Stormin Mormon wrote:

On 10/30/2014 12:20 PM, Danny D. wrote:

She has kids banging on the table,
and calling her a b*ch, and plenty of disciplinary problems, all of which
are common through all the classes, as she told me most of these kids are
being weeded out of the system through their behavior in *all* their
classes.


I've suspected since the beginning that the
bathroom pass is just a bandaid on a larger
problem. This supports my guess.


Parents dumping defective kids on the school system.


--
Anyone wanting to run for any political office in the US should have to
have a DD214, and a honorable discharge.

knuttle wrote, on Thu, 30 Oct 2014 19:24:10 -0400:

(Alien Abduction Syndrome: The child who has been a terror all
afternoon, but later when when a friend's mom returns him, she tells
what a perfect child you have)

I was wondering why all the teachers commented that my kids
were wonderful to know in class.

I had wondered if they had mine mixed up with someone elses'.
Now I know what happened.

The aliens did it!

On Thu, 30 Oct 2014 22:23:56 -0400, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:


"Danny D." wrote:

John Paquay wrote, on Thu, 30 Oct 2014 04:51:58 -0400:

My knee jerk reaction to the original posting in this thread was not
"What's wrong with these kids?", but rather, "What's wrong with this
teacher?"

She's brand new to teaching, but, it turns out that classroom management
is a standard problem in these multi-ethnic San Jose schools.

One teacher uses a bathroom plunger, as his bathroom pass.

To me, the whole idea of using some (any) ginormous item as a hall pass
is stupid, demeaning, and completely counterproductive... not to
mention, an exercise in futility. What does this really accomplish?

What it (attempts to) accomplish is the reduce undue interruptions of
the classroom environment.

We all know that the kids can go to the bathroom plenty of other times,
but, all kids will take advantage of a "free pass" out of jail, if
even for only 10 minutes (which they can synchronize with other friends,
if they're clever).


The local high school has a single person restroom in each classroom.
Problem, solved.

When I was a kid, the only classrooms with bathrooms were kindergarten
classrooms. I guess it does make sense that they all would now.

wrote:

On Thu, 30 Oct 2014 22:23:56 -0400, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:


"Danny D." wrote:

John Paquay wrote, on Thu, 30 Oct 2014 04:51:58 -0400:

My knee jerk reaction to the original posting in this thread was not
"What's wrong with these kids?", but rather, "What's wrong with this
teacher?"

She's brand new to teaching, but, it turns out that classroom management
is a standard problem in these multi-ethnic San Jose schools.

One teacher uses a bathroom plunger, as his bathroom pass.

To me, the whole idea of using some (any) ginormous item as a hall pass
is stupid, demeaning, and completely counterproductive... not to
mention, an exercise in futility. What does this really accomplish?

What it (attempts to) accomplish is the reduce undue interruptions of
the classroom environment.

We all know that the kids can go to the bathroom plenty of other times,
but, all kids will take advantage of a "free pass" out of jail, if
even for only 10 minutes (which they can synchronize with other friends,
if they're clever).


The local high school has a single person restroom in each classroom.
Problem, solved.

When I was a kid, the only classrooms with bathrooms were kindergarten
classrooms. I guess it does make sense that they all would now.


It's a lot less disruption to the class. I saw them during the last
hurricane, when the building was used as a shelter for the disabled and
senior citizens.



--
Anyone wanting to run for any political office in the US should have to
have a DD214, and a honorable discharge.

Michael A. Terrell wrote:


The local high school has a single person restroom in each classroom.
Problem, solved.

How are ya supposed to grab a quick cigarette without getting caught that
way?

--

-Mike-

On 10/30/2014 10:25 PM, Michael A. Terrell wrote:

Stormin Mormon wrote:
I've suspected since the beginning that the
bathroom pass is just a bandaid on a larger
problem. This supports my guess.


Parents dumping defective kids on the school system.

CA is noted for the liberal left leaning culture.
Very possible the entire school system is run on
self esteem, and fragile feelings, instead of old
fashioned tried and true.

-
..
Christopher A. Young
Learn about Jesus
www.lds.org
..

