It's not easy being super mutliple-tasking man. Wednesday I finished a video for one of my grad classes. For Thursday, I developed a great lecture on the convergence of Islam and Hinduism in India in the early 1000's (that led into a discussion as to how those initial interactions impacted the relationship between the two religions in the region today). While delivering that lecture to my period four class, I was visited by the superintendent and school board president. They sat in for about 10 minutes. Mind you, they are the enemy. After their visit, I began working on my letter to those two men, but found I had other more immediate priorities. Today, I graded essay outlines all morning while my classes worked independently and had numerous and short conferences with various students about their writing. Now, I'm putting together my presentation for the SDCUE Tech Fair tomorrow morning, on guess what, blogging in education. After my 8:30 am presentation, I am running off to a funeral for my wife's aunt, before I return to the fair. Then I have to grade two weeks worth of textbook notes for the AP classes.

Not that I'm complaining. I've done this to myself, for the most part, and need to accept the consequences. Unfortunately, I have so much I want to write about (the superintendent visit alone has me fuming and, for the first time in years, I am struggling with classroom management in one of my classes - it is an odd feeling for me) and just do not have the time.

Once the masters degree is done - oh yeah, I passed the comps.

My two-year attempted to tell one of his first lies the other evening at dinner. We try not to force food on our children, we don't want them to develop issues related to eating. However, we do require them to eat some sort of vegetable with dinner. They both get into vegetable ruts and eat the same thing every night - the younger will only eat corn and the older will only eat spinach (I know - weird!). The two-year old finished with his meal, but his corn sat untouched. He started to get up, saying "Excused?" - my wife asked him if he ate his corn. He said "yes." I looked at him, motioned to the corn, and told him to eat. He just started laughing. He knows that he can say anything he wants. He has that power. I'm sure if I hadn't noticed corn, he would have gotten up and started playing in the other room. He is learning the power of language.

Certainly it is small and hopefully we can teach him the importance of being truthful. The problem is that we are filled with a world of half-truths and outright lies. It all depends upon the spin and your point of view (and which station you get your news from). National, state, and local politics are filled with these. Television is filled with these. For some reason I accept these with a critical filter, expecting a spin or a bias. Everything sent out by my district regarding the current standoff is critically examined and never taken at face value. However, I am not as careful with my social interactions. I do not expect someone to look at me and lie to my face. We are (although arguably at times) a civilized society, there is no need to elaborate upon the truth or outright create it.

In the last year, I have had a couple people weave webs of lies that I accepted hook, line, and sinker. I realize I might be a little naïve that I am perhaps too willing to believe people who look at me when they speak. I know that of the 10 kids that say their printer ran out of ink the day before a paper or project is due, some are probably lying. Are some lies more OK then others? Do we teach our children that telling the truth is important by severely punishing or humiliating them? Or will that just make them tell more lies to avoid the punishment?

Sure it's corn today, but what will be tomorrow?

Yesterday, three hundred or so teachers picketed another school board meeting. Much has happened in the last five months. Last month the district and union had another round of mediation. At this round the union made several concessions, attempting to meet the district in the middle. However, the district came back with an offer that was WORSE then their last best offer. Instead of offering a 1% raise for 2004-05, they have changed it to a “one time payment” of 1%. What’s the difference? About $10,000 over the next twenty years. They also want to take health care and add it to the salary – which would increase our salary to one of the highest levels in the county, but no one else does this! So it may look like we are one of the best-paid districts in the county, but the reality will be much different. In fact my district pays one of the lowest amounts per employee for health care and as a result our actual compensation package, when you include health care, is one of the worst. The manipulation of numbers, the moving of funds from one area to another, and a blatant disregard for the people who are actually doing the work is going to kill this district.

Additionally, the district changed a several other elements of the contract in the “best, last, and final offer.” These items were added to this offer because after the non-binding fact finding decision is made, the district can (and probably will) impose their contract.

• Removal of release time for the union president (who currently has three periods of release time)
• Removal of the election process to select department chairs, instead giving the principal the power to appoint people to these positions
• Removal of academic freedom. Any curriculum that may be deemed “controversial” will need to be approved by the principal.

