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.

Detox: The End!

David and I decided last Saturday to end our Detox. I know we didn't make it the full 21 days, but we did complete two weeks of it. In the end, it was more of a hassle than anything else. We did however learn some valuable lessons from the whole process
Here is what we've learned:

• Eat more vegetables! I'm adding some edamame to our list of favorite vegetables. I've grown addicted to it and could eat it all the time. David on the other hand is protesting all vegetables!
• Eat less! Our portions of food have become smaller and we don't snack as much as we used to. I've actually not gone to get my Doritos yet but am still craving them. Hopefully, these are just natural cravings, and not a sign that little Detox is on his way!
• Don't eat out as much! David is dying with this one. I've had to create new rules with this aspect of our lives. We are allowed to eat out on Saturdays and Sunday afternoon, ONLY! One Friday night, before the detox, I made a pizza and it was actually good. So we will continue this and probably make it a family tradition. We even eat leftovers the following night or at least within that same week. If you know David and see him this week, give him a huge hug. He needs it with his wife being such a food Nazi now.

Hopefully we are able to remember all these as we continue off this program. I have high hopes for us!

Detox: Day 9-11

There are many words that I would like to give this program, but unfortunately they are no more than 4 letters and are not appropriate. It's amazing, when I was on a bland diet over the summer it did not bother me. A lot of chicken, cooked vegetables, applesauce, yogurt, whole wheat carbs, anything easy to digest; NOT A PROBLEM! Shakes, pills, chicken, organic vegetables, and some fruit; PROBLEM! I guess because I was not the one to initiate this and am just being supportive, my heart is not in it. I crave everything under the moon and I know it does not help David. I feel like the worst wife ever, because I'm ready to call it quits and I know he's easy to tempt.
The program says that you are to see the following things while on this and here's how I feel:

• Lose Weight= Check- I've leveled out at 5 lbs, and David has leveled out at about 10 lbs. If you look at him, you can really tell that he's lost in his face and stomach area. He looks awesome!
• More Energy= Failed- I've actually felt less energetic while on this. On Monday, I was still stuffy and dragging after resting a lot this past weekend. So Tuesday, I quit taking the Complete powder that comes with the program and replaced it with the liquid vitamin that David and I were taking before. I've felt so much more energy throughout my day. So I've continued the vitamins and am okay that I'm cheating in this aspect.
• Trained Yourself to Eat Better= Depends- I've also added Kashi Heart to Heart Cereral back for my snacks, which is nothing different for me from before this program. With all the vegetables/shakes that I was eating/drinking, I just couldn't seem to fill up. With adding that and continuing to eat chicken other times, I've noticed that I don't eat as much. So although I'm craving all these foods, I would like to think that my smaller portions are under control. I will though be going to buy a small bag of Doritos next week!
• Better Health= Questionable- While I was taking everything and eating only veggies, I was sick. I was still stuffy at the beginning of the week. The day that I took my liquid vitamin, I was no longer stuffy that afternoon. Did my whatever just run it's course or was this program not helping aide in the fight? Since then I've been great. I've even had 6 students go home sick with the flu this week, and have felt nothing! ALWAYS A POSITIVE!!!

With all of this said, David and I question quitting every step we take. It's seriously more of a battle than anything. I can handle my sixth graders better than I can this, which I know doesn't say a lot. We came close last night to quitting, but David backed out when he knew that I would blog about it. So we've decided that we can make it until next Friday and will probably never do this again! If you're questioning on whether or not you should do something like this, my greatest advice is that your heart has to be in it. In fact, we have tons of material still left! ;)

Detox: Day 5-8

There have been many changes to our wonderful little detox, besides the many mood swings that come with it.

Health: We're still stuffy and coughing, but getting better. We finally had to cave in for poor David, and take him to the doctor's office on Sunday. Thankfully, we have him on some antibiotics. I've been able to get better on my own. Although, I went to school today with tons of hacking and sneezing on everything. A few had fevers, and were still sent back to class. I had about three boys that just found a corner and slept in my room. Hopefully, my body will not go backwards since it has not fully recovered.

Pounds: David has lost about 10 pounds and I've lost about 5. I'm amazed at the fact that I've had the flu, some sort of stomach problem, and detox all within one year and have worked my way back down to my high school weight. Although I see what the scale tells me, but then I look at my body, and totally don't believe it. I guess I shouldn't argue with the scale, though. I mean they don't lie right?

Meals: Okay, so we've cheated. We've been invited to spend Valentine's Day with David's family. WE'RE THRILLED, not only to spend time with them, BUT IT ALLOWS US TO END THIS THING TWO DAYS EARLY! Therefore, in our heads it makes sense to add meat back into our schedule, two days earlier. Tonight we added meat back, and our world was rocked. We decided to go to Outback and share a steak. It was good, but our taste buds were a little out of their element; we're not used to all the spices. We had vegetables and sweet potato for our sides, both things that are on our list of 'Okay'. Our stomachs have also shrunk, because we definitely did not eat as much as we usually do, which is a positive. We also realized over the weekend that I was reading our list of 'Okays' incorrectly, and we could have been having brown rice and lentils. We tried Basmati (a type of brown rice) last night and I actually think that I prefer it to brown rice. I've realized that there are some foods out there that I like on this detox, but am not sure that I like the price tag that comes with it. With the shakes, food, and snacks that I've been consuming my body has been pretty full until recently. It has probably started within the last two days, but my body seems to never be getting enough. I'm not quite sure what to do, but keep snacking on carrots and other things more. Although does this defeat the purpose of us learning how to cut back on our portions?

Cravings: We are still craving everything in the world. Our program says that it should have calmed down if not have stopped by now; I laugh everytime I think of this. For some strange reason, I'm still craving Doritos the most. The weird thing is that I rarely/never ate them when I was not detoxing.

Pills: Yesterday we finished our cleanse pills and today started our green food pills. Don't feel any different with them.

We have two weeks left and depending on the day, it determines who wants to quit. It never seems to fail, one day David wants to quit and I'm the strong one. Then the next day, we've reversed roles and just laugh at each other. It's funny to see our moods change within a few hours.