Where in the World Isn't Bob Saget?

[ajrwdwgirl]

seems as if it was just new years day

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I went into our Dollar General store on December 22 to grab a couple things and one aisle was already displaying Valentines stuff, crazy!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

A MAP test is a standardized test. The two big ones around here are MAP and STAR. They are totally BS, and have no meaning to teachers, but are used to make practically all big decisions. We use them to get funding and to rank our school on the state report cards. Our district uses them to form intervention groups (don't get me started on that... so many flaws). When I have to tell parents the scores, I flat out tell them that they are one test, and often don't accurately show where their child's level is at. But parents get so worked up by them. That's the culture we've built over decades of non-educators making decisions in education. But that's a whole separate conversation.

A couple weeks before break our admins were talking about the Forward test this Spring. I'm think the kids scores this year aren't going to be so great. I wonder if the DPI will even go ahead with testing this Spring. I'm assuming our high school kids will still be taking the ACT and ACT Aspire. I guess if the scores are poor there is just room for growth.

 

[PUSH]

A couple weeks before break our admins were talking about the Forward test this Spring. I'm think the kids scores this year aren't going to be so great. I wonder if the DPI will even go ahead with testing this Spring. I'm assuming our high school kids will still be taking the ACT and ACT Aspire. I guess if the scores are poor there is just room for growth.

We were told DPI will not waive testing requirements this year. Our MAP testing was an absolute mess this year, because of going in and out of virtual learning. So we weren't all able to do our fall testing (honestly our admin was the real problem). So we have to do other benchmark assessments to meet DPI requirements.

I really don't pay attention to any of those standardized assessments. They mean nothing to me. I believe what I see through formative assessments in low-stakes environments that I see on a day by day basis versus one assessment that kids are super anxious for.

 

[PUSH]

Over winter break I spent a lot of time planning ideas for next year (hopefully if we are back to normal by then), and a lot of it involved going away from the district mandated crap that's so boring and ineffective. I've tried that for 3.5 years now, and the numbers keep saying it's not showing enough growth. Last year was the most I did not teach to fidelity, and I was praised because test scores for my students increased tremendously from the fall to the winter. I've learned to just do what's actually best for kids, even if it's not from the district approved resources. I follow their scope and sequence, but use better resources to teach the skills so kids will actually get it and I'm not just lecturing 6 year olds all day.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

We were told DPI will not waive testing requirements this year. Our MAP testing was an absolute mess this year, because of going in and out of virtual learning. So we weren't all able to do our fall testing (honestly our admin was the real problem). So we have to do other benchmark assessments to meet DPI requirements.

I really don't pay attention to any of those standardized assessments. They mean nothing to me. I believe what I see through formative assessments in low-stakes environments that I see on a day by day basis versus one assessment that kids are super anxious for.

Over winter break I spent a lot of time planning ideas for next year (hopefully if we are back to normal by then), and a lot of it involved going away from the district mandated crap that's so boring and ineffective. I've tried that for 3.5 years now, and the numbers keep saying it's not showing enough growth. Last year was the most I did not teach to fidelity, and I was praised because test scores for my students increased tremendously from the fall to the winter. I've learned to just do what's actually best for kids, even if it's not from the district approved resources. I follow their scope and sequence, but use better resources to teach the skills so kids will actually get it and I'm not just lecturing 6 year olds all day.

I'm not really into test scores either, it is a measure of growth but not THE only measure of growth. There are so many factors that can impact test results. I'm impressed that you worked on school work, I haven't checked my email since December 22! There were either be a lot to wade through tomorrow or not.

 

[PUSH]

I'm not really into test scores either, it is a measure of growth but not THE only measure of growth. There are so many factors that can impact test results. I'm impressed that you worked on school work, I haven't checked my email since December 22! There were either be a lot to wade through tomorrow or not.

