Friday 24 January 2014

Knowing Doing B EL I E V I N G !!

KNOWING, DOING ,B E L I E V I N G--does this sound like indoctrination to you?No one should be FORCED to BELIEVE anything.This all sounds like the Hitler youth camps to me- you better get on board and BELIEVE- no dissent accepted!  Our Helena teachers are being forced to buy that they need to COLLABORATE to be a good teacher. Their students are not their students- they belong to the whole school ( unless of course there is failure- then it must be the TEACHER'S FAULT AND HE/SHE WILL NEED REMEDIATION BY HER PRINCIPAL AND THE COLLABORATION TEAM!!). I looked up the bio on these two "geniuses" that thought up all this garbage and was not surprised to learn that Robert Eaker is a professor of "educational leadership" in Tennessee and his partner in crime, Janet Keating, is a deputy superintendent of schools in Washington. I guess it's not a great secret that Doctorates in Education are a JOKE. Administrators in Education are, for the most part, especially these days, scared rabbits that are puppets for higher authority and do no thinking on their own at all. Case in point- our superintendent here in Helena who has a doctorate in education, parroted the old stand by "Kids just don't need to learn so much today because they can look it up!", at a recent board meeting. It took a member of the audience, namely me, to point out to him that just because you look something up doesn't mean you know it! I pointed out (as readers of my blog already know) that he couldn't read an article on astrophysics and understand it because he doesn't know astrophysics- voila- more information being available our students need more of a foundation of knowledge than ever!!Kent doesn't even need to do the KNOWING and DOING- he just B E L I E V E S  WHATEVER  the bureaucrats tell him!! He just looked at me sheepishly and we moved on.

 I don't know exactly how Keating and Eaker got on this train to success-making them the divine arbiters of what all educators must B E L I E V E, probably a lot of kissing up to Washington bureaucrats- but it's not by a lot of hard data and research. It certainly can't be common sense that brings these two to their great pinnacle of greatness that allows them to dictate to school districts and teachers across the nation. Teachers are individuals, as we all are. They have their own ways of doing things as we all do. No two parents parent exactly the same way and no two teachers teach exactly the same way. The best teaching happens, as I think we all know, when teachers are allowed to teach in their own style. We all had great teachers- and they were independent- not cowed by a collaborative group. As far as students belonging to EVERYBODY -  One person is responsible for the learning in that classroom and it is the teacher. Opening the teacher up to "collaboration" that she/he may or may not want, brings on the bossy types, the kiss up to the principal types, that are in everybody else's business- and in my experience- usually aren't doing all that well with their own business. Hey NEA (the teachers "association") start earning your dues- what ever happened to the old academic freedom you used to SCREAM about?

Teachers have ALWAYS collaborated on some level, as all workers do- they give each other ideas and share materials and consult on problems. BUT- FORCED COLLABORATION IS FALSE AND INVASIVE AND TIME CONSUMING. Teachers are EDUCATED AND TRAINED PROFESSIONALS- they don't need these money mongering nobody's from out of state putting them in a Hitler straight jacket of vapid teaching ideas. Some teachers do struggle, and it IS in the principal's job description to offer help, though most of them can't teach themselves. The union has a negotiated agreement that protects teachers in these circumstances ,"planned improvement plans"- but the last thing that's going to make a good teacher is every teacher getting in on the act- they should be working on their own classrooms.

In the end this sounds like a lot of make work and hype that will try to force teachers to do things they don't want or need to do ,and will not improve education- but will deter the good educator from getting his/ her work done. The students are the ones that suffer from this. Like Bill Spady (Outcomes based education of the 90's) Eaker and Keating will have their money and be far down the road when all of this is deemed a failure. What bothers me most is the B E L I E V I N G  part- maybe we could get some liberals in a forced environment and train them to KNOW conservativism-  they would practice DOING common sense and then they would be forced to
B E L I E V E  in it!!

Wednesday 15 January 2014

DOWN RIGHT DANGEROUS!!

