this is for beasley...preach it!

there are many people who are sympathetic to teachers and the problems they face, especially here in the south. but there are other who do not. this is a fantastic letter that summarizes how great, passionate, and caring teachers get pushed out of schools.

ps - if you're one of those people that think teachers don't work enough, get too much time off, that they are over-valued, then i hope you die cause you're a drain on society with your ridiculous stupidity.




A letter from a disgusted teacher:

I QUIT

Kris L. Nielsen
Monroe, NC 28110

Union County Public Schools
Human Resources Department
400 North Church Street
Monroe, NC 28112

October 25, 2012

To All it May Concern:

I’m doing something I thought I would never do—something that will make me a statistic and a caricature of the times. Some will support me, some will shake their heads and smirk condescendingly—and others will try to convince me that I’m part of the problem. Perhaps they’re right, but I don’t think so. All I know is that I’ve hit a wall, and in order to preserve my sanity, my family, and the forward movement of our lives, I have no other choice.

Before I go too much into my choice, I must say that I have the advantages and disadvantages of differentiated experience under my belt. I have seen the other side, where the grass was greener, and I unknowingly jumped the fence to where the foliage is either so tangled and dense that I can’t make sense of it, or the grass is wilted and dying (with no true custodian of its health). Are you lost? I’m talking about public K-12 education in North Carolina. I’m talking about my history as a successful teacher and leader in two states before moving here out of desperation.

In New Mexico, I led a team of underpaid teachers who were passionate about their jobs and who did amazing things. We were happy because our students were well-behaved, our community was supportive, and our jobs afforded us the luxuries of time, respect, and visionary leadership. Our district was huge, but we got things done because we were a team. I moved to Oregon because I was offered a fantastic job with a higher salary, a great math program, and superior benefits for my family. Again, I was given the autonomy I dreamed of, and I used it to find new and risky ways to introduce technology into the math curriculum. My peers looked forward to learning from me, the community gave me a lot of money to get my projects off the ground, and my students were amazing.

Then, the bottom fell out. I don’t know who to blame for the budget crisis in Oregon, but I know it decimated the educational coffers. I lost my job only due to my lack of seniority. I was devastated. My students and their parents were angry and sad. I told myself I would hang in there, find a temporary job, and wait for the recall. Neither the temporary job nor the recall happened. I tried very hard to keep my family in Oregon—applying for jobs in every district, college, private school, and even Toys R Us. Nothing happened after over 300 applications and 2 interviews.

The Internet told me that the West Coast was not hiring teachers anymore, but the East Coast was the go-to place. Charlotte, North Carolina couldn’t keep up with the demand! I applied with three schools, got three phone interviews, and was even hired over the phone. My very supportive and adventurous family and I packed quickly and moved across the country, just so I could keep teaching.

I had come from two very successful and fun teaching jobs to a new state where everything was different. During my orientation, I noticed immediately that these people weren’t happy to see us; they were much more interested in making sure we knew their rules. It was a one-hour lecture about what happens when teachers mess up. I had a bad feeling about teaching here from the start; but, we were here and we had to make the best of it.

Union County seemed to be the answer to all of my problems. The rumors and the press made it sound like UCPS was the place to be progressive, risky, and happy. So I transferred from CMS to UCPS. They made me feel more welcome, but it was still a mistake to come here.

Let me cut to the chase: I quit. I am resigning my position as a teacher in the state of North Carolina—permanently. I am quitting without notice (taking advantage of the “at will” employment policies of this state). I am quitting without remorse and without second thoughts. I quit. I quit. I quit!

Why?

Because…

I refuse to be led by a top-down hierarchy that is completely detached from the classrooms for which it is supposed to be responsible.

I will not spend another day under the expectations that I prepare every student for the increasing numbers of meaningless tests.

I refuse to be an unpaid administrator of field tests that take advantage of children for the sake of profit.

I will not spend another day wishing I had some time to plan my fantastic lessons because administration comes up with new and inventive ways to steal that time, under the guise of PLC meetings or whatever. I’ve seen successful PLC development. It doesn’t look like this.