I did it because I was enjoying it. I like planning on what I can do to be better. As weird as that sounds. I don't do any of the busy work over break. I don't respond to emails, grade assessments, or anything like that. I was researching and planning how I can do reading centers next year and make those work better, especially since I can't do them this year. And how I can teach math in small groups, since that is one thing I found was so much better during virtual learning - teaching math in small groups rather than whole group. I found a bunch of products on TeachersPayTeachers to help do the centers, and I kind of plotted the ideal amounts of time I would like for each part of the day. I also revised my weekly phonics routines, since I haven't been happy with how I'm teaching that. And I found fun and more effective ways to do it. That's another thing that my district doesn't help me with... you know, actually how things are supposed to be taught.

Stuff like that is fun for me, if I'm in the right mindset. And I don't have the time to do that when we're in session. And I think it was kind of important for me to find the joy in that again, because I haven't been "happy" while teaching this year. None of it is fun. So to know that I still have the joy for it is important. I know that it's just not the same and not fun this year, but I'm optimistic that we will get past this.

 

[PUSH]

I've also learned in my young adulthood that I am a planner. I like to plan. It makes me feel good. I'm the one on the team who looks 2 or 3 weeks ahead and starts mentally planning for things that none of the others have even thought about. That's just the way my brain works. And my team has to tell me that their brains can't wrap their head around that yet. So I have to pump the breaks, but it's still churning in my brain.

My lesson plans HAVE to be done for the whole week by the time I get to school on Monday. One of my team teachers can literally walk in and not have a clue what she's doing for the day and be fine. I find that super stressful, but she finds my way super stressful. It's just interesting how different peoples' brains work.

I'm the same way with planning a WDW trip. I'm the one who plans everything for my family. I schedule what parks we're going to each day, what FPs we are getting, etc. That's a lot of fun for me. I've done that since I was in high school.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I've also learned in my young adulthood that I am a planner. I like to plan. It makes me feel good. I'm the one on the team who looks 2 or 3 weeks ahead and starts mentally planning for things that none of the others have even thought about. That's just the way my brain works. And my team has to tell me that their brains can't wrap their head around that yet. So I have to pump the breaks, but it's still churning in my brain.

My lesson plans HAVE to be done for the whole week by the time I get to school on Monday. One of my team teachers can literally walk in and not have a clue what she's doing for the day and be fine. I find that super stressful, but she finds my way super stressful. It's just interesting how different peoples' brains work.

I'm the same way with planning a WDW trip. I'm the one who plans everything for my family. I schedule what parks we're going to each day, what FPs we are getting, etc. That's a lot of fun for me. I've done that since I was in high school.

I'm a planner too, I like to have my game plan for my unit well in advance and have a daily plan. My plan doesn't always go according to plan and I've learned to improvise a lot. Sometimes I think of better way to do things on the fly. I once had another teacher tell me that middle school teachers are prepared for nothing and yet prepared for everything all the time. I think that is true of any teacher though. I assume you are with students (in person or virtual) tomorrow, so good luck and have fun!

 

[PUSH]

I'm a planner too, I like to have my game plan for my unit well in advance and have a daily plan. My plan doesn't always go according to plan and I've learned to improvise a lot. Sometimes I think of better way to do things on the fly. I once had another teacher tell me that middle school teachers are prepared for nothing and yet prepared for everything all the time. I think that is true of any teacher though. I assume you are with students (in person or virtual) tomorrow, so good luck and have fun!

One thing a teacher needs to be good as if improvising or being flexible. But I find if I have a plan, it makes me better at those things.

I'm back in person tomorrow. Going to be a LONG 5 day week after a longer than normal winter break. Good luck to you too, in whichever method you're doing!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

One thing a teacher needs to be good as if improvising or being flexible. But I find if I have a plan, it makes me better at those things.

I'm back in person tomorrow. Going to be a LONG 5 day week after a longer than normal winter break. Good luck to you too, in whichever method you're doing!

thanks. We are mostly face to face but some students are remote (their choice) at home and some students are remote in our gym for more spacing.

 

[JenniferS]

Ahem ... clearly we are ALL planners.
Visiting WDW positively demands it!

