This Week In Education February 24th

The Crucible 

Ever see that play?  It was loosely based on the Salem Witch trials.  Witchcraft and Mean spirited children caused people to blame others to blame people as to having caused the problems. This was attributed to mass hysteria or bad flax seed on the bread.  Well mass hysteria hit my class today.  We were taking a fifty-question unit test in English Language Arts.   It is hard enough keeping them quiet even during a test. They know the district won't let you give them a big fat zero for cheating. So they talk.  Then it happened; the ghost.  Their talk turned to the paranormal. Every knock on the door was the ghost coming to get them. Even though it is generally ding dong ditch.  Then came the coincidence that cemented their terror. Having finished a unit in english Language Arts means that I have to start using a new teachers edition. This I keep in an upper cabinet whose door is hinge bound and doesn't stays closed all the time.  The door popped open slightly. A student closed it and in a few seconds it creaked open again. This started a whole new category of the horror movie genre to be discussed.  This started the creepy crawlies. Now students started screaming that something touched them.  Why do the always blame the Jezabels for all the proplems.  Then the speech teacher called and let it ring once. This is a signal to send a student to speech.  

Now they’re screaming, "Don't answer it!"  

"They’ll know we are in here." pleaded others.

Yeah I've heard of that movie too. It was a windy day and the lights flickered. This was enough to spark full-scale hysteria. Now they were looking for anything. They noticed that the computer that was on stand by had a flashing light. It had to be a ghost. As in the Crucible, they started to turn on one another.  I felt like saying, "Goody would you please stop.” 

The worst was yet to happen. It was lunchtime. A couple of students said, " I bet the ghost will make a mess in room while we are at lunch.” When I returned it looked like a tornado struck my room.  A student hid in the room and turned over desks and chairs. Papers were strewn everywhere.  

Then the students said to me, “Aren’t you afraid of the ghost.”  

I said, “No, I teacher fifth grade.  Ghost cannot scare me.”

Yeah it was a short week.  But we got some work done.  In science, we learned the water cycle.  I had the high performing students do a poster for the wall and had all the students do individual 8 1/2 by 11 examples. 

In mathematics, we were learning about geometric solids, surface area, and volume.  

In English Language Arts, we always do weekly vocabulary.  I like to have them use words and pictures to help make those connections that they have with their prior knowledge.

Time Machine Travelogue Five

One Family and Two Good Neighbor Hotels

"I'm giving it all I got! Captain."  No, I didn't hire Scotty to run the time machine. However, it has had a lot of use lately. But now it is ready to go. We are to Disneyland of the past.  My Mom, who was affectionately called the Sponsor, took my brother and I and our families to three memorable trips to Disneyland. We will need to make two time jumps to complete this mission.  So, climb in and buckle up. Ready? "Okay Scotty punch it!"

Our first stop is 1977, Anaheim, California.  What could be there?  Oh yeah Disneyland.  My mother arranged for my brother’s family and mine to go to Disneyland.  My brother, his wife, and young son flew to meet us for a visit to the Magic Kingdom.  We had been to Disneyland the previous year for the Bicentennial on July 4^th 1976 without my brother.  Maybe my mother felt guilty for not including my brother on that trip so she planned this trip to include him and his family.  We stayed at the Grand Hotel.  It was a modern looking tower a couple of streets east of what was the old Disneyland Main Gate.  Because we flew into the Orange County International Airport, we had no car.  This was kind of new for us.  We had to rely on the Grand Hotel’s Shuttle Bus. It was a wonderful experience at Disneyland. The only thing that was universally enjoyed was the Main Street Electrical Parade. 

We traveled by the hotel shuttle to Disneyland just in time for the start of the parade. There was plenty room for our family on the inside of Town Square on Main Street. It was one of the best nighttime experiences at Disneyland. The lighted themed floats backed up with infectious music made it a wonderful event.  The only thing that was disappointing about the trip was the hotel shuttle. There was a rush to get on the shuttle. It is survival of the rudest. So if you don't get on the shuttle, you have to wait for it to return and now the hotel patrons have built back up again. We hailed a taxi and took it back to the hotel. I’m glad they tore the Grand Hotel down and made a parking lot.  This episode only cemented my desire to stay at the Disneyland Hotel.