On 10/31/14, 6:14 AM, Mike Marlow wrote:
Michael A. Terrell wrote:


The local high school has a single person restroom in each classroom.
Problem, solved.

How are ya supposed to grab a quick cigarette without getting caught that
way?

Just holler to the teacher to turn on the ventilator because you just
stunk up the bathroom.

On 10/30/14, 10:49 PM, wrote:
When I was a kid, the only classrooms with bathrooms were kindergarten
classrooms. I guess it does make sense that they all would now.

When I was a kid, schools didn't have bathrooms. At home, my mother
made us bathe every week.

Stormin Mormon wrote, on Fri, 31 Oct 2014 08:52:10 -0400:

CA is noted for the liberal left leaning culture.
Very possible the entire school system is run on self esteem, and
fragile feelings, instead of old fashioned tried and true.

Does anyone here have high school kids?
Would you ask *them* what they use for a bathroom pass?
I'd be interested in the results.

On Fri, 31 Oct 2014 01:25:48 -0400, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:


wrote:

On Thu, 30 Oct 2014 22:23:56 -0400, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:


"Danny D." wrote:

John Paquay wrote, on Thu, 30 Oct 2014 04:51:58 -0400:

My knee jerk reaction to the original posting in this thread was not
"What's wrong with these kids?", but rather, "What's wrong with this
teacher?"

She's brand new to teaching, but, it turns out that classroom management
is a standard problem in these multi-ethnic San Jose schools.

One teacher uses a bathroom plunger, as his bathroom pass.

To me, the whole idea of using some (any) ginormous item as a hall pass
is stupid, demeaning, and completely counterproductive... not to
mention, an exercise in futility. What does this really accomplish?

What it (attempts to) accomplish is the reduce undue interruptions of
the classroom environment.

We all know that the kids can go to the bathroom plenty of other times,
but, all kids will take advantage of a "free pass" out of jail, if
even for only 10 minutes (which they can synchronize with other friends,
if they're clever).


The local high school has a single person restroom in each classroom.
Problem, solved.

When I was a kid, the only classrooms with bathrooms were kindergarten
classrooms. I guess it does make sense that they all would now.


It's a lot less disruption to the class. I saw them during the last
hurricane, when the building was used as a shelter for the disabled and
senior citizens.

Less interruption? How so? When we were in high school (long before)
there were no "bathroom passes". Classes were 50 minutes with 10
minutes between. Young adults were expected to be potty trained.

On Fri, 31 Oct 2014 16:19:25 -0400, J Burns
wrote:

On 10/30/14, 10:49 PM, wrote:
When I was a kid, the only classrooms with bathrooms were kindergarten
classrooms. I guess it does make sense that they all would now.

When I was a kid, schools didn't have bathrooms. At home, my mother
made us bathe every week.

OK, Abe. ;-)

On Fri, 31 Oct 2014 06:14:15 -0400, "Mike Marlow"
wrote:

Michael A. Terrell wrote:


The local high school has a single person restroom in each classroom.
Problem, solved.

How are ya supposed to grab a quick cigarette without getting caught that
way?

Wait for the class to get over, then skip the next.

wrote:

Michael A. Terrell wrote:

It's a lot less disruption to the class. I saw them during the
lasthurricane, when the building was used as a shelter for the
disabled and senior citizens.

Less interruption? How so? When we were in high school (long before)
there were no "bathroom passes". Classes were 50 minutes with 10
minutes between. Young adults were expected to be potty trained.

By letting them get up and use it quickly without interrupting the
class to ask for the pass and the time it took to return it. Some people
have medical problems, and the need arises without much warning.


We had five minutes between classes. Then the principal retired. His
replacement cut it to three minutes between classes and turned off the
bells even though the clock system needed a lot of work. It turned into
a real mess when hundreds of kids were sent to the principal's office
for being tardy for each class. The teachers used whatever their watch
said, and no two were the same.


--
Anyone wanting to run for any political office in the US should have to
have a DD214, and a honorable discharge.

