Monthly Archives: June 2009

CTEL Purgatory (Also: The Homeless as Performance Art)

June 17, 2009
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CTEL Purgatory (Also: The Homeless as Performance Art)

“It’s summertime, and the livin’s easy…” It seems like forever since I’ve had the time and the inclination to post. Nine days! It must be summer. Up until Saturday at 2:00 pm, it was all about CTEL. I finished the kids’ research papers early this year, and actually had time to (mostly) read the book that they say is the best prep for the test. The kids’ last day was Thursday, and I skipped the work day Friday, and left for San Francisco. I had to report for the test at 8 am Saturday. Now remember, the 450+ miles (round trip) I had to drive is more than I drive in  a year. Really. Maybe two. Unless we go to Vegas or something. So not only am I constantly thinking about the test(s – there were three “modules”), now I have to deal with driving too? So I made sure I got there early so I could find the zone. The test was in the Mission District at Mission High School. After I checked in at the Holiday Inn ($29 for parking!), I cruised the route to the school to make sure my Google directions were accurate.  (They were money.

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Rookie Year – 1991 (Part II)

June 8, 2009
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Our guest artist continues with his glimpse back at mrC’s first real job – teaching independent study stylie – while mrC (his present self)  studies for Saturday’s CTEL test. 1991 – Rich (continued) “Do you have your history homework for me… today?” “I did it. ” It sounds like deed it. “But do you have it? Here? Now? At this place and time?” “I left it at my pad, eh.” Re: His American history homework. He is currently taking (which means he has a copy of the textbook) US History A. The district curriculum guide lists this as a semester-long course. The class is worth 5 credits out of the 225 that are needed to graduate from the high school. The book that he took home a week ago is about 200 pages long, with 44 chapters divided into 8 units, and purports to cover the time period between the pilgrims and the Reconstruction. Each chapter is approximately 3-5 pages long, and is followed by about 2 pages of MC, T/F, and fill-in-the-blank exercises, with some time-line exercises and find-a-word puzzles thrown in for variety. The time-line ones can often be quite entertaining. To introduce the concept, the book shows

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Guest Artist. From 1991.

June 5, 2009
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I got my credential in 1990. My last cooperating teacher of my student teaching days would have chastised me for using the word got, but there you go. Then I spent a year subbing (sorry, we call it guest teaching now), and I enjoyed that. It was also my in for my current job; someone I had subbed for a lot (another no no adjective for my old master teacher) suggested me for an opening 16 years ago. I also enjoyed being able to take the phone off the hook (can you tell I don’t have a cell phone?) if I didn’t want to work that day. In 1991 I took a job in a high school district about a 1/2 hour drive from where I live. This “commute” is one of the things that drove me to my hatred of the automobile, but that’s for another day. This is about the job. It was part-time, teaching what they called independent study.  For a while it was the perfect part-time job. I worked 8-1, and the last hour was considered pe, so I played hoops with the kids. We got free hot lunch trucked over from the high school (we

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CTEL H-E-Double Toothpicks

June 4, 2009
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CTEL H-E-Double Toothpicks

This week and next, while beauty by definition, are going to be a bit more hectic than usual. I am plowing through research papers. (I caught my first big plagiarist of the year – he took one of the free samples from one of those research paper mills on the net. He used to have an A…) Plus, the dreaded CTEL test (which certifies those of us without a CLAD - if you don’t teach in California, follow the links) is the next day after the last work day, and obviously I haven’t studied. I’m up to chapter 4 in the book that supposedly covers what’s on the test, but…  My plan is to take a shot at all three parts (7 hours or some such) and see what happens. There’s another round of testing in the fall, and I can take another, better informed shot at it if I fail this time. Our district has been offering classes to prepare. BUT THE PEOPLE TEACHING THE CLASSES HAVE NEVER TAKEN THE TEST! How silly is that? The classes span hours and hours after school and on weekends. BUT THE PEOPLE TEACHING THE CLASSES HAVE NEVER TAKEN THE TEST! The classes

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Random Featured Post

“How cute. Like hobos…” (Also: Hank Williams.)

