--- TIC-TECH message:
Some of you may or may not know that prior to working on my graduate
degree, I was a science teacher before I resigned in '95. Itching to be
in a classroom again, I subbed a few times in '98, but couldn't afford the
time away from my studies and stopped. Now that I'm just about done, I
put my name on the sub list again. My first assignment was Wednesday at
Denny.
One minute before first period was to start, we had a ... what do you say?
An unexpected fire alarm? Anyway, Denny had implemented new emergency
procedures this year, and as near as I could tell, things appeared to
proceed routinely. On my way outside, I was talking with another teacher
about the new procedures and mentioned that, in light of Columbine and
such, it was probably a good idea to design and test new plans. I
added, "But, an earthquake is probably more likely to happen around here."
To which she responded, "Yep. They say we're due for one soon. . . "
Of course, yesterday, I stayed home with my kids because Green Lake was
closed. However, it turned out to be an opportunity to go to the cinema
and see . . . what else? Recess: School's Out
For those who haven't seen this movie, I'm surprised Disney bought it and
distributed it. Superficially, it has a cute story line. The deeper
story is one that teachers will love. I'm not sure that Michael Eisner
would agree with it.
The vilian of the story is Dr. Philliam Benedict, the former school
principal and a former Secretary of Education who built his career on
promoting a "no recess" policy for the purposes of improving test scores.
The students of Third Street School try to thwart Dr. Benedict's attempt
to alter earth's climate and basically create a summer too cold for
vacation.
The story is even funnier when you realize that Benedict is based on
former Education Secretary William Bennett who was instrumental with
implementing the current standards movement. If anyone needs additional
proof of his involvment in promoting national standards, all you have to
do is read Dr. Bennett's recent article on the Empoweramerica.org Web
site:
<http://www.empoweramerica.org/ea/servlet/dispatcher/Articlewebcmd?ACTION=getArticleContent&articleId=331>
To top it off, the girl working behind the candy counter at the cinema was
a former Green Lake student. The last two days were enough to make an
episode for "Connections". Talk about stream-of-consciousness!
Kurt Sahl
bluesky@scn.org
On Thu, 1 Mar 2001, Krista Canterbury wrote:
> Maybe not as funny, but how about the kids that asked if it was a drill?
>
> Krista Canterbury
> Still recovering from three hours outside waiting for a building inspection.
>
> Mark Ahlness wrote:
>
> > Connie,
> > It's been a while since I laughed out loud reading an email. I suppose
> > it may be my reaction to being so totally stressed out by this event.
> > Thanks for the great story! If others have a story to share about the
> > earthquake in your school or workplace, please feel free to use this
> > forum for the next couple of days to do so. - Moderator Mark
> >
> > Mark Ahlness
> >
> > Connie Phillips wrote:
> > >
> > > A friend had gone to the Science Center to see the elephants IMAX. Before
> > > the movie started, the building and seats started to shake. She thought,
> > > "all right!" "This is a great effect. We're feeling the elephants as they
> > > rumble through the jungle." (Like Universal Studios or Disney Land.) Then
> > > someone yelled "earthquake!" "Get under your seats!" The auditorium was
> > > filled with First and Second graders, so well trained, they dove under their
> > > seats. ...and when they did, the seats all went up!
> > >
> > > CPhillips constancehp@yahoo.com or chphillips@seattleschools.org
- End TIC-TECH message. To join, leave, or visit
the message archive, go to Tic-Tech on the Web:
http://fp.seattleschools.org/fpclass/tic-tech/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Mar 02 2001 - 12:40:32 PST