Posts made by silverfox

I have to make my 10-11 year olds sit through 2 tests tomorrow. 1 65 minutes long, and the other 85 minutes long.

My husband's aunt works for a large publishing agency. A few years ago she and I somehow got to talking about books and so now I'll arrive home to a package of books she thinks I might like.

She has been right every single time and not a single one of them are ones I would have picked off a shelf myself. Historical fiction, romances, drama, science-fiction, non-fiction.

All of it amazing. All of it.

I feel bad being a woman and having zero concept the conversation going on.

Knowing exactly what needs to be done to help a kiddo but being constrained by the law.

One of these days I'm just going to do the right thing and end up fired....

@Cobaltasaurus

This is where you just quietly set everything down and walk away slowly.

I should find the game I was playing with my kids the other day about poetry vocabulary. Figured out super quick that it was made for more of a high school audience when the poem's second line started with "bullshit" in all its 2 inch glory before my 9-11 year olds.

You know that aghast gasp on corny TV shows when something bad happens?

It is real.

@Ghost

Always look into the details also! This is helpful: https://www.expectmorearizona.org/study/bonds-overrides/

@Ghost

YES. I taught in Arizona (North Phoenix) for several years, so I can actually SPEAK to that state!

The formula sucks but if you're SUPER interested here's an article: https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona-education/2017/11/13/arizona-school-funding/782457001/

The TLDR: The money comes from a 'base' for each student (aprox 4 thousand), then funds based on individual schools needs (rural schools, schools with x number of experienced teachers), and then LOCAL property tax agreements.

What that meant is that the district I taught at, Madison Elementary School District, had a lot of that local money. It was a rich area of the city (near North Mountain), and the people were willing to approve all bond/override issues that came on the ballot. A nearby district, Washington, didn't have those same property values and really struggled getting their bond/overrides passed. (I cannot recall if they had one fail in the years I was there, but it was a struggle.) When it came down to it Madison had a LOT more money than Washington to go around.

School test scores aren't really a part of the formula any more, except when it comes to parent perception. That aprox. 4 thousand means a lot if you can get your kid to go to one school rather than another.

@Ghost

What state are you? I know that NCLB (No Child Left Behind) led to allocations like that, but most states have done changes in the two decades (how the hell has it been two decades?!) since to the formulas.

@Ghost

It really can be. The biggest impact I've seen is on parent perception. Since scores are published and a lot of parents shop around for schools now (which I can't dig, since 50% of our school population comes from without our district) they look HEAVILY at those scores. THAT impacts heavily what funding most schools get since they're paid on a per-pupil ratio.

Where it gets super yucky is if teacher pay is tied to performance goals. The district next door has a very complicated teacher pay system based partly on student achievement. This means that the teachers literally do not know how much money they'll be getting for doing their job. Other times money can be tied to one off bonuses. Last year we got 500 extra if our school met our growth goal, and 500 if we met our achievement score. It was nice money, but not anything we ever expected to actually get.

All of THAT said, mileage will vary by state and by district. Every area has a slightly different way that they are able to get funding for schools, and how they allocate those dollars. District/corporation (for charters) set forth how teachers get paid and what incentives there might be.

Best writer in my class fractured her finger yesterday.

Guess who barely managed to even start her response on the state test?

I hate this test.

Literally no part of me wants to give the state assessment to my students over the next two weeks. None of me.

Having a scene that's so awesome it inspires you to want to go do other scenes. @thesuntsar is amazing.

@thesuntsar

I am totally stalking.

@Thenomain

You make me feel better. I've never really considered myself a nerd because all I ever really did was read? I don't play video games, I'm not super into movies and such. I just picked up Anne McCaffery at 11 and that was that. Asimov is my sci-fi God and for a while I was all over Orson Scott Card (why did he have to get so weird? As a fellow Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint member I think he is way too far out there now....)

I still just.... read. I don't have a problem logging off and curling up with a book for hours at a time. Books are my shield against life.

Putting on my white religious clothing only to look down and realized it is now blood red because for some fucking reason I'm bleeding again.

I wish this clothing wasn't white sometimes so it didn't show blood quite so often.

So I would really like to eat without feeling like someone is punching me in the stomach. Thanks much.

I can't get my family to understand this but I really love that when I go visit them I get put to work doing whatever household chores need done.

At Christmas I helped lay wood flooring in my mother's house. Currently I'm at my older sister's house and I have done the dishes, located a missing dog, washed walls in preparation for painting, scrubbed vents, taped off walls for painting, and painted. Moreover I've run to the store for last minute food, walked dogs, picked up my nephew's flu meds, etc. They are stupid little things, but I honestly love them.

I enjoy them because I get the feeling of accomplishment as well as knowing I've helped someone not myself. Moreover it means that I'm doing something as we catch up and not just sitting there awkwardly. Most importantly I'm not sitting alone in my house.

Sister keeps apologizing for putting me to work and I try to explain but I don't think she will ever quite get it.

@Testament

It must have really rubbed you wrong.

@Auspice

Absolutely yes and without question you are allowed to be upset.

Accepting a job that will not cover your basic necessities (with medicine being included in that) makes it a billion times harder to find a job that will cover them because now you have to try to be a good employee.

Job hunting is the absolute worst.