in "MY" opinion.......................

i guess all posts should begin with these words....
in "MY" opinion.

so hhhhheeeeerrrrreeeee we go!!!!
(fond remembrances of trivia played with my sons at the sports bar!)

what is wrong with education today?

i don't mean to go off on a rant, but in "MY" opinion it goes back to 2 things:

#1 removal of prayer in the classroom

#2 removal of the paddle in the classroom

first let's talk about prayer:

i remember the time when our teaching day started with a prayer.

we also said a prayer before we went to eat lunch.

in this present day, that could be the only reference to GOD in many of these children's lives.

how sad it is when you ask kids where or IF they go to church.
no wonder they don't know how to act.

i was in my second year of teaching when we went from being able to say a prayer and show some gratitude and reverence for our MAKER, to the useless "minute of silence".

have any of you ever witnessed the so-called minute of silence?
not a pretty sight in most classrooms.
...........................................................................................................

and now about the paddle--or more commonly referred to as corporal punishment.

i know i am preaching to the choir here, but when we took the paddle out of the CLASSROOM it all began to crumble.

i started teaching when you could actually jerk a kid up, give him/her a swat right there in the classroom, and sit him/her down in the desk, tears and all.

now that was discipline! and you only had to do it once or twice and never again that year. kids saw that you would NOT tolerate improper behavior, and they would toe the line!

and the parents actually supported you! more amazing, they EXPECTED their kids to behave.

can you new teachers even comprehend that concept?

AND you didn't get called into the office to "write it up", or have a conference with the parent where you had to defend what you did with "documentation" and "what have you tried".

it was simple...they misbehaved and they paid the price for it. students saw there were consequences for their behavior. novel idea, huh?

then things began to change.............

phase 1 - the beginning of the downfall:

after that, we had to take them out in the hall to administer punishment.

the purpose of the hallway was to keep from embarrassing the kid. of course, the way he was behaving didn't embarrass him, so why should we be concerned about whether the punishment embarrasses him? i still haven't figured that one out.

but that was still pretty effective as the sound reverberated down the hall and everyone was put on alert--"somebody just got it!" there was usually some outcry of pain that accompanied the punishment.

we also sent them right back into the classroom.
no going to the bathroom and washing the tears off their face.

and they behaved, not just the offender, but also the rest of the school!

i think students thought using the paddle was a contagious thing among teachers.

once one of us did it, we all were more likely to do it!

phase 2 - the downfall continues:

following the move to the hall, we could only paddle if we had a witness.

even that was acceptable, because we had to go get another teacher out of her classroom. when the kids heard the sounds they all wanted to know about it when the witnessing teacher returned to her classroom.

phase 3 - (feel the authority crumbling down?)

after that, we had to take them to the principal's office.

losing the effect now. not necessarily for the kid being punished, but the rest of the school didn't "learn from the mistakes of others". the kid returned to the class telling whatever story he wanted to.

"i didn't even cry."
"it didn't even hurt"
"i could have taken a 100 more"



phase 4 -

the useless "office referral"

seldom if ever results in any punishment more than a "good talking to",

which rolls off these kids today like water off a duck.

they sit there and tell lies, and more often than not are believed over the teacher. they return to our classrooms with an even cockier attitude because nothing happened.

the icing on the cake was when they came back with a pencil, or a piece of candy, or a piece of gum.

really effective, huh???

iss is no punishment. parents are no support because their little "darlings" (hellions) have never done anything like that before.

and the worst thing of all is the fact that this constitutes only 3 or 4 of our kids.

the rest of them are great kids!
they do their work,
they are respectful,
they are responsible,
they have good attendance,
their parents come to conferences,
they check their grades on the parent portal,
they bring back their homework folders,
their parents sign their planners,
they get greens most of the time on their conduct folders,
they may not LIKE school, but they do what is expected anyway.



so where did all of this madness come from?
i give all the credit to the ACLU.
they have made our jobs almost impossible.
i remember when teachers could actually TEACH.

now there's an idea for you!


i am waiting for the day when the parents of those GOOD students get the guts to file a lawsuit against:

one of those kids AND their parents for...

denying other students a better education because teachers have to spend the majority of their time with the disruptive behavior of a few.

i will be the first one to stand up and applaud!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

of course,

that is just MY opinion...

i could be wrong!!!!

christmas for teachers

merry christmas and god bless us everyone. i tried to do the proper capitalization thing, but i am so used to typing in all lower case (thanks to my #1 son who showed me how much quicker it is--thanks, derek). so this is what you get. no caps.

my english teacher for 4 years, mrs. donoho, is rolling over in her grave and has her red pen swishing as i speak.




christmas for teachers--

many of my non-teaching friends ask me what to give teachers for christmas. before i give my suggestions, i tell them what not to give:


what NOT to give teachers

#1 coffee cups. we have enough coffee cups to open a starbucks ourselves.

#2 food, especially candy. we end up taking it home and/or throwing it away.

i LOVE food. so that was a hard lesson for me.

"the lesson"
the last day of school in 1988 in tecumseh oklahoma. two 7th graders (jason helm and russell overly -- yes i will NEVER forget those two) brought chocolate rice krispy treats to their teachers. 3 of us dined on them, only to regret it the next day as they were laced with ex-lax. i now politely accept and just throw the food away, unless i am ABSOLUTELY confident of the family and student. coincidently, jason and russell were two of my favorite students. don't know what possessed them, but i am sure they had many laughs over it.

#3 ornaments unless the student's name and year is written on it.

however, one the best gift i got was in the 70's from jason garner (you wonder how i remember his name?) it was a skunk and it said, "i am just a little stinker". NOW you know how i remember him. i do have some treasured ornaments from some favorite students, however.

now for the gifts recommendations:

#1 gift cards to anywhere--book stores, teacher supply stores, movie passes, starbucks, restaurants, .... we love to shop for free.

#2 dish towels--not holiday ones. the ones we can use all year. you can never have enough dish towels.

#3 and this should have been#1. when my students ask me what i want, i tell them to sit down and write me a letter telling me what i have taught them or what they like about my class. that means more to me than any gift that can be bought.

while i am on this topic, let me say this especially to all you new teachers out there. be sure to write a thank you note to these kids, which means it is indirectly to the parents. i have had more parents and students comment about a thank you note i sent than anything else i have done. i believe if they take the time to shop and spend the $$$ on you, they are worth a thank you card and a stamp. for those of you who get 30-40 gifts, i know that is an expense. but you are teaching a lesson in gratitude and good manners. that may be one of the most important lessons you teach during this time of year.

so merry christmas everyone. this means the school year is almost half over and the taks tests are upon us in texas.

Teaching--not a job for sissies!

What a hard job we have to do!

molding and shaping young minds...

sometimes pounding learning into them...

with all the paperwork...

discipline issues...

dealing with parents...

planning...

grading...

technology...

and on.............................................
and on.............................................
and on.............................................

We just need some time to kick back...



let off some steam...





see what other people have going on in their teaching careers...





(Then maybe ours may not seem so bad after all!)

We all have experiences we will always remember:

trying ones...

ones that really get to us...

emotional ones...


weird ones...

humorous ones...

downright hysterical ones.

We all have incidents on almost a daily basis.


Or, we have had them in the past.

Or we observed them when we were in school.

Or we know someone else who has told us a story.


We also have people along the way that have influenced us--

some in positive ways...

and others in negative ways...

I invite you and your teaching buddies to contribute to this blog as we share our experiences.

Hopefully we will all find some support from each other in many ways as we are doing the toughest and most underpaid job that exists but making a difference in kid's lives every day.