Hope she has a career despite not winning.
31 May, 2009
28 May, 2009
Interview #1 of this round.
Okay folks: I had a discussion with my fellow candidates about how to consider blending a focus on the environment with ELA standard #2 -- understanding literary techniques. The discussion was watched by the hiring committee. Then we were each given the opportunity to say what we particularly brought to the school. The whole thing lasted about 25 minutes.
Yup. That was it. I talked to the other two candidates and they to me. Fortunately, they were nice people. We had a very polite talk -- like one you would have over tea.
*************************************
They liked me! I got a nice response to my thank you note.
Yup. That was it. I talked to the other two candidates and they to me. Fortunately, they were nice people. We had a very polite talk -- like one you would have over tea.
*************************************
They liked me! I got a nice response to my thank you note.
27 May, 2009
23 May, 2009
22 May, 2009
Song of a broken heart with explanation
I couldn't remember a day or a minute without her and I didn't have to because there weren't too many while we knew each other and then ...
We actually DID used to just look at each other and be amazed we'd found each other...So it does make me feel accursed that my days are without her being here yet I never stop thinking about her. I would never want to stop thinking about her. I just hate the abyss I feel when I realize she's gone over and over.
Not a Day Goes By Lyrics:(stephen sondheim)
Not a day goes by
Not a single day
But you’re somewhere a part of my life
And it looks like you’ll stay
As the days go by
I keep thinking when does it end
Where’s the day I’ll have started forgetting
But I just go on thinking and sweating
And cursing and crying
And turning and reaching
And waking and dying
And no, not a day goes by
Not a blessed day
But you’re still somehow part of my life
And you won’t go away
So there’s hell to pay
And until I die
I’ll die day after day after day
After day
After day after day after day
Til the days go by
Til the days go by
Til the days go by
We actually DID used to just look at each other and be amazed we'd found each other...So it does make me feel accursed that my days are without her being here yet I never stop thinking about her. I would never want to stop thinking about her. I just hate the abyss I feel when I realize she's gone over and over.
Not a Day Goes By Lyrics:(stephen sondheim)
Not a day goes by
Not a single day
But you’re somewhere a part of my life
And it looks like you’ll stay
As the days go by
I keep thinking when does it end
Where’s the day I’ll have started forgetting
But I just go on thinking and sweating
And cursing and crying
And turning and reaching
And waking and dying
And no, not a day goes by
Not a blessed day
But you’re still somehow part of my life
And you won’t go away
So there’s hell to pay
And until I die
I’ll die day after day after day
After day
After day after day after day
Til the days go by
Til the days go by
Til the days go by
19 May, 2009
What I felt when I saw her
So beautiful you feel wet flower petals against your skin
as she walks by. The water flashes at you gracefully.
as she walks by. The water flashes at you gracefully.
Cat Lineage
Every so once in a while, I look at breeds of cats for possible links to Larry, Henry and Bernie. Since Larry and Henry were littermates, I had to find a breed which had their exact faces and body types and also their differences. For Bernie, I had to find a match for that TRIPLE PURR he has which also rings. I found it. Yesterday, I mis-remembered it as the Norwegian Forest Cat. Actually, it's the Siberian Cat who also likes water, has that purr and likes to greet people at the door. I've even seen pictures of ones with the characteristic chocolate chip cookie dough moustasche. The Turkish Van has Larry's unmistakable and very hard to match red -- a kind of strawberry/gold. It also has the sweetness, the love of water and the intelligence. Both cats are considered extremely bright and people friendly to the point of being dog-like. That's my guys all right.
I also think there might be some Abyssinian in Larry and Henry because Larry didn't get Henry's poofiness and he has this dry wit that is very much his own no matter where he got it from. I've seen better matches than the Abyssinian pictured, but it's close. The Abyssinian and the Turkish Van are top. The relative of Bernie's is the one with the ribbon. If the cat is a relative of Bernie's then behind that expression is the thought "Oh dear. This is going to take a bit to tear up."
18 May, 2009
I didn't go
I helped Derek Sacerdote feed and care for a colleague's turtle and guinea pigs. You can learn more about Derek and how well he would care for the 46th District in Brooklyn at http://www.dereksacerdote4citycouncil.blogspot.com/
I think feeding the pets of a sick colleague is important, and downright neighborly.
I think feeding the pets of a sick colleague is important, and downright neighborly.
Children won't listen.
I told myself I never wanted to be one of those peppy, overweight English/Theater teachers who sings songs like Sondheim's "Children will listen," at assemblies. Obviously, the overweight isn't what bothers me as I've grown accustomed to my girth. It's the cloying sentimentality which I distrust probably because I was raised to and do respond to it. It has just enough of Mr. Rogers' gentle scolding and the rumbly sound of ocean which resonates within the litany of women's literature about failure and suicide. (Ah, the hate emails should be pouring in. FYI: I don't mean Virginia Woolf. I mean Kate Chopin and any story which talks about wallpaper.)
If we wanted to make assemblies in which students would listen, we'd invite students to be part of the process. And I'm sure a lot of teachers and administrators would like to do that. Why don't they? When the temperature reads "standardized tests" the emotional range within the school usually is pushed to within about .005 of a degree. We become apologetically automatic in the name of seeming fair. But what could be less fair:
You pour a group of students into a large echoing chamber with no real sound system and poor sightlines. There's also no breeze, but lots of dust of every kind. Just from lack of use, the auditorium has the feel of an envelope sitting in the back of the desk drawer for fifty years.
Then you ask the teachers to tell the students to be quiet. You don't necessarily tell them why. The best they can create is a kind of homage to the feeling of loss that one might get before throwing the envelope away. And even the cheapest of you would throw it away as it is so coarse and moldy -- dry and moldy --something mushroom-like has definitely left spores.