On Fri, 31 Oct 2014 19:34:10 -0400, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:


wrote:

Michael A. Terrell wrote:

It's a lot less disruption to the class. I saw them during the
lasthurricane, when the building was used as a shelter for the
disabled and senior citizens.

Less interruption? How so? When we were in high school (long before)
there were no "bathroom passes". Classes were 50 minutes with 10
minutes between. Young adults were expected to be potty trained.

By letting them get up and use it quickly without interrupting the
class to ask for the pass and the time it took to return it. Some people
have medical problems, and the need arises without much warning.

*Exceedingly* few high school students have such problems. There are
ways to deal with those few. IOW, a red herring.

We had five minutes between classes. Then the principal retired. His
replacement cut it to three minutes between classes and turned off the
bells even though the clock system needed a lot of work. It turned into
a real mess when hundreds of kids were sent to the principal's office
for being tardy for each class. The teachers used whatever their watch
said, and no two were the same.

Your principal and the entire faculty, in fact, were morons. Maybe
they were just ahead of their time. It also must have been a very
small high school.

wrote:

On Fri, 31 Oct 2014 19:34:10 -0400, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:


wrote:

Michael A. Terrell wrote:

It's a lot less disruption to the class. I saw them during the
lasthurricane, when the building was used as a shelter for the
disabled and senior citizens.

Less interruption? How so? When we were in high school (long before)
there were no "bathroom passes". Classes were 50 minutes with 10
minutes between. Young adults were expected to be potty trained.

By letting them get up and use it quickly without interrupting the
class to ask for the pass and the time it took to return it. Some people
have medical problems, and the need arises without much warning.

*Exceedingly* few high school students have such problems. There are
ways to deal with those few. IOW, a red herring.

We had five minutes between classes. Then the principal retired. His
replacement cut it to three minutes between classes and turned off the
bells even though the clock system needed a lot of work. It turned into
a real mess when hundreds of kids were sent to the principal's office
for being tardy for each class. The teachers used whatever their watch
said, and no two were the same.

Your principal and the entire faculty, in fact, were morons. Maybe
they were just ahead of their time. It also must have been a very
small high school.

1400
--
Anyone wanting to run for any political office in the US should have to
have a DD214, and a honorable discharge.

On 10/31/14, 7:01 PM, wrote:
On Fri, 31 Oct 2014 16:19:25 -0400, J Burns
wrote:

On 10/30/14, 10:49 PM, wrote:
When I was a kid, the only classrooms with bathrooms were kindergarten
classrooms. I guess it does make sense that they all would now.

When I was a kid, schools didn't have bathrooms. At home, my mother
made us bathe every week.

OK, Abe. ;-)

Now I remember. Starting around 7th grade, my schools did have
bathrooms. No tubs, just communal showers. It was compulsory to bathe
together twice a week.

On 10/31/14, 7:34 PM, Michael A. Terrell wrote:
We had five minutes between classes. Then the principal retired. His
replacement cut it to three minutes between classes and turned off the
bells even though the clock system needed a lot of work. It turned into
a real mess when hundreds of kids were sent to the principal's office
for being tardy for each class. The teachers used whatever their watch
said, and no two were the same.

Our school had a Western Union clock system governed by a grandfather
clock in the office. Occasionally we'd see classroom clocks jump because
the principal was adjusting the grandfather clock.

I believed in punctuality, being neither late nor early. I'd generally
reach my desk 10 seconds before the bell. All we had at home was a 3"
electric clock on the stove. That couldn't be read precisely, so I
relied on my internal clock.

Sometimes on a Monday morning I'd be 10 seconds late instead of 10
seconds early. I couldn't reset my internal clock on the principal's
whim, so I'd be 10 seconds late every day. By Friday, teachers would be
complaining about my continuing presence in detention. The principal
would fix his clock and Monday the school would be back in sync with me.

He could have saved detention teachers a lot of unpleasantness if he'd
checked with me or the Naval Observatory before tampering with the
grandfather clock.

krw wrote, on Fri, 31 Oct 2014 19:00:31 -0400:

Less interruption? How so? When we were in high school (long before)
there were no "bathroom passes". Classes were 50 minutes with 10
minutes between. Young adults were expected to be potty trained.

