1st Semester

We have made it to the end of the semester, and I don't think my kids have learned half of what I wanted them to - they know what a literacy rate is, but can't imagine how it impacts their future. Paul Burka's editorial in the new Texas Monthly hits the nail on the head - if we don't/can't/won't reach the at-risk, low income, marginalized kids then this state doesn't stand a chance of having a great future. We'll end up no better off than Sierra Leone.

Ring Night

My favorite sport (well, my favorite winter sport) is back. And my FAVORITE team, the World Champion Spurs, receive their rings tonight!

from youtube to me

Freshmen

High school freshmen are turning me gray, one hair at a time. I thought I had gotten my Pre-AP classes up to speed, and that they would actually study for tests, but apparently that's not the case. Last Friday's test was over the physical geography of the Middle East and they totally blew it. Not just in my class, either - all 6 PAP sections did very poorly because they didn't study.
I am not sure why so many kids are failing social studies classes. I am in charge of scheduling after-school tutoring for kids who fail 2 core courses, so I get to see how many fail what subjects. Although junior English and US History were high on the list, overall social studies had more failures than the other core subjects. Many of the students I talk to tell me they couldn't do my homework because they were doing math or science or English. Why do those subjects rank before mine in their eyes? I thought perhaps it was just me, but its across the board.
So now parents are calling and emailing, upset because little Bobby has always made As, and now he's doing well to get a C. I tell them what Bobby is supposed to be studying, where to find my study guides and testing schedule, and usually they realize that its not my fault. The kid either shouldn't be in PAP for one reason or another, or should prepare better for the test.
That still doesn't help solve the riddle of why they choose to let the social studies homework or studying go by the wayside and do the math or science instead. Maybe we'll never know.

Tutoring

A couple weeks ago the Academic Dean at my new school asked me if I would be interested in doing the scheduling for the after-school tutoring program. This is the first time the district has had anything like this - mandatory tutoring for kids who fail 2 or more core courses. The pay wasn't great, but I said yes - apparently I have left the impression that I'm organized, but I'm not sure how that rumor got around. It's not true - it just looks that way.
Anyway, the nuts and bolts of how the program would actually work, and who would be doing the actual tutoring, and how many students we would actually have, were not well thought out before the program was put on the ground. there is nothing in writing - its all a seat-of-the-pants sort of thing right now. And to top it off, the dean was called out of town on personal business, and it all dropped into one of the Assistant Principal's lap. Fortunately, he is much more organized than me, and also much smarter and better with people. He has helped get the program off to a good start (well, we start Monday, but its looking pretty good). We still need a couple more teachers - there were a lot of kids who failed junior English, but all in all I think it will go well.
We have 542 slots for tutoring - kids that failed at least 2 core classes (math, science, English, and social studies) have to go, and many students failed more than 2 core classes. Probably 240 students out of 1800 will start 3 weeks of tutoring on Monday. If they can get their grade up then they'll be released after 3 weeks; if not, then they'll continue for the remainder of the 6 weeks.
Hopefully, they or their parents will work harder to pass next 6 weeks, and the numbers will drop. It will be and interesting experiment.

New School

After 2 years in D'ville, I accepted a new position south of Austin at a formerly rural school. Just like D'ville they are reeling from the effects of immigration and migration.
In the last 5 years my new district has grown from a small backwater to suburbia. Following the Law of Unintended Consequences, much has changed, and not all for the better. Many of the students new to the district are from homes where English is not the first language, or where education is not valued. The district is still in the process of figuring out how to help these students. For the past 3 years the district's test scores have fallen, mostly due to the low socio-economic group scores. Because all students are our future, we must make sure that all receive the knowledge and skills they need to be productive, satisfied, citizens.
However, I'm not sure the district has addressed the issues in the most cost-effective manner; but they are trying. I would feel a lot more comfortable if they asked teachers to be part of the problem-solving process, rather than the having all the answers come from the top down. Apparently, in the past, teachers were expected to address the problem, but in a piecemeal, hit-or-miss sort of way. Curriculum planning was given short shrift, and no support or training.
Now the district is in dire straits, with falling test scores and TEA breathing down their neck. They have purchased, at exorbitant cost, a "pre-planned" curriculum, which turns teachers into robots. I know that some high school teachers, especially new ones, have a hard time deciding what to do, and end up trying to 'teach the book.' This is a mistake, because the text always contains much more information than the student needs, and more than is tested at the Exit level. The problem teachers have is that no one bothers to tell them what's important (ie, tested) and whats extraneous. All the extraneous material will be covered, just not necessarily at the depth and complexity of the tested material, which is usually the most important information for the course.
Of course, all of this will change in the next few years as we go to EOC (end of course) exams. My first trainer, Brad Gibson from Region 18, always said "follow the money" and he was right. All the TAKS training material, study guides, and disaggregation of data workshops are out there, and there's not much new they can do (read sell districts). So they have come up with EOCs (really a throwback - they were used in the 1990s).
These won't actually be implemented for several years, but they are hovering over our heads - tests written by people who work for testing companies, at MUCH higher salaries than anybody in the classroom makes.
Anyway, I really like working here - the kids are MUCH better behaved, and I am respected by my peers for some reason - I am not sure why. Anyway, I love it, and plan on staying here for a long time.
Its good to be back.

