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Posted on 01/22/2012 11:22:38 AM PST by Nachum
Cleaning out years of projects and student art from her classroom was an emotional process for Teri Cowan, but she felt it was her only choice. Cowan worked for the Ector County Independent School District for 23 years, 13 of those years teaching Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate sophomore English at Odessa High School. She was teacher of the year for the 2010-11 school year at the high school and secondary teacher of the year for ECISD for the 1995-96 school year. As well as volunteering as the National Honor Society, prom and class council sponsors. Tuesday, Jan. 17, was
(Excerpt) Read more at oaoa.com ...
Much more important to attack typos than deal with fact?
Much more important to attack typos than deal with fact?
Much more important to attack typos than deal with fact?
Why? Because they are smart! They have figured it out.
I have **never** been to a parent teacher or principal conference that wasn't a complete waste of my life!!! ( I wish I could have that time back.)
Teachers and principals are not going to hold a child back while they are immersed in an **English**only classroom. Teachers and principals are NOT going to abandon whole word or the “New-new-new discovery Math programs. They are NOT going to issue vouchers so that the child can escape the non-stop godless indoctrination.
And this statement is very cute! “Phonics is the **basis** for reading education in Texas.”
Translation: There is some phonics thrown in haphazardly to pacify and fool the masses. It is a phonics program or it is not. “Based” on phonics likely isn't phonics.
As for bigotry toward ER nurses: I see them every day for IV infusions. They are highly professional. The medicines are always there, mixed property, and ready to go. The IV pump machines **always** work **perfectly**. Every room that I have been placed has been immaculate. They offer me juice, soda, water, crackers. The staff has been friendly and I have been seen on time every time.
Fact
The three-yearly OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) report, which compares the knowledge and skills of 15-year-olds in 70 countries around the world, ranked the United States 14th out of 34 OECD countries for reading skills, 17th for science and a below-average 25th for mathematics.
We need to do something different. We need to educate our kids. We need to stop paying the retirement and healthcare of past teachers until we get back to our past ratings as the best schools in the US. We need to take the best of you and ditch the rest. Not every teacher is bad, but it is rare to find one that will place any blame on their co-workers. I have teachers in my family, I’ve taught, I’ve known many of you.
Or the schools can implode as they are doing right now. Look up Garfield Heights, Ohio.
You see, I already bought my curriculum this year and MI has recently passed Virtual Charters into the mix. I know women who are getting a nice baby sitting business going. They’ll be watching other kids while moms work and the students attend Michigan Virtual Academy. It doesn’t take a BA in education to do it either. While teachers point fingers, parents are working things out.
>>Virtually all of us were products of the public education system and any deficiencies we display can be rightly laid at the feet of their public education system which they so vehemently defend.
And that’s why we decided to homsehool. At least our eyes have been opened to what’s really going on and we’re trying to spare our children the same fate.<<
Amen.
It's a pretty silly mistake to make when one is a public educator telling a homeschool parent that she's ignorant, advancing to stupidity.
If you're going to throw around pejorative like that, expect a reaction if you're not going to be perfect in your posting.
Homeschoolers have little tolerance for criticism from the public education eestablishment for the job we're doing when we put out a superior product for less an investment of time and money, and without the *benefit* of having a *teaching* degree. (Although that's a whole 'nother issue)
Don't start with the personal attacks then.
We need to educate our kids. We need to stop paying the retirement and healthcare of past teachers until we get back to our past ratings as the best schools in the US.
The Teachers fully fund their retirement account through payroll deduction. The TEA negotiates favorable insurance rates for retirees. The retirees pay the premium. So taxpayers are not paying for retired teachers in Texas.
Not every teacher is bad, but it is rare to find one that will place any blame on their co-workers.
Again I do not know your location or environment, however your statement may incorrect for the Texas School Systems I have had contact with. Teachers are critical of both the commitment and performance of their peers. Texas teachers also are subject to observations where their performance is critically reviewed and included as part of their annual summative. I qualify it as may, since my level of contact is limited to the school districts my children attended or that my wife was employed.
