Facie’s Ramblings

So I see it has been over a month since I last blogged. As per usual, I wrote a couple of posts in my head. I am pretty sure I did not write a post after having a mini panic attack a few weeks ago. I woke up early a few Mondays ago and just started to fret about so many things. I was alternating between sobbing and something else. At one point, I was not even sure I could breath. I was quite upset. But strangely that feels like a lifetime ago, fortunately (you can't keep an optimistic down for too long, I guess). I blame part of my blogging absence on the state of the world. There is just so much bad news. So many sad, frustrating, and/or anger-inducing stories out there. Particularly, there is too much violence and hatred. Sometimes within miles of where I live (see Monroeville Mall shooting). But I wanted to share something that caused me to smile. Something that gives me hope. A couple of weeks ago, a woman I went to grade school with posted on Facebook that she received a...

J survived her first week of fourth grade at her kind-of-new school (two other schools merged with hers). And I survived a week of lunch duty, which I can now smile about. Change is hard for most of us (I am looking right at you, self!). And when many people have to do something completely different, with dozens upon dozens of new faces, in a place they are not used to, well, you should not expect sunshine and lollipops. At least not every day. After my first day of lunch duty this week, I wanted to cry. It was chaotic at times. There are 140 more students than there were last year, and of those students, probably 160 are new to me. So I cannot call many of them by name to get their attention or correct them. In the case of the last lunch (there are three), I have no idea who is in what grade since they can sit wherever they want, which means I often don't know if the correct kids are heading out to recess (we call them a grade at a time). Throughout this week, I saw some kid...

Last week, I spent three days subbing for the math teacher, who, God bless her, teaches seven different math classes a day, ranging from pretty simple fifth grade math to basic geometry and algebra. In high school, I was good at math. I took Algebra I, II, and III; trig; and geometry, and had straight A's save for one nine weeks of geometry. I quit calculus after one day because I had seen too many people in my school wreck their GPA for that apparently difficult class. Since I was planning to teach English, I did not see the point. Once I got to college, I needed only two math classes, one of which was a great stat class. After that, I figured I would never need math again (you know, calculators and all). But, alas, I figured incorrectly. In the fall of 1994, I was hired to teach the English classes at a business college. Because they needed to fill a period of my schedule, I ended up teaching a business math class my first quarter there. One might think with my math skills,...

The PA Department of Education has a page entitled "How is my school doing?" If you are interested in how your school district (or others) is doing, I encourage you to check out this link . The information goes beyond the typical standardized test results; things such as drop-out rates, attendance, and teacher qualifications are also included. I gave the reports a quick glance and was dismayed, though not surprised, to see how poorly my district is performing. To be fair, I just don't know a lot about No Child Left Behind and Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP); my opinions are based on what little I have read and the opinions of others. But even so, one thing I have questioned and struggled with is the dreaded standardized test, which, of course, is how the academics are rated/ranked. In fact, this week Jordan and her schoolmates are taking the Terra Nova tests (I think most or probably all the state public schools take the PSAAs instead). I could read up on the differenc...

Every couple of months, I go through this panic. I worry that we will run out of money and will be forced to start living off our savings. I have said that it is coming, but unfortunately, it is now pretty close. I guess the good news is that Brian seems to be on board with our giving no one Christmas presents this year. :-) I met a friend for lunch yesterday and I told her one of the hardest aspects about the job search and even networking in general is the people who have offered to help but never really did. I neither asked for nor expected anyone to find a job for me. Rather, I thought that the nice former client, former coworker, friend, friend of a friend, etc., might reply to an email I sent. The email might have been a simple question, such as do you know anyone at _______ or can you tell me if your company is hiring or looking for freelance help. Perhaps slightly more work for said non-responder would be an email address for an HR person or a request to use their name (not t...

