Tending the Eclectic Kinder-Garden

I’m up *way* too early this morning thanks to my toddler and have tried to transition from my bleary-eyed-morning-grogginess to some sort of state of alertness by enjoying a mug of coffee and some blog-browsing. My reading has included a posting at Schools Matter about the TAKS here in Texas, and how gee, surprise surprise, teachers are teaching the test at the expense of information about social studies, science, etc. Shared by Jim Horan, the commentary is from teacher Paula Whiteley, a teacher I’m seeing eye-to-eye with this year after moving to a bordertown in the Lone Star State.

TAKS has been impacting my daughter, an eighth grader since our arrival. Her stress and boredom with school has only been soothed by extra curricular activites like volleyball (somehow, this district allows students her age to have sports practice at five thirty in the morning- yes, five thirty in the MORNING!) and our reassurances that we won’t be stationed here forever. When she does well on the TAKS practice tests (oh yes, we hear all about TAKS practice, which seems to have been happening since school started) and is acknowledged for it, some of her peers who haven’t done as well target her with cutting comments, glares, and that silent-yet-deadly communication that many teenagers master early on.

Our daughter will always do well on the test, and not thanks to all of the practice and disregard for her REAL education that this state (and nation) has so blatantly put into place. She will score well because of her family, our resources, our ability to give her enriching life experiences, our care, and the choices we actively make for her education. She will do well because of those highly qualified, caring teachers that have found ways to do their job not *because* of NCLB, but in spite of it. In the past, we have felt that our taxes, our classroom and school donations of materials and time have been of some benefit to her economically disadvanted classmates.

Yes, there’s obvious inequality. And NCLB doesn’t appear to be making it better for those students who sit in classes with my daughter every day. After reading the introductory letters from her teachers the first week of school and sending them BACK to her teachers, corrected by me, I’m not impressed with the district’s choices of who would be best suited to deliver a comprehensive curriculum, provide educationally enriching activites, and help to inspire my daughter’s future educational endeavors. Oh wait, that’s because they weren’t hired nor expected to do those things- they are expected to get all students to pass the TAKS, no matter what.

It’s the end of October, and my daughter has done one book report so far. One. She hasn’t asked for chemistry help, hasn’t asked us about current events for social studies, hasn’t mentioned any meetings for National Junior Honor Society of which she is a member. Her band concert last week was… is there a word to describe “worse than mediocre?” She’s been asking to go to the book store (yay, I’m glad she’s continued this habit) to buy new books to read in school when she’s finished the TAKS practice and her classmates continue to work for hours afterward. Yes, she’s stuck in the room with them, having to be quiet, not rustle any papers or materials from her bookbag, waiting until they finish. I resent not only what TAKS and other nationwide tests are taking away from my daughter, but how they blatantly deny what disadvantaged students really need to get ahead: a quality, well-rounded, experience-rich education that yes, for whatever reason, might only be accessible to them at school.

Is anyone really going to be surprised when my daughter’s classmates attempt to go to college and are denied admittance because of their entrance exam scores, which will hopefully NOT be fudged by proctors?

So without further ado: Thank you to Bev, for encouraging my daughter to experience kindergarten (and life) as a whole person, curiosity, apprehension, silliness and all, writing in pistachio or chocolate pudding, playing dress up, shaking her sillies out, bonding with boys more than girls, as she wore her girlie braids and dresses almost every day of the year. Thank you to Rich, who taught my daughter that no, she wasn’t going to get in trouble for defending herself on the playground and that science was a hands-on, fun activity that anyone could do, even if they couldn’t yet read in the first grade. Thank you to John, the teacher who built a relationship of trust with my daughter, quietly and calmly nudging her into the world of reading, recognizing she was a late bloomer, but knowing that she WOULD bloom, nonetheless, in the second grade. Tammy, our girl became more expressive, and really felt she could spread her wings in your class, even though I was in a classroom across the hall from you! To this day she remembers Fairbanks history because of the play your students presented. Lisa and Marilyn, you should see the chapter books/novels our daughter loves to read now! And you should see how well she navigates the web, knowing how to search for, locate, and apply the information she finds for her needs! She was able to have two teachers in the fourth grade thanks to you both, which helped her greatly when we moved and she was introduced to a multiple-teacher-per-grade-structure. Bryant, she’s enjoying volleyball and tennis both in and out of school because early on, she wasn’t made to feel afraid in P.E. class, and you told her that you knew she could do it. She still has her National Physical Fitness patches!

