 Ways To Be A Kid Again
Kids can be our best teachers. We should remember to be more like them. They haven't developed bad habits, defenses, and fears that we build up our whole lives. Yoga can help us get back to that child-like state, but as conscious adults.
Why are we so serious? You may be thinking that acting like a child is for irresponsible burnouts that live with their parents. We have responsibilities, jobs, lives, and families to take care of. If we let ourselves loose the house might crumble under us! This is where the yoga comes in. That whole duality and balance thing comes in handy for not turning into serious robot people who live, breed, pay our taxes and die. We can keep our responsibilities, drop the worries, and have fun too.
We all know adults with successful careers who are very stiff in their bodies and minds. They hold on so tight physically, mentally, and psychologically to their stuff that there is no room to enjoy life. Day to day existence becomes about worrying that all their stuff will go away. The first step for us is bringing awareness to our tendencies. If you are someone who worries, you have to bring awareness to that. You have to sit with yourself and deal with that. From there you'll be able to start losing the worries and enjoying life a little more.
On the other end of the spectrum, we probably also know some adults who live like children, afraid of responsibilities, career and family. These people are too open, too flexible and have problems holding onto money, building a career or a family. They have a lot of entertainment in their lives, but are lacking something fundamental and can feel it. When you are too open and flexible, self-worth starts to dwindle. You may act and feel occasionally like you're having the time of your life, but ultimately there is something missing. There are good things about growing an adult life! From that realization you can see the need to build strength and boundaries. Building strength in your body and life takes time but from the moment of awareness it can start.
We probably all have one or the other of these types in us to some degree. Maybe we even flip flop back and forth during different stages of our lives. We have to remember to have compassion with ourselves, just as we do with children, to deal with our struggles in finding balance. Balance is never a final point. There is always adjustment and refreshment that takes constant attention over your whole life. So we might as well start now.
10 Ways to Be a Kid Again
1. Make a silly face at a stranger. Everyone likes a silly face. I bet you'll crack someone up.
2. Eat ice cream for dinner. The fun part about being an adult is you can do what you want when you want. We are already aware of our immense responsibilities so for one night let it go.
3. Go to bed early. Some kids hate bedtime, but once they're down they sleep like rocks. Give yourself a ridiculously early bedtime one night this week. You can TiVo your shows and watch them another day.
4. Hang out with your friends. Kids have play dates. We stay in touch on Facebook. Call a pal and actually get together and do something fun like go to the park and play Frisbee.
5. Color or draw something. Coloring brings back memories for most of us. Dig up some of your old coloring books if you can. They're better than the new ones, although the Care Bears are back!
6. Try to say the alphabet backwards. Kids are great at crazy tasks. They try with all their might. I learned to say the alphabet backwards fast as a kid. It was my favorite party trick. See how fast you can say it.
7. Have a race. The next time you are walking with a friend race them to the corner. It's fun to see other adults reacting to spontaneous racing.
8. Skip down the hallways at work. Mid-day sluggish getting to you? Skip to your meeting and you'll probably brighten up the whole office.
9. Wear what you want. Kids come up with interesting outfits when they're allowed by their parents to dress themselves. Come up with your own interesting outfit one day this week.
10. Try a handstand. Kids do yoga poses naturally, just for fun. Try a handstand and don't worry about falling over. See video below for my childish handstand experiment inspired by my pal Verena Von Pfetten.
Monday, May 11, 2009
From Education Week
Budget Would Boost Incentive Pay, Turnaround Aid
By Alyson Klein
President Barack Obama’s first budget proposal would boost U.S. Department of Education spending by 2.8 percent and provide substantial resources to turn around low-performing schools, reward effective teachers, and bolster early-childhood programs.
Story continues...
By Alyson Klein
President Barack Obama’s first budget proposal would boost U.S. Department of Education spending by 2.8 percent and provide substantial resources to turn around low-performing schools, reward effective teachers, and bolster early-childhood programs.
Story continues...
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Monday, May 4, 2009
You Must Buy This Book!
I LOVE this book! Tough Chicks is about three girl chicks who dare to be different and who dare to break stereotypes. This is a must have book!
From Today's L.A. Times
School officials call for legislation easing firing of teachers
Union vows to fight such a move, prompted by a Los Angeles Times report on the difficulty of firing teachers that provoked strong responses on both sides of the issue.
By Jason Song
May 4, 2009
Top Los Angeles school officials, acknowledging that they have teachers in classrooms who should be fired, called Sunday for new state legislation that would make it easier to dismiss tenured instructors. The teachers union has vowed to fight such a move.
Reacting to a Times story published Sunday about the cumbersome process for removing substandard tenured teachers in California's public schools, L.A. Unified Supt. Ramon C. Cortines said the system is a "sacred cow, and I do think it should be overhauled."
Times Investigation: Failure Gets a PassSchool board member Marlene Canter said she would again ask the board to push for revision of teacher discipline laws statewide. She initially brought the proposals to the school board last week, but a majority of her colleagues balked after objections from union leaders and a state senator. They agreed only to form a task force to study the issue.
"This is too urgent to put to a task force," Canter said Sunday.
The article found that firing permanent teachers can involve years of rehabilitation efforts, union grievances and administrative and court appeals. Administrators must spend months -- sometimes years -- observing and documenting the flaws of poorly performing teachers. Teachers can appeal firings to specially convened panels, which overturn the dismissals more than a third of the time.
The newspaper examined all available decisions by those panels over the last 15 years -- 159 cases statewide -- finding that teaching performance was rarely a factor in firing an instructor. The vast majority of educators were dismissed for egregious misconduct.
The newspaper received hundreds of comments in response to the article, the first in a series on California school districts' ability to remove educators who harm or poorly serve their students.
Many readers decried the difficulty of the process. Others contended that administrators were to blame for failing to evaluate instructors properly, help them improve or apply discipline fairly.
On Sunday, A.J. Duffy, the president of United Teachers Los Angeles, said the union would oppose any reform efforts unless union officials are included in the process.
"UTLA has tried for years to work with the district and the Board of Education to come up with a sane and reasonable policy for evaluation which could fix most of the problems. And the district has consistently refused," he said through a spokeswoman. "The fault lies with the corrupt bureaucracy that refuses to do its job."
State Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles), who last week opposed any hasty action on L.A. Unified's part, said Sunday she believes the system needs reform. The state should allow the education code to expire and rewrite it, she said.
But the L.A. Unified resolutions were introduced too late in the legislative cycle to be considered this year and were politically motivated, she said.
"Quite frankly, it's a stunt to make LAUSD look good and Sacramento look bad," she said.
District officials, however, want to press ahead, according to their Sunday morning news release.
"If the dismissal process is not reformed, we will continue to face the choice of returning to schools some teachers that we don't want working for us, or keeping them out of the classroom and paying them to do nothing while great teachers face layoffs," said Dave Holmquist, the district's chief operating officer, whose duties include overseeing legal risks.
Many readers shared their experiences working with poor instructors or trying to get them fired. One retired administrator said it took her five years to persuade a bad teacher to retire.
Some teachers countered that they had been victimized by vindictive or incompetent administrators.
Paul Ifozaki, a math and social science teacher at Monterey High School in East Los Angeles and 30-year L.A. Unified veteran, said in an interview that he was falsely accused of making sexually inappropriate remarks to female students. Even though he was cleared of the allegations, Ifozaki said, he was still suspended for five days because his principal didn't like him.
jason.song@latimes.com
Union vows to fight such a move, prompted by a Los Angeles Times report on the difficulty of firing teachers that provoked strong responses on both sides of the issue.
By Jason Song
May 4, 2009
Top Los Angeles school officials, acknowledging that they have teachers in classrooms who should be fired, called Sunday for new state legislation that would make it easier to dismiss tenured instructors. The teachers union has vowed to fight such a move.
Reacting to a Times story published Sunday about the cumbersome process for removing substandard tenured teachers in California's public schools, L.A. Unified Supt. Ramon C. Cortines said the system is a "sacred cow, and I do think it should be overhauled."
Times Investigation: Failure Gets a PassSchool board member Marlene Canter said she would again ask the board to push for revision of teacher discipline laws statewide. She initially brought the proposals to the school board last week, but a majority of her colleagues balked after objections from union leaders and a state senator. They agreed only to form a task force to study the issue.
"This is too urgent to put to a task force," Canter said Sunday.
