I was pretty sure Kenzie's Teacher and I were on the same page and now I know we understand each other pretty well..
I may have written Mac and I got her Teacher a Christmas Angel for his Christmas gift...It was a red and black bike for a 4 year old little boy...We wrote this sappy note about because of him now some little boy on Christmas morning would be getting a brand new bike who other wise might not have gotten anything....The note went on and was real sappy, because that was what I was after...
Mr. Hardy called me last evening to thank me for'' the best gift any child had ever given him...
He said he still remembers his first bike he got at Christmas one year. He jumped on it and rode it down the middle of his street with no hands. It was a red Huffy bike and he said he was as proud as if it had been a brand new Harley!
And I thought OK, Mission accomplished, you can't bullshit an old bullshitter...we understand each other perfectly.....
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
My Good Friend....
There has been many times over the years I have called Rhea or she has called me and one of us has said, "Well, I have you beat today, you will not be able to top this!'
One day Rhea called me while she was working in OK for Phillips. She had gotten a call from the sectary at the high school where Bear, Rhea's youngest child, was in High School. Upon hearing who was calling Rhea asked what was wrong....The sectary said Bear was not in any trouble today but their long distance had not been working properly so since she knew Rhea's work number by heart they were calling her to check out the school phone...
After my post about Teachers I got this email from Rhea...I just have to post it. Donita is older than my Kristina so the story is old but I just have to share...I think Rhea has me beat on this one...here was her email...
I just read your blog for today about teachers. I totally agree with you. I remember when Donita was in sixth grade, and Donita was certainly NEVER a problem. She had a man teacher ( I took out the teachers name since Rhea still has to live there!) for the first time, and he was ill and old and needed to retire. He yelled at the kids all the time, but never at Donita, but she was scared to death that he would, and she'd be humiliated, which as you know would never have bothered Jamie. In fact, Jamie was quite the opposite and delighted in getting teachers' attention. One day Donita went up Mr. (blocked out) desk to get help on a paper. She laid the paper on his lesson plan book and proceeded to write on her paper at his instruction. The lesson plan book was the kind that had carbon paper, so when she wrote on her paper, it came through on the carbon. Donita immediately realized what she'd done and was afraid she'd get in trouble. She asked to stay in at recess and work on her paper. The teacher was a smoker, and she could be trusted in the classroom alone, so he let her stay in the room by herself so he could go smoke with the assistant principal, Mr. Barton. She was so afraid of getting in trouble for making marks on his lesson plan book, so she tore out the page behind the carbon paper and ATE IT! She ended up getting sick, probably because she felt so guilty about what she had done, not from eating the paper. At the time, I was working at the high school, and the nurse (Megan Walls, a "friend" of yours) called me to come get her. She had told Megan what she'd done, and Megan was appalled. Needless to say, I was livid that Donita was so afraid of a teacher that she'd eat a piece of paper rather than get yelled at in front of the class. I truly don't think he would have said anything to her, but she thought he would. Of course, since I worked for the school system, they all knew me well, especially the grade school principal. We had a meeting with the principal, teacher, the nurse along with Donita. The teacher was so apologetic and told Donita that he would never yell at HER because she was such a good girl and it as an accident. He went out of his way to be extremely nice to her after that. He had a stroke (probably from all the smoking and yelling) in the classroom before the end of the year and had to quit teaching. I saw him in the grocery store just last week and didn't recognize him at first. He is really old and pitiful looking -- can hardly get around and is on oxygen (probably still smoking). He asked about the girls, so he remembers.....I'm sure he will never forgot Donita eating a piece of paper because she was afraid of getting yelled at, not to mention her mother who was not afraid to yell at a teacher.
One day Rhea called me while she was working in OK for Phillips. She had gotten a call from the sectary at the high school where Bear, Rhea's youngest child, was in High School. Upon hearing who was calling Rhea asked what was wrong....The sectary said Bear was not in any trouble today but their long distance had not been working properly so since she knew Rhea's work number by heart they were calling her to check out the school phone...
After my post about Teachers I got this email from Rhea...I just have to post it. Donita is older than my Kristina so the story is old but I just have to share...I think Rhea has me beat on this one...here was her email...
