Flipping. Deseret. Book.

It is pretty much no secret that these folks are not going to be making my favorites list anytime soon, but recent events take the cake.

I live nearly two hours from the nearest Deseret Book. (Yes, Mom, you'd refer to this as "the mission field.") For one of our crafty-day projects, in October, if you recall, we made these photo album Sacrament quiet books. I wrote a little doctrinal thing about the sacrament, simplified for young kids, to match the pictures in Greg Olsen's small picture kit called "Images of the Savior." You put the words and pictures mounted into a photo album. The result is quite sweet. These cost about $8 each to make and several sisters signed up for multiples in order to give them to grandkids for Christmas.

Eighteen kits ended up being ordered. As soon as I had the money, two weeks before the Souper Saturday, I got on-line and ordered what I wanted. I put the money in my account and then I waited. And waited. And waited.

The day before I needed them, I called Deseret Book. Sorry, they are on backorder. Hmm . . . and you didn't let me know this over my email because? I mean, isn't that the POINT of having such technology? Not to worry, they assured me, they will be here in mid-November.

I passed on that information and when I had nothing by the 20th of November, and also realized they had never charged my card to begin with, I called again. Sorry they are on backorder. Again? Do you ever tell people anything? Well, she said sweetly (she is probably somebody's grandmother), I can tell you that our next shipment will be here December 14th and that we will FedEx them to you right away. OoooKaaaaaaaay. Oh, and you have until the 4th to cancel the order if you need to.

I spent a good chunk of the rest of that day calling the women who had signed up for the project to find out if they wanted me to cancel their orders and they could just get them at DB next time they were there? I could refund money? You know the drill. It was a huge headache.

Then, Saturday, I went to the temple with a friend who was getting her endowment. It was a lovely day, if a bit hectic. (Plantboy and I went together and left the kids for a few hours with a friend that moved there from our ward. It turned out to be an 8 hour round trip. And while it seems really sacrificial and righteous for the temple to be such an effort, I mostly just grumble and wish it was closer.) On a whim, we found the Deseret Book and hunted all over for the pictures.

I think the pictures are on backorder because the Portland Store is hoarding at least 250 of these things.

Very cleverly, I put 18 of these babies on my credit card. Plantboy, acting as the voice of reason for a change, said, "are you sure you can cancel the other?" Oh, yes, I assured him, I have until the fourth. But this is perfect. Everyone will now get them well in time for Christmas and I don't have to deal with it any more.

Sunday I took an hour and half to deliver them. Why so long? At every stop I was asked to do something. Each request was prefaced with, "I'm so glad you dropped by! I've been meaning to call you . . . " Monday I crashed big time. Don't even ask me how many hours I read or what kind of cheesy re-read romance novels I had my nose stuck into. (Okay, one of my selections was Twilight; and no, my opinion has NOT changed.)

Yesterday morning, I opened my e-mail to find the following cheery message from Deseret Book, "You're order: qty 18 "Images of the Savior" has been shipped!"

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How is the h*** is November 25th the equivalent of December 15??? By what stretch of the imagination is "you have until December 4th to cancel" the equivalent of them sending the cards Sunday night? When I called, the grandmotherly voice on the other end apologized about 400 times, all the while repeatedly telling me that there is no way that a representative from Deseret Book would have given me an exact shipping date and then gave me a crash course in the logistics of DB's ordering structure. She also emphasized how unreliable ordering over the Internet was and that they would be happy to take a phone order any time. Thanks for that. She did, however, graciously offer to send me a return slip. Here is how this will play: I get the order; I wait for the return labels; I repackage the order so that it doesn't say "FedEx" anymore; I drag my pre-schooler and toddler to the post office to mail the thing; I wait for the order to clear through DB and THEN I get refunded. Oh, yeah, my checking account SO needed the $80 hit four weeks before Christmas.

I must go bake. It will help to ease some of my anger at the universe. On the upside, I caught Tiny Fey as a pirate on Sesame Street this morning. She said that they needed to come up with some words that began with a pirate's favorite letter.

Yes, Yes, I thought it was "RRRRRRRRRRR" too.

But no, Tina argues, pirates love F-words. Well, that seems appropriate too.

Gratitude. Gratitude. Must remember to be grateful . . . .

Blogging So That I Don't Kill Someone

No worries. It is just a customer service rep. She is safe from my awesome physical prowess.

Because I Think I'm A Teenager Like That

Last night at book group, one of my friends said, "We've got an extra ticket. So how about it, huh?" So at midnight last night . . . .



The last movie opening I went to was one of the Pirates movies a couple of years ago. I vowed that I would never do it again as it was me and plantboy and 100 slutty pirate girls. (Their dates were just weird, not slutty.) Still, last night I found myself in a theatre crammed with screaming teenage goths. Some of whom were very slutty. Good times.