The article found that firing permanent teachers can involve years of rehabilitation efforts, union grievances and administrative and court appeals. Administrators must spend months -- sometimes years -- observing and documenting the flaws of poorly performing teachers. Teachers can appeal firings to specially convened panels, which overturn the dismissals more than a third of the time.
The newspaper examined all available decisions by those panels over the last 15 years -- 159 cases statewide -- finding that teaching performance was rarely a factor in firing an instructor. The vast majority of educators were dismissed for egregious misconduct.
The newspaper received hundreds of comments in response to the article, the first in a series on California school districts' ability to remove educators who harm or poorly serve their students.
Many readers decried the difficulty of the process. Others contended that administrators were to blame for failing to evaluate instructors properly, help them improve or apply discipline fairly.
On Sunday, A.J. Duffy, the president of United Teachers Los Angeles, said the union would oppose any reform efforts unless union officials are included in the process.
"UTLA has tried for years to work with the district and the Board of Education to come up with a sane and reasonable policy for evaluation which could fix most of the problems. And the district has consistently refused," he said through a spokeswoman. "The fault lies with the corrupt bureaucracy that refuses to do its job."
State Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles), who last week opposed any hasty action on L.A. Unified's part, said Sunday she believes the system needs reform. The state should allow the education code to expire and rewrite it, she said.
But the L.A. Unified resolutions were introduced too late in the legislative cycle to be considered this year and were politically motivated, she said.
"Quite frankly, it's a stunt to make LAUSD look good and Sacramento look bad," she said.
District officials, however, want to press ahead, according to their Sunday morning news release.
"If the dismissal process is not reformed, we will continue to face the choice of returning to schools some teachers that we don't want working for us, or keeping them out of the classroom and paying them to do nothing while great teachers face layoffs," said Dave Holmquist, the district's chief operating officer, whose duties include overseeing legal risks.
Many readers shared their experiences working with poor instructors or trying to get them fired. One retired administrator said it took her five years to persuade a bad teacher to retire.
Some teachers countered that they had been victimized by vindictive or incompetent administrators.
Paul Ifozaki, a math and social science teacher at Monterey High School in East Los Angeles and 30-year L.A. Unified veteran, said in an interview that he was falsely accused of making sexually inappropriate remarks to female students. Even though he was cleared of the allegations, Ifozaki said, he was still suspended for five days because his principal didn't like him.
jason.song@latimes.com
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Saturday, May 2, 2009
From Today's L.A. Times
California Legislature: Where cost-cutting plans go to die
Committees kill proposals to freeze state executives' salaries, abolish a well-compensated board, rein in a lottery headquarters project and more. Even Democrats' measures fall victim.
By Patrick McGreevy and Eric Bailey
May 2, 2009
Reporting from Sacramento -- Despite the swelling state deficit, the Legislature this week dumped several proposals that would have saved taxpayers millions of dollars.
Killed in committee were plans to freeze salaries for top-paid state workers; to abolish a waste board stacked with handsomely paid former legislators; to scale back a $185-million project for a new lottery headquarters; and to generate up to $2 billion by selling surplus property.
This time, a different political picture
State Democrats decline to endorse 3 of 6 ballot measures
Survey finds California school funding dilemma
Republicans pitched most of the plans to help deal with the deficit -- which is expected to hit $8 billion by summer -- but even some from moderate Democrats were rejected.
"If the Legislature can't even make this, the easiest of cuts," said the author of the waste board proposal, Sen. Jeff Denham (R-Atwater), "it's going to be a long summer."
Senate Minority Leader Dennis Hollingsworth (R-Murrieta) criticized the ruling Democrats' "hardheadedness."
Democrats said some of the Republican bills would have jeopardized important programs for minimal savings.
"Wholesale deregulation -- anti-environment, anti-worker, anti-consumer bills -- smack of the Bush-era policies the nation and Californians in particular overwhelmingly rejected in November," said Shannon Murphy, spokeswoman for Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles).
Some of the GOP ideas, such as selling the L.A. Memorial Coliseum, were just "goofy," said Sen. Roderick Wright (D-Inglewood).
State officials have projected the midyear budget shortfall as a result of the recession. And if voters reject the budget-related ballot measures in the May 19 special election, the deficit could top $14 billion.
Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger supported SB 44 to abolish the Integrated Waste Management Board and save up to $3 million a year, Denham said. The Senate Environmental Quality Committee rejected it Monday on a party-line vote.
The board has been criticized as a way station for retired lawmakers. Among its members are former legislators Sheila Kuehl, John Laird and Carole Migden; each is paid $132,000 a year.
"A vote against this is a vote against a streamlined, more cost-effective and more efficient manner of running government and meeting our environmental goals," Schwarzenegger said.
Committee Chairman Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) said the board had helped local agencies meet the state's goal of diverting 50% of waste from landfills and develop new markets for recycling.
Another GOP proposal, to eliminate compensation for 12 state commissions that pay big salaries and meet once or twice a month, would have saved $7 million a year, according to its author, Sen. Tony Strickland (R-Thousand Oaks). But SB 685 died Tuesday in a deadlocked Senate Government Organization Committee.
Wright, the committee's chairman, said that commissioners worked many more days than they meet and that they earn their pay.
But Strickland called it "irresponsible" to hand out "massive paychecks" to part-time commissioners at a time of teacher layoffs and government furloughs.
In the Assembly, Chino Hills Republican Curt Hagman argued that a proposal to spend $185 million on a state lottery headquarters, including two office towers to be rented out, should be scaled back to a $40-million renovation of the lottery's existing building.
But the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee disagreed, voting down his bill to do so, AB 662.
Opponents of his plan said backing away from the larger project would send a negative message amid efforts to borrow against future lottery revenue.
One of the measures on the special election ballot would authorize such borrowing.
Sen. John J. Benoit (R-Palm Desert) proposed to require random drug tests for welfare recipients -- and to eliminate payments to those who didn't complete a drug treatment program. The Senate Committee on Human Services rejected his SB 384 along party lines.
Denham, author of the waste board bill, had another proposal blocked too: SB 28, which would have raised up to $2 billion by selling San Quentin State Prison to a developer. Senate Public Safety Committee Chairman Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) shelved the bill, saying it could add to prison overcrowding.
Republicans were not the only ones to see their cost-saving ideas shot down.
Assemblyman Anthony Portantino (D-La Cañada Flintridge) proposed AB 53 to freeze salary increases and overtime until 2012 for state employees earning more than $150,000 -- saving at least $2.5 million and affecting 820 executives, he said.
But opponents on the Assembly Appropriations Committee said freezing pay would make it hard to recruit and retain executives.
patrick.mcgreevy@ latimes.com
eric.bailey@latimes.com
Committees kill proposals to freeze state executives' salaries, abolish a well-compensated board, rein in a lottery headquarters project and more. Even Democrats' measures fall victim.
By Patrick McGreevy and Eric Bailey
May 2, 2009
Reporting from Sacramento -- Despite the swelling state deficit, the Legislature this week dumped several proposals that would have saved taxpayers millions of dollars.
Killed in committee were plans to freeze salaries for top-paid state workers; to abolish a waste board stacked with handsomely paid former legislators; to scale back a $185-million project for a new lottery headquarters; and to generate up to $2 billion by selling surplus property.
This time, a different political picture
State Democrats decline to endorse 3 of 6 ballot measures
Survey finds California school funding dilemma
Republicans pitched most of the plans to help deal with the deficit -- which is expected to hit $8 billion by summer -- but even some from moderate Democrats were rejected.
"If the Legislature can't even make this, the easiest of cuts," said the author of the waste board proposal, Sen. Jeff Denham (R-Atwater), "it's going to be a long summer."
Senate Minority Leader Dennis Hollingsworth (R-Murrieta) criticized the ruling Democrats' "hardheadedness."
Democrats said some of the Republican bills would have jeopardized important programs for minimal savings.
"Wholesale deregulation -- anti-environment, anti-worker, anti-consumer bills -- smack of the Bush-era policies the nation and Californians in particular overwhelmingly rejected in November," said Shannon Murphy, spokeswoman for Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles).
Some of the GOP ideas, such as selling the L.A. Memorial Coliseum, were just "goofy," said Sen. Roderick Wright (D-Inglewood).
State officials have projected the midyear budget shortfall as a result of the recession. And if voters reject the budget-related ballot measures in the May 19 special election, the deficit could top $14 billion.
Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger supported SB 44 to abolish the Integrated Waste Management Board and save up to $3 million a year, Denham said. The Senate Environmental Quality Committee rejected it Monday on a party-line vote.
