The $125,000 Answer

“…because they’re worth it.  Because teachers are the key, and if we can pay them this with the existing dollars, then why aren’t we doing it?”  (Zeke Vanderhoek, principal and founder, TEP Charter School)

That quote silenced the conversations at my apartment for 15 minutes this past Sunday; my mother had come down for the weekend to settle in to her spring break and also recover from the hardships of being a high-quality Wisconsin educator.  Following a fantastic meal, we were getting ready to watch one of my favorite guilty pleasures, when we heard the above quote from a 60 Minutes story on the TEP Charter School in New York.

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Knowledge is Power (or Kryptonite?)

With the help a few deep breaths and some quality coffee I sat down to watch “Waiting For Superman” this past weekend.  This was a complex task, on one hand, a number of the points raised in this movie were correct, relevant, and detrimental to public education.  On the other side of this coin were contradictions, flawed logic, and structured logic that was not followed through to find a concrete solution to our problems in education.

Out of all of the thoughts and ideas running through my head, one has stuck out the most.  Here’s what the movie had to say:

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Christmas in March

In celebration of today's new blanket of snow.  Enjoy!

 

I may need to try the old Volume Knob decrescendo technique in the future. 

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Trapped in a Box

I (briefly) mentioned my mid-winter refresher in my last entry but I’m afraid that was quickly squelched this past Monday thanks to 50 8^th graders with brass noisemakers.  (or was it?)  For my 8^th grade band, this past Monday was particularly… Monday; their sound was poor and their preparedness was even poorer, and I had to be the bad guy and tell them this.  So needless to say, today’s rehearsal was not one that I was looking forward to, until my drive to work today…

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A Pedagogical Manifesto

This has certainly been an interesting two weeks in the world of education; the “job-saving” Wisconsin budget bill, aimed at cutting the state’s 3.6 billion dollar deficit passed the Wisconsin House last night, in response to this, the New Richmond, WI school district handed out pink slips to all of their 207 employees this morning claiming uncertainty over who would and would not be rehired for the 2011-2012 school year.  Meanwhile, amongst the downtrodden news of my home state, I have found myself in the grasp of Mid-Winter inspiration for the 3^rd year in a row.

The MMEA (Minnesota Music Educators Association) Mid-Winter Conference was held last week at the Minneapolis Convention Center; through lectures, performances, and networking with the best and brightest in my field, I have been refreshed and re-inspired in my classroom.  Upon my return to the rehearsal room this week, I witnessed a fantastic school assembly in regards to internet safety.  This is an extremely valuable lesson for our students and I was very pleased with the presenter.  In the era of Facebook and smartphones, our students are treading dangerous waters; however, it wasn’t the threat of employers discovering pictures of my hidden karaoke talent that got me thinking about today’s blog, it was this.

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Appeasing the Public

To quote Linus VanPelt (of Peanuts fame), "There are three things I've learned to never discuss with people: religion, politics, and the Great Pumpkin".  I'm going to try to abandon my own political beliefs on this blog, but it only seems fitting to start this journey with an explanation of one of my favorite hobbies.

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