What about the papers you say? Oh, I just picked them up and delivered them on the way home from the movie. I'm going for nocturnal this week. It is really not working for me.

A Time of Thanks. And Stress.

In Australia, they use the term "whinging." Like many Aussie words, it takes a bit of translation. First of all, it is pronounced "win-jing." It is similar to murmuring, complaining, and grouching. Most Aussie-isms are abbreviations or combinations of other words. This one is a like like "binge whining," which is highly descriptive. I've griped to just about everyone in the last few days, so while I'm on a binge I thought I'd whine to you a little bit here too.

Nearly a year ago, our the Enrichment counselor and I booked all of our dates for 2008. Twice now, the activities committee, scheduling just a few weeks late has either booked over our activities or within close proximity. Our summer activity had to have a last-minute move because of the ward camp out. Now the ward's Christmas party is just two days after our RS Christmas Social. (Don't even get me started on how bad I hate that we are doing a social instead of a service project at Christmas time.)

This doesn't sound too bad, except that the ward activity is easily the biggest of the year. It is probably better attended than most of our Sacrament meetings. The activities committee commandeers anyone who will say yes to help. Which, in our ward, unfortunately, is not a very large number of people.

Three days before Souper Saturday (NOT a misspelling) and the day before Jedi Master's birthday party, the Activities Committee Head Person calls and says, "I just need to ask you something; now I know you are busy."

"Yes. What is it?"

"Just think about it before you tell me no."

"Yes. What is it?" The panic rising in my voice now.

"I have tried to think of someone else but your name just keeps coming back to me."

"Debbie. What is it?!"

"Would you be in charge of the program for our Christmas dinner?"

The overdone, too-long, noisy production from last year flashed through my head. As well as the word "Herdmans." I am sure that she picked up on the silence at my end. She repeated, "I know you are busy, I just felt so strongly that I had to ask you."

Later I said to Jeff, "What do you say to that?" He shrugged and mouthed the word "no." When I told the story to my snarky and sometime irreligious little sis she said, "Good grief! Does she think she's the bishop? She didn't need to act like an angel had come to her and named you as the chosen vessel!"

I am not the chosen vessel, but I did not say no.

I was given a small committee who is mostly out of town for the next two or three weeks, a program I greatly disliked, and no real direction to go.

I'll spare the rest of the gory details, but between the social and the program, I think I have easily put in 20 hours for church in the last week and a half. Maybe 30. On the upside, after December 6th, I get to cruise for about six weeks. And the Youngling will enter nursery, so at least I might get to sit through a couple of church meetings for a change!

Whinging done, now on to the things I did today to find a bright spot in my too-much-Mormon-culture-universe.

I made amazing cookies this afternoon. A-flippin'-mazing. Use Ghiradelli's sweet chocolate chips and their recipe with the following modifications: Use half butter, half shortening; Increase the flour by 1/3 of cup and add 3/4 cup of oatmeal; add a cup of peanut butter chips with the chocolate. The secret to any fantastic chocolate chip cookie, however, is to cook it just until the shine is off, let them sit for about a minute on the pan and then cool. They will stay soft all week. If they last that long.

Padawan made pilgrim and Indian hats at pre-school this week. Youngling wanted to try one out, just like he saw his older brothers do.

The second this hat went on, the hand went to the mouth and "Ay, yi, yi" started. He can't talk, but he sure loves to copy.

Jedi Master then said it was time to do a little pilgrim-Indian show. He rowed the couch to the new land of America. When he arrived, Padawan greeted him and showed him how to plant a fish with his corn and helped him build a house.

Then, his headdress regained, the Youngling began chasing his brothers all over the house. As with most of our games, this one ended in a wrestling match.

It only took 500 years, but it looks like the Indians finally came out on top.

The third great thing that happened today is that my mom surprised me with the news of a spontaneous visit in mid-December. They found uber-cheap tickets and will be here for Padawan's birthday. I cannot even express how happy this makes me. This year will be the first that we have not been with family or had family with us for either Thanksgiving or Christmas. I'm a big girl now with a family of my own, but I didn't realize just how much I wanted to see family for the holidays until my mother gave me her news. Though they won't be here exactly for either of them, their visit will certainly lift my spirits after all the above rigmarole.

Like you, my posting may be fairly irregular over the next several weeks. Happy holidays everyone. May you find the peace that you crave.

Footloose and Fancy Free. And a Little Sick to my Stomach.

Plantboy is out of town again. Why is it that two nights away from hubby and I revert to bachelorette mode?

