Night Before School

School starts tomorrow!!! I spent the better part of the day putting the finishing touches on my classroom. It occurred to me that in my own school days, I never paid attention to the details of my classrooms. My teachers had probably agonized over where to place each poster, and what colors to use on the bulletin board. Yet, I never gave it a second thought. I never considered the fact that she had spent her free time (and limited money) decorating that room for me. I guess that's the nature of being 13- being oblivious to everything around us. I don't care if they don't notice every detail; I have to spend most of my life for the next 9 months there, I want it to feel warm and inviting.

I talked to my friend, Diana, over the weekend. She is teaching at a school near Chicago. She has well over 30 kids in her classes. I just don't understand why politicians don't realize that it is impossible for one person to give every student the attention that they deserve when there are that many in one room. How can you teach when you spend most of the class trying to maintain some semblance of control? I realize that the research is "inconclusive", but ask a teacher if children learn better in a class of 30 or a class of 20. Any teacher who wants to do a good job will tell you the fewer kids in a room, the better the chances of helping them understand material. One of my friends, who is from another country, was shocked to learn that the people in charge of education in this country are not necessarily trained as educators. From local school boards on up, there are limited numbers of people with degrees in education who are making decisions for America's children. I think it's like having me sit on a hospital board and say, "You should be saving more people. If you don't start doing that, I'm going to take over". Ridiculous, eh? (Although with my clumsiness, I have spent a lot of time in hospitals).

Anyway, I'm ranting again, and I need to meditate to get some good energy flowing before tomorrow. Good night everyone, I hope you all have a wonderful day.