You see, I already bought my curriculum this year and MI has recently passed Virtual Charters into the mix.
Ah, location is revealed. I spent my first 27 years in Michigan so I better understand your position. My sister in law is a retired teacher and I used to play weekend basketball and softball with several teachers and elementary principals so I am well aware of the problems of the 70's and it would seem things got worse over the years.
Having experienced the environments of both Texas and Michigan I can unequivocally state the problems in Texas are not the problems in Michigan, both structurally and financially. Of the two, if given the task, I would prefer the problems in Texas as a starting point.
These conferences involve administration, the teacher and a specialist like my wife. They are for the purpose of determining the remedial action and support that will be made available to the student. Any parent that feels this is a waste of time only demonstrates my original report. For a fifth grader, they are vital since in Texas a fifth grader cannot be promoted if they fail the required tests. If a suitable corrective action plan is approved at the "waste of time" conference the student may be conditionally promoted if they follow the plan.
And this statement is very cute! “Phonics is the **basis** for reading education in Texas.” Translation: There is some phonics thrown in haphazardly to pacify and fool the masses. It is a phonics program or it is not. “Based” on phonics likely isn't phonics.
Let me restate to remove any doubt. Phonics is the foundation for reading education in Texas. End of Story!
As for bigotry toward ER nurses: I see them every day for IV infusions. They are highly professional. The medicines are always there, mixed property, and ready to go. The IV pump machines **always** work **perfectly**. Every room that I have been placed has been immaculate. They offer me juice, soda, water, crackers. The staff has been friendly and I have been seen on time every time.
I doubt that you are dealing with a county funded Hospital. My son, a Paramedic/Firefighter, and my son-in-law, a doctor employed by the county hospital authority who visits facilities throughout the country, both privately funded and county funded, to approve residency and fellowship programs, could paint you a much clearer and less rosy picture.
I hold no bigotry toward ER personnel. I highly respect them and the job they are doing. I also recognize the difference on the food chain between them and Surgeons and Anesthesiologist, my original point.
>>I am defending the teachers who were falsely indicted as the root cause.<<
Well actually, I said the Union was against both of us.
Someone who wasn’t looking to pick a fight might have stated that while TX has no union contracts, they have Associations which are on the side of the National Teachers Association and the National Education Association. Then the blame would have gone there.
>>The Teachers fully fund their retirement account through payroll deduction.<<
Current law requires that the state contribution rate
cannot be lower than the member contribution rate.
The current member rate is 6.4%. As a result of a ruling
by the Texas Attorney General, the state contribution
rate for fiscal year 2011 is 6.644%, making the
combined rate 13.044%.
http://www.trs.state.tx.us/about/documents/trs_value_brochure.pdf
Again, the US has slipped far down in education. Texas isn’t in the top 10 of the states. Of course you’ll be less than happy with those who do your job ourselves. We’re not happy with paying for a product that is substandard either.
Get your facts straight before verbally attacking a group that you obviously know nothing about and there will be no problem.
>>Ah, location is revealed.<<
Oh, and if you want to see where I’m from, click on my name.
There is a little flag in the corner.
As an Engineer who's primary activity is writing technical reports, I recognize the importance of structural accuracy and when it is called for. In an informal exchange of information and ideas, I place higher value in the content over inconsequential errors in the form.
Apparently you have overlooked and failed to respond to the information of importance while misinterpreting who you are dealing with all for the purpose of focusing on a typographical error; a practice otherwise known as form over substance. That practice may be acceptable in homeschooling, however it is highly discouraged in the engineering environment.
How many fabrications and contradictions have I personally caught you in.
And the really great thing is that you are willing to align yourself with anti-Catholic bigots as long as they support your homeschooling agenda.
Really wondering how God is gonna look at that.
Here let me help you get the log out of your own eye. How many times have you and your ilk referred to me as a leftist, or useful idiot etc....?
Respectfully,
Wintertime
It’s not as if the students are lucky to be there.
It’s not as if the students are lucky to be there.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
There are schools in this nation that are soooooo horrific that it would be better for the child never to attend. Really, I mean it.
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