San Jose high school classes are an hour and 45 minutes long, which is
double your class periods. On Mondays, they're very short. About an hour.

On 11/1/2014 8:15 AM, Danny D. wrote:

San Jose high school classes are an
hour and 45 minutes long, which is
double your class periods. On Mondays,
they're very short. About an hour.


That sounds like a lot too long to keep
students at a desk. Half hour to 45 mins
would make more sense. Need to get up and
walk around. I don't think this sounds
practical.

-
..
Christopher A. Young
Learn about Jesus
www.lds.org
..

On Fri, 31 Oct 2014 20:38:05 -0400, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:


wrote:

On Fri, 31 Oct 2014 19:34:10 -0400, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:


wrote:

Michael A. Terrell wrote:

It's a lot less disruption to the class. I saw them during the
lasthurricane, when the building was used as a shelter for the
disabled and senior citizens.

Less interruption? How so? When we were in high school (long before)
there were no "bathroom passes". Classes were 50 minutes with 10
minutes between. Young adults were expected to be potty trained.

By letting them get up and use it quickly without interrupting the
class to ask for the pass and the time it took to return it. Some people
have medical problems, and the need arises without much warning.

*Exceedingly* few high school students have such problems. There are
ways to deal with those few. IOW, a red herring.

We had five minutes between classes. Then the principal retired. His
replacement cut it to three minutes between classes and turned off the
bells even though the clock system needed a lot of work. It turned into
a real mess when hundreds of kids were sent to the principal's office
for being tardy for each class. The teachers used whatever their watch
said, and no two were the same.

Your principal and the entire faculty, in fact, were morons. Maybe
they were just ahead of their time. It also must have been a very
small high school.

1400

That's about the same size as our HS. I can't believe any principal
would be so stupid as to believe classrooms could be emptied, people
jam halls, all mixing on their way to the next class, and file into
the next class in 3 minutes, particularly when the clocks don't work
(ours almost always did - Simplex and IBM, same clocks). Add to that
the "need" for bathroom passes, and he must have been someone current
administrations could look up to.

Bill wrote:
Here's a nice problem (an example of a "Galton-Watson" process). Start
with 1 thing "alive" at generation 0.
Assume it has a 25% chance of dying, a 50% chance of living, and a 25%
chance of doubling after each generation.
Assume this is true of all such "things". What is the probability
that there will be exactly 1 thing alive after 2 generations?

I believe that a great solution technique to problems like this has
been (re-)discovered numerous times.
Hint: If the question is changed to What is the probability that there
will be exactly k things alive after n generations?
The answer is the same as the value of the coefficient on x^k of the
function f(x)=(1/4 + 1/2 x + 1/4 x^2) composed with itself n times.
That this is true I find pretty darn amazing. And it follows from the
Binomial formula, which you brought up.
The books I've seen leave the reader to figure that out for
themselves, so I won't take the fun out of it.
Suggestion: Start with a "probability tree".


You can probably see how to use this idea to help estimate the
distribution of the population of trees n years from now, if you plant a
new one today.
Of course, there are "overcrowding" issues, but you may be okay for
small values of n. So it is on topic. ; )
Any answers for the question given? I've been working on a related one
all afternoon so it is fresh in my mind.

On Sat, 01 Nov 2014 08:59:41 -0400, Stormin Mormon
wrote:

On 11/1/2014 8:15 AM, Danny D. wrote:

San Jose high school classes are an
hour and 45 minutes long, which is
double your class periods. On Mondays,
they're very short. About an hour.


That sounds like a lot too long to keep
students at a desk. Half hour to 45 mins
would make more sense. Need to get up and
walk around. I don't think this sounds
practical.

+1

An hour is about all one can expect for an attention span. My son had
classes that went two hours but they were really a combination of two
(English and history, or some the like). They were combined classes
with about twice the size, with two teachers. They had plenty of
breaks and changes of topics during the classes.

