Speaking of the OAT, which I just briefly mentioned in my previous post, now that my entire school is focused on taking the test and is currently spending every class period reviewing for it, may I just say that I hate it when people call it the "OAT" instead of the "O-A-T?" No one says, "I have to take the SAT," or "I can't go to the party Friday night because I have to take my ACT on Saturday morning." No. People say "S-A-T" or "A-C-T." In fact, now that I'm thinking about it, most educational abbreviations are pronounced by the letter and not as an acronym. For example: I-E-P, M-F-E, I-D-E-A, B-L-T, L-P-D-C, O-D-E, S-L-T, O-T, P-T. Granted, one probably could not pronounce BLT or LPDC as a word, but the norm in the educational world is to just say the letters.
Saying we need to prepare for the "OAT" just has a folksy/hickish feel to it. Try it. Say "Class, in two weeks you will be taking the O-A-T, " and then say, "Class, in two weeks you will be taking the OAT." Pronouncing the word "oat" just makes the test sound completely dorky.
Although the test is now called the OAT, and has been, I believe, updated and retooled in other ways, I'm glad to say that if I were to take the test today, I would knock it out of the park. I know, I am a college graduate, and should, therefore, easily pass all five parts of the test, but reading through the test with the students has only reaffirmed my conviction that if one is unable to pass the OAT, and consequently, the OGT, one does not deserve to graduate from high school. It seems like every year (mainly because it IS every year) that people make a fuss about the seniors in high school who are unable to graduate with the rest of their senior class because of their inability to pass a simple test.
I'm also taken aback by the teachers I work with at the middle school who will read through the test and then make statements like, "I'm glad I don't have to take this test," or "I'm not sure if I could pass this test." Some of them are kidding, but some of them are not...and that's pretty terrifying. Smarten up! Go eat some Cheerios or something, I think they're made with OATs.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
No wonder America is peopled with idiots...
there are teachers out there who pass along incorrect information. Yet again my favorite teacher (seriously, the LORD is testing me and I'm really trying not to fail) shared some of her wisdom with the class and I was again stuck interpreting it.
True Story: The school where I work is in the midst of reviewing for our standardized state testing, which means that EVERY class has abandoned all lessons in favor of taking practice tests and using review workbooks geared specifically for the state test (formerly the OPT, now the OAT). As some of you may recall, I interpret in an eighth grade social studies class. Currently this class has four adults in it, which is a rarity: the general education social studies teacher, the intervention specialist (who also happens to be the HI teacher who I have made mention of before), a student teacher from the local university, and myself. On Monday, I was interpreting a lecture the student teacher was giving, reviewing the ancient civilizations, i.e. Sumeria, Babylonia, Egypt. The student teacher was in the middle of making the point that all of these ancient civilizations developed near rivers, when the HI teacher piped up and asked the class why these civilizations developed near rivers. Well, the class agreed that it was because people needed fresh water for their crops, drinking, etc., and rivers also provided a means of transportation and sustenance. So, one student raised his hand and asked the HI teacher why, if rivers are fresh water and the oceans salt water, the oceans' water didn't infiltrate river water, thus making all water a brackish mixture. ("Brackish," that's a word that I was familiar with, but didn't quite know the definition of before I went on my educational spring break and visited the Naples Zoo, where I learned that "brackish" means a mixture of salt and fresh water, such as is found at the mouth of rivers that empty into the ocean. Hmph. Who knew that one could learn something while on vacation? My time in Florida was not a total waste).
*Prepare yourself now for the answer.*
*Are you ready? Because I certainly was not.*
The HI teacher's answer? "Rocks. There are rocks at the mouths of the rivers that prevent the ocean water from contaminating the fresh water. The rocks form a barrier, like a wall, that keeps the salty water separate from the river's water."
True Story: The school where I work is in the midst of reviewing for our standardized state testing, which means that EVERY class has abandoned all lessons in favor of taking practice tests and using review workbooks geared specifically for the state test (formerly the OPT, now the OAT). As some of you may recall, I interpret in an eighth grade social studies class. Currently this class has four adults in it, which is a rarity: the general education social studies teacher, the intervention specialist (who also happens to be the HI teacher who I have made mention of before), a student teacher from the local university, and myself. On Monday, I was interpreting a lecture the student teacher was giving, reviewing the ancient civilizations, i.e. Sumeria, Babylonia, Egypt. The student teacher was in the middle of making the point that all of these ancient civilizations developed near rivers, when the HI teacher piped up and asked the class why these civilizations developed near rivers. Well, the class agreed that it was because people needed fresh water for their crops, drinking, etc., and rivers also provided a means of transportation and sustenance. So, one student raised his hand and asked the HI teacher why, if rivers are fresh water and the oceans salt water, the oceans' water didn't infiltrate river water, thus making all water a brackish mixture. ("Brackish," that's a word that I was familiar with, but didn't quite know the definition of before I went on my educational spring break and visited the Naples Zoo, where I learned that "brackish" means a mixture of salt and fresh water, such as is found at the mouth of rivers that empty into the ocean. Hmph. Who knew that one could learn something while on vacation? My time in Florida was not a total waste).
