Education: Why do we purposefully make Math hard for English Learners?

It's beyond sad that, at a time when many of our K-12 students are "English Language Learners" (kids whose primary language is not English - what used to be called "ESL" or "English as a Second Language") or who otherwise struggle with reading, that the move is to adopt a Math curriculum that is made up solely of word problems.

If you wanted to design a system that would cripple the education of those who struggle with reading - or just with the English language - you couldn't do a better job than this - making math as inaccessible to them as reading is.

And making the textbooks and resources bilingual in English and Spanish, or having Spanish speaking teachers still leaves out every "English Language Learner" whose home language is not Spanish.

Math is a language that is international when it uses numbers and symbols, but loses that strength when it focuses solely on word problems.

Education: How do you feel when your student can do what you can't?

 "How do you feel when one of your students is able to do something better or faster than you can?" they asked, thinking I'd feel bad if my students surpassed me.

"How do you feel when one of your students is able to do something better or faster than you can?" they asked, thinking I'd feel bad if my students surpassed me.

As an instructor, a teacher, a mentor, and a coach, I am always happy to have one of my "students" reach the point where they take what I have taught them and surpass me.

I have students who are able to achieve much more than I ever could - and I am filled with joy that I was able to be a part of their journey to that success.

I just wish it happened more often.

It's not about being smarter than the students - if you teach them all that you know about a subject, and they keep going, learning more and more, it shouldn't bruise your ego - in fact, it should affirm your choice to be a teacher, instructor, or coach because you have helped them to achieve greatness.

Society/Politics: Equal pay for equal work sounds great, but what if the work isn't equal?

Whether someone is getting "equal pay for equal work" is really going to depend on how a person defines “equal work” - but it could also depend on how you define “equal pay”.

I’ll start with the “equal work” concept.

Say you own a fast food franchise and hire a group of entry level employees. They all have the same level of required education (can read the employee manual) and experience (none), and start the same day. This avoids such factors as differences in job related education, work experience, and seniority in the organization.

Two of them, Alex and Bailey, are even working the same shifts, side by side.

At the end of the first month, you look at their stats.

Alex averages 33 orders an hour.
Bailey averages 48 orders an hour.
Corey averages 18 orders an hour.
Dell averages 36 orders per hour.
Ed averages 45 orders an hour.

Should Bailey be getting paid more than the others, because Bailey is getting more work done?

Should Alex and Dell make similar amounts, because they get similar amounts of work done?

Should Corey make less than the others, because Corey is less productive?

So we have to consider this question: Do they all actually have the same job?

Let's try to answer that by looking at other factors.

Alex and Bailey work the same schedule (M-F, days), side by side.

Corey works the graveyard shift (Thu-M), when most employees would rather be asleep, and there are just fewer customers at that time.  But Corey does a lot of prep work while the store is not busy. 

Dell also works some graveyard shifts (Tu-W), but is also working weekend days (Sa-Su, 12 hour shifts), when most employees would rather be off.

Ed works the busiest shifts (F-Su, 11am through midnight) and works three 13 hour shifts.

There are fewer customers during the graveyard shifts, and 18 orders an hour is the average for all of your graveyard shift workers, who are alone at the register.

How much “other duties as assigned” work does each of the employee do?
What if Bailey is not able to bend and lift as much as Alex, so Alex unpacks the delivery truck, and also does the sweeping, mopping, bathroom cleaning, and emptying the trash cans? This takes Alex away from the register, and reduces Alex’s ability to earn good sales numbers.

As you can see, at first glance, all of these employees have the same job, and should arguably make equal pay, or maybe some are "working harder" as measured by customers per hour, and thus might deserve to be paid more (or less) than the others. But on closer examination, we see that their jobs have different hours, working conditions, responsibilities, and opportunities.

Should there be a shift differential in pay for those working the less popular shifts (graveyard, weekends, and Friday evenings)?
How about a pay differential if the employee is doing more than their ‘fair” share of extra duties?
What about a performance/incentive pay raise?

Now let’s look at “equal pay”. Should that just be pay, or should it include benefits and other compensation that you, as an employer, will provide?
What if you find that due to maternity leave laws and other factors, you give female employees twice as many paid medical leave days - on average - as you give male employees?
What if you have to pay twice as much to provide medical insurance benefits to employees who have a spouse or child/ren?

To sum things up, there are a lot of factors that go into measuring work and pay, so it is not very easy to fairly claim equal work or even equal pay without considering those factors.

Society/Politics: The smoke and mirrors of "record high profits"

 "Record high profits" is a deceptive term - particularly when you are in inflationary times.

Say your store makes a 1% profit on sales, and normally has $100 million in sales.

You make $1 million in profit, a very small return (1%) for the amount of money that you had to risk to get there.

Now inflation raises all prices by 100%.

If you sold the same amount of stuff, you would sell $200 million, and your 1% profit would net you $2 million.

But people aren't able to buy as much as prices rise, so they only spend $150 million at your store. This gives you a "record breaking" profit of $1.5 million.

But that $1.5 million only has the same buying power as $750 thousand used to, so you are not able to buy as much either.