I just read your blog for today about teachers. I totally agree with you. I remember when Donita was in sixth grade, and Donita was certainly NEVER a problem. She had a man teacher ( I took out the teachers name since Rhea still has to live there!) for the first time, and he was ill and old and needed to retire. He yelled at the kids all the time, but never at Donita, but she was scared to death that he would, and she'd be humiliated, which as you know would never have bothered Jamie. In fact, Jamie was quite the opposite and delighted in getting teachers' attention. One day Donita went up Mr. (blocked out) desk to get help on a paper. She laid the paper on his lesson plan book and proceeded to write on her paper at his instruction. The lesson plan book was the kind that had carbon paper, so when she wrote on her paper, it came through on the carbon. Donita immediately realized what she'd done and was afraid she'd get in trouble. She asked to stay in at recess and work on her paper. The teacher was a smoker, and she could be trusted in the classroom alone, so he let her stay in the room by herself so he could go smoke with the assistant principal, Mr. Barton. She was so afraid of getting in trouble for making marks on his lesson plan book, so she tore out the page behind the carbon paper and ATE IT! She ended up getting sick, probably because she felt so guilty about what she had done, not from eating the paper. At the time, I was working at the high school, and the nurse (Megan Walls, a "friend" of yours) called me to come get her. She had told Megan what she'd done, and Megan was appalled. Needless to say, I was livid that Donita was so afraid of a teacher that she'd eat a piece of paper rather than get yelled at in front of the class. I truly don't think he would have said anything to her, but she thought he would. Of course, since I worked for the school system, they all knew me well, especially the grade school principal. We had a meeting with the principal, teacher, the nurse along with Donita. The teacher was so apologetic and told Donita that he would never yell at HER because she was such a good girl and it as an accident. He went out of his way to be extremely nice to her after that. He had a stroke (probably from all the smoking and yelling) in the classroom before the end of the year and had to quit teaching. I saw him in the grocery store just last week and didn't recognize him at first. He is really old and pitiful looking -- can hardly get around and is on oxygen (probably still smoking). He asked about the girls, so he remembers.....I'm sure he will never forgot Donita eating a piece of paper because she was afraid of getting yelled at, not to mention her mother who was not afraid to yell at a teacher.
Let's Talk Teachers....
I know my Sisters think I am very involved in my Grand Kids lives and I am. I was even more involved in my kid’s lives….Especially when they were in school…
My kids have had some good teachers and some not so good, and some really sorry teachers that I felt should not even be teaching…Now My kids did not have those sorry teachers very long because they were moved very early in the school year.
I have always demanded my kids mind the teachers, sit up and listen, do the best they can to do as the teacher asks. And since I have demanded this of my kids it is my responsibility to make sure that the Teacher is acting with the kids best interests at heart.
I know every time I make a teacher post Betty cringes, and I guess now Cousin Winnie also But I will say there are A LOT of teachers out there that are SORRY teachers…I have seen plenty of them..Now there are a lot of good ones too...
When we transferred Kris from Green Forest to Caney Kindergarten in the middle of the year, her new teacher had a sick husband. He was dying of cancer. So that teacher was never at school. I understand that…But for the first 15 days Kris was at this new school she had a different substitute teacher every day! She did not even know a teacher’s name. That lasted until I went to the Principal. Then they set up a long term sub that was there every day…My first experience with a public school system that holds true today, “The squeaky parent gets the grease!”
In Kris’ second grade in Caney KS. Kris had Mrs. Stelfox ( 26 years and I still remember her name.) Kris was always an average student, much like My Mackenzie but she tried very hard. She was very quiet in school and never caused any trouble! One day Kris called me at home because she had wet her pants in school. I asked Kris why she did not go to the bathroom and she said her teacher would not let her. I spoke to the principal’s sectary and the Principal was in. I told her I would be down there in 5 minutes and wanted to speak to him…I first went to the teacher and she said if she let one kid go to the bathroom they all would want to go and they just go there to get out of class. I asked her if Kris had ever asked to go in class before and she admitted no she had not. I told the teacher if she did not have good enough sense to tell which kids took advantage of that and which kids did not then she had just better let them all go when asked because I did not ever want to hear my kid had been refused to let go to the restroom and had to wet her pants in front of all of her classmates ever again!…”Oh yes, and by the way…Have that puddle of pee cleaned up before I get her back in the classroom because I do not want her any more embarrassed over this incident!” It was still puddle in her chair and on the floor by her seat!
