WHAT I SAID MONDAY NIGHT AT THE PEP MEETING IN MY ALLOTTED 2 MINUTES...
Comparing like-to-like is nothing new – George W. Bush made his reputation as the “education governor” while Governor of Texas by doing this exact thing. And we all know how long ago that was…We at TAGNYC question the validity of Regents scores when tests are scored by teachers ALONG WITH PRINCIPAL INPUT. I personally observed the principal of my school sitting in on Regents scoring last June. To be truly valid Regents would have to be scored outside the school. Oh, and my school received a “B”.

There is zero transparency regarding special education and ELL students. I spend much of my time dealing with persistent disruptive behaviors with no real support of any kind – just the usual “talk but no walk” - which has left the more motivated students demoralized, disenchanted and at this point in the term, completely disgusted. I cannot blame them. I come prepared to teach and I fight to maintain order – fighting apathy, disrespect, hostility, verbal and physical abuse. Real, constructive, and effective discipline consequences are non-existent. Yet my school got a “B”. The review team never spoke to ME, and I was THE sole, the only Dean last year.

We also question the concept of students being assessed on relative progress rather than true and critical command of subject material. This is not the same as teaching to the test. Real teaching has gone the way of the dodo bird. And by the way I am also an art teacher teaching music. My principal decided he did not have to give art this term even though we have students who need the art credit. And I do actually teach music. Good thing I have an early musical background. Our students are taught how and have bought into a culture of “playing the game” from the very first day of kindergarten to the day of their much-vaunted 70% rate of graduation.

What Can We Learn From Striking Teachers in Israel?

The keynote speech was delivered by Secondary School Teachers Organization chairman Ran Erez, who issued a clarion call on behalf of the country's educational system.

"All these people who support the struggle are in favor of education," Erez said.

"With every social struggle in Israel, be it single-parent mothers, bread rallies, or others, people struggle alone and nobody succeeds," he continued. "We are together. We are struggling together for the welfare of the state!"

"Education is closing gaps, education is fighting violence, and staying away from alcoholism and all the bad things that are happening to the state," Erez declared. "That is our struggle. It's a shame that the government doesn't understand that. We are not against them, we are for them, and we want to tell them: The land is shaking. This volcano is erupting."

see norm's notes

REMEMBER?
perhaps not especially if you are a newer teacher or haven't heard about (or lived through) what we once took for granted was our Union...and as we hold a vigil on November 26th at Tweed for our slowly-and-torturously-being-phased-out "profession" perhaps we need to ask: WHO do we hold accountable for it's destruction???

read about a rubber room teacher's brand-new lawsuit v. the DOE

JUST DON'T IMAGINE THEY MEAN YOU WOULD HAVE YOUR JOB FOR "LIFE"


ah yes, it's just another sick joke from the "Department" of Education (READ: no longer a "Board", as in (elected) school boards, not public any more, taxpayers need not get involved, especially parents and UNION MEMBERS - don't ask questions, just lie back and let the corporate raiders who have raped our country and the rest of the world do their dirty work in "your" "public" schools...etc....)

to get the fuller story

Remarks by Senator John Edwards
St. Anselm's College, Manchester, New Hamphshire
October 29, 2007

Many of you know that I am the son of a mill worker -- that I rose from modest means and have been blessed in so many ways in life. Elizabeth and I have so much to be grateful for.

And all of you know about some of the challenges we have faced in my family. But there came a time, a few months ago, when Elizabeth and I had to decide, in the quiet of a hospital room, after many hours of tests and getting pretty bad news -- what we were going to do with our lives.

And we made our decision. That we were not going to go quietly into the night -- that we were going to stand and fight for what we believe in.

As Elizabeth and I have campaigned across America, I've come to a better understanding of what that decision really meant -- and why we made it.

Earlier this year, I spoke at Riverside Church in New York, where, forty years ago, Martin Luther King gave a historic speech. I talked about that speech then, and I want to talk about it today. Dr. King was tormented by the way he had kept silent for two years about the Vietnam War.

