So, there's this idea that our state operates for the common well-being, rather than for the good of a specific class or caste of people. For everyone. Liberty and justice for all, and more.
I heard this little piece on the radio a couple of days ago. The writer observed that if public libraries didn't exist, and someone thought them up today, there's no way they would become a reality. You can go through this thought-exercise yourself. Imagine there are no public libraries, and some guy comes along and says, "Hey, we should all have access to books. And music, and video, and newspapers, and magazines. For free." And someone would come along and say, "Well that's a great idea, but it's going to be very expensive. How exactly do you propose to fund this?" And the answer would be, "We should pay higher taxes. I know that sounds crazy, but maintaining a healthy democracy depends on having citizens who are well-educated and can make informed decisions. Further, the American promise of equality demands that as many people as possible have access to as much of our cultural wealth--the work of our best writers, musicians, and artists--as is possible." And the people would respond, "No new taxes!" And the publishing houses and the music recording industry and Hollywood would all say that giving everyone this access would hurt their profits and infringe upon their intellectual property rights. And no libraries would exist.
It is really amazing that we have public libraries the way that we do in the U.S. (In other countries, it is very rare to find lending libraries with open stacks that you can browse and borrow material from.) And we have free concerts, especially in big-city summertimes. It's great! But I'm worried that as a society, our appreciation of these things doesn't really match their worth. We are stingy about what we spend for the public good versus for our own personal enjoyment, whether the cost is in dollars, time, or service.
All for now.
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
First Days of School
Well, actually, the first days of school are over. I was back at work on August 9, and the students were back for half-days on August 21. Classes started last Monday.
The year is looking good. My role at YWLCS has changed, and now I'm teaching two math classes instead of four (and still advising a dozen girls and teaching reading in the morning). I am officially one of two Middle School Academy co-facilitators. This means I do a little bit extra beyond what everyone on my fantastic team does to make things run smoothly: planning for our meetings, mostly. Starting probably next week, I will also have more of a presence in my colleagues' classrooms, making observations that may be useful to them and, if needed, helping out with discipline.
My own classroom management (which is the fluffy term we use these days; "discipline" sounds too disciplinary. Too much like locking kids in closets and beating them with scary paddles--which I think every teacher has, at some point, wished for) has grown so much since last year. I feel much more in charge of my classroom. It's not that I didn't have a sense of authority last year, but I was much more willing to negotiate and much less willing to give direct commands which I refuse to compromise. One thing that's really helping is lunch detention, which the middle school has started. It's the perfect consequence; they can't refuse to do it because they have to catch some bus (the problem we had with afterschool detentions), and it really sucks for them to miss having lunch with their friends. Each teacher is in charge of lunch detention for one day a week, with a partner, so the work is shared, whereas last year, if you assigned a detention, you had to host it yourself. That made it a lot harder to manage, so it was a lot less likely to be assigned, and a lot less effective with students.
The highlight of last week was probably the POW Song. We have math Problems of the Week, which are complex problems that require long write-ups describing what the problem is, what your solution is, and how you went about solving it. I had my groups each write a verse relating to some section of the POW write-up, and they're eating it up. They beg to sing the song every day, and they did a great job of coming up with creative lyrics to the Concentration, the letter A rhythm. It's really catchy.
Anyway ... I'm really looking forward to this year of teaching.
Patrick and I spent Labor Day Weekend in Iowa. It's a nice state, and I guess I wouldn't mind living there for a few years if that's where he got his first job, or something. It made us both kind of homesick (him for Iowa and me for Cali), but it was great to see his mom, and she gave us a ton of food!
Hope you're all well. Love you.
The year is looking good. My role at YWLCS has changed, and now I'm teaching two math classes instead of four (and still advising a dozen girls and teaching reading in the morning). I am officially one of two Middle School Academy co-facilitators. This means I do a little bit extra beyond what everyone on my fantastic team does to make things run smoothly: planning for our meetings, mostly. Starting probably next week, I will also have more of a presence in my colleagues' classrooms, making observations that may be useful to them and, if needed, helping out with discipline.
My own classroom management (which is the fluffy term we use these days; "discipline" sounds too disciplinary. Too much like locking kids in closets and beating them with scary paddles--which I think every teacher has, at some point, wished for) has grown so much since last year. I feel much more in charge of my classroom. It's not that I didn't have a sense of authority last year, but I was much more willing to negotiate and much less willing to give direct commands which I refuse to compromise. One thing that's really helping is lunch detention, which the middle school has started. It's the perfect consequence; they can't refuse to do it because they have to catch some bus (the problem we had with afterschool detentions), and it really sucks for them to miss having lunch with their friends. Each teacher is in charge of lunch detention for one day a week, with a partner, so the work is shared, whereas last year, if you assigned a detention, you had to host it yourself. That made it a lot harder to manage, so it was a lot less likely to be assigned, and a lot less effective with students.
The highlight of last week was probably the POW Song. We have math Problems of the Week, which are complex problems that require long write-ups describing what the problem is, what your solution is, and how you went about solving it. I had my groups each write a verse relating to some section of the POW write-up, and they're eating it up. They beg to sing the song every day, and they did a great job of coming up with creative lyrics to the Concentration, the letter A rhythm. It's really catchy.
Anyway ... I'm really looking forward to this year of teaching.
Patrick and I spent Labor Day Weekend in Iowa. It's a nice state, and I guess I wouldn't mind living there for a few years if that's where he got his first job, or something. It made us both kind of homesick (him for Iowa and me for Cali), but it was great to see his mom, and she gave us a ton of food!
Hope you're all well. Love you.
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