The board has been criticized as a way station for retired lawmakers. Among its members are former legislators Sheila Kuehl, John Laird and Carole Migden; each is paid $132,000 a year.
"A vote against this is a vote against a streamlined, more cost-effective and more efficient manner of running government and meeting our environmental goals," Schwarzenegger said.
Committee Chairman Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) said the board had helped local agencies meet the state's goal of diverting 50% of waste from landfills and develop new markets for recycling.
Another GOP proposal, to eliminate compensation for 12 state commissions that pay big salaries and meet once or twice a month, would have saved $7 million a year, according to its author, Sen. Tony Strickland (R-Thousand Oaks). But SB 685 died Tuesday in a deadlocked Senate Government Organization Committee.
Wright, the committee's chairman, said that commissioners worked many more days than they meet and that they earn their pay.
But Strickland called it "irresponsible" to hand out "massive paychecks" to part-time commissioners at a time of teacher layoffs and government furloughs.
In the Assembly, Chino Hills Republican Curt Hagman argued that a proposal to spend $185 million on a state lottery headquarters, including two office towers to be rented out, should be scaled back to a $40-million renovation of the lottery's existing building.
But the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee disagreed, voting down his bill to do so, AB 662.
Opponents of his plan said backing away from the larger project would send a negative message amid efforts to borrow against future lottery revenue.
One of the measures on the special election ballot would authorize such borrowing.
Sen. John J. Benoit (R-Palm Desert) proposed to require random drug tests for welfare recipients -- and to eliminate payments to those who didn't complete a drug treatment program. The Senate Committee on Human Services rejected his SB 384 along party lines.
Denham, author of the waste board bill, had another proposal blocked too: SB 28, which would have raised up to $2 billion by selling San Quentin State Prison to a developer. Senate Public Safety Committee Chairman Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) shelved the bill, saying it could add to prison overcrowding.
Republicans were not the only ones to see their cost-saving ideas shot down.
Assemblyman Anthony Portantino (D-La Cañada Flintridge) proposed AB 53 to freeze salary increases and overtime until 2012 for state employees earning more than $150,000 -- saving at least $2.5 million and affecting 820 executives, he said.
But opponents on the Assembly Appropriations Committee said freezing pay would make it hard to recruit and retain executives.
patrick.mcgreevy@ latimes.com
eric.bailey@latimes.com
Thursday, April 30, 2009
This Week's Idol Winner is...
Kris is consistently solid every week. Danny has a great voice, but he always seems to try too hard. He should just sing. I don't understand why everyone is gaga over Adam. I'm not a fan.
From Today's L.A. Times
Survey finds California school funding dilemma
Those polled say they want education spared from state budget cuts, but an increasing number of people are less willing to pay more taxes to make up for the shortfall.
By Mitchell Landsberg
April 30, 2009
Californians want public schools spared from state budget cuts, but are less willing than before to foot the bill with more taxes, according to a statewide poll released Wednesday.
In its annual survey on education issues, the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California found deep dissatisfaction with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature over education policy and growing skepticism that money is the answer to the problems facing public schools.
Proposition 1B would provide $9.3 billion for California schools
"I think that the public's really concerned about what they're hearing about budget cuts, especially as they relate to schools," said Mark Baldassare, the institute's president and chief executive. At the same time, he said, there is "a real ambivalence about taxes and . . . a very strong sense that the state leadership is really lacking today."
Just 20% of those surveyed approved of Schwarzenegger's handling of education, and even fewer -- 18% -- approved of the Legislature's record on the issue. Both are the lowest ratings in the five years that the institute has been conducting the education poll. "I didn't even know it could go that low," said Baldassare, who has been polling in California for more than 20 years.
Six in 10 of those surveyed said more money probably would result in higher quality schools, but an even larger majority said schools could make better use of the money they have.
A majority was worried about the impact of state budget cuts on schools, but respondents were almost evenly split on paying more taxes to make up the shortfall: 48% said they would be willing to; 49% said they would not. Five years ago, 67% were willing to pay more taxes for schools.
The survey found Californians restive about education, with roughly six in 10 saying public schools need "major changes," and a majority saying the quality of education is a big problem for the state. People were especially concerned about the high school dropout rate.
Los Angeles residents were among the least satisfied with their local public schools, and had by far the least confidence in their local school leaders.
"Clearly, there is greater unhappiness in Los Angeles than elsewhere in the state," Baldassare said, adding that there were also "greater challenges in Los Angeles than anywhere else, in terms of the size of the [Los Angeles Unified School] district and the makeup of the student body."
The survey revealed strong statewide support for the high school exit exam, which some have criticized for keeping students in low-performing schools from graduating. Interestingly, the strongest support for the exam came from Latinos, who have one of the highest failure rates. Eighty percent supported the exam as a graduation requirement, compared with 69% of Asians, 65% of whites and 53% of African Americans.
The poll was conducted among 2,502 California adults, including 252 interviewed randomly on cellphones, between April 7 and April 21. The margin of error was plus or minus 2 percentage points, higher for subgroups.
mitchell.landsberg @latimes.com
Those polled say they want education spared from state budget cuts, but an increasing number of people are less willing to pay more taxes to make up for the shortfall.
By Mitchell Landsberg
April 30, 2009
Californians want public schools spared from state budget cuts, but are less willing than before to foot the bill with more taxes, according to a statewide poll released Wednesday.
In its annual survey on education issues, the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California found deep dissatisfaction with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature over education policy and growing skepticism that money is the answer to the problems facing public schools.
Proposition 1B would provide $9.3 billion for California schools
"I think that the public's really concerned about what they're hearing about budget cuts, especially as they relate to schools," said Mark Baldassare, the institute's president and chief executive. At the same time, he said, there is "a real ambivalence about taxes and . . . a very strong sense that the state leadership is really lacking today."
Just 20% of those surveyed approved of Schwarzenegger's handling of education, and even fewer -- 18% -- approved of the Legislature's record on the issue. Both are the lowest ratings in the five years that the institute has been conducting the education poll. "I didn't even know it could go that low," said Baldassare, who has been polling in California for more than 20 years.
Six in 10 of those surveyed said more money probably would result in higher quality schools, but an even larger majority said schools could make better use of the money they have.
A majority was worried about the impact of state budget cuts on schools, but respondents were almost evenly split on paying more taxes to make up the shortfall: 48% said they would be willing to; 49% said they would not. Five years ago, 67% were willing to pay more taxes for schools.
The survey found Californians restive about education, with roughly six in 10 saying public schools need "major changes," and a majority saying the quality of education is a big problem for the state. People were especially concerned about the high school dropout rate.
Los Angeles residents were among the least satisfied with their local public schools, and had by far the least confidence in their local school leaders.
"Clearly, there is greater unhappiness in Los Angeles than elsewhere in the state," Baldassare said, adding that there were also "greater challenges in Los Angeles than anywhere else, in terms of the size of the [Los Angeles Unified School] district and the makeup of the student body."
The survey revealed strong statewide support for the high school exit exam, which some have criticized for keeping students in low-performing schools from graduating. Interestingly, the strongest support for the exam came from Latinos, who have one of the highest failure rates. Eighty percent supported the exam as a graduation requirement, compared with 69% of Asians, 65% of whites and 53% of African Americans.
The poll was conducted among 2,502 California adults, including 252 interviewed randomly on cellphones, between April 7 and April 21. The margin of error was plus or minus 2 percentage points, higher for subgroups.
mitchell.landsberg @latimes.com
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Reading to Kids
Last Sunday I checked out the Festival of Books at UCLA. I love the UCLA campus. It's so beautiful. I had a great time, even though there were way too many people. Way too many people! One of the booths that caught my eye was the "Reading to Kids" booth. One Saturday a month, several elementary schools near downtown L.A. host volunteers who read a book to kids and lead the kids in an art activity related to the story. While the kids hear the story and create art, the parents receive training on how to support literacy at home. What a great thing! I would love to do this at our school. What do you think?
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Jaheem Herrera
This story is absolutely heartbreaking. This is the second story in the last few weeks about kids committing suicide because they were being bullied. Earlier in the month, Joseph Walker-Hoover also committed suicide due to ruthless bullying. I know we do the very best we can to teach kids to get along and to be respectful, but in too many cases all of that good work is not reinforced at home. Again I ask, where is the accountability for parents? Our kids are really good about letting us know if they are being bothered. They know we'll do something to help them. Thankfully, the kids don't have the "no snitching" mentality. I think we've done a pretty good job instilling in our kids a sense of what's right and what's wrong. It's not about snitching, it's about taking care of each other and taking care of ourselves. It's important that we, the adult role models and protectors, never tolerate bullying, hate speech, name calling, or put downs. I feel very good knowing that we are doing all we can to protect kids. No more kids should feel the need to take their lives because they feel no one will help them. Rest in peace Jaheem and Joseph.
