Education is not for Wimps

As I look around my class this morning, on the last day of classes before Final Exams, I am amazed at how my job is not about teaching. It is about crowd control. My students had the last 45 minutes of the two hour block to review their notes, work on a review assignment, work on an extra credit assignment, and generally prepare for thier test. Less than 12 of the 36 students are even slightly working on anything other than their social skills. One group is talking about music, another about the cell phone they want for Christmas, others about Michael Jackson's dancing. Even those that are working mix in a comment about something else once in a while. I have answered less than 10 questions in this class, and most of those were from one student. Discouraging sometimes...

On a better note, I was the Head Linesman for the CIF-SS Mid Valley Division Football Finals on Saturday. It rained the whole night. I was soaked. My shoes still haven't dried (I brought them inside so they wouldn't mildew or anything). However, it was a good game, I think our crew did a great job, and due to the circumstances, will not forget that game for a LONG time. Now I begin to prepare for umpiring Baseball this spring. Pretty excited about that....

Interesting Doings

So, the last two days of school before a week off for Turkey is always hard. Students want to "have a free day" (there is no such thing) and I don't want to start anything new. So instead, we will do a lab that introduces the next concept.

Friday evening I will be officiating a playoff game as the White Hat for the very first time. I have called many games as Line Judge, Head Linesman and Back Judge, including Finals and Semi-Final games. But this is my first as the head guy. I am excited and slightly nervous. I will be reviewing some of the rule book this afternoon.

The school is locked and alarmed all week (from Saturday to Sunday) so I have to make sure I pack everything I could possibly need during the week. Not that I WANT to come back, but that is kind of frustrating about my school. I think they want us to lock up our electronics for the week too. (Things like digital projectors, visualizers, anything that could easily walk away.)

I am excited about a week off including Tuesday. A friend invited me to go to Jawbone Canyon and do some shooting of shotguns, rifles and the like. I have only shot a gun one other time in my life - Wife's extended family lives in rural Illinois and I shot a 12 gauge shotgun about 9 years ago. Fun times ahead. Hope to have pictures to post (probably on Facebook) on Wednesday.

More Random Stuff

* Having a Wednesday off is weird. Didn't want to get out of bed today. And then tomorrow is Friday. Weird.



* Short Term Independant Study is a joke in my school district. They are so hard up for the ADA that they approve students to go on Family vacations during the school year, missing oodles of class time and usually they don't even do the work that is supposed to make up for them being out of school. I have a request form on my desk for a girl that is leaving during Thanksgiving break (we get the whole week off) and not returning until January 12. She will miss the last 3 weeks of the semester, the district benchmark exam, my final exam and I have to find assignments that will allow her to learn the info on her own? Are you serious?? Wow.



* High School football playoffs start next week. I expect to be on the list to call games through the finals, but who knows. Sometimes what I think is wrong, but I think I am one of the better officials in our association. I am looking forward to when I can start moving into the college game.



* My Oldest child is ridiculously smart. We went to Wal-Mart yesterday to do our grocery shopping and she was starting to get bored. I picked her up and said, "Let's go read some signs." Aisle 7 (I think) contained the sign "Juice Concentrate" among others. Yeah, she got it right. First try too. Is it normal for a 4 1/2 year old to know that word on sight? I think she is reading at about a 3rd or 4th grade level, but I don't know for sure. I would love to give her one of those tests but I think she might get snarky and tell me wrong answers on purpose. Still, tons of fun.



* The USA is becoming the Roman Empire. It's okay to pass out "Call Girl" business cards on the strip in Las Vegas, but not okay for a large cross to be constructed on public land. It's okay for shows like "Dexter", "NCIS", "CSI" and "Sex in the City" to be on TV, but anyone mention Christianity and they are ostracised. Homosexual behavior is accepted, alcohol consumption encouraged, and pre- or extra- marital sex is not uncommon.



