Election 2012 Facts Revisited

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Last week I posted some information on the upcoming election:  Election 2012 Facts.  Now that the first presidential debate is over, I once again want to encourage everyone to educate themselves on the facts.  Listen to what the candidates actually said, check the information for accuracy, then make an informed decision.  Links to help you are revisited below.

Remember to vote on Tuesday, November 6, 2012!!!

Check the Facts:

FactCheck.org

PolitiFact

The Fact Checker

You've Earned a Say (AARP). 

Snopes

Documents:

Affordable Care Act

The President's Budget

Romney's Plan

Ryan's Budget

Republican Party Platform

Democratic Party Platform

Discover how your Members of Congress vote on the issues:

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Read the documents upon which our country was founded:

The Declaration of Independence
The Constitution
The Bill of Rights
Amendments to the Constitution (11-27)
The Federalist Papers

Voting ID requirements and polling places:

Can I Vote?

Election 2012 Facts

Tweet As a teacher, I believe everyone should have a good education.  Part of that education is being an informed citizen, especially in an election year.  Unfortunately, being well-informed is becoming more and more difficult.  It seems that many believe if you tell a lie often enough, it will become the truth.  So lies have been repeated over and over.

Because there is so much misinformation in this election, you have to try to sort it all out for yourself.  You cannot rely on what you hear from politicians or from the media.  You can't base your decisions on what you hear from any one group that may have a special interest.  I don't even think you should listen to your friends or relatives because they have probably been influenced by what they hear from politicians, the media, and special interest groups.  You have to check out the information for yourself!

So many issues in this election are related to one another.  When a group lobbies for or against certain regulations, is it getting something in return?  When someone or something donates large sums of money to a candidate, political party, or Super PAC, you need to consider why.  Will they expect the candidate, if he or she wins, to pass legislation that benefits the donor?  Would this legislation be something with which you agree?  When you watch a political ad, is it propaganda?  Is it factual?  Is it designed to make you emotional or is it telling you truthful information?  How can you tell? 

One way to be informed is to watch television news.  But don't watch just one channel.  Watch every news channel you can.  Listen to all points of view. (I know...it's difficult.)  Watch MSNBC.  Watch FOXNews.  Watch CNN.  Watch PBS.  Watch your local news.  Watch them all.  But after you've watched them, check the facts. Not everything these channels broadcast may be true, so you've got to check for yourself.  Several sources for fact-checking are FactCheck.org, PolitiFact, The Fact Checker, and You've Earned a Say (AARP).  But be careful! Occasionally even the fact-checkers have been wrong.

Read newspaper and magazine articles.  Again, read varying points of view and then check the facts.  If you receive political emails, you should go to Snopes to verify the information.  Most of the emails I've seen are full of lies.

Read the actual documents put out by the political parties, by the candidates, by the House of Representatives, by the Senate, and by the White House.  Then check the facts!  A few of the actual documents can be found by following these links:

Affordable Care Act

The President's Budget

Romney's Plan

Ryan's Budget

Republican Party Platform

Democratic Party Platform

Discover how your Members of Congress vote on the issues:

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Read the documents upon which our country was founded:

The Declaration of Independence
The Constitution
The Bill of Rights
Amendments to the Constitution (11-27)
The Federalist Papers

And last, but certainly not least, know what your voting rights are.  Voting ID requirements and polling places may have changed.  A good place to start is Can I Vote?

What I'm most concerned about is that you...YOU...be an informed voter in this next election.  My other concern is that you actually vote in the next election.  Your vote counts.  It's important.  It's a right you must exercise.

The election is Tuesday, November 6, 2012.  Be knowledgeable and VOTE!

Summer Learning Loss Revisited

Tweet Wow!  It seems like forever since I've posted anything here.  My husband and I have been busy remodeling our kitchen.  It looks so much better, not perfect, but so much better.  We did all the work ourselves.  I'm not sure what we were thinking, but it's done!  I may post some pictures later on.

I just want to remind everyone of several blog posts I published during the summer of 2010.  It is a series of suggestions that will help students prevent summer learning loss.  You can find the links here:
30 Tips to Prevent Summer Learning Loss.