Terri, while snakes kind of gross our daughter out, she learned so much watching them, feeding them, caring for them while she was in your class. Her introduction to life away from Alaska was a smoother transition than we thought it would be because of your hands-on, humorous approach, and welcoming attitude toward all students. To the Kansas middle school staff, we never felt our daughter was just a number to you. She had her favorite teachers of course, but she felt she could come to any of you as resources for her projects, inquiries, and not only academic help, but social as well as she worked her way out of teenie-bopperdom to teenagehood. Thank you for grading her honestly, answering my emails, and teaching us how student-led conferences really don’t have to be a way of teachers bailing out of talking with parents. Our daughter continues to “dialogue” with us and others because you helped to make it normal for her to do it somewhere other than home. To the band directors in Alaska, New Mexico and Kansas, thank you for helping our girl express herself through music, associating emotions and human diversity through notes on a page.

Who will I be thanking this year? Hard to say, considering I feel like I’m in mourning as my daughter and her classmates endure the “TAKS Nazis.”

(Interesting, the images one can find on the web:)

Tags: TAKS

Reading Ms. Whatsit’s blog today reminded me of this weekend’s “Mother Goose and Grimm” funny (scroll down to 10/28/07 for the right strip) regarding NDLB (yes, N-D-L-B!)! Mike Peters is terrific!

Here’s another one for you:

It’s back, it’s back, it’sbackit’sbackit’sback!

Victoria Magazine

As for this year’s giftwrap, I’m sorely tempted by Hello Lucky’s holiday choices, fresh, slightly retro, totally cool!

No, I’m not one who sets up the tree right after Halloween (you weirdos know who you are!), and I try my darndest to stay away from malls, shopping centers, etc. after Halloween just because I hate feeling rushed past Thanksgiving by the glare of each store’s Griswald Family Christmas displays. But being part of a military family requires that I do some advance planning when it comes to gift giving. I *do* start my Christmas plans under the radar at the end of October which is coming up shortly, though I typically buy or create throughout the year, saving goodies for December, making sure to have packages mailed hither and yon the day after Thanksgiving, while everyone else is fighting the shopping mobs.

Friends and family know that I DO indulge in holiday music while I crochet, cross stitch, decorate, and yes, (eventually) shop- it just gets me in the mood. Don’t worry, you won’t hear it blasting from my truck speakers, or accosting neighbors’ ears as my kids run in and out of the house! Some of the tunes already loaded onto my iPod:

The entire John Tesh Family Christmas Album

“Christmas Wrapping” by the Waitresses…

“Let it Be Christmas” by Alan Jackson…

…and all of Windham Hill’s Winter Solstice albums.

Sitting on the couch in December, cuddled up with my family, drinking eggnog, reading
or and listening to Bing and Bowie is the time I most look forward to…

I’ve posted over at “In Practice” again, take a look!

Not sure if Jeff Foxworthy really added a list like this to his joke repertoire, but it’s fun to share and contribute to:

You might be a teacher if…

You can hear 25 voices behind you and know exactly which one
belongs to the child out of line.

You get a secret thrill out of laminating something.

You walk into a store and hear the words ‘It’s Ms/Mr. _________’
and know you have been spotted.

You have 25 people that accidentally call you Mom/Dad at one time
or another.

You can eat a multi-course meal in under twenty-five minutes.

You’ve trained yourself to go to the bathroom at two distinct
times of the day: lunch and prep period.

You start saving other people’s trash, because most likely, you
can use that toilet paper tube or plastic butter tub for something in the
classroom.

