Mind Games & a Question

I spent yesterday figuring out how to program a lazer leveler to level and grade a new baseball field.  Good friend, Digby, always makes the time enjoyable.  Had to relearn some Math, especially slope and grade percentages.  It was reasonably fun to challenge the mind.  Also learned about trailers and other pleasantries associated with towing on the road.

The question comes from some thoughts I have been having from time to time. The recent row over the Phil Robertson interview and the ensuing social dialogue have made me wonder again. One comment that was made, and seems to be made often when someone shares their Biblical beliefs, is that he was quoting the Old Testament and don't we now live under the New Testament?

My question is: Isn't the Old Testament the foundation for the New Testament?  Aren't the thoughts, ideas and even the laws the precursor and framework for how Jesus wants us to live in the New Testament times?  I need someone wiser than I to help me with this.

"We have two lives. . .the life we learn with and the life we live after that. Suffering is what brings us toward happiness."

                                 Bernard Malamud, The Natural

Speaking of Me

"The greatest enemy of a good plan is the dream of the perfect plan."
                                                          Carl von Clausewitz

Some Educational Thoughts

We're halfway through the school year and I have a few observations.  The second semester have more days in it because of mandated testing, but at least symbolically this is the halfway point.  Halfway to the end, and I say that as a fact.

I think we've lost our way in some aspects of education.  Testing is so important, but we have degraded our finals testing time.  There was a ritual to finals that gave the student a sense of accomplishment after finishing.  They had this two or three day period to focus upon at the end of a class to both show what they knew and give them a purpose.  It was hard on them and it was hard on teachers.  In my former English teacher days I would assign and collect the essays a week in advance to give me time to grade them. (Do the Math: 15 minutes per paper x 120-150 papers.)  I'll be honest; the 90 minutes testing period was a good chance to have the students quiet while I grades tests or essays.  Again this is not complaining; I chose to be an English teacher and knew what to expect going into the job.  We then had Christmas break or a weekend in June to finish the grading of tests before inputting the grades in the computer.

So the teachers started changing things and had fewer tests and more parties.  As a freshman teacher it was always a task to "educate" the students that we tested during finals instead of feasting. At least that was my feelings.  Not all of my colleagues felt the same.  The admin saw this change and wanted the tests earlier, and we now have to have our grades inputted the day after the tests are finished. In the middle of the day, not the end.  So I change again. Except not as a shop teacher I'm trying to help students finish projects. Some of which are Christmas presents at this time of the year.  Just another change we teachers brought upon ourselves.

Yesterday I spent seven and a half hours with 44 other teachers at an inservice about the new English Language Development (ELD) standards and the also new Common Core standards.  We were paid because it was a non-duty day, and I rightfully agree that sticks in many people's craw as another waste of tax-payers money.  Paying teachers extra to learn about their job.  I look at it as a day to make a few extra dollars for my family and talk shop with other teachers when I wouldn't get to otherwise.  By both counts it was a successful day. Otherwise it was not.

I was instructed to bring my "district issued laptop/Ipad" for use.  I don't have either and most of the other teachers didn't either.  I saw many teachers working on their own personal devices, or like me sharing with their neighbors.I don't own laptop or Ipad or phone with wifi connection. I am a Luddite or dinosaur take your pick.  There were connection issues so the presentation dragged at times.  There was much information shared, so there was much teacher(the presenter) talking and much student (us) listening.  The new buzz idea in education is to reverse that and make the students do the majority of talking.  So I find it interesting when a presenter from the county office of education comes to our school, they talk most of the time.

Now I have found that teachers can be the rudest students in meetings and yesterday was no exception.  I don't mean rude in responses, though that happens, but rude in behavior.  I've seen teachers grading papers and openly reading the newspaper in staff meetings.  I may have difficulty sitting and staying awake, but I will not be that rude.  I saw people reading the online paper and other assorted things. I even did it when a teacher didn't know about the local high school trainer being shot on campus.  I looked up an online article on my neighbor's device between looking at state English language standards.  I am just as guilty.  If your audience is not engaged, their minds and fingers will wander.

To be honest I am still wrapping my mind around how the Common Core standards will be implemented.  I have to admit that I am happy to be out of English and teaching a subject that will not be tested. I do feel that every time I learn more about Common Core, the more I am against implementing it.  I think it will be a boondoggle that will only make testing and curriculum companies more money and not help teachers nor help students learn more.  It is a classic example of government thinking they know better than we do, and shoving a new product down our throats.