*Prepare yourself now for the answer.*
*Are you ready? Because I certainly was not.*
The HI teacher's answer? "Rocks. There are rocks at the mouths of the rivers that prevent the ocean water from contaminating the fresh water. The rocks form a barrier, like a wall, that keeps the salty water separate from the river's water."
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
It's an Idiot Thing; I'm Quite Certain You'd Understand
True Story: I was working at Hallmark on Sunday when a customer came in wearing a tee shirt that read, "It's a Southern thing...you wouldn't understand," the words framing a Confederate flag. This was on top of the obnoxiously huge Confederate flag belt buckle the man was also sporting. The combination of the tee shirt and the belt buckle irked me to the point that I wasn't sure if I could wait on this man had he approached the register. I was a little taken aback by my level of vexation until I realized a few things:
1. I live in Ohio. Ohio is not and never has been a part of the South.
2. The Confederacy was crushed by Union troops close to 143 years ago.
3. Anyone who wears a Confederate flag in the year 2008 is either ignorant, delusional, or racist. I'm inclined to believe that someone who wears a Confederate flag in the year 2008 is all three of those.
1. I live in Ohio. Ohio is not and never has been a part of the South.
2. The Confederacy was crushed by Union troops close to 143 years ago.
3. Anyone who wears a Confederate flag in the year 2008 is either ignorant, delusional, or racist. I'm inclined to believe that someone who wears a Confederate flag in the year 2008 is all three of those.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Kent State Rocks My Socks
Or, I should say, Kent State men's basketball rocks my socks. Let's hope they tear it up like the team did back in '02 when they reached the Elite Eight. Although, I must say that even though the students on campus were excited about that, it was actually more exciting the year before when the Golden Flashes upset Indiana in the first round. I recall that our normally lackadaisical campus was a little bit more, shall we say, spirited that night. (Just out of curiosity, why isn't the opposite of lackadaisical, "daisical?" Wouldn't that make sense?)
Anyhow, I went up to the game Saturday night and witnessed KSU beat Akron for the third time this year. I didn't make it to their first meeting, a home game for Kent, but I went to their game at Akron's J.A.R. arena. That was a good game. Kent was winning by a good margin for most of the game, and then Akron came back to tie it up in the last two minutes...only to be crushed by Al Fisher's three-pointer with two seconds left. It was awesome. Those stupid little Zips fans were stunned. It was great.
By the way, I don't recommend attending a Zips home game any time soon. I, admittedly, am biased, but I don't like their arena. I especially don't like it when their hype man comes out onto the floor, trying to pump up the crowd. There shouldn't have to be a guy out on the middle of the court, screaming into a microphone, cajoling the crowd into supporting their team. That's why there's a student section and, to some extent, cheerleaders. The J.A.R. has a huge sound system, fully capable of blasting one's eardrums out, and when the hype man would yell at the crowd to make some noise, instead of the fans screaming until their vocal cords bled, Akron would just turn the volume on their sound system up, completely drowning out the cheers of the crowd. How lame.
Anyhow, I went up to the game Saturday night and witnessed KSU beat Akron for the third time this year. I didn't make it to their first meeting, a home game for Kent, but I went to their game at Akron's J.A.R. arena. That was a good game. Kent was winning by a good margin for most of the game, and then Akron came back to tie it up in the last two minutes...only to be crushed by Al Fisher's three-pointer with two seconds left. It was awesome. Those stupid little Zips fans were stunned. It was great.
By the way, I don't recommend attending a Zips home game any time soon. I, admittedly, am biased, but I don't like their arena. I especially don't like it when their hype man comes out onto the floor, trying to pump up the crowd. There shouldn't have to be a guy out on the middle of the court, screaming into a microphone, cajoling the crowd into supporting their team. That's why there's a student section and, to some extent, cheerleaders. The J.A.R. has a huge sound system, fully capable of blasting one's eardrums out, and when the hype man would yell at the crowd to make some noise, instead of the fans screaming until their vocal cords bled, Akron would just turn the volume on their sound system up, completely drowning out the cheers of the crowd. How lame.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
I voted today!