Did you know that not using our schools to propagandize our students against the Constitution Of The United States is DOWN RIGHT DANGEROUS!! Yes indeed!! In our new Common Core Language Arts Document that was passed UNANIMOUSLY by our school board here in Helena, in the Reading Informational Text band, ENGLISH TEACHERS, will be guiding their high school ENGLISH students to "delineate and EVALUATE the reasoning in seminal U.S. texts.." they will "Analyze .. U.S. documents -including the DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, THE PREAMBLE TO THE CONSTITUTION, THE BILL OF RIGHTS... for their themes, purposes and RHETORICAL FEATURES". Meanwhile under these same learner targets, they will also be determining the credibility of an author and recognizing when an author introduces irrelevant evidences, false statements, and or fallacious reasoning. They will also "determine how the time period and point of view of an author affects his/ her perspective on a theme or concept". You don't think these ultra leftists are suggesting to our youngsters that our founding documents are old fashioned and need to be updated do you? Do you think they would do such a dastardly thing? I do. In fact I think that is their whole purpose in creating these standards. They are hoping that within a generation they can have a population of Americans that will be calling to replace our Constitution. I have never witnessed nor heard of such treachery in this country before. And just think, even after I read the document for them, that they did not read, our school board VOTED UNANIMOUSLY FOR TREACHERY!!!

I was told by one Don Pogreba (this is the high school english teacher with the blog who has people sending in rights to be added to our Constitution), that it was DOWN RIGHT DANGEROUS TO SUGGEST THAT SIXTEEN AND SEVENTEEN YEAR OLD STUDENTS SHOULDN'T TEAR APART AND CRITICIZE OUR NATIONAL DOCUMENTS!!! Yes indeed, why should our children learn loyalty and respect for the documents that built this nation? Seventeen year olds have the experience and background and knowledge to question the writings of our founders don't they? Their knowledge is the same as Thomas Jefferson who knew Greek and Latin and studied the classics in their original form isn't it? They know enough world history and law to hold court on our founders don't they? I question whether even the teacher, who is not a History teacher, and is not accredited by the state to teach our national documents, has the authority to tear these documents apart.

The Common Core starts propagandizing children in Kindergarten- making them believe that their opinions are as good as anyone else's ,even the teacher! In FIRST GRADE they will be telling what evidence the author presents to support the points in a text. Before they can even read they will be expressing their opinions and comparing full texts. Naturally by the time they are a teenager they will feel that all of their opinions have value and they know more than any author. The truth is this - OPINIONS OF CHILDREN WHO DO NOT HAVE KNOWLEDGE ARE NOT VALID- a five year old may have an opinion on what time he wants to go to bed- but bedtime is determined by his parents because they are OLDER, they are MORE MATURE, they HAVE MORE EXPERIENCE and they HAVE MORE KNOWLEDGE. These informational learner targets are not age appropriate for six year old children, but the people who wrote Common Core are intent on fashioning little individuals that will tear down our national documents and think it is THEIR IDEA.

Children can be used, and they are being used in the Common Core. The Common Core advocates pretend that "Gee, all we are doing is developing critical thinking skills-- gee whiz" yeah right . As Joe Wurzelbacker said, "Liberal Democrats wouldn't know a 'higher education standard' if it hit them in the face."Besides, don't you have to wonder why students have to do their critical thinking on our constitution? Couldn't they use some other material to practice on? Common Core advocates say teachers can pick their own materials to teach- why can't they pick their own critical thinking material when it comes to the constitution? Why is the constitution specifically named in the learner targets?

I could have named this blog TYRANNY AND BLASPHEMY because when the paper came out today the Language Arts Curriculum was praised and only the advocates got their testimony in the paper. I might as well have saved my energy and time- my testimony was completely ignored. Sometimes you feel like you're a freight train fighting an incoming ocean tide- but I don't get discouraged as they would love for all of us to do- I fight on because I know that freight train will find higher ground eventually- after all - the Communists started in back rooms and basements and look where they are now-- in the White House!!

