Posts (page 2)

Set the scene: Seventh period, not doing much because half of my class is out.  They are almost finished with their work in groups.  DJ comes and asks for a pass to another teacher...  I slowly oblige...

Too slowly, I guess.  She turns around and blows chunks on the floor.  Woops.

At least it didn't set off a peristaltic reaction, but it did make me think of this:

So while some countries are shutting down, I am relishing the blogging opportunity that swine flu has given me.

Kramer was on to something... Listen to the uncontrollable "oinking"--it's indicative of swine flue, according to the CDC.

According to the CDC, symptoms of swine flu can include:

• fever, which is usually high
• cough
• runny nose or stuffy nose
• sore throat
• body aches
• uncontrollable "oinking"
• headache
• chills
• fatigue or tiredness, which can be extreme
• diarrhea and vomiting (sometimes)

So, as you can see, it's pretty much the same as the regular flu.  Oink Oink.

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Maybe I’m going to get swine flu for saying this, but it doesn’t really scare me.  Everything I heard has seemed to be panic-driven over flu-like symptoms.  Nevertheless, if people care about it, then it will become an issue for schools.  How would I tackle the issue at our school at state-testing time?  I’ll keep this one short and sweet.

Firstly, I would wait and see what happens over the next couple of days.***  Also, if it seems to be an issue (or if another epidemic were impending), then let students wear school-distributed medical masks in school.  Make hand-sanitizer readily available and have teachers use first period to inform students of preventative measures when they distribute masks.  (Obviously the “cool” kids will not wear them, but they deserve to get sick, right?)

If this so-called “pig sickness” becomes that big of a problem, then the state should and would become involved in some manner.  I would only close if they deemed it necessary.  In the cases of students becoming ill and missing tests, I would treat it as if they had the regular Homo sapien flu and make them retest.  If they can’t make it, then they can participate in retests next year or later on in high school.  So it goes.

***EDITOR'S NOTE: A baby died from this swine flu which is very sad.  However, while I risk sounding insensitive, I would like to point out that there are approximately 30,000 deaths per year from the REGULAR FLU.  I'm just saying, let's not panic quite yet. -- 04/30/09 PL

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Can schools strip search?  Short answer?  I’m going to side with the school on this one, but not necessarily because I think they were right in this incident…they weren’t.

I definitely do not think that the search was needed in this particular case as the girl had no prior history and the tip came from a random student.  There were grounds for searching the backpack, but not personal areas.  The bottom line is poor judgment.  Yes, if you have never had an incident with the student, then check her records.  Conference with her and her mother or the other student who gave the tip.  Send her home for the day if there was a problem.  Don’t make harass her.  If she’s a good student, I’m sure she’ll be scared straight anyways.

So why do I support the right to a strip search?  Probably for all the reasons this school does.  In cases of ACTUAL weapons, drugs, or other harmful materials, strip searches may be necessary to ensure that the students remain safe.  I would have to say, however, that a warrant in each case would not be out of the question.  I guess the highest court in the land will decide.

How does this impact curriculum and instruction?  Well, I’d say pulling students out for strip searches would definitely have students on edge and unable to focus in their learning environment.  Also, if students are accused by teachers and are not found guilty will loose all trust of any teachers.  That teacher will also be in trouble as an instructor.  Word gets around.  The key is keeping the decisions out of the hands of teachers and in the hands of CAPABLE administrators.

So a friend of mine greeted me with an instant message that may have changed my life today.  It said, "Have I got something for you!"  That was followed by a series of links through the wonderful world of ukulele covers on YouTube.  Here are a couple to make you smile and get your school week off on the right foot...

I would recommend you take some time and look through other ukulele videos...  It's a great way to waste an afternoon.

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My vision of summer school?  You mean at Holly Springs SupaFly School?   It’s going to be off the hook.  But seriously, people…

This summer I look forward to re-starting how I teach my classes.  I plan on more consistency, better planning from the start, and a hard-ass demeanor in front of students from the very start, but with a little sensitivity on the side.  I hope that, in addition to my efforts, the consistency stretches across the school to create a school environment that produces successful students.

So what’s a successful student?

Even though I’d like to have extremely high expectations, I would define success for my students as them passing my class.  I think that ultimate success with my students would be to have them learn skills that will help them in their next level class.  For example, if their next teacher gives them something that involves map skills next year, my students will have a leg up in that class and will be able to assist other students.

I think the evidence that I need to see a successful student can be ascertained through observation and grading.  Our summer school classroom is most likely going to be a smaller class so I don’t think that keeping up with them (while having five teachers in the room) will be impossible.  While most summer schools don’t have this luxury, our classroom will seriously benefit from this aspect.

Outside of Holly SupaFly, summer schools in general have a lot of problems due to the differences between them.  I think the article is right in that summer school should be open to everyone, but that is just not conceivable.  It seems like they believe money is the solution.  That is just not always the case.  I do believe that standards, curriculum, and time periods should be standardized throughout summer schools.  Some things, such as high quality teachers and rigorous evaluation are not easily attained unless there is year-round school.

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The community of Panola County, Mississippi...  Some of this I experience daily and some are just sights that immediately come to my mind when I think of each part of Panola County.

I live in Batesville.  It looks like this:

I teach in Sardis.  It looks like this:

Many of my kids are from Como.  It looks like this:

I don't have much of anything to say in this post.  I just thought that I'd post so I can be at the top of everyone's neighborhood feed for once...

My best accomplishment from the past two weeks?  Naming all fifty states in 2 minutes and 37 seconds.  I haven't tried again since I got my time under 3 minutes.  I highly recommend THIS LINK.  (Don't tell me if you beat my time.  It will only make me feel badly.)

Other things of note:  I finished second in trivia again this week...Notre Dame basketball sucks right now...there are only two days left in the school week (yay!)...a dog is barking loudly at a house across the street...I am probably going to do laundry this weekend because I haven't done it in a while...

I'd like to leave you with a video of something, so here you go.  You have probably seen this, but whatever...  It reminds me of how my kids act when they come back from the bathroom.