I will not spend another day wondering what menial, administrative task I will hear that I forgot to do next. I’m far enough behind in my own work.

I will not spend another day wondering how I can have classes that are full inclusion, and where 50% of my students have IEPs, yet I’m given no support.

I will not spend another day in a district where my coworkers are both on autopilot and in survival mode. Misery loves company, but I will not be that company.

I refuse to subject students to every ridiculous standardized test that the state and/or district thinks is important. I refuse to have my higher-level and deep thinking lessons disrupted by meaningless assessments (like the EXPLORE test) that do little more than increase stress among children and teachers, and attempt to guide young adolescents into narrow choices.

I totally object and refuse to have my performance as an educator rely on “Standard 6.” It is unfair, biased, and does not reflect anything about the teaching practices of proven educators.

I refuse to hear again that it’s more important that I serve as a test administrator than a leader of my peers.

I refuse to watch my students being treated like prisoners. There are other ways. It’s a shame that we don’t have the vision to seek out those alternatives.

I refuse to watch my coworkers being treated like untrustworthy slackers through the overbearing policies of this state, although they are the hardest working and most overloaded people I know.

I refuse to watch my family struggle financially as I work in a job to which I have invested 6 long years of my life in preparation. I have a graduate degree and a track record of strong success, yet I’m paid less than many two-year degree holders. And forget benefits—they are effectively nonexistent for teachers in North Carolina.

I refuse to watch my district’s leadership tell us about the bad news and horrific changes coming towards us, then watch them shrug incompetently, and then tell us to work harder.

I refuse to listen to our highly regarded superintendent telling us that the charter school movement is at our doorstep (with a soon-to-be-elected governor in full support) and tell us not to worry about it, because we are applying for a grant from Race to the Top. There is no consistency here; there is no leadership here.

I refuse to watch my students slouch under the weight of a system that expects them to perform well on EOG tests, which do not measure their abilities other than memorization and application and therefore do not measure their readiness for the next grade level—much less life, career, or college.

I’m tired of watching my students produce amazing things, which show their true understanding of 21st century skills, only to see their looks of disappointment when they don’t meet the arbitrary expectations of low-level state and district tests that do not assess their skills.

I refuse to hear any more about how important it is to differentiate our instruction as we prepare our kids for tests that are anything but differentiated. This negates our hard work and makes us look bad.

I am tired of hearing about the miracles my peers are expected to perform, and watching the districts do next to nothing to support or develop them. I haven’t seen real professional development in either district since I got here. The development sessions I have seen are sloppy, shallow, and have no real means of evaluation or accountability.

I’m tired of my increasing and troublesome physical symptoms that come from all this frustration, stress, and sadness.

Finally, I’m tired of watching parents being tricked into believing that their children are being prepared for the complex world ahead, especially since their children’s teachers are being cowed into meeting expectations and standards that are not conducive to their children’s futures.

I’m truly angry that parents put so much stress, fear, and anticipation into their kids’ heads in preparation for the EOG tests and the new MSLs—neither of which are consequential to their future needs. As a parent of a high school student in Union County, I’m dismayed at the education that my child receives, as her teachers frantically prepare her for more tests. My toddler will not attend a North Carolina public school. I will do whatever it takes to keep that from happening.

I quit because I’m tired being part of the problem. It’s killing me and it’s not doing anyone else any good. Farewell.

CC: Dr. Mary Ellis

Dr. June Atkinson

so many things to post....but i'll start with this

on friday night, the charcuterie about 100 yds from my place, the spotted trotter, had a 1 year anniversary. so for $20 you got all you could eat pork/pork related dishes, plus all you could drink beer, wine, and sweet tea vodka. it was pretty damn amazing.

along with me and beasley, there were tons of yuppies there (of course), but i didn't let that get me down. they had 7 food vendors, along with ale yeah, a wine vendor (that i didn't even go near), and deep eddy's vodka. the food was all pretty damn good. ria, from ria's bluebird and sauced fame was there, serving up a delicious little soup-stew-ish thing, it had homemade pasta, pulled pork, some delicious broth and poached quail egg on top. awesome. there were lots of pork sandwiches which ranged from amaze-balls to meh. the inside of the business had a cheese tasting, but i wasn't there for cheese, just pork, so i ate none of that dairy nonsense. also, there was a doughnut guy and an ice cream tent. didn't have either of those either.