From today's Daily Breeze
LAUSD wants to make firing teachers easier
By George B. Sanchez Staff Writer
Posted: 04/22/2009 10:52:59 PM PDT
Embarking on a monumental task that some say is doomed to fail, Los Angeles Unified school officials are taking aim at state laws that make it virtually impossible to fire teachers.
Facing unprecedented layoffs, including 3,500 teachers with less than two years of experience, district officials and their allies say they need the power to cull bad teachers from the ranks or students will suffer in the classroom.
"It's about weeding out people who shouldn't be working with our kids," said board member Tamar Galatzan.
On Tuesday, the school board is scheduled to vote on a pair of resolutions to change state teacher protections as well as internal teacher promotion policy.
Among them, they will seek to rewrite codes that favor teacher and administrator seniority during layoffs that allow senior staff to "bump" less senior staff out of their jobs, creating a domino effect that ultimately leads to the loss of new, nontenured teachers.
Also, the board has proposed a new evaluation method that would automatically fire teachers if they receive two consecutive poor performance reviews. A better evaluation method, say district officials, will improve teaching morale and student achievement.
If approved, the measures will kick off a drawn-out fight with California's powerful teachers unions, which hotly oppose any changes to existing laws. The rules protecting teacher jobs are so effective that just 31 teachers have lost their jobs in the state in the past five years. Teachers union officials say employees deserve job protection so that they can't be arbitrarily fired by a principal with a grudge.
"Does the public want vocal teachers to be fired because an administrator doesn't want to have a voice of opposition?" said A.J. Duffy, president of United Teachers Los Angeles.
LAUSD board members and Superintendent Ramon Cortines - along with the support of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa - say it is time to overhaul the decades-old legal codes that protect teachers by seniority, but pay scant attention to competency and performance.
While recognizing their proposal will start a long struggle with the teachers unions and likely unsettle political alliances in Sacramento, board members say with so much attention on public education right now, there's no better time to begin.
California school districts do not have the authority to fire teachers, according to state law. If a teacher is targeted for dismissal, teachers have the right to take their case to an administrative hearing, where an administrative judge and two school officials will hear the case and decide.
About 149 LAUSD teachers are awaiting a dismissal hearing and have been removed from the classroom. All but 17 continue to receive a paycheck, according to district records.
"There is an incentive for a bad employee to fight because they continue to get paid," Galatzan said.
The two motions were first introduced by board members Marlene Canter, whose district includes Westchester, and Galatzan on April 14, the same day the board voted 4-3 to lay off nearly 7,000 teachers.
The layoffs were prompted by the district's budget deficit, which some fear could reach $1.3 billion over the next three years.
The second resolution, authored only by Canter, calls for changes to the district's internal process that promotes teachers from probation to tenure. Today, teachers become permanent after two years on the job with little internal scrutiny.
"It's a passive process," Canter said. "If nothing is done, teachers still become permanent."
Santiago Jackson, director of LAUSD's governmental affairs unit, said such legislation would face a "difficult challenge" in Sacramento.
"Similar attempts have been made in the past but they failed due to opposition from the California Teachers Association and UTLA," he said.
Mike O'Sullivan, president of the Associated Administrators of Los Angeles, had an even more blunt view.
"It has no chance of passing," O'Sullivan said
The head of the Los Angeles teachers union said the problem is not with state laws that protect teachers, but principals who fail to help teachers become better educators.
"If administrators would do their jobs and identify teachers who are struggling, give them guidance and assistance, and if those people do not improve, then they should be written up," Duffy said. "If administrators did their job, then we could deal with the issue now."
By George B. Sanchez Staff Writer
Posted: 04/22/2009 10:52:59 PM PDT
Embarking on a monumental task that some say is doomed to fail, Los Angeles Unified school officials are taking aim at state laws that make it virtually impossible to fire teachers.
Facing unprecedented layoffs, including 3,500 teachers with less than two years of experience, district officials and their allies say they need the power to cull bad teachers from the ranks or students will suffer in the classroom.
"It's about weeding out people who shouldn't be working with our kids," said board member Tamar Galatzan.
On Tuesday, the school board is scheduled to vote on a pair of resolutions to change state teacher protections as well as internal teacher promotion policy.
Among them, they will seek to rewrite codes that favor teacher and administrator seniority during layoffs that allow senior staff to "bump" less senior staff out of their jobs, creating a domino effect that ultimately leads to the loss of new, nontenured teachers.
Also, the board has proposed a new evaluation method that would automatically fire teachers if they receive two consecutive poor performance reviews. A better evaluation method, say district officials, will improve teaching morale and student achievement.
If approved, the measures will kick off a drawn-out fight with California's powerful teachers unions, which hotly oppose any changes to existing laws. The rules protecting teacher jobs are so effective that just 31 teachers have lost their jobs in the state in the past five years. Teachers union officials say employees deserve job protection so that they can't be arbitrarily fired by a principal with a grudge.
"Does the public want vocal teachers to be fired because an administrator doesn't want to have a voice of opposition?" said A.J. Duffy, president of United Teachers Los Angeles.
LAUSD board members and Superintendent Ramon Cortines - along with the support of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa - say it is time to overhaul the decades-old legal codes that protect teachers by seniority, but pay scant attention to competency and performance.
While recognizing their proposal will start a long struggle with the teachers unions and likely unsettle political alliances in Sacramento, board members say with so much attention on public education right now, there's no better time to begin.
California school districts do not have the authority to fire teachers, according to state law. If a teacher is targeted for dismissal, teachers have the right to take their case to an administrative hearing, where an administrative judge and two school officials will hear the case and decide.
About 149 LAUSD teachers are awaiting a dismissal hearing and have been removed from the classroom. All but 17 continue to receive a paycheck, according to district records.
"There is an incentive for a bad employee to fight because they continue to get paid," Galatzan said.
The two motions were first introduced by board members Marlene Canter, whose district includes Westchester, and Galatzan on April 14, the same day the board voted 4-3 to lay off nearly 7,000 teachers.
The layoffs were prompted by the district's budget deficit, which some fear could reach $1.3 billion over the next three years.
The second resolution, authored only by Canter, calls for changes to the district's internal process that promotes teachers from probation to tenure. Today, teachers become permanent after two years on the job with little internal scrutiny.
"It's a passive process," Canter said. "If nothing is done, teachers still become permanent."
Santiago Jackson, director of LAUSD's governmental affairs unit, said such legislation would face a "difficult challenge" in Sacramento.
"Similar attempts have been made in the past but they failed due to opposition from the California Teachers Association and UTLA," he said.
Mike O'Sullivan, president of the Associated Administrators of Los Angeles, had an even more blunt view.
"It has no chance of passing," O'Sullivan said
The head of the Los Angeles teachers union said the problem is not with state laws that protect teachers, but principals who fail to help teachers become better educators.
"If administrators would do their jobs and identify teachers who are struggling, give them guidance and assistance, and if those people do not improve, then they should be written up," Duffy said. "If administrators did their job, then we could deal with the issue now."
Monday, April 20, 2009
Squawking Squatters
For a few weeks now, I've had a family of birds residing on my patio. It has been fun watching the mom and dad birds (I'm assuming they're a heterosexual couple) feed their three chicks. The pictures are pretty bad. I have a crappy camera AND I don't want to get too close and freak out the happy family.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
One Song Can Change Your Life
Perez Hilton has been posting videos from the show Britain's Got Talent. First, Susan Boyle and recently this clip. Wow!
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Stimulus Money on the Way
This morning at Cabrillo High School, Superintendent Steinhauser announced that he had filled out the online application so LBUSD can receive federal stimulus funds. This money needs to get here quick. I'm thinking Monday. I hope our site will receive an increase in Title I funds. We need the money to save our specialists and perhaps be able to provide more interventions. Check out the story on LBPost.com.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
R.I.P. 93.9
So sad. Movin' 93.9's format of all 70s and 80s music is no more. How am I going to get my fix of Culture Club, Depeche, and Haircut 100? I'm going to really miss the all 80s weekends. **begins sobbing uncontrollably**
Monday, April 13, 2009
Opening Day 2009
Largest crowd ever. Vin Scully begins his 60th year as the voice of the Dodgers. Orlando Hudson hits for the cycle (last time a Dodger hit for the cycle was when Wes Parker did it in 1970). Ethier has two homeruns. Dodgers whip the Giants 11 - 1. Good times!