We enjoyed all the other attractions at the Magic Kingdom. However, there were many changes to Disneyland at that time. The Carousel of Progress was changed to America Sings.  Since my brother was here last Adventure Into Inner Space, and Space Mountain was added in Tomorrowland.   Country Bear Jamboree was opened in the new Critter Country, and the Haunted Mansion finally found its 999 ghost residents in New Orleans Square.   

"Okay, Scotty check those Tesla Compensators and jump ahead to 1993."

This was the Sponsors planned journey to Disneyland with the entire family. My brother, his wife, and daughter came again from Oregon.  My wife, and myself had the pleasure of joining Mom for her crowning trip with all of us.  We drove down with her. She flew my brother's family from Oregon. She wanted to make splash. She rented a limo to pick my brother and family from the now John Wayne Airport.  My brother had been a drag racer for many years. So she had signs with the racing team's name printed up for the limo driver to hold for them at the airport lobby like you see in the movies. There was a big drag race in Ontario, California at that time. This caused quite a stir in a town with celebrity fixations.  My Mom who use to be in the fashion industry stepped out of the limo looking like Joan Crawford, one of her favorites actresses.

My brother said that he would feel bad staying at the Disneyland Hotel.  My Mom wanted to be close to Disneyland.  She was not a pushy person and the shuttle bus fiasco bothered her tremendously.  We stayed at the Candy Cane Inn.

It was close enough.  There were changes this time to Disneyland.  At first my brother didn’t want to go on the trip.  While he was visiting when we were trying to convince him of some of the new rides, I put him in a kitchen chair. I rocked and leaned it left and right; and front and back simulating the Star Tour attraction.  It had been many years since my brother had been to Disneyland there were many new rides.

There was an incredible building boom.  Also, one of the best nighttime Disney shows, Fantasmic has been added. The best thing about Disneyland is it grew up as we grew up.  Attractions that were added were a little more grown up.  We could still go to Disneyland and have an exciting and themed experience that could be enjoyed by the adults and their children.  This was Walt's goal.

"We believed in our idea - a family park where parents and children could have fun together" Walt Disney once said of Disneyland.

It was the great family adventure.  However, if i hired Scotty, he'd want to put the time machine away.  So give everyone a hug and a kiss and tell them you love them.  Just in case you forgot to do it back then.  Join us soon because it’s only a week to Disneyland’s One More Day promotion. You wouldn’t want to wait another twenty years and have to fire up the time machine to recall the memory.

Look Out Disneyland Here We Come Five

A Journey to Heaven – The Disneyland Hotel

There is always a debate among parents and even grandparents.  My wife and I heard it all to often.  “You cannot be serious about taking your twins to Disneyland they are too young.” Just about every one advised us. 

“We think that 18 months is the right age” we confidently replied.  But we had a plan. We were Disney veterans.  How could we carry this off, we had seen many times in the previous trips we made there, screaming cranky kids or kids just sleeping in strollers.  What made our plan different?  Our secret was the Disneyland Hotel. 

We knew the secret was avoiding long lines, the heat of the day, and see how they would react to life sized characters dressed in costume.  Staying at the Disneyland Hotel gave us this advantage.  The evening upon arriving, we took our twins, a boy and a girl to Goofy’s Kitchen.  Goofy’s Kitchen has Disney characters that circulate with the dining guests.  Here we could test if they would be frightened by characters.  

Then came the big moment, a five foot mouse came to the table.  Was it Mickey? No, it was Pearla the mouse from Cinderella.  They were awe struck.  They sat and pointed and giggled.  That was the start of a love affair for my children and tradition for our family.  They saw even more characters, Chip and Dale, Pluto, and the chef Goofy.  My son wanted to touch their noses or Pluto’s tongue.  My daughter dropped her ice cream and kept pointing it out to every character. Our mission was a total success.  We knew that the following days would be a winner.

