The Research Paper

About two weeks ago my son, Joey, was assigned a research paper. He did not have a clue where to start. He said that in all his years at Analy High School no teacher taught him how to do a research paper. As much as I am reluctant to walk my students through all of the steps necessary for a good research paper, I am beginning one with my sophomores today. We have just finished reading Black Boy and I will let them choose topics that deal with civil rights or African American History. Today they will look at different kinds of references, touch on how to evaluate articles, and give them an overview of the process for the next two weeks.

It has made me think about writing a book on writing a research paper, something to do in my spare time. I visited a couple of book stores over the weekend and didn't find a satisfactory book. There are some good Internet sources such as http://www.aresearchguide.com/ and http://www.virtualsalt.com/. But book that gives a step by step process that would help a student like my son, would be the best.

Today I have put up a time line for the next two weeks. Today they will create a reference on an index card as a first step. The librarian will give them a little talk on different kinds of sources and they will come up with a tentative topic. On Thursday they must have their topic honed down, an extended bibliography by Monday, a typed outline by Tuesday, index cards filled out by Thursday and a first draft due the following Monday.

I'll keep you posted.

California Schools in Disaster Mode

I have had this entire week off, then on Saturday, I had my first obligation to work, a five hour meeting with my union. Members come from all over Northern California to coordinate activities, report on committee progress and solve problems that administrations have forced upon us, "the workers".

In case you haven't noticed the future for education in California looks bleak even disastrous for students from kindergarten to final years of university with few prospects for improvement. California was first in the United States for education in 1978 and now it forty eight out of fifty (48th of 50 states). The spending per student in California is $2400 less than the average of spending per student in the United States. The neglect of education in California has been a steady slide from 1978 to now. Of course, I have an easy solution- tax the rich.

On a personal level, two very valuable classes that I taught at Analy High School were dropped because of funding cuts last year- Computer Skills. I will not spend too much time praising the value of my program, but many students have little or no access to computers at home. And how does one develop the skills to write a business letter, do a research paper, create a cogent presentation, or make oneself known on the the Internet without a demanding computer skills class?

So we, as a union just in this county, have planned many activities for March fourth.

Sonoma County Actions for March 4th

1. Half page ad in the Press Democrat (donations encouraged)

2. Get student input (perhaps leadership or writing slogans, making badges)

3. Diaster Drill- Under teacher supervision students will exit the building as if it is a fire or earthquake drill- a symbolic gesture to point out the disastrous state of California Schools.

4. Give out "Palm cards". Palm Cards have a little summary of what citizens can do to call attention to the situation.

5. Sign Petitions - Corporate Loopholes (possible the 55% passage on budget).

6. Take photos of your action and send 2 of them to Redwood council- our regional union chapter.

7. Wear your school colors and logos.

8. Put empty chairs in front of the school - one to match each person in the district pink slipped - classified, certificated and administrative. Color paper pink ( for "pink slips" or layoff notices) or black for the occasion.

9. Post your photos at Stand Up For Schools site sponsored by the California Teachers Association.

10. Start a countdown on Monday (ten days).

Our big action is to have a "disaster drill". In California the usual disasters are fire, flood and earthquake. We must do drills several times a year. We decided that to make a statement to the press and the central government in Sacramento we should stage a drill that signifies "Disaster for Education" in California. All students and teachers go out of their rooms and stand in a field to show that our schools are in a state of disaster.

Our superintendent prefers a much more conservative stand. We want to involve students, staff, administration and parents- really anyone who has a stake in the education of children from California. He does not want to do a disaster drill. I suggested that students for 20 minutes join hands outside the school to symbolize a protective stance for our school. He really should support us because he has the backing of his union and also the superintendent of Sonoma County schools (his boss).

We as teachers will join together with other teachers in our district to do a march to the central square in Sebastopol to protest the budget cuts. Even our conservative superintendent supports this move. And I expect that not only all of our teacher will join in this action but the clerical staff, administrators and any other employees of the district.

So, as I write in my blog late on a Sunday night, I realize that this message is for all members of the community who are interested in showing to the state and even the world, the desperate state of education in California. We must make some strong stand to captivate the press, agitate the public and shake the money interests in California. I know that kindergarten teachers to university professors join in this plea. Even out of state and out of country, the state of schools is an issue to pay attention to. There are two trends that contribute to the degeneration of schools, the present economic crisis and the movement to take monies away from public education.