He was told that if he spoke out he would hurt the civil rights movement and all that he had worked for -- but he could not take it any more -- instead of decrying the silence of others -- he spoke the truth about himself.

"Over the past two years" he said, "I have moved to break the betrayal of my own silence and speak from the burning of my own heart."

I am not holier than thou. I am not perfect by any means. But there are events in life that you learn from, and which remind you what this is really all about. Maybe I have been freed from the system and the fear that holds back politicians because I have learned there are much more important things in life than winning elections at the cost of selling your soul.

Especially right now, when our country requires so much more of us, and needs to hear the truth from its leaders.

And, although I have spent my entire life taking on the big powerful interests and winning -- which is why I have never taken a dime from Washington lobbyists or political action committees -- I too have been guilty of my own silence -- but no more.

It's time to tell the truth. And the truth is the system in Washington is corrupt. It is rigged by the powerful special interests to benefit they very few at the expense of the many. And as a result, the American people have lost faith in our broken system in Washington, and believe it no longer works for ordinary Americans. They're right.

As I look across the political landscape of both parties today -- what I see are politicians too afraid to tell the truth -- good people caught in a bad system that overwhelms their good intentions and requires them to chase millions of dollars in campaign contributions in order to perpetuate their careers and continue their climb to higher office.

This presidential campaign is a perfect example of how our politics is awash with money. I have raised more money up to this point than any Democratic candidate raised last time in the presidential campaign -- $30 million. And, I did it without taking a dime from any Washington lobbyist or any special interest PAC.

I saw the chase for campaign money at any cost by the frontrunner in this race -- and I did not join it -- because the cost to our nation and our children is not worth the hollow victory of any candidate. Being called president while powerful interests really run things is not the same as being free to lead this nation as president of a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. If protecting the current established structure in Washington is in your interest, then I am not your candidate. I ran for president four years ago -- yes, in part out of personal ambition -- but also with a deep desire to stand for working people like my father and mother -- who no matter how hard things were for our family, always worked even harder to make things better for us.

But the more Elizabeth and I campaigned this year, the more we talked to the American people, the more we met people just like my father, and hard working people like James Lowe. James is a decent and honest man who had to live for 50 years with no voice in the richest country in the world because he didn't have health care. The more people like him that I met, the more I realized something much bigger was stirring in the American people. And it has stirred in each of us for far too long.

Last month Ken Burns -- who made the great Civil War documentary -- launched his newest epic on World War II on PBS -- and what a story it tells.

At the cost of great suffering, blood and enormous sacrifice, within four years after Pearl Harbor it is incredible what this nation achieved. America built the arsenal of democracy worthy of our great history. We launched the greatest invasion armada in the history of warfare against Hitler's fortress Europe, and, with our allies, we freed a continent of suffering humanity.

At the same time on the other side of the globe we crossed 10,000 miles of ocean and liberated another hemisphere of humanity -- islands and nations freed from the grip of Japanese militarists. While at the same time succeeding in the greatest scientific endeavor ever undertaken -- the Manhattan project -- and topped it off with building the Pentagon, one of the largest buildings in the world in a little over a year.

It is incredible what America has accomplished. Because no matter what extraordinary challenges we have been faced with, we did exactly what America has always done in our history -- we rose to the challenge.

And, now, as I travel across America and listen to people, I hear real concern about what's going on. For the first time in our nation's history, people are worried that we're going to be the first generation of Americans not to pass on a better life to our children.

And it's not the fault of the American people. The American people have not changed. The American people are still the strong, courageous people they have always been. The problem is what our government has become. And, it is up to us to do something about it.

Because Washington may not see it, but we are facing a moral crisis as great as any that has ever challenged us. And, it is this test -- this moral test -- that I have come to understand is at the heart of this campaign.

Just look at what has happened in Iraq. What was the response of the American people to the challenge at hand? Our men and women in uniform have been heroes. They've done everything that's been asked of them and more. But what about our government? Four years after invading Iraq, we cannot even keep the lights on in Baghdad.