When we got back to the room the pee was gone but when I went to see the Principal so was he!...Good thing the school was small and I was able to track him down while he was peeking around a corner trying to avoid speaking to me! That did not work…I was much younger and faster than I am now.
When Kris was in 5th grade she got a very tough man teacher. The first night on meet the teacher night I explained if I knew what was due in the week I could make sure Kris had her homework finished but Kris sometimes forgot something was due and did he write up a weekly or daily agenda…He assured me he did, but he did not…The first week of school Kris had a Social studies test. It was a fill in the blank. Kris had studied for it but we did not practice spelling the words…So when she got her test back she had miss spelled almost every word by a letter or two and he counted all of them wrong…no partial credit or anything…Which is fine if that is the way he teaches but I needed to know that. I had a meeting with him and he said he does this in every subject…all of the words must be spelled correctly in Math, Social studies, and every subject…Now I did not agree with that but as I told him he was the teacher and I just needed to know what she needed to know so we could make sure we were studying the proper way..
The next day when I went to pick up Kris after school I quizzed her on if she had her homework, books, ect before we left the school. She had forgotten a book. I told her I would go back to the room with her and we would get her book…As I was walking on the sidewalk towards her room her teacher was at least 50 feet ahead of me walking with a group of Kris’ school mates. He was walking towards me. He yelled, ‘Mrs. See I want you to know I do not have time to speak to you every day!’ I told him we were just going to the room we had forgotten a book.
The next morning I called the principal and the three of us met that afternoon. Her Teacher came armed with all of Kris’ work and wanted to explain why if the word was spelled wrong why he counted the entire answer wrong…I came armed with letters from a few letters from Kris’s past teachers explaining how Kris needed extra help at home because she learned from repetition and if her Mother had not went over and over class work and home work with her she would have really struggled in school.. But with the extra help at home she was a solid ‘B’ student. My point was if the Parent and Teacher could not work together this student was not going to succeed. And after the comment on the playground yesterday in front of all of Kris and all of Kris’ class mates we could no longer work together. The Principal and teacher were both surprised I was not there to discuss how he taught. The next day she had a new teacher…
But the worst Teacher she had was in 9th grade. It was a drama / debate teacher. He was to teach drama and debate…Both…That is why the district hired him…But when it came down to it he only wanted to teach drama…So after about two weeks into school he got his hand full of debate students together and tried to convince them to do Drama….there were about 4 kids that would not be swayed.. My daughter was one of them…So he had a debate class of about 4 kids and he decided he was not going to teach them. He just refused; they went to class and tried to research on their own. He refused to set up debates with other schools ECT…He refused to help them in any way….I spoke to him. He was gay, by the way, just a side note…Then I went to Santa Cruze, the principal, and got the run around. Then I went to the superintendent of schools. Dr Delecke, he called the principal while I was there and he was livid…He told the principal he did not care if he only had one debate student that he was hired to teach debate and he had damn well better do it and he wanted Santa Cruze and the teacher in his office after school that day….the Teacher taught debate but called Kris up in front of the class and explained since her mother complained he had to now teach debate but no one was going to have a good time there…That day I went to the school board…That teacher was no longer employed with Gilbert Public Schools and we had a new debate Teacher…
Now when Mackenzie started school the first week her teacher told some little girl to pick up her papers off the floor and she did not listen. He SLAMBED his hand down hard on his desk and said, “Pick up those paper!.” It about scared Kenzie to death. Then a few days later a little girl went up to his desk and said she did not have the study guide to turn in because his substitute teacher had not told them they had to return it. He said she was lying he had told the sub to tell the kids to bring them back and she was getting a zero for the paper and to go sit down, he did not even let his six year old lie to him. Kenzie said the girl was not lying, the sub had not told them but she was afraid to speak up for the little girl. By this time Kenzie was totally afraid to say anything to her teacher and she did not understand some instructions but was to afraid to ask any question…Then the next week he told a little girl if she did not straighten up she was going to be working at Taco Bell all of her life and when a boy snickered he asked why he was laughing, he was no better he would be working at Burger King all of his life.