He has been gone about 24 hours, and I've accomplished quite a lot--mostly because I threatened to abolish story-time if I wasn't given help to clean up the house RIGHT NOW, LITTLE MISTERS. But I also realize that this 24 hours has been full of wastes as well:

I watched TV until nearly midnight, including the CMA's which would never have flown with Plantboy home. I flipped between that and another show I like, only to miss Keith Urban singing his new song, which was the main reason I was watching the CMA's to begin with. And no, Nem, his shirt was not unbuttoned to his navel even once. Does anyone else think Nicole Kidman isn't so much aging as she is turning into an alien? After the CMA's I spent an hour watching "Sahara," which is actually a pretty good movie, as far as that sort of thing goes. Which is more attractive? Matthew McConaughy without a shirt, or Steve Zahn being hilarious and needing a hat? If you said "Plantboy," you got the right answer.

Having missed The Keith, I then surfed the Internet until 1 a.m. hoping someone had posted footage from the show. No luck.

I read nearly 250 pages to finish my novel: Spindle's End. I love Robin McKinley, but this was a little obtuse for my fantasy-light taste. More along the lines of Rose Daughter than The Blue Sword. (If you've read McKinley, you'll know what I mean. If not, you MUST read Hero and the Crown and The Blue Sword.)

Corn dogs. Two. I ate two corn dogs for "dinner" last night. Even my kids won't eat corn dogs.

Not wanting to make my bed again, I slept on top of my covers with a blanket over the top. But only on half the bed. The other half is covered with junk from the emptied furniture I was supposed to spend some time refinishing today. Oh, and I took a nap.

Pizza. Homemadish, but still pizza.

After a morning of errands, I put on my flannel PJ bottoms for comfort during the housework; I also wore these for my nap. The Jedi Master getting home from school woke me up. The first words out of his mouth were, "Are you STILL in your pajamas?" I was a little defensive.

Dr. Pepper. Ooo! That reminds me--the other 20 ounces are still out in the car.

Chocolate. Of course. It's only 9:30, west coast time. Who wants to come hang out?

More Buckets

Yesterday Plantboy had to take a day off because he went out of town for several days last week. I told Plantboy that I thought I'd take a day off too. I spent most of the day Christmas shopping. I also treated myself to a guacamole bacon burger at Red Robin. I ordered double fries and drank enough rootbeer to rival the ward campout intake. While I ate my luscious lunch I read and I did NOT wipe any faces or break up any fights.

If you haven't done this for a while, please, take a day off. It was pretty much awesome.

I also bought supplies to make up a few more of my gift buckets--these ones for the ladies I visit teach. Though there are 80 things on the to-do list before Christmas should really be addressed, my project has put me a bit in the mood today. They are rather festive. I'm going to fill them with hazelnut clusters. Don't you wish I visit-taught you?

Looking for a Little Hope

Between the rain we've had all week and the time change, it has been getting dark by about 4:30 here. So I've been looking for a little bright spot.

And I've found it in a big way.

No, I don't just mean Barack Obama being elected. Though, I must say that I had waited a long time to vote for him: probably since I first read about him in the Spring of 2004. So, despite all that is hard about this new world we have found ourselves in during recent months, I would like to now give here my reasons for hope:

* A dignified and gracious concession speech from a man who is a great American patriot and will continue to serve as a voice of balance and careful compromise in the US Senate.
* The non-realization of the so-called Bradley Effect, indicating that there are probably fewer "closet racists" in the country than most of us assume.
* Nem's post from yesterday has made me feel liberated about believing strongly that I can be a faithful Latter-day Saint and still subscribe to much of the philosophy found in the Democratic party.
* A dignified and gracious acceptance speech from a man who made little effort to boost his own merits but instead pledged to work on behalf of every American, regardless of how they voted.
* An election decided, decisively, within a few hours instead of days or months so that our new president will take office without a cloud over his head and with a mandate to govern.
*Nearly 120 million Americans showed up to be counted yesterday. Votes DO matter.
* A president-elect who is practically in my generation who is smart, calm and forward-thinking.
* A renewed determination to do my best to be a responsible citizen and to raise my children to be the same.
* Church leaders who remain optimistic about the opportunities to be found in the very trials that are knocking at the door.

It is the opportunity of our generation to remake our country. The more I meet and interact with the bright, committed men and women who are young parents now, the more I believe that we can make the world a better place.

We The People

At 8am on November first I should be posting pictures from our fun Halloween times last night, but Plantboy went out of town yesterday afternoon, and in my rush to make it to Tabula Rasa's Halloween Party I remembered everything but the camera. We had fun: the kids will just have to wear the same costumes next year to get the memories for posterity. Yeah, yeah, I can dress them up today, but October is so yesterday and I'm just not in the mood.