When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, the American people were at their best. They donated their time and their money in record numbers. There was an outpouring of support. I took 700 college kids down to help -- young people who gave up their spring break. But what about our government? Three years after hurricane Katrina thousands of our fellow Americans, our brothers and sisters, are still housed in trailers waiting to go home.

There's no better example of the bravery and goodness of the American people than the response to the attacks of 9/11: firefighters and first responders risking and too often giving their lives to save others, charging up the stairs while everyone else was coming down; record bloodbank donations; and the list goes on. But what about our government? Six years after 9/11, at Ground Zero there sits only a black hole that tortures our conscience and scars our hearts.

In every instance we see an American people who are good, decent, compassionate and undeterred. And, American people who are better than the government that is supposed to serve and represent them.

And what has happened to the American "can do" spirit? I will tell you what has happened: all of this is the result of the bitter poisoned fruit of corruption and the bankruptcy of our political leadership.

It is not an accident that the government of the United States cannot function on behalf of its people, because it is no longer our people's government -- and we the people know it.

This corruption did not begin yesterday -- and it did not even begin with George Bush -- it has been building for decades -- until it now threatens literally the life of our democracy.

While the American people personally rose to the occasion with an enormous outpouring of support and donations to both the victims of Katrina and 9/11 -- we all saw our government's neglect. And we saw greed and incompetence at work. Out of more than 700 contracts valued at $500,000 or greater, at least half were given without full competition or, according to news sources, with vague or open ended terms, and many of these contracts went to companies with deep political connections such as a subsidiary of Haliburton, Bechtel Corp., and AshBritt Inc.

And in Iraq -- while our nation's brave sons and daughters put their lives on the line for our country -- we now have mercenaries under their own law while their bosses sit at home raking in millions.

We have squandered millions on building Olympic size swimming pools and buildings that have never been used. We have weapons and ammunition unaccounted for that may now be being used against our own soldiers. We literally have billions wasted or misspent -- while our troops and their families continue to sacrifice. And the politically connected lobby for more. What's their great sacrifice -- higher profits.

It goes on every minute of every day.

Corporate executives at United Airlines and US Airways receive millions in compensation for taking their companies into bankruptcy, while their employees are forced to take cuts in pay.

Companies like Wal-Mart lobby against inspecting containers entering our nation's ports, even though expert after expert agrees that the likeliest way for a dirty bomb to enter the United States is through a container, because they believe their profits are more important than our safety. What has become of America when America's largest company lobbies against protecting America?

Trade deals cost of millions of jobs. What do we get in return? Millions of dangerous Chinese toys in our children's cribs laden with lead. This is the price we are made to pay when trade agreements are decided based on how much they pad the profits for multinational corporations instead of what is best for America's workers or the safety of America's consumers.

We have even gotten to the point where our children's safety is potentially at risk because nearly half of the apple juice consumed by our children comes from apples grown in China. And Americans are kept in the dark because the corporate lobbyists have pushed back country of origin labeling laws again and again.

This is not the America I believe in.

The hubris of greed knows no bounds. Days after the homeland security bill passed, staffers from the homeland security department resigned and became homeland security consultants trying to cash in. And, where was the outrage? There was none, because that's how it works in Washington now. It is not a Republican revolving door or a Democratic revolving door -- it is just the way it's done.

Someone called it a government reconnaissance mission to figure out how to get rich when you leave the government.

Recently, I was dismayed to see headlines in the Wall Street Journal stating that Senate Democrats were backing down to lobbyists for hedge funds who have opposed efforts to make millionaire and billionaire hedge fund managers pay the same tax rate as every hard-working American. Now, tax loopholes the wealthy hedge fund managers do not need or deserve are not going to be closed, all because Democrats -- our party -- wanted their campaign money.

And a few weeks ago, around the sixth anniversary of 9/11, a leading presidential candidate held a fundraiser that was billed as a Homeland Security themed event in Washington, D.C. targeted to homeland security lobbyists and contractors for $1,000 a plate. These lobbyists, for the price of a ticket, would get a special "treat" -- the opportunity to participate in small, hour long breakout sessions with key Democratic lawmakers, many of whom chair important sub committees of the homeland security committee. That presidential candidate was Senator Clinton.