I voted today and I have the sticker to prove it! Yes, yes, I did my civic duty and voted against every tax levy on the ballot. Actually, I only had to vote down two tax levies, one of them a levy for the local school district. And actually, the tax levies were the only things I voted on, because I am a registered "non-partisan" voter. I like it that way.
I'm tired of school levies. Our state has an unconstitutional public school funding system and I'm saying no to unconstitutionalism. When people decided to elect our current governor, one of his campaign promises was to fix our state school funding, and that hasn't happened. Fix the funding issue already and stop trying to raise property taxes. And allowing people to play stupid keno games in bars isn't the answer, either.
I'm tired of school levies. Our state has an unconstitutional public school funding system and I'm saying no to unconstitutionalism. When people decided to elect our current governor, one of his campaign promises was to fix our state school funding, and that hasn't happened. Fix the funding issue already and stop trying to raise property taxes. And allowing people to play stupid keno games in bars isn't the answer, either.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Just when you think it can't get any worse...
it totally does. My favorite quote of the day?
"I believe China has more people than the United States."
This is a quote from a teacher in my building. Thankfully (?) this is the same teacher who thought that World War I was in 1950.
Growing up, I never thought of myself as a genius (thanks Mom and Dad, for keeping me normal), but the longer that I work in the public schools, the more I seem to feel genius-like. Seriously, who is even questioning whether or not China has more people than the United States? I mean, doesn't one just KNOW?
"I believe China has more people than the United States."
This is a quote from a teacher in my building. Thankfully (?) this is the same teacher who thought that World War I was in 1950.
Growing up, I never thought of myself as a genius (thanks Mom and Dad, for keeping me normal), but the longer that I work in the public schools, the more I seem to feel genius-like. Seriously, who is even questioning whether or not China has more people than the United States? I mean, doesn't one just KNOW?
Monday, February 4, 2008
People of 1950: The Greatest Generation
Wow, I learned a lot about the year 1950 today at school. Unfortunately, all of it was incorrect. And even more unfortunate was the fact that I was interpreting and could therefore do NOTHING to stop the train wreck which I was witnessing.
Mom and Dad, did you know that you were alive during both World War I AND II? And that you were witness to the invention of both television AND BOMBS?! According to the deaf ed. teacher, all of the preceding occurred in the year 1950!!
True Story: I was in third period study skills today, where the deaf ed. teacher has currently undertaken the task of helping the students prepare for the O.A.T. While this is a worthy and completely acceptable practice, let's keep in mind that there is a mixture of sixth and eighth grade students in that class. And for those of you uninitiated with the intricacies of middle school: there is a HUGE difference between sixth and eighth grade students. Not the least of which is their size; only at a middle school could I feel like a giant AND a midget in the same day. Currently, the sixth graders are studying Mesopotamia and the eighth graders are starting to learn about the Industrial Revolution. Two completely related subjects. (That was sarcasm.) Finally, not only are there two grade levels in the same study skills class, but one of the boys in the class is exempt from taking state standardized tests because he is alternately assessed per his IEP.
So, moving on to preparing for the eighth grade social studies portion of the OAT...the teacher decides to review multi-tiered timelines today. *Sigh* Please tell me that all of you reading this post know what a multi-tiered timeline is. It's when one has one timeline that highlights two sets of events. For example, one could have a single timeline that starts at the year 0 that shows the events of Christ's life on top of the timeline and at the same time shows events that occurred in the Roman Empire at large along the bottom of the timeline. Or, as the deaf ed. teacher today put on the board, one could draw a timeline starting with the year 1800 and progressing in 50 year increments up to 2000. She labeled the top section "Inventions" and the bottom "Major World Wars."
This is where it got a little beyond my belief. The teacher asked the students what had been invented around 1950, and one student replied, "Television." She accepted that answer and added it to the timeline. Then she asked what wars occurred around that time. Not surprisingly, given the label "Major World Wars," one student said, "World War I." Surprisingly, the teacher drew a line from the year 1950 and labeled it WORLD WAR I. She then added WORLD WAR II to that same year. And then she asked what had been invented during World War II. One student replied, "Guns," and she said, "No," so he came back with, "Bombs." Which she promptly added to the year 1950.