Instead, I'll turn to giving a PSA announcement. When I opened my email this morning, I answered a survey from my on-line bank, where I manage my tiny, but growing, savings accounts. (ING Direct, which I love by the way.) After the survey, they took me to this page. I like this idea of a grassroots "We the Savers" movement. Imagine that, our church leaders and grandparents have been telling us the truth all along about paying as we go.

Now, switching gears a bit, I was reading an article a couple of weeks ago about the history of the balloting system here in the United States. It was fascinating. I am continually amazed that our democracy has survived at all. My favorite part was the following paragraph:

"On Election Day this November, I’ll walk around the corner to vote in the basement gymnasium of a neighborhood elementary school, beneath a pair of basketball hoops. At a table just inside the gym, a precinct volunteer will hand me a piece of white paper about the size and weight of a file folder. I’ll enter a booth built on a frame of aluminum poles, tug shut behind me a red-white-and-blue striped curtain, and, with a black marker tied to a string, I’ll mark my ballot, awed, as always, by the gravity, the sovereignty, of the moment. With the stroke of a pen, we, mere citizens, become We the People."

A couple of weeks ago my mother-in-law and I had a conversation about voting. She talked about how there was sense of community solidarity about going and standing peaceably in line with people who would cast their ballots differently than yours. About standing shoulder to shoulder with men and women whose fundamental ideals of government and life disagree sharply with yours. And yet, there we stand, ready to make our voices heard, whatever we have to say. I think she is right, for all of the convenience I had of voting by mail earlier this week, there is something sacrificial and declaratory about standing at the polling place.

And America's greatness is that in January, whoever is elected, will assume the post of commander-in-chief with dignity and grace and a look to the future. Even in the year 2000, in the middle of great controversy and national division, even anger, all proceded according to the rule of law. Over the past several months, we have shared many opinions on our blogs. I feel like I have grown and learned much this year through the associations of intelligent, spiritual women. How can our nation be anything but blessed when such women are the next generation of mothers? Let us stand together on Tuesday, at least united in a desire to help shape a world in which our children can reach their potential. Vote. Please vote.

It's Not Like I Did This!

Monday night I spent some serious time getting some amazing orange roll dough ready to roll out for FHE. I promised Jedi Master he could help. Orange rolls are rolled out like cinnamon rolls but filled with sugar, orange peel and dried cranberries. Our dough was all rolled out into a beautiful, soft, stretchy rectangle. We were waiting for Padawan to wash his hands so he could join us when JM did a loud sniff right over the dough telling me it smelled good.


From the sniff I could tell that there was a lot more going on inside his big-kid nose than just air and so I said, "Please don't do that; you don't want to accidentally get boogers on the dough."

He said, "It's not like I did this!" He leaned over the dough and did a farmer blow. A huge booger striped its way across the beautiful dough. I screamed. He screamed. This is a child who only learned how to blow into a tissue about three weeks ago. And yet, already, his blowing skill is very advanced.

Still, Elder Wirthland said that we needed to learn to laugh more at ourselves. It took a few minutes, but I was able to.

October was a very full month for us. Earlier in the month I put up several pictures from my parents' visit. A few days after they left, Padawan's pre-school went to the pumpkin patch. His outfit is totally ridiculous, but he is so happy. This is Padawan's best little buddy. We'll call her the Princess, and these two are just hilarious together. For all her petite cuteness, she is a bit rough and tumble and loves boy toys. Padawan kept telling her which pumpkins to pick because he didn't want to get dirty. Very gentlemanly.














Later that afternoon, my in-laws came into town for several days. While they were here, we took a trip to the coast and to another pumpkin patch. The kids also painted and carved some pumpkins, but I haven't taken those pictures yet.

The day after they left, we had the Star-Wars-Party-O-Rama here at our house. I was pretty much feeling like mother of the year: at least on THAT day. I've never seen so much 6 and 7 year old aggression when I said "light saber" and "pinata" in the same sentence.

Two days after Jedi Master's Party, I was in charge of our Relief Society's "Souper" Saturday. I haven't said anything about this here, though it has consumed many of my thoughts and too much of my energy since late August. I'm trying hard to have a better attitude about my calling (Enrichment Leader) and we DID end up with a really great turn out. Maybe nine months from now (it takes three months to plan the dang thing) I'll be geared up for it again. Maybe. Anyway, here are some pictures of the results of one of the craft classes that I ran:

Last night was Jedi Master's soccer banquet. It must be admitted that they were pretty much the worst team ever. (Okay, like anyone can know that . . . .) We only scored a few goals all season and got a very thorough thumping from every team we played. When I told Jedi that we were headed to have a pizza party with his soccer team he was very excited, but when I told him he was getting a trophy, he said, "Why?"

