Friday, October 31, 2008
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Back to School
Hi-ho, hi-ho, its off to school we go.....
Monday marks the start of school for millions of Texas students. Ours are particularly lucky - we now have a district-wide curriculum, purchased at some exorbitant price with taxpayer dollars. The new Deputy Superintendent for Curriculum decided that the teachers in the district couldn't be trusted to know the TEKS and the best ways to teach them, so she bought pre-packaged curriculum for the entire district. The geography curriculum is horrible, it does not cover the TEKS in a way that will prepare students to take the new End-of-Course exam. Our school has been selected to participate in the "field test" next May. Although we will never get the scores, it would be nice to think our students will pass it. With C-SCOPE, the high-dollar curriculum, many won't. I have been in contact with a person on the EOC test review committee, and although the person can't say much, they did say C-SCOPE won't get the job done. The TEKS on physical/population/culture/urbanization are not covered in-depth in the new curriculum. I am hoping I can talk to the C&I folks and they will pay attention, but probably not. Dr. P has already made it clear she knows more than the teachers, who know nothing at all. We are all too Dopey.
Monday marks the start of school for millions of Texas students. Ours are particularly lucky - we now have a district-wide curriculum, purchased at some exorbitant price with taxpayer dollars. The new Deputy Superintendent for Curriculum decided that the teachers in the district couldn't be trusted to know the TEKS and the best ways to teach them, so she bought pre-packaged curriculum for the entire district. The geography curriculum is horrible, it does not cover the TEKS in a way that will prepare students to take the new End-of-Course exam. Our school has been selected to participate in the "field test" next May. Although we will never get the scores, it would be nice to think our students will pass it. With C-SCOPE, the high-dollar curriculum, many won't. I have been in contact with a person on the EOC test review committee, and although the person can't say much, they did say C-SCOPE won't get the job done. The TEKS on physical/population/culture/urbanization are not covered in-depth in the new curriculum. I am hoping I can talk to the C&I folks and they will pay attention, but probably not. Dr. P has already made it clear she knows more than the teachers, who know nothing at all. We are all too Dopey.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
Friday, July 18, 2008
Geography Camp
Another year has passed and its time once again for the famous Summer Academy for Minority Scholars at Texas State University in San Marcos. So far we have been to the Institute for Texan Culture in San Antonio, taken a tour of 4 different religious sites in Austin, and participated in a necrogeography tour of the San Marcos area, visiting 3 old cemeteries. One of the burial grounds was that of slaves from the Kyle area; most of those graves were unmarked, but clearly distinguishable by sunken places in the ground.
The 30 students and their teachers are preparing PowerPoints about the many different cultural groups that settled Texas, including the Wends, Irish, Czechs, Vietnamese, and my group, the Lebanese.
Tomorrow morning we'll do our presentations and depart for home. Some groups have as far to drive as Los Fresnos, and another is from Buda, 20 minutes away. All of us plan on returning next year.
Barsana Dham, Driftwood
Uhland Cemetery
Log cabin, Institute for Texan Culture
Synagogue, Austin
The 30 students and their teachers are preparing PowerPoints about the many different cultural groups that settled Texas, including the Wends, Irish, Czechs, Vietnamese, and my group, the Lebanese.
Tomorrow morning we'll do our presentations and depart for home. Some groups have as far to drive as Los Fresnos, and another is from Buda, 20 minutes away. All of us plan on returning next year.
Uhland Cemetery
Log cabin, Institute for Texan Culture
Synagogue, Austin
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
One Down, 3 to Go
The Spurs made it out of the first round in 4 games - 2 of them squeakers. Last night was almost too much to watch - I closed my eyes when Ginobli was shooting the last free throws.
Now we're up against New Orleans, who ripped through Dallas like they weren't even there. Tough times ahead....
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Friday, March 7, 2008
Saturday, March 1, 2008
GeoTech Workshop
Just got home from the 20th GeoTech - my 5th. I learned lots more than my small brain could absorb at once. There were workshops on using podcasting, as well as the myriad GIS systems available, including free, online, and expensive systems. I was introduced to this Google Earth application, and will have my students create a 'LitTrip' in Google Earth for their spring reading project. I also got to hear Dr Ken Hendrickson from Midwestern State University talk about the surge in Iraq, and why, unfortunately, a precipitous withdrawal would be disastrous.
I enjoy going to these workshops, where I am able to network and visit with colleagues I see infrequently, and to make new friends. I don't understand why more teachers don't attend, except for this - many districts, like Comal ISD, won't pay for teachers to attend professional development! They won't pay for registration OR a substitute. How can the state expect us to be professionals if we can't get the training? Fortunately my district paid my registration, a grant paid for the sub, and I stayed with my son (an hour's drive from the training site).
I can't wait to meet with the other Geography teachers and show them all the stuff I learned at the workshops. They missed a good one.
I enjoy going to these workshops, where I am able to network and visit with colleagues I see infrequently, and to make new friends. I don't understand why more teachers don't attend, except for this - many districts, like Comal ISD, won't pay for teachers to attend professional development! They won't pay for registration OR a substitute. How can the state expect us to be professionals if we can't get the training? Fortunately my district paid my registration, a grant paid for the sub, and I stayed with my son (an hour's drive from the training site).
I can't wait to meet with the other Geography teachers and show them all the stuff I learned at the workshops. They missed a good one.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Poll Dancing: Is Clinton Finished?
Poll Dancing: Is Clinton Finished?
