God's Will and My Desires

Have you ever stopped to think about the difference between God's Plan for your life, and YOUR plan for you life? When I was 17 years old, I thought I knew exactly what God wanted for my life and it was exactly what I wanted for my life. To go to college, play on the soccer and baseball teams, major in Chemistry, become a teacher and coach, get married, have 2 kids (a boy and a girl) and live happily ever after. Well, quite a few of those came true, some were obviously not from the Lord, and some started well and fizzled (using the "my plan").

Today, I am 37 years and 17 days old and I have realized that God's will is SOOO much bigger and better than my plans. I was able to play sports until I decided to stop, am teaching Chemistry, coached for a few years (and do not regret either starting or quitting!) and have been married to the most amazing woman for just over 11 and a half years. My kids have been an example of God doing his thing. I have 2 girls, and a third on the way. And I am definitely happy. Actually, I would use the term Joyous as it better describes my attitude.

However, I started this post to get to this portion: the state of the State of California is troublesome. The State is facing financial ruin, has too many social programs to support on dwindling income (i.e. tax revenue), and the school systems are taking a beating, both financially as well as in the court of public opinion. BUT, teachers cannot be the only ones responsible. I will be the first to admit there are a few horrendous teachers, but those few do not represent the greater population of teachers. I can only judge the teachers I know from what I know about them personally from working with them, and what I hear from other students. I would say only 2 or 3 at my school would I NOT let my children sit before in class. But that is a digression that I will leave for another post...

So, who is responsible for changing the landscape of education? The Parents and the Students themselves. I asked some of my friends what needs to be done to 'fix' education. The best response included "require students/parents to pay for repeated classes (failing grades or lost credits)." I believe he also included "more vocational training" because some kids know early on that they will not be going to college, and might choose to go in a different direction, a direction that they feel they can be successful on. Why can't the bureaucrats and politicians see that vocational education is a positive for everyone? Teachers of those trades/crafts will have students that actually have an interest, teachers in 'academic' settings will have students that are motivated to compete with the others in that area, and the business sector will have workers/apprentices that have been somewhat prepared for taking a job in those industries.

As hinted toward in the title of this post, I have a strong personal desire to move out of California. But I know that as of this writing, that is not what God has in store for me. I have just over 18 months to finish my Master's degree. I KNOW without a doubt that God will show me exactly what He wants me to do when that time comes. Until then, I continue on the path He has been showing me.

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....

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.