The Corona Chronicles: Classroom Cleanout

I went to the school this morning to get a few things and clean out a little bit. It was much harder than I anticipated.

On a Friday morning at 10:30, second block should have been winding to a close and kids should have been anxiously waiting for the lunch bell at 10:40. The mid-day announcements would be coming over the intercom.

By the time I left, about 11:00, there should have been kids in the halls, duty teachers monitoring those kids, microwaves across campus warming up teacher lunches. The office should have been bustling, Mrs. Kiper laughing and lobbing wise cracks with kids and administrators. The library should have been filled with kids using the computers or playing board games at the tables. The courtyard should have been filled with kids burning off a little energy before third block. Teachers should have been making that last dash to the restroom before the long afternoon classes start.

I didn't see any of that today.

The halls were dark.

The parking lot was empty.

There were ZERO students on campus.  My room was quiet as a tomb.

My room would have normally had a couple of kids in there eating lunch about that time of the day.

Instead, I found empty desks, library books abandoned in the baskets underneath.

I sighed, looked around, and went to get my things that I needed to work from home.

I missed the sound of kids, and the notes they'd leave for me if they came by while I was out.

Every single kid was important to me, is important to me, and it just feels like we didn't get to finish what we started. It feels tragic and sad...unfinished.

Their journals were still on my desk, graded, ready to return.

We left school on the Friday before Spring Break: March 6. My assignments from that day are still written on the board.

We all expected to come back to school when we left that day. Kids took library books home, textbooks, projects to finish, uniforms to wash, schedules to fill out for next year, and plans. They had plans for their graduation, prom, ring ceremonies, sporting events, and yes, academics. None of that happened.

So yes, all of that literally hangs in the air when you walk in the halls now. It's a tangible thing.

I cleaned out the snacks I kept in my desk for kids that needed something to eat; that won't keep until August. I took home my coffee cup, emptied the water in the Keurig. I looked through projects that weren't finished, some that were, and I scored a bottle of GermX from my supply closet. I erased my board, bagged up things I needed to take home, and I turned out the light.

I hope we NEVER have to go through this again.

Louisiana Schools to Pilot New Testing Program

I have a friend that refers to the endless cycle of education initiatives as "Stalin's five-year plan."

We've all seen them - from Kagan to Harry Wong to Whole Brain, one after the other meant to revolutionize and improve education and student performance.  Districts invest time and money in the programs, spend countless dollars on inservice, training, and materials, then the plan is abandoned for the next shiny thing that comes.  Repeat cycle.

That's why when I ranted and railed about the newest curriculum implementation, the Louisiana version of Common Core, my friend smiled sweetly and said, "Just remember.  Stalin's five-year plan."

And thus things keep changing.

At least nothing stays stagnant this way, right?

Last month, the Louisiana Department of Education's proposal for a new kind of testing was approved by the U.S. Department of Education:

This new pilot measuring students' knowledge of specific books, rather than texts they have not read before, the test aspires to build knowledge of facts and texts in students. "Research shows students need deep knowledge of a subject in order to effectively read about it," said State Superintendent John White.

This just seems like common sense, right?

Louisiana has five years to develop and pilot this assessment and it will be rolled out in five districts: Ouachita Parish, St. John the Baptist Parish, and St. Tammany Parish, as well as KIPP Public Charter Schools and Collegiate Academies in Orleans Parish.

Key points of this new program will include:

Combining English and social studies tests to streamline state testing;  

Measuring what students have learned via passages from books that students have read, rather than passages that they have not read as part of the curriculum;  

Assessing students through several brief assessments throughout the year, rather than one longer test at the end of the year;  

Preserving local control as to which books and which assessments their students will take.

I am cautiously interested.

The district in which I teach is on block schedule. Last year, first semester, which ran from August to December, we had minimum fourteen days of standardized testing.  Second semester, we backed off of that to about ten days.  This year, it looks like about seven days.  That's an estimate.  Are we starting to see the error of our testing ways?

The tests students currently take are supposedly aligned to the the standards students cover in the classroom, not necessarily the content.  Theoretically, if you can identify and analyze a main idea in one text, you can do it in any other.

My complaint with the current curriculum has been, in part,  that it strips fiction to bare bones and focuses heavily on some very dry non-fiction.  We don't read whole novels at all, ever.  The problem with that is not in the non-fiction necessarily, but think of what's lost with the loss of fiction!  We need both fiction and non-fiction because both serve to build background knowledge.

In my own reading this summer I went to the land of Inkheart and learned a little bit about book restoration and how valuable books are; I visited fantastic realms and looked at things from other perspectives. I read The 57 Bus and gained knowledge I did not previously have about people who identify as agender and about hate crimes. The lessons of tolerance and acceptance were reinforced. I read Boy21 and saw how friends can help each other through trying times.  I read The Other Wes Moore and learned a lot about how environment shapes character and how the most impulsive decisions can change lives.  I read The Book Whisperer and Teach Like a Pirate to expand my professional development and learned valuable lessons from both.  We gain background knowledge from both fiction and non-fiction.