I'll leave you with one last thought as I rode my bike home afterwards. The presenter made it a point throughout the day to try and give us insight into how a second language learner hears and sees what a teacher is doing in class. That was eye opening at times, and I remembered some of the same feelings as I try to learn Spanish.  But the presenter made a statement that made me think of the future.  "The ELD teacher of the future won't be teaching a subject anymore, but will be talking with the subject matter teachers of the student to determine what background the student  will need to know to succeed."  I may not have it entirely correct, but that is the gist of what was said.  It felt to me like a cold washcloth.

In the last decade I know that Special Ed teaches have been buried under a blanket of paperwork and bureaucratic regulations.  My thought while riding home is that in the future ELD, and eventually all, teachers will be similarly buried as English language learners are given the same status as special education students.  And for California that will further change the nature of education and learning.

From Frosty to Toasty

After the last post, things have changed.  We had a string of days with freezing nights.  We lost some plants, but generally survived.  The chickens continued to lay.  The older half of us got sick and are now recovering.  Now we are moving into a strings of potentially record nights for highs.

Go Figure.

It's Frosty Outside

Last night was the 8th day in a row of below freezing temperatures.  Certainly not a big deal for many, but living in the citrus belt of California it is a problem.  Lows have been in near 20 and that is when the trees start to get damaged. Oranges and lemons that aren't ready to pick because of low sugar will freeze. The freeze of '90-'91 I remember trees split open laying on the ground.  So far a good part of the crop is picked and the  temperatures haven't been too cold for too long.

For our trees we're trying something new.  We wrapped out Meyer lemons with Christmas lights and cover with black plastic.  The chickens got an extra bunch of straw to bed in.  So far so good and the Ladies have continued to lay.

What If?

What if you know the end of something is coming, but you don't know exactly when?  How do you act?  Some things in my life are definitely going to change in the next year and I have been thinking through how to end them.  I will have some control as to how they go down.  Those things happen and I will deal with them.  It is a part of life to go through times like this.

But I am now wondering if I should bump them forward in time so as to have more control of the situation?   A situation that we will have little control of when it happens.  Trying not to be a fearful reactionary, I read economic forecasts and can't help but think a catastrophe is in the future.  How do we react?

Sorry, I have no answers. But I will try to become more self reliant and minimize needs.  It will be an adventure.

Baffled, Again

Sometimes I have to remind myself that the purpose of education is to teach lessons that will help young people.  Sometimes the lessons are hard and painful, sometimes not.  The idea I've found helpful is to remember that we all learn from our mistakes.  We adults didn't acquire our wisdom in the womb; we tried and failed along the way.  If we survived, we did it another way the next time.  Even as we age, we still make mistakes and learn.

I am the longest running continuous coach at the school.  I have made many mistakes, but I think I have helped many young men and women as a coach and teacher.  I do not have the best win percentage or test scores. The teams I have coached have lost more games in the history of the school than any other coach,  but the students/athletes seem to move on with mostly pleasant memories and thoughts.  They have moved on to be fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, military, medical professionals, scientists and others making positive contributions to their communities.  I could not have these impacts if I were starting today as a teacher/coach at my school.  I would be fired or set aside.

The school has become a place that gives students many chances to learn from their mistakes and improve.  That is a good thing to a certain degree.  If you are an adult though, you get one chance, maybe two, and you're gone.  No chance to learn, no chance to improve, no chance to help others here....regardless of what you have done in the past.

Shame.

Thoughts

"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.   It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." - C. S. Lewis

I found this at http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com/ by Alan Caruba.

The Sunday After

This will be a strange Sunday.  Thanksgiving Thursday with some family and dinner.  Re-clean Friday and Saturday to prepare for a Two Birthday dinner Saturday night. In between one of the birthday children decide that the house should be decorated with the Christmas stuff.  This entails 12+ boxes from storage, take out the Christmas, put the normal back in boxes, take the boxes back to storage.  (Some day I will have a post about storage businesses.)  Dinner with friends and other family was quiet and calm compared to Thanksgiving and refreshing.  So Sunday?

Clean, wash dishes, prepare for the last 3 weeks of school before Christmas.  What if this was the last Christmas you were spending at school?  Just wondering, not sayin'.  Need to finish up the wood projects.  I have much to cut today so students can assemble next week.

I will have to start discussions on the building of a new baseball field.  A son and I laid out and staked an idea, now to get it built in time to for the JV's to use it this year.

Also need to prune some trees and even take one down,plus locate and cut some firewood.  Busy, fun times.