As a last desperate addition, I will express my reason for retiring next year from my much loved teaching career. I have watched the down-slide of education funding in California. I have seen the class sizes continually increase. I have seen so many great programs be dropped. They even turn the heat off at noon in our school to save money. Summer schools and libraries are on the chopping block. I have seen hours cut for teachers, too many layoffs and librarians soon to be a vanishing species. I love my students and I love my job. And I would still love to continue to teach but not under the conditions that have squeezed every last concession.

I will forward this blog to everyone on my email list because I feel so passionately about these issues. My apologies if you do not understand it or if you have another opinion.

The Babe Ruth Card

I have had a two week crash course in how to sell baseball cards. My father-in-law, Bill had a collection of 21 cards that belonged to his father. He made me the primo agent to put them out on the market and sell them. My preliminary research on ebay came up with a $10,000 price tag on a card that looked pretty much the same as the one that I had in my possession. Yet it has been difficult to produce research on the exact card because many were issued around the country under a variety of sponsorships.

The ten thousand dollar card was, of course, Babe Ruth. Let me flash back a month or so when Bill asked me to see what I could do with the card. There were 21 of them attached by glue to a very old backing. I told him that the first thing we must do is to get a professional to remove them from the backing. Fortunately we know a trained museum trained paper restorer. She carefully removed the cards from the backs and charged us a reasonable $325 or so.

I searched the Internet for people that I thought to be knowledgeable and reputable dealers. I found a straightforward website that gave a straightforward way to grade the cards. I scanned all of the cards and personally rated them according to the method recommended on the site. I sent the man an email with cards delineated and graded along with careful scans of both front and back of the cards. I wrote him a nice honest and friendly email. I heard nothing for a week, so I decided to call him. He answered me from Florida and said, "Oh, sorry that I have not gotten back to you. I was buying a $40,000 collection here." This sounded to me a little like bragging, although I checked his credentials and found that he graduated from a Catholic University. I threw this at him. "Oh, I looked into your history and saw that you went to a Catholic University..." He strangely replied, "Oh, it was Catholic in name only and actually, I have some problems with the way the new Catholicism is run..." The more he talked about this, the more wacko he sounded to me. He promised me that he would get back to me by Monday at the latest, and Monday is passed and gone.

On Monday, Valentine's Day, Bill was here for his son's (visiting from New Mexico) birthday party. We discussed my progress with the cards and I showed him the newly restored cards. He was very impressed. We both laughed about the possible $10,000 figure for the Babe Ruth card.

On Tuesday, I decided to do some more research. It was then I found a "Ruth" card on ebay listed for $20,000. I found that cards, to receive more, must be graded by a professional independent grader. I thought I found one local in Rohnert Park, but when I called a card shop in Rohnert Park, he told me that the place had been out of business for four years. But he wanted to see my cards.

Joe struck me as an honest man first. He enjoyed looking at the cards, but mostly our chat was informal. He said that he had a friend who had money who might be interested in the cards. "I'll get back to you on the weekend," he said. He called back the next day (three times) telling me that his friend, the well off tax lawyer wanted to meet with me and see the cards.

When I talked to Fred, the lawyer, on the phone he was friendly and unassuming. We talked on the phone. I could hear the excitement in his voice and, I was sure he was going to make me an offer. I called Bill and we decided on a price: $10,000 for the Ruth and $5000 for the rest of the cards.

I met Fred in his office in Rohnert Park. Just after we shook hands he took the folder and opened to see the cards. He took one out and held it carefully close to his eyes, then smelled it. He then spent about 15 minutes in non stop dialogue about the cards. "Don't mind me," he said, as carefully looked and smelled each card, "I talk to myself as do this." At first he was skeptical about the authenticity of the cards. They did not have that "old card smell" that he loved so much.

I asked him if he knew John Spalding, a well known figure, former sports writer and parent of Donna's high school friend. Of course, he knew John. They had done some transactions together. "John saw these?" he said. I explained that John had just talked to Bill about them briefly. He finally said that he decided that they were authentic. But the cards from the caramel company used thicker paper and the writing on the back was so much more sophisticated, but these certainly were one of a kind. "I can't believe the condition that these are in- just beautiful, perfect corners." Then he told me that these were cut, but beautiful and he suggested that I get them graded as I had intended to do. He said the quality was just not the same as the ones from the caramel company, but that somebody would be interested in buying them. After a long conversation about the cards, I shook hands and left. He asked me to keep in contact and tell him how the process goes.

Inpromptu Band

I have been relaxing this past week, a great feeling. They call it ski week, a week of no school somehow that has extended "Dead Presidents' Day" to new lengths. It will not happen next year.