By this time, I was in a state I like to call "Robotic Interpreter Mode." When I'm in this state, interpreting my little heart out, I'm just like a computer. I take the information in and put it back out in another language. Computers don't have opinions or feelings, and when I'm in Robotic Interpreter Mode, I don't have opinions or feelings, because if I did, things would get ugly. I was so stunned by this teacher's lack of knowledge that I didn't know what else to do. So, when this teacher said, and this is a verbatim quote, "Yes, the invention of bombs is what made World War II so much shorter than World War I," I just kept my mouth shut, and went right on interpreting like the good little robotic interpreter I can be.
Had I not been in Robotic Interpreter Mode, this is probably what I would have said: "Actually, television was invented in the 1930's. World War I started in 1914 and ended on November 11, 1918. World War II started with Germany's invasion of Poland in August or September of 1939 and ended with the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. Therefore, World War II was not, in actuality, shorter than World War I. It, in fact, was two years LONGER. Bombs have been around for centuries. Not decades, centuries." Now, if one were to actually research these events, one would find I'm probably not 100% accurate on when they really occurred. But, I do know that they did NOT happen in 1950.
Tom Brokaw was right...to live through World War I, World War II, the invention of television and the invention of bombs, all in the same year, the people of 1950 really were The Greatest Generation.
Mom and Dad, did you know that you were alive during both World War I AND II? And that you were witness to the invention of both television AND BOMBS?! According to the deaf ed. teacher, all of the preceding occurred in the year 1950!!
True Story: I was in third period study skills today, where the deaf ed. teacher has currently undertaken the task of helping the students prepare for the O.A.T. While this is a worthy and completely acceptable practice, let's keep in mind that there is a mixture of sixth and eighth grade students in that class. And for those of you uninitiated with the intricacies of middle school: there is a HUGE difference between sixth and eighth grade students. Not the least of which is their size; only at a middle school could I feel like a giant AND a midget in the same day. Currently, the sixth graders are studying Mesopotamia and the eighth graders are starting to learn about the Industrial Revolution. Two completely related subjects. (That was sarcasm.) Finally, not only are there two grade levels in the same study skills class, but one of the boys in the class is exempt from taking state standardized tests because he is alternately assessed per his IEP.
So, moving on to preparing for the eighth grade social studies portion of the OAT...the teacher decides to review multi-tiered timelines today. *Sigh* Please tell me that all of you reading this post know what a multi-tiered timeline is. It's when one has one timeline that highlights two sets of events. For example, one could have a single timeline that starts at the year 0 that shows the events of Christ's life on top of the timeline and at the same time shows events that occurred in the Roman Empire at large along the bottom of the timeline. Or, as the deaf ed. teacher today put on the board, one could draw a timeline starting with the year 1800 and progressing in 50 year increments up to 2000. She labeled the top section "Inventions" and the bottom "Major World Wars."
This is where it got a little beyond my belief. The teacher asked the students what had been invented around 1950, and one student replied, "Television." She accepted that answer and added it to the timeline. Then she asked what wars occurred around that time. Not surprisingly, given the label "Major World Wars," one student said, "World War I." Surprisingly, the teacher drew a line from the year 1950 and labeled it WORLD WAR I. She then added WORLD WAR II to that same year. And then she asked what had been invented during World War II. One student replied, "Guns," and she said, "No," so he came back with, "Bombs." Which she promptly added to the year 1950.
By this time, I was in a state I like to call "Robotic Interpreter Mode." When I'm in this state, interpreting my little heart out, I'm just like a computer. I take the information in and put it back out in another language. Computers don't have opinions or feelings, and when I'm in Robotic Interpreter Mode, I don't have opinions or feelings, because if I did, things would get ugly. I was so stunned by this teacher's lack of knowledge that I didn't know what else to do. So, when this teacher said, and this is a verbatim quote, "Yes, the invention of bombs is what made World War II so much shorter than World War I," I just kept my mouth shut, and went right on interpreting like the good little robotic interpreter I can be.
Had I not been in Robotic Interpreter Mode, this is probably what I would have said: "Actually, television was invented in the 1930's. World War I started in 1914 and ended on November 11, 1918. World War II started with Germany's invasion of Poland in August or September of 1939 and ended with the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. Therefore, World War II was not, in actuality, shorter than World War I. It, in fact, was two years LONGER. Bombs have been around for centuries. Not decades, centuries." Now, if one were to actually research these events, one would find I'm probably not 100% accurate on when they really occurred. But, I do know that they did NOT happen in 1950.
Tom Brokaw was right...to live through World War I, World War II, the invention of television and the invention of bombs, all in the same year, the people of 1950 really were The Greatest Generation.
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