Saturday 4 January 2014

SCREAMING IN THE WIND

The conservatives are trying so hard to say something and they just aren't being heard- THEY ARE SCREAMING IN THE WIND. The so called "progressives" trot out their same garbage over and over and call it new. No one pays attention to the fact that their ideas are failures and have been failures for fifty years. No one listens to the fact that liberal ideas have DESTROYED public morals, public schools, government respect and integrity, and the public debt. The "progressives" ask the conservatives what their ideas are but when they answer the "progressives" are deaf and blind-they just won't hear them- the conservatives are SCREAMING IN THE WIND that our colleges are broken, our government institutions are broken. The conservatives are SCREAMING IN THE WIND that THERE ARE BETTER IDEAS, IDEAS THAT WORK AND HAVE BEEN PROVEN TO WORK. Conservatives are SCREAMING IN THE WIND as they try to get the press to recognize the failures of the liberal establishment, failures of liberal programs, lies and corruption. The press doesn't care, won't do investigative reporting, and is happy to be the shill for every liberal that knocks on their  door. The newspapers that are going broke may want to think of this- MAYBE PEOPLE DON'T BUY THEIR PAPERS BECAUSE THERE IS NO NEWS THERE- EVERYONE ALREADY KNOWS WHAT THEY WILL SAY AND WHAT THEIR PROPAGANDA WILL BE.

It is astonishing that people have reported corruption in government agencies- like the census bureau workers being forced to misreport labor statistics so that Obama could get elected- and the press just lets it go- lets it die- won't investigate. The press is complicit in letting this country die - letting corruption thrive and kill. Complicit in destroying freedom.

Good schools? Good schools are not hard to create- although the liberals make it harder and harder to educate youngsters who have no respect, no morals,no self discipline and an entitlement attitude. If liberals really wanted to educate instead of social engineer for the new socialist world order, they could educate- it's not rocket science. You see, time spent doing community service and learning about sex and doing art with the artist in resident, and exercising in class, and group projects, and snacks, and the bully program and the drug program and the endangered species program and all the other programs that have children not studying academics, is time spent not learning the foundation of information they need to become educated. It's really that simple. We all know what works. The KIPP Academies are the most successful in the nation - even according to Christopher Lohse of the Chief State School Officers Association. Direct instruction works- gee what a novelty.

Conservatives try to say- we built a successful nation- why are you dismissing everything that works?- But they are SCREAMING IN THE WIND- the liberals close their eyes and cover their ears- nothing was said!! Conservatives try to point out that colleges are failing us- our teachers are not trained well- not well educated- not experts in their field- but the liberals hum a tune -" I can't hear you!!" The conservatives are SCREAMING IN THE WIND! The liberals come back with MORE of the same old free school failed ideas and call them new- the conservatives say " Where is your research, your data?"- the liberals hum a tune " I can't hear you!".  A Montessori teacher who raised both of her boys through the Montessori program was asked by a school board member if she would do it again- she wouldn't answer. We've had PUBLIC Montessori in Helena for 20 years and there is no data to prove that it has accomplished anything good - and yet it goes on and teachers in regular classes are pressured to do the Montessori mess.

The schools that sent us to the moon and built this nation are called "factory" schools. Children were trained to succeed in the workforce and that was "bad" according to liberals. And yet, the liberals call their new Common Core program "college and career ready". They want to bring the workforce into the classroom with their "School to Work" programs. School to Work programs take children from the task at hand- learning to read and write and do math so that they can SUCCEED in the world. Even more importantly, children need to learn to be "rugged individuals"- that's the work ethic that gets you out of bed in the morning and won't let you give up when the going gets tough. The ethic that creates motivation and hard work and self respect. You Teach that ethic by having children be RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR OWN WORK. You teach that ethic by showing children that their parents have it when they make their breakfast and their lunch for them. You teach that ethic by showing children that hard work is REWARDED and they do not go to school to be entertained.

Nothing was ever perfect in "factory" schools but they built a great nation. Good schools today will focus on what worked and incrementally improve what didn't. New technologies certainly can have good use (at times) in the classroom. Colleges must quit letting professors teach their politics and instead make them teach GOOD teaching practices that are known to work. Colleges should prepare teachers to be experts in what they teach - real experts- Language Arts teachers that really know the classics and genres of literature- as well as grammar and syntax- and have the ability to organize a classroom and deliver GOOD instruction. A united effort to make our schools and our country SUCCEED will definitely work. Failed pie in the sky ideas of socialism need to be discarded. QUIT TRYING TO SOCIAL ENGINEER OUR CHILDREN AND INSTEAD GIVE THEM AN EDUCATION. TAKE YOUR HANDS OFF YOUR EARS AND HEAR THIS- CONSERVATIVES ARE TIRED OF SCREAMING IN THE WIND!!!