Do you think the majority of my students spent the summer reading and expanding their own background knowledge?

This new system of assessment recognizes the knowledge gap that many students have.  This is something that the Six Way Paragraphs program also recognizes, which I have used in my lower level classes to build background knowledge and raise reading comprehension skills.

From the Louisiana Department of Education's proposal:

Being a literate member of society necessitates not only strong reading skills but also knowledge of the world and how it works. Adults comprehend and evaluate news articles, workplace documents, novels, web pages, and social media posts not just because they know what individual words mean, but because they know something about the topic each text contains. Likewise, it is widely known that students with large amounts of background knowledge read at more advanced levels. Yet states have built reading and writing tests that do not always value the background knowledge students bring to them, including students’ deep understanding of books and texts they have studied previously. Instead, state tests preference reading and writing skills over the content that renders them rich and meaningful.

Read that last line again:  "...states preference reading and writing skills over the content that renders them rich and meaningful."

We've been teaching skills over content and content is not meaningful unless it is relevant and makes a connection.

Nobody knows this better than the teacher in the room with the student, and my student may not engage with the same subject matter as your student.  I need the power to make that decision.

More from the Louisiana proposal: (emphasis mine)

Though improved dramatically in the past three years, the Louisiana Assessment of Education Progress (LEAP) continues to measure the ELA standards, including specific skills such as summarizing passages and locating main ideas, but it does not go above that to measure whether students have developed a base of knowledge. Consequently, in many schools a focus on discrete reading skills predominates the English classroom, with minimal attention paid to knowledge.

Again, we are measuring standards, not knowledge.  They are not the same thing.  One produces test competence, the other functioning, well-rounded human beings.

Under this new pilot program, Louisiana proposes to still focus on standards but also content:  "drawing on students’ deep knowledge of content and books from their daily classroom experiences—rather than a random assortment of texts, as are typically used on large-scale assessments."

Currently, when students get to the LEAP at the end of the year, what they read on that test is nothing like what they read in class and only serves to make those tests frustrating to students and raises anxiety to terrible levels.  Additionally, this format shakes confidence in what these high-stakes tests actually measure.

It's even possible, under this as yet undeveloped program, that the test students take in one school or one district may vary from one another:

By developing the new format in a way that is standards-aligned, valid, reliable, high-quality, and comparable to the current, content agnostic LEAP ELA test, Louisiana districts will have the flexibility to choose the LEAP format that best matches their curricular program. In this way, the IADA will make assessments more relevant and connected to the classroom for Louisiana teachers and students, while still providing valid, reliable, and transparent data on student achievement and growth.

I've got to say it: I love this term: "content agnostic LEAP ELA test."  I need that on a sign.

Students would be tested during the year on what they've covered in class and then a shorter, less horrific, summative assessment at the end of the year.

Clearly this new assessment program hasn't been written yet and so there is still much that remains to be seen.  I am all for getting rid of all these interim tests and three days of EOC testing.

Most of all, I hope that some flexibility is returned to the classroom and some sort of recognition that the teacher is a trained professional who does not need a script or canned slides.  I hope that the state returns some autonomy to the teacher who can best judge what the students before him need to read and how to engage them.

Students will read when they have choice, and when they are engaged with a subject, and a student that reads is a student that develops knowledge.  A student forced to read Carrie Chapman Catt's suffrage speech will more than likely tune out and learn nothing, (no disrespect intended to Carrie Chapman Catt).

Relevance matters.

I am cautiously optimistic that perhaps the Louisiana DOE is beginning to see the faults in the Guidebooks and to hear the cries of frustrated teachers across the state.

But again, maybe it's just part of Stalin's five-year plan.

Further Reading:
A New Vision for Assessment in Louisiana (Louisiana DOE)
Louisiana's New Pilot Offers New Way to Assess Student Achievement (BR Proud)
Louisiana First to Have Innovative Assessments Approved (Education Dive)
Betsy DeVoss Oks Louisiana Pitch to Use Innovative Tests (Education Week)
Louisiana LEAP Scores Show Reasonable Improvement but not Extraordinary Growth (NOLA)

Asking for a Little Help

I can hardly believe it's time to head back to school.  Where did the summer go?

I went to the school yesterday to get my classroom ready; got all the computers and projector plugged back in and checked out to be sure everything works properly.  The waxing crew had come in and the parquet floors are gleaming!  We are polished up and ready to go!

Three years ago I used my blog to appeal for help for some supplies; I teach in a high poverty school and my kids seldom have the supplies they need.  I like for my classroom to be a comfortable, welcoming place where students feel like something good can happen at any moment.  I don't ever want them to dread coming to class or to feel unprepared because they don't have what they need.