Summer learning loss can be devastating.  It's important for all students to maintain their skills over the summer so they are ready when it's time for the new school year.

It Just Doesn't Seem Right To Me

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In the transcript of an interview between Jeffrey Brown of PBS and Elizabeth Kneebone of the Brookings Institution, it was stated:

New census data out today showed one in 15 Americans now lives in extreme poverty, the poorest of the poor, defined as earning less than 50 percent of the official poverty line. In 2010, that meant an income of around $5,500 for an individual and just over $11,000 for a family of four.

In other news, the candidates for the 2012 presidential election have, so far, raised over 186 million dollars for their campaigns.

Does anyone else think that $186 million could be better spent?

The Reality of Teaching

Tweet On Tuesday, I received the email that appears below from a friend. I'd like to think that he was just being funny (he does have an unusual sense of humor), but I'm pretty sure that he was horrified by what he read here and wanted to make sure I knew.

In the next few days, I'd like to analyze different parts of this email and give my opinions about it, because while the actual information may be factual (I'm not sure - I'll have to fact check it), there's a lot more to it than the "facts." Unfortunately, people read this nonsense and form negative impressions of public employees without truly using their critical thinking skills to analyze what they're reading.

This is the email I received (my analysis starts below the email):

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Subject: Fwd: Soooo, this is what the big fuss is about in Wisconsin...... Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2011 14:22:45 -0400 (EDT)

2010 WISCONSIN TEACHER AVERAGE WAGE AND BENEFITS (remember this is for 9 months of work)

TEACHERS:

Milwaukee $86,297
Elmbrook $91,065
Germantown $83,818
Hartland Arrwhd $90,285

Men Falls $81,099
West Bend $82,153
Waukesha $92,902
Sussex $82,956
Mequon $95,297
Kettle Mor $87,676
Muskego $91,341
(highest paid teacher was $122,952 and the lowest was $64,942)

STAFF:

Arrowhead - Bus Mng - Kopecky - $169,525
Arrowhead - Principal - Wieczorek - $152,519
Grmtwn - Asst Princ - Dave Towers - $123,222

Elmbrk Elemetary - Principal - Zahn - $142,315 (primary school)
Madison - Asst Principal - McGrath - $127,835

UNIVERSITY of WISCONSIN STAFF (2009 salary alone):

Michael Knetter - Prof of Bus - $327,828

Carolyn Martin - Chancellor Mad - $437,000

Hector Deluca - Prof of Nutritional Science - $254,877

Source: Madison.com

How about some other "public servant job" ? What do they make?

Madison Garbage men (2009 salary only):

Garbageman, Mr. Nelson earned - $159,258 in 2009, including $109,892 in overtime and other pay.
Garbageman, Greg Tatman earned - $125,598
7 Madison garbage men made over - $100,000
30 Madison garbage men made over - $70,000

MILWAUKEE CITY BUS DRIVERS (salary only):

136 Drivers made more than - $70,000
54 Drivers made more than - $80,000
18 Drivers made more than - $90,000
8 Drivers made more than - $100,000

Top Driver made $117,000

Source WTMJ

(In contrast, the average private bus driver makes $9 - $13 an hour (about $20,000 yr) with no pension, or healthcare.)

AND THEY EXPECT THE TAXPAYERS TO CONTINUE PAYING 100% OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE WORKERS’ GENEROUS RETIREMENT ON TOP OF ALL THIS!

IT'S WORSE THAN ABOVE. IN THE BOOK "OUTRAGE", AUTHORED BY DICK MORRIS, PAGES 176 - 196, THE FOLLOWING UNION RULES APPLY IN NEW YORK SCHOOL SYSTEM. I SUSPECT THESE "RULES" ALSO APPLY IN OTHER STATES, INCLUDING WISCONSIN. DON'T BELIEVE ME - CHECK IT OUT FOR YOURSELF!

1. SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS CANNOT ASK HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS TO TEACH MORE THAN 3.75 HRS./ DAY.

2. TEACHERS CANNOT BE ASKED TO SUPERVISE LUNCHROOM OR STUDY HALL, HELP STUDENTS ON/ OFF BUSES, HELP COLLEGE APPLICANTS PREPARE

TRANSCRIPTS, SCORE CITY-WIDE TESTS OR WRITE TRUANT SLIPS.

