We had such a good time with Chris and Melissa last weekend. We went to the Taste of Springdale and just hung out. It was a good time. However, I guess we left Sunday morning just in time, because Hurricane Ike (or what was left of it) slammed Cinci. The Morris household had no power STILL as of yesterday. Yikes.

In other hurricane news, we got pictures of the village where the Creche is and it's really flooded. I guess the road washed out and the only way to get there is by donkey? Anyway, not to worry, I'm sure they'll have things up as usual soon. The pictures seem severe, so I'm trying to be unreasonably positive, cause its the only way to save my SANITY!

Check it out-

This is the gate of the creche, and....

And this is the road in front of the creche. Joy.

New topic-

ISTEP just wrapped up a few hours ago. Here's the thing I would like the average American citizen to know about standardized testing and the so-called 'no child left behind' act.


- Do your realize for a test item to be considered valid on a standardized test, 30% of the answers have to be incorrect. SO, if students do really well on an, addition problem, let's say, and 90% of them get it correct, they throw it out. It's not valid, so in this way, the tests stay valid, and keep getting more and more difficult. Yes, 'NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND' is a really nice, fuzzy idea, but COME ON! Seriously? I KNOW THAT NEVER, EVER WILL ALL OF MY STUDENTS PASS THE TEST, because it is DESIGNED that way. I know this because I have worked for the testing company, and worked with the state to design the science ISTEP exams. I'm not assuming or making it up- it is fact.

So what am I, as a teacher, supposed to do when, in 2011, the state of Indiana (in all their wisdom- insert trumpet music here) says that ALL students are supposed to pass? It's impossible! And now they want to institute merit pay for teachers? What a joke. Yeah, here, you teach in Carmel, so all your students pass=you get $XXXX. You teach in IPS, so you get crap and and extended school year on top of it. Sorry about cha.

Ugh... well, that worked... now I'm all fired up!