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Friday, April 10, 2009
From dailybreeze.com
Governor seeking $5 billion for schools
By Nguyen Huy Vu, Staff Writer
Posted: 04/09/2009 10:43:26 PM PDT
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has asked the federal government for $5 billion to keep California schools from laying off teachers, preserve programs and help students enter college.
The state is one of the first to request federal stimulus money from the U.S. Department of Education and could receive $3.1 billion of that money for public schools and colleges by fall.
"We've taken steps to protect our schools from the full brunt of our economic situation, and this funding will restore many of the difficult cuts that had to be made to education," Schwarzenegger said in a statement Thursday.
"I'm committed to passing it directly onto schools as quickly as possible."
The news comes as state education officials announced that K-12 campuses will receive another $1.2 billion in federal stimulus funds next month to help pay for low-income and special-education students.
But South Bay educators are taking a conservative approach to the additional money because it's still unclear how much will actually come their way.
More important to many school districts is what happens if next month's special election ballot measures to pay for school funding fail to get enough voter support.
Torrance Unified Superintendent George Mannon said if that happens, the federal stimulus money won't serve much more than a financial life preserver.
"The new dollars may be all eaten up simply by the amount of the cuts the state would turn around and put on local districts," he said.
The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office reports California will be in an $8 billion hole by the summer and that one option is to use the federal stimulus money to balance the budget.
State schools chief Jack O'Connell adamantly opposes that proposal but said most state lawmakers plan to leave the stimulus money alone.
"We have to be concerned but I am not overly concerned," he said. "I just believe that this money will 100 percent remain in education."
Schwarzenegger has also said publicly that money earmarked for education won't be used to balance the budget.
"The governor's position is to get this money moving out the door as quickly as possible for the school districts," said H.D. Palmer, the governor's finance spokesperson.
"I wouldn't anticipate there would be any objections from the Legislature because ... I think they share the view that they want to put this money to work as soon as possible."
Despite the assurances from O'Connell and Schwarzenegger, state lawmakers will have the last say on whether the stimulus money will reach school districts.
Los Angeles County Office of Education officials have recommended that educators not count on the federal aid as they make spending plans for the upcoming school year.
Assistant Superintendent Kenneth Shelton said the uncertainty of the special election, state funding and aid amounts have made it impossible for anyone to to try to plan ahead.
"It's been a real dilemma for school superintendents and chief business officials in providing information and clarity to their boards when the clarity doesn't exist," Shelton said.
"The advice we've said is, `Don't count it until you have the check in hand."'
vu.nguyen@dailybreeze.com
By Nguyen Huy Vu, Staff Writer
Posted: 04/09/2009 10:43:26 PM PDT
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has asked the federal government for $5 billion to keep California schools from laying off teachers, preserve programs and help students enter college.
The state is one of the first to request federal stimulus money from the U.S. Department of Education and could receive $3.1 billion of that money for public schools and colleges by fall.
"We've taken steps to protect our schools from the full brunt of our economic situation, and this funding will restore many of the difficult cuts that had to be made to education," Schwarzenegger said in a statement Thursday.
"I'm committed to passing it directly onto schools as quickly as possible."
The news comes as state education officials announced that K-12 campuses will receive another $1.2 billion in federal stimulus funds next month to help pay for low-income and special-education students.
But South Bay educators are taking a conservative approach to the additional money because it's still unclear how much will actually come their way.
More important to many school districts is what happens if next month's special election ballot measures to pay for school funding fail to get enough voter support.
Torrance Unified Superintendent George Mannon said if that happens, the federal stimulus money won't serve much more than a financial life preserver.
"The new dollars may be all eaten up simply by the amount of the cuts the state would turn around and put on local districts," he said.
The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office reports California will be in an $8 billion hole by the summer and that one option is to use the federal stimulus money to balance the budget.
State schools chief Jack O'Connell adamantly opposes that proposal but said most state lawmakers plan to leave the stimulus money alone.
"We have to be concerned but I am not overly concerned," he said. "I just believe that this money will 100 percent remain in education."
Schwarzenegger has also said publicly that money earmarked for education won't be used to balance the budget.
"The governor's position is to get this money moving out the door as quickly as possible for the school districts," said H.D. Palmer, the governor's finance spokesperson.
"I wouldn't anticipate there would be any objections from the Legislature because ... I think they share the view that they want to put this money to work as soon as possible."
Despite the assurances from O'Connell and Schwarzenegger, state lawmakers will have the last say on whether the stimulus money will reach school districts.
Los Angeles County Office of Education officials have recommended that educators not count on the federal aid as they make spending plans for the upcoming school year.
Assistant Superintendent Kenneth Shelton said the uncertainty of the special election, state funding and aid amounts have made it impossible for anyone to to try to plan ahead.
"It's been a real dilemma for school superintendents and chief business officials in providing information and clarity to their boards when the clarity doesn't exist," Shelton said.
"The advice we've said is, `Don't count it until you have the check in hand."'
vu.nguyen@dailybreeze.com
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
This Week's American Idol Winner...
is...
Unbelievable. With the hundreds of fantastic 80s songs out there, they seemed to pick the most boring songs to sing. Why didn't Kris sing Somebody by Depeche Mode? or Get the Balance Right? or ANY Culture Club song...a very disappointing week!
Unbelievable. With the hundreds of fantastic 80s songs out there, they seemed to pick the most boring songs to sing. Why didn't Kris sing Somebody by Depeche Mode? or Get the Balance Right? or ANY Culture Club song...a very disappointing week!
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
From Today's L.A. Times
UC Berkeley professor takes on school spending
In his book, "The Money Myth: School Resources, Outcomes, and Equity," W. Norton Grubb argues that how much is spent is less important than how it is spent.
8:20 PM PDT, April 6, 2009
Do we spend enough on public education? What does it mean that California has fallen from near the top of per-pupil spending in the United States to very near the bottom?
Money has long been at the center of debates over education. Now a book from a UC Berkeley professor argues that the entire debate is wrongheaded.
In "The Money Myth: School Resources, Outcomes, and Equity" (Russell Sage Foundation, 2009), W. Norton Grubb argues that how much we spend is less important than how we spend it. For decades, Grubb says, school spending has inexorably risen, while student achievement has stayed relatively stagnant. Maybe it's time to look at which expenditures actually improve education, he argues, and which are a waste. The Times' Mitchell Landsberg spoke to Grubb about his book.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Play Ball!
Tomorrow, the Dodgers Open their season in San Diego against the Padres. Sports Illustrated is predicting the Dodgers will win the National League West. Dodgers do have strong bats, but their pitching is iffy. The Dodgers' pitching is always iffy. Sports Illustrated is also predicting the Mets will win the World Series. Hmmmmmm....
Saturday, April 4, 2009
From Today's HuffingtonPost.com
Anne Naylor
Posted April 4, 2009
10 Ways To Get More Energy By Being Thankful
"When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change."
Dr Wayne W Dyer
Over the past few weeks, I have been looking at the magnificence of the human spirit that lives within each one of us. I do not think we fully appreciate this precious resource that we each carry. If we did, we would all be a lot happier. No one can take it away from you. However, you can either enhance or diminish your awareness of it.
I love the American celebration of Thanksgiving. I realize that it is a few months away yet, but I would like to invite you to a pre-Easter Thanksgiving this weekend. Actually, I invite you to be thank-full at any time.
Being grateful is a way to be expansive, especially when we are feeling lacking, negative, cast down. Great-fullness. What are some of the simple things you may be taking for granted? What joys do you find in the world around you, that do not cost money? How have challenges from your past proved valuable in the longer term?
"Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more.
If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough."
Oprah Winfrey
Gratitude is at the heart of a renewed flow of giving and receiving. It goes like this. Count the small things you are grateful for. Experience the great fullness within you as you do so. Find ways to give from this fullness -- maybe your time, talent or a gift that can benefit someone else. Then be open and allow yourself to receive. Be grateful for what comes your way.
"The thankful receiver bears a plentiful harvest."
William Blake
Your human spirit is capable of this expansion -- and much more. What you appreciate grows in value for you. So love you. Love the sweet spirit that you are.