Spending several days was the key to our plan.  A major benefit to staying at the Disneyland Hotel was they offer early entry most everyday of our stay.  Two days they don’t are Wednesday and Sunday.  

So therefore bright and early, we were waiting for the first Hotel Tram.  We should have known right there that our son was a daredevil and would enjoy all manner of rides, he was giddy and hard to hold on the tram.  In those days, the tram was the best way to go to and from Disneyland.  It was convenient because it was a long walk across the parking lot and sometimes the Monorail was not running.  If it was it dropped you in Tommorowland.  This would not add to the experience of the main entrance.

We entered the park an hour earlier than the mob that lengthened the lines.  Fantasyland and its attractions were open.  This plan allowed the twins and us to ride every ride in Fantasyland.  There were no lines.  We rode some twice even.  Then, we went to the River Belle Terrace for Mickey Mouse pancakes. It was now just after 9:30 and we were done for now.  We went out the main gate got our hands stamped and got on the tram again.  As the tram pulled away for its return, we waved at the crowd that was lined up to enter the park.  We were heading back for a nap.  This was the key to avoid that cranky-child syndrome we have witnessed all to often.  We did not encumber ourselves with a stroller on that first visit.  The plan worked perfectly for most of the morning.  Then all of a sudden came the bump in the road,  two of them.  Surprisingly, it was my daughter first who balked at walking.  She went on a sit-down strike.   Being twins they had a secret spoken and unspoken language.  

When my son saw his sister, he too plopped down 300 yards from the Sierra Tower where our room was. They would not move.  We could have drugged them by their leashes.  Yes, being helicopter parents, always hovering closely, we had leashes.  My wife had to carry my daughter and I put my son on my shoulders. 

We all were ready for a nap. We returned later with the stroller to enjoy more of Disneyland that day.  We used four days to leisurely play and explore the entire park.  We took pictures with all the characters, rode every attraction appropriate to their age and height, and watched parades.  We proved all the naysayers wrong with our knowledge of the Disneyland Hotel. 

We avoided the cranky child by extending our stay.  We avoided the heat and long lines by using Disneyland Hotel’s benefit of Early Entry.  This and nap time in the mid morning kept everyone well rested.  Finally, we successfully introduced the twins to the joy of the many Disney characters.  We not only gave the twins and ourselves an incredible first visit but because of the positive experience. We built not only a family tradition but developed two Disney fanatics.

I would like to thank the website Yesterland.com without whom my memories would be less colorful.

This Week in Education February 17th

Who Needs a Week Like This?

Gossip and its detrimental effect should have been the lesson of the week. The she said and he said started every side conversation in my class and on the playground.  It wasn't only my class but the other fifth classes as well. The problem was that the gossip was mean and hurtful. It seems to be the new normal. TV shows have to have mean snappy comebacks. This gossip caused major problems that finally concluding with two boys jumping another after school. So now the accusation began to fly. This made a pressure cooker out of my room. After an incredible amount of drama, it finally happened they were called to the office.  Two boys were suspended. The parents, of course, thought that their little darlings could do no wrong. That their children were justified because the gossip involved racial comments. Which it didn’t?  That is the nature of how instigation works. They drip, drip, drip venom of lies and half-truths until the patient is in critical condition. 

Luckily, it was a sort week.  We still get Lincoln’s Birthday off.  But I hate Monday on a Tuesday.  We did get some work done.  We did the typical spelling, vocabulary grammar, and read the story of the week.  Math was finishing up the topic on perimeter and area.  This is difficult for some students.  Mostly because they won't try to memorize the formulas or because of their weakness in multiplication skills.   I cannot believe that some still struggle with their multiplication facts.  No matter how much flash card time I give them during intervention time.  They have Social Studies vocabulary also.  I believe that if they draw a picture of the word it helps solidify a visual image that helps them remember. 

Well, Monday is President’s Day.  It use to be Washington’s Birthday.  Why do the rest of them get a free ride.  But it’s okay. I’ll take another Monday on a Tuesday and a short week in a short month.  I love February.

