Performance Based Pay

I fully believe that teachers should be held accountable for what goes on in our classroom, and the amount of learning our children gain in a year. We all understand that an easy way to be able to monitor a teacher's effectiveness is to have something that will give you simple data. The state/federal system is right, a multiple choice answer test will give you simple data. Although from a teacher's point-of-view, I fear the mention of performance based pay. Here are the reasons why.

Here's one thing that those higher up don't get. Reading/Social Studies teachers will no longer teach anything but how to read a passage, and then answer a question by picking and choosing one answer out of 4 given ones. Math/Science teachers will no longer teach through exploring and coming up with answers on your own, they will show you how to read a question and then pick and choose one answer out of 4 given ones. How do I know this? Because this is every teacher at least a month before their state assessment.

Here's a second thing that they don't get. This test is given and looked at based off of one day in my classroom. On any given day here are some of the things that my students might deal with: getting kicked out of their apartment because they couldn't pay rent, dad/mom (usually there is just a mom) didn't come home last night for whatever reason, I had to get my brother/sister up, breakfast eaten, and ready for school that's why I'm late and couldn't get myself ready, we didn't have any food in the house and I'm really hungry, gun shots woke me up last night (literally one of my student's experiences last year), my dad/mom was taken to jail yesterday now we live with person (another real life experience), and the list could continue. You can not judge my students nor myself based solely on one test. If you want to judge me and my students, give them a test at the beginning of the year, the middle of the year, and the end of the year and see how they grow. Those that make and administer these tests don't seem to take into account how these external factors can affect a student's situation.

Here's a third thing that they don't get. Are these student's college professors going to give them only muliple choice answer test? I can't even begin to tell you how many blue books I had to buy in college, and I had to be able to write a complete sentence. Are these student's job applications going to be multiple choice options? "Please choose out of the following answer choices as to why we should hire you." Are the situations that these students are likely to face in their careers going to consist of multiple choice answers? "I'm going to need for you to circle the correct answer choice for the following proposal by next Tuesday." If I try to do anything creative in my class, I get the deer in the headlights look for at least an hour. If I give my students a multiple choice answer test, it will be done within minutes. My students HATE me, because I make them answer all questions using complete sentences, and then I show them the multiple choice answers and have them match theirs up with the one given.

I fear our country will slowly begin to decline in advanced thinking. All due to the fact that our future leaders are not being challenged to be thinkers, they are being challenged to be test takers. Life does not present you with four clear choices to every problem.

Eleven more Mondays

I'm sad to see Spring Break end, it never seems like enough time. I joked with everyone that I believe God cut the hours in our day from 24 to 15. I'm quite serious, and continually talk to him about this. While on a good note, he's brought to my attention that I only have 11 more Mondays until summer.
My Spring Break started off with spending a great time with my parents and sister. The only thing that was missing was David and Paul. David had to stay and work. He says he has to work extra hard, and try to make enough money to support my spending habits while I'm off from work. I believe I saw a few posters with my picture and the headlines 'Don't Sell to this Girl for ANY Reason!' at a few Targets and Sonics. Daisy Mae went with me, and of course loved the spoiled time from her grandparents. Everything to them was so cute, we are still having to re-train her. David on the other hand was not used to how quiet the house is without us girls. In fact, I think he actually missed us and our noises (even the bitching).
I came back on Monday afternoon, to spend the next few days on our back porch reading books, daily attending Sonic's Happy Hour (What a rush that is! A large for .80$, can't get better than that.), having to go to Target daily, getting frozen yogurt with the greatest niece and nephew, all followed by more reading on the porch. I had the greatest time, and the best weather to enjoy it in.
On Friday, David and I dropped Daisy Mae off at her other grandparent's house and headed to the Hilton that is only 15 miles away. Although we were in the same town, it was so relaxing. We walked the trail around the hotel, actually had conversations that were not interupted, went to a nice dinner, sat in a hot tub, had dessert and champagne, and had breakfast the next morning. I would highly recommend this to anyone who feels like they need to get away from the hum-drum of everyday life.
This weekend, was filled with planting flowers, dinner with family, church with friends, more shopping, and just enjoying life. I'm so truly blessed to have had a wonderful Spring Break and am so grateful to everyone that helped me enjoy it! You all will never be able to know how much I needed it. So now here's to 11 more Mondays...

There is a GOD!!!

That's right ladies and gentlemen, my faith in God has been restored. Yesterday, we found a yogurt place called Tutti Frutti. It's located off of Pipeline, near Northeast Mall. It's next to the Sprint and Chipotle store. They had more flavors of yogurt than previous places we've been to. However, I stuck with my original and topped it off with strawberries and kiwi. So next week during Spring Break, if you are trying to find me, I will be at Tutti Frutti for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Slow Down...

I remember sitting in Bible Study about a month ago, going over our current study Making Room for Life. We sat there boasting about our life and how we were able to do this and to do that, because we had plenty of time for everything. Boy, have I learned to shut my mouth! It seems as though, we haven't been able to sit down since then. Thankfully, we were given a nice break on Sunday. David taught our Bible Study class (He did great by the way!), went out to lunch with some friends, then went for a lovely walk with Daisy Mae, and then decided to have David's family over for dinner. Unfortunately, today has seemed to pick up again. In our study, we've read about this man who has based his family life upon the Hebrew law. In this law, he says that you are to work from 6 a.m.-6 p.m. At 6 p.m. all work, including house work is to stop (I'm all for this, but realistically it doesn't work.). From 6-8 p.m., you are to have dinner, which includes preparation, the actual meal/discussions, and clean-up. From 8-10 p.m. is to be family/quiet time. Throughout this time, you can watch minimal T.V., read books, play games, pray, listen to music, etc. I believe that this sounds ideal, but unfortunately many of our jobs don't go by the Hebrew law. What I've taken from this is to make the most of the time that you have, no matter how big or small.