OK, OK, its been a long time

The debate was awesome. Edwards definitely won. I was up in the cheap seats in a corner, but I had a great seat - right in the front of my section, with a straight shot of the stage. Lots of people cheering during the debate, which wasn't visible or audible on TV (I watched the re-run after I got back to the house). It was soooo much more exciting in person.
Afterwards they had an 'after party' at a hall next door. I stood 4 feet from Hilary (she's short), shook Obama's hand (he's tall) and got Edwards autograph in the program.
then I spent 2 days driving home, so we could pack and move.

Waiting

2 days!!!

The Citadel

I'm going to the debate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Vacation

It's been 2 weeks since the last post - we have been traveling along the Gulf Coast, through South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Indiana. I finally am back online with time to write.
R and I left Dallas July 2, and drove to Port Arthur, then along the Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi coasts.
I was through LA and Mississippi in July of 2005, just prior to Katrina and Rita, and it's hard to believe the change the hurricanes wrought. Texas and western Louisiana were trashed by Rita. There are FEMA trailers everywhere, trash piles along the road, and lots of empty foundations where houses and businesses once stood.



Although we avoided New Orleans, we drove soth from Slidell along the coast to Biloxi, where the bridge it still out. R hadn't seen the coast in 30 years, but I remember pre-hurricane, and boy, has it changed. Except for the casinos everything is gone. If you didn't know any better you'd think the casino's were spared the wrath of God, since they are pretty much all that's standing along the coast.



The bridge at Biloxi is still out, so we left the cost and went up to Mobile.

After leaving Florida we drove through Georgia, and saw the fires around the Okefenokee Swamp. It burned and incredible amount of land. Back in April when it started we were driving through Atlanta and saw the smoke:



Since April it spread across southern GA, and we saw the results outside Waycross.


We ended up in South Carolina with Elizabeth.

Houston

We went to the rehearsal dinner and wedding of R's niece in Houston this past weekend. The wedding was really lovely, short and sweet. The reception was fun, good food and wine, a little dancing and plenty of pictures and conversation. I wish the newlyweds luck.

5-5

Voting

I was sitting in the parking lot outside the driver's license field office at 67 & Belt Line, and the guy next to me heard my husband and I discussing the hazmat endorsement on his Commercial Drivers License. Apparently Homeland Security is very involved with this, and makes truck drivers jump thru numerous hoops to get it ( plus big $). Anyway, we started talking about the 'state of the world' and the gentleman said he voted for Bush twice, but "the guy is the worst President we've ever had"!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I refrained from saying 'I told you so' but it was hard.
I had on my Edwards 'Support the Troops/End the War' shirt and he said he agreed - and added as a corollary that Bush had run up more debt than any other president. The guy also got all worked up on the immigration bill - Bush's support for immigrants over the opposition of the Republican base. I didn't go into it, I think the bill is fine. I mean, do people actually think 12 million immigrants are going to leave our country because we pass a bill?
When my husband worked in Austin and supervised 3 crews of men from Zacatecas, (in 1984) they went home every November, and were saving to buy land in Mexico. Now the men can't afford to risk going home, so they bring their families here. Personally, I'd like to see a Constitutional amendment revoking the 14th Amendment, so that only people whose parents are citizens can be US citizens. We are one of a few countries who allow the people born here to be citizens. In the majority of countries the law of 'jus sanguinis' is followed - you have to be the child of a citizen.
Would that make a difference? Quien sabe? But it's a start.

Elizabeth Edwards attempts to engage Ann Coulter, the skinny android from Outer Space, during a taping of Hardball.

