08.01.08
Posted in General at 10:55 pm by Paloma Cruz
Cheerleader hazing
The Houston Chronicle1 reports that Katy Independent School District is investigating claims that varsity and junior varsity cheerleaders tat Morton Ranch High School are being subjected to hazing.
Spokesman Steve Stanford said administrators learned of allegations that the school’s varsity squad “kidnapped” junior varsity members from their homes, blindfolded them, bound their hands and mouths with duct tape and tossed them into a swimming pool last Friday morning.
Hazing is considered a Class B misdemeanor by the Texas Education Code.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Watch the trailer of the much-anticipated sixth movie. In this one, a prominent character dies. It’s the darkest of all the books, and the only one my niece didn’t finish. “It was boring,” she explains. I didn’t think so, but I’m no a pre-teen.
Footnotes
1 = article may expire in a few weeks.
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07.08.08
Posted in General at 10:13 pm by Paloma Cruz
The principals for success
The new heads of a troubled HISD campus are eager to turn it around
– Houston Chronicle2
[snip]
Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott announced that Sam Houston must close after six straight years of unacceptable student test scores, and HISD had until August to transform the Northside school.
The reform plan split Sam Houston into two schools: one for freshmen and the other for students in grades 10-12. Both will focus on math and science. Saavedra put Crump in charge of the upper school and tapped Treviño to head the ninth-grade campus.
Neither Crump nor Treviño has run a high school, but both have led campuses that proved successful with at-risk students.
Now, they face the biggest test of their careers as they rebuild the academic program at Sam Houston, a sprawling campus that has had its share of gang problems, staff turnover and low morale.
The first and biggest step for the new principals is hiring teachers. Combined, they must fill about 140 positions, a massive task this late in the year. Under the commissioner’s order, only 25 percent of the Sam Houston staff can return to the new schools.
[snip]
Footnotes
2 = article may expire in a few weeks.
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02.19.08
Posted in General, News at 12:33 am by Paloma Cruz
25 Dallas teachers will be fired in schools’ shakeup
7 underperforming campuses forced into state-mandated improvement measures
– Houston Chronicle2
Two elementary schools and five high schools in the Dallas school system face state-mandated improvements after being classified as academically unacceptable for two years in a row, a school official said on Monday.
Also, 25 teachers at those seven schools will be fired because of their students’ poor performances on the state’s standardized tests, the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, Dallas ISD spokesman Jon Dahlander said.
[snip]
Footnotes
2 = article may expire in a few weeks
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01.02.08
Posted in General at 12:37 am by Paloma Cruz
Wishing all of you a wonderful 2008, personally & professionally.
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12.18.07
Posted in General, News at 10:21 am by Paloma Cruz
Is Santa being too good to some teachers?
Expensive gifts and ‘wish lists’ raise the question for some schools
– Houston Chronicle2
[snip]
So when Sides, who never drank coffee, began raising kids of her own, she decided the annual teacher gift-giving routine needed an upgrade. Her wish list survey, handed out to her sons’ teachers at River Oaks Elementary each school year, quizzes them on everything from hobbies to favorite restaurants. Parents get copies of the answers and, come holiday time, go to work.
Such surveys — akin to bridal registries — are popping up in many elementary schools, both public and private. Parents in the Fort Bend school district say they’ve used them. And Annette Bieda, kindergarten teacher at Frost Elementary in the Lamar Consolidated School District, said her campus keeps a book of gift-idea surveys on file for parents.
[snip]
But the trend, while an aid to parents, plays a role in what some see as an extravagant turn in the holiday gift tradition. In the area’s more affluent public schools, parents have handed out everything from spa gift certificates to gold rings, teachers say. The change is nice for those who have worked for years in the classroom but has some administrators squirming.
In Katy, a handful of elementary schools now have gift guidelines, including limits on who can collect money for presents and recommendations that contributions be kept to a “reasonable amount.”
And earlier this month, the Fort Bend school district warned all employees against accepting anything worth more then $50.
