Sweeter's Tiger Tracks

Congrats!!!

I wanted to take a quick minute to congratulate all of our seniors that graduated yesterday.  Charlie probably said it best when he claimed that their class was memorable, and that I would miss them.  Yes Charlie you are right I will miss your class.  Good luck with wherever your future takes you, and GHS class of 2010 "Stay classy." 

More Awesomeness

There are several things that I have been wanting to write about, but have been too busy to get away.  Now that it is a sunny Friday afternoon, I will take a few minutes and share some of the truly awesome things I have witnessed this week.

School:

1) All eight 8th graders taking the state mandated Algebra I End of Course exam this morning passed with a group average of 94.4%.  All results were above 91%.  This is really good news, and I am very pleased with the students' work.  Last year the state gave us special recognition for our students' scores.  I think we might be up for round 2.   

2) All of our seniors are going to graduate on Sunday.  This is almost always the case, but the conservative side of me always worries.

Personal:

1) My daughter's oral reading fluency increased over 100 words per minute.  I'm not sure how that compares, but wow that seems like allot.  We are proud of her reading work this year.  Way to go Dilly!!!

For my sports followers:

1) King James loses.  What now?????  Chicago, NY, ???  D-Wade and the King on the same team??

2) Have you ever seen Dwight Howard play.  WOW!!!  This kid is an animal in the paint.  I think his shoulders have their own zip code.

Interesting article

Before I start to rant let me make a statement to preface my comments.  People don't get into education for the money.  For me it was the opportunity to work with kids.  There are few things in this world that can beat the satisfaction gained when an educator gets a student to that ah ha moment.  For those people in education this needs no explanation because you know what I am talking about.  In fact, most of you probably are thinking of the last student you got to that moment right now.  To the rest of my loyal Tiger Track followers it is the moment that a student wears on their face when they finally solve an equation, learn to read, or graduate.  The reaction is quite literally priceless.  Now that everyone hopefully realizes that it is not all about the money, I am going to share an article I read tonight.

http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/career-articles-worst_paying_college_degrees-1263

Elementary teaching is the 2nd worst paying job for students who earn college degrees.  The good news is that JH/HS education is the 7th worst paying job for students who earn college degrees.  WOW!!!  I hope all of our prospective teachers don't read this article.  It tries to put a positive spin by saying that there will be a 14% increase in the availability of jobs, but in all reality that means a teaching shortage.  For those of us in rural America I see this as a real problem.  All it is going to do is limit or eliminate or hiring pool.  It will become a situation where we get who we get and we deal with it.  There are obvious flaws in this and something needs to change or education quality is bound to decline.

Facebook

It is amazing how this topic keeps coming up again and again.  This year I started Googling and Facebooking applicants, and I have to admit I am amazed at how some people still don't get it.  I am especially amazed that prospective teachers sometimes don't get it.  We are working with kids, and are under the public microscope act like it.  The attached link is a top 6 ways to lose a job, DUH.

http://www.committedsardine.com/blogpost.cfm?blogID=1053

NaaNaa NaaNaa

 
I have to take a moment and brag about a privilege that a small group of us were provided yesterday at Kiwanis.  As always we were treated to another wonderful meal, but the highlight for me was the chance to see encore performances from the POPS Concert soloists.  I probably don't even need to say this, but I will.  Once again they were outstanding.  Our music department has truly done a great job preparing these young men and women. 

Spanish Excellence

Congratulations to Spenser Kavanaugh who attained national recognition for excellent performance on the 2010 National Spanish Examination.  The National Spanish Examinations are administered each year in grades 6-12, and are sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese.  "Attaining a medal of honorable mention for any student on the National Spanish Examinations is very prestigious," says Kevin Cessna-Buscemi, National Director of the exams, "because the exams are the largest of their kind in the US with 125,915 students participating in 2010."  Kavanaugh was one of 13 SD students who received the recognition.