Today was the first day of second grade for Jordan. She was nervous last night, but she seemed pretty good this morning, much to my pleasure. She got up without a problem (we'll see how long that lasts; my guess is only one day), and we had plenty of time to spare. So much so that I am hopeful I won't have to get up around 6:40 tomorrow as I did today (her alarm went off a few minutes after that). I just don't know how people get up so stinkin' early! I am hopeful this will be a good year. Already she was a bit dismayed when I told her that she will not get to have a morning snack in second grade (I thought it was kind of odd that they had that in first grade), but she seemed to get over that pretty fast. I have no idea how academics will play out. This summer we spent most days working on a couple of pages from a workbook her first grade teacher recommended, which typically took about 10 minutes. In July we also starting reviewed basic math flash cards most days. S...

Well, not really. Or maybe, actually. But apparently quite a few people think there is power in 32 counties in western PA, OH, MD, and WV. Last year, my older brother, who works for the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce, emailed me a link to a naming contest for that 32 county region. I have no idea what name I suggested, but I do know I did not win (because, as I have blogged about several times, I apparently no longer win anything). A few months ago, perhaps, I started receiving newsletters for the Power of 32 (the eventual name winner). Before too long, I figured out why I was receiving these newsletters, and I actually started reading parts of them, thinking maybe it was something I could get involved in. So what is the Power of 32?  Here is some info from the Facebook page: A grant-funded, two-year visioning project that provides an opportunity for every resident of the 32-county, 4-state region to participate in creating a shared vision for the region's best futur...

There has been some controversy surrounding a comment that Tom Corbett, who is running for PA governor, made recently. He said that some people would rather collect unemployment compensation than return to work. Do I doubt this is true for some people? No. There are dishonest people. There are lazy people. There are freeloaders. There are all kinds of people in all kinds of places. What a great world this would be if everyone always did the right thing, from politicians, to business owners, and to everyone in between. But not everyone does, unfortunately. In fact, most of us have, at one time or another, done a few things that we could justify or that were not "so bad." But back to Corbett's comments. Speaking from experience, I can tell you that receiving UC is not a way of life, only a temporary solution. Most people receive about 50 to 60 percent of what they made while employed. I think there is a cap on this percentage (say, if you make 100k, you won't get 50...

A few hours ago, my baby finished first grade.There she is, clearly happy to be walking into the parking lot for the final time as a first grader. As the saying goes, it seemed like just yesterday was the first day of school, Jordan's first in a new school. She started off so excited, as you can see above, but almost as soon as she arrived at school, she was pretty nervous. The picture I took of her just before I left her classroom says it all: Just over nine months later, she has come a long way. And so have I. Jordan learned a lot and had fun doing it, for the most part. She started out barely being able to read, which was a big concern of mine, and ended up reading books on a second and even third grade level at times. She seemed to embrace the structure. She liked her teacher. She had fun at lunch and recess. She made a few friends. Her computer class, something she dreaded the first month, became one of her favorite classes. She eventually worked up the courage to parti...

The P-G recently published an editorial/article from a mother of an autistic child in the Hampton School District. Apparently some parents of her son Jake's high school classmates felt that Jake was disrupting class too much and taking time away from their kids' learning, which they feared could ultimately hinder their kids' chances of getting into a good college. Not willing to own up to their feelings, these "concerned" parents sent an anonymous letter to Jake's mother Renee asking her to consider an alternative setting for Jake. Wow is all I have to say. Well, almost all. As I blogged about last year, there was a mildly autistic child in the vacation Bible school class I taught. It was very challenging for me, someone who had pretty much no experience in that area, but I was glad that child was able to do what all the others did that week. I think we all benefited from the experience, and I would not have traded that opportunity for anything. In fact,...

I have no idea what the answer is. But here is the question: How do you "fix" poorly performing school districts? I ask this as much as an educator as a taxpayer and a parent. For many years, the Pittsburgh Business Times has published the " Guide to Western PA Schools ." I have been following this guide since 2005, when the school district I live in ranked 91/105 districts in the area. This year, my district stayed at 98, although it has now dropped to 104/105 in the overachieving rankings, which takes into account the economics of the area. In other words, if you live in a district where people don't make a lot of money but the kids school high on standardized tests, then your school will rank high on this list. In my school district, the kids did just as poorly as you would expect considering the economics. Sigh. What is going on? How can things keep getting worse when my school board has raised taxes a handful of times in the eight years ...