Gone Fishing

I'll be away from the blog for a couple of days, so you'll have to make do with the news (see left) and the comments (pretty much everywhere).  Be nice, now, so I can leave the comments open.  And take care of everything education-related for me. See you Wednesday Thursday.

Comments

[George Schmidt]

Alexander,

We just returned from a few days by the UP (Manistique), and one of the strangest facts of today has three parts First, Lake Michigan is visibly down, as you can see dramatically along its northern shore;

Second, the zebra mussles are rampant (and destroying fish habitat?);

And, third, where whitefish used to carpet the lake, you can now see to the bottom around the islands around Beaver Island and not a whitefish in sight).

Like public education, these realities don't allow themselves to be fixed by soundbites, Power Point BS, or glib one-liners.

Which brings us closer to fishing in the home waters near New York City...

If you are going to be doing some fishing around New York City, and you have a sense of adventure, you might try the Kill Van Kull and Arthur Kill.

The Kills separate Staten Island from New Jersey. Decades ago my father told me that as late as the 1920s children still swam in the Arthur Kill (which was about a mile from his home in Elizabeth), but suggested it would not be wise to do it by the 1950s. (Some people suggested you'd dissolve it you tried it...).

Have things changed since the days of J. Edgar Hoover, the Draft, and Cardinal Spellman?

Until Great Kills brought an ironic and tragic notice to the Dutch heritage (and water place names) back home after 9/11, I thought the whole narrative might be lost.

Anyway, as those bodies (literally) of water attest, some realities require a long-term perspective to fully appreciate. From those stairways and docks that are stranded fifty or a hundred feet from the water's edge up by Manistique to the "waters" near the oil and chemical plants that begin south of Elizabeth, there are layers and layers of goo, goop and poop to be peeled or rinsed off before commentary can really begin.

Happy fishing.

[Kat]

Well, once again the Chicago Tribune is Johnny-on-the-spot with that two week old story about the Teacher Evaluation system in the CPS. It looks more like another opportunity to teacher-bash to me. TNTP's report also dealt with the teacher transfer policy, but since that part isn't overwhelmingly negative, and actually supports the findings of a large Stanford U. study, as reported in "The American Educator" this summer. CTU is looking at using the Toledo Plan, which can be found on-line and downloaded. TNTP likes the Danielson/McGreal system, which provides a 25 page rubric for teacher evaluation. Hopefully, the two sides will come up with something more workable than that!

Teacher bashing is funny because I like to see how defensive everyone gets. If you are a good teacher then let it roll of your shoulders. What profession doesn't get bashed? Doctors (they get paid too much), Lawyers (they are greedy), Police (they are racist), Wall Street (they only care about the bottom line). For every job there is a complaint. Calm down Kit Kat.

[cermak_rd]

George,

You're right about the zebra mussels being a difficult problem to solve. They are filter feeders, which is why the waters are so clear where they exist. They deprive the native fish of both food and shading. They probably came over in ballast waters from ships, which is why, today, ships are required to exchange ballast waters prior to entering American waters. The problem is, while we can keep new mussels out, we're stuck with the ones we already have. Because they can live deeply enough in the water, freezing temps don't affect them much. ComEd has had some limitted success keeping them from clogging their intake pipes with preparations of fly ash, but that doesn't eliminate the critters, only keeps them from clogging pipes. Predators are about non-existent, so getting rid of them will be a significant challenge.

Doctors don't get 'rated' unless and until they are caught killing someone. The rest of their mistakes are buried without comment, and when one lone soul manages to make it to court to air his grief on losing a loved one, or wave about the leg that should have been amputated instead of the good limb which is now gone, all the Trib weeps over is the horrible litigation system and how the ::insurance lobby:: 'reports' that doctors are leaving the state in droves.

Let them put up a system for them and for attorneys that works before they light into teachers.

As an educator, I am only chagrined at how many children we educated who managed to learn only to use their powers for evil instead of for good...

No, doctors do get rated. As do lawyers, police, etc. Teaching is one of the last professions to embrace a real authentic rating system. Welcome to the 21st Century.

What!?! Where? How? RatemyMD? HealthGrades.com?