That is when I had to have a face to face with the teacher
I did not want Kenzie to change teachers because it was now 3 weeks into school she had made friends and I did not want to make an enemy of the Teacher…I just wanted him to fall in line, so to speak..
So brother Clayton said suggested I go to the teacher and say Mackenzie was afraid of him. At that point the Teacher would ask why, then I could explain and he would not be so defensive, after all HE had asked…It worked just like brother thought it would.
I imagine the Teacher is going through some personal problems for which I am sorry but too bad, we all have issues, leave them at home…
Winnie said after being a teacher for so many years she would have brought the Principal in on the meeting if she was the teacher. But a Teacher only wants to get the Principal involved if he is right. I am sure he knew he had been doing things that were not good and I know he would like to just keep it between us. I thought that way also if I could get the results I wanted. So far this has worked. Kenzie has even asked him a few questions. If he is belittling kids it is not in front of Mackenzie which is the only one I really care about….I know that seems crass but I am not ready to take on causes for the whole world, just the little part I am responsible for.
As a side note…Just in the last two weeks Arizona passed a law stating teachers no longer have ten year…or is it tenyer…Regardless Arizona can get rid of all of those old teachers who are not doing a good job and replace them with new cheaper paid teachers…BTW Betty I am not in favor of that!
My kids have had some good teachers and some not so good, and some really sorry teachers that I felt should not even be teaching…Now My kids did not have those sorry teachers very long because they were moved very early in the school year.
I have always demanded my kids mind the teachers, sit up and listen, do the best they can to do as the teacher asks. And since I have demanded this of my kids it is my responsibility to make sure that the Teacher is acting with the kids best interests at heart.
I know every time I make a teacher post Betty cringes, and I guess now Cousin Winnie also But I will say there are A LOT of teachers out there that are SORRY teachers…I have seen plenty of them..Now there are a lot of good ones too...
When we transferred Kris from Green Forest to Caney Kindergarten in the middle of the year, her new teacher had a sick husband. He was dying of cancer. So that teacher was never at school. I understand that…But for the first 15 days Kris was at this new school she had a different substitute teacher every day! She did not even know a teacher’s name. That lasted until I went to the Principal. Then they set up a long term sub that was there every day…My first experience with a public school system that holds true today, “The squeaky parent gets the grease!”
In Kris’ second grade in Caney KS. Kris had Mrs. Stelfox ( 26 years and I still remember her name.) Kris was always an average student, much like My Mackenzie but she tried very hard. She was very quiet in school and never caused any trouble! One day Kris called me at home because she had wet her pants in school. I asked Kris why she did not go to the bathroom and she said her teacher would not let her. I spoke to the principal’s sectary and the Principal was in. I told her I would be down there in 5 minutes and wanted to speak to him…I first went to the teacher and she said if she let one kid go to the bathroom they all would want to go and they just go there to get out of class. I asked her if Kris had ever asked to go in class before and she admitted no she had not. I told the teacher if she did not have good enough sense to tell which kids took advantage of that and which kids did not then she had just better let them all go when asked because I did not ever want to hear my kid had been refused to let go to the restroom and had to wet her pants in front of all of her classmates ever again!…”Oh yes, and by the way…Have that puddle of pee cleaned up before I get her back in the classroom because I do not want her any more embarrassed over this incident!” It was still puddle in her chair and on the floor by her seat!
When we got back to the room the pee was gone but when I went to see the Principal so was he!...Good thing the school was small and I was able to track him down while he was peeking around a corner trying to avoid speaking to me! That did not work…I was much younger and faster than I am now.