Time Machine Travelogue Four

Graduation Trip

Sorry for the delay in take off. We have had problems with the time machine this week.  I know you think it is the flux capacitor but it wasn't.  It was an overload in the retro chronometer.  Too many trips so soon. If you have read my other blogs on Disneyland you know I'm going there soon. So I thought I'd throw you a curve ball.  When I was a kid the baseball all-star game was aired during the day. My Mom would make it a big event. She made hot dogs and potato salad. We had peanuts in the shell and everything that you would have at a game at that time. It was finished off by ice cream malt cups and, of course, Cracker Jacks.  


Then in 1967, the all-star game was to be held in Anaheim.  I had just graduated high school. So I asked if could take my brother and go. We applied for tickets and got two on the third base side at the Big A in Anaheim. Since we were going to that part of California, we decided to make Disneyland part of the trip. So as it turned out Disneyland was opening the new Tomorrowland.  

We had room reservations at Stovall's Cosmic Inn.  It had a nice pool and it was stocked with local girls. The motel allowed some local girls to use the pool. This made it fun. I actually took one of the girls out to pizza on one evening. 

Made me feel so much like a man of the world. My brother and I were looking forward to one of the attractions that we remembered from the previous year, the Flying Saucers.  We loved to bump into each other and gang up on some other kid. It was better than bumper cars. It was so Space age the saucer hovered on a cushion of air. You controlled them leaning in the direction you wanted to go.  We got to Disneyland and they were gone. The week before they unveiled a whole new Tomorrowland.  

There were new attractions. It was like they built a whole new Disneyland just for me.  This newness of the changes of Disneyland at this time propelled me for all my future visits to the Magic Kingdom.  Gone was the Universal World Clock and now your eye was drawn to the People Mover and the elevated Rocket Jets. We are two teenagers approaching Heaven. We went on the Circle Vision 360.  We watched America the Beautiful. This you did standing up and the effect of flying or falling. When we got out there was a new phone booth called a Chatter Box. You entered and placed a phone call.  We called our Mom. You just sat in the booth and talked. It was so modern for the time.

When we were on that phone call, we told our Mom to look for us in the crowd.  We would be wearing the hats we just bought, bowlers. They looked so cool and Odd Job in the movie Goldfinger made them famous. We enjoyed all the new attractions that were now open.  In Tomorrowland, there was the Carousel of Progress, People Mover, and the Rocket Jets. The Carousel of Progress was a use of audio animatronics figures telling and showing the changes that have happened in the American family home from the beginning of the Twentieth to the future date of 1994.   There was a Christmas scene to represent to 1960's.  The 1994 scene had HDTV, virtual reality, and voice activated appliances.  General Electric thought that, " There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow.”


The People Mover was groovy. It took you around Tomorrowland.   It went by a view of a futuristic city and took you by a coming attraction, Adventure Thru Inner Space.  This only meant that I would need to come back.  That is the genius of the Walt Disney quote: "Disneyland will never be completed.  It will continue to grow as long 

as there is imagination left in the world."—Walt Disney

This is one of the reasons I wanted to come to Disneyland because in the previous year's visit we didn't see the new attraction, Pirates of the Caribbean.  So now was our chance to ride this. This was a great experience.  It was, as of then, not based on a Disney movie.  It was semi thrilling with the waterfall drops.  The storyline was interesting and matched the scenery and the conventional impression we have of pirates.  The major difference between the attraction back then and today is the fire blazing away burning of Puerto Dorado was projected on cellophane.  This not only made the dancing flames but also added an element of the snap and crackle of a fire.  This is missing today.