Senator Clinton's road to the middle class takes a major detour right through the deep canyon of corporate lobbyists and the hidden bidding of K Street in Washington -- and history tells us that when that bus stops there it is the middle class that loses.

When I asked Hillary Clinton to join me in not taking money from Washington lobbyists -- she refused. Not only did she say that she would continue to take their money, she defended them.

Today Hillary Clinton has taken more money from Washington lobbyists than any candidate from either party -- more money than any Republican candidate.

She has taken more money from the defense industry than any other candidate from either party as well.

She took more money from Wall Street last quarter than Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, and Barack Obama combined.

The long slow slide of our democracy into the corporate abyss continues unabated regardless of party, regardless of the best interests of America.

We have a duty -- a duty to end this.

I believe you cannot be for change and take money from the lobbyists who prevent change. You cannot take on the entrenched interests in Washington if you choose to defend the broken system. It will not work. And I believe that, if Americans have a choice, and candidate who takes their money -- Democrat or Republican -- will lose this election.

For us to continue down this path all we have to do is suspend all that we believe in. As Democrats, we continue down this path only if we believe the party of the people is no more.

As Americans, we continue down this path only if we fail to heed Lincoln's warning to us all.

"At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected," he asked, "if it ever reaches us it must spring up amongst us. It can not come from abroad. If destruction be our lot -- we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of free men we must live through all time or die by suicide."

America lives because 20 generations have honored the one moral commandment that makes us Americans.

To give our children a better future than we received.

I stand here today the son of Wallace and Bobbie Edwards. The father of Wade, Cate, Emma Claire and Jack -- and I know, as well as you, that we must not be the first generation that fails to live up to our moral challenge and keep the promise of America.

That would be an abomination.

There is a dream that is America. It is what makes us American. And I will not stand by while that dream is at risk.

I am not perfect -- far from it -- but I do understand that this is not a political issue -- it is the moral test of our generation.

Our nation's founders knew that this moment would come -- that at some point the power of greed and its influence over officials in our government might strain and threaten the very America they hoped would last as an ideal in the minds of all people, and as a beacon of hope for all time.

That is why they made the people sovereign. And this is why it is your responsibility to redeem the promise of America for our children and their future.

It will not be easy -- sacrifice will be required of us -- but it was never easy for our ancestors, and their sacrifices were far greater than any that will fall on our shoulders.

Yet, the responsibility is ours.

We, you and I, are the guardians of what America is and what it will be.

The choice is ours.

Down one path, we trade corporate Democrats for corporate Republicans; our cronies for their cronies; one political dynasty for another dynasty; and all we are left with is a Democratic version of the Republican corruption machine.

It is the easier path. It is the path of the status quo. But, it is a path that perpetuates a corrupt system that has not only failed to deliver the change the American people demand, but has divided America into two -- one America for the very greedy, and one America for everybody else.

And it is that divided America -- the direct result of this corrupt system -- which may very well lead to the suicide Lincoln warned us of -- the poison that continues to seep into our system while none notice.

Or we can choose a different path. The path that generations of Americans command us to take. And be the guardians that kept the faith.

I run for president for my father who worked in a mill his entire life and never got to go to college the way I did.

I run for president for all those who worked in that mill with my father.

I run for president for all those who lost their jobs when that mil was shut down.

I run for president for all the women who have come up to Elizabeth and me and told us the like Elizabeth they had breast cancer -- but unlike Elizabeth they did not have health care.

I run for president for twenty generations of Americans who made sure that their children had a better life than they did.

As Americans we are blessed -- for our ancestors are not dead, they occupy the corridors of our conscience. And, as long we keep the faith -- they live. And so too the America of idealism and hope that was their gift to us.

I carry the promise of America in my heart, where my parents placed it. Like them, like you, I believe in people, hard work, and the sacred obligation of each generation to the next.

This is our time now. It falls to us to redeem our democracy, reclaim our government and relight the promise of America for our children.