5-4

It's official - Jesus can't do bong hits, and students can't suggest he should. But in case you think that only students got the shaft, read Slate's version of the decisions, most importantly this part:

The Chief Justice wrote the majority opinions in both of them and he read them one after the other this morning. What you won't catch in the opinions themselves was Roberts' little verbal segue between the two. First, in Morse he acknowledged that the student message on the banner was both "cryptic," yet also clearly advocacy of a "pro-drug" message, which a school principal can properly suppress. Then he slid smoothly into WRTL by distinguishing the student speech in Morse from what he called the "core political speech" of the Wisconsin pro-life group. The point of this little editorial: The WRTL ads are serious important speech, whereas goofy student speech is not. With that as preview, it's not hard to guess the results.

foreign policy

It's really foreign to me, how we can send our best and brightest to die (3562 as of today) in some failed state halfway around the world. More and more I think back to the days of my youth, and remember what 'they' said about 'Nam. The new Foreign Policy quotes a CIA memo from the Viet Nam War, with Iraq substituted for VN, and the results are scary.

1. At some stage in most debates about the Vietnam IRAQ war, questions like the following emerge: What would it actually mean for the US if it failed to achieve its stated objectives in Vietnam IRAQ? Are our vital interests in fact involved? Would abandonment of the effort really generate other serious dangers?

34. A more challenging question is whether the Soviets IRANIANS might not make a reappraisal of American power which would tempt them into rashly aggressive moves.

37. We doubt, however, that such impulses would result in a much more widespread and serious Communist insurgency TERRORIST problem than would obtain in any case, either in Latin America THE MIDDLE EAST or elsewhere. If Communists JIHADISTS in some countries temporarily acquired more will to fight, the odds for or against success for such ventures in any particular national setting would remain essentially the same.

In the aftermath of that setback (Tet offensive), Gen. William Westmoreland, the U.S. commander in Vietnam, was replaced and American strategy shifted from conventional operations to counterinsurgency. In many ways, the shift in strategy came too late to alter the outcome of the war. Thirty thousand additional American troops were killed in Vietnam before the United States finally withdrew.

So what will happen in Iraq (or here) that will finally drive home the fact that we must leave without 'winning' before losing 30,000 more young men and women.

summer photos

Bracken Bat Cave, the Gorge at Canyon Lake, big bugs, dinosaur footprints, baseball, football stadiums, and tennis. Bonus: blueberries from Nacogdoches, Texas.

Wimbledon

The Lawn Tennis Championship Meeting starts tomorrow!

Africa's Geographic Destiny

Common sense tells us that access to sea/river ports and generally flat terrain make for a better economy, thanks to better trading opportunities. According to this theory, Bolivia, Mali, and Kyrgyzstan all suffer from their landlocked status. Now a paper by Nathan Nunn & Diego Puga counts the mixed blessings of bad geography for Africa: coastal areas were devasted by the slave trade, while rugged inland areas, where Africans fled, have persisted as pockets of dire poverty.
A shorter version is available here:

For African people fleeing this slave trade over the centuries, rugged terrain was a positive advantage. Enslavement often took place through raids by one group on another, and hills and mountains provided plenty of lookout posts and hiding places (caves, for example) for those trying to escape. In general, countries with flatter, more passable terrain lost more of their population to the traders.

Today, however, that same geographical ruggedness is an economic handicap, making it expensive to transport goods to port; raising the cost of irrigating and farming the land; and simply making it more expensive to do business. This contemporary effect of geography applies across the world: in general, mountains are not good for growth.

Conclusion?

The impacts of geography on economic development are therefore complex and long-lasting. Some economists, such as Harvard’s Jeffrey Sachs, have suggested increased aid flows and investment could help to overcome the contemporary handicaps created by geography; but the existence of the longer-term, indirect effects revealed in this paper suggest this may not be enough to level the economic playing field.

Sustainability

That was the theme of this year's geography camp, and the subject, in a round-about way, of an editorial in the NYT. Every Christmas for the past 107 years the Audubon Society has been counting birds around the country and world. The results of this survey, as well as other research, document the dramatic decline in bird numbers during the past 40 years.
From the editorial:

Environmentalists of every stripe argue that we must somehow begin to correlate our economic behavior — by which I mean every aspect of it: production, consumption, habitation — with the welfare of other species.

This is the premise of sustainability. But the very foundation of our economic interests is self-interest, and in the survival of other species we see way too little self to care.

In the Washington Post was a piece about kids not wanting to play outside any more, and I think that goes along with the decline in species, global warming, and all our other ills - we are way too removed from our roots, and nothing good can come from it.

My own theory is that ADD is caused by lack of sunlight and having no windows in classrooms. Every school I attended had large windows in the classrooms, and there was plenty of natural light. When it got boring in class you could stare out the window and daydream instead of poking the kid next to you.

I'm sure that's not really true, but still, I don't remember lots of kids with what we now call ADD. I do remember staring out the windows a lot.