I have already spent close to $100 of my own money on supplies: yesterday I went to WalMart and bought hand sanitizer, notebook paper, pencils, colored pencils, rubber bands, staples, paper clips, basic things that run a classroom.  I do this every single year.

When I asked for help on this blog three years ago, the response was stunning.  For almost two months the school secretary would call my room to tell me I had "another" package from Amazon.  I always sent a different student to the office to pick up our new package. The supplies from that appeal lasted three years!  We received reams of notebook paper, boxes of tissue, boxes of spiral notebooks and even class sets of novels that we still read.

I need help again.

I'm so excited to begin this year - year number twenty for me.  I'm teaching a new course this year (English III) along with my regular English II classes and I have some really wonderful things planned for my students to keep them engaged and enthusiastic about learning.

If you can help us, please look at the links below I've posted from Amazon of the things we need.  Every pencil, every book, every package of paper helps - nothing is too small.  You can order direct from Amazon and have your purchase shipped directly to the school: it should be addressed:

Bossier High School
Attn: Pat Becker
777 Bearkat Drive
Bossier City, LA 71111

If you'd rather make a cash contribution, you can use the PayPal link in the upper right sidebar.

As needs are filled I will update this post so you know you aren't ordering something that we've already received.

My students are really good kids and they are grateful for everything anyone does for them.  We take advantage of "Stuff the Bus" campaigns and I've used Donors Choose and other similar sites.  This direct appeal is what has worked best for us - I mean, last time I appealed to my readers I got enough supplies for three years!

We all appreciate your help!  Truly!

Added:  Huge thanks to Political Clown Parade for the generous cash donation!  Thank you so much!

Added:  I had a box of the spiral notebooks from Amazon in my teacher box today!  There was no name, so whoever you are, thank you so much!  Very grateful!

Back to the Rows

This is a picture of my classroom as of 3:30 this afternoon.  I've gone back to conventional rows.

I have tried the warm-fuzzy "collaborative learning" Kagan groups for five weeks now.  Maybe that's not long enough, but frankly I don't have much more time I can afford to invest in them.  My students aren't learning like that, and as my pay is now tied to their performance, I'm making the call to go back to rows.

I did my dead-level best with the Kagan groups.  I grouped the kids based on diagnostic tests and placed them according to scoring just as prescribed.  I made adjustments to the groups.  I planned cooperative learning activities.  I used the Kagan techniques we learned in inservice and professional development meetings.

I can see where this might be an acceptable arrangement sometimes, but not every day.  And it works better with my honors students than with my regular ones.  If all I taught was honors kids, I might leave them that way, but I don't.  I teach kids of all levels and grades.

The Kagan groups are out.

Mary Grabar, writing for the John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy, posted an interesting commentary last month on the state of higher education and the effect Common Core will have on college students.  She addressed specifically these warm-fuzzy collaborative learning groups:

Under Common Core, high school juniors and seniors are to be evaluated on their ability to “initiate and participate in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 11-12 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.” 

Unfortunately, those progressive pedagogical methods of group work and projects have been shown to be ineffective. But students are well-versed and comfortable with such collaborative learning and extend the discussion format to class discussion, where they convey impressions, feelings, and well-learned political platitudes. It’s almost like group therapy.  

A student will say something like “I agree with Josh, but I’d like to add to his point about gender identity…” Grouped with their peers, students are not likely to engage in academically challenging debates. Indeed, the Common Core standards preclude such debate--debate that is based on logic, evidence, and rhetorical mastery—because it involves winners and losers.

Grabar goes on to make the case that incoming college freshmen can't read a 600 page novel and write a literary analysis paper on it because they've never been asked to do that in high school.  They come knowing how to do PowerPoint presentations or videos, but analytical analysis is beyond them:

Many of my colleagues and I have noticed among college freshmen an unwillingness and inability to read complex and long works. Assign anything from the nineteenth century and the biggest complaint will be that the essay or story (forget entire novels) was “too long.” Ask any student to explain one sentence from such a text and even the brightest future doctors and scientists will look at you dumbfounded. “Just this one sentence,” I would ask my students.  “Take it apart. Look at the clauses. Look at the words, their definitions, their connotations.”  Nothing.  Not surprisingly, very few students know the feeling of getting “lost” in a novel.

Read the whole thing.

I think ultimately the decision should lie with the teacher and not some suit in an office as to how students learn best.  It will always depend on he individual student and the dynamic of that classroom and that teacher.  One cookie-cutter style will not work across the board.

I might be rebelling against the status quo, but so be it.  I've got to do what I know works and what is best for my students.

I'll work in group activities now and then, but as a matter of daily routine - nope.