I pray that revival take hold in our country and to quote the Christian band Casting Crowns, "The people turn to Jesus; stop asking Oprah what to do."



DM

New Comments from Students

So, today I heard the typical question at this time of the year. Quarter grades were just released. So, the question of the day was "How can I raise my grade?" I am amazed at how often they don't want to hear the answer! I say, "Do all your homework, classwork and do better on quizzes." They say, "No, what can I do now?" Are they thinking that if they click their heels together 3 times and bat their little eyelashes that the grade will magically change? It takes more than 5 minutes to make up for 11 weeks of minimal effort.

The other comment/question was, "Why did you put [choose a comment] on my report card?" Could it be because that is a true statement? The sense of entitlement these students show saddens me. I don't like to say "back when I was a kid" because that can be said by just about every generation, and some of the changes are good, some bad. BUT, education needs to change. We need smaller class sizes, more one-on-one work with students, and less "cookie cutter" styles. Not all students learn the same way, and not all ways are effective with students. Even in my own class, I think lecture is not the best method, but based on 33-36 students per class, it is the one method that reaches more students at a time. I would rather have 3 or 4 sitting around a table working together and me coming along side to encourage and reinforce understanding. THAT is the reason I like charter schools and homeschooling.

Most Ridiculous Week

So, starting sometime Sunday October 4, my facebook page went down for "Site Maintenance." It wouldn't allow me back in until sometime Monday October 12. I missed out on my birthday comments on FB and people thought I had "unfriended" them. Sad, I wouldn't drop someone as a friend. If I took the time to accept them once, I wouldn't delete them.

Then, Friday, BHO was named Nobel Laureate. For what, I think we are still trying to determine. For "changing the world-wide culture"? You mean, for letting the rest of the world know that we will just sit back and allow you to attack weaker countries? I am truly afraid for Israel (as well as the rest of the world) because Iran is preparing nuclear warheads. And what does BHO do? Essentially he says "Let's talk this out." He is more willing to talk to Ahmadinejad than any Fox News Anchor.

Finally, I heard today about a 6 year old little boy in Delaware that was suspended for bringing his Cub Scout camping utensil, which is a combination spoon, fork and knife, to school because he was so excited to be a Cub Scout. Turns out he violated the school's Zero Brain, er, sorry, Zero Tolerance Policy on weapons. HE'S SIX! HE WANTED TO EAT HIS LUNCH WITH HIS COOL GEAR! Please.... Here is the whole story if you are so inclined... http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,564605,00.html?test=latestnews

Will post about football games next week.

The Week That Was

Some highlights of the last few days:
* My professor at seminary called upon a student for a question. As the questioner was about half done, the professor stops him and says, "Woah, I am sorry. I kinda dazed off there. Can you start over."
* Got to attend a Lutheran worship service Sunday morning. I took my Bible with me, and never needed it. EVERYTHING was scripted in the "bulletin" except the Pastor's sermon. It was quite weird.
* Had a play in Friday night's football game where the ball was spotted and we couldn't tell if it was a 1st down, so we called out the chains. It was an inch short on the 24 yard line going in. They punted. (They were winning 27-0 and it was early in the 2nd quarter. They won 27-7.)
* Youngest is growing like a weed. Taller than the pool table now, and is finally bumping her head on the foosball table handles. Funnier than that, she laughs when she poots.

Hope that the weather begins to change this week. It's supposed to be cooler on Thursday. I am ready for fall, and for our El Nino winter.

Time to Get Back to Blogging

So, my new "goal" is to blog about my football games, my seminary class, and my daughters on a semi-weekly basis. (Like Saturday and Tuesday or something.)

In the mean time, I have to read about 60 pages, write a 1 page "summary" on that information, type out the lyrics to 10 songs and analyze their theology, all by Thursday night because I won't be home at all on Friday afternoon and evening and have class at 9:00 preceded by a 2 hour drive.