BUT the MOST amazing thing i had all night was this guy:

that pig was so stinking good, you'd smack your entire family, and all the babies....twice.

the dude would cut off enormous hunks of the pig (you can see his front left leg is already gone), and they would dole it out to the crowd. i just stood in front of the booth and ate it as it came out. i will be building a fire pit very soon, that pig will be mine....oh yes, it will be mine.

then after all the madness, me and beasley quietly walked home. i had forgotten how nice it is to walk home like that. makes me really miss new york. ah well, such is life.

stay tuned for more posts!

yeeeessss!!! finally, my brain can peacefully rest!

there has been this french pop song that has been ringing around in my head for a couple of months now. my google-foo is weak, and i could not, for the life of me, figure out the song title, name, ANYTHING. and even with my 2 years of french in middle school, i had no idea about any of the lyrics.

BUT, finally, beasley was watching suburgatory on the tv yesterday, and the song came on. my brain caught fire, and i quickly looked up the season, episode, and found the music.....SWEET RELIEF!!!

so here's the video in all it's amazing poppy-french-dance glory!

nsfw: red band trailer for new evil dead

if you can't have gore and stuff on your screen, don't watch this at work.

its the new trailer for "evil dead". it looks okay. same vein as all the other horror flicks in the past decade. creepy crawly gore-filled slithery blah blah blah. the original evil dead was so awesome because it was so campy and fun. the little tidbits of humor punctuated the ridiculous things going on. even the tree rape was done in a funny way.

i'm not looking forward to this one.

georgia football

i'm as georgia red and black as they come, and i live and die with the bulldawgs. i love them dawgs, and i usually hate all the homers that say we could beat anyone in the nation blah blah blah. the same fools that called for mark richt's head when he had one losing season.

but recently, i've started changing my mind. i think mark richt is probably the nicest head coach in all of football. he's a stand up guy and a good football coach. and that's the thing, he's a good coach, not a great one. i've done some independent research and come up with these numbers:

lifetime:
vs top 10 teams: 7-12 (37% winning percentage)
vs top 25 teams: 30-28 (52% winning percentage)

and the most atrocious of them all:
record vs florida: 3-8 (27% winning percentage)

he hasn't won the sec championship in 7 years. while the lsu, bama, and floridas (again) are all passing us by. i still want to give him some time. hopefully, he can make a believer out of me again, but if you're not moving forward in this conference, you're moving backwards, and that's what i feel like we're doing. grantham was a good pick up, but i'm not sure bobo is the man for the job. and for the love of all that is holy, can we PLEASE get a dedicated special teams coach. UGGGHH.

here's some more disturbing numbers/facts that i came up with:

mark richt's first 5 years (2001 - 2005)
vs. top 10: 4-3 (57% winning percentage)
vs. top 25: 16-12 (57% winning percentage)
2 sec conference titles
3 division titles
(fucking awesome first 5 years)

mark richt's last 5 years (2007 - 2011)
vs. top 10: 3-8 (27% winning percentage)
vs. top 25: 11-15 (42% winning percentage)
1 divisional title
(wtf)

i don't want to see him go yet. but i'm starting to feel like the bulldawgs are the atlanta braves of the sec. always good, never great. we have the talent, but something is missing, and i want mark richt to find it. soon.

NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

MY CHILDHOOD!!!! DAMN YOU, DISNEY!!!

click to see how disney fucked up one of my favorite memories...

i'd like to see this...

but the closest theater that is showing it is the angelika in nyc. poopstick. well, hopefully, it'll come to our little 2nd tier market in atlanta.

aaaaand i'm back

not sure why i took such a long break, but it is what it is. i've got a lot of updating to do, since i've been getting into a fair bit of shenanigans and tom foolery lately.

anyways, i'm back, with stories of fortune, fame, sex, rock n roll, none of that previous stuff, and pretty lame stuff! so enough chit chat, this is a blues riff in b, watch me for the changes, and try to keep up!

here's a link to some incredible photo's of horror movies. i personally like numbers 2, 6, 11, and 30.

click here for horror movie awesome-ness

and 22 is just ridiculous.

shiny eyes and classical music

one of the best ted talks ever.

i grew up with classical music, but this dude puts it in such simple terms and he is so easy to follow. wonderful teacher and motivator. please watch.

holy shitballs, this is too funny

this looks like the funniest movie ever made.
the trailer is mos def NSFW, but
it.
is.
HILARIOUS.

Get More: Comedy Central,Funny Videos,Funny TV Shows

kluwe smack down

chris kluwe, the kicker for the minnesota vikings, responds again to prejudiced opinion piece about hating gay people for making hetero people uncomfortable, therefore should be treated as second class citizens.

he is quickly becoming my favorite nfl player.
here is the article that he's responding to, it's pretty ridiculous in a piece filled with retard logic.
click for stupidity

and here is kluwe's rebuttal....


Dear Mr. Balling,

I read your opinion piece in today’s Star Tribune, and I would like to take a brief moment of time to offer you some assistance in your future writing endeavors. I can only assume that you’ve never been trained in classical logic, debate techniques, or basic empathy, so I will humbly offer my own meager knowledge in these fields as it relates to your literary masterpiece “Why same-sex marriage affects my marriage”.

You start off strong, with an opening salvo ostensibly promoting the rights of other groups to have their own views (if we ignore the fear-mongering tag line “The goal is to move society — in this case, away from a safe environment for children), but then, much like a Michael Bay plot, your argument starts careening off the rails. Your first mistake is what we would consider “mind projection fallacy” – where one considers the way he sees the world as the way the world really is.

When you state that “As we have seen, and understandably so, people in homosexual relationships are trying to change society to more readily embrace and promote their view of their identity. This is possible largely due to the disassociation between sexual relationships and procreation.”, what you’re really saying is “Those gay people do sex things that I find icky, and we should oppress them because they can’t have babies.” You completely ignore the fact that “people in homosexual relationships are trying to change society” not just because they want to have teh buttsecks (or rise and grind for the ladies), but also to avoid, oh I don’t know, things like being tortured and tied to a fencepost until you die (Matthew Shepard), shot to death while attending school (Lawrence King), shot to death for being transgender (Moses King), committing suicide by hanging due to repeated bullying and taunting (Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover), shot to death and burned while standing military guard (Seaman August Provost), stabbed to death after serving in the Vietnam War (James Zappalorti) – every single one of these attacks because of the victim’s sexuality. Let’s not even get into the over 1100 federal benefits gay couples are legally unable to obtain in this state because they can’t get married – things like health care, survivor benefits, legacies to pass on to their families (including children); things like tolerance, acceptance, and compassion.

Deep breath.

Moving on, we come to the next little pearl of wisdom hidden in your manifesto, that hoary old chestnut of “traditional marriage”. In this case, you’ve made the logical error of the “etymological fallacy” – that the original or historical meaning of a word or phrase is necessarily similar to its actual current meaning.

Which version of “traditional marriage” would you like to use Mr. Balling? Should we go back to ancient Israel and practice polygamy, with a woman’s only right that to own her own tent? Or should we use the ancient Greek definition of marriage, one more concerned with inheritance than love or procreation, one that would force a woman to divorce her current husband and marry a sibling if that was required to continue the family? Should we force a brother to marry his dead sibling’s wife? Or perhaps we should make arranged marriages with child brides, that’s certainly traditional enough. Wait, I know, let’s go with the one where you have to pay three goats and a cow in order to ensure the woman is yours to keep forever, and you can stone her to death if she cheats on you. That one sounds terrific!

You see, Mr. Balling, since you don’t actually provide a definition of what “traditional marriage” is, I think your definition of “traditional marriage” boils down to “I want to make other people who believe differently than I do miserable by taking away their free will so I’ll cloak my hate in the guise of ‘tradition’ and ‘history’ without knowing what those words really mean”, and, well, I’m not really ok with that. Also, “traditional marriage” has traditionally been rather tough on 50% of the human population, what with the whole enslavement and forced child bearing and stoning to death thing (I’m talking about women if you haven’t figured it out (sorry to the people who figured it out like 5 minutes ago but I wanted to make sure he got it)), and I’m not really ok with that either.