Here are 10 tips for becoming grateful:
1. Gratitude Journal
Keep a Gratitude Journal. At the end of each day, write 5 things you feel grateful for from the day. A smile from a stranger, the hug from your child, an unexpected compliment, a good meal, a moment of laughter with a friend.
2. Before sleeping
Go to bed with a smile, thinking about all you appreciate in your life. Breathe deeply and relax as you do so.
3. Gratitude Dance
Take a few minutes and begin your day with the Gratitude Dance. Start as you mean to go on. If your energy is flagging during the day -- do it again. It will probably make you laugh -- and that will energize and refresh you.
4. Appreciate Family, Friends and Co-Workers
Bring to mind those close to you that you love and how you are thankful that they are part of your life. Make a note in your journal of your special people and why you appreciate them.
5. Express Appreciation
At home, work or in your community, take a little time to communicate your appreciation to those you value - in person, over the phone, by email.
"In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit."
Albert Schweitzer
6. Mid Day Break
Take a short walk and count your blessings, feeling grateful as you do so. You will come back inspired and enthusiastic for the afternoon.
7. Blessings in Disguise
When you are going through a tough time, it is harder to feel grateful. However, when you do, the results can be amazing.
When things are not going your way, or the way you had intended, declare them a "blessing in disguise" and be grateful for them. This simple shift in attitude will make you a winner, no matter what happens.
8. Gratitude Gathering
Bring a group of friends together for a Gratitude Gathering and recount the things you are grateful for. Conclude with a Celebratory Pot Luck meal.
9. Nature Walk
Take a walk in nature and notice the beauty around you. Beauty might be in something very simple like a leaf, a bird in flight, sunlight on dew, an elegant branch of a tree, the colour of the sky, the crunch of gravel or softness of grass beneath your feet. Allow yourself to feel the beauty and your gratitude for it.
10. Be Grateful For You
Last but absolutely not least. Take a moment to notice the goodness of your intent; the caring you express to others; the endeavours you take to be true to your ideals, even at difficult times. Be grateful for and bless your qualities and strengths. There is no one else quite like you. Honour and appreciate yourself.
"Celebrate what you want to see more of."
Thomas J. Peters
Gratitude is a way of closing a door on the past and allowing a new door to open to the future you wish to be enjoying. It is simple, yet very powerful. Gratitude is in your heart and hands.
What are some of the "small" things you sometimes take for granted? Have you been through any tough times that have turned into "blessings in disguise"? What do you most appreciate about yourself?
Posted April 4, 2009
10 Ways To Get More Energy By Being Thankful
"When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change."
Dr Wayne W Dyer
Over the past few weeks, I have been looking at the magnificence of the human spirit that lives within each one of us. I do not think we fully appreciate this precious resource that we each carry. If we did, we would all be a lot happier. No one can take it away from you. However, you can either enhance or diminish your awareness of it.
I love the American celebration of Thanksgiving. I realize that it is a few months away yet, but I would like to invite you to a pre-Easter Thanksgiving this weekend. Actually, I invite you to be thank-full at any time.
Being grateful is a way to be expansive, especially when we are feeling lacking, negative, cast down. Great-fullness. What are some of the simple things you may be taking for granted? What joys do you find in the world around you, that do not cost money? How have challenges from your past proved valuable in the longer term?
"Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more.
If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough."
Oprah Winfrey
Gratitude is at the heart of a renewed flow of giving and receiving. It goes like this. Count the small things you are grateful for. Experience the great fullness within you as you do so. Find ways to give from this fullness -- maybe your time, talent or a gift that can benefit someone else. Then be open and allow yourself to receive. Be grateful for what comes your way.
"The thankful receiver bears a plentiful harvest."
William Blake
Your human spirit is capable of this expansion -- and much more. What you appreciate grows in value for you. So love you. Love the sweet spirit that you are.
Here are 10 tips for becoming grateful:
1. Gratitude Journal
Keep a Gratitude Journal. At the end of each day, write 5 things you feel grateful for from the day. A smile from a stranger, the hug from your child, an unexpected compliment, a good meal, a moment of laughter with a friend.
2. Before sleeping
Go to bed with a smile, thinking about all you appreciate in your life. Breathe deeply and relax as you do so.
3. Gratitude Dance
Take a few minutes and begin your day with the Gratitude Dance. Start as you mean to go on. If your energy is flagging during the day -- do it again. It will probably make you laugh -- and that will energize and refresh you.
4. Appreciate Family, Friends and Co-Workers
Bring to mind those close to you that you love and how you are thankful that they are part of your life. Make a note in your journal of your special people and why you appreciate them.
5. Express Appreciation
At home, work or in your community, take a little time to communicate your appreciation to those you value - in person, over the phone, by email.
"In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit."
Albert Schweitzer
6. Mid Day Break
Take a short walk and count your blessings, feeling grateful as you do so. You will come back inspired and enthusiastic for the afternoon.
7. Blessings in Disguise
When you are going through a tough time, it is harder to feel grateful. However, when you do, the results can be amazing.
When things are not going your way, or the way you had intended, declare them a "blessing in disguise" and be grateful for them. This simple shift in attitude will make you a winner, no matter what happens.
8. Gratitude Gathering
Bring a group of friends together for a Gratitude Gathering and recount the things you are grateful for. Conclude with a Celebratory Pot Luck meal.
9. Nature Walk
Take a walk in nature and notice the beauty around you. Beauty might be in something very simple like a leaf, a bird in flight, sunlight on dew, an elegant branch of a tree, the colour of the sky, the crunch of gravel or softness of grass beneath your feet. Allow yourself to feel the beauty and your gratitude for it.
10. Be Grateful For You
Last but absolutely not least. Take a moment to notice the goodness of your intent; the caring you express to others; the endeavours you take to be true to your ideals, even at difficult times. Be grateful for and bless your qualities and strengths. There is no one else quite like you. Honour and appreciate yourself.
"Celebrate what you want to see more of."
Thomas J. Peters
Gratitude is a way of closing a door on the past and allowing a new door to open to the future you wish to be enjoying. It is simple, yet very powerful. Gratitude is in your heart and hands.
What are some of the "small" things you sometimes take for granted? Have you been through any tough times that have turned into "blessings in disguise"? What do you most appreciate about yourself?
This Week's American Idol Winner
Kris Allen delivered a stellar performance...he's the next American Idol...
Monday, March 30, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
This Week's American Idol Top 3
What a great week! My top 3 are Matt, Kris, and Allison...with Danny a very close
4th..
4th..
Thursday, March 26, 2009
From Wednesday's L.A. Times
Seniority, not quality, counts most at United Teachers Los Angeles
Steve Lopez
March 25, 2009
Here's what I did:
I went to the website for United Teachers Los Angeles, clicked on the union contract and hit "print."
The job laid waste to a small forest of trees, producing a 347-page document the size of a fat phone book.
So why am I telling you this?
Because layoff notices just went out to 5,500 teachers in the Los Angeles Unified schools, and the UTLA contract guarantees one thing: Those notices aren't going to the least effective teachers. Quality has nothing to do with it.
It's all about seniority.
The teachers union has every right to scream about funding cuts and potential layoffs (even if we won't have real numbers for several weeks at least).
But what union President A.J. Duffy won't admit, as he raises a stink, is that when good teachers are on the chopping block and burned-out teachers are protected, it's because of his union's contract.
Simply put, the UTLA contract -- like a lot of others in the state -- requires that the last hired are the first fired.
And let's not let the district off the hook. It agreed to this arrangement, which ensures that when pink slips go out, there's no distinction between excellence and mediocrity.
After I printed out the UTLA contract, I went to the website for Green Dot Public Schools, which runs some well-regarded charter schools in the county. It was a mere 33 pages.
Steve Barr, Green Dot founder, is no fan of UTLA.
He says the union has two primary purposes that have nothing to do with educating children: preserving prohibitively expensive lifetime benefits for teachers and their families, and allowing more senior teachers to work where they want rather than where they're needed, with tenure making even the burnouts untouchable.
"Why is the teachers union against getting every dollar into the classroom . . . and why is it against hiring and firing decisions being made at the school site?" Barr asks.
To be fair, Green Dot has only a fraction of the number of schools and teachers that L.A. Unified has, and for the most part it has the benefit of smaller campuses and less-entrenched faculties.
But its model, which gives principals more control and teachers more influence, puts the emphasis on education rather than politics and power.
In the Green Dot contract, the section on layoffs is six lines long (versus four pages in the UTLA contract).