Oh, how I wish I were planning a Disney trip right now.

 

[Songbird76]

A MAP test is a standardized test. The two big ones around here are MAP and STAR. They are totally BS, and have no meaning to teachers, but are used to make practically all big decisions. We use them to get funding and to rank our school on the state report cards. Our district uses them to form intervention groups (don't get me started on that... so many flaws). When I have to tell parents the scores, I flat out tell them that they are one test, and often don't accurately show where their child's level is at. But parents get so worked up by them. That's the culture we've built over decades of non-educators making decisions in education. But that's a whole separate conversation.

Yeah, they are really not a great measure of how well schools are teaching. There are so many variables that affect it. Even the kinds of questions or the subject matter of the reading sections are incredibly biased. When the subject matter is of interest to a kid, they are more focused and absorb more, but there's no way to find things of interest to every student. I have a serious problem with tests involving reading. I can read quickly, but then I don't absorb a thing...my brain goes on autopilot and I read the words without even thinking about them....my mind is somewhere else. Just like when you look at your watch to see what time it is, and then have to look again because it didn't register. That's what happens to me when I'm not interested in the material. And the tests are designed to not only ask things taught in school.

Schools have different curriculums, and they also want to test critical thinking skills....can they make inferences based on information that isn't complete? Can they apply other knowledge to get the answer? And the thing is that kids have strengths and weaknesses...some kids will be great in math, but terrible with grammar. Some kids may excel in athletics, but be poor cognitively. It has nothing to do with how effective a teacher is. And if you look at socio-economic status, that has an effect, too. If you have a single parent home where the parent has to work a lot and doesn't have the time or the money to invest in things like going to museums, libraries, cultural enrichment, those students are at a disadvantage. That doesn't mean the school is failing because the student doesn't do well. It's ridiculous to base funding on tests that have nothing to do with the quality of education. It's only supposed to be a measure of where that student is so that you can match resources to students and keep an eye on progress. You can have the best teacher in the world, but if it's a class full of kids who don't have anyone home to help with homework, and who don't have resources outside of school, there's only so much that teacher can cover during the school day.

 

[Songbird76]

Ahem ... clearly we are ALL planners.
Visiting WDW positively demands it!

Oh, how I wish I were planning a Disney trip right now.

Amen! I was watching Big Bang Theory today, and Penny says something about going white water rafting or something, and Leonard says "How about we compromise and go ride It's a Small World at Disneyland?" and I was like "Yes, PLEASE!! I want to do that!"

 

[JenniferS]

Just went into work today to finalize my last deal and collect their deposit cheques.

Phase 3 won’t be opening for another 5-8 months, and I’m not sure it will be me going back there, so I cleared out all my personal belongings, and sanitized that place to within an inch of its life.

Not bad - 84 house sales since the last week of August, with a 3-week break over Christmas. Now I get to hunker down and 100% observe the lockdown protocols for a few months.

This was totally me, as I shut off the lights.

 

[MinnieM123]

Just went into work today to finalize my last deal and collect their deposit cheques.

Phase 3 won’t be opening for another 5-8 months, and I’m not sure it will be me going back there, so I cleared out all my personal belongings, and sanitized that place to within an inch of its life.

Not bad - 84 house sales since the last week of August, with a 3-week break over Christmas. Now I get to hunker down and 100% observe the lockdown protocols for a few months.

This was totally me, as I shut off the lights.

You have a very unique job, and you're very good at it. What was it that spurred your interest in house sales for a career?

 

[Songbird76]

Just went into work today to finalize my last deal and collect their deposit cheques.

Phase 3 won’t be opening for another 5-8 months, and I’m not sure it will be me going back there, so I cleared out all my personal belongings, and sanitized that place to within an inch of its life.

Not bad - 84 house sales since the last week of August, with a 3-week break over Christmas. Now I get to hunker down and 100% observe the lockdown protocols for a few months.

This was totally me, as I shut off the lights.

