It’s getting tougher to be an educator

Written by Bob Woelk Tuesday, 13 April 2010 18:42

This has not been a great year to be an educator. We have faced budget cuts, ever-increasing test-score expectations thanks to No Child Left Behind and more and more student behavior challenges.

Maybe I am just getting old, but it seems to me the job is getting tougher every year. As the end of another term nears, I have been led to put together this education credo, my personal philosophy of pedagogical performance.

I believe high school students should be able to stay awake for the full 86 minutes of block schedule period. Sometimes we all get sleepy. I understand that. But I don’t have sympathy. I have to say the same things and do the same activities with three groups of juniors over the course of two days. I manage.

Teens need...

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Maybe the economy isn’t so bad...

Written by Bob Woelk Tuesday, 09 March 2010 20:00

Since last month’s Free Falling, made up of mostly positive bits and pieces, was popular beyond my wildest expectations (thanks to the two people who said they liked it), I decided to continue with the same format for March.

Though I know the economy is not what it used to be, I still have a hard time feeling sorry for people when they can afford to spend more than $180 each for Elton John/Billy Joel concert tickets. Some courtside seats for a basketball contest between Duke and Maryland were selling for upwards of $800 last week.

As long as fans are willing to shell out big bucks for concerts and sporting events, prices will continue to skyrocket.

I carry a cellular phone almost everywhere I go these days. I really don’t get that...

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Time for nonsense and non sequiturs

Written by Bob Woelk Tuesday, 09 February 2010 20:03

I just realized I have been really cranky lately. Even during a run, when I used to clear my head and get a runner’s high, I just get angrier and angrier at the world. So, I have decided that this column is going to be nothing but nonsense and non sequiturs.

I was giving blood the other day, and as I was answering the questionnaire on the computer about my life, it occurred to me that those questions are really getting personal.

I was asked if I had been to Africa or had spent any amount of time in Europe, especially more than five years in England. I think it’s really cool when I can mark that I have been to Europe, and the attendant asks me where I went.

I was asked if I had ever suffered from Jacobs Ladder disease or something...

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Here’s a wish list for the new year...

Written by Bob Woelk Tuesday, 12 January 2010 19:45

January is traditionally the time to look ahead, to seek the potential in the new year. It is a time to think about what we might witness in the coming months. It is also a time to hope for better days. To that end, I have put together a wish list for 2010.

First, I would love for the people of this nation to someday use the words “Kansas” and “innovation” in the same sentence. I dream that our state will break the bonds of mediocrity and set the pace for the rest of America instead of following the leads of other forward-thinking states.

I would particularly love to see us set the standard in education funding in the next year. Let’s think outside the box and outside political party lines to solve this budget mess we are...

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