Why, indeed.

The selected trophy is a boy kicking a soccer ball. Instead of a head, he has a bobble soccer head. The trophy is personalized. Kind of. The spelling of Jedi Master's first and last name is so butchered that I'm not exactly certain if the trophy was intended for us. Whoever heard of a bobblehead trophy?

Accountability

This two-week post-less stretch is the longest I have had in the last year. I'm sure that nobody noticed, but it is remarkable how much I have missed this format. I could post about the fantastic birthday party we had for Jedi Master yesterday, a great visit from my in-laws or the (pain in the butt) "Souper" Saturday I'm in charge of tomorrow, but instead I would rather talk about something that has been on my mind much this past month: Accountability in public schools.

If you are already asleep, then you can just tune in later.

In the past two months, three specific things have happened which have given rise to serious thoughts about what I would do with education if I was, you know, Queen of the Universe. I told Plantboy the other day that my ideal career would be Secretary of Education. To which he responded, "Yah, well, that can be tough to get." Still, whether my ideas ever see the light of day, it will not, of course, prevent me from having or via the miracle of the Internet, sharing them. Two months ago, Nate gave my name to a colleague of his who is currently living in Dubai, but hopes to get funding for a charter school when he returns to the States. After discussing his friend's proposal with him, Nate suggested that he have an educator with a surplus of opinions look at it. (Me.) The proposal is very broad and highly interesting. At its heart seems to be the philosophy, based mostly on anecdote and professional training of public school alumni, that public schools are doing a shockingly poor job of preparing people to compete or even function in the "real" world.

The second event that has caused me to reflect greatly on accountability for teachers and students is a ballot measure here in Oregon. This ballot measure would require teacher pay to be based on merit rather than seniority. There are many problems with the measure--it is unfunded, tests would have to be used to determine teacher qualifications though most subject areas do not actually have state-wide tests written for them, it is totally unclear what is meant be "teacher merit"--still, the frustration the author of the legislation feels is a very real public sentiment. After all, if you are routinely mediocre or lousy at most jobs, you get fired. In education, if you have tenure, you get a raise for similar performance.

When my mother-in-law was here last week, she and I had a conversation one afternoon about the problem with schools. Her bee-in-the-bonnet issue was that schools, rather than being accountable to the parents, have forced the parents to be accountable to them. Unsure about what she meant I asked for an example. The first one she came up with was reading charts. She said that the reading chart is just the school keeping tabs on what is going on at home, and that parents, instead, should have greater control on what goes on at school. Again, a very interesting perspective.

All three of these perspectives are very strongly held and come from "outsiders" to the system. It has emphasized to me just how many constituencies each local school is trying to please--eventual employers and corporations; government institutions who control the purse strings, basing their decisions on cost-benefit analyses; and parents who send their children off to school for a huge chunk of every weekday with faith that they will be better off for it and that the good will outweigh the bad.

My perspective as an "insider" to the system is different, but not necessarily better. Sometimes teachers get so caught up in day to day management, teaching their preferred agenda, and hanging on to their jobs that they lose sight of the bigger picture. A teacher can also end up in the uncomfortable position of being a sounding board for every frustration their friends and family members have with the system. Teachers unions have had many successes, but they have also had many failures as they have fought so hard to maintain the status quo that they have missed the boat on being a part of the dialogue on much-needed reform.

The ideas I'll now present here are an effort to address some of the most pressing problems in education today with a more comprehensive system that treats seemingly separate problems as more of the continuum that they actually are. How should students be assessed? Who is best qualified to assess? Should the assessments then be report cards for the students themselves, the teachers or the school? What role should parents play in exerting control over what happens at the school? How can we hold teachers accountable without resorting merely to tests, which may or may not be an accurate measurement of classroom efficacy? How should teachers be paid? What can be done about classroom sizes? How do we better retain and train new teachers?

I will argue that by radically re-thinking the system, many of these pressing and seemingly insurmountable problems can be addressed all at once, by using an idea for both students and teachers already common to business and many teacher (and other types of) re-licensing programs. My science background tells me the need to apply a system as fair and equitable and as measurable as possible.

I favor a point system, in conjunction with a radically revamped teacher training/mentoring program. The point system would enable teachers to understand, up front, exactly what was expected to merit a pay increase. Points would come from a variety of sources: a PE teacher who is not required to teach to a standardized tests (where there is a lot of pressure and public attention), would have find other ways to show equal merits with teachers who do. I'll explain more on this later, but I'll detour here to explain my mentoring program idea for new teachers.