As I relaxed at the computer in my basement nook, I heard Donna come in the door. "Didn't you hear the phone ring?" she said. "No," I answered. "I was listening to the radio." It would have make no difference for I had no transportation except foot to meet her. She had taken Joey to a gig fundraiser for Haiti Relief. Jesse had enlisted the help of several of his friends to play for a "Fat Tuesday" fundraiser. "They need a guitar player." She said. "All the friends of Jesse flaked out."

I grabbed my guitar, amps, charts and new "electro mando" and we headed for Santa Rosa. Two boys sat there waiting for the rest of the band. I set up and we started with "When the Saints...", then "Saint James Infirmary". when Huck showed up to play piano, then Autumn Leaves and on to standards. For 16 years old Jesse plays a awesome sax. Joey is always right on with the drumming. Huck has a great style on the keyboard, but a little on the slow side for my Django heart.
Huck and Jess played everything in different keys than I did. Alas, my brain worked overtime to get most of the right chords in there. I used some of my own charts and did some mental gyrations to transpose most of the tunes. Strangely the band sounded tight- at least this is what we heard from the enthusiastically grateful audience. Despite my diminishing "laryngitis voice" I attempted to sing Sentimental Journey. Miracle of all, it was a very fun gig for a good cause. I posited that we only played five songs, but Donna said that we were up there for an hour and a half.

We helped raise ( I don't know how much) for Haiti, but the organizer seemed pleased. Also I wss happy to play a gig with my little boy.

Performance

I just posted my performance with my son, Joey that we did at a fundraiser at Analy. It was great fun. It has also got me thinking about doing performance when I leave teaching. I went to a Travel Workshop on Saturday with lots of cruises. They hire entertainment regularly. I was thinking that ideally a duet with Joey would be great but he is free only in the summers. Many of these cruises want you on a nine month contract and only pay from $60 to $100 per day. I will give it some more thought.

Substitutes Beware

Yesterday I went to the MacWorld (Apple Show) at Moscone Center in San Francisco with my son. It necessitated having a substitute teacher in my sophomore classes. We have a totally automated sub service now and I chose my sub from a long list of names (a sign of the desperate job situation here) - none of which I knew. I chose a person whose name sounded familiar to me, but I did not know at all. She at least had a local phone number. I wrote her an email but never heard from her.

I took a long time to plan the lesson and unfortunately it was a day where students

On my way to school I saw Jeremy and asked him how things went. "They were messin' with her." was his answer.

"Hello, yes, Period 4 was difficult, many behaviors, too much noise and wisecracks, but not too bad. No real problems, and by the end of the class they were all being very cool. They helped each other with sentences. They were all demanding too much time to rehearse presentation and loud during presentations... extra slashes for talking during the presentations..."

I am ready to finish this entry. It is Sunday night. I have left my desk as it is, along with all of the negative comments about my students. Just to leave you with a message: Substitutes Beware. Perhaps I will finish this entry at another time.

Administrative Hubris

Yesterday at the faculty meeting our principal, Chris, introduced the subject in the following way. "Maybe I shouldn't be bringing this up, but I noticed that a significant number of teachers are out on Thursday and Friday. And coming before the long ski week I can't help thinking that there are some people taking advantage of the situation. So if you have to go back and visit your sick Uncle John, I can understand that. And I know that you are not obligated to do this, but I would appreciate a heads up."

I am taking Thursday off to go to the Apple Show in San Francisco. Somehow in my head I started making justifications. I also felt angry at him that he was making such a request. When I got back to my room I fired off a quick email: Something like "For the record: I bought tickets for a show in the city back in October with no idea when ski week was. Also I intend to join my cousin from back East, his girlfriend and my son on Friday February 26 for a wine tasting."

I talked to Donna about his comment and about my email reaction. She says administrators are always trying to but in where they don't belong. "You work hard and they should respect that. They have a system of substitutes to take over when you are not there." She is right. Now I regret even writing this email. Yet I thought by sending it to him I might embarrass him a little by the detail of my answer. But in honesty I think that there is a little of "cover my ass". It is "cover my ass" when I do not need to cover my ass. I retire in June.

These negotiated days were hard fought by our union to get administration's nose out of our business. I know that he likes having a good relationship with the teachers, but his kind of comment destroy the trust and relationship. It is kind of a administrative knee-jerk reaction. As a principal, Chris gains from the sheer ineptitude of our last principal, but he will erode good will from making comments like this. It is less than professional.