3. A TEACHER CANNOT BE PAID MORE OR LESS THAN ANY OTHER TEACHER AT THE SAME SENIORITY LEVEL (I.E PERFORMANCE GETS NO CONSIDERATION)

4. THE RIGHT TO HIRE OR NOT HIRE A TEACHER IS DETERMINED BY "TRANSFER RIGHTS" - NOT PERFORMANCE.

5. THE RIGHT TO HIRE OR FIRE A TEACHER IS LIMITED BY THE "TEACHER'S RETENTION RIGHTS" -- AGAIN, NOT BY PERFORMANCE.

6. PRINCIPALS CANNOT HIRE, FIRE OR PROMOTE TEACHERS, DETERMINE THEIR PAY, WORK HOURS, ASSIGNMENTS, REQUIREMENTS OR EXPECTATIONS.

7. PRINCIPALS CANNOT ASK TEACHERS TO SUBMIT LESSON PLANS.

8. TEACHERS CANNOT BE ASKED TO MEET BEFORE OR AFTER SCHOOL W/O CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS IN ADVANCE.

9. TEACHERS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO ATTEND FACULTY MEETINGS MORE THAN 2.5 HRS./MONTH.

YOU HAVE TO ASK - WHAT DO THE TEACHERS DO FOR THIS EXORBITANT PAY? AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, WHY DO 40% OF OUR STUDENTS FAIL TO MAKE

PASSING GRADES AND WHY DO WE HAVE OVER 40% DROP-OUT RATE OF OUR STUDENTS?

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My Analysis:

Let's start with the very first part: 2010 WISCONSIN TEACHER AVERAGE WAGE AND BENEFITS (remember this is for 9 months of work)

Nine months of work? Really? First, instead of saying teachers only work nine months of the year, you could argue that teachers are forcibly unemployed for three months of the year. The salaries teachers receive are based on the number of days worked in a school year, which varies from state to state. In Iowa, teachers' contracts are usually for 188 days. In Wisconsin, the Milwaukee school calendar shows 186 teacher contract days (if I counted correctly).

In the private sector, assuming an employee has earned 4 weeks of vacation per year, s/he would work 240 days. Assuming another 10 days off for federal holidays, that brings the total to 230 days per year. An employee with only 2 weeks of vacation would work 240 days a year.

So that's about 40 to 50 days more than a teacher works, but that doesn't tell the whole story. When I was teaching (and I believe this is true for most teachers), I worked at least two hours extra at home every evening and an average of 5 extra hours on the weekend. (This would be time spent checking papers, figuring grades, filling out reports, making lesson plans, gathering materials, writing parents, etc.) So, assuming a 36-week school year and 15 extra hours at home per week, that multiplies to 540 extra hours per year. Based on an 8-hour work day, that extra 540 hours is the equivalent of 67.5 days. Added to the 188 days of my school contract, I was actually working the equivalent of about 255 days per year.

That still doesn't tell the whole story. Teachers must keep up their teaching certificates. This requires coursework that must be taken during the summer. Teachers must also keep up with new trends in their fields. This also requires continuing education during the summer.

Over the years, I've often heard people say, "But you only work nine months of the year!" And I would respond, "Well, if it's so great, why don't you become a teacher." At this point, most would just shudder and walk away. Occasionally, one would say, "There's no way I would put up with those kids." Perhaps this is why teachers need a bit of a break during the summer.

Collective Bargaining is Important

Tweet I have been watching the protests and demonstrations in Wisconsin and definitely support what they're doing. While I'd like to think our employers would do the right things concerning salaries, benefits, working conditions, contracts, etc., the fact is that they don't. That is why unions and collective bargaining are so important.

Let me illustrate with a personal example. When I was first hired as a teacher, I took the place of a teacher who was going on maternity leave. I started in November and finished out the year. I was given a "non-continuing" contract. This meant that I had to resign at the end of the year so that the other teacher could have her job back.

As it turned out, she resigned. I also had to resign so that any teacher with more seniority in the district could bid on the job. Someone did, so I then applied for her job and got it.

