New Website: The (un)Reasonable Teacher

If you have stumbled upon this blog, it has moved to a new address. It is now at "The (un)Reasonable Teacher" which can be found by clicking this link. I hope you enjoy!

Election 2008

I haven't talked about the 2008 election yet. It is probably not a suprise that as liberal as I am in my politics, that I am supporting Barack Obama. There are numerous reasons for this, including:

• His support for getting out of Iraq as opposed to John McCain's belief that any kind of "victory" is still achievable (it isn't).


• His belief that economic policies should be geared more towards helping poor and middle class Americans instead of the wealthier ones.


• His background in civil rights and academics (hey, the guy is actually intelligent).


• His pragmatic approach to decision making.


• His youth and lack connection to the divisions of the 1960s (for more on this one, read Andrew Sullivan's outstanding essay for The Atlantic back in December 2007).

In addition, I really do not want John McCain to be President. Not only because of Senator McCain's stance on Iraq, but for his reversal on other issues. While he is still a man I greatly respect for his long service to America, he is no longer the "maverick he used to be. McCain, who once ran probably the most honorable campaingns in modern American political history in 2000, has now sold his soul in the hopes of winning the White House this year. For a while I thought that if McCain won the White House, he might actually say "the hell with 2 terms. I did what I had to do to win, and now I'm going back to being the Maverick I really am." However, his choice of the disasterous Sarah Palin proved to me that it isn't just politics. John McCain is a poor decision maker, and would make a terrible President.

Given the past 8 years, now more than ever, I feel we need Barack Obama. If he wins, I will celebrate his victory, but I promise, I will be his biggest critic starting after Inaguration Day (as I would for any President).

I promise that, before the election, I will do an UNBIASED analysis of both candidate's positions on education issues.

GO MIZZOU!!!

As you (whoever may have stumbled upon my blog in the past year) may remember, I am a huge Missouri Tigers fan. I was fortunate enough to attend the game tonight. We won 58-0 against the Colorado Buffalos. We really needed this type of win since the last two games where we lost to Oklahoma State and Texas.

Pictured above is Tight End Chase Coffman making an exceptional catch for a touchdown. Tonight, he broke the NCAA record for most career catches by a Tight End. He is going to be excellent in the NFL.

Contact

If you come across this blog, and see anything you like or dislike, feel free to leave a comment, or even email me. Let me know what you think.

Kids will be . . .um, kids?

Middle school students at Parkway West in St. Louis created their own unofficial Spirit Week, which includes "Hit a Tall Person Day" and . . . um . . . "Hit a Jew Day". Yep.

Another example of my love-hate relationship with this state.

The Missouri Teacher of the Year

Her name is Margaret L. Williams, and she teaches Social Studies at University City High School in St. Louis. Congratulations!

Joplin, MO says no to tattoos for teachers

I understand why teachers should be held to a higher moral standard than in other professions, but personally, this is going too far. Here is the rational for the ban explained by Joplin school board member Jeff Flowers:

“There’s a stigma associated with (tattoos), and it’s not a good stigma”.

Stigma? Numerous people in our society have tattoos. Are those individuals with tattoos supposed to be morally corrupt? I could understand asking teachers to cover up tattoos that are obscene. And certainly, there are different body parts that should be covered up, regardless of whether or not there is a tattoo. But all tattoos? What if a retired military veteran decides to become a teacher, and they have a tattoo indicating their service on their arm? What is the stigma there?

Perhaps I am making too much of this, but this is an example of my love-hate relationship with my home state (and I really do have one). I love being a Missourian, but I hate how sometimes, it can be a pretty backwards place to live.

The mess that is the Washingotn D.C. school system

There is no doubt by anyone who knows anything about public education in this country that the Washington D.C. public school system is in complete disarray, and has been for a long time. Now we learn that it is supposedly very common for D.C. staff to cancel meetings with special needs families and students. This has apparently created a major backlog:

"implementation of 584 hearing officer decisions is more than 120 days overdue. The consent decree calls for that backlog to be eliminated by the end of the year, which is unlikely to happen."

I don't know whether to believe the school administration or the teacher unions on this one, but no doubt, this is a injustice to the 11,000 students special needs in the D.C. area. For more information on D.C. School Chancellor Michelle Rhee, The Atlantic has written an excellent feature article on her. In addition to discussing Rhee, it also give a good description of the tension between the teachers and the Rhee, who is trying to reform the D.C. school system. Some might say "reform" is understating it. I don't know how practical some of her demands are, but something has got to change.

For other information on trying to fix D.C. public schools, check out the Washington Post's website on D.C. schools.

One problem with Standardized Testing

There are numerous problems with standardized testing, and I hope to talk more about them in the future. The Hobo Teacher is currently giving his students their tests, and well, he has come across one problem with standardized testing that some may not think about:

"Nothing makes me more proud to be an educator than when I prevent students—from—learning. Wait a second!"

Editing the website

I have started to make some changes to the website. Instead of one list of must-read websites at the side of the page, I have divided the list into two: one for education-related websites (since it is primarily an education blog), one for other websites. It has become painfully clear that I need to add more education websites.