Doctors get their license, and then ::if:: they do something wrong, ::and:: they are caught ::and:: it is proved in court, then they ::might:: be disciplined. Look on the AMA website, or the Department of Professional Regulation, and you show me where doctors or for that matter lawyers and police are rated.

Last month the papers leaked the big news that hey, the City of Chicago's been hiding the tally of the cops with the worst and highest number of complaints from the public for years.

You're not Karl Rove - you don't get to post whatever outrageous lie you want and get away from it. Go post on Rush Limbaugh site if that's your pleasure.

One time I went swimming in Lake Ontario and when I came out a zebra mussel was attached to my sac. I hate when that happens!

8:58 you really need to grow up.

Hey 9:38, why don't you go fisuck yourself

Wow! You really need to grow up dude.

I did not realize that Police get rated. Those officers that had over 100 complaints in less than 5 years must really have it tough. I heard their overtime may be cut. Must be rough having all those taxpayers that pay their salary complaining. They don't even suspend an officer without pay if he is caught on tape beating someone up. Hell, Burge is still receiving a 90K per year pension. He is one of the dirtiest cops in Chicago history. Give me a break cops get rated.

Oh and the dentist in Little Village that killed the little girl did get his license suspended for 6 months. Must be a rough rating system. He is practicing again. That rating system must be tough.

Youz are so entertaining. I'm just laughing and a laughing. Thanks you all, I just needed to laugh today. I love this fishin thread. You all know how to have some fun.

[George Schmidt]

Let's stick to fish stories and not to what sticks around when some people go swimming without properly grooming.

I'm still hoping Alexander got in some fishing under the Goethels or Bayonne bridges, but we'll have to wait for that story.

People in the northern part of Lake Michigan can still tell stories about swimming with schools of carp and whitefish nearby (or sometimes surrounding them). The northern lake is beautfiul now it's so clear, but it's a clarity without life. Seeing clearly to the bottom of the lake, sometimes as deep as fifteen feet or more because of the vacuum cleaning impact of the zebra mussels should be disconcerting.

An interesting story in yesterday's New York Times: Everyone along the northern edge of Lake Michigan that we talked to last week thought the lower lake level was because of climate change and related problems.

Now the Times is reporting that is may be because the dredging and widening of the channels near Detroit have caused the upper lakes to drain faster towards the Atlantic Ocean. According to that story, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario have not dropped in level during the past seven or eight years (as we've personally witnessed Lake Michigan dropping from the far north and according to reports Lake Superior has dropped even more). So the upper Great Lakes are being drained more quickly than they should be.

The results are as dramatic along the shoreline as can be imagined. From the air, we saw dozens of houses near Manistique that once had walkways leading to docks on the lake -- now fifty or a hundred yards away from the lake. I suspect the same is true going down past Charlevoix and towards Travers City. Yes? No? The family boat docks are like the lines we draw on the wall to measure how our children grow year by year.

Relation to CPS and Chicago?

Wouldn't it be nice if more CPS students could spend more time doing science right here at our own great lake?

From the BP refinery pollution challenge down in Indiana to tracking the channels used by those huge ore ships that slowly move along the horizon up there and then wind up down south of Bowen High School a day later? Zebra mussels. Carp and whitefish. Sturgeon...

Better than bubble sheets and DIBELS for sure.

[Kat]

Re: Teacher bashing is funny....
I'm sorry, but I won't let teacher bashing pass without comment. These kinds of stories usually start to appear when CPS wants to do something that directly affects teachers and support personnel, such as change a policy, negotiate a new contract,etc. Conservative newspapers like the "Tribune" are more than happy to support administrative agenda and deserved to be called out. I just hope that CTU does not allow the evaluation system, which does need to be updated, to change without careful consideration and negotiation about what will replace it. At the recent union meeting we were told that the board wants to give principals the power to freeze step increases by tying this to student acheivement. As we all know, student acheivement can be affected by too many outside influences, not the least of which is poverty,for the union to allow such a proposal. Let that roll off your back!

[Charlie]

"I just hope that CTU does not allow the evaluation system, which does need to be updated, to change without careful consideration and negotiation about what will replace it."

Doesn't need to be updated? Are you kidding me? When I was in CPS, in two years my principal entered my classroom for a total of 5 minutes. All of that time was in my first year. My second year he peaked through the door for about 30 seconds. And then somehow at the end of the year he was the one to fill out and sign my evaluation form? It was a complete and total joke.

