Peabey the Bear Kit - Polar from KnitPicks.com

Peabey the Bear Kit - Polar from KnitPicks.com

Teenage boys are a challenge. They wiggle and giggle ( yes they do), gab and fidget and they love gaseous explosions of all types.Most of the time I can rope them in and ride herd until they learn some small smattering of the topic. However Impact is different here they are to work to keep grades up and lately it has been a challenge. They are here because they do not care and their attitude is apparent. Now they are not really defiant but it is constant irritation, giggle, talk, bait each and in general can not sit still. they have ever been thus , and in my career they as a group have not changed. It is I believe tied to hormones (lol).

Teen age girls on the other hand have changed. In the past and in many cases today they are the teacher pleasers and still are in many cases. But that is changing since they are equal?? in sports etc. They are becoming equals or out doing boys in foul language and antisocial behavior but for the most part this is not in the classroom. Any ideas why? One recent statistic stated that women now commit more violent crime thanmales and often those crimes are toward spouses and children. Girls have always fought with their mouths and with their memories the fight goes on for years. At a 50 year reunion they will recall the ugly prom dress of a classmate with venom. Now thought they often take a swing at an enemy and a true brutal fight results. Believe even football coaches fear breaking up a female fight.

OK IT MUST BE FRIDAY. I am usually not so negative.Also With two students hospitalized for serious disease or injury and the loss of my aunt, these brooding thoughts are uppermost for the moment. Guess I will turn them into a spiritual exercise and pray for a positive attitude to return.

Have not been here for awhile and being busy is not real excuse. Just have done what I should ;somewhat like my students. Well, guess I am human after all.

Lost the last living relative in the aunt and uncle category Saturday night. Mary was 97 and had led a good life. She was the farmer of the three children in her family and my memories of her are related to her garden and her horse drawn plow. She was one of those strong women who survived and did without the drama. Her life was family, and she and her husband Park cared for her parents. Goodbye Mayme you are loved still.

Her passing signaled the end of the generation. My cousins and I are now the older generation. This means that I have to readjust my thinking about myself. Not actually as I accept my age but now there is no one to look back too. My children are far from children as the youngest turns 40 this July. Where does time go?

So here I am pondering the past and wondering about the future and knowing that only it is today and what I do with that matters. One is gone and the other is not yet here. Is that not how the old saying goes? Tonight I will attend parent teachers conferences no matter how short a time as that matters.


My mind is wandering all over. One ex student is published ( makes 2 out of the fall creative writing class), another is suffering from junior year college boredom, and still another is critical in the hospital after a car accident and two surgeries. Hard to focus on any one of them for a long time. ADHD teacher style has hit. They the students touch our lives if we really care about our jobs and you know they respond in kind. If they feel we really care,then they care. As Martha says that is a good thing.

Allowing people in is a dangerous undertaking and you have to be strong enough to take the hits that happen when you allow yourself to care. You will be hurt but hopefully not scarred.Yet when it works out the feeling of accomplishment is like little else in the world. Opening your spirit and mind can allow you to give to others and to receive when they return the care, It is an unbelievable enrichment to the quality of your life--- wheter it is a student, a colleague or just afirend outside the realm of work. My adivce give caring and openness a try.

stabenow. tai chi and me

Driving to school today going 35 in a 35mph hour zone I was passed by an impatient driver who went two blocks and turned. Such a hurry in a residential area with a rest home also could lead to accidents. Coming home from my night classes going speed limit or 5 over I am often passed by cars going much faster whose turn is the next road or two roads up. The boys in my impact class brag about the speeds they reach on the roads( granted I listen to this with a grain of salt). Why the need for speed?

Not only speed on the road but also students wish they were 18 which seems to be magical self sustaining adulthood. Not so as we who have reached and passed the magical door can attest and besides at 18 they want to be 21. The grass is greener syndrome is rampant in the world.

Recently I began tai chi. This is an exercise in movement that is fluid and not rushed. It looks easy , but when done correctly it can make one aware of muscles that have been dormant. even the warm up exercises cause me to slow down and become aware of my surroundings. At present I am working on parting the wild horse's mane stance which is a relatively easy movement but placing the legs correctly and remembering not to lift my shoulders or tun my head takes concentration. So the leg muscles ache and the mental strain is also there. Finished with ten minutes my entire body is awake and I am relaxed.
This comes not from the speed or number of repeats but from on the desire to do it well as it should be done. The slow fluidity is a blessing.

My desire to try tai ch comes from watching it in Calendar Girls and other venues and more so from reading about it in Dana Stabenow's Liam Campbell books. So I am stretching mind and body in a new way/ the slow fluidity of the forms allows me to meditate as I work out. My mind opens to the surroundings and I am more aware of sounds, smells, etc. It gives me time to "smell the roses". so the rush mentality of fellow drivers and my students puzzle me. Why run so fast you miss out on so much beauty around you. There is no answer for that question but I have chosen to to drive the speed limit and slow down a bit to be more aware of things and people around me. They enrich my life and are worth the time.