Play Ball!  That was the reason to come to Anaheim.  My brother and I wanted to go to the Major League Baseball's All Star Game.  It was the 38th annual All Star game.  I loved baseball.  I really only rooted for the LA Dodgers even though I now lived in Northern California.  I had not been to a baseball game since the Dodgers played at the Coliseum when I was in Little League.  It was probably the best All Star ever played.  Thirteen National League players from that team are in the Hall of Fame.  Players like Roberto Clemente, Hank Aaron, Willie Mayes, Ernie Banks, and Pete Rose.  Pitching greats Bob Gibson Don Drysdale, and Tom Seaver.  Seven American League players are in the Hall of Fame.  All the runs were scored by homeruns.  Standouts were Mickey Mantle, Al Kaline, Harman Killebrew, and Rod Carew.  There was a record number of strikeouts, a combined 30.  It went into the 15th inning when Tony Perez hit a solo homerun off of the Kansas City Athletics’ Jim "Catfish" Hunter, who was pitching in his fifth inning of relief.  The next year Catfish would be pitching for the Oakland A's and I would have a Nothern California team to root for.  My brother and I sat on the third base side towards the left field foul pole on the second deck.  We don't know if we were ever seen on TV and Mom never mentioned seeing us but we had an excellent time.  I do remember seeing the people on the 1st deck stacking their beer cups together and trying to have it reach the second deck.  I was all in good fun.

Well the time machine needs a charge.  So we better return.  The Carousel of Progress never predicted the time machine.  There are a lot of events in the past that made a "Great Big Beautiful" yesterday.  So, check back and book your next journey with Time Machine Travelogue.  

This Week in EducatIon February 10th

What Is This World Coming To

This was an easy week for a teacher. It was the benchmark testing. Four days of test, test, and even more tests.  They are tested in English Language Arts and math.  I take my entire class out for a bathroom run and a drink of water.  This way they cannot disrupt our class or any class during the test.  They seemed to try very hard for the most part.  The difficult time is what comes next.  So if you know any cures for the bright lights and rubber hoses that administration will use on we teachers, please let us know.  If you don’t think we are tortured you’re not watching the trends in education.  We will be called in at grade level meetings and shown the results of the test.  We will be told to reteach those content standards that the students didn’t do well on.  There is a heavy emphasis that the teachers are inadequate because the students do poorly.  It is not uncommon for whole societies to blame groups of people for the ills of the society.  The Irish, the Chinese, the Mexicans and just about every group has been blamed over the years in the United States.  Try to remember how the Jewish people were blamed.  I hate being told that I have to reteach a content standard.  It's not the fact that all the students didn't learn the skills the first time that bothers me.  It is the implication that the teacher didn’t teach it well enough.  I would prefer that they would call it relearning.  That is where the problem mostly resides.  The student was unable to, or had no desire to learn the necessary skills to be tested on them.  Blaming the teacher is like a diabetic who doesn’t try to control his blood sugar and blames the doctor for their poor health.

Girl Cootie

Boy Cootie

In the classroom, it was a better week.  Behavior was better.  The biggest problem is the Love bug is biting.  Maybe with Valentine’s Day and spring so close it was to be expected.  I have taught for many years and I have found this Love Bug epidemic has moved into fifth grade more each year.  It use to be that boys thought that girls had them and girls thought boys had them.  I’m talking about Cooties.  You remember Cooties.  Now fifth graders cannot go in to separate classrooms without hugging each other.  Boys are patting girls on the butt.  The boys’ conquest scoreboard is tallying up the girlfriend accounts.  The girls also are in the action.  The notes and gossip is hopping around like crazy March hares.  Unfortunately not all the battle of the sexes has happy outcomes. The students aren’t old enough to handle the rejection and broken hearts.

I had groups of students make historical flags of the United States.  Some of the groups had no success but others were hard workers and completed their projects.  They asked for help and I created star templates for them to trace.  They started with white construction paper and used red and blue to complete the flags.  They created an original 13 star flag, a flag known as the Great Star Flag with 20 stars, and a 34 star Civil War flag.  

Well, I found ou that I have an old pair of welder glasses to protect me from the bright lights.  For the rubber hoses I've learned that these are just a metaphor.  So there is no real torture.  There is only that feeling that you are being blamed for an outcome that was done by someone else.  Every losing coach who is let go because the players weren't as good as measured against others.  I know that I have done a good job teaching and many of my students have done a good job learning.  So have those who haven't learned let's give them another chance to do so.  Until next week, stay alert, because their still could be cooties.