Let us blaze a new path together, grounded in the values from which America was forged, still reaching toward the greatness of our ideals. We can do it. We can cast aside the bankrupt ways of Washington and replace them with the timeless values of the American people. We can liberate our government from the shackles of corporate money that bind it to corporate will, and restore the voices of our people to its halls.

This is the cause of my life. This is the cause of our time. Join me. Together, we cannot fail.

We will keep faith with those who have gone before us, strong and proud in the knowledge that we too rose up to guard the promise of America in our day, and that, because we did, America's best days still lie ahead.

STOP THE AFT/UFT CAMPAIGN AND SEND A MESSAGE TO OUR
(NON) UNION : UFT TEACHERS FOR JOHN EDWARDS FOR PRESIDENT


foto from flickr

This is the man I want to be our next President. I've given the others a chance but as far as I can see the strongest message we can send to what's left of our (NON) union - the "union" that DOESN'T represent US, the TEACHERS - is to thwart their agenda and start a chapter of NYC UFT teachers and other members to support John Edwards for President. I will start and I hope others will join. What do you say, folks??? what have we got to lose??? Let me hear from you! and pass this on...

NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND???? DATS RIGHT!!!
NO CHILD EVEN GETS AN "F" ANYMORE!!! IT NO LONGER EXISTS!!!!!

The Internationalist published in their "literature" that I picked up outside while leafletting the DA last Wednesday (for $2 - everyone needs a friend) an article originally written and published in 2001 about minority kids being dumbed down and trained for "McJobs" - this is SO old-hat already! the problem is not the dumbing down of curriculum but the fact that in the face of SO much resistence FROM the students and their families we CANNOT expect much more than a superficial smattering of effort, consistency, or real commitment to BECOMING EDUCATED - which I used to see more of 10 and even just 4 years ago...this is so sad. and the administrators are the real culprits in NOT supporting teachers who DEMAND excellence in their students - hence the ELIMINATION of the "F" in the brand-new grading "system" promulgated at my former school (on our "campus" of the same name...)

JOIN TAGNYC AS WE DEMONSTATE AT THE UFT DELEGATE ASSEMBLY ON WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 17, 2007 at 52 Broadway, NYC

"I thought often during my years in the White House of an admonition that we received in our small school in Plains, Georgia, from a beloved teacher, Miss Julia Coleman. She often said: "We must adjust to changing times and still hold to unchanging principles."
When I was a young boy, this same teacher also introduced me to Leo Tolstoy's novel, "War and Peace." She interpreted that powerful narrative as a reminder that the simple human attributes of goodness and truth can overcome great power. She also taught us that an individual is not swept along on a tide of inevitability but can influence even the greatest human events."

Jimmy Carter upon receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002

it must be love!



New York City Department of Education Chancellor Joel Klein, second right, hugs United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten as Eli Broad, left, and U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings look on. Broad is announcing that NY City won the annual Broad Prize for corporate suck-up district of the year.

from http://www.susanohanian.org/cartoon_fetch.php?id=461

'nuff said

"Schools alone can't cure fetal alcohol syndrome, lead poisoning, low birth-weight-induced cognitive deficits, undetected hearing and vision deficits or asthma, rampant in some urban areas. Educators alone cannot insure that poor mothers-to-be get proper prenatal care or that poor children get the kinds of eye and dental examinations they need or treatment for ear infections, infections which if treated are nothing serious but if not can cause hearing loss, etc. Schools alone cannot eliminate dangerous working conditions, sub-poverty wages or erratic housing patterns. "