The Kindness of Strangers

Great things are happening in my classroom thanks to all of you who donated and sent things for my students.

When I posted that original plea for help I just had no idea I'd get the kind of response that I did.  Every day this week when I've gone to my mailbox I still continue to get one or two books.  We are up to almost 40 copies of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time now, which is wonderful.

Someone even sent me a lovely first edition hard cover of the novel!  Wow!  I'm going to keep that one safe and unmarked!  I have no idea who it was.

I took my class to the library today and everyone checked out a copy of the novel.  When we returned to class we talked about the book and I gave them a little introduction to the novel.  Then they broke into groups to research autism, Asperger's Syndrome, Savant syndrome, Temple Grandin, and other famous people on that autism spectrum.

(The narrator of the novel is a fifteen year old autistic boy who lives in England with his father.)

What a cool thing it was to see every student engaged in learning about this, asking questions, looking through research, and then presenting their group's findings to the rest of the class!  When we finished, everyone was anxious to begin reading the novel.

It wouldn't have happened without you donors.

My Creative Writing class has been enthralled with their Smash Book journals.  They're writing in them, they're doodling, they're recording inspirational incidents and thoughts.  I have been taking them to the computer lab where I set up a private group for our class on Figment.com.  They are writing some incredible stuff - I mean, really incredible.

Another thing they are doing that is super cool is giving feedback to each other on Figment.  We discussed giving constructive, specific feedback in class and then went to the lab and everyone left feedback for their classmates work.  I was thrilled to see that the remarks they left for each other generated more feedback and discussion and the comments were genuinely helpful.  Nobody just said, "Oh this is great, I love it," which is nice but not always particularly helpful.

My seniors are working on Senior Project and are busy completing forms and conducting research for their research papers.  Senior Project is so stressful for them, but it's a very rewarding experience.  The flash drives I've received will help them carry their work with them from one computer to another, from home to school and back again.  They are coming up with some brilliant and original ideas to work on!

So really, I just wanted to tell you how much your kindness has been appreciated and how we are using the things you have contributed.

I'm working now on getting enough copies of Twelve Angry Men to read when we finish our Dog book.  Now that To Kill a Mockingbird has been wrenched from my loving embrace and given to the ninth graders, I can cover some of the same topics and themes through Twelve Angry Men which is now on my tenth grade reading list.

If you'd like to help us collect new or gently used copies of this work, you can send a book to me at Bossier High School, 777 Bearkat Drive, Bossier City, LA, 71111.  Send it to my attention: Mrs Becker.

Again, I thank you all sincerely for what you've done.  I've been trying to thank everyone who has sent something but so many have come in that are anonymous that this is the only way I can say thanks.

Y'all ROCK!

The Magic Number is Twenty-Five!

Okay, y'all, one last plea and an update on the school supplies issue.

I've had some requests for updates on quantities needed.  I am good on paper, pens, and pencils right now.  These supplies will be used to help kids in need - those who simply can't afford their own supplies.  So far I've received a dozen composition books, a couple dozen spiral notebooks, two dozen packages of notebook paper, and today I got a huge box of retractable pens and three packages of "Parts of Speech" bookmarks.

I've also been notified of orders of one each of the books requested below, and several flash drives;  and my SmashBook request for the Creative Writing kids was filled right away!

I've been overwhelmed with the kindness and generosity of everyone who has responded!

What I still need is a minimum of 25 of each of the books.  That's one class set of each.  Next semester I'll have two sections of English II but I'm hoping by then to have received grant money or departmental funding for a second class set.

All of this is because of the new Common Core curriculum which we must implement this year; all our English II novels have changed!

I don't care if they're new or if they're gently used.  I just need books!  As I've said before, we are a small school in an economically depressed area and there are a large number of kids in my school who simply cannot afford to go to Barnes and Noble for a $10 paperback.  I can't stress enough the hardships some of these kids face.  And believe me, they DO appreciate knowing that someone cares enough about them to help them.  These are really sweet kids.

If you can help the address is Bossier High School, Attn:  Mrs. Becker, 777 Bearkat Drive, Bossier City, LA  71111.

So here's the list, once again.  Twenty five of each.  And if you can't help financially (hey, we're all in hard times), please share this post and pass it around.  I believe in the power of social media!  We can do this!

Update:  Thank you SO MUCH to Bob for his generous donation!  I was able to purchase fifteen copies of The Curious Incident... for my students via Amazon Marketplace!  Hooray!

Asking For a Little Help: UPDATE

We are 7 days from the start of school and I want to, once again, thank those who have contributed to our school supply drive and update you on where we stand now.  I've received pens, notebook paper, spiral notebooks, composition books, and the SmashBooks for the Creative Writing class.

We haven't received a single book!  Please check your bookshelves and if you have a gently used copy of any of the three books below and feel you could donate that book to a child in need, please send it to Bossier High School, 777 Bearkat Drive, Bossier City, LA  71111, attn:  Mrs. Becker.