When you say you aren't sure you will be going back, does that mean you think you might lose your job? Or just that you'll be working from home from now on? Or did I miss something else?

 

[JenniferS]

When you say you aren't sure you will be going back, does that mean you think you might lose your job? Or just that you'll be working from home from now on? Or did I miss something else?

I work on different sites in different cities. Depending how long it takes Whitby Phase 3 to open, I may have already been placed somewhere else. I never really considered this “my site” anyway. I was the third person to have worked there since it opened.

I just got off the phone with the Builder. He called me “a one man clean up crew”.

You have a very unique job, and you're very good at it. What was it that spurred your interest in house sales for a career?

I’m a lousy cook. My kids say I’m a lousy mother. I’m a mediocre housekeeper. But I’m very, very good at my job.

I kind of just fell into it after dropping out of University. I quit University in December, and started the College level Real Estate Course in January; figuring I could work with my mom who was already in the business, until I figured out what I wanted to do with my life. I fell into new homes sales a few years later, and never looked back.

It helps that I love my job.

 

[MinnieM123]

I work on different sites in different cities. Depending how long it takes Whitby Phase 3 to open, I may have already been placed somewhere else. I never really considered this “my site” anyway. I was the third person to have worked there since it opened.

I just got off the phone with the Builder. He called me “a one man clean up crew”.



I’m a lousy cook. My kids say I’m a lousy mother. I’m a mediocre housekeeper. But I’m very, very good at my job.

I kind of just fell into it after dropping out of University. I quit University in December, and started the College level Real Estate Course in January; figuring I could work with my mom who was already in the business, until I figured out what I wanted to do with my life. I fell into new homes sales a few years later, and never looked back.

It helps that I love my job.

Sometimes that's how it happens, when people sort of fall into specific careers, that turn out to be great.

The only part I don't agree with is that you said you're a lousey mother. Nope. Not true. You're a very good mother.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Sometimes that's how it happens, when people sort of fall into specific careers, that turn out to be great.

The only part I don't agree with is that you said you're a lousey mother. Nope. Not true. You're a very good mother.

I can't wait to know what I'm going to be when I grow up. I never did. I fought with myself internally for many years because it is hard to succeed when you don't really know what you can do or what you can do exceptionally well. I had numerous little part time jobs when in High School. I had worked for my father washing trucks, worked at gas stations, stock clerk in a local grocery. You know the regular teen stuff.

When I went to college I didn't have a lot of free time. I had a car and insurance I was paying for via my parents and they were tougher on late payments then any bank ever thought of being. But I did have a part time job driving a delivery van with supplies to Doctors offices and hospitals. My major in college was Business Management. I graduated from college on June 3, 1968 and on June 4th I was on my way to Amarillo, Texas for U.S. Air Force basic training. After what seemed like years, Basic ended and I went to Lowry AFB in Denver, Co. for training in inventory and supply. I was sent to Niagara Falls International Airport to the small Air Force Base there. That wasn't bad duty, but did cause me to overdo on the Boone's Farm selection of fine wines. After only a few months I got my orders to Bien Hoa AFB, So. Vietnam. That year cannot be described. I caught a break on my return by being stationed in St. Albans, Vt. which was about 22 miles from my actual home. I finished off my 4 year military service there and just before I was discharged I got married.

From that point on it has been a mix of many things. First Retail Store Manager (Ben Franklin Store), Publishing and Printing company eventually becoming General Manager and Vice President, Left that when I purchased with my wife, a Residential Care Home. Housing Physically and Mentally Challenged plus some elderly. Learned a lot about health care and meal planning and dealing with people with problems. Due to changes in the philosophy of the mental health unit in our town they decided that people shouldn't be in a "home" of sorts, but in private apartments fending for themselves. Understandable but it took away most of my clients so I had to close it down.

