Text 10718, 133 rader
Skriven 2007-01-19 11:58:08 av hap newsom
     Kommentar till en text av Ruth Haffly
Ärende: RE: Flat Stanley
========================
Howdy Ruth!
-> 
-> -> Well, the  school year is over half gone so she can look forward to next
-> -> year's class.  Hopefully they will be better.
-> 
->  hn> Next year's class looks to be pretty sharp, and Anne is looking
->  hn> forward to it! ->
-> 
-> She keeping a short timer's calendar?
-> 
LOL nope, she's too busy doing her best to get this group as ready as 
possible! Wednesday night we went to the School Board meeting as they 
were honoring the 6 teachers in the district that passed the National Board 
Certification process. It was a very nice ceremony and they gave Anne 
Flowers, a plant, a pen set, a gold business card holder with business cards 
noting that she's nationally board certified. The school district is very 
supportive of trying to get teachers to get board certified, as research has 
shown that the people who do it really have a large impact on the students, 
school and even the district's level of achievement. 

-> ->  hn> recruited by the best colleges. So it's there, but you have to put 
in
-> ->  hn> the effort
-> ->  hn> to get  the best out of public school.
-> 
-> -> You had the advantage of living in a bigger place than most of the
-> -> places we were assigned.  We usually didn't have a good choice in
-> -> schools for our girls so did a lot of home supplimentation.
-> 
->  hn> We did a lot of home educating as well...I made the advantage of 
being
->  hn> available to keep a close eye on Amanda's education, and where we 
saw
->  hn> gaps we filled em in ourselves. A childs first and most important
->  hn> educators are the parents...sadly most parents shirk that job to a
->  hn> great extent and the kids are the ones who suffer for it.
-> 
-> Sad, but a lot of parents now don't know the basics themselves.  I was,
-> for the most part, a stay at home mom (worked part time a bit in
-> Germany) so I was able to keep up with the girls teachers.  Had some
-> high school teachers that we had to talk to, and then they didn't follow
-> thru so was glad when we were able to change that daughter out of the
-> class involved.
-> 
You are so right about the parents not knowing much themselves...the school 
Anne teaches in is a classic example of the district she teaches in as 
well....the gap between the demographics is huge, the kids seem to be from 
either end of the extremes from a gated community in a "McMansion" or from 
a trailer with cars on blocks in the front yard. Several of the teachers refer
to 
this group that Anne's teaching now as "the year of cheap crack" because 
they are so "slow" as an entire grade level. Sadly they may not be far from 
the truth! We were lucky in Highschool, Amanda was in the I B program and 
every teacher there had been highly screened and only the very very VERY 
best were teaching in the program. I still am friends with most of them and 
they are as a group of teachers the finest I think I've ever met. 

-> -> Got asked Sunday morning if I would help on a project teaching the 
youth
-> -> group how to cook--one or two Saturday mornings over the course of 
this
-> -> year, something not too gourmet, easy enough for doing in a couple of
-> -> hours or so.  I said that I would, and probably demo our home made
-> -> pizza.  They will all get a binder full of the recipies; I would like at
-> 
->  hn> Cool, sounds like a good idea! Give's the kids some skills in the
->  hn> kitchen that will enable them to (a) help at home, and (b) survive on
->  hn> their own without eating out every meal!
-> 
-> Yes, and if the hungries strike while they're still living at home, they
-> don't have to resort to junk food.  Last night the youth did the prep,
-> serving and clean up of our Wed. night supper; it looked like they had
-> more in the kitchen than needed but if everybody had a job.......they
-> did a great job of spaghetti & meat sauce, salad and brownies.
-> 
As good a start into easy to prepare dishes as you can find...spaghetti is 
good, did they make the sauce from scratch or was it "Ragu"?

-> ->  hn> She's past the first big slope on the learning curve and is liking
it
-> ->  hn> a wee bit better (but just a wee bit!).
-> 
-> -> And will like it even more when it's history.
-> 
->  hn> I dunno, looks like this will be stuff that she'll be using a lot
->  hn> during her career.
-> 
-> Then if she learns it well, it may become something a bit more
-> enjoyable.  Getting the learning part down so she can do the job well
-> may be hard but she'll appeciate it later.
-> 
Yes, it's a very complex computer program on statistical population dynamics 
(I think it got that right) in an ecological community (or food web) and since 
it has so many variables it's really a hard one to keep grasp of ( I think!). 
Amanda's reputation as a hard and good worker has spread, she's got three 
job offers going right now; (1) to be TA on an upper level undergrad course 
on marine ecology that will be taught out at Bodega Bay Marine Labs, (2) to 
be a Research Assistant to one of the researchers out at the Labs, and (3) 
to teach a introductory class on marine ecology out at the labs (or on 
campus, not sure which way that will go). Plus she got a fellowship offer as 
well and so I looks like she's going to have a LOT of funding choices for the 
rest of the year. She's trying to see if she can do the TA'ing this next 
quarter, and the RA'ing the quarter after that, and hold off on the teaching of

the class till next year. Seems she in great demand now that they know how 
good she is (proud daddy grin!). 

-> ->  hn> Sounds like a good move!
-> 
-> -> Very much so; still waiting to hear from the ortho doctor.  I've learned
-> -> to stay off my feet as much as possible; if I have to be on them, it
-> -> helps to keep moving a bit. (Maybe it just keeps my mind off them if I'm
-> -> walking around.)
-> 
->  hn> By this time I'd be getting a bit louder, seems like they've kept you
->  hn> in the dark for a long time without doing much to help you.
-> 
-> I have been making noises--trouble is, don't get anything back.  We will
-> hand deliver a copy of the CT report to him and............
-> 
-> 
-> (3 hours or so after writing above)
-> 
-> Just got word--surgery scheduled for Jan. 30 to put a bone graft in the
-> foot. Found out, when Steve took the CT report over, they had the wrong
-> phone #; I'd given them the new one but I guess they didn't write it
-> down in enough places.
-> 
Well, hopefully this will be a good resolution to this nagging situation! 
chat with you soon!
hap 
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