Mentoring is a relationship I have never seen work. Most mentors (and nearly all of mine) look at you and say "Sink or swim." The ones that don't, are nearly powerless to help because they are already running the department or their off-hours are so busy with their own teaching agenda that they cannot possibly come to observe or advise. In addition, when observances are done, the mentor-teacher's assessment of a new teacher's performance is virtually unheeded by administrators. Mentors are very seldom paid for their additional responsibilities and there is little incentive to help mold and shape new teachers.

In my fantasy program, each school (or district, if school or content area enrollment is very small) would have three designations of teachers--provisional, lead and master. Provisional teachers are not teachers new to the district or school, but new to the profession. Such designation is important: this keeps teachers of experience from being sent through an un-needed mentoring program, freeing up resources for other uses. The provisional period is a minimum of two years and a maximum of four. During the provisional period, the new teacher team-teaches with a master teacher. The new teacher is formally evaluated monthly by both their principal and their partner teacher. Notice is given of these formal evaluations.

Class sizes in a team-taught classroom would range from 30 to 35 students. Under this intense type of mentoring, student teaching is done away with entirely. Provisional teachers would enter a contract with a very modest salary, with no pay increase until they move out of the provisional program. Movement out of the program would require a minimum of two academic years, evaluations consistently high for three consecutive months, and problem areas consistently improved. The evaluation would be based out of 100, weighted for different skills (most districts/states already do something like this.) A "high" evaluation could probably be considered anything above an 85. Provisional teachers would be required to observe (not evaluate) other teachers twice monthly.

Once the provisional period is past, a teacher becomes a lead teacher. Lead teachers are in their own classrooms, but they are not given more than 24 students, with 18 being optimum. By averaging these smaller classes with the larger classes in the team-taught rooms, student-teacher ratios are only slightly lower than they currently are, so the cost would not be exorbitant. Teachers are also likely to demand less money when their working conditions are move favorable to what teachers want to actually be doing--teaching. Lead teachers enter a contract at a base salary. Armed with a knowledge of the point system, teachers will set out a plan from the first day of school for achieving the requisite number of points to be eligible for pay raises at the end of the year. If the system was to be based on a 100 point system, any teacher above 90 would receive the maximum possible pay raise (7%, substantial). Any teacher above 80 would receive a lesser raise (say, 5%), scores above 75 would receive a cost of living type increase (3%), all other teachers would receive no raise. Two consistent years of being in the non-raise category, would give a teacher the following two options: re-enter the provisional system to revamp your skills and start over with the accompanying pay cut, or find a new career. There would probably have to be eventual caps. Administrator pay would be based on a different meritous scale, which by no means would guarantee that a head principal is the highest paid person on the staff (which is usually the case). District administrators would have serious limits based on how much they can earn relative to the people ACTUALLY doing the work of the school district.

During the lead-teacher portion of a person's career, they are evaluated by either the principal or the vice-principal four times yearly. These visits are unscheduled, but should happen at regular intervals. (In other words, it wouldn't be fair for a principal to drop in four times in a row in mid-May because they were running behind. The drop-in without announcement evaluation is much more typical to non-school work environments. Teaching is about the only job where you can do your thing all day every day and maybe see your principal in your room during instruction time ONCE. This is a huge problem.) Lead teachers must also evaluate another teacher on the faculty once each month. This means that the agreement is reciprocated as well, with each teacher being observed once monthly. These evaluations are averaged in with the administration's observations. A third observation is also averaged in: the PTA will organize a parent committee with volunteers trained to evaluate who agree to put in five hours each month visiting classrooms and making their own observations. Each teacher will receive several of these parent evaluations each year. This evaluation score is scaled and added into the "point system."

Master teachers are those who have at least 4 years experience as a lead-teacher, express interest in training new teachers, and have scored above 85 in the previous 3 years' merit evaluations. For the time they spend training, they would keep their current level lead-teacher salary, with no raise eligibility, but have their own set of bonuses based on how well their provisional teacher performs. They may train up to five consecutive years before returning to lead teacher status with the salary they left at. Again, they would be evaluated as the other lead teachers and be eligible for earned merit increases.