If necessary, Green Dot takes into account a teacher's evaluations and expertise. Only if there are no differences on those things does seniority come into play.
In L.A. Unified, there is a possibility that if the cuts are made, the best and brightest teachers will be on the unemployment line, replaced perhaps by burned-out bureaucrats who may not have been in a classroom since the Carter administration and might never have been good teachers to begin with.
"Those people left the classroom for a reason," said Dorit Dowler, a Micheltorena Elementary parent who was among a couple of dozen protesters who turned out for Tuesday's L.A. Unified school board meeting on the subject of budget cuts.
Another parent, Suzie Haleblian, said merit should prevail over seniority. She doesn't want to lose good teachers at Ivanhoe Elementary -- which happens to be my daughter's school -- just because they're relatively new.
"Our kids get report cards," Haleblian said. "Maybe our teachers could get report cards."
That's essentially what President Obama said last week when he condemned decades of failure in American public education and called for major reforms.
"It's time to start rewarding good teachers, stop making excuses for bad ones," he said.
In defense of teachers, grading them can be difficult and subjective. And there's no question that at times, good teachers need union protection from inept principals.
But we need more flexibility all around -- and less dead weight at the district headquarters -- if we're going to handle budget cuts and have any hope of improving our schools.
At my daughter's school, I'd much rather have the very capable principal decide on staffing rather than have decisions forced on her by Duffy and a bloated union contract.
At 347 pages of boilerplate and trivial specificity, the UTLA document manages to dehumanize teachers and crush innovation, treating them like components of an outdated machine rather than like intelligent, independent, adaptable professionals.
Every school has teachers who stand above the rest. Some of them veterans, some of them not. Why can't they be rewarded?
If Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa weren't so eager to lock up UTLA support in his potential run for governor, he'd be joining Obama's call to rebuild a broken system.
And teachers and parents ticked off about a tenure policy that throws good teachers under the bus would do well to keep marching outside L.A. Unified's headquarters.
Among the protesters Tuesday was Robert Rubisa, a third-grade teacher at Los Angeles Elementary.
With 11 years on the job, he didn't get a layoff notice. But his wife, a fourth-grade teacher with less experience, got a pink slip.
Rubisa said he went to his union rep and suggested that teachers give back some of their sick days to help balance the budget and avoid some layoffs.
"The union rep said we should not balance the budget on teachers' backs," Rubisa said.
I liked Rubisa's idea, but I'm looking through the UTLA contract now and having trouble figuring out how many sick days teachers have.
Maybe it's here in Article IX, Hours, Duties and Work Year. No, I don't think so.
Maybe it's somewhere between Pages 108 and 132, under Article XII, Leaves and Absences. But where?
I'll have to get back to you on this.
steve.lopez@latimes.com
Sunday, March 22, 2009
From Today's L.A. Times
Some schools are cutting back on homework
When is homework just busywork? Weighing stress against learning, some districts are cutting back on academic work outside the classroom.
By Seema Mehta
March 22, 2009
Rachel Bennett, 12, loves playing soccer, spending time with her grandparents and making jewelry with beads. But since she entered a magnet middle school in the fall -- and began receiving two to four hours of homework a night -- those activities have fallen by the wayside.
"She's only a kid for so long," said her father, Alex Bennett, of Silverado Canyon. "There's been tears and frustration and family arguments. Everyone gets burned out and tired."
Bennett is part of a vocal movement of parents and educators who contend that homework overload is robbing children of needed sleep and playtime, chipping into family dinners and vacations and overly stressing young minds. The objections have been raised for years but increasingly, school districts are listening. They are banning busywork, setting time limits on homework and barring it on weekends and over vacations.
"Groups of parents are going to schools and saying, 'Get real. We want our kids to have a life,' " said Cathy Vatterott, an associate education professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, who has studied the issue.
Trustees in Danville, Calif., eliminated homework on weekends and vacations last year. Palo Alto officials banned it over winter break. Officials in Orange, where Rachel Bennett attends school, are reminding teachers about limits on homework and urging them not to assign it on weekends. A private school in Hollywood has done away with book reports.
"As adults, if every book we ever read, we had to write a report on -- would that encourage our reading or discourage it?" asked Eileen Horowitz, head of school at Temple Israel of Hollywood Day School. "We realized we needed to rethink that."
Nancy Ortenberg is happy about the change.
"Homework is much more meaningful now," said Ortenberg, whose daughter Isabelle, 9, was in school before the policy took effect in 2007. Before the change, it was a chore for her daughter, but "now she reads for the pure joy of reading."
Homework was once hugely controversial. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, social commentators and physicians crusaded against it, convinced it was causing children to become wan, weak and nervous.
In a 1900 article titled "A National Crime at the Feet of American Parents" in the Ladies' Home Journal, editor Edward Bok wrote, "When are parents going to open their eyes to this fearful evil? Are they as blind as bats, that they do not see what is being wrought by this crowning folly of night study?"
California was at the vanguard of the anti-homework movement. In 1901, the California Legislature banned it for students under 15 and ordered high schools to limit it for older students to 20 recitations a week. The law was taken off the books in 1917.
Homework has fallen in and out of favor ever since, often viewed as a force for good when the nation feels threatened -- after the Soviets launched Sputnik in 1957, for example, and during competition with Japan in the 1980s.
The homework wars have reignited in recent years, with parents around the nation arguing that children are being given too much.
Much of the debate is driven by the belief that today's students are doing more work at home than their predecessors. But student surveys do not bear that out, said Brian Gill, a senior social scientist with Mathematica Policy Research.
Instead, in today's increasingly competitive race for college admission, student schedules are increasingly packed with clubs, sports and other activities in addition to homework, Gill said. Students -- and parents -- may just have less time, he said.
Not all object, however.
"Obviously we want to think it's busywork, but most of the time it's really helpful," said Allison Hall, 16, a junior at Villa Park High in the Orange district. Allison, who is taking five Advanced Placement classes, has up to three hours of homework a night; she also is on the cross country, track and mock trial teams and does volunteer work.
But others say there is just too much, especially for younger children. Karen Adnams of Villa Park has four children. She said that heavier course loads make sense for older children but that she doesn't understand the amount of work given in lower grades.
"I think teachers have lost touch with what a third-grader or a fifth-grader can really do," she said.
Vatterott, a former principal, said she became interested in the subject a decade ago as a frustrated parent. Her son, who has a learning disability, was upset by assignments he didn't understand and couldn't complete in a reasonable time.
She decided to study the effectiveness of homework. That research showed that more time spent on such work was not necessarily better.
Vatterott questioned the quantity and the quality of assignments. If 10 math problems could demonstrate a child's grasp of a concept, why assign 50, she asked? The solution, she said, was not to do away with homework but to clarify the reasons for assigning it.
Some schools, among them Grant Elementary in Glenrock, Wyo., have gone further. Principal Christine Hendricks had grown concerned that students were spending too much time on busywork and that homework was causing conflicts between parents and children and between teachers and students. So she got rid of it last year except for reading and studying for tests.
"My philosophy, even when I was a teacher, is if you work hard during the day, I don't like to work at night. Kids are kind of the same way," she said.
Other districts, including San Ramon Valley Unified in Danville, Calif., have taken a more nuanced approach.
Since San Ramon revised its homework policy last year, the youngest students are given no more than 30 minutes a night; high school students have up to three hours of work. District trustees also decided that aside from reading, no homework should be given to elementary and middle school students on weekends or vacations.
In the Orange Unified School District, trustee John Ortega grew concerned about the workload carried by his middle school daughter. "We would have a swim meet all weekend, and she would be worried about coming home and having to finish homework," he said. "She was stressed about it."
After speaking with other parents, Ortega raised the subject publicly in the fall, prompting a series of discussions in the district. It turned out that although the board had set limits on homework, they were not always followed, said Marsha Brown, assistant superintendent of educational services. She said teachers have now been informed about the policy and principals are working to clarify the purpose of homework.
Brown said children's social growth must be nurtured alongside their academic development. "We don't want just academic children. We want them involved in sports and music and art and family time and downtime," she said. "We want well-rounded citizens. I think we will always be struggling with that balance."
When is homework just busywork? Weighing stress against learning, some districts are cutting back on academic work outside the classroom.
By Seema Mehta
March 22, 2009
Rachel Bennett, 12, loves playing soccer, spending time with her grandparents and making jewelry with beads. But since she entered a magnet middle school in the fall -- and began receiving two to four hours of homework a night -- those activities have fallen by the wayside.