Or you can order a new or gently used book from the Amazon links below.  I've been combing all the thrift book stores in town and Goodwill.  I've found exactly TWO copies of our required books.

These books are on our new Common Core curriculum which is unfunded and for which no money is available for books.  In a high poverty school, many of our students are simply not able to go purchase a $10 paperback for class.

These are our current needs:

Again, thanks so much to those who have responded!  I'll update later when I get your supplies in the hands of these kids!

The Power of Social Media is Helping Kids!

The power of social media is an awesome thing.
My desperate plea for classroom supplies for my students has reached more people than I thought possible and many good folks have been very generous in helping us.

Again, in a perfect world parents would take responsibility and send their kids to school with proper supplies, but we all know reality is completely different.  Common Core doesn't make it any easier as schools put their dollars to fund new testing and curriculum changes.

The young student can't control the whims of the DOE or the pocketbooks of their parents so I thank you very much for chipping in what you can to help my students.

While I received several very meaningful and critical donations so far, we still have a few needs.  If you can possibly help, you can click on the SOS widget in the sidebar or just purchase directly through the Amazon links below.  If you do Amazon, your contribution should be shipped to Bossier High School, 777 Bearkat Drive, Bossier City, LA, 71111.  It should be marked to the attention of Mrs. Becker (that's me.).  You can make a kid's day!

Again, my students thank you, and I thank you!

(And remember, if you're ordering the novel, a used copy is fine.  Many of the gently used copies are in very good condition and are much cheaper than new.)

Asking For a Little Help

It's been a busy month at SIGIS.  Steve and I took ten days, visited six states, visited family, drove part of Route 66, saw a Texas Rangers game, celebrated my grandson's first birthday, rode an historic train, visited Reiman Gardens and the Butterfly House at Iowa State University, visited the old Coffeyville Air Field where my dad took flight training in WWII, and walked "Death Alley" where some of the Dalton Gang met their maker.

I didn't do a "Take a Trip..." post because it was just too much although I did post some pictures along the way.  If you missed the one about The Bloody Benders, scroll down for that.

When I returned from vacation I had just about enough time to unpack before I had to report for jury duty.  It only took three days and as much as I griped about it when I got the summons it turned out to be an experience I'm very grateful for.  I learned a lot, I was part of the justice system for a short time, and our judge was a real jewel.  He brought us doughnuts, even!  And at the end,, after the verdict, he came back to dismiss us, gave us some instructions about talking to media and lawyers, and ended with a prayer.  It was a sobering experience.

School starts in about a week for me and I feel rested and ready to go.  I hope that feeling lasts for a while!  We will be fully implementing the new Common Core curriculum in our school this year and regardless of how I feel personally about the federal takeover of curriculum, I will do my job and teach my students what they need to know to be successful.

Whenever you get these new programs, and they come and go with regularity in education, there is never, never funding to go along with them.  For example, for both my sophomores and my seniors I have a whole new novels list from which to choose their reading material.  The seniors list I can probably work with from resources already on hand, but the sophomore list - no way.  We do not have class sets of those novels.  There may be one of the titles that we have a class set for, but it's not one of the better choices in my personal opinion; it's not one that my students would benefit most from.

I have written a grant to get funding to buy class sets of novels but it won't come through for a while even if I get it.  A majority of our students are impoverished and on free/reduced lunch.  For many of them getting basic supplies such as paper and pen is a challenge.  Buying a $10 paperback novel for class is nearly impossible.  So, I've signed up with SOS: Supply Our Schools, to help these kids.  If you click on the new widget in the sidebar you can help us!

Last year I personally spent at least $500 on notebook paper, spiral notebooks, pencils, erasers, dry erase markers, tissues, hand sanitizer, construction paper, markers, copy paper, computer ink, and I even bought a large-print dictionary for a student who just couldn't read the print in a regular dictionary.

Please consider helping us with a donation (click the widget!).

If you'd prefer to donate through my PayPal widget, that's fine too.

Or, you can help us buy ordering from one of the links below, directly from Amazon, and have it shipped to us at Bossier High School, 777 Bearkat Drive, Bossier City, LA  71111.  It should be addressed to the attention of Mrs. Becker (that's me.)

I'm ready for a new and successful school year, and I think my students will be ready.  While I know that locally there are "Stuff the Bus" campaigns that hopefully get supplies in the hands of kids, sometimes kids just don't like to ask.  And I know that parents should be responsible for buying supplies for their kids but the reality is that it just can't happen for some of them.

I, and my students, appreciate any help you feel moved to give.

Update:  A HUGE HUGE Thank You to Bride of Rove for her Smashbook order!  I'm overwhelmed.  Thank you, so much!