How Antonio Taguba, who investigated the Abu Ghraib scandal, became one of its casualties.

Taking the fall for Abu Ghraib, as Seymour Hersch reports in the NYT today.

Incarcer-Nation

From the Drug Policy Alliance, via Grits for Breakfast.



Some statistics about the failed drug war available here and here. Follow the money - the war on drugs is bogus, but many industries need it to survive.

Demography - Who Needs It?

Steve Murdoch, the preeminent state demographer, is leaving Texas for the wilds of DC, according to the Texas Observer. Who can blame him for deserting us, when few here heed his warnings about our dire future.
Of course, geographers study his figures and realize that Texas' future will indeed be bleak if the Lege doesn't increase public support (read Money) for schools and healthcare. With a dropout rate at close to 50% in inner-city schools, we will soon have a literacy rate comparable to Cote d'Ivoire, and our future will look like theirs.

Lefty

aren't grandchildren wonderful?

Healthcare

Edwards on healthcare

NBA

Although I was at geography camp last week, we did get to watch the Finals:

SPURS WIN!!!!!!!!

Air Conditioning

It's 8:19 in the evening, and the thermometer on the back porch says its 85F in the shade. The house must be 95+, because its awfully hot in here. The hubby was trimming the bushes out back and inadvertently clipped the Puron line. The landlord had the line fixed right away, but apparently you can't buy Puron on Saturday in Dallas, because we have to wait 'til Monday.
Years ago we lived in San Marcos, and then in Austin, all with no A/C, but now that I am old I really like it. The 20 years we spent in West Texas we had a swamp cooler, which was cheap and worked well enough most of the time.
Its easy to see why no one lived in Houston, or anywhere along the Gulf Coast, until Mr Carrier perfected his indoor 'air conditioner' in 1928.
I am leaving tomorrow, but hubby will have to suffer one more day. We have a really small window unit that we used for the garage apartment in W Tx, and have installed it in the living room, but the rest of the house is sweltering. The living room is tolerable. I'm going back in there now.

Hometown Baghdad

Hometown Baghdad
An ongoing documentary web series following the lives of a few Iraqi 20-somethings trying to survive in Baghdad.

The everyday life of the Iraqi citizen has been the great untold story of the Iraq war.

John Edwards for President

get the recipe

Geography Camp

Sunday is the start of the geography camp at TxSU-SM. They do this every year - take a group of high school students (9th/10th graders) and spend a week with them, showing them college life and career possibilities. 2 years ago I was one of the teacher-leaders; this year I am taking 3 kids. The Geography Summer Academy for Minority Scholars (GeoSAMS) was originally funded (in 2002) by a grant from the National Geographic Society for the purpose of increasing the presence of people from underrepresented minority groups in the discipline of geography. It is now called the Summer Academy, and its lots of fun.
We are going to Bracken Cave, Hornsby Bend, Pedernales Falls, and Enchanted Rock, as well as learning about geocaching, and floating the San Marcos River. My favorite day trip will be the one to the 'new' gorge at Canyon lake, created in 2002 when the spillway overflowed.
It should be great fun.

Worst Town Names

The 22 Worst Place Names in the World

READ THE ARTICLE AT DRIVL.COM

The Debate

Courtesy of Chris Dodd

Basketball

Billy Gillespie = 2%er

Spring Break

It is the last day of school before the much loved Spring Break, and as usual everyone is ready for a some time off. We are watching Born Free, the 1966 movie about a lion, filmed on location in Kenya. The kids watch it, without talking or sleeping. Who would think that 15 year old inner-city kids would like a 40 year old movie, but they do. I think they like it because of the live animals, and the story moves along pretty well. It's a compelling look at why we have wildlife, and national parks, and what it means to be free.
I have seen it many, many times over the years, but it hasn't gotten old yet.

Report Cards

This week was the start of a new six week grading period (the 5th of 6) so reports cards went out Friday. My kids did better this past six weeks than they have all year - less than 20% failing, and almost 20% As. I don't think I did anything significantly different this 6 weeks; the kids are just finally growing up and figuring out they need to do their work.
The first year I taught 9th graders my assistant principal told me just hang in there, they grow up over the Christmas break. He said, "when they come back for the spring semester they are different kids," and its been true every year. They start out not having any concept of what it takes to succeed in high school, and by this time of year they figure out they have to do their work and behave.
The only "bad" class I had was one of my Pre-AP classes, where several students didn't do their work or study for tests. I have had talks with them and with their parents, but the kids still aren't pulling their weight. Friday they have a major project due; we'll see if they come through.

Moving

Since I can't get on to my other blog I am moving here. Hope to post at least weekly.