This is how your standard of living and buying power went down 25% while your store earned you "record breaking profits" that were 50% higher than they used to be.

Society/Politics: 2A supporters need to stop shooting ourselves in the foot

 One of the biggest failures of the pro-2A camp is that we often forget that our enemies are playing a long game. In the stress of dealing with the (often media manufactured) crisis and threat of the day, we sometimes do things that seem like a good move tactically, but are strategically suicidal.

Number One: If a bad prerson with a gun commits a heinous crime and harms other people, Do not say that they could have been just as deadly if they had used a different gun. Stick to ways other than firearms that bad people use to murder others - arson/fire, driving motor vehicles into crowds, bombs, poison, stabbing, beating with blunt objects, etc.. Do not give them ammunition (pun intended) to go after a different type of gun - because their long term goal is to ban all guns.

Some of you may be too young to have lived through this, and others may be old enough that you've forgotten, but the type of gun that the anti-2A crowd used to demonize was the handgun. One of the things that we said in defence of handguns was "At least the people who are misusing them are choosing handguns, and not something more powerful, like a rifle." And suddenly, the monsters started using rifles. The trap snapped on us - and now rifles are being demonized, even though hammers are used in more murders than rifles are.

Now, when a monster uses a rifle to murder a group of people, and the cries form the anti-2A crowd are to "ban assault rifles", it is common for some of us to say "they could have killed just as many, just as quickly with a handgun". And that is us, falling into the trap again.

Bad people do bad things. Monsters do terrible things. Guns are not the only tools that can be used (or misused) to kill large numbers of people. What guns are used for - millions of times a year - is to protect innocent people from violent criminals. We just don't hear much about that from politicians and the media - so that is something 2A supporters need to be making sure that other people hear about.

Hobby: Horus Heresy Box - Quick peek

 Okay, the Horus Hersey box arrived today, and I put together a couple of the Mk VI beakies for comparison.

Missile Launcher from older HH Game on L, new HH (using heavy weapons set) on R.   New ones are slightly larger, mostly due to legs being longer (and straighter).

Mk VI Beaky Marine from the RTB 01 set on L, much smaller than new HH Mk VI (as expected).

Education: Student Questions for Mr. B

 What is Mr. B's favorite thing to do in class?

I am most happy when students that I am working with achieve a learning breakthrough.

I also really like students giving each other compliments, when they are deep and meaningful (We do a compliment circle in our class once a week).

What stuff do you like?

You have probably already figured out that I like my dogs, music, tabletop games, and reading.   I also like acting (stage), watching movies, building models, and doing volunteer work in my community.

Do you have any allergies?

Yes, I am allergic to onions.  They give me stomach cramps - and other, nasty symptoms.

When did you start teaching?

There are a couple of different answers to that.   I was a swimming instructor when I was a teenager, and a peer coach when I was in the Army.   When I went to college I worked as a "teacher"/"counselor" at after school programs and summer camps, and taught elementary PE "specials" classes.  In the Air Force, I was a firearms safety instructor.

I also volunteered in elementary school literacy/reading programs.

I started teaching in the K-12 classroom in January of 2005, as a high school teacher.    I have taught every grade from Kinder to 12th grade, as well as adult students.   I taught at high schools and middle schools before becoming an elementary teacher   I first taught 4th grade as a student teacher in 2010, and havetaught seven 4th grade classes.   This is my first year teaching 3rd grade.

When is your birthday?

My birthday is the same as the birthday of one of my childhood heroes - a man I still admire.  His birthday is a national holiday.  I will share more clues to my birthday and age throughout the year.

Do you like being a teacher?

No, I don't "like" being a teacher - I love being a teacher.  I would not be a teacher if I didn't love it.  It is a hard job, takes a lot of time and energy, and there are bad days - but when there are good days, they are the greatest in the world.

How long were you in the military?

I started participating in ROTC two years before I enlisted in the Army Reserves, and then served in the Army, Army Reserves (again), Army National Guard, Air Force Reserves, Air National Guard, and Air Force over a period of almost 20 years.  During part of that time, I was a military spouse.

Have you done something really fun in your life?

Yes.  I have done a lot of fun and enjoyable things.  I try to do fun stuff as much as possible. I hope we have a lot of fun learning together this year.

What is your greatest fear?

My biggest fear is not being able to help my students when they really need help.

Did you do something really embarrassing?

All the time.   I make a lot of mistakes - because if you are learning and trying new things, you won't be perfect from the start.

Are you married?

I am not married.   I was married once, a long time ago, but made some mistakes, so it didn't last.  I would like to be married again, but only if I meet the right person.  I hope I learned from my mistakes the first time, and would do better if I get married again.

Do you have kids?

I do not have any kids of my own, just the ones I work with at school.   I think of my students as my kids, and care about them just as if they were my own. 

Why do you like Totoro so much?

Totoro is a creature in one of my favorite movies.  He is fat, loves nature, loves taking naps, and protects children.  He can also be super-loud when he needs to be.  I think he is a lot like me.  He is my "spirit animal".