Deep breath. <whelps!>

Your third logical fallacy, and oh boy does this one crop up all the time, is that of cum hoc ergo propter hoc. Now I’m guessing you may not be up to date on your Latin (or maybe you are, in which case well done!), so if you need help, I’d like to ask the entire class to say it along with me.

CORRELATION DOES NOT IMPLY CAUSATION.

You can’t make the statement that “Bless the single parents who try, but there is a direct correlation between single homes and crimes of all types. If anything, the effects of broken homes indicate the importance of reestablishing the ideal of traditional marriage” and not expect any moderately intelligent person not to jump all over it. Single homes don’t *cause* crime. That’s like saying “I rode my bicycle to work today, and it rained, therefore my bicycle causes rain”. There are a multitude of factors related to crime including income, residence location, public resources available, education, education available, age demographics, police presence, temperature patterns, etcetera ad nauseum ad infinitum (that one means I could go on for a while (also, way to take a giant steaming literary dump on every single parent, infertile couple, and those who choose not to have kids; you’re making all sorts of friends today)). To single out single parents is, to put it bluntly, absolutely absurd.

And then, to make it even better, you somehow link an unsafe environment for children (somehow caused through single parents?) to same sex marriage by claiming it “reinforces changes to the marital definition”. Hooboy. Tell me, were you worried about the children when all those colored folks started marrying the white people? Because that sure was a change to the “marital definition”, and funnily enough there were a bunch of people using the same argument back then. Or how about when women started working? Are the kids unsafe now because mom wanted to actually do something with her life instead of putting on a plastic smile and tending the kitchen all day? (no offense to any stay at home mom or dads who choose to do so, I know that’s a full time job in itself and you have my respect) What happened when the “marital definition” changed to allow divorce and remarrying? Should we pass some more constitutional amendments preventing those? C’mon, don’t just stop with the gays, let’s go oppress a bunch of other people too!

AND THEN, to make it even more betterer (grammars!), you return to the mind projection fallacy by claiming that “Currently, as a society, we have wavered from this traditional motivation, and many, not all, view marriage as a venue for self-fulfillment”. It’s so nice of you, Mr. Balling, to define mine, and countless other marriages as “venues for self-fulfillment”. Odd though, I don’t remember you ever hanging out with my family and I, or with our neighbors, or providing any sort of factual information to back up your claim (and if you say I need to provide evidence to disprove it, that’s called onus probandi, in case you were interested). In fact, the only evidence that I’ve been able to glean from your entire ill-constructed argument, is that you don’t know how to construct an argument. You know, with facts and stuff. (Your argument is called an “appeal to emotion”, more specifically, an “appeal to fear”, if you wanted that for future reference)

Deep breath. <1%, don’t wipe now!>

Frankly, sir, your blatant attempt to sway people by using the “OH MAH GAWD THINK OF THE CHILDREN” argument is tiresome, bothersome, and insulting to anyone who cares to take the slightest interest in pulling aside your curtain of self satisfied drivel to expose the ugliness underneath. Furthermore, you never made any sort of logical attempt to explain how same-sex marriage affects your marriage in any concrete way, instead offering up vague generalizations with no proof. When it comes to “the children”, I can assure you that I *am* thinking of my children, and not just my children, but all the children they will come in contact with, and all the adults they will someday be; and it is my sincerest wish as a parent that I can raise them to be tolerant, to respect the free will of others, and above all, to see beneath the smug bigotry and oppression of those who would enslave the world to satisfy their own ugly lust for control. If you have any children, it is my hope that they enjoy a peaceful life, one free of tyranny.

Aaaaaaaaand fin.

how i reacted when i heard bennett was out for the season

so good, it'll make you slap someone

at least that's what i've been told.


"hittin dem walls!!!"

burmese pythons for arms