—Lea Alpert, school superintendent, in Hawaii Advertiser
taken from http://www.susanohanian.org/

why thinking out of the box is the only solution for education

at age 8 when one would assume little girls would receive dolls, clothing and toys for Christmas my parents gave me the following: a record-player, a transistor radio, and a box camera. (this would begin my love affair of music, broadcast media, and photography, not to mention technology in general) I don’t recall asking for any of these items, although I would become an avid Beatle-fan - and later a record-collector - in the new year when they arrived and performed on the Ed Sullivan Show in February 1964. it seems that my dad, an electrical engineer by training, and in management at an electronics corporation - for what would turn out to be 32 years - decided that I should have these things, since he as a child was fascinated with anything that plugged in and turned on. a former government Naval inspector, my father was asked to work for an electronics company and became part of management, a contracts administrator, numbers cruncher and plant engineer. which all proves that one never knows where one’s training will lead one, but the fact that an individual can use ingenuity - the word “engineer” comes from “ingenious” - to think out of the box - hence becoming the all-too-overused “creative problem solver” - may have nothing to do with our parochial and narrowly-viewed association with creativity as being relegated strictly to the “arts” - in fact, on the north facade of the Foundation Building of The Cooper Union - where I graduated with a BFA in 1976 - are the words “TO SCIENCE AND ART”; therefore my premise is that there is no distinction between creativity of the mind in whatever form it may take or whatever path it may lead. Unfortunately that is not the case in programming or assessment of a child’s ability to think, problem-solve, or make decisions. NCLB is just the nail in the coffin of a long-standing discrepancy in thinking about what makes a person “smart”, well educated, and a functioning member of society, not to mention, happy.

so to get back to the Christmas of ‘63, age 8, the Bronx, New York, the first-born female child of second-generation Italian-American parents, both college-educated, father a W.W.II veteran of the Army-Air Corps, student of engineering, mom a graduate of CCNY, B.B.A., “City Downtown” later renamed Baruch College. the role of family is undoubtedly critical in the development of a child, but so are the attitudes and influences of the society at large. lucky for me my father had a feminist-leaning mind combined with that of a fiscal conservative. I only saw the fiscal conservative (e.g., cheap about allowance) but I learned by example not to throw my hard-earned wages out the window and have been able to live as I wish as long as I have been an independent adult, since age 20. mom was the progressive, liberal democrat, who took on the school-system as Parent Association President in two schools and school community district-activist. it was not unusual for my mom to be around in school, and I got used to that as my norm. as a teacher for 25 years in nyc schools it seems most normal to be in a school and to feel a sense of ownership, which is what is sorely lacking these days in many of our students and their parents, not to mention the lack of morale of school personnel. the schools are called PUBLIC for a reason, yet between NCLB, the Gates Foundation, mayoral-control, and a chancellor who really believes that he is the “CEO” of a public-school system that he - ahem - does NOT own - one might actually think that the people in the schools - the students, the parents and families, the teachers (gasp!), the support staff, and yes even the administrators - have little to nothing to do with the decision-making surrounding who, what, how and why we educate children these days.

attempting to address these inequities by creating yet another “vision” of the “small learning community” in the hope of making right the wrongs of too many years of educational and fiscal neglect, to create within the fishbowl of the small school the perfect environment for learning, without examining some of the most entrenched notions that separates “intellect” from “creativity” from “practical thinking” from “test taking” - all of which are crucial in educating a person - makes me wonder why we are taking apart the mechanism to see how it works and then failing to put it back together again in a functioning manner. the small learning environment is not "the" answer to our problems, as we see many “large” schools in public school districts across the country and indeed worldwide functioning well without all the pitfalls that we use to blame for our student’s lack of success. if the community does not believe education deserves first-dibs on everyone’s time, money and attention then we can bang our heads for eons and still find the struggle getting harder and harder.

I am fighting a system that basically STANDS IN MY WAY rather than empowers me to be a good teacher. I see it all as a political power-play that few people are capable of standing up to, or against, to simply say “No!” and to stop operating in fear. I include all “constituents” - parents, students, teachers, staff members, and yes even - and maybe most crucially - administrators - and our union - who are all laying themselves down at the mercy of politicians and government. fear is our enemy now. no wonder NO one is capable of “thinking out of the box” much less managing to run a school smoothly on a daily basis. this would take the “ingenuity” of an “engineer” like my dad, whose fiscal projections - using his own secret system - had about a 1-2% margin of error - who wowed them all. perhaps we might take a new look at how and why we educate children, where we would like them to go, and how we can help them to get there. never mind the Regents, which are exams that we’ve been taking and passing for decades, and which should not be our enemy. the enemy is fear, loathing, and the inability to take the initiative - or the refusal to ALLOW ingenuity - by people who would rather hide in an office with a sign on the door that says “Do Not Disturb” than to engage in an honest, open, and genuine manner, with those who really want to see a new world of new ideas, not the same old rehashed and regurgitated pabulum that the kids already know is old-school. we just can’t fool them anymore.