Lookout Disneyland Here We Come Four

Are You Ready For Dinner?

It may sound a little glutenous with all the food we have consumed already but it's time for dinner.  Over the years we have eaten dinner almost everywhere.  We have had dinners in all areas of the Disneyland Resort.  We have eaten dinner at both Disney theme parks, Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure.  On many occasions we have had phenomenal meals in Downtown Disney restaurants.  Let's not forget the dinners at the resorts hotels.  This includes my daughter's favorite, room service.

Room service seems like a cop out but after watching the fireworks sometimes you just want to go back to your hotel room.  But I have that bottomless pit, my son, and my daughter who was trained at a young age by her Nonna to enjoy the finer things in life.  Room service being one of them.  When I was a kid, my Mom and I traveled to hotels and on trains.  The dining cars on those old trains were so elegant.  I may have been young but I always ordered the salmon.  Years later my Mother told me that she could barely afford to pay for the meal, but she wanted me to have it.  No matter what.  Well, I like to keep this tradition in tact no matter the cost.  So salmon for my son from room service, no problem.  Chicken for my daughter, a cinch.  This may have been costly, but giving them the best and lettting them know that they were part of a tradition that they have to carry it on, makes it all worth it.

All the hotels have great restaurants.  They ate at Goofy's Kitchen at 18 months for the first time.  They were so cute interacting with their first Disney Characters.

However, the best dinner I ever had was at the Granville Steakhouse in the Disneyland Hotel.  They have changed the name of this restaurant to Steakhouse 55.  The food and the service did not changed when the name did.  The name change was a loss for history.  The Granvilles were the family that first built the hotel on that property.  But times change and once it was in Disney's control they wanted it to reflect their history.  1955 was the year that Disneyland opened. We've had dinner there several times, I'm a carnivore.  So perfectly cooked steaks and prime rib with all the trimmings suits me fine.

Downtown Disney offers many scrumptious dinner choices.  The icon Rainforest Cafe offers great food with a unique jungle atmosphere.  A third restaurant often overlooked is the Naples Ristorante E Pizzaria.  When my son was 5 years old, we went to Monterey Bay Aquarium.  We went to lunch there in a nice dining room.  The waiter came over and asked my son, "What would the young man like?"
My son said, "I'll have the calamari."
The waiter questioned, "Do you know what that is?"
"Yes, it's a Cephalopod." proudly my son said.
The waiter stood there shocked and said, "I guess he can have it then."
So we had to go to Nalpes Ristorante just to try the calamari.  It was really tasty.  I guess calamari is what salmon was to me.

Finally there is the ESPN Zone. Sometimes while you are on vacation you want to catch a sporting event on television.  The ESPN Zone makes this possible.  You can sit with your family and watch one of the many games being broadcast.  Upstairs there is a paradise for people who like to play sports related video games.

This brings us to the two theme parks, Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure.  At DCA, there is one place we enjoy for dinner. It is Ariel's Grotto.  This is a character dining experience.  This was my daughters favorite spot because she loved Ariel.  She got her picture taken with Ariel and all the other characters.  When she was young she collected autographs of all the characters.

Now let's cross the Esplanade and go to Disneyland and go to the best themed restaurant in the park the Blue Bayou Restaurant.  Here in New Orleans Square tucked on a side street is the restaurant. Once you're inside you are immersed in a different world.  Day and night the restaurant has the outside setting of a Southern evening.  You sit on a veranda lit dimly by decorative lanterns.  You look out over the quiet bayou.  Fireflies dance in the cypress tree.  The Moon is rising through misty low hanging clouds. You hear the gators croaking in the distance.  As you scan the bayou and the boats and shacks that adorn the levee, you see flat bottom boats carrying people to the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction.  You feel removed from your ordinary life.  You have become part of attraction not just a family having dinner.  For years, we would to go there for the clam chowder.  It was thick and rich. We also always had the prime rib.  My Mother, who we use to call the sponsor, always had her favorite the Monte Cristo Sandwich.  Sadly, over the years the menu has changed and the clam chowder and the Monte Cristo Sandwich have been moved out to other restaurants in New Orleans Square.  The menu now is a little more Cajun inspired, but you can have them cut back on the spice a little if you ask.