When Kris was in 5th grade she got a very tough man teacher. The first night on meet the teacher night I explained if I knew what was due in the week I could make sure Kris had her homework finished but Kris sometimes forgot something was due and did he write up a weekly or daily agenda…He assured me he did, but he did not…The first week of school Kris had a Social studies test. It was a fill in the blank. Kris had studied for it but we did not practice spelling the words…So when she got her test back she had miss spelled almost every word by a letter or two and he counted all of them wrong…no partial credit or anything…Which is fine if that is the way he teaches but I needed to know that. I had a meeting with him and he said he does this in every subject…all of the words must be spelled correctly in Math, Social studies, and every subject…Now I did not agree with that but as I told him he was the teacher and I just needed to know what she needed to know so we could make sure we were studying the proper way..
The next day when I went to pick up Kris after school I quizzed her on if she had her homework, books, ect before we left the school. She had forgotten a book. I told her I would go back to the room with her and we would get her book…As I was walking on the sidewalk towards her room her teacher was at least 50 feet ahead of me walking with a group of Kris’ school mates. He was walking towards me. He yelled, ‘Mrs. See I want you to know I do not have time to speak to you every day!’ I told him we were just going to the room we had forgotten a book.
The next morning I called the principal and the three of us met that afternoon. Her Teacher came armed with all of Kris’ work and wanted to explain why if the word was spelled wrong why he counted the entire answer wrong…I came armed with letters from a few letters from Kris’s past teachers explaining how Kris needed extra help at home because she learned from repetition and if her Mother had not went over and over class work and home work with her she would have really struggled in school.. But with the extra help at home she was a solid ‘B’ student. My point was if the Parent and Teacher could not work together this student was not going to succeed. And after the comment on the playground yesterday in front of all of Kris and all of Kris’ class mates we could no longer work together. The Principal and teacher were both surprised I was not there to discuss how he taught. The next day she had a new teacher…
But the worst Teacher she had was in 9th grade. It was a drama / debate teacher. He was to teach drama and debate…Both…That is why the district hired him…But when it came down to it he only wanted to teach drama…So after about two weeks into school he got his hand full of debate students together and tried to convince them to do Drama….there were about 4 kids that would not be swayed.. My daughter was one of them…So he had a debate class of about 4 kids and he decided he was not going to teach them. He just refused; they went to class and tried to research on their own. He refused to set up debates with other schools ECT…He refused to help them in any way….I spoke to him. He was gay, by the way, just a side note…Then I went to Santa Cruze, the principal, and got the run around. Then I went to the superintendent of schools. Dr Delecke, he called the principal while I was there and he was livid…He told the principal he did not care if he only had one debate student that he was hired to teach debate and he had damn well better do it and he wanted Santa Cruze and the teacher in his office after school that day….the Teacher taught debate but called Kris up in front of the class and explained since her mother complained he had to now teach debate but no one was going to have a good time there…That day I went to the school board…That teacher was no longer employed with Gilbert Public Schools and we had a new debate Teacher…
Now when Mackenzie started school the first week her teacher told some little girl to pick up her papers off the floor and she did not listen. He SLAMBED his hand down hard on his desk and said, “Pick up those paper!.” It about scared Kenzie to death. Then a few days later a little girl went up to his desk and said she did not have the study guide to turn in because his substitute teacher had not told them they had to return it. He said she was lying he had told the sub to tell the kids to bring them back and she was getting a zero for the paper and to go sit down, he did not even let his six year old lie to him. Kenzie said the girl was not lying, the sub had not told them but she was afraid to speak up for the little girl. By this time Kenzie was totally afraid to say anything to her teacher and she did not understand some instructions but was to afraid to ask any question…Then the next week he told a little girl if she did not straighten up she was going to be working at Taco Bell all of her life and when a boy snickered he asked why he was laughing, he was no better he would be working at Burger King all of his life.
That is when I had to have a face to face with the teacher
I did not want Kenzie to change teachers because it was now 3 weeks into school she had made friends and I did not want to make an enemy of the Teacher…I just wanted him to fall in line, so to speak..
So brother Clayton said suggested I go to the teacher and say Mackenzie was afraid of him. At that point the Teacher would ask why, then I could explain and he would not be so defensive, after all HE had asked…It worked just like brother thought it would.