Add in the current ADD "epidemic" and it can't work.

wrote:
On Sat, 01 Nov 2014 08:59:41 -0400, Stormin Mormon
wrote:

On 11/1/2014 8:15 AM, Danny D. wrote:
San Jose high school classes are an
hour and 45 minutes long, which is
double your class periods. On Mondays,
they're very short. About an hour.

That sounds like a lot too long to keep
students at a desk. Half hour to 45 mins
would make more sense. Need to get up and
walk around. I don't think this sounds
practical.
+1

An hour is about all one can expect for an attention span. My son had
classes that went two hours but they were really a combination of two
(English and history, or some the like). They were combined classes
with about twice the size, with two teachers. They had plenty of
breaks and changes of topics during the classes.

Add in the current ADD "epidemic" and it can't work.

Even an hour is a long time for students to listen to a lecture. One
secret to making it work is to include
some group activity such as a worksheet, so that the students are not
just (not) listening to a lecture.

On Sat, 01 Nov 2014 03:12:25 -0400, J Burns
wrote:

On 10/31/14, 7:01 PM, wrote:
On Fri, 31 Oct 2014 16:19:25 -0400, J Burns
wrote:

On 10/30/14, 10:49 PM, wrote:
When I was a kid, the only classrooms with bathrooms were kindergarten
classrooms. I guess it does make sense that they all would now.

When I was a kid, schools didn't have bathrooms. At home, my mother
made us bathe every week.

OK, Abe. ;-)

Now I remember. Starting around 7th grade, my schools did have
bathrooms. No tubs, just communal showers. It was compulsory to bathe
together twice a week.

Hmm, perhaps you're not Abe. Et tu Brute? ;-)

wrote:

Michael A. Terrell wrote:

wrote:

Your principal and the entire faculty, in fact, were morons. Maybe
they were just ahead of their time. It also must have been a very
small high school.

1400

That's about the same size as our HS. I can't believe any principal
would be so stupid as to believe classrooms could be emptied, people
jam halls, all mixing on their way to the next class, and file into
the next class in 3 minutes, particularly when the clocks don't work
(ours almost always did - Simplex and IBM, same clocks). Add to that
the "need" for bathroom passes, and he must have been someone current
administrations could look up to.

He was a liberal loon. You couldn't get from one end of the campus to
the other in three minutes, with the crowded hallways. I averaged 4:15
from science class, to electronics, then 4:00 back to the new wing for
the next class.


This was an IBM clock system, but parts of it were over 50 years old.
The oldest part of the school was built in the 1800s.


--
Anyone wanting to run for any political office in the US should have to
have a DD214, and a honorable discharge.

J Burns wrote:

On 10/31/14, 7:34 PM, Michael A. Terrell wrote:
We had five minutes between classes. Then the principal retired. His
replacement cut it to three minutes between classes and turned off the
bells even though the clock system needed a lot of work. It turned into
a real mess when hundreds of kids were sent to the principal's office
for being tardy for each class. The teachers used whatever their watch
said, and no two were the same.

Our school had a Western Union clock system governed by a grandfather
clock in the office. Occasionally we'd see classroom clocks jump because
the principal was adjusting the grandfather clock.

I believed in punctuality, being neither late nor early. I'd generally
reach my desk 10 seconds before the bell. All we had at home was a 3"
electric clock on the stove. That couldn't be read precisely, so I
relied on my internal clock.

Sometimes on a Monday morning I'd be 10 seconds late instead of 10
seconds early. I couldn't reset my internal clock on the principal's
whim, so I'd be 10 seconds late every day. By Friday, teachers would be
complaining about my continuing presence in detention. The principal
would fix his clock and Monday the school would be back in sync with me.

He could have saved detention teachers a lot of unpleasantness if he'd
checked with me or the Naval Observatory before tampering with the
grandfather clock.


That situation didn't last. Everyone was ****ed off about it, and I'm
sure that the school board heard from a lot of parents over it.


--
Anyone wanting to run for any political office in the US should have to
have a DD214, and a honorable discharge.

