I May Be MIA For Awhile

Not because I'm going anywhere-- though one of my dreams is for Eric to arrange childcare for Cate, pack my bags, and whisk me off to a beach somewhere for a weekend.  But because our computer is having some major problems.

It's user error-- Macs are still the best.  And I won't go into the details except to say that I was not the user who made the error.  And I am praying that we have not lost the 2,000 or so pictures we had stored in iPhoto, the 5,000 or so songs we had in iTunes, and the countless tax documents, papers from grad school, papers from undergrad, addresses we'd stored, etc.  It seems like a petty and insignificant thing to pray for, but it really is a big deal for me.  You know it's bad when the people at the Mac Store Genius Bar tell you to take your computer elsewhere to see if they (the people at "elsewhere") can recover everything from your hard drive before reinstalling the operating system on your computer.

In the meantime we have a borrowed computer to use.  I can't upload photos to it-- unless they're from my phone and I email them to myself.  Like this one of Cate:

This was at the library earlier this week.  She loved this little shape-sorting peg board.  And speaking of loving our library...if you live in our area, there is a very important issue coming up on the November 3rd ballot.  Issue 7 is an important library levy.  If it doesn't pass, many branches will be in danger of closing.  And the levy will only cost the average homeowner $2.50/month.  I don't know about you, but we use our library a lot.  And it's always busy-- kids being tutored, adults applying for jobs, teenagers writing their first resumes, story-times, summer programs, sewing clubs, outreaches to the elderly, etc.  Keep our libraries and their invaluable, often-free, programs alive by voting "yes."

Until I can post again...have a good weekend.  And enjoy this poem about Cate that my awesome Aunt "B" wrote.

~Melody :-)

P.S.  And if it doesn't seem too insignificant to you too, would you mind lifting up a little prayer for the recovery of our hard drive for us?  We do have a several things backed up on an external hard-drive, but we still stand to lose a lot.  Thanks.

I'm a little sad...

...to learn that Presidential hopeful John McCain supports No Child Left Behind and merit pay for teachers. Most of you that know us, know that Eric and I don't really align ourselves with any political party as we feel it's important to vote for the candidate that feels the same way we do about issues. For us the biggies have always been education, healthcare, the environment, and the war.

If you don't know a lot about NCLB, I suggest you read up on it. While it's good in its intentions, it is not carried out effectively at all (ask any teacher). I like the parts of it that keep schools accountable for hiring highly qualified teachers...after all, our kids deserve to have someone in the classroom who knows what they're doing. And I like that it wants schools to continue to make improvements. I don't like the parts of it that say if a school is not performing up to standard (this is largely judged by how well students perform on tests) then the government can take over the school, laying off the staff and bringing in a new staff. Why not bring in people to help trouble shoot and work on improving the school instead of laying off the entire staff?

As teachers, we have no control over the things that go on in our students' lives and how much information they choose to retain. I can teach things over and over again, but I do not go home with the student to make sure they study, or do homework, or practice, etc. Likewise, I have no control over whether or not they come to school having had breakfast, a good night's sleep, etc. On test day, I can't hold their hands and bubble in answers for them. Yet NCLB expects that the child coming from a broken, low income home to retain the same information as the child from the higher income, loving home. This is also how merit pay works. A teacher is paid for how well his/her students perform on a test. I met an incredible teacher through my grad. school program that teaches in one of the worst Cincinnati Public Schools. She puts in more hours trying to love and reach those kids than any other teacher I know. Yet she would be one of the first to have her salary lowered by merit pay or potentially lose her job because of NCLB.

I'm fortunate to teach in a district with involved parents, in-tact families, and a lot of support. But I really feel like merit pay and NCLB would be like basing the President's salary on how well the American citizens can do on a citizenship test (I've seen some of the questions in an article I read and they're not all easy) and firing him/her, the cabinet, chiefs of staffs, senators, and representatives if the scores were too low. I'm not trying to tell you who to vote for...there are important issues other than education...I simply needed to vent. And something different definitely needs to be done about education in this country.

~Melody

PS...check back later tonight/early tomorrow for new pictures from Pig weekend, Cate's 3 month birthday picture, and a special video message from baby herself. :-)