At the end of my second year, the district eliminated my position and I was again without a job. Fortunately, a 9th grade position became available and I applied. Another teacher, who had completed his first year with the district, also applied and he had a coaching certificate. He was given the job.

When I asked why he was given the job when I had one more year of experience with the district, they argued that we had the same amount of seniority. Because my first year was with a "non-continuing" contract, they did not count that as a year toward my seniority. I didn't think that was right. Neither did the union leaders.

Needless to say, a grievance was filed and it went to arbitration. The arbitrator, after reading clear contract language that stated seniority was determined by consecutive years of teaching, ruled in my favor. I was given the job.

The district leaders were not particularly happy, but were always kind to me. They were nice men who just really wanted to hire the man with the coaching experience. In order to get what they wanted, they were willing to interpret the master contract in their own way. That is why there are unions ... to protect the workers. I can't imagine what they would have done had they not been nice men. I'm sure my life for the next 32 years could have been very unpleasant.

To do away with collective bargaining leaves workers, salaries, benefits, and working conditions at the whims of their employers. As I said, I'd like to think they would always do the right thing, but they don't. Even the nice ones make mistakes. Imagine what the not-nice ones might do.

And just for your information, the man with the coaching experience also got a job when another teacher moved. The coach and I continued to work together for another 30 years. He understood why the situation ended as it did. He was a union member also.

Great Teachers Who Aren't Teachers #3

Tweet Over the years I have learned a tremendous amount of information from people who aren't teachers. The third one I want to write about is a former boss.

When I graduated from college there were no teaching jobs immediately available. I worked as a cashier at a discount store for about a month, but I was not cut out for that line of work. After a trip to Job Service, I was given an interview at a publishing company. This company had several components, but my interview was in the radio department. After taking a test and surviving a lengthy questioning, I landed the job.

Now this job was about as far from my college major as could be. I had a degree in high school mathematics education. For this job I was writing blank radio advertisement. The department put out 3 publications every month. The first was for Continuity Directors and consisted of about 50 or more pages of radio ads organized by topic from Automobiles to Mortuary to Women's Wear. The second publication was Program Directors. It contained "Thot Starters" (one liners that could be used to write an ad) and tons of trivia. The third was for Station Managers. It provided summaries of promotions and contests with which other radio stations had had success.

The first day of the new job, my boss showed me to my desk, gave me the list of pages I was to write for the month, and a brief explanation of the kind of writing I was to do. Using samples from previous publications, and after asking someone how to turn on an electric typewriter, I started on my first page. I was able to write about six 30-second spots plus a few "thot starters." I turned it in and started on my next page. It wasn't long before my boss called me to her desk, offered me a chair, and together we went over every ad spot I had written. We talked about creativity, getting the customer's attention, word choice, punctuation, and numerous other techniques for excellent radio ad writing.

I took the page back to my desk and rewrote it. Once again she called me to her desk. Once again I rewrote the page. I did this three times before she approved it. I think I had the ads memorized by this time, but I must admit, the ads were pretty good...much better than those I had written on my own.

My boss did this with every page I wrote for several days. She was well-informed and intelligent, but most of all she was patient. She was an excellent teacher. The greatest accomplishment of that training period was when I wrote the first page that she approved without a rewrite. From then on, the job was a joy. I eventually worked up to writing about 15 pages per month for the Continuity Directors publication, three or four pages for Program Directors, and was put in charge of the Station Managers booklet.

The Station Managers publication furthered my education even more. I scoured newspapers for radio promotions and contests, requested information from the radio stations, put it all together, and even did the layouts for printing.

Not only did I learn about writing and advertising, but I also learned a tremendous amount of information about the topics that we researched to put in the advertisements. All in all, the two years I worked there were amazingly rewarding. I think I learned more in those two years than in all my years in college. I actually looked forward to Monday's and that's not something too many people can say.

But the most important part of all this was my boss. She was one of the best teachers I ever had.

Great Teachers Who Aren't Teachers #2

Tweet Yesterday I wrote about my father as being a great teacher in my life. I also wrote about how important parents are as their children's first teachers. In that same vein, I'd like to write about my mother, another one of my great teachers.