On Sat, 01 Nov 2014 18:19:12 -0400, Bill
wrote:

wrote:
On Sat, 01 Nov 2014 08:59:41 -0400, Stormin Mormon
wrote:

On 11/1/2014 8:15 AM, Danny D. wrote:
San Jose high school classes are an
hour and 45 minutes long, which is
double your class periods. On Mondays,
they're very short. About an hour.

That sounds like a lot too long to keep
students at a desk. Half hour to 45 mins
would make more sense. Need to get up and
walk around. I don't think this sounds
practical.
+1

An hour is about all one can expect for an attention span. My son had
classes that went two hours but they were really a combination of two
(English and history, or some the like). They were combined classes
with about twice the size, with two teachers. They had plenty of
breaks and changes of topics during the classes.

Add in the current ADD "epidemic" and it can't work.

Even an hour is a long time for students to listen to a lecture. One
secret to making it work is to include
some group activity such as a worksheet, so that the students are not
just (not) listening to a lecture.

Agreed. Unless there is some contribution from everyone, an hour is a
lot. At work, meetings generally last an hour, though design reviews
can lass all day. There is a lot of participation, though. Neither
are "lectures", by any stretch). When suppliers come in for classes,
they take 15 minute breaks about every 45 minutes (time to stretch and
check emails ;-). OTOH, we aren't required to check out a plunger to
go to the rest room, either. In fact, attendance is rarely required.

"Bill" wrote:


Even an hour is a long time for students to listen to a lecture. One
secret to making it work is to include
some group activity such as a worksheet, so that the students are
not just (not) listening to a lecture.
---------------------------------------------------

Basic law of any instruction:

"The mind can absorb what the ass can endure".

Lew

Stormin Mormon wrote, on Sat, 01 Nov 2014 08:59:41 -0400:

That sounds like a lot too long to keep students at a desk. Half hour to
45 mins would make more sense. Need to get up and walk around. I don't
think this sounds practical.

As a matter of fact, the teacher (who is brand new to teaching) asked me
for advice on how to keep the kids *engaged* for the entire hour and
forty five minutes.

She, knowing I'm good at googling, asked me to find some math games, and
I also gave her a big bag of extra Halloween chocolate I had bought,
which she is going to use to "reward" the kids when she catches them
being good.

She also knows my strong feeling that math isn't taught correctly, which
is a very long story, but the short of it is that math needs to be taught
from the practical problem standpoint.

For example, I suggested she think from the perspective of two kids
throwing rocks into a lake. What happens, mathematically. Or two kids
trying to kick a soccer ball into a net, while clearing the height of the
other kids. Things like that might keep the kids engaged, if, I
suggested, she *start* a problem that the kids might be interested in,
and then, working backwards, she bring in the math, and, in the end, the
equation and graphs (and, ug, proofs).

I told her to think of all the math that applies to that problem (or any
problem involving two kids trying to figure something out that two kids
would want to figure out), and to teach that way. She told me that is
a *lot* of work, and I did not disagree.

So, that might take years.

In the meantime, there are always the math games we found, which might
help to exercise the kids' bodies, every 30 minutes, for a five-minute
game.

Ed Pawlowski wrote, on Sat, 01 Nov 2014 15:40:17 -0400:

Perfect opportunity for a pervert teacher, coach, or principle to get
his jollies.

When I wrestled, in high school, the coach taught us how to cheat on the
initial doctor's appointment (by not eating for days beforehand), so that
we could then lose even more weight than we were supposed to, and the
coach provided a list of the "bath houses" where we could go to in order
to take a 'sauna' with a full set of rubber clothes that the coach
supplied.

So, we'd exercise in this bath-house sauna, little knowing (heck, we were
only freshmen and sophomores in high school), that the bathhouses are
*filled* to the brim with gay old men.

When they started asking me to take off my sweatshirt and rubberized
gear, as I exercised in the sauna, another guy, I remember it clearly,
told the first guy to shut the heck up and leave me alone. I was
befuddled why these guys wanted me to take off my gear, as the whole
point was to sweat to lose weight (whether for the doctor's assessment or
for the match itself).