I imagine the Teacher is going through some personal problems for which I am sorry but too bad, we all have issues, leave them at home…
Winnie said after being a teacher for so many years she would have brought the Principal in on the meeting if she was the teacher. But a Teacher only wants to get the Principal involved if he is right. I am sure he knew he had been doing things that were not good and I know he would like to just keep it between us. I thought that way also if I could get the results I wanted. So far this has worked. Kenzie has even asked him a few questions. If he is belittling kids it is not in front of Mackenzie which is the only one I really care about….I know that seems crass but I am not ready to take on causes for the whole world, just the little part I am responsible for.
As a side note…Just in the last two weeks Arizona passed a law stating teachers no longer have ten year…or is it tenyer…Regardless Arizona can get rid of all of those old teachers who are not doing a good job and replace them with new cheaper paid teachers…BTW Betty I am not in favor of that!
Monday, December 7, 2009
Rained here most of the day....
It has been quiet an odd day here today...It has been raining all day...every time it lets up the birds come into my yard to feed....they must be hungry.
I made rolls, spaghetti, salad, and cottage cheese for supper. Actually, as Benjamin would say, I just opened the cottage cheese, I did not make it...Kenzie is always starving when she gets home and I do not let her have a snack I just start making supper. Then before bed time we have a little 'somethim, somethim' as she calls it..
I will take some supper to Little Benjamin at 5:30. Kenzie has Tumbling tonight so I have to get out anyway.
Tomorrow morning when I drop Kenzie off at school, I have to go stay at Missy's house till a door guy shows up. Sometime by 11. She is having french doors put on the back of her house and getting rid of the OLD sliding door that takes a team of mules to get it opened and closed...No telling what it will cost her but I'll bet it is beautiful!
I can sit over there and read as well as I can sit here I guess....
I made rolls, spaghetti, salad, and cottage cheese for supper. Actually, as Benjamin would say, I just opened the cottage cheese, I did not make it...Kenzie is always starving when she gets home and I do not let her have a snack I just start making supper. Then before bed time we have a little 'somethim, somethim' as she calls it..
I will take some supper to Little Benjamin at 5:30. Kenzie has Tumbling tonight so I have to get out anyway.
Tomorrow morning when I drop Kenzie off at school, I have to go stay at Missy's house till a door guy shows up. Sometime by 11. She is having french doors put on the back of her house and getting rid of the OLD sliding door that takes a team of mules to get it opened and closed...No telling what it will cost her but I'll bet it is beautiful!
I can sit over there and read as well as I can sit here I guess....
No Post From Sister...
or should I say no post from any Sister...It is lonely when you pull up those posts and no one is posting....Just me, Old Lady Lincoln, and the New Sixty... Guess I could go to Mommy's Kitchen and see what she is cooking but I want to cook about like I want a new hole in my head...
I'm off to the Doctor's today....dread the trip...as always..
We went to Ross last night and got Kenzie a new pair of Tennis shoes. They are really good ones....Great arch supports ,, remember her bad feet...Then we found a pair of fur lined boots originally $150 but clearanced out for like 12 bucks....what a deal and she loves them. She will need a pair while she is back in WA for the three weeks at Christmas..
As far as I know Mike and I need to get two more Christmas presents, but one of them is a gift card...Easy peasy....Kenzie has made it a joy setting up and getting ready for Christmas...Smiling faces all around..
Kenzie had a great time at the Diner Theater and what an experience for her....We have Tumbling tonight then only one more class after tonight. At least till next year....
I'm off to the Doctor's today....dread the trip...as always..
We went to Ross last night and got Kenzie a new pair of Tennis shoes. They are really good ones....Great arch supports ,, remember her bad feet...Then we found a pair of fur lined boots originally $150 but clearanced out for like 12 bucks....what a deal and she loves them. She will need a pair while she is back in WA for the three weeks at Christmas..
As far as I know Mike and I need to get two more Christmas presents, but one of them is a gift card...Easy peasy....Kenzie has made it a joy setting up and getting ready for Christmas...Smiling faces all around..
Kenzie had a great time at the Diner Theater and what an experience for her....We have Tumbling tonight then only one more class after tonight. At least till next year....
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