Also, I am AMAZED at how liberals think that raising taxes is good for the economy, for people, and the environment. Check out this knucklehead from the New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/20/opinion/20friedman.html?_r=1

What a Summer!!

So, I haven't posted anything since May, and that is a shame. So much has been going on, so here is a short version:

May 31-June 6: The fam went to Rancho Mirage to stay at our 'villa'. I only got to play golf 4 times.
June: Completed 2 courses for my Masters degree. Earned an A in both courses!!
July 6-13: The fam went with the extended fam to Lake Tahoe. It was gorgeous, and I got to cross a golf course off of my "Must play at least once" list, Edgewood Tahoe. We had a blast.

Youngest has started walking (and running to some extent) and is extremely cute. Oldest is reading at what I would call a 2nd grade level. Still needs help with some comprehension, but all in all is amazing.

I report back to school Wednesday, which is early, but it has been an enjoyable, restful summer. I am actually looking forward to it. My goal is to update this "blog" more regularly in the fall. Especially in regards to my football officiating.

God bless....

Opinion as Fact

So, I read this in the article about the Space Shuttle landing at Edwards Air Force Base, about 30 miles from Lancaster. Specifically, it was talking about the repairs the crew did on the Hubble Space Telescope:

...The replacement camera and other new instruments will enable Hubble to peer deeper into the universe, to within 500 million to 600 million years of creation....

I wish people wouldn't use these types of statements when talking about the universe. they make it sound like it is a fact, when there is NO PROOF that the earth is billions of years old, just like there is no PROOF that the world is only about 6000 years old, as I believe.

Students and Turning in Assignments

So, just today, I have had more than 5 students try to turn in work that was due over 3 weeks ago, mostly because their grades are in the toilet.

Why is it that with 2 classes left, students suddenly become concerned with their grades?
Why is it that when they actually have a chance to do something about their grades, they do not, but are willing to go an extra kilometer when there is almost nothing that can be done?

These are days that I don't like being a teacher.

The Metric System

I think I might have said something about this before, but it never ceases to amaze me how poorly my students do using the metric system. Today's assignment includes some "Unit Conversion" from grams to kilograms and from cubic centimeters to cubic meters. They are clueless.

Also, they tend to struggle in general with what I call the concept of the mole. They cannot go back and forth between mass in grams and moles. (Truthfully, I think they forget that mass is grams and thus can't figure out what to do.)

As much as I love Chemistry, youwould think at least a FEW of them would find it interesting and actually learn it, right!? Right? No?? Okay.... whatever....

Easter

Today was the day that we remember the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. His sacrificial death on the cross, followed by the supernatural raising from the dead is the cornerstone of our Evangelical Christian faith. I praise God for sending His son to atone for my sins. I pray that I am an example to others and able to witness to anyone that I can.

It was also the final round of the Masters Golf tournament. My favorite Professional Golfer, Kenny Perry, was in contention all day. In fact, he was in control of the tourney until the last 2 holes. He hit a terrible chip shot on 17, and hit a bad second shot on 18 to finish bogey-bogey and allow for a playoff. In the playoff, he hit an amazing chip shot to make par, but on the second hole, missed the green with his approach and missed his par putt. Angel Cabrera made his par and become the 2009 Masters Champion.

Kenny Perry is one of my favorites because he makes his home right around the corner (figuratively) from my Mom and Dad. My parents are in Gallatin, TN and Perry is from Franklin, KY, just across the stateline. Its about a 25 minute drive to his course, Kenny Perry's Country Creek. A relatively straight forward golf course, but a lot of fun. I am looking forward to the next time I visit them to play KPCC again, and maybe run into Mr. Perry himself.

Preparing for STAR Testing

Next week is our Calfornia Standardized Testing week. So, my students are being asked to review for the test by looking at past years questions. Most don't give a rip and are talking instead of going over the questions, even though it is an assignment. I also have heard them say that they don't want to try to do well, because they don't care. Once again, high stakes tests that has ZERO accountability on the Students will not be a good indicator on how much they have learned.