I only learned later what those encounters were all about.
Jeezus. And they say the sports environment today is all about cheating.
That was cheating, and, now that I had kids, I NEVER let them believe in
a coach like that (mine, an ex marine, told me "I'm your mother, your
father, and Jesus Christ ... and ... somehow ... I trusted him).

Kids are stupid. I was a kid. I was stupid.

J Burns wrote, on Sat, 01 Nov 2014 18:11:42 -0400:

We didn't take our gym clothes home to wash, not even socks

I almost never had to go to gym, because I was on sports year round.
So, I missed that experience.

However, if you've ever *smelled* the varsity locker room, you'll know
the meaning of "gym socks" all too well!

"Stormin Mormon" wrote in message ...


That sounds like a lot too long to keep
students at a desk. Half hour to 45 mins
would make more sense. Need to get up and
walk around. I don't think this sounds
practical.


Along those lines...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/.../?wpisrc=pdwmk

Saw this article in other publications too...

On 11/1/14, 6:30 PM, Michael A. Terrell wrote:

J Burns wrote:

On 10/31/14, 7:34 PM, Michael A. Terrell wrote:
We had five minutes between classes. Then the principal retired. His
replacement cut it to three minutes between classes and turned off the
bells even though the clock system needed a lot of work. It turned into
a real mess when hundreds of kids were sent to the principal's office
for being tardy for each class. The teachers used whatever their watch
said, and no two were the same.

Our school had a Western Union clock system governed by a grandfather
clock in the office. Occasionally we'd see classroom clocks jump because
the principal was adjusting the grandfather clock.

I believed in punctuality, being neither late nor early. I'd generally
reach my desk 10 seconds before the bell. All we had at home was a 3"
electric clock on the stove. That couldn't be read precisely, so I
relied on my internal clock.

Sometimes on a Monday morning I'd be 10 seconds late instead of 10
seconds early. I couldn't reset my internal clock on the principal's
whim, so I'd be 10 seconds late every day. By Friday, teachers would be
complaining about my continuing presence in detention. The principal
would fix his clock and Monday the school would be back in sync with me.

He could have saved detention teachers a lot of unpleasantness if he'd
checked with me or the Naval Observatory before tampering with the
grandfather clock.


That situation didn't last. Everyone was ****ed off about it, and I'm
sure that the school board heard from a lot of parents over it.


I guess we had three minutes, with synchronized clocks. Nobody stayed
after class to ask the teacher a question because there wasn't time. I
didn't use my locker for books because there wasn't time between classes.

Gym was the dangerous class. The teacher's wris****ch wasn't wired to
the school clocks, so we might be dismissed a little late. It took time
to open our locker, undress, close our locker, grab a towel, shower,
dry, open our locker, dress, close our locker, throw our towel in the
bin, walk to the classroom building, and climb a couple of flights of
stairs.

The yearbook hyped our monitors, maintaining law and order. Being a
monitor was an excuse to arrive late and leave early, but I didn't see
their purpose. Nobody had time to misbehave between classes. I wondered
if they got the idea for the armbands from the Hitler Youth.

On 11/1/14, 6:20 PM, wrote:
On Sat, 01 Nov 2014 03:12:25 -0400, J Burns
wrote:

On 10/31/14, 7:01 PM, wrote:
On Fri, 31 Oct 2014 16:19:25 -0400, J Burns
wrote:

On 10/30/14, 10:49 PM, wrote:
When I was a kid, the only classrooms with bathrooms were kindergarten
classrooms. I guess it does make sense that they all would now.

When I was a kid, schools didn't have bathrooms. At home, my mother
made us bathe every week.

OK, Abe. ;-)

Now I remember. Starting around 7th grade, my schools did have
bathrooms. No tubs, just communal showers. It was compulsory to bathe
together twice a week.

Hmm, perhaps you're not Abe. Et tu Brute? ;-)

You would have been safe at our school. Strict policy against knives in
the shower. Most blades were carbon steel, which could rust.