“Tales from the **it(t)y – DOE Style”

I spent a glorious early autumn Sunday inside my apartment, taking prescription meds for my back which had gone into spasm – this after having episodes of migraine “auras” 2 days in a row – and while I resist taking drugs unless absolutely necessary in this instance I realized that I cannot just tough this stuff out anymore. Whether or not I will be able to go to work tomorrow remains to be seen, since running around to 5 different rooms to teach TWO out-of-license subjects is just cruel and unusual (or not) punishment. Stress does this to the body – headaches, weak areas further weakened, cortisol-induced weight gain, which further adds to the stress on the body, etc, etc…the funny thing is that I pushed myself to go to the gym twice this week, to help deal with the stress, and to keep my body strong – which it is - and for my efforts are rewarded with a body that cannot function properly. Perhaps hitting the pool to swim off the effects of working in/fighting against insanity without the proper warm-up most likely contributed to the back spasm, not to mention cleaning my antique claw-foot bathtub. So between sessions with the ice pack and the heating pad, a cocktail of prescription meds and over-the-counter drugs, and trying not to think about what-the-hell-am-I-gonna-teach tomorrow? (did you assume I was given a curriculum or any assistance with aforementioned subjects I am not licensed to teach? Oh silly you!), and drug-induced naps, and phone calls with my sister to talk about HER problems…you get the picture. It’s not pretty at all. It’s Sunday evening and you know what that means…

school holidaze rock...

every year we get a new calendar and like so much we have no control over we can only wait in anticipation of the academic year's holidays. this year we are blessed with a sumptuous 4-day weekend grazie a the Jewish New Year. Happy new year to all who celebrate.

home here and in a daze. it's been a roller-coaster ride the past couple of weeks and I can only anticipate more of the same. since I took the day off wednesday to assist my family member I have an additional day away from school to become even more disoriented. I have no idea what I do for a living. it's amnesia.

what I have been thinking is that I wonder if schools have any meaning anymore. personally I liked going to school mainly to see my friends and observe my peers in wonder and delight, since I thought they were all way more cool than I was at the time. I wanted desperately to fit in and be accepted, although I was shy and demure, reserved yet as someone just told me who knew me back in my high school days - an adult person - I stood out, I "had a presence". this certainly is nice to hear, so many years later...

however I did learn a lot in school because I had teachers who, even when annoying and at times downright crackpot, had something to teach me, which I remember to this day. of course there were few to little disruptive and destructive students creating havoc and chaos in the classroom, at least where I went to school or the classes I was assigned to. perhaps I was just lucky or else there was zero tolerance at that time. students who were failing either left or were asked to leave (unofficially).

these days the students are running the show, and the teachers are being asked (unofficially and not) to leave. go away. stop asking for a living wage and quit complaining when things don't work right. just go away and quit annoying the important people who have the big titles and salaries and have to go to all those meetings where nothing really gets done. or just shut up, be grateful for your paycheck and benefits (and the promise of a fat pension) and be glad we haven't asked you to leave. yet.

Hi to all who may find this blog...

I am currently involved in a new group that has just begun to support teachers - our blog is teacheradvocacygrpnyc.blogspot.com. please visit and comment soon...

the name of my blog derives from a women's bathroom sign I found at my school that had come off the door and was just sitting unused in one of our teacher's bathrooms. it must come from an earlier era - which at this moment seems particularly poignant since I feel as if the recent past was a far-away era and not just a decade or two in education...so much has changed and been disruptive, not in a good way, and not just for myself personally but for so many, especially the students who I feel are truly lost souls in the educational desert we used to simply call schools and now, as another casualty of political correctness are called "learning communities"...