Update II:  Thank you SO MUCH to Karen at Pondering Penguin for the composition books!  Your gift will directly help my English students by providing a place for them to write their daily journals.  I appreciate your generosity more than you know!  Thank you!

The SIGIS Summer Begins

It's officially summer for me!  School closed yesterday at long last.  It's been a very long year, what with the implementation of Common Core, and a new teacher evaluation system which created a lot of stress for everyone.  My mom fell back in August and fractured her neck and I missed a week of school; she passed away in March and I missed four more days.  All in all, it was a stressful year.

Bring on summer!

I am ready.

I go back to work August 4 (Open House) and it will come all too soon.

We spent the day yesterday in class taking our Caesar final.  There is always a lot to do to close school, and the kids all checked out after their last final which left the afternoon pretty much open for us to get our paper work done and final grades recorded.  Before they left my last class of the day left messages for me on my whiteboard which just warmed my heart:

We had a really good semester in that class.

They were eager to learn, they all got along together, and they did every single thing I asked of them.  They really got into Julius Caesar!

I hated to erase the board, really.

Love those kids.  Really.

So now it's time for some rest, relaxation, and rejuvenation.  Bring it on!

Bossier Parish Voters Face a Critical Election

Bossier Parish voters have an important election coming up May 4 and it concerns the future of the entire parish.  The implications are huge.

There are three tax renewals on the ballot May 4.  Note:  these are renewals; these are not new taxes.

Via The Bossier Press Tribune:

Proposition No. 1 is the renewal of a 10-mill property tax for a period of 10 years for the purpose of funding “salaries and benefits for employees” of the Bossier Parish school system. It would begin in 2014, end with the year 2023, and generate an estimated $9.1 million a year. Since the 2003 renewal, this millage has been periodically rolled back to the presently collected 7.54 mills.

Proposition No. 2 is the renewal of a 10-mill property tax for a period of 10 years for the purpose of funding “the improvement, maintenance and operations of public school buildings” in the Parish. If approved it would begin, end and generate the same estimated funding as the Proposition No. 1 renewal. After successive rollbacks since 2003, this millage is presently 7.54 mills. 

Proposition No. 3 is the renewal of a 26.5-mill property tax for a period of 10 years for the purpose of “providing funds for the payment of salaries, and benefits directly related to said salaries, of teachers and other employees of the Parish School System.” If approved, this tax would begin with year 2016 and end with the year 2025, generating an estimated $24.1 million annually. This millage has been rolled back to 20.79 mills.

The schools in Bossier are the success they are because of the support of the voters.  Bossier Parish voters have always supported their school system and, in fact, the schools are one of the main reasons people move to Bossier. 

Last year the district's overall school performance score moved up from a "C" to a "B" with nine schools moving up one letter grade.  (Full disclosure: I teach in Bossier and my school also moved up one letter grade.)  Bossier schools are working hard to improve and to stay abreast of rapidly changing curriculum initiatives and technology demands.  Our schools have implemented programs to increase graduation rates; we also have dual enrollment programs, senior project, robotics programs, credit recovery to aid struggling students, and last year Bossier Schools received a grant to aid students with disabilities.  There are so many really good things going on in Bossier Schools that it's no wonder the parish continues to see increases in enrollment. 

To continue these success stories it is critical that this tax renewal is approved by the voters.  Without it, every single staff member will take a 12% pay cut.

12%.

That's bus drivers, teachers, principals, secretaries...everyone. 

For a principal, that might be $10,000 or $11,000 a year.  Teachers could lose anywhere from $4,000 or $5,000 per year, or more depending on their current pay and experience.  A cut like that would drop our teacher pay from 26th in the state to near the bottom.  Very near the bottom.

If we want to continue to keep quality teachers, administrators, and support personnel in Bossier we must vote to support them.  There are nearby parishes that pay more.  This renewal is not for raises; this is simply to maintain the status quo.

Additionally, with revenue cuts of 12% across the board, consider how much money the parish would lose in commerce; discretionary spending would be cut drastically.

If you're a Bossier resident, please consider voting early; encourage your family and friends to vote in support of our schools. 

If you can't vote early, please turn out for the regular election on May 4.

It's a Generational Thing

This is what my Honors English II kids were playing in my 2nd block right before the bell rang to go home today:



And this is what I was hearing:



Must be a generational thing.

I'm going to miss those kids!

Bring on summer!

That's a Wrap

Loose Thoughts and Roosters

I'm getting sick.  I'm so disappointed.  I wasn't going to mention it for fear of breaking the good luck string, but I missed out on getting the "fall crud" this past fall and up until now I thought I would skate on the "spring crud" too.  I was getting worried that my ENT guy might forget about me.  I guess I'll be visiting him soon.  Meh.