Wednesday. Vocabulary Pretest. Talk of facades and irony. Both figure large in The Outsiders. More on that later. Today I have more insight from my friendly class. We’re reading chapter 4 (the death of Bob, Dally helping with the getaway, jumping the train out of town), and we get to where Dally is telling Pony and Johnny to “hop the 3:15 freight to Windrixville.” We pause and talk about how it’s only been less than 36 hours (book time) since the beginning. They find it hard to believe until we start to do the timeline. Figure that Pony gets out of the movie in the late afternoon, and gets jumped and saved. Pony and Johnny and Dally go to the Nightly Double the next night, and it’s now 3:15am that same night. Then I make sure they know that a freight is a train. And one girl says, “How cute. Like hobos…” Hobos maybe. Cute? [Audio clip: view full post to listen] Why Don’t You Love Me Like You Used to Do? When the boys run to find Dally at Buck Merrill’s house, Pony offers a brief description of Buck that ends with, “…he was out of it. He dug [...]

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Mr. Coward has been teaching on the beautiful central coast of California since 1989.

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Recent Comments

  • mrC commented on It’s Go Time!@Sarah-Most excellent! Keep up the good work, and don't let any of them talk you out of it. Glad to hear your kids recognize the value too. Fight the good fight!
  • Mrs. M~ commented on Illin’Feel better soon! There is nothing worse than being at school and trying to be "on" when you feel like death.
  • Sarah commented on It’s Go Time!I just came across your blog...I am a second year teacher and I am currently reading The Outsiders aloud to my seventh graders. I read it to them last year, too. I catch a lot of criticism for reading it to them...but they LOVE to have me read to them. I actually had a group
  • joan commented on Illin’I'm on day two of out-with-the-crud. I needed the rest. Hope you're in tip top shape by Monday!
  • mrC commented on “The Sub Used One of Your Sticks!”That one oughta be strung up like they used to do to horse thieves.
  • Heather commented on “The Sub Used One of Your Sticks!”The last sub I had left no note at all and broke the arm of my spinny chair by leaning back in it so far that he fell in the floor. The kids all said he was the best sub ever. I politely asked the school secretary to never have him sub in
  • mrC commented on The Future of Space Travel@Heather: Gawd I hate that. I think I even posted about it awhile back. @Kelli: This reminds me of high school. I went to a Jesuit high school (all boys) and for our Friday football rallies, we would import cheerleaders from other schools to be a part of the rally. And the girls would always begin
  • Heather commented on The Future of Space TravelMy eighth graders just have the habit of prefacing every question with, "I have a question." And announcing "I'm done" when they complete an assignment.
  • Kelli commented on The Future of Space TravelIs it bad that I sometimes start my stories with "Okay, so...."...? I guess the kids have rubbed off on me. Sigh.
  • Kelli commented on Blogging the Scoring Session (Part I)Ugh! Been there. I have been to those "Scoring and Rubric" type meetings in two different states now... Not fun, and not entirely informative, either.
  • Meg commented on No Groove Yet (Also: The Giver and No Homework Returns)There was a district I student taught in that hand the no fail policy. I child could not be held back a grade, even if they did absolutely nothing the whole year, until they were in high school. It took most of the middle schoolers about 3 seconds to realize they didn't have
  • Kelli commented on No Groove Yet (Also: The Giver and No Homework Returns)You know, that whole "no-zero" policy goes hand-in-hand with the "no-failure" or "no-retention" policy, and my school district is a definite contributor to this madness. I can understand the desire to stop giving zeros and MAKE the kids do the work (giving countless opportunities until successful), but I have been in a situation where
  • commented on Obligatory Santa VideoWe have an unofficial "no zero" policy. It takes a little extra effort on the teacher's part to get all of the students to complete their assignments but we have made it work. The thing that was most helpful was instituting a "homework detention" that is separate from discipline detention. If a

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