My mother grew up during the depression. Even though her father did have a job throughout that time, he was an alcoholic and drank away most of the money he made. She dropped out of school her junior year and got married when she was 17 to my father. I was born three years later.

She was basically a "tomboy" when she was young and hadn't learned a lot of the things she needed to know to be a wife and mother. And yet, somehow she managed pretty well. She did eventually go back to school and even took some college classes, but most of her education was experience-based. I always admired her for that.

She did two things that made her one of my great teachers. The first one is that she taught me through her mistakes. I was constantly reminded how important education is. I was constantly told that I would finish college and then I could get married. I can't say that she said these things out-loud, but these ideas, along with others, were always implied.

The second thing she did was instill a love of books in me. When I was in the hospital a few times as a child, she would buy me new books to read. When there were things she thought I needed to know, she would check out books from the library. These were things that were important for me to know, but she felt she didn't have enough information herself or she just didn't want to discuss them with me. She and my father also purchased a set of encyclopedias when I was about eight or nine years old. I knew they couldn't afford them, but it was a sacrifice they made because they knew that education was the key to any kind of success.

At this point, I just want to say that I love them, admire them, and thank them for all they did.

Great Teachers Who Aren't Teachers #1

Tweet There are so many people I've met over the years who have taught me so many things. Most of them were not teachers, but from whom I've learned so much.

The first one is my father. In the few years I was able to be with him, he played a major role in the formation of my personality, my knowledge base, and my desire to learn.

When I was young, probably three or four years of age, he worked on televisions. These were the old televisions...the kind with tubes. He carried a case that was filled with all different kinds of tubes. And I was his tube-getter. He would take me along on these repair jobs. While he was stuck behind the broken TV, pulling out burned-out tubes, he would tell me the numbers on the tubes, and I would get the ones he needed and take them to him.

I don't know if his actual purpose was to teach me, but teach me he did. I learned how to read numbers, I learned how to memorize, I learned to be responsible, I learned how good it feels to do a job that pleases someone, and I developed an ability to fix things.

The second way he taught me was through conversation. Every Sunday we would eat dinner at my grandmother's house. Dinner would be over in 20 minutes, but the conversation would go on for one, two, or even three hours after dinner. Everything was discussed and everyone, even the kids, were part of that conversation. I learned a tremendous amount of information during those long talks every Sunday. I'm sure those were the major contributors to my views on education, politics, religion, and lots of other topics.

My father was not a teacher. He had been a city bus driver, an electrician, and maintenance worker. He grew up on a farm and only had an 8th grade education. But I learned more from him than all my certified teachers combined.

I think that parents need to remember that they are their children's first teachers. The influence of parents in those early years of child's life determines everything that child will be in the future. Too many parents leave their children to be taught by the child's friends, the television, computers, and computer games, rather than spending time with the child themselves.

I don't care how busy you are...spend quality time with your children. They really will appreciate it because you are important to them!

Too Old for Halloween

Tweet Image via WikipediaWhen I was twelve, three of my friends and I were trying to make up our minds whether to go trick-or-treating for Halloween. We decided that we would go, but in our hearts we knew it was probably the last year we would.

We went all out on our costumes, although for the life of me, I can't remember what mine was. We started knocking on doors and eventually our bags were filling up.

After about half an hour, we knocked on a door. A man and woman, dressed in costume, answered the door. They invited us in and gave us our candy. Just as we were getting ready to leave, the woman asked if we were about done with our trick-or-treating for the evening. We said that we were planning to go to a few more places and why did she want to know. She told us that they needed a baby-sitter. She and her husband had wanted to go to a Halloween party, but didn't have anyone to watch their kids. She wanted to know if we would want the job.

Two of the girls didn't want to, they were intent on continuing their candy-gathering. I and my best friend decided that money out-weighed candy, so we said yes. The couple let us call our parents to make sure it was okay. Our parents said yes and the couple went to their party.

After a little while, my friend and I started talking about how strange this all was. We hadn't even seen any children. So we sneaked into the bedrooms to check and sure enough, there were two sleeping children all cuddled in their beds. They were too young to trick-or-treat, so I guess their parents had put them to bed early.