I've been in a funk this week after a local election this week for the schools.  For you non-locals, there were 3 issues on the ballot.  One of the three passed.  The one that passed is designated for building new schools and upgrading existing structures.  My school will benefit from this as every time someone on the first floor turns on their electric heater all the fuses blow and the custodian has to change it out and restore power.  We're long overdue for an electrical upgrade, especially to accommodate all the technology that  is now running through this very old building.  So that was good.

What didn't pass was the five percent teacher pay raise (we haven't had one in seven years; I'm bringing home less now than I did just three years ago) or the technology upgrade.

I'm not going to get into my emotions on all that right now; I'm toying with a post on it but I'm not ready to go there yet.  I'll just say that though there were a lot of people in support of the teachers, there were plenty of nasty comments made that really disheartened me.  One person left a comment on a local news article that suggested teachers should "just eat less and not drive such fancy cars."  He said every teacher he knows is driving a Lexus or some other expensive car.  I'm not even going to go there.  There's an idiot in every crowd.

But, I've been disheartened and discouraged.  Governor Jindal is coming after us with everything he's got and now the local voters have smacked us.  Teacher morale is low low low.  But,  HEY I'm about to get  THE WHOLE SUMMER OFF.  Not.  Anyone who believes that malarky is in need of counseling.

But, what has made me feel better this week is my kids.  I just love my students.  That's another post in itself, too.  But I've had great kids and that's what keeps me going to work every day.  One of my former students took the picture above today outside at lunch of me and her stuffed rooster (kidnapped from the art teacher) Pancho.  I'm not sure if his name is Pancho, but that's what I called him.  We have great kids at my school.  Love!

Elsewhere on the web:

Stacy McCain is following the trail of Trayvon Martin related attacks.  What the hell is wrong with people?  My god.

A Cop's Watch is also on the trail.

Ed Driscoll has an alarming wrap-up on the whole thing.

However, Adrienne has the most compelling story I've seen today in defense of the Second Amendment.

Is the secret to a great presidential legacy all in one's alcohol intake?  Pirate's Cove reports.

In the spirit of Holocaust Remembrance Day, let me again point you to my friend Nico Van Thyn's blog; he is the son of two Holocaust survivors and has been telling their story.  I had the privilege of meeting his parents several times and am glad Nico is recording their history.  Please read.

I'm off to take some cold meds, some allergy meds, and some more vitamins just to cover all my bases.

On The End of School and Classroom Discipline Measures

First day of summer vacation and I woke up at 7:30.  That's about three hours earlier than I planned.  But, it's two hours later than usual, so I guess it's okay.

I'm anxious to get rested up and return to regular blogging here.  As I get older I find it takes me longer to recover from the school year than it did when I was young and just out of the gate.  It will take me about a week to decompress and finally start to relax.  I will probably still check my school email four or five times a day for the next several days.

This year was harder than most on most of us at school for various reasons.  I want to post about it but I'd have to hold back so much information that it would be pointless, so I'll just stay quiet.  I'll just say that it was a variety of factors that made this year so difficult and the biggest problem, when you boil it all down, comes from people in Baton Rouge, or Washington even, who have never been in a classroom as a teacher trying to dictate how things should be run.  Some things should be left to the school level and to the principal who was hired to make those kind of determinations.

I'll give you one brief example so you know what I mean.  This year Louisiana schools went to a major/minor referral system.  It's all part of the new Positive Behavior Reinforcement program where you reward a kid for doing the right thing so he'll continue to do the right thing.  One of the intents of this system is to keep discipline referrals down and keep kids in class rather than suspended for things like uniform violations or classroom disruptions.

With the minor referral system, a student gets three minor referrals before he is written up on a major referral.  A minor referral requires no trip to the office, no contact with an administrator and no disciplinary action.  It's a slap on the wrist that says "Don't do it again and I'm going to warn you two more times."

So.  A student comes to class out of dress code three times before he gets action from the office.  Or he can sit in class and eat Hot Cheetos and drink a soda, in violation of your class rules, three times before anything happens.  Or any combination of these.  So on any minor referral it might be the same offense 3x or it might be two uniform issues and one time when he was disrupting class by talking to his friends instead of listening to you.

On the fourth minor, he gets a major and goes to the office.

Then the process starts all over again.  Three more minors.

The major referral process still stands for things like fighting or cussing out a teacher.

But you can see the potential for manipulating the system.  And from a student's point of view, there aren't any consequences for his bad behavior or disregard for the rules for quite some time.  When you have thirty kids in a class and you have to stop class to write up five minor referrals for no ID, two minor referrals for eating in class, one for that kid who is more interested in talking or sleeping rather than listening to the lesson, you can see the chaos that ensues.

Part of the PBS (positive behavior system) idea is that if you reward the student for NOT talking in class or for wearing his ID with an incentive (like school dollars he can spend in the school store on things like chips and candy that he can't eat in class) then he'll be more inclined to do the right thing.

