seriously... just make it

'Tis the season for pranks (Coupeville's was artless and stupid), rising tempers (without the usual commensurate rising temperatures), and fraying nerves (hire a hit man? seriously? rip out his eyeballs? really?).

Now's not the time to boil over, blow up, or burn out.

You can make it. It's only a week or two more. You can make it.

pissed pedagogue won't WASL

Seattle teacher Carl Chew refused to administer the sixth-grade WASL to his students, taking a two week unpaid vacation as a consequence.

Carl Chew, 60, who teaches science, wanted to take a stand against a test he considers harmful to students, teachers, schools and families.

"I did it because I think it's bad for kids," he said.

He said he knew he would face consequences, and might even be fired.

"When you do an act of civil disobedience, you gracefully accept what happens to you," he said.

Before the WASL started at Eckstein last week, Chew said he told Eckstein administrators that he would not give the exam. He said they tried to talk him out of it.

Or into it, really.

I'm surprised he wasn't fired straight up for insubordination. He must have a pretty good record--or a pretty forgiving administration. At the very least, he's sincere, knowing full well what his mini-rebellion would entail.

Click through and read the whole thing.

a logical consequence of poor management skills

A recipe chock-full of stupid:

Brian Havel, 22, was teaching English at the school March 14 when the boy arrived after class started.

"In his class, the disciplinary process was X amount of sit-ups or push-ups in a certain amount of time. He either wouldn't or couldn't complete them," Delta interim Police Chief Roger Christian said of the punished student.

The boy's classmates volunteered to administer an alternate punishment.

"The class made a suggestion that if he couldn't finish, we ought to be able to punch him, and (Havel) agreed. So 10 to 15 students got to hit him," Christian said.

Let's count the errors:

1. Normally assigning an illogical consequence for misbehavior.
2. Letting the class in on the punitive negotiation.
3. Taking the class's suggestion seriously.
4. I mean, come on.

Mr. Havel's one correct choice: resigning immediately.

Big Parent is watching you

I guess it's not enough that parents can access their students' grades online. Now, in Florida, the folks at home will be able to scour their teachers' discipline records at one handy online database. To self-policing, add parent policing.

More Teacher Darwin Awards

Last year I had a post where I looked at the recent data from OSPI's Office of Professional Practices regarding teachers who had their licenses suspended or revoked. I thought it might be interesting to revisit the issue, and one change that I can see right away is that OSPI is updating their list monthly to reflect the most recent actions. I think that's a really good change on their part; it makes it much more relevant. Good work, folks.

Anyhow, here's some of the most recent names to throw themselves out of the teaching profession, along with any relevant links that I could find detailing just where things went wrong.

• First up is license suspension of Matthew Wakabayashi, a story that I blogged about previously. He's the winner who used his school computer to order hard-core porn and used pantyhose. That wasn't thought out very well.
  
• Alfredo Castillo is perhaps the oldest person ever to get their license permanently revoked; he's the 80-year old parapro who fondled a 13-year old girl.
  
• Then there's Ronnie Nash, who lived in Granger, taught high school in Zillah, and got his kicks distributing kiddie porn. His license was revoked.
  
• Rex Whipple was principal of Chimacum High School, until he got arrested for having pictures of a nude 15-year old on his school issued laptop. I'm trying to come up with a good "Please don't squeeze the..." joke, but it's just not happening. It's also worth noting that he was turned in by his daughter-in-law, which would make family reunions interesting. He was convicted last November.
  
• In 2001 Phil McGee was highlighted in the Seattle PI in an article about how PE class has evolved over the years. The article helpfully points out that he's a former police chief in Grand Coulee. In 2005 he was accused of molesting his own grand-daughter, in 2006 he was fired, and in 2007 5 students from his school came forward to say he'd molested them. The article goes on to say that police were looking for McGee, but I can't find any follow-up saying if he'd been arrested or not.

Those are just a few of the names. From October of 2006 to June of this year 37 teachers had their licenses either suspended, revoked, or voluntarily surrendered.

For the prurient, there's a blog that covers teacher misconduct from all different angles. It's not a pretty picture, but it's the story that gets the most press, sadly.

So this is how kids think?

Like a lot of teachers, I struggle with students who don't do their work. Since I've only ever taught at one school -- one that is in a fairly affluent area -- I've pretty much chalked my students' laziness and apathy up to the fact that many of them are simply spoiled children.

You know the drill: You call home, tell the parent that Johnny is failing, and the parent says, "I just don't know what to doooooooooo! Johnny always tells me he doesn't have any homework. And even when I know he does, he won't do it, so I just let him play his video games anyway. I don't know what else I can dooooooooooo!"

To which we all think: "YOU'RE THE PARENT!!!" Then we politely say, "Well, I just wanted you to know. Thanks for your time." And we hang up the phone shaking our heads.

Well, now I know it's not just a problem with me or my school or my students.

Check out this report at NPR from about a month ago. It talks about how managers in the workplace are growing increasingly frustrated with how needy employees in the 20-30 set are.

Companies are hiring consultants to help manage the "over-praised" Me Generation. The result? Kudos for showing up to work on time! Awards for getting a report in! Forget Employee of the Month — how about Employee of the Day! Some managers are resistant, saying the only praise they ever got was a paycheck.

I think this resonates with a lot of us teachers, who can't understand why students need a pat on the back every time they do something they're supposed to do. When I was in school, I never dreamed of not turning in a homework assignment. It might not have been my best work, but to simply not do it? No way.

Now, I rarely give homework in my classes because I know it's generally an exercise in futility.

Could understanding this "Me Generation" help us understand how to better motivate our students to do more, better work? We wonder why we should have to do this, but I think the question isn't so much "Why should we have to do this?" anymore, as it is "Are we willing to sink to that level in order to get the best out of our students?"

A lot of teachers will answer no. But is that really best practice?

Yakima teacher could lose license for copying WASL sections

Using the OSPI's freely available study guides to help students prep for the WASL: fine and dandy.

Photocopying last year's test to help students prep for the WASL: big trouble.

Students at Highland Junior High, in Cowiche northwest of Yakima, told a teacher that they recognized some of the questions on the science portion of this year's WASL as examples in a study guide given to them earlier this year by teacher Darryl Hartung.

Highland School District officials investigated and discovered that Hartung photocopied portions of the 2006 science WASL and modeled his study guide after those questions, which state laws forbids....

The tests have been sent for scoring, but they'll be flagged and will go unreported to the students and the district.

Hartung, a 17-year teacher with the district, was placed on administrative leave in April and has since been reassigned to teach sixth grade at Tieton Intermediate School....

If [OSPI] finds that Hartung acted in flagrant disregard of professional standards, he could be charged with a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $500 and have his teaching license revoked.

It will depend on whether the state wants to make an example of Hartung, who really has no excuse, since the test instructions specifically forbid copying (or even discussing) any portion.

However, I'd say that by having his name all over the media, he's probably paid penance enough.

oh, s---: student swears at concert, claims to imitate teacher

Why you might want to reconsider lacing your lectures with profanities, because, you know, it gets attention: it really gets attention.

After singing solo in a school concert in Longview, a 13-year-old girl said she wanted to thank her choir teacher by imitating her.

Savannah Larson then let loose with a string of expletives and obscenities that stunned the audience of about 700 students, teachers and family members in the gym at Monticello Middle School.

The choir teacher can take solace in the fact that at least Larson was listening.

Update: The Times has more details. Larson had just finished singing "Where or When" by Rodgers and Hart. Those kids and their "popular music."

Update 6/18: Larson explains herself here. I thought kids these days were supposed to be all tech-savvy, recording their evidence on iPods and such.