You believe the teachers’ lounge should be equipped with a
margarita machine.

You want to slap the next person who says ‘Must be nice to work 7
to 3 and have summers off.’

You believe chocolate is a food group.

You can tell if it’s a full moon without ever looking outside.

You believe that unspeakable evils will befall you if anyone says
‘Boy, the kids sure are mellow today.’

You feel the urge to talk to strange children and correct their
behavior when you are out in public.

You think caffeine should be available in intravenous form.

You spend more money on school stuff than you do on your own
children.

You can’t pass the school supply aisle without getting at least
five items!

You ask your friends if the left hand turn he just made was a
‘good choice or a bad choice.’

You find true beauty in a can full of perfectly sharpened
pencils.

You are secretly addicted to hand sanitizer.

You have an overwhelming urge to nod and say, “Now
I understand why your kid is the way they are,” after
meeting the parents.

You believe “shallow gene pool” should have its own
box on report cards.

You hand pieces of paper to your friends and make
them spit out their gum in front of you.

You correct a total stranger’s grammar errors.

Any sustained loud noise causes you to impulsively
flick the light switch on and off.

You think it’s normal to go through four years of
college to earn a salary that’s below the poverty
line.

You send another adult to detention for using
four-letter words in public… and they go.

Don’t tell me you’re not laughing! Now add to the list!

I had to sit and have an additional cup of coffee, eat breakfast, get dressed, and clean my entire house before I could determine whether or not it was prudent for me to comment on Doug’s powerful blog, “Between Scylla and Charybdis“. Prudent because I’m a military spouse, living on a military post, supportive of my family, my husband, and appreciative of all the sacrifices he has made to not only do his job, but to do it long enough to be able to provide for us when he retires. Read Doug’s post first before reading on.

The privatization issue has evolved so much, so quickly (it seems), so recently. And yes, it permeates everything. Which makes discussions in our household tense events. I’m a teacher. He’s a soldier. We regularly cancel eachothers’ votes out in each election. We do not debate whether we should be in certain countries or not. But because of our jobs, because of our observations, we are effective mirrors to one another. We understand why we each feel the way we do, and we agree to disagree at those junctions where we’re faced with the choice of escalating into an argument or going to bed, grateful we’re able to do so together while our friends and family endure their deployments. Either I’m not diplomatic enough, or I’m just too exhausted thanks to spousal shell shock and extended adrenal overload due to being married to the military (with a deployment to Iraq recently completed) and being a teacher that I purposely try to steer clear of any topic or discussion that may become heated and unproductive. Living in perpetual fight-or-flight mode is unhealthy for everyone, and we’ve all been doing it for far too long now. I can only offer here the viewpoint of a military wife with no answers or suggestions for improvement… the wife of a soldier who has actually deployed (and yes, that matters). The viewpoint of a person who has been a teacher LONGER than she’s been a military wife.

When my husband first deployed, there weren’t enough soldiers to do the job assigned. For military police action, you need military police officers. Not military band members, not military lawyers, not military cooks, just as it’s better to have me as an Early Childhood Specialist in the ECE or primary grades in school- I’m afraid I don’t think I’d be a very effective teacher in high school. Military police were spread thin (anyone try to drive on post in the last six years or so? See those “rent-a-cops” at the gates instead of “real” MP”? Yep, those jobs were contracted out so MP soldiers could be deployed.) and the first group of private security companies were at that time mostly made up of retired/veteran soldiers, police officers, etc. People with experience. Kind of sounds like our retired teachers returning to schools to sub, doesn’t it? This private security was put into places where MP either didn’t exist, or couldn’t be because there weren’t enough active duty, fully trained military police officers in our Armed Forces. It was an acceptable situation to many soldiers because they “knew these guys,” trusted their experience and backgrounds, just as we as teachers know which retired colleagues to request when the sub list is waved in our faces.

