Thoughts from the shower...

Good heavens its been a long time since I posted to this blog. Of course there are all kinds of reasons including that my web site was moved to another location, I couldn't seem to get my password to work and I had nothing to say.

Of course the last one is not as true as the first two. I always have something to say but since my mother always accused me of speaking before thinking I tend to keep my comments to myself or mutter them under my breath.

mmmmmmmm.....

O well, today is the day to VOTE and finally we are done with the political nonsense for a week or two. The money spent on this campaign would alleviate hunger in some small country. No one commented on that!

Well, off to the polls.

Having been retired from the Harrisburg Public School System for 3+ years it may be a good time to reflect on what is going on in that system and the system all over the country.

I began my career in 1963 at Lower Dauphin High School as a math teacher. I was the one woman in the department and was hired to take the place of the Department Head while he was on a sabatical to get his masters degree. During those 7 years that I taught there I had classes that were for the most part 35 students. The students worked in class, did all their homework, and were successful. I graded based on their demonstrated ability with the material.

The next 17 years I raised two boys, substituted in five different schools, and observed many changes in society. Since I was in the classroom frequently I also observed how the student behavior and teacher responsibilities changed.

It took several tries for me to get a full time position once I was ready. I had tenure in Pennsylvania so if I was not known to the person who was responsible for hireing I was not an attractive prospect. Also having 7 years of full time experience and many years of substituting was not finantially attractive. They often hired students fresh out of college for less money.

I finally applied to Harrisburg School District for an opening they had as a math teacher in the VoTech school at William Penn Campus. I was transfered to John Harris Campus the next year and continued there until I retired after 16 years in that school district.

Boy had times changed!

When I began I had much smaller classes. Often I had 40 names of which 20 or less showed up. The first day of school was treated sort of as a optional attendance day. (Attendance continued to be sparce for some students who often stopped attending by December.)

The effect of this disaster is very far reaching. It happened to people who believe that they are adults and can "take care of themselves." It may be the first time they realize, as adults, that life is not secure. It also will travel down the age ladder so that many children will be reacting. I talked with my son last evening after a personally frustrating day (on a very different level) and suggested maybe we should home school his son through his PhD.

Thinking about all you folks I remember what moved me most about trying to teach math in the public school system. I spent 7 years in a system that drew from rural areas. Then 17 years substituting in that and several suburban districts of various economic levels and finally I taught 16 years in an urban district.

My only wish is that the public stop accepting the notion that it is all right to be math illerate. Between parents who say things like "girls can't do math" and teachers who can't do math and continue to announce that fact, students, from the time they enter the education system (and before) get negative messages about math. If they gave the same negative messages about reading and writing we would have a nation of children who can do none of these things.

Oops! That's what we do have.

Well, don't you think it is time we tried to fix this. . .

So I do my best thinking in the shower...

When I talked to my son (the computer nerd) about how I had no outlet for my thoughts on various topics, especially teaching mathematics, since I am retired, he suggested a blog. So I have taken on the idea of talking to the interested public from a journal.