Now, for the point system. Such programs would best be applied at a district or a state level. Local administrators would have some leeway, but too much leeway would not allow for proper consistency. For example on a system based on 100 points, teachers may earn up to 30 points for their evaluations, scaling administrator, colleague, and parent evaluations to ten points each. For percentage improvements from the previous year on mandated testing, teachers could earn points. They could also earn scaled points based on percentages of students passing the same tests. Listed below are other items that might be given point values, looking mostly at secondary schools, though many would apply to elementary schools as well:

*Not using all of your annual personal and/or sick days
*Volunteering for after school programs (paid positions would not count, though some teachers may opt for points toward raises instead of extra pay. This might be a good option for coaches.)
* Logged tutoring hours.
*College courses or teaching training with points based on hours invested and/or marks received.
*Faculty meeting attendance
*Money attracted to the school in the form of written grants.
*Regular positive parent contact in the method most approved by the school--a minimum number of positive phone calls or post cards, personal email
*Regular notification of grades--progress reports biweekly for failing students, mass e-mail through a grading program at least every three weeks.
*Grades submitted on time every grading period
*Maintenance of a class website or blog through which parents and students can access assignments, including downloads of forgotten homework
*Administration approved, objective student surveys
*Regular newsletters sent to students
*Participation in science fairs, geography bees, spelling bees, math competition, academic Olympiad, etc.
*Club advisement
*Does not exceed the school agreed-on maximum number of office referrals.
*Attendance at all requested IEP's for the Special Ed program.
* Approved classroom visitors to shed added insight into classroom topics or give career advice.
*Parent volunteer hours (this counts for teachers because teachers have to really work to get parents in the classroom, despite all of the talk about wanting more control about what goes on.)
*Regularly displaying student work with clear objectives.

More could be added, with items given relative point values. Here are examples of two very different, though effective in their own way, high school teachers who could receive pay raises this year under the merit system:

A) Miss Smith teaches English. She is strict and has excellent classroom management skills. This makes her very popular among the faculty and parents, but students groan a bit when they find out they are headed to her class. Her approach is very traditional, but kids, if reluctantly, learn a lot. Her students find that she is much better one-on-one and easier to get along with in small settings. She will put together her hundred points by receiving high evaluations from all concerned parties, being consistent about how many of her students pass their standardized English test, holding regular tutoring hours after school twice weekly, attending all offered teacher training, and taking at least one college course every summer. In addition, she runs the after school "Young Poets" club that meets almost weekly.

B) Mr. Jones teaches Spanish. He is laid back in class and very out-going. The kids love him, though most adult observers see mildly organized chaos when entering his room. His approach to teaching is conversational--the more speaking the students do, the better. He does a lot of fun projects and culture days. He will earn his hundred points by having strong, though not outstanding, evaluations. He is at school every day and helps coach the football and wrestling teams. When he isn't coaching he holds meetings of the multicultural club and exercises with students during the early morning running club. He wrote a grant to get some audio materials--headphones, software and two computers--of actual Spanish speakers for the students to listen to and practice from. He uses a lot of technology, emailing home regularly both for grades and for positive contacts. He maintains a class blog that nearly 50 students comment regularly on. He takes a large team to the district and state Spanish fair every year where they win lots of awards. He always invites a Spanish-speaking guest to their culture days.

Again, two great, effective teachers, with classrooms that have night and day differences. The list shows how much goes into being a great teacher--NOT just passing tests. The two examples above show teachers being accountable to their several audiences through positive choices that BOOM just happen to result in a very good annual pay increase. Teachers have incentive to organize, get and document their points. Teachers who are lazy, lack initiative and will not think outside the box will not cut it. The point system will provide a framework for teachers to improve while allowing each teacher to emphasize the things he or she is already good at. Because teachers are evaluated frequently and by a variety of sources, they must be prepared and at the top of their game every day. The also have incentive to work in a positive direction with their colleagues (teacher gossip is THE WORST) because those same people will have a say in evaluating them.

Control over incentives will most certainly result in improved teaching. Such teaching will inevitably result in generally improved classroom management because of consistency, a school culture where learning is paramount, even "cool," and students will be more committed and engaged. Just like they are in the best classrooms all over the country.

So what about the students? Where is their responsibility in all of this? I think graduation from high school should be based on a point system as well. In designing the point system, the state should set certain requirements (including testing) and allow the district to fill in the rest. Before creating the system, the district administration should sit down with a team of parents, students, local business leaders and educators to determine what things would help students earn their required points. In other words, the things that will help the students become the best people. This would allow local schools to keep their "flavor" but still meet state and federal funding requirements for doing the tests. Student incentive would be high because of the points they are trying to meet. Students would meet regularly in a homeroom type class with teachers and/or counselors to keep their educational goals on target.

Even with major reforms, schools will still fail. If parents want to push for Charter schools, that is is fine. But these schools should be held to the same standards as public schools if they want the money--testing, accredited programs, certified teachers, the same spending per pupil, etc. Vouchers are unfair because they route public funds to private educational establishments who, again, are not accountable under any kind of state system. Public money, public accountability. End of story.

As for home schooled kids, maybe these parents should be given some kind of double income tax credit for their property taxes to help soothe their resentment for paying taxes into a system they don't use. Though, it must be noted that LOADS of people pay property taxes that don't send kids to school now or maybe never did. Education is something that the public agrees to collectively because the alternative is just disastrous. Any society that doesn't agree to educate as many as possible for as long as possible is a generation away from losing their democracy. Failing public schools are not just a major headache for politicians and parents, they are an assault on our very future.

