Sunday, December 16, 2012

Sandy Hook

I hope with my whole heart that those babies felt no pain. I hope they immediately felt God's peace.

I look at each face and see so much promise, so much joy, so much innocence.

I can only imagine the terror of the teachers on that day.  I hope I would show as much courage as they did.

I know the pain will never go away for the families, but I hope with each pang of sorrow they have a happy memory as well.

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Day 3

Louisiana needs another Cecil Picard.  He or she would be hard to find, but they would have the interest of children in mind, not money.

Mr. Picard did more to improve education by just concentrating on early childhood education. I hope the current superintendent doesn't ruin all the gains in early childhood with his "reforms".

Monday, December 3, 2012

Day 2

Two of my little children are about to face things that children should not have to face.

One is about to have surgery to fix a broken bone.  It will be a difficult recovery for such an active kid.  Hope this child can handle the pain.

The other child has a parent facing a very serious illness.  An illness which will be difficult to overcome and difficult to endure, both for the parent and the child.

In all of this, we will continue to try to keep a sense of normalcy for them. All we can do is try.  I hate when my students lives are turned upside down. I feel this is why I'm a teacher, because I am more than a dog and pony show.  I am more than a VAM score.  I am more that someone working on SLTs.  I am more than a teacher of Reading or Math.  I am a teacher of children.  Some things can't be measured.

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Day 1

First day of blogging, not sure how well this is going to turn out. Will I keep it up with all the tasks I have to complete for school? Lesson plans, grading papers, making centers, and researching the Common Core take a lot of time. Since I have no time at school to get those things done, I have a LOT of homework!



This year Louisiana teachers face many challenges.
1. Act 1, which does away with tenure, makes school boards come up with a reduction in force policy which does not allow senority to play a part, and basically freezes our salary schedule.  It also has made COMPASS the method of evaluation for teachers in this state.( More on that in a future post)
2.  Common Core implementation with no real guidance.  The transitional curriculum is very basic and will change next year. So much for getting ahead! It would be nice if the Louisiana Department of Education had set up resources for teachers in this state. We have to look at the states of North Carolina, Utah, and Tennessee for directions in implementing the Common Core. Our textbooks don't help us. It's time for textbook adoptions, so the plans we do this year will change when we receive new books, if we receive new books.