Socialism is on the Way

Yeah, this isn't socialist at all...

Government is not about controlling what people make. It is about governance. Wow.

What a Week

So, my wife went to Illinois for my spring break. What a week it was. I already appreciated what my wife goes thru to be a stay at home mom, but after being the stay at home dad for a week, it means that much more to me that she is willing to do such hard work.

Other stuff:
* I didn't always believe Tiger Woods is the greatest ever, but with today's round, I am convinced he will pass every one of the all time records.
* As a teacher, I feel that students should exercise common sense when it comes to "Public Displays of Affection", but to completely ban ALL human contact is ridiculous.
* I realize the president has a lot of influence, but this is beyond belief.
* These people are alarmists that need to look at the science, not the politics of global warming.

I want to play golf every day next week. But alas, we are not made of money, and I have a big project for my masters degree due on Saturday. Until then...

Half Way Thru Spring Break

Played golf today. It was beautiful weather. But, at around 10:00 or so, I heard what sounded like a sonic boom. Turns out it wasn't. An old friend of mine from Chula Vista knew the pilot. Sad.

Wife comes home Saturday. Little ones miss her. Youngest hates bath time with me for some reason. She just plays for about 3 minutes then starts crying. It makes Oldest mad and start crying too. Then I start crying... just kidding. But it makes me want to let Youngest wait until Sunday to get a bath. Probably not a good idea.

Didn't get much done so far during this vacation. I am supposed to read a book and write a 6 page "book report" on it for my masters class. It is due 4/4/09. I am on page 20 of 245. For some reason every time I pick it up, Oldest is in my face wanting to play, or eat or just bug me. Oh well. I also haven't even looked at the papers that I need to grade for school. Maybe on Sunday night after wife is back. Next week is going to be all about the Masters class.

Final random thought - I wish Sonic wasn't all the way in Palmdale. I love those Strawberry-Limeades. Could go for one right about now...

Day 1 of Spring Break

Took the wife to Burbank Airport today. She went to Illinois to see her sister and her new niece (born 1/23/09). As for Me and our kids, we will try not to destroy the house, keep ourselves fed on food other than Winchells, In-N-Out, Weinerschnitzel, and Starbucks, and will miss her. A Lot. As in, I am going to go to bed soon because I don't want to be awake and missing her.

With Church tomorrow and Oldest having Cubbies, it might be a long day.

Vacations

So, tonight is my first and last night of vacation.

My spring break began at 2:23 this afternoon, but ends very soon as the wife is going to visit her sister in Illinois for the next 7 days. I will be left to fend for myself with the little ones. Luckily, I have the mother-in-law around the corner, and a babysitter coming to watch them one day. Usually spring break consists of sleeping in and playing golf (not both on the same day of course) but this year it is playing Mr. Mom.

In other news, I am so tired of the garbage that is happening in Washington DC that I have decided to not read anything that will make me any more angry than I already am. So, no Rush Limbaugh, no politico, no left wing or right wing news sources. Just sports and local news.

Rudeness

I experienced one of the rudest actions on Wednesday in one of my classes. Here's the scoop:

My students were doing a "labette", not a full fledged lab, but one that still required some manipulating of solutions and lots of thought. One of the boys didn't notice that his paper was under one of the plastic cups we were using for beakers. As he pulled it towards him, the cup tumped over, spilling its contents onto the lab bench and a few papers. The 3 students (2 girls, 1 boy) all scrambled to move their papers, and get them dry, but a few papers were wet. They did not move their folders. I was helping them with how to do a calculation so none of them "jumped" to get it wiped up.