John Grossbohlin wrote, on Sat, 01 Nov 2014 19:19:24 -0400:


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...wp/2014/10/24/
teacher-spends-two-days-as-a-student-and-is-shocked-at-what-
she-learned/?wpisrc=pdwmk

Here's a quick four-sentence takeaway ...
1. Those classes were short, at only 1 hour and 15 minutes.
2. Students don't move about, once in class.
3. It's mostly lecture.
4. The kids are constantly chastised.

On 11/1/2014 8:36 PM, J Burns wrote:
Now I remember. Starting around 7th grade, my schools did have
bathrooms. No tubs, just communal showers. It was compulsory to bathe
together twice a week.

Hmm, perhaps you're not Abe. Et tu Brute? ;-)

You would have been safe at our school. Strict policy against knives in
the shower. Most blades were carbon steel, which could rust.

When showers are outlawed, only perverts
will have showers.

-
..
Christopher A. Young
Learn about Jesus
www.lds.org
..

Bill wrote, on Sat, 01 Nov 2014 18:19:12 -0400:

Even an hour is a long time for students to listen to a lecture. One
secret to making it work is to include some group activity such as a
worksheet, so that the students are not just (not) listening to a
lecture.

I did help her create some worksheets, as she was unfamiliar with
manipulating Microsoft Office to make graphs.

I ended up making tables, and it took a while to figure out how to make
the boxes the same with and length, and then how to add the x and y axis,
as I couldn't get the tables to "group" with the drawn axis even myself.

In the end, I gave up on Microsoft Word simply because I couldn't get the
non-groupable items to move together, as a single unit, when text was
changed.

So, I opted for PowerPoint, instead of Word, and made a few templates for
her for her worksheets. She put the kids in groups, and they moved the
chairs together (forcing them to stand up) and they worked together.

That gives the kids "some" exercise.

Danny D. wrote:
She put the kids in groups, and they moved the
chairs together (forcing them to stand up) and they worked together.

That gives the kids "some" exercise.


The kids can work in groups standing around the edge of the room,
working together at the "board" for instance (you suggested this was a
math class).
Keep them out of their chairs!!! What do they need chairs for? Perhaps
let them return to their chairs as a "reward" for finishing their work
(but you
do not wish to turn it into a race!) I think it works best if you
arrange the groups to consist of students of balanced ability--otherwise
the weakest and the strongest
students seem to end up in the same group. The idea is for the strong
students to help the weaker ones. BTDT.

On 11/1/14, 7:19 PM, John Grossbohlin wrote:
"Stormin Mormon" wrote in message
...


That sounds like a lot too long to keep students at a desk. Half
hour to 45 mins would make more sense. Need to get up and walk
around. I don't think this sounds practical.


Along those lines...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/.../?wpisrc=pdwmk




Saw this article in other publications too...



Yeah! What was I supposed to do in a 50-minute lecture when my
attention span was under a minute? The fact that lectures were endless
repetition showed that teachers knew we were unable to pay attention.
They were putting us in a position where we had to sit still and pretend
to pay attention all day long.

Each teacher would proudly tell us how many hours we were expected to
spend on daily homework for that class. Add it up, and if you did
nothing but attend classes and do your homework, there might be time for
4 hours' sleep at night.

It sure seemed abusive to me, but this article says teachers really are
that stupid.

J Burns wrote:
On 11/1/14, 7:19 PM, John Grossbohlin wrote:
"Stormin Mormon" wrote in message
...


That sounds like a lot too long to keep students at a desk. Half
hour to 45 mins would make more sense. Need to get up and walk
around. I don't think this sounds practical.


Along those lines...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/.../?wpisrc=pdwmk





Saw this article in other publications too...



Yeah! What was I supposed to do in a 50-minute lecture when my
attention span was under a minute? The fact that lectures were
endless repetition showed that teachers knew we were unable to pay
attention. They were putting us in a position where we had to sit
still and pretend to pay attention all day long.

Each teacher would proudly tell us how many hours we were expected to
spend on daily homework for that class. Add it up, and if you did
nothing but attend classes and do your homework, there might be time
for 4 hours' sleep at night.



It sure seemed abusive to me, but this article says teachers really
are that stupid.
They are all the same, huh? Was that your experience?