All of these are punitive and show that this battle is not just about money. It is about teachers not being valued. It is about a small group attempting to infusive its values on the public school system. It is about teachers being marginalized or just plain cut from the process. I have a lot more to say about this, especially the third bullet. I am also working on letter to the board members, which I will post when it is done.

Most of the latest information and links to the news articles on the subject, can be found at GEA-Action.Org.

Really I have too much to do to think about this, but how can I not think about this. It is my livelihood. I live and breathe being a teacher. I feel like I what I do is not valued by this board and superintendent.

Check out this weeks Advocate Weekly.

being a San Diego sports fan. I'm not a sports fanatic by any means, but I have consistently (even when they have had miserable seasons) followed and cheered on the Padres and the Chargers. There was '84, when the Padres beat the Cubs - only to be smashed by Detroit. Then there were the '94 Chargers - who were smashed by the 49ers. The '96 Padres were swept in three by the Cardinals. '98 was a good year; the Pads won the division series, then the NL Pennant - only to be smashed in the World Series. Of course, there are all the dismal years in between...

This year was particularly tough, we got to watch the Padres flounder all year. Lucky for us, the other teams in the NL West were really bad. This series against the Cardinals was representative of the entire year - a few mistakes, an inability to hit in clutch situations, and always trying to dig themselves out of a hole. Maybe next year?

Now if I were from New York or Atlanta, I'd probably be bored. Winning that much must make the fans complacent - they probably even feel entitled. I should do what many other San Diegians have done over the years - adopt a winning team. Let's see, go Angels? Or maybe Houston? They are MY team, this post-season.

Speaking of San Diego, winter is starting early this year. Last night it got into the 50's.

Two weeks ago, I wrote about my students struggling through my AP World History class. Since then, a few interesting events occurred.

First, a couple days before the big unit one exam, one of the classes (or at least several vocal students) became a bit hostile because I had required them to make note cards of the major terms and people (to be used on this test and to help review for the AP test in May). This turned into a criticism of the class and workload in general. My reaction was to remind them that this is an optional course (they may take college prep if they desire) and to leave if they have a problem with the workload. Certainly not teacher of the year material, but the three other classes had not even so much as complained. They just did the work. Not doubt my stress level was a bit elevated with my comprehensive exams in a couple days, but still I was annoyed.

Then we took the test. An amazing thing happened - those who listened to my review session, studied their note cards, and actually focused on taking the test did well. Most people did better then their weekly quiz average and all of the class averages increased - one class went up 4%!

I also saw ten (of 130) students in one week drop down to college prep. Several of them had B's, but just could not manage the workload (they had 2-3 other honors classes). Others needed to drop because they were just having a hard time.

Last Saturday, while I was taking the comps holed up in my school office, I invited the students to come watch a movie in my classroom and get a little extra credit. So I worked away, the students did something "fun" - I even offered two showings since I was at school anyways. Almost 2/3s of the students showed up.

Today I finished up a great teaching week, despite the comps hangover, and have just calculated the first progress report grades. Between the unit exam, participation grades, and the collection of an assignment log this week, I now have 33 A's (up from 14 two weeks ago).

It looks like we have turned the corner. The students who are going to stick it out, are getting used to the workload, the expectations, etc. They know they have a couple essays to write in the next grading period and some of them are actually eager to them. They know the worst unit is over and they actually are starting to enjoy it. I always enjoyed it, but it certainly nice to have them on board.

Once again, I have to say. I love my job.

Just finished my comps exam. While I maybe didn't nail both questions, I know that I did well. While I appreciate theory, I can't say that I enjoyed it. For me, there are few things more tedious then writing a research paper, except when it relates to history.

The weekend was less then enjoyable. It started on Friday with my wife's 4:00 a.m. allegeric reaction to her sinus infection medication. Then over the weekend we discovered that we had a little friend living in some our kitchen cabinets. We washed everything and moved it into my closet, until we catch the little bugger or seal off his entrance (a hole under the kitchen sink). Having spent Saturday and Sunday in isolation in my classroom, I look forward to a little family time this afternoon. After that, its time catch up on my grading, lesson planning, and class work (I still have to finish the semester to get the masters!).

Now, I did get a comment about being lucky that it was a "take home" exam - I wish it would have been over in a few hours. Instead, it was 72 hours of stress. As the time increased, the expectations increased!