The night was uneventful. The children slept. My friend and I watched television. After a few hours the parents returned home, paid us, and we were on our way home. All in all, it was a good evening. We got some candy in our bags and even made a little money.

There has been a lot of discussion this week in the news about "how old is too old" to trick-or-treat. I don't think anyone has an answer to that. I think it's different for every person. For me, it was that night. When people start asking you to work for them, it's probably time to quit.

Now that I'm older, I don't like it when teenagers beg for candy. I would prefer they stick to Halloween parties. It just seems to be an activity better suited for little kids accompanied by their parents. In fact, as a high school teacher, I was always surprised by the number of students who came to school in costume. I was even more surprised by the number of teachers who dressed for the occasion.

So how old is too old for Halloween? I guess I just don't have a good answer for that.

The Father of Fractals

Tweet Image via WikipediaBenoit Mandelbrot died on October 14, 2010 at age 85. I didn't read anything about it in the newspaper. I saw nothing on television news. I only found out by reading a blog on the Scientific American website. His wife said he died of pancreatic cancer. I should have thought the passing of such a great mind would have been more newsworthy, but it only seems to have appeared in numerous blogs. Perhaps his family preferred it that way.

Mandelbrot, known as the father of fractal geometry, was a mathematician who was able to combine mathematics, science, art, and nature. His formulas were genius; his fractals were used to describe mountains, coastlines, snow flakes, lightening, blood vessels, clusters of galaxies, and even cauliflower. Fractals have contributed to chaos theory, geology, medicine, cosmology, engineering, and were even featured in novels such as Jurassic Park.

If you would like to make a simple fractal (the kind found in Jurassic Park), simply take a strip of paper and fold it in half (the first iteration). Fold it in half again (the second iteration). Keep folding it in half. If you could keep doing this, you would eventually end up with the dragon fractal (the 16th iteration is pictured above). You can learn much more about this and other fractals at http://math.rice.edu/~lanius/frac/ . The site includes notes for teachers, printable versions, and directions for making a variety of fractals.

Related articles

• Goodbye to the Father of Fractals (pbs.org)
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_fractal

Intelligent Voice of Reason #1

Tweet Well, I haven't written anything for a while. I could make numerous excuses, but it won't change the fact that I haven't written anything for a while.

I've been watching a lot of television lately...news, politics, and education (Education Nation on the channels of NBC). I've been looking for some intelligent voices of reason. There are a few.

One of them is Steven Pinker, a psychology professor at Harvard. Earlier this month, he appeared on Countdown with Keith Olbermann, and was asked why it is so important to teach evolution. Here is his intelligent response:

"There are some practical reasons. Some of the greatest technological advances of the next few decades are going to be in the biological sciences. And you can't do biology unless you understand evolution. There's going to be a race between us and the superbugs, the viruses that are going to attack us. Their big weapon is that they can evolve fast. If we don't have a generation of science students and scientists who understand evolution, we're not going to be able to understand our worst enemies. Also, great advances in diseases like cancer and Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease are often going to come from research on other animals because you obviously can't give cancer or give Parkinson's disease to a human. You can to a mouse. We have to understand what the relationship is between a mouse and a human in order to interpret that science.

But also, what could be more fundamental than knowing where we came from? The theory of evolution is one of the most magnificent intellectual accomplishments of our civilization. It's a tragedy to deny children of the evidence, the line of argumentation, that led to this magnificent achievement in this essential bit of knowledge to understanding who we are and where we came from."

When American children are scoring in the bottom third in science when compared to other nations, we know there is a great need for good science education. Of course, this is made more difficult by number of adults who deny accepted scientific theories including, but not limited to, evolution, climate change, and the age of the earth. It appears scientific knowledge is also lacking in the adult population.

http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/2009/analysis/index.asp

http://charliesplayhouse.blogspot.com/2010/10/does-steven-pinker-have-kids-he-should.html

Critical Thinking is Critical

Tweet A few years ago I was selected for jury duty. As the lawyers were interviewing potential jurors, details of the trial were somewhat revealed. We learned, among other things, there would be DNA evidence and that the trial would probably take several days.