Well, we have eaten our way through the Disney Parks.  We have all meal possibilities covered. Looking forward to Disneyland to be open for twenty-four hours.  You all better rest up and we will see you there. Unpack those sweatshirt and dust off your Mickey Ears.  We all know the more Disney stuff you wear the more you feel like part of the Cast.  So next time, we'll tell you how single-handedly our family changed Disneyland.

This Week in Education 1st Week of February

What A Week

We have benchmark testing coming up next week.  Benchmark testing is meant to be a diagnostic test to inform the administration and teachers of any weaknesses that the students have in their learning of the content standards.  There are several reasons that this kind of testing doesn’t work.  First, the students know that the test doesn’t count toward their grade.  Some just don’t care.  They don’t take the time to read all the passages or figure out the steps of the math problems.  They look at seventy-five problems and they look at the answers and bubble in C or create a pattern.  I’ve seen some great visual effects on their answer documents over the years.  One column all A and the next all B and so always gives me a giggle.

The wave is also amusing.

I remember one time I was giving my students a formative assessment.  I was using generic scanable answer documents.  The choices were only A, B, C, and D, but the bubble sheet had A, B, C, D, and E.  it was a thirty-six problem test.  I passed out the test and told them to begin.  I use to sit am my desk and take the test myself. After three minutes, this student announced “I’m done.”

I said, “You cannot be done.  I’m not even done. You must have guessed.”

“I didn’t guess,” he insisted.

When I corrected the test he got six right.  I then looked to see which ones he missed.  To my astonishment he marked the E choice ten times.  Sure he did the test without guessing.

Today there is an extremely high priority placed on testing.  This was built into the No Child Left Behind law.  If the student isn’t performing at proficient at their grade level, it is automatically the teacher’s fault.  Even little guesser boy and the pattern makers are not to blame.  Blaming teachers for the students test score is not at all fair.  Some students choose not to learn.  Blaming the teacher would be like the student blaming their pencils for not marking the right answer or bubbling E when it doesn’t even exist.

Student Work

We had a fun activity in science this week.  They had to draw an annotate a picture depicting the rock cycle.  The assignment was given to all students but only a handful completed the project.  I have about ten really high performing students.  Their projects were beautiful.  I had them, while the other were trying to finish or loose theirs, do a poster sized rock cycle to put on the wall.  They left an area that we could fill in with actual examples of igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic.

I went to the local shop that specializes in marble and granite counter tops.  The shop owner was happy to give me some small samples and we cut off pieces that we glued to the poster they made.  Maybe one of these students will become a geologist one.

However, some students still act out and are argumentative.  They talk about the problem with obesity in our youth today.  I have students who fall into this category.  One of my students who is 10 years old and 200 pounds, is also unable to sit still for more than minutes.  One day last week he got out of his seat and pretended to be slapped around and chocked out by his “invisible friend”.  The other students started to yell at me, “It’s Casper”.  Try teaching American History with this type of distraction.

When we talk of teaching modalities, we say some learners are visual, auditory, or kinesthetic.  Well, he met all three styles.  A blind person could have heard the noise as he simulated being slapped and choked and know just exactly what he was doing.  A deaf person would understand the gyrations and flailing on the floor and know what he was doing.  And somewhere on some seismic detector the needle was bouncing as wildly as he was.

So we wage two battle in our classrooms. One is the constant battle to motivate and teach. The second is modifying their behavior so that they can sit in a classroom through high school.


RAWR

Time Machine Travelogue Three

Due to Inclement Weather

San Diego State

I had a fantastic opportunity this year.  I was able to take my own 17-year-old high school seniors on a college road trip.  One of the locations we got to was San Diego State University. Once we were down there I said to my children that I had spent some time exploring San Diego years ago.  So, it is time to fire up the old time machine again. Go ahead set the dials to travel to one of California’s most beautiful cities, San Diego. 