Okay, so the kids are down to silent talking and shifting and then the adults are up there deciding whose idea the assembly was and why it's being held. This is not a particularity of any one school. It's par for the course everywhere. At Brooklyn Comprehensive, we tried never to have these things at all.
Then somebody speaks and whatever he/she might've said gets translated along distance and volume....
We haven't had an assembly where I work, but the feel of the place is one of having been be-labored with busywork, memoranda, emails and the re-definition of what used to be called a grade book into "DATA." I am a few minutes away from a meeting now in which I will be asked not really for my opinion, but to listen for what I am going to be told to do. Can you imagine anything, besides an assembly being this insane:
You pour a group of teachers into a hot room at the end of the day. They can see the dust spinning in the rays of sunshine. You talk to them about a test which they have been concerned about for much of their teaching lives and which they, by now, know how to handle. But, you take away all their power to handle it. And you want them to be quiet. They wait while the administrators draw straws outside about who is going to tell this year's bad news. We already know that we have no room in our current curriculum for test-prep -- in the English classes, anyway. We already know EXACTLY WHO is failing, what their scores were two test sessions ago, etc. We will be told that this is NOT DATA. Data is not found among actual results. It must be specifically collected, the way we note what pages our students are on in their independent readings. We are actively measuring their reading. If we just looked at, oh, how many books they could read in a marking period, it wouldn't be the same because that would be marking period information. There wasn't a scientific process or anything. I mean, you might've assessed the students on different days of the week. With slightly different forms....
Somebody comes into the room and starts talking and it is translated quietly in looks and very silent body language. One idiot talks too much and that's usually me. But, not today. My colleagues are all excellent teachers. They should be listened to. When they get their say, I'll wait my turn and then say mine.
Nobody starts their career wanting to be pushed into oblivion. Nobody.
If we wanted to make assemblies in which students would listen, we'd invite students to be part of the process. And I'm sure a lot of teachers and administrators would like to do that. Why don't they? When the temperature reads "standardized tests" the emotional range within the school usually is pushed to within about .005 of a degree. We become apologetically automatic in the name of seeming fair. But what could be less fair:
You pour a group of students into a large echoing chamber with no real sound system and poor sightlines. There's also no breeze, but lots of dust of every kind. Just from lack of use, the auditorium has the feel of an envelope sitting in the back of the desk drawer for fifty years.
Then you ask the teachers to tell the students to be quiet. You don't necessarily tell them why. The best they can create is a kind of homage to the feeling of loss that one might get before throwing the envelope away. And even the cheapest of you would throw it away as it is so coarse and moldy -- dry and moldy --something mushroom-like has definitely left spores.
Okay, so the kids are down to silent talking and shifting and then the adults are up there deciding whose idea the assembly was and why it's being held. This is not a particularity of any one school. It's par for the course everywhere. At Brooklyn Comprehensive, we tried never to have these things at all.
Then somebody speaks and whatever he/she might've said gets translated along distance and volume....
We haven't had an assembly where I work, but the feel of the place is one of having been be-labored with busywork, memoranda, emails and the re-definition of what used to be called a grade book into "DATA." I am a few minutes away from a meeting now in which I will be asked not really for my opinion, but to listen for what I am going to be told to do. Can you imagine anything, besides an assembly being this insane:
You pour a group of teachers into a hot room at the end of the day. They can see the dust spinning in the rays of sunshine. You talk to them about a test which they have been concerned about for much of their teaching lives and which they, by now, know how to handle. But, you take away all their power to handle it. And you want them to be quiet. They wait while the administrators draw straws outside about who is going to tell this year's bad news. We already know that we have no room in our current curriculum for test-prep -- in the English classes, anyway. We already know EXACTLY WHO is failing, what their scores were two test sessions ago, etc. We will be told that this is NOT DATA. Data is not found among actual results. It must be specifically collected, the way we note what pages our students are on in their independent readings. We are actively measuring their reading. If we just looked at, oh, how many books they could read in a marking period, it wouldn't be the same because that would be marking period information. There wasn't a scientific process or anything. I mean, you might've assessed the students on different days of the week. With slightly different forms....
Somebody comes into the room and starts talking and it is translated quietly in looks and very silent body language. One idiot talks too much and that's usually me. But, not today. My colleagues are all excellent teachers. They should be listened to. When they get their say, I'll wait my turn and then say mine.
Nobody starts their career wanting to be pushed into oblivion. Nobody.
16 May, 2009
14 May, 2009
10 May, 2009
03 May, 2009
Klein: Low cost incompetency? Great deal!
In the middle of discussions which aim at firing the certified, qualified and highly experienced teachers left without jobs after their schools closed, Klein goes to Albany TO BEG TO HIRE/RETAIN 14,000 teachers who had failed basic competency tests? So, basically, he's given principals the ok to hire cheap, possibly TRULY incompetent teachers instead of paying for certified educators who have tried and true records.
Why doesn't the public know this? So, you're kids are being taught by someone who can't pass qualifying tests rather than someone who can do that and more all because the former is cheaper? We need one of those bank commercials: A snickers bar, 75 cents. A good education: Priceless.
I found this at http://nyceducator.com/2009/04/ms-weingarten-takes-firm-stand.html
Why doesn't the public know this? So, you're kids are being taught by someone who can't pass qualifying tests rather than someone who can do that and more all because the former is cheaper? We need one of those bank commercials: A snickers bar, 75 cents. A good education: Priceless.
I found this at http://nyceducator.com/2009/04/ms-weingarten-takes-firm-stand.html
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