Constantly Improving

Today started off with my principal walking in during homeroom, and calling me out for not controlling my class. Oy. I held back tears, and ended up having a not-too-bad anyway. I later spoke to her, and she gave me some good advice about reinforcing routines. I need to remember that students need routines - like breakfast is 8:50-9:00 - spelled out explicitly. I made some posters, gave my homeroom an earful about behavior, and am hopeful about tomorrow.

I showed a couple of classes Mythbusters to get them thinking about Science Fair, which I will formally introduce to them beginning next week. I'm really anxious about Science Fair, but I at least have the first couple of activities (finding a topic, creating a testable question) planned.

This afternoon, my sister and I had a very interesting conversation about education. She is a start-up founder in San Francisco, and approaches all problems with a libertarian-leaning entrepreneurial eye. She pointed out that Bridgeport spends about $13,000 per student, which is less than some districts like New Haven, but more than some nicer suburban districts. So why are we begging for copy paper? She suggested that the money could be better used in many other ways, especially emphasizing smaller classes. Where is all this money going? She also pointed out that there are plenty of brilliant people who would get involved in education if there was a little more money to pay. She also pointed out that if school were looked at from a business standpoint, rather than from a political one, things might get done more efficiently. As it stands now, very little progress is being made, and slowly. We need something faster. The example she gave is that before Facebook, nobody sat around and complained about the lack of social networking. We need innovative solutions to the education gap that aren't immediately apparent.

In my opinion, education policy is often misguided (e.g. NCLB), focusing on standardized test scores rather than students. I know it's a stereotypical teacher argument, but I think there are better ways to help children than taking so much time out of the school year to prepare for and take standardized exams.

Where are all of these good leaders anyway? As Superintendent Ramos is ousted with his ton-of-money severance pay, I want to know, where are these people that can run the schools?

While we didn't solve any major problems, my sister reminded me that there are solutions out there, we just haven't thought of them yet. It will get better. These kids will learn. (And in the meantime, I was given access to a library of science videos and related worksheets. Jackpot.)