A few moments later, they noticed that one of the girls folders was now wet from the spill as the liquid spread across the table. This young lady then began yelling at the boy for not cleaning up his spill. (Recall that none of the 3 of them made any effort to clean.) I told them all to calm down and asked the boy to get a few paper towels and get it cleaned up. The spill was rectified and I thought all was well. I was wrong.

A few minutes later, I was in their area again, and noticed the girl with the wet folder holding a cup of water and preparing to pour it on the boy's paper while he is away doing something else. "WOAH WOAH WOAH" says the teacher. "What are you doing?" She looks sheepish at the teacher. Teacher says "That's not very nice." Her reply? "He didn't clean it up!" So teacher says, it was an accident that none of you cleaned up. It's done, move on. Then the coup de grace...

I looked over a few minutes later, right as the bell is about to ring, and see the boy drying off his paper. I just about lost it. "Did you pour water on his paper? Yeah, that's mature. That is one of the rudest things I have ever seen. You repay an accident with ill-will? How Rude. Just Rude. I can't believe you would do that." Bell rings.

It gets worse.

She leaves, never apologizing, never showing any remorse. The other girl in the group is still there and I say again, "That was so rude. I am so sorry [student] that she did that." The other girl says... Are you ready? This is sad...

"It's not like he didn't deserve it."

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?!? YOU ARE JUSTIFYING THIS BEHAVIOR BECAUSE "He deserved it?" Unreal.

Please tell me that students are not like this around the USA. Please tell me that accidents are not treated with malice and contempt. Please tell me that the youth of today are able to think through things and understand how to make the world a better place.

Conservativism

This guy used to be a Conservative Christian, but has changed his view. I disagree with him on multiple levels, but this paragraph angered me...

So, what is the problem with lying to our faces, say, claiming that all American's taxes are going up when 95% of American's taxes are going to go down? Why not claim Obama is a socialist, even if he's not? Why not say anything at all to drive our country into a pit when losing is seen as winning? That, is all the Republicans have to offer America: more lies on a path to destruction from which the Republican "leadership" plans to resurrect themselves and "save" America from Obama.

Conservatives are not lying.
Fact: Taxes in California ARE increasing. Fact: In order to pay for the Porkulus Package, SOMEONE is going to have to pay for it. It may not be me this year, but taxes WILL go up. They have to. The money doesn't just appear in the Gov't coffers.

Socialism by definition via wikipedia: Socialism refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating public or state ownership and administration of the Means of production and distribution of goods, and a society characterized by equal opportunities for all individuals, with a fair or egalitarian method of compensation.

Aren't the bailouts, the banks being "rescued" by the government, the idea of "Universal Health Care", the "Fairness Doctrine", the "Freedom of Choice Act" all BY DEFINITION Socialist ideas? Then, by logical induction, Obama's financial policies are Socialist.

Not all conservatives are rooting for the policies to fail. That would be like saying I hope my car gets keyed in the parking lot so I can get a new paint job. I WANT the policies to work, but in the back of my mind, I don't think they will. So, I make the necessary life-changes to prepare for the worst. Then, if I am wrong, I am in good financial shape. If I am right, I am not in as bad of shape as I could have been.

And his attack of a Biblical Worldview is EXACTLY the problem with our society today. A Biblical worldview is looked upon as immature, unscientific, unreliable or even to some assanine. My faith in God drives my worldview, which says I should live my life in a way that glorifies God. My worldview in turn believes that there is only one Truth. There can be many falsehoods, but there cannot be many truths. Current Hedonistic/Materialistic worldview believe there is Relative Truth. Christianity is inherently Absolute. Jesus is the Truth, and all others are deceivers.

Finally, Schaeffer lists off things that he says ALL republicans believe. Let's answer a few of them.

Guns make you safe, They can be a huge deterrent to crime, but remember, Guns don't kill people, People kill People.

The earth is 6000 years old, I AGREE, as that is what the Bible tells me.

Gays are evil and dangerous, I DISAGREE. Gays are sinners in need of a savior. Their lifestyle is in conflict with a Biblical Worldview.