If you have made it this far, bless you. In my head this was a very straightforward post, but once it all came out the result is more like a wanna-be master's thesis. I'm also very interested in your feedback. What, specifically, would be a good fix for YOUR local schools?

May the Fall Be With You

I love fall: the cool afternoons, the crunchy leaves, the fabulous food and the pending holidays. So here and the really fall-y things we have been up to:

We picked apples when my parents came to town over Conference weekend. The above picture can really only be titled "The Precious." It is well to remember how much I love His Preciousness when I hear him in the other room trying very hard NOT to nap. The last couple of weeks have brought major changes in our house. My gorgeous doll-baby toddles all over the house trying desperately to communicate, "talking" in his own fashion, and in general acting much more like a little person than a baby. It is funny and tender. It is liberating and heartbreaking. It is happy and sad. In light of his growing up, and his uncanny understanding of how to use a light saber, he will get a new blognym: YOUNGLING.

My nearly four year old is having a rough fall. His tantrums, which had once seemed to be subsiding are back in full force. We are trying to work our way through this one. On the upside, he loves school and is acting like he wants to try and read. I'm not really surprised: I think he is going to be my odd-man-out in some ways. His older and younger brothers so far look a lot, and even act a lot the same. He does not. He spoke and walked earlier, he is stockier. He has my fair skin and exactly my eye color. When he isn't tantrum-ing (mostly age-related) he is easily the mellowest of the three. Though all of my kids are amazing to me in their own ways, this is the one I watch with fascination over the way his mind works. His new blognym is PADAWAN. If you aren't a Star Wars fan that will mean very little, so I'll explain. In Star Wars terms, a Padawan Learner is someone who is an apprentice Jedi. This is very apt for my #2 at this phase in his life. He is anxiously soaking up everything around him. He also thinks that he must follow older brother in every particular.

Here is the "baby" with Grandma J. The best shot of these two was actually on her camera. If I could somhow teach Grandma how to send me a picture I may actually get a copy of it one day.

Plantboy got a chance to go fishing on the Alsea River the weekend before my parents came up. His parents are visiting later this week. He has been given strict instructions not to take off on my again just before company comes. I was cleaning my house until about 30 seconds before my parents' arrival. The spotlessnes lasted about 10 minutes. I will say, however, that Plantboy's 15 pound salmon was delicious.

This is kind of a lame-o soccer picture. The rest is all video footage. I will spare you. Imagine a school of hungry piranha and you get a sense of Scallywag's swarm soccer team. Or not so hungry piranha--they run after the ball, but swarming would indicate some kind of sincere interest.

Youngling hasn't been able to stay out of the apples since they were picked. Plantboy tried this particular picture about 8 times. He kept running away. I've never seen an 18 month old with such a highly developed sense of teasing. I'm sure it comes from being the youngest of three rowdy-ish boys.

This is Plantboy during a backpacking trip with the young men. The boys griped for two days solid. I think this greatly diminished hubby's own pleasure in the excursion. He came home, sank down on the couch and said, "Do all 14 year old boys complain so much? I just don't remember being such a whiner. If I'd heard one more word about how much they wanted to be home playing video games, I would have probably strangled one of them." Take home message? Don't send your boys to Scout camp with a deranged leader.

In addition to this, we did another 20 pints of applesauce and another 10 of salsa. The salsa is Plantboy's pride and joy. He is torn between hording it and generously giving it to everyone he talks to so that that can share his success. I think that hoarding will probably win the day.

The last three, however, have to be the best. Scallywag's new blognym can be non-other than JEDI MASTER. The Star Wars thing is definitely our latest kick that seems it will last for a while. I'm taping the Clone Wars every Friday night, having a special order Darth Vader pinata made for his birthday (beating it sill with their light sabers is the compromise to the full-on war he wanted all of his buddies to be a part of for the party), and wanting all the paraphernalia he can get his hands out.

I found a costume on-line and nearly ordered it, but decided at the last minute to check The Goodwill instead. Jackpot! I found a "tunic" and leggings in nearly the right size (the top a size too small and the bottom a size too large though both pieces are to the same costume), but mostly I found the Jedi master robe. He wore if for a solid 24 hours, until I warned that it might tear before he had a chance to wear it at his birthday party or on Halloween. He folded it very carefully then and is waiting patiently for a few repairs and modifications.


I imagine this is who he is fighting. Life size of course.

When I asked him why he kept holding up his hand he said, "I'm just using the Force, mom." Right, duh.