March 2, 2014

It has to be hell for good, decent, caring principals.

Our most senior principal (a really fine educator and veteran teacher in the district) is retiring this year. Rumor has it that he is fed up, too. I am betting that he will soon be followed by the next in line. The rest of them are younger and from outside the district. It seems they were brought in for the purpose of administering this travesty.

Good luck with your training. I understand that it is grueling.

March 2, 2014

Thank you, Smarmie.

This was my bump year and I can finally retire and forget about it all. I do feel sorry for the younger teachers who have years of brow-beating ahead of them.

The post-conference went so badly that I just knew they were trying to get rid of me. She had nothing positive to say. After 19 years of perfect evaluations, I guess all of a sudden I'm a total fuck-up.

None of it was worth it. The fix was in from the beginning. I honestly don't know how those robotic clones (principals) that they hire now can sleep at night.

February 26, 2014

PA is doing that now too.

I would have to look it up... but a percentage of my evaluation score is based on the school's standardized test scores. I am the ART teacher. I do not teach math, reading, or language arts. Ridiculous. Plus.... I only spend about six partial days per month in the building in which I'm being evaluated. So what percentage do I get? I travel to four freakin' buildings!!! This is what happens when republicans get elected.

February 24, 2014

How many legumes are under the sea?

SEA BEANS!!!

February 23, 2014

Update on my evaluation:

I tailored my lesson EXACTLY to her stupid domains. I cross-referenced every single part of it with domains 2 and 3. And I felt completely out of my element.

I was critiqued that the students were losing interest and pacing wasn't right. Not one damn word about how I followed the formula down to the letter. I asked probing questions and had a lively discussion. I had artifacts out the wazoo and visual aids. I had groups and inclusive participation. It was partially student-led (for third-graders). I made accomodations for special needs. I even re-arranged the damn furniture.

I have my post-conference this week and then I am done.* I gathered artifacts for 4 freaking hours this morning and assembled them in the $20.00 binder I bought at Office Max yesterday. I still have to photo-copy about a ream of additional materials and put together a portfolio of examples.

*Done with teaching. I am retiring in June and this is the biggest crock of sh*t I have seen in nearly four decades in education.

February 12, 2014

Fracking explosion in Greene Co., SW PA. Worker missing, feared dead.

Worker missing in Greene County gas well blast
February 11, 2014 9:44 PM

By Molly Born and Sean D. Hamill / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

It is the worst fear of anyone who works on a natural gas well.

A spark or an error on the job results in a potentially deadly well fire that burns out of control, causing even more danger to the experts who have to be flown in to contain the blaze.

That’s the situation in Dunkard, Greene County, after something caused a Marcellus Shale gas well owned by Chevron to catch fire just before 7 a.m. Tuesday, leaving one employee with a minor injury and another worker missing and feared dead.

<snip>

More than 12 hours after an explosion that “sounded like a jet engine going five feet above your house,” as one neighbor put it, the fire, fueled by the well’s gas, continued to shoot flames and smoke into the air, causing a hissing sound that could be heard a quarter-mile away.


Video and more at link: http://www.post-gazette.com/local/south/2014/02/11/Gas-well-explodes-in-southeastern-Greene-County/stories/201402110126#ixzz2t4hq7faB

February 3, 2014

Ed Pawlowski has dropped out of the governor's race.

Others will soon follow, I predict.

Democrat Pawlowski exits Pa. gubernatorial race

ALLENTOWN, Pa. —

Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski is dropping out of the race for the Democratic nomination for governor of Pennsylvania.

Pawlowski said Monday at a news conference in Allentown that raising the money he would need in a statewide race is a full-time job that makes it difficult to carry out his responsibilities as chief executive of Pennsylvania's third largest city.

Pawlowski, who was elected to a third term as mayor in 2013, threw his support behind fellow Democrat and state Treasurer Rob McCord, who joined him at the news conference.

Pawlowski's departure leaves McCord and six other prospective candidates for the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican Gov. Tom Corbett, who is seeking re-election

Link: http://www.wpxi.com/ap/ap/pennsylvania/democrat-pawlowski-exits-pa-gubernatorial-race/ndBT3/

February 3, 2014

Another James Madison clone here:

Compared to the general population, you are:

Low on Extroversion, indicating that you are an introvert who prefers calm environments to large social gatherings.
Above average on Openness, indicating that you prefer to strike a balance between seeking out novelty and preserving the status quo.
Above average on Agreeableness, indicating that you are very empathic, tolerant of others, and socially adaptive.
Above average on Conscientiousness, indicating that you take a balanced approach between sticking to plans and deadlines and being flexible about updating your current goals.
High on Neuroticism, indicating that you are quick to respond to changes in your environment and that you react strongly to both good and bad news.

February 3, 2014

That article makes a lot of great points, particularly as it applies to Special Education.

Here is the part that jumped out at me, however:

Alas, we are kept in the dark. And, while were at it, let’s look at the building administrators: our principals and their assistant principals — the bottom rung of the ed admin ladder and consequently the paramecia, if you will, of the now-immense corporate “reform” movement food chain. These grim souls do the dirty work. Now functioning as professional nit-pickers and fault-finders, they are in fact ex-teachers (usually) with very limited ( almost always) hands-on experience themselves. They nonetheless go into classrooms, ( in teams, if you can believe it) observe the instruction in progress and try to make the Danielson-based Talent Management Rubric sound relevant to a situation where no objective, clear-thinking adult believes it has the slightest applicability. (same source as above.)

It figures that there is a connection to Gates. (Also to ETS.) I can just imagine Jon Stewart making a fist and muttering "GATES"!

February 3, 2014

I feel bad for the principals.

It has to be torturous, devoting so much of your day to endless paperwork. For those who don't know, each teacher evaluation must have a pre-conference and post-conference as well as the actual evaluation. There is tons of writing involved. Beginning teachers are evaluated several times per year.

It has to take valuable time away from the children. I am convinced it is yet another way the politicians are getting rich while imposing punitive measures on public schools.