Driving to mass today the thought came to me that ido not feel the age my birth certificate reads. I really do not know what age I feel. I am beyond the uncertanities of the teens and the angst of the twenties. the thirties are an era of selfknowledge whenthe maturity settles in and becomes comfortable. Still I love new experiences as I did in my teens, the learning of new things in depth of my twenties and the self knowledge I came tooin my thirties and the sense of comleteness and contentment of the forties and fifities. Truthfully I am all these ages in any day as my taste in music ,books and life experiences demonstrates to any one who knows me. Perhaps it is this multilayered world view that cultures( not necessarily ours)call wisdom. I would not go back to any previous age, but am grateful for the lessons learned during their tenure. Today I am me whoever that is ;viewed differently by each person in my life I am sure but I hope viewed with love and friendship.

Several of my circle of people have been going through tough times. It is not easy when we are being tested and coming through the fire purifies us and our faith. However during the test it is hard to see that the end makes us better and wiser. Saw a sign recently that said the teacher is quiet during a test. That thought encourages me and allows me to be there for them in person and in prayer. Whatever happens it is part of the plan though we may not understand why it is as tough as it is as we edure.

This warm winter has fooled my daylilies and some daffodils to begin to push up green shoots. In fact some trees are budding. Winter may still hit us hard and what will happen to these early bloomers who are pushing forward. I do not want to lose my flowers but how can I stop the false spring they are responding to. I find myself enjoying the warmer winter especially as I drive tonight classes. But when we get an icy blast , will I be ready. Has the warmth of this winter softened our resistance to the storms when they come. Has contentment softened our endurance for the trials to come.

So maybe I am coming into the wisdom stage that will help meweather whatever storms may come/

Ok Monday went well. Spanish 1 at McPherson was great. They ask questions enough that I know what they are struggling with . This class will learn. French so far this am is great. However they are not asking questions and they have 2 tests this week ( French2). I wonder what French 1 will be like. Oh well the surprises of teaching always keep me alert.

Fog this am as I drove to school made the drive a bit spooky. In some lower areas it was dense ,but there were large areas where it had lifted. So driving alertly was a definite plus. One student came in saying it was too dangerous to come to school driving in the fog and had he been killed he would sue the school. Think he might become the future Brownback with that type of logic. However I must remember that this is a student who brags about driving 100mph most of the time so not much common sense going on in that head.

Have two granddaughters in spring musicals. One March 30 at the end of spring break is doable if the weather continues as it is. Snow in any form will kill the drive to that one. the other requires a trip to Indiana and getting flights to and from that fit my schedule and theirs is not easy but I really want to go. living away from the action is not easy when things like this come up but usually I can make it work and it will be easier when I fully retire.

Some things are rumbling around in my brain so there be another blog today when I get my thoughts sorted out.

Gov. Brownback's plan to post teachers’ rankings causes outcry; GOP senator describes plan as 'toxic'

January 26, 2012

Topeka — Gov. Sam Brownback has formally introduced his 138-page school finance overhaul, and it includes a provision that Brownback officials had not discussed before publicly: a proposal to evaluate teachers, partly based on student achievement, and post their rankings on the Internet.

That plan received a rough welcome on Thursday from several Republican and Democratic legislators and the Kansas National Education Association.

State Sen. Jean Kurtis Schodorf, R-Wichita, and chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee, described the evaluation proposal as “pretty toxic.”

She noted the Kansas Department of Education was already working on a new model aimed at providing uniformity across the state in evaluating school personnel. That program is being tried in several school districts.

Brownback’s plan would require school districts to adopt teacher evaluations that would be based 50 percent on student performance on state assessments, 40 percent on input from supervisors, peers, parents and students, and 10 percent on the employees’ contribution to the profession.

Teachers would be graded as either highly effective, effective, progressing or ineffective. And the evaluations would be posted on a website.

Brownback has proposed providing $5,000 bonuses to employees rated as highly effective. For those deemed ineffective, school districts would be encouraged to provide professional development. And districts could terminate anyone scoring ineffective for two straight years. Students could not be taught by teachers ranked as ineffective for two consecutive years.

“Including input from parents and families in the evaluation process will encourage more meaningful engagement between educators and students’ families,” said Jon Hummell, director of operations for Brownback.

“It is also important for parents to have confidence their child is receiving a quality education. Therefore, this legislation would require that each educator’s rating be posted on a website designated by the school district that is accessible to the parents of the students enrolled in the district,” he said.

But placing teacher evaluations on a website will only hinder efforts by teachers to improve and the work of administrators who are trying to make personnel decisions, said Mark Desetti, a lobbyist with the Kansas National Education Agency.

He added that teachers already feel under attack because of pay issues, cuts in school funding, proposed changes to their pensions and increased health insurance costs.

“This is strictly punitive and harmful,” Desetti said of Brownback’s plan.

The evaluation proposal is included in Brownback’s legislation to overhaul the school finance system. Brownback wants to remove state limits on local funding of schools and eliminate the current system of using “weights” that divvies up extra funding for special needs of students.

Schodorf said she would probably divide Brownback’s bill into four measures. She said the best way to get things passed is to keep legislation as simple as possible. Brownback’s education bill, she said, “Probably sets the record for moving parts.”


had to post this and ask everyone is this why people raise their eyebrows when the word kansas comes up and the scary thing is this man will be relected because so many vote ticket not the man. if they had listened as he spoke before this election it would have been obvious where he was going. enough said. promise to stay apolitical form now on.