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What Did You Do For Your Education/Career Today?

aanallein said:
Ya I could see how schoolwide scores could impact funding which would in turn cause more layoffs. They shouldn't ever be used to personally evaluate teachers though but I know that they are. I go pulled out by administrators because my scores were the highest in the district and they wanted to know why. Then the next year they were pretty bad in 1 subject and great in another and medium in a third. It's all random..
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And the major problem is that the ones actually taking those tests do not care. They have no impact on grades, on school success, or whatever. There is no value to the tests to the ones who take the tests. Therefore, they guess just because they don't see the need for the effort it takes to slog through all those reading excerpts.:(:(
 
animal_cookie said:
can you get creative with how you are meeting the standards? i might have an activity that is very loosely centered around a standard while still doing things how i want. the most frustrating part of my job is how heavily the school relies on direct instruction (word for word scripts) and aligning those to multiple standards (the lessons tend to be very repetitive and focus on one thing).
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I can and I always did before, when I taught out in a district that had funds for projects and such. That was 6 years ago when I started and there were a lot more creative opportunities. Creative costs money though. The few creative things I've been able to do with my urban students I had to pay for myself. Direct instruction works fine in a college where mature people are paying to be there and willing to take notes. Direct instruction is the LEAST effective but at this point I wish they would just give me direct instruction scripts because then I would follow them closely and someone else would have to take the blame for the kids lack of interest. I am expected to write all my own lesson plans for all high school grades and they are all due at the beginning of every month and no one on the board nor any of my supervisors or administrators go over my plans and give me any feedback. They just waited until a week ago, called me into the office, and three of them put me on blast for about two hours. I was such a mess after the meeting I had to be taken to the emergency room and I am currently on disability as a result of the meeting and my inability to deal with the things they said to me.
 
^i spend so much money on my students that i wonder how much actual money ends up in my checking account. i admire you for teaching high school, especially in an urban environment. that is something i could never do. i teach in a seclude classroom for kids with autism spectrum disorders at a private school.

as for testing, i think its a load of crap. i could go on about it but i should prolly get shit ready for tomorrow.
 
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I hardly spend anything. I just can't justify it. We're already paid so little and the amount for salaries and supplies goes down so much every year. This year I think I've spend like 20 bucks aside from work clothes. Last year I didn't spend a dime. The year before I probably spent about 500$..


And ugly I totally agree.. we spend 160 or so instructional days gearing up as hard as possible for the test then invest billions into these testing companies and different data programs and spend 5 school days administering it (more for retakes) and then base our entire education system's "success" on the data which is laboriously evaluated by thousands of people... and for what? Most kids fill in C and take a nap. WTFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF. The education system isn't failing we just have no real data! My kids know tons of stuff and we have a great time! Will the test reflect that? Nope!
 
ugly said:
I can and I always did before, when I taught out in a district that had funds for projects and such. That was 6 years ago when I started and there were a lot more creative opportunities. Creative costs money though. The few creative things I've been able to do with my urban students I had to pay for myself. Direct instruction works fine in a college where mature people are paying to be there and willing to take notes. Direct instruction is the LEAST effective but at this point I wish they would just give me direct instruction scripts because then I would follow them closely and someone else would have to take the blame for the kids lack of interest. I am expected to write all my own lesson plans for all high school grades and they are all due at the beginning of every month and no one on the board nor any of my supervisors or administrators go over my plans and give me any feedback. They just waited until a week ago, called me into the office, and three of them put me on blast for about two hours. I was such a mess after the meeting I had to be taken to the emergency room and I am currently on disability as a result of the meeting and my inability to deal with the things they said to me.
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did you have a union rep present?
 
aanallein said:
did you have a union rep present?
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Charters don't have unions. And they caught me offguard by saying that Jim wanted to talk to me in the office for a minute. Once I got in there, two other administrators came in and shut the door behind them. One sat and wrote everything we said down. Longhand. She's a high school drop out who is serving as principal because she is related to everyone there. The whole place is a family operation which is working against me too. I have learned NEVER to go into a meeting without representation and I hope to remind everybody on this board that if you are called into a meeting and they start to attack you and you have no one to be on your side, get out! I got effed up the butt that day because I did not see it coming. I thought everything was pretty ok up until then. And I don't know that all those long hand notes are even close to what was actually said. ANd they won't give me a copy of the notes.
 
aanallein said:
I hardly spend anything. I just can't justify it. We're already paid so little and the amount for salaries and supplies goes down so much every year. This year I think I've spend like 20 bucks aside from work clothes. Last year I didn't spend a dime. The year before I probably spent about 500$..


And ugly I totally agree.. we spend 160 or so instructional days gearing up as hard as possible for the test then invest billions into these testing companies and different data programs and spend 5 school days administering it (more for retakes) and then base our entire education system's "success" on the data which is laboriously evaluated by thousands of people... and for what? Most kids fill in C and take a nap. WTFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF. The education system isn't failing we just have no real data! My kids know tons of stuff and we have a great time! Will the test reflect that? Nope!
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aanallein, you are totally so right. My students know tons of stuff that won't be tested. It makes me feel as though our government planned these tests out knowing full well from the beginning it would ruin our schools. Why would they do that? I'm thinking to try to get private schools to become more popular so that it would be less strain on the government's budget.
 
^No, the government really did just do a completely inept job of it.