"She's only a kid for so long," said her father, Alex Bennett, of Silverado Canyon. "There's been tears and frustration and family arguments. Everyone gets burned out and tired."
Bennett is part of a vocal movement of parents and educators who contend that homework overload is robbing children of needed sleep and playtime, chipping into family dinners and vacations and overly stressing young minds. The objections have been raised for years but increasingly, school districts are listening. They are banning busywork, setting time limits on homework and barring it on weekends and over vacations.
"Groups of parents are going to schools and saying, 'Get real. We want our kids to have a life,' " said Cathy Vatterott, an associate education professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, who has studied the issue.
Trustees in Danville, Calif., eliminated homework on weekends and vacations last year. Palo Alto officials banned it over winter break. Officials in Orange, where Rachel Bennett attends school, are reminding teachers about limits on homework and urging them not to assign it on weekends. A private school in Hollywood has done away with book reports.
"As adults, if every book we ever read, we had to write a report on -- would that encourage our reading or discourage it?" asked Eileen Horowitz, head of school at Temple Israel of Hollywood Day School. "We realized we needed to rethink that."
Nancy Ortenberg is happy about the change.
"Homework is much more meaningful now," said Ortenberg, whose daughter Isabelle, 9, was in school before the policy took effect in 2007. Before the change, it was a chore for her daughter, but "now she reads for the pure joy of reading."
Homework was once hugely controversial. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, social commentators and physicians crusaded against it, convinced it was causing children to become wan, weak and nervous.
In a 1900 article titled "A National Crime at the Feet of American Parents" in the Ladies' Home Journal, editor Edward Bok wrote, "When are parents going to open their eyes to this fearful evil? Are they as blind as bats, that they do not see what is being wrought by this crowning folly of night study?"
California was at the vanguard of the anti-homework movement. In 1901, the California Legislature banned it for students under 15 and ordered high schools to limit it for older students to 20 recitations a week. The law was taken off the books in 1917.
Homework has fallen in and out of favor ever since, often viewed as a force for good when the nation feels threatened -- after the Soviets launched Sputnik in 1957, for example, and during competition with Japan in the 1980s.
The homework wars have reignited in recent years, with parents around the nation arguing that children are being given too much.
Much of the debate is driven by the belief that today's students are doing more work at home than their predecessors. But student surveys do not bear that out, said Brian Gill, a senior social scientist with Mathematica Policy Research.
Instead, in today's increasingly competitive race for college admission, student schedules are increasingly packed with clubs, sports and other activities in addition to homework, Gill said. Students -- and parents -- may just have less time, he said.
Not all object, however.
"Obviously we want to think it's busywork, but most of the time it's really helpful," said Allison Hall, 16, a junior at Villa Park High in the Orange district. Allison, who is taking five Advanced Placement classes, has up to three hours of homework a night; she also is on the cross country, track and mock trial teams and does volunteer work.
But others say there is just too much, especially for younger children. Karen Adnams of Villa Park has four children. She said that heavier course loads make sense for older children but that she doesn't understand the amount of work given in lower grades.
"I think teachers have lost touch with what a third-grader or a fifth-grader can really do," she said.
Vatterott, a former principal, said she became interested in the subject a decade ago as a frustrated parent. Her son, who has a learning disability, was upset by assignments he didn't understand and couldn't complete in a reasonable time.
She decided to study the effectiveness of homework. That research showed that more time spent on such work was not necessarily better.
Vatterott questioned the quantity and the quality of assignments. If 10 math problems could demonstrate a child's grasp of a concept, why assign 50, she asked? The solution, she said, was not to do away with homework but to clarify the reasons for assigning it.
Some schools, among them Grant Elementary in Glenrock, Wyo., have gone further. Principal Christine Hendricks had grown concerned that students were spending too much time on busywork and that homework was causing conflicts between parents and children and between teachers and students. So she got rid of it last year except for reading and studying for tests.
"My philosophy, even when I was a teacher, is if you work hard during the day, I don't like to work at night. Kids are kind of the same way," she said.
Other districts, including San Ramon Valley Unified in Danville, Calif., have taken a more nuanced approach.
Since San Ramon revised its homework policy last year, the youngest students are given no more than 30 minutes a night; high school students have up to three hours of work. District trustees also decided that aside from reading, no homework should be given to elementary and middle school students on weekends or vacations.
In the Orange Unified School District, trustee John Ortega grew concerned about the workload carried by his middle school daughter. "We would have a swim meet all weekend, and she would be worried about coming home and having to finish homework," he said. "She was stressed about it."
After speaking with other parents, Ortega raised the subject publicly in the fall, prompting a series of discussions in the district. It turned out that although the board had set limits on homework, they were not always followed, said Marsha Brown, assistant superintendent of educational services. She said teachers have now been informed about the policy and principals are working to clarify the purpose of homework.
Brown said children's social growth must be nurtured alongside their academic development. "We don't want just academic children. We want them involved in sports and music and art and family time and downtime," she said. "We want well-rounded citizens. I think we will always be struggling with that balance."
Saturday, March 21, 2009
American Idol
I'm finally into this season of American Idol. I love the DVR! Country week turned out to be a pretty good week. I was impressed with the song choices and the performances. My top three performances of the week are Allison (she rocked that song!), Kris (one of my favorite Garth songs and he definitely did it justice), and Anoop (he can sing, very nice job).
Monday, March 16, 2009
Team In Training
Our friend Lucy, will be participating in a marathon to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in memory of her father-in-law. She's about half way toward achieving her fundraising goal. Lets help her reach her goal! Check out her link.
I Don't Think I Was Dreaming
Wow! Today was actually a calm day. Just a few minor issues. Unbelievable!
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Happy Sunday
Happy Sunday! Not sure what I'm going to do today. I have some work that I need to get done at school. I really don't want to go to school today. Next week is going to be busy and the week after is going to be even busier. I can't wait until we track off. This trimester has been one of the most hellish trimesters that I can remember. I don't want to even imagine what the last trimester is going to be like. I'm definitely looking forward to time off. Nineteen days to go!
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Obama Ready to Take on Education Reform
This week, CNN reported on Obama's latest education speech. Check out the link. He called for an expansion of early childhood education. That's good. He called for an expansion of charter schools. That may be good, but it depends. He called for merit pay. Not good. I've never been a fan of merit pay. Teachers are woefully underappreciated and underpaid. What job in our society is more important than teaching? None. Obviously, teachers must be paid more. We need to attract the best and the brightest to the profession. Merit pay will discourage collaboration and the sharing of ideas and the sharing of teaching resources. It will lead to a very unhealthy competition among teachers. We don't need that. Study after study indicates collaboration is one of the keys to a school's success. Principals need to do their jobs and help struggling teachers become successful or encourage them to find other careers. It's that simple. All teachers must be top quality and be paid accordingly. All kids deserve an advanced proficient teacher. Would we go to a partial proficient dentist? How about a partial proficient heart surgeon? I would say we wouldn't even go to a partial proficient barber/hair stylist. Right? Competition in education is not good. Education is not a business. It makes me fume when people try to equate business practices to educational practices. Stop it! Education is NOT a business! We're not selling cable tv! We're molding the minds of the next generation. See the difference? As a former president was fond of saying in his Texan twang, "It's hard work."
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Sunday Thoughts
I hate springing forward. Losing an hour of sleep for any reason is just plain wrong. Especially when you're already exhausted. Just plain wrong. Well, the Twittering thing didn't last very long. Oh well. I guess I'll save my Tweets for something really important. I should have tweeted during my San Diego trip. I forgot. I really enjoyed the workshop. Everything Sharon Taberski talked about reinforced the workshop work that's happening at school. There's still so much work left to do. A neighbor called on Friday to complain about the kids coming to and leaving school noisely. How do you tell 900 kids to be quiet on their way home???? I remember when I was teaching fifth grade at Bryant we used to have unhappy neighbors. Every Friday morning we would start the day on the playground by reciting the pledge and listening to announcements from the principal. Of course, the principal used a loud speaker. Like clockwork, every Friday the neighbor would call the police on us because we were disturbing the peace. Of course the police wouldn't come out, but they did notify school security. Oh brother. It would have been kind of interesting if the principal was taken into custody. I'm sure one of us would have finished the announcements for her. It's interesting how people don't see the school right next to the house they just bought or rented. And chances are that the school contains really noisy kids. I'm really mad at myself. I left some important work at school that I wanted to work on today. Oh well. I guess I'll try to work on it tomorrow...if I can squeeze in the time.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