Then came a huge assortment of things, not necessarily in the order. Worked on the clean room line in IBM, Was office manager of an Earth Moving Company, Got my Real Estate Sales license, just as the Real Estate business dropped to almost nothing. Back Briefly to IBM, A short tenure working as a travel agent before the owners were arrested for something, then to a large Industrial Construction Company as an accounts payable and contract monitor on assigned jobs, Worked part time for a local school district processing and managing payroll and benefits for the school district. Got divorced somewhere in that mess and decided to be a tour bus driver. I trained for that and got my Commercial Drivers License. That was on Sept. 8, 2001. On September 11th some bad stuff happened that shutdown touring for almost two years. While waiting I accepted a job with our local Bus Company driving routes in the city for about three years and was offered a job there in management until I retired in 2010. Since then I have been working on and off, but mostly off.

Sorry for the length of this, but I got carried away once I started, I tend to do that a lot. However, you can see that one can get through life without a specific career in mind. Probably not wealthy from it, and certainly tired from relearning different careers every few years. But I tended to get bored and the need to change often. I think the ones that I might have fallen into easily are the ones that, due to no fault of my own, were cut short by economic and personal reasons. At any rate you wouldn't believe how pages my full Resume has. At least now I have time to fret over what ever pain I wake up with.

 

[JenniferS]

I can't wait to know what I'm going to be when I grow up. I never did. I fought with myself internally for many years because it is hard to succeed when you don't really know what you can do or what you can do exceptionally well. I had numerous little part time jobs when in High School. I had worked with my father with trucks, worked at gas stations, stock clerk in a local grocery. You know the regular teen stuff.

When I went to college I didn't have a lot of free time. I had a car and insurance I was paying for via my parents and they were tougher on late payments then any bank ever thought of being. But I did have a part time job driving a delivery van with supplies to Doctors offices and hospitals. My major in college was Business Management. I graduated from college on June 3, 1968 and on June 4th I was on my way to Amarillo, Texas for U.S. Air Force basic training. After what seemed like years, Basic ended and I went to Lowry AFB in Denver, Co. for training in inventory and supply. I was sent to Niagara Falls International Airport to the small Air Force presents there. That wasn't bad duty, but did cause me to overdo on the Boone's Farm selection of fine wines. After only a few months I got my orders to Bien Hoa AFB, So. Vietnam. That year cannot be described. I caught a break on my return by being station in St. Albans, Vt. which was about 22 miles from my actual home. I finished off my 4 year military service there and just before I was discharged I got married.

From that point on it has been a mix of many things. First Retail Store Manager (Ben Franklin Store), Publishing and Printing company eventually becoming General Manager and Vice President, Left that when I purchased with my wife, a Residential Care Home. Housing Physically and Mentally Challenged plus some elderly. Learned a lot about health care and meal planning and dealing with people with problems. Due to changes in the philosophy of the mental health unit in our town they decided that people shouldn't be in a "home" of sorts, but in private apartments fending for themselves. Understandable but it took away most of my clients so I had to close it down.

Then came a huge assortment of things, not necessarily in the order. Worked on the clean room line in IBM, Was office manager of an Earth Moving Company, Got my Real Estate Sales license, just as the Real Estate business dropped to almost nothing. Back Briefly to IBM, A short tenure working as a travel agent before the owners were arrested for something, then to a large Industrial Construction Company as an accounts payable monitor on assigned jobs. Got divorced somewhere in that mess and decided to be a tour bus driver. I trained for that and got my Commercial Drivers License. That was on Sept. 8, 2001. On September 11th some bad stuff happened that shutdown touring for almost two years. While waiting I accepted a job with our local Bus Company driving routes in the city for about three years and was offered a job there in management until I retired in 2010. Since then I have been working on and off, but mostly off.

Sorry for the length of this, but I got carried away once I started, I tend to do that a lot. However, you can see that one can get through life without a specific career in mind. Probably not wealthy from it, and certainly tired from relearning different careers every few years. But I tend to get bored and need to change often. I think the ones that I might have fallen into easily are the ones that, due to no fault of my own, were cut short by economic and personal reasons. At least now I have time to fret over what ever pain I wake up with.

Fascinating story; thank you for sharing. Colour me impressed.