Yes, the pay of these private security staff members has been and still is a slap in the face to soldiers and their military families who face the same risks day in and day out, many living at or below poverty level. Yes, teachers aren’t compensated nearly enough. It kills me to know that if I were just paid at a babysitter’s rate, the year I had thirty-four students in my class I would have made a HIGH six-figure income. In the beginning, families were comforted by the fact that the staffing WAS made up of “qualified” veterans, people who knew and understood their spouses’ missions and responsibilities, those who had “done their time” (another thing many in the teaching field look up to), and could do the jobs that would enable soldiers to do what they needed to do more effectively. Stress and danger were experienced not only by soldiers but also by the security staff. High turnover occurred, lives were lost, those most qualified retired, but most if not all of them knew they were subject to the military code of justice, and did all they could to not put their “brothers and sisters” in harm’s way. (I know, I know, “military justice” is its own debate, and I’m NOT getting into it.)

As my husband puts it, “qualified and highly trained MP take a long time to grow.” It’s the same with teachers. And what has happened in education? Here in Texas many districts hire new teachers who worked in another field, took part in a quickie teacher certification program, and now less than a year later, are having fun forcing the TAKS down students’ throats with no clue about the dis-service they’re truly providing year ’round. Funny, the districts’ scores still aren’t improving. Nor are the tests being thrown out after careful scrutiny and review. Apparently with this revolution, those in power want public education to excel at being ineffective. And too many people in our nation are allowing it.

Who has replaced the MP and the qualified security staff of time-not-so-long-ago? Soldiers from other career fields who have had to take “quickie” soldier training to operate as MP. Can you see a clarinet player from the military band doing the job as effectively as a twenty-year-veteran of paratrooping MP service can? What other replacements have we had? Mercenaries, and many of them “wanna be” mercenaries, made up of young hotheads, or those soldiers kicked out of the military for conduct unbecoming a soldier or officer. And they get the big paycheck while not feeling too terribly inclined to follow a code of conduct as representatives of this country. As partners to our soldiers. As professional and frankly, personal, KIN.

Oh yes, my husband and I mirror eachother in so many ways. And there’s one thing we agree on: this privatization revolution isn’t working, it isn’t helping. And no one is stopping it. Yes, we’re between a rock and a hard place.

Tags: TAKS

The kids and I encountered the Spider House on our return-drive from Target yesterday. We searched for and found the springform pan needed for this weekend’s attempt at a pumpkin cheesecake.

The Spider House appeared after the decision to alter our route home to include a more scenic drive. Getting the spiders hung must have been some TRICK!

As for the desired “treat,” my mother started a bad thing when she bought wingback chairs for her home years ago. Today I stumbled across these treasures when looking through the MacKenzie-Child’s Catalog, “For the Holidays 2007:”

IwantIwantIwant…. I…w…a…n…t…..

We have a toddler after an eleven year hiatus, which means I get to be “Mommy” for a bit longer instead of just “Ma” or “Mom” or the dreaded “Yes, *sigh*, THAT’S my mother…” A few more Octobers of contemplating whether or not to make trick-or-treating costumes by hand, or to give in to the aisles and aisles of alter-ego personalities available at Walmart (I’ve discovered Old Navy’s costumes are cute, cute, cute!). More years of watching Halloween-themed videos (now dvd’s), reading Halloween books to someone other than my students, and using pumpkins for more than just decor.

Our toddler’s favorites this month? Pumpkin Pie and
of course! Decorating with many of Shannon’s handcrafted holiday items has given the boy more than one pumpkin vignette to enjoy as well:

I think we have MORE than Five Little Pumpkins!

Tags: Halloween, home decor, toddler

Okay, okay…. I’ll admit I’m partial to the kitty dressed as a penguin…

Alice tagged me for a “Great Education Podcast” meme! Taking this year “off” from teaching means I get to be in charge of my own professional development and educational explorations, so feel free to follow the links, turn up your volume, and listen in to what *this* kindergarten teacher has been enjoying lately!

*Phyllis Ferguson’s podcast, Download “Stop the Pendulum, I Want to Get Off” discusses how fear impacts children and teachers in the classroom and advocates for teachers to have “pervasive caring” towards their students.