[snip]
Footnotes
2 = article may expire in a few weeks
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11.16.07
Posted in General at 11:21 am by Paloma Cruz
HISD students make gains on test scores
Report Card shows advances in reading, math, but there’s room for improvement
– Houston Chronicle2
Houston fourth- and eighth-graders continue to fare better on reading and math tests than their peers in several other large cities, according to a national report released Thursday.
Results of the Nation’s Report Card show that middle school students in the Houston Independent School District made the biggest gains this year, though the district’s performance overall still trails the Texas and national averages.
But Houston’s triumphs over some other urban districts is considered significant because they have similar student populations, particularly more minorities and low-income children. Those students traditionally perform worse on standardized tests.
[snip]
Footnotes
2 = article may expire in a few weeks
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07.15.07
Posted in General at 1:29 pm by Paloma Cruz
“A school watchdog group is calling for Katy Independent School District to immediately begin an examination of its discipline policy after a sixth-grader was ordered to attend alternative school for four months for writing ‘I love Alex’ on a gymnasium wall,” I read in the Chronicle.
When I first read about this I was appalled that writing an “I love X” statement on the wall could result in such a severe punishment. Then I discussed it with my sister, who is a teacher. And she gave me a different perspective. Writing on the wall is graffiti, which many school districts have to treat as gang-related activity. And they really can’t differentiate what they think may be a gang message and what they think may not be one.
That might not be the reasoning behind the punishment in Katy ISD. But it did give me another perspective I wasn’t considering.
Resources:
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04.01.07
Posted in General at 8:39 pm by Paloma Cruz
Kruse library will thrive with $5,000 grant
– reported by the Pasadena Citizen
“This grant will make sure more children have access to books and it also ensures more children enjoy the lifelong benefits of reading,” said Rosie Prusz, Kruse Elementary principal.The Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries was founded in 2002 as a fund of the Community Foundation for the National Capital Region. Since its inception, the Laura Bush Foundation has awarded over $3 million to 634 schools in the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
[snip]
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01.24.07
Posted in General at 11:06 pm by Paloma Cruz
Despite the fact that Alvin ISD, like every other school district in Texas, will start school August 27, they will keep their fall break. This means that they will have a break October 1-5, and won’t get out of school next year until June 5.
Alvin ISD will keep its fall break
Week off in October means next school year won’t be ending until June 5
– reported by the Houston Chronicle
The Alvin school district has decided to keep its week-long fall break holiday for the 2007-08 school year.
All school districts in the state will start the next school year on Aug. 27 because of a statewide mandate. This school year, classes in the Alvin school district began Aug. 9 and will end May 24.
For next school year, the district had been considering two calendar options. One included a fall break from Oct. 1-5, and the other did not.
The school board decided to go with the fall break option after a majority of the district’s employees voted in favor of it, district spokeswoman Shirley Brothers said.
The calendar that’s been approved includes the reduction of Thanksgiving break from a week to three days, and the elimination of the day off the Monday after Easter. The school year won’t end until June 5.
[snip]
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10.05.06
Posted in General at 12:24 am by Paloma Cruz
As I ponder the possibilities of going back to school and getting a graduate degree, I find myself wondering if I’m too old to work and study. Lifehacker pointed me to this “how-to” by California Polytechnic, which gives the basics of being a student:
- Prioritize your life: Doing well in school should be your top priority.
- Study: There is no substitute.
- Always attend class.
- Do all of the homework and assigned reading.
- Develop self-discipline.
- Manage your time.
Of particular interest is the section on Time Management:
No matter how you slice it, there are only 24 hours in a day. Good time-management requires:
- Not taking on more than you can handle.
- Reasonably estimating the time required to perform each of the tasks at hand.
- Actually doing what needs to be done.
Only you can do these things. A couple of thoughts, though, that may help spur you on:
- A minute now is as precious as a minute later. You can’t put time back on the clock.
- If you’re not ahead of schedule, then you’re behind schedule. Because, if you try to remain right on schedule, then any mishap or misjudgment will cause you to fall behind—perhaps right at the deadline, when no recovery is possible.
By the way, you might want to check out LifeHacker’s ongoing list of tips, tricks and aids for students.
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