 Look its raining, here at home.  Guess I won’t be working for a while.  This was a natural occurrence when I was younger because I worked in construction and when it rained for extended periods all construction would be canceled because of inclement weather.  This gave me a two-week break to travel.  Honest, I was looking for work.  I had to I was on unemployment.  No one said where I had to look.  Also, in construction you receive your vacation pay in February.  So the traveling had to go on the road for work.

Campland

Back then I had a beat up old Chevy truck with a cab over camper.  See I was moving up from that old Rambler American.  I did a little investigation and I found the perfect place to camp in San Diego, Campland on Mission Bay.  This was my San Diego base for exploring.

San Diego Zoo

Of course, everybody knows that there is a zoo there.  I guessed I liked zoos.  However, San Diego Zoo is a real zoo not an animal menagerie.  This zoo is huge.  Walking the entire zoo would be difficult.  There were two options.  The zoo tram tour and the aerial tramway allowed moving from place to place a lot easier.

I was the owner of a new Minolta 201 35mm camera.  The animals were absolutely fascinating.  There was a koala that other zoos only dreamed of having.  There was a proboscis monkey that looked like my grandfather, and an owl that I wasted a roll of 20 pictures trying capture.

Sea World

Also San Diego had Sea World with the famous Shamu the Whale.  There were many other animal acts.  It was so cool even if you got splashed with salt water.  They had an act that included a group of penguins called the Penguini Brothers.  I never laughed so hard at these little birds strutting across the stage.

San Diego Harbor Cruise

San Diego has a beautiful harbor. On that harbor was a Harbor Cruise.  This was enjoyable.  You got to see many of the sights from a different point of view. There were all the US Navel vessels that were berthed there.  Also, you got to see the Coronado Bridge from under it.  You sailed to Point Cabrillo.  Here was the first spot stepped upon by the Spanish.  But the strangest sight was an old Mississippi styled riverboat called the Ruben E. Lee.  It was a restaurant.  It looked so out of place docked there.

Old Town San Diego 

A trip to San Diego has to include Old Town, and the San Diego Mission.  California missions were located by the Spanish all up the coast.  They provided a religious training for the native indigenous people who the Spanish called Neophytes.

The Old Town is a fantastic place to go for Mexican food.  If you like spicy and traditional Mexican food, that's the place to explore the restaurants.  I am a big fan of the combo plate, 2 beef tacos and a cheese enchilada.  My traveling companion liked the chicken enchiladas.  After the nice big dinner a stroll down through the town was in order.  There were many great shops full of special little trinkets.   Many of the items were related to the ocean of course.  But you can never have too many paper weights, right?

Balboa Park

A location often over looked is Balboa Park.  The park was created for the 1915 Panama-California exposition.  This celebrated the opening of the Panama Canal.  There is an incredible collection of Art Deco architecture.  There are days worth of museums.  Several of them were cool but I was awe struck by the San Diego Air and Space Museum.  It contained a replica of the Spirit of St. Louis, the plane that Charles Lindberg flew non-stop from New York to Paris.  It was incredible seeing something that was part of history.  The aircraft was designed and built in San Diego. 

In the park is a reproduction of the Globe Theater.  It was built in 1935 and performances of Shakespeare appeared there. 

The conservatory in the Botanical garden was instantly recognizable.  It was reminiscent of the Conservatory in Golden Gate Park. 

 That little red light on the control panel of the time machine is flashing again.  So it is time to head home to the future.  We need to get back before that annoying beeping starts.  When we are finally home, we need to get out and see what will happen.  You never know how the weather will be, because the wind is blowing.  This new wind might be bringing change.  My daughter was accepted at San Diego State University.  She may choose to go there.  That will give me a reason to return again to San Diego.  It will be great showing her around.

Take care fellow time trippers.  See in the future if we missed you in the past.

RARW