Burka thinks so. I can only hope he's right. Surely her camp sees the problems ahead if they try to seat Michigan and Florida. There has been talk of trying to come to some sort of compromise, but since Obama wasn't even on the ballot in Michigan, I don't see what kind of compromise will work. Either way, it's not good for Clinton.
Burka thinks so. I can only hope he's right. Surely her camp sees the problems ahead if they try to seat Michigan and Florida. There has been talk of trying to come to some sort of compromise, but since Obama wasn't even on the ballot in Michigan, I don't see what kind of compromise will work. Either way, it's not good for Clinton.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Thursday, January 31, 2008
The Great Project
MyPre-AP kids and the G/T class are doing a Walkabout project to learn a little something about SE Asia and Oceania. We spent 4 days in the computer lab where they have been researching and working on their projects. Will they finish? Probably not. do I give them more time? I guess so, with points off.
end of class... more later
end of class... more later
Monday, January 28, 2008
State of the Union
It's required by the Constitution, and nowadays a very important speech, but jeez, you'd think after 7 years someone would have the balls to tell him how to pronounce new-clee-are.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Jinx
I know I'm going to jinx it, but so far this semester has been great. The 3 Gorges presentation/debate went over pretty well - the kids understood the implications of the construction of the largest dam in the world. (Except 4th period, which is my greatest challenge).
We have moved on to Japan and the Koreas. Specifically, we have focused on education in Japan and S. Korea, reading an article from the NY Times and using a handout from AskAsia.org. The students compared their educational experience to that in these Asian countries, and found it woefully lacking ( although they weren't disappointed that they didn't do school 15 hours a day). Today I read them parts of Paul Burka's editorial from the December 07 Texas Monthly, No Nino Left Behind. We looked at (former) state demographer Steve Murdoch's prediction for the year 2030 - the year Texas will become a majority Hispanic state. After hearing that median income was $20,000 higher for Anglos than Hispanics in 2000, and that over 40% of Hispanic kids quit school before graduating, we had some intense discussions.
In first period it lead to a discussion about college - I never really thought about it a lot, but many of my students don't have family or friends that have been to college, and they have many misconceptions about it. It felt great to help these kids see the importance of finishing school, not only for themselves, but for the future of our state and nation. We talked about where to go (jr college is inexpensive and fine to start with), where to get the money (live at home and work part time), and what kind of grades you need to make in high school (Bs and Cs will get you in - they were relieved to hear that).
I am still working on 4th period - even with all the schedule changes the make-up of the class has not changed; I have a lot of kids in there who don't much care about their schooling. The majority are great kids, so I have to figure out a way to encourage them and reform the nay-sayers. I am working on a new seating chart - I hope it helps.
We have moved on to Japan and the Koreas. Specifically, we have focused on education in Japan and S. Korea, reading an article from the NY Times and using a handout from AskAsia.org. The students compared their educational experience to that in these Asian countries, and found it woefully lacking ( although they weren't disappointed that they didn't do school 15 hours a day). Today I read them parts of Paul Burka's editorial from the December 07 Texas Monthly, No Nino Left Behind. We looked at (former) state demographer Steve Murdoch's prediction for the year 2030 - the year Texas will become a majority Hispanic state. After hearing that median income was $20,000 higher for Anglos than Hispanics in 2000, and that over 40% of Hispanic kids quit school before graduating, we had some intense discussions.
In first period it lead to a discussion about college - I never really thought about it a lot, but many of my students don't have family or friends that have been to college, and they have many misconceptions about it. It felt great to help these kids see the importance of finishing school, not only for themselves, but for the future of our state and nation. We talked about where to go (jr college is inexpensive and fine to start with), where to get the money (live at home and work part time), and what kind of grades you need to make in high school (Bs and Cs will get you in - they were relieved to hear that).
I am still working on 4th period - even with all the schedule changes the make-up of the class has not changed; I have a lot of kids in there who don't much care about their schooling. The majority are great kids, so I have to figure out a way to encourage them and reform the nay-sayers. I am working on a new seating chart - I hope it helps.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
New Semester
The holidays were too short, and we are back to work. Yesterday the kids came back, and there has been quite a bit of schedule-changing. All the freshmen who failed the first semester of Algebra I have been assigned to a 2 hour math class (actually class plus lab) in an effort to catch them up and help them pass TAKS. Since there were 125 kids (out of 600) that failed, there has been some serious rescheduling.
We are starting off with a project on the Three Gorges Dam in China. During the powerpoint presentation yesterday I questioned kids about various things they should have learned last semester (plate tectonics, rainshadows), and I came away impressed - they remembered more than I gave them credit for! Unfortunately, geography isn't considered an important subject - like Algebra - so we don't get the same attention or emphasis. Congress won't even pass the Geography Education bill, so most kids in this country don't take the class in high school. Perhaps if Rumsfeld and Cheney had taken geography they wouldn't have thought Iraq would be a piece of cake to conquer and reform.
We are starting off with a project on the Three Gorges Dam in China. During the powerpoint presentation yesterday I questioned kids about various things they should have learned last semester (plate tectonics, rainshadows), and I came away impressed - they remembered more than I gave them credit for! Unfortunately, geography isn't considered an important subject - like Algebra - so we don't get the same attention or emphasis. Congress won't even pass the Geography Education bill, so most kids in this country don't take the class in high school. Perhaps if Rumsfeld and Cheney had taken geography they wouldn't have thought Iraq would be a piece of cake to conquer and reform.
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