This is what happens when liberals get too involved in education and in the operation of schools at building level.

Most kids are going to do the right thing and follow the rules simply because it's the right thing.

Anyway, this is just one of the things that has made this year such a challenge.  But, I'm not going to think about all that for 70 days. For the next 70 days I'm going to rejuvenate and enjoy my family and myself.  I'm going to read, poke in antique stores, visit Milly Rose often, work in the yard and  play with my dogs.  Steve and I will take day trips and I will blog my silly head off once again.  Tomorrow we are going back to Coushatta to pick up the china cabinet Steve bought for me which means today I have to empty a bookshelf and move it so I'll have room.  I have to wash my glassware that's going in to it and wash and press some antique linen that will go on the shelves.

I'll begin my decompression and recovery process and be right as rain in a day or two.

Ten More Days

We have 2 more weeks of school; ten more days with kids, and one in-service day.  Blogging is likely to be sketchy here for the next couple of weeks while I close out the school year.  I brought work home last night and worked until 8:00 just trying to get caught up!  Meanwhile, we're still killing Julius Caesar and I'm struggling to keep students focused and motivated.  On top of all that, there are numerous necessary administrative paperwork requirements and requests that come this time of year.

This school year has been one of the most challenging since I started teaching fifteen years ago and I'm not completely sure why that is.  I have an idea about some contributing factors, but it's definitely a combination of issues.  It's frustrating when you want to teach and you want to motivate and you're met with apathy by so many.  Improving student motivation will be a huge goal of mine going forward.

Aside from that, we're planning a trip to Milly's this weekend and that will boost my spirits!  I'll certainly be posting about that this weekend.  Meanwhile, the political world is all about bin Laden or the debt ceiling and I'm over both of those topics for now. 

Newt is running.  Do you care?

On the Spring Crud and School Evaluations

When I last saw my ENT guy with my "winter crud" he said, "See you in March!" when we parted.  I didn't quite make it to March before the "spring crud" hit, but I haven't been to the doctor yet, either.  I've just had too much going on this week to get there.

One of the new laws passed by our state legislature mandates schools receive a performance score in the form of a letter grade to "make it easier to understand" what caliber school your children are attending.  The previous system of a school report card which compiled various bits of data was deemed too complicated.  This link from the local station is pretty vague, but you get the idea.

The controversy is, of course, that you just can't always weigh schools evenly; there are too many variables that go into the mix.  Is it really fair to judge the brand new million dollar school with the latest technology and equipment to the inner city school where the AC works on a part time basis?  To give just a blanket letter grade without considering the myriad variables that go into the mix is misleading.  I'll get more into this in another post. 

The school where I teach is an "inner city," neighborhood school and has drawn a fairly low "letter grade" score.  To that end, we have multiple observers coming into our school today and tomorrow to help us figure out how to improve.  So, I've been working late to get things in order and requested documents on top of my regular planning, grading and posting in the gradebook.  I'm not overly stressed about it - I'm of the mind that it's pointless to put on a "dog and pony show" for observers.  I'm going to do my best, which I do every day, and let them see what happens in the classroom daily.  This is what they NEED to see and what they want to see in order to provide accurate feedback.  But still, things out of the routine are kind of stressful.

Really, it's like all you had to do was tell me observers were coming in and I need to be on top of my game for the "spring crud" to come visit. 

Once things settle, if I'm still cruddy, I'll go to the doctor.  Meanwhile, I'm off to work early to thwart any technological bugs or mishaps that are sure to occur today.  Wish me luck.

Another School Year is In the Books

Now I am 'officially' finished with this school year; we had inservice today.  So now I can officially say....



Yeah! 

There is nothing that makes me feel more efficient or organized than setting up a bunch of files.  I had time to work in my room this morning and took all my Creative Writing handouts and exercises and set them up in a new filing system.  Easy to find for next year! 

But there will be no sleeping in for me tomorrow; I have two doctor's appointments tomorrow and other errands that I've procrastinated for weeks.  But after that....a long, nice summer!

Busy Friday

Sorry for the light blogging today! I've been tied up at work all day and it's been busy there - we had a lovely 9/11 ceremony in front of the school. Our ROTC did a fabulous job and brought a little tear to my eye. I get so proud of our kids sometimes! At the end of the day we had our first pep rally and the kids were all wired up for that all day. Big excitement. After school I had to go do the mom thing and check on her...and now I'm headed back to school to work the football game. I'm taking tickets at the gate tonight. *Sigh*

I'll check back in here later on this evening. Hold it down.

Countdown

Nineteen more school days.
Four more days of duty.
Four more Acts of Julius Caesar. (3x)
One more Unit Test. (3x)
One Final Exam. (3x)
Ten thousand administrative tasks (read: paperwork).