Cuts Hurt Kids
Comments (0) Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Wow. Even some of the greatest artists ever still had their share of junk they released. The iTunes random selected this morning has chosen Paul McCartney’s No More Lonely Nights, which is a pretty crummy ballad of a song and simply proves the fact that all of us, yes all of us have off-days. Luckily, for me, the number of so called “off-days” with my kids grows steadily fewer with each passing year.
Now we are down to two weeks, although it certainly seems like a strange time to be protesting the District budget cuts with a one hour strike Friday morning. Whatever. Almost 80 of us joined thousands of other teachers across the city in the march (which, for us, consisted of walking around the block and standing at large intersections waving at cars, many of which honked their horns in support). We’ll just have to wait and see what happens as a result (my guess would be “nothing”).
Other random bits from the last few days: A good friend of mine is a special education technology program director at a local community college and for his training had to administer the Woodcock Johnson intelligence test on a guinea pig, who was, you guessed it, me. I think I passed the intelligence test, but there were certainly sections that were downright frustrating. There were times during it that I definitely felt like there was no way I could be smarter than a 5th grader, but I think I at least passed.
Tonight is Game 2 of the ultra-hyped NBA Finals between the Celtics and the Lakers. Luckily, I was not able to watch the travesty that was Game 1 (although I do now think that Celtic Paul Pierce may have a future in Hollywood) because I was at a celebration dinner for a student and her mom with many of her other teachers. This 8th grader worked so hard in her classes over the past three years at school and got into a really prestigious Brentwood private school. As I left after the dinner with some of the teachers, we remarked to each other how it is kids like this that make it worth putting up with some of the other clowns we deal with on a regular basis.
Themocracy