My job for a couple years was directly dealing with state standards from all over the country, and they are almost all complete hodgepodges of bullshit. I personally managed tens of thousands of NCLB records, and I can say with 100% certainty that neither the standards nor the testing have improved student or teacher performance. In many instances, grades went down. Mostly it's just a cash cow for unscrupulous tutoring companies. The Cleveland, OH school district got ripped off for almost half a million dollars one year - and then they had to pay us several thousand more to completely change their NCLB software so it was harder to cheat. And then people still tried to cheat them... Our company SINGLE-HANDEDLY, with NO government help, and with no financial incentive started a database to help school districts identify companies that are ripoffs. The gov't hasn't just dropped the ball, they deflated it, threw it on a fire, and then pissed on the ashes.


For my education today, I sat in a damn laboratory for 4 hours waiting for bacteria to grow.
 
Nclb petition

Submitted for your consideration:

"An open letter asking the Committee on Education & Labor to broaden the testimony and evidence being considered for the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (No Child Left Behind). It asks that unintended but likely negative consequences of the proposed policies be considered. It also asks that progressive and democratic educational traditions be considered as alternatives that would avoid these negative consequences while improving the educational experiences of all students. This letter will be delivered to the Committee by email on March 26, 2010. Inappropriate or offensive comments will not be included. Please forward this open letter to others who may want to sign on."

Should you decide to help with the cause, those of you who might care about this issue, sign the petition

I signed because I am a teacher and I am very unhappy with the teacher layoffs that just keep coming and keep coming actually and not so much for what a ship-sinking load NCLB is.
 
Today a journal asked me for a revision of an article I sent them last year. If I do a good job I think it will probably be published. It's important that I get in to this journal sometime this year so today and for the next week at least I'm working on the paper. The peer review process is a very strange thing.
 
satricion said:
Today a journal asked me for a revision of an article I sent them last year. If I do a good job I think it will probably be published. It's important that I get in to this journal sometime this year so today and for the next week at least I'm working on the paper. The peer review process is a very strange thing.
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Congrats!

I am too am waiting for a response from a journal that should come this month....hoping and hoping...

in the mean time, I wrote an abstract today, despite being horribly nauseated and feeling terrible over all
 
eh, political science so not much of a discipline lol... damn fake science i got scammed in to studying, yourself?

(its an undergrad journal, so no big deal but it is subscribed to by big research uni's such as harvard, stanford, uc's, etc) its my first pub so I am a bit excited but it is about drugs (though a damn good paper) so I hope this isn't killing my career but probably. Fuck it lol. If they can't handle the realities presented, they are just hypocrites anyways...
 
I wish you well in getting that thing published! Definitely something to be proud of.

Today I finished up my history and religion essays which are due Monday. It feels soooooo good to have these out of the way so my weekend is free.
 
oh sociology is much more legit. I mean, its a study of people, I think very real. Everyone says politics is bullshit so what is the study of that? lol Political science tries to find patters, relations, etc that are then reproducible to a degree, basically trying to make predictions. Yet I've been told over and over again by poli sci professors that predictions are 99% impossible. I am not sure if my department is just weak, but all the profs I've met in it suck.

I feel that political science basically is a study of current political systems. In turn, it reproduces those systems, maintaining the statues quo. It is pretty disgusting and I find myself less and less attracted to the field.

Poly sci tries to take a scientific approach yet it is impossible to really use the scientific method. Sociology, form my understanding, is divided in to qualitative and quantitative. Quantitative I am not so much a fan. Qualitative, I think, provides useful insight in to society and people. I know a really legit prof an his ta who both were poli sci, said fuck it, and switched to soc.
 
Well, the critique you've just made of political science could also be made of bad sociology. I think you've described bad social science, but I don't think all political science is like that. Your critique is basically a critique of positivist social science, which I would agree with. But the best sociology and the best political science isn't like that.

To me, political science is the study of power relationships and and the working of institutions. In that it shares a lot with sociology, but political theory is more specific, with more focus on the state etc. I know a few political science PhD students and when I discuss theory with them we can understand each other, although we do come from different perspectives which reflect the different canons that we've read. Ultimately I don't think the disciplines are that different, they just address concerns in a different way.

Sociology is also much broader than political science, in that there is 'political sociology', 'cultural sociology', 'sociology of health', 'sociology of gender' etc etc etc. Identity crises are also common in sociology. Sociologists are always trying to figure out what the hell our discipline actually is (I think this is a positive and healthy thing since it leads to reflexivity). There was a time when the social sciences (including economics) were not considered different disciplines. The differences between them reflect the way they've been institutionalised more than anything else.
 
I am planning on getting some work done today on the three essays that need to be in in a fortnights time. One essay on writing, one on medieval lit and one on poetry...I have neglected my work over the Easter hols so I really need to get my head down now.

Im not making the mistake of taking speed this time, last time I had a wee bit too much and filled a 1500 word essay with what could only be described as meaningless waffle.
 
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i had my first *professional* job interview this morning! i graduated from nursing school in december, and became licensed in february. unfortunately, those nurses with no experience are pariahs of the hospital, as of late.

anyway. a 'graduate nurse' position opened up at a local hospital (i am a graduate nurse until i have about 1 year of experience. i applied online on a friday, and then on monday drove my butt up there to meet with the nurse manager and hand over a resume in person. she asked if i was free for an interview today.

i dressed to the nines this morning! sensible grey heels, nice black slacks, cute white shirt and a black blazer, along with some nice neutral eye makeup. i arrived 5 minutes early, but she was busy. she came and got me about 10 minutes later.

she asked me a few scenario questions (what would you do if a patient ______?) and the classic 'where do you see yourself in 1 year? 5 years?'

TL;DR

in the end, she told me she got a good feeling from me and she thought i'd be a good fit for this busy floor. she told me i'd hear back next week.

EEP!

i might finally be working as a nurse!!!!
 
Got a lot of things done but in this job its just an endless stream of paperwork and small tasks to accomplish. Everyday it feels like I empty my inbox only to have it fill up again by the end of the day.
 
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