In addition I have been messing around with the blog colors. I really want to keep the website with my two favorite colors: green and blue (colors of the earth). Unfortunately, it doesn't make that much of a difference.

Yikes! It is, um, a work in progress to say the least.

Mr. S

Going back and reading my introductory post, I was reminded that I gave myself the nickname Mr. S, because I wished to remain anonymous. The "S" does stand for what my first name begins with, and I do wish to still remain anonymous. Thus, I will still keep the name Mr. S. But here is how I first described the name:

"There is lots of other information I could share about myself but won't. This is because I posting on this blog anonymously, and need to limit the details of my life to a certain extent. As a future teacher, I do not want any comments I have maid to come back and, well, bite me in the ass (many parents, students, and administrators know how to Google). I want to be as open and honest about my beliefs, and I want the exchange of ideas between me and other readers to be as free as possible. I will give details about my life here and there as I deem appropriate, and I do not rule out the possibility that one day, I may decide to reveal my identity. Until that day, call me Mr. S."

I apologize if that last line came off at all as corny. My bad!

So what the hell have I been up to?

Well, let me begin by first posting this short, autobiography that I made when I first created this blog. You can read about me so I don't have to repeat myself. However, in the long period of time that I have been gone, there has been some changes.

• I no longer work as a pre-school teacher. While I learned a lot from that job, I decided to leave because it was interfering with my studies . . . and my sanity. It was probably the main reason why I originally stopped posting. I would probably take the job again, but I definitely would do some things differently. Not only did I let it take over my life to an extent, but I also had a very rocky relationship with my boss. I enjoyed working with all of the kids (even the ones that were more prone to misbehavior). I am currently working part-time in a major book and music store, a considerably less stressful job while I finish up my studies.
• I am scheduled to start student teaching in January. I do not have a placement yet, but it will be in special education.
• A year ago, I described myself as a "Unitarian Christian". While my religious views tend to shift from one day to the next, I probably now consider myself more of an agnostic, or a deist. It is something I continue to struggle with. God only knows what I will call myself next year (if there is a God, of course).
• A year ago, I described myself as "pretty liberal". Today, I would describe myself as VERY liberal, dare I say, quasi-socialist. There are many influences that probably moved me further left, but the most obvious influence for me is watching the 2003 documentary, The Corporation. For a left-wing diatribe, it is actually pretty balanced.
• Finally, the girlfriend I mentioned is no longer my girlfriend . . . she is now my fiance. We are scheduled to get married late next summer after I finish my Masters (hopefully). I love her more than anything in the world, and I look forward to spending the rest of my life with her!

I'm back . . . again.

So it has been almost a year since I have even touched this website. The simple matter was that I was too busy and really thought I would never get a chance to create new posts (I'll explain in my next post). I originally decided I would give up on this whole blog. But then today, I read an article in The Atlantic Monthly by Andrew Sullivan (my favorite political blogger) on blogging. Right then and there, it inspired me to take it up again.

Make no mistake, this is a very impulsive decision of mine. Perhaps this is partially because, as someone who has ADD, impulsiveness is a major characteristic. But as someone who watches the events of the world unfold on a daily basis, I cannot help but feel the need to speak my voice. Self-fulfilling as my motives may seem, I am still genuinely interested in contributing a variety of ideas (not just my own) to the public discourse. Yes, this is an impulsive decision, but as Andrew states in his article, the impulsiveness itself of blogging is part of what makes it so wonderful:

"[Blogging] is the spontaneous expression of instant thought—impermanent beyond even the ephemera of daily journalism. It is accountable in immediate and unavoidable ways to readers and other bloggers, and linked via hypertext to continuously multiplying references and sources. Unlike any single piece of print journalism, its borders are extremely porous and its truth inherently transitory. The consequences of this for the act of writing are still sinking in. "

As it always has, this blog will still focus primarily on education and education-related issues. But it will also focus on politics, current events, philosophy, religion, movies, sports . . . well pretty much anything of interest that comes to me. For what the (un)Reasonable Missourian is about, read this post I first put up when I started this blog. It is a bit lengthy for a blog post, but I still stand by it.

Go Tigers!

As I mentioned once earlier last month, I have been a Missouri Tiger football fan for as long as I can remember. This has been a season like I have never seen, nor like I thought I would ever see in my lifetime. The highlight, of course, was being the number 1 team in the country for one week after beating Kansas and winning the Big 12 North.

However, we did lose in the Big 12 Championship to Oklahoma, and we did get royally screwed by the BCS (hell, we have a whole history of getting screwed in college football). Damn it, we should be in the Orange Bowl, not Kansas. Even though we lost twice, it was to the same team (and an admittedly better team). In addition, we have beaten Texas Tech, Illinois, and, yes Kansas (who is going to the Orange Bowl). As any Mizzou fan will tell you in their most cordial way possible, FUCK THE BCS!

