08 September 2009

Day One, Post 100

This will be nothing significant, but I want to get into the habit again, of at least writing something, even if it's not worth reading. (Sorry.)

Today was pretty productive. For the first time ever I was very organized in how I put my materials and other stuff away, and it paid off. I also knew exactly how I wanted to organize everything (and even made a floorplan) so I was able to get a lot done. There is still work to be done, but the room looks great, maybe even the best I've ever done in (gulp) thirteen years. The little tweaks will come in time.

Somehow we got an A on our progress report. I told Mister that I hate to knock good results, and I hate to knock our school. But I don't think I'm impressed. I think we were helped by the fact that the people who graded our tests were asleep at the wheel. (You know, kids who can barely read getting 2s and even 3s.) We're apparently in the top 20% of the city, or something like that. But I still wouldn't send Beany here. I am looking forward to seeing how my incoming kids compare on my assessments to their state assessments.

I'm looking forward to meeting the kids, but tomorrow's going to come too quickly.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

100 posts! Congrats!!

Well the truth about all these schools getting A's (and some of them with the most violent reputations) has proved how badly these report cards are. A school near me that really deserved an A didn't because it didn't show improvement. Well the kids are all 3's and 4's, and since 5's are not an option on the rubric, it looks like there is no improvement.
So once you reach the top, you are rewarded with bad grades.

Melanie Ehren said...

Hi Miss Malarkey,

Congrats on getting an A on the progress report. I am fascinated by your comment that you're not impressed as this grade doesn't seem to reflect how you and your colleagues perceive performance of your school. In January I will be in New York to do research on the NY accountability system (the Progress Reports and quality reviews), and how the system can be improved to to support teaching and learning and support teachers in their difficult job. Would lik to hear your thoughts on this. Do you have time to share some ideas with me? (and I can share mine, and give you some insight in teaching strategies used in my home country, the Netherlands). Hope we can connect. Please send me an e-mail: m.c.m.ehren@utwente.nl. Hope to hear from you!

Melanie

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