To 10:46 Thanks for speaking what is actually happening in schools regarding the evaluation. They complete the eval form the week school is to end,and some rooms they have neverseen. As long as you have no behavior problems they stay away. Ten years in this system and not one evaluation, but each year got an excellent. If the main concern is what happens in the classroom why would it take Duncan and crew 6 years to find out what is really going on in classrooms? If you don't know what teachers are doing and how they are rated how can you complain about needing more money?

I have AIOs spend more time in my classroom than my school administration. But the AIOs don't give me evaluations, my principal does. Last year she was in my classroom once, for less than 10 minutes. If you don't think we need a new evaluation system, you're fooling yourself.

Private doctors and lawyers don't get evaluated, but public employees do.

Charlie, you quoted the lady and you STILL got it wrong - Kat said, "the evaluation system, which DOES need to be updated".

She was in effect saying, don't put in something worse.

sheesh.

[Doctors do get rated]

Yes,

Doctors do get rated when people have a choice who to go to. If a doctor was killing every other patient, he/she would get no new patients and therefore go out of business.

When every other kid does not learn (51% graduation rate)what do teachers get? A pay raise.

What other system/profession/job has no accounabilty for production? Teachers

If a restaurant has subpar service, people go somewhere else. If a school has subpar service nothing happens. At least nothing happened until charters.

Charters are the American way.

Yes, Charters are the American Way. Like Walmart...outsourcing jobs and paying employees wages they cannot survive on without government assistance.

Privatization, all the way! Heil Privatizaton, comrads! The new fascism has arrived! The 50s and 60s had hippies fighting for communism, now they're all grown and swung to the political far right, and these baby boomers are all fighting for privatization! Heil, comrads! You will change the world! (or not!)

CPS just needs a better evaluation tool; this has nothing to do with the silly fad of a craze to create 2000 separate charter schools with no central authority.

If an engine needs an oil change, you don't rebuild the whole thing.

5:08
So when a doctor tells you not to smoke, drink, and cut back on your cholesterol because you've already had a heart attack and can die but you go ahead and make a choice to disregard the doctor and die, the doctor is a bad doctor and therefore people should find another doctor.

Or the doctor is an AIDS specialist and most of his/her patients will finally die, the doctor is bad and therefore people should find another doctor.

Or the thief keeps stealing and gets caught and his/her attorney can't prove the thief didn't steal and is sentenced for the crime, the lawyer is bad because he/she couldn't keep the thief out of jail.

People, let's put some real perspective about what's happening in schools and not simply blame the scores exclusively on teachers because that is really oversimplifiying the problem.

Oh come on, 5:28, you aren't suggesting socioeconomic status of the students' families have something to do with education, do you?! I mean, I just thought the reason for disparities between districts was because of teacher quality; teachers in Evanston and Naperville are the best in the world, while CPS teachers are college drop-outs... right?

Or are you hinting at the fact our government spends 100 times more on our military than any other government in the world, which is why our education and infrastructure are so underfunded? Because I would sure rather have a big strong army that is losing to home made bombs in a war that should have never been waged, than a good education system and safe bridges.

I would also prefer to keep the millions of our citizens in state-of-the art prisons for nonviolent crimes, than new schools and safe roads and public transportation systems, right?! Are you with me?

LOL

[Andrew Martinek]

News Flash:

Apparently, 250 of Gage Park's enrolled freshmen, many with excellent scores who live in close proximity to the school are being forced to attend a different school to make room for late enrollees. Many of the parents are up in arms about this. I hope they practice some civil disobedience. These kids did it right: earned good grades, enrolled in the neighborhood school on time and even have their programs in hand. Now some knucklehead downtown makes an arbitrary decision to cover his ass in mid-August and these children have to pay the price. Screw you CPS. I say these kids go where they want and let the late enrollees find a place. If you want to redraw the boundaries, you need to do it before the next year's enrollment, NOT AUGUST! And why does Gage Park have to put up with this BS every damn year. CPS needs to get its head out of its ass or my kid won't be setting foot near a Chicago Public School.

Andrew, where are you getting your information from?