When the lawyers finally got to me, they asked me if I watched television shows like "CSI" and "Law and Order." When I said "yes," they asked me if I thought all evidence could be collected, analyzed, and conclusions drawn in a one hour show. If I remember correctly, I said that I knew television shows had to condense story lines for their viewers and that the actual processes took weeks or maybe even months. The interviewing lawyers called it the "CSI Effect" and said that many people think that all evidence, investigations, arrests, and trials should only take short amounts of time. They also made clear that the science and technologies on television dramas, while possible, were usually far more advanced than what anyone would find in real life.

At the time I thought how sad it was that the lawyers had to take time to tell prospective jurors that television shows are not real; they are television shows; they are stories. Obviously, the lawyers had learned that many people called to jury duty do not have the critical thinking skills to realize that television, while based on real-life stories, is not real life. That's kind of sad.

This is one reason why critical thinking skills are so stressed in schools. It also happens to be one of the areas in which students have trouble. The skills include observing, interpreting data, analyzing, making inferences, evaluating, explaining, and coming to accurate judgments. It involves open-minded thinking processes that lead to intelligent conclusions.

It's understandable that students will have some trouble with this kind of thinking because they are still learning to think critically. It is hoped that by the time students leave high school, they will be proficient in these skills. Unfortunately, that is not happening as evidenced by the number of adults who lack these skills. When lawyers have to interview prospective jurors about their critical thinking skills, it's obvious that many adults still need help in this area.

Schools definitely need to do a better job. My first day of high school chemistry, my teacher lit a candle and told us to watch it. We watched it and watched it until it was gone. At the time I thought it was just about the most stupid thing I had ever had to do in school. But then he asked us about our observations. As he wrote them on the chalkboard, we started interpreting what we had seen, we started analyzing and evaluating, we started to explain why the candle burned. This led to a discussion of the chemical processes involved in burning, a discussion of plasma, and how important it is to just observe.

As it turned out, this one activity of watching a candle, led the class into the world of science and critical thinking. Teaching these skills can really be just this simple, but must be done over and over in all subjects. Give students a math problem and let them come up with different ways of solving it. Let them write a story in Language Arts class about an observation they've made, perhaps something they saw on the way to school that morning. Analyze a current event for a Social Studies class and have students come to intelligent judgments of that event. With just a little imagination, the opportunities for teaching critical thinking skills are limitless.

10 Educational Responsibilities of Teachers

Tweet As a teacher, I found that all teachers know they must teach, but there are many other aspects of teaching of which a responsible teacher should be aware. Here are ten that I think are important.

1. A teacher's first responsibility should be to take care of himself or herself. Teachers are no good to anyone if they don't feel good or are not healthy. This means getting enough sleep, eating properly, exercising daily, and finding time for family, friends, personal interests, and hobbies.
2. Teachers must learn and practice patience. Many aspects of teaching can be exasperating. It's easy to answer a question the first time it's asked during the day. But at the end of the day, when it's the fiftieth time you've answered the same question, it's easy to lose patience. Remember, it's the fiftieth time for you, but it's the first time for the student.
3. Be on time. It sets a poor example if the teacher is always late getting to school or getting to class. It also becomes difficult to justify disciplinary action to students who are late.
4. Write out classroom rules and grading procedures. Give copies to students and parents.
5. Decorate your classroom and keep it clean, organized, and clutter-free.
6. Have lesson plans. In most cases, they don't have to be elaborate (unless the principal or school system requires this), but they should be complete and well-written. Any substitute coming to your class should be able to completely take over.
7. Teachers should keep up on legal issues affecting education. Many of these impact the classroom, the curriculum, the teaching, and the operations of the school. Don't rely on department chairs, principals, or school district administrators to keep you informed of all these.
8. Teachers should keep up on their teaching. There are new teaching methods, new technologies, new materials, new philosophies, new resources, and new research. While you may not incorporate all these, you may find something that really works for you.
9. Teachers should get papers and tests back to students as soon as possible. Students may act like they don't care, but they really do want to see their scores. It does take time to check papers properly and that may need to be explained to students and their parents.
10. Teachers should be friendly to students but not become their friends. It's good to attend student activities, but there is a line that is not to be crossed. Some students need friends and will want to be close to their teachers. They may be clingy or even develop crushes, but the teacher is the adult and must keep the relationship professional.