Planning

That is what I used to do, in advertising. Media Planning. Too often we were slaving to make revisions to things just to satisfy middle managers, or top managers, who had no clue what it took to make their "suggestions" a reality. A lot of the time the requests would circle back on themselves. We weren't allowed to say something couldn't be done. We worked excessively long hours for little pay and less appreciation. And at the end of it all it really didn't matter whether we spent 2 hours or 2o hours - we presented what we had time to produce.

Yesterday I came to the realization that I am doing that again. The kids really don't care, notice or respond no matter how much time I spend. I need to be satisfied with what I can do in the time I have. The only drawback is behavior. The more I can plan for them to do (which takes time on my part, even to just select a worksheet), the more they work, and the less I have to. Motivating them is the hard part. I have a problem student (referred to the office for telling me to leave him alone, then walking away - still no resolution, spoke with him in presence of guidance counselor) leave a 'think sheet' behind on his desk twice yesterday. Many won't do anything, but sit tight and wait for somebody else to call out an answer, then they fill in theirs. Had a girl yesterday, told me the calculator wouldn't do the problem.

And that attitude is a different sort of problem. I got the word "from the top" via my two bossy teachers that I should be teaching students how to use the calculators. Had two administrators pop in yesterday and comment on us using them. It is a vote of no-confidence in the students when we say "let's stop teaching them to think and teach them to press buttons." Go to McDonalds - the cashier presses buttons, and half the time gets them wrong and can't figure out what went wrong - nor can they tell if the total is close to what it should be. One problem on this test was volume of a cone. I didn't (and don't) teach it. But the problem gave them the volume of a cylinder (which I DO teach), and the formula for volume of a cylinder and volume of a cone. They are identical, except for the fraction 1/3 in front of the cone volume. Most popular question was "I don't know how to do this" because they don't think analytically, and because the powers that be focus on test scores, which count for funding, not thinking, which count for futures.

Bartlett pear trees are starting to flower, many trees with leaves budding. And sat down as a family and tried to map out our Spring Break trip. Heading up to Brooklyn, my first time back since moving. There are rumblings that somebody might share the driving, but only in the 'flat parts' - in other words, I will be driving for as long as humanly possible. No clue yet on stops - Knoxville is a lunch possibility on Saturday March 12. Returning we are going to drive across Pennsylvania to visit my grandfather, then down through Ohio. LOTS of driving.