But I am not bitter. This is a season I will always be grateful for, and never forget. It is an honor to be playing Arkansas in the Cotton Bowl. This game should be all the more interesting because one of my best friends is a die-hard Arkansas fan. Bring it on Razorbacks! M-I-Z . . . Z-O-U!!!!!

Becoming a Special Education Teacher

I suppose my first post back with some kind of extra content on it should be education-related, since this is primarily an education-related blog. As a future special education teacher, here is something quite appropriate for me, and for anyone that wants to become a special education teacher. From the website Special Education Teacher in Washington D.C., this is a post from the creator of the blog (and of course, as the title suggests, a SPED teacher herself). It gives 10 suggestions of what makes a good special education teacher. In addition, she links to a page that gives five steps on how to become a SPED teacher. I have not followed these five steps exactly in my own personal experience. Still though, they are good steps that I would recommend for anyone thinking about special education.

Let's get back on the right track!

So here is my first new post in about 2 weeks, and that post was the first one in a really long time. My school is out for the semester, and I did not do as well as I would have liked to. I should have known better than to put more stuff on my plate than I can handle (an overload in credit hours, and a near full-time job as a preschool/kindergarten teacher). But oh well, life goes on. When my classes start up again in January, I will be taking one less class, and I will cut back on my hours at work. This will be important for my health, sanity, relationship with my girlfriend, and my performance at both work and school. In addition, it should allow me more time to keep this blog updated. I have so much to write about. Where do I even begin?

Sorry, I have been busy teaching

For the one or two of you out there that may stumble across my blog, it has been a while (nearly a month) since I last posted. Well, I have been a little busy lately with school and work. Did I say a little, I meant to say UNBELIEVABLY FUCKING BUSY! I am taking three classes (one online), commuting four nights a week in order to go to school, working nearly everyday of the week, all while trying to please everyone in my personal life. It is really hard! Because of this job, I will have to cut back on a class, or at least not commute so much. I will be grateful after next week when I am done for the semester at my college.

In any case, I have not given up on this blog. I have just been on a bit of an unannounced, unplanned, temporary hiatus. This teaching job I now have came out of no where, and I needed the money and experience. This job seemed perfect. But it has taken up so much of my time. Rather than a part-time gig keeping an eye on some kids (like I thought it would be), I spend roughly 30 hours a week teaching children science and leading them in several different activities. This is something that I have looked forward to for a while, but did not think would come so soon. This is my first real teaching job. So far, it has been a wonderful learning experience, but it is very time consuming. Free time and sleep are both things I do not get enough of. I was sick two weeks ago (and still had to work), and am wondering if I am getting sick again (I'll probably still have to work if I am). There are plenty of other issues I have about my job (which I may go into some other time), but generally though, I enjoy my work.


But getting back to the blog, I promise that in the next 2-3 weeks I will have the it back and going again. I will work harder to get out posts on a regular basis (my goal is at least every other day, if not everyday or multiple times a day). In addition, I will work harder to get my website to more people on the web. I want people all across the web to not only view the content of my blog, but to also interact with me (through email or commenting on posts). I don't want to just post; I also want to do my best to create a dialog between me and other web browsers. I want the (un)Reasonable Missourian to be a truly great blog on education, politics, culture, and a number of other areas of life.

If you are wondering what my blog is about, read a couple of my first posts here and here. The first post is a little bio about my self, while he second one is what I want the (un)Reasonable Missourian to be about.

More Cronyism in Education

Well, I mentioned it last week with Bill Maher's post, and here it is again. Neil Bush's Ignite! Learning, Inc. is under investigation by the Education Department's inspector general. It seems federal education money may be inappropriately spent on the company's products for schools districts to use. It also seems the products don't work very well. Take for instance Ignite's Curriculum on Wheels (also known as the COW), an education software program/projector screen on wheels that costs $3,800 a piece (not including subscription costs). It is apparently an overpriced piece of crap.

Norman Mailer, 1923-2007

The only things I ever really knew about Norman Mailer was that he was a writer, and he was very anti-War. Then I read his obituary in the Washington Post. I never realized what a life this man lived. Some of the highlights that impressed me: he helped create the sexual mystique of John Kennedy before he was elected President, he was married six times, and he punched Gore Vidal in the face. When I have more time, I would like to try and read some of his books.

Keeping up with my posts

When I started this blog a few weeks ago, I said I would try to post every day. For a while, I was able to do about every other day. Than this week came along and really wore me out. I averaged about 4 hours of sleep due to my job, my classes, and the assignments that accompany my classes. This was one of the most stressful weeks I have had in a long time, as a direct result of my new job. Because of it, has been about 5 days since my last post. Needless to say, I have not been posting every day.

The way it is looking, I will probably not be posting every day. My new schedule has me commuting to another city to attend night classes Monday through Thursday, as well as working part or all day nearly every day during the week. I will try and post as often as I can in the next couple of months. Perhaps next semester, I will take a lighter load of courses. There is so much I would like to post and comment on. There is a who world of things on the Internet I would like to explore and share. Please continue to check into my blog from time to time. Thanks for the understanding!