Iraq had something to do with 9/11 I don't know. I know Saddam was oppressing his people, and we could do something about it, and in turn, help make the world a safer place.

Obama is a Muslim, I DISAGREE. I trust him on his word that he is an evangelical, but I question his worldview, since he doesn't hold to Biblical truths.

Obama is a communist, I DISAGREE. Socialist is the more accurate.

Obama is the Antichrist, I DISAGREE. The Bible tells us that the AntiChrist will be a deceiver, and many will be deceived. While that part is true, he doesn't fit the rest of the Biblical descriptions of the AntiChrist.

Lowering taxes for the super rich would help the economy, UNSURE. But allowing them to put their money to work in business wouldn't hurt. Taxing them more only stifles growth. But I am not an economist, so I don't know for sure.

Deregulating banks leads to prosperity. I am not an economist, so I have no idea.

Jesus is coming back soon to take all the evangelicals to heaven leaving anyone who can walk in a straight line and chew gum at the same time on earth, Close. Jesus IS coming back soon to take all the BELIEVERS IN HIM AS SAVIOR. The implication that Christians cannot chew gum and walk in a straight line is also implying that all Christians check their mind at the door of the Church, which is ridiculous.

Sara Palin's only problem is that the "elite media" was unfair to her, Gov. Palin is human, which means she has plenty of problems. The problem was the other candidates were not examined using the same lens as Gov. Palin.

Every word of the Bible is true -- literally, FINALLY HE GOT ONE RIGHT, but not all Republicans believe this.

We don't need trains that work, infrastructure that functions and new energy, just Jesus... Well, we need Jesus, that is for sure, but our society still needs to function. I have no problem with conservation efforts, and improvements in commerce, infrastructure and SOME government is needed, but Not oodles and oodles of tax payer money going to support the others. The Biblical worldview says if you don't work, you don't eat.

Obviously, I am a staunch believer in the Biblical Worldview. And I believe that Fiscal reponsibility should be practiced by the Government, just like individuals are called to be. More government is not the way to a prosperous culture.

Sorry, Mr. Schaeffer, but we are becoming the New Rome yet I don't think ANY Republican wants to see the United States Fail. We want people to use their brains.

Sick Saturday

The whole fam is sick. Wife has a mix between a cold and a flu virus. Oldest has some tummy bug that made her puke Friday night. Youngest has head cold, but actually seems to be doing better. I have the head cold junk, and just can't quite shake it.

Pruned our grape vines today after reading lots of info about it on my-grape-vine.com. I wish I had seen this stuff 4 years ago when we started our vines. Now, we have haphazard vines, that I will be slowly trying to train.

Also saw that if I was going to make any large purchases, I will want to get that done before April 1 as the CA sales tax is about to increase. Stupid politicians... QUIT SPENDING MY MONEY ON STUPID THIINGS!

Lack of Critical Thinking Skills

I teach High School Chemistry. It never ceases to amaze me how little the students are able to solve a problem logically. Instead of thinking through the entire process, they only want to find the "Right Answer".

Currently we are doing gas laws, so I tell them to try and imagine a situation and go from there. However, when I look at their explanation, it often makes no sense. Things such as "When the pressure is held constant, the pressure increases." Are you kidding me?

I know I am not the smartest guy ever, and wasn't always the smartest when I was in high school, but I am pretty sure I knew how to think.

And We're Off

So, I have become addicted to reading other people's blogs, and decided I would start one of my own. More than likely this will be somewhat of a diary/journal of things that I find interesting, funny, politically intriguing, sad or inspirational.



I do NOT want this to be time consuming, so I doubt I will post everyday, but regularly would probably be the best way of putting it.



Finally, I will link to other blogs that I like, websites that make me think, and hopefully, a few original blurbs here and there to make me feel like it is MY blog and not just a link to others.



So, here we go.......