My school is the number one performing elementary school in the Albany area on the New York State ELA tests this year with 84% of 3rd graders scoring a 3 or a 4 on the tests.
Congratulations.
Curious: I know it's not strictly relevant to your grade level, but is New York still using the Regents track? And do you think it is a beneficial educational method?
Short answers: Yes and no.
Teaching to tests is almost mandatory because of your school does poorly on tests, you loose funding (thank you No Child Left Behind). It strangles teaching methods and does not allow for more stimulating topics to be taught in many classes, because all the focus is on test prep. Charter schools are at greater risk because instead of loosing funding, they can simply be shut down entirely if they're not performing (although this can be done to public schools that are not performing too, if they're bad enough).
I'll cut my rant here. I basically did a research paper during my masters on how the current form of standardized testing is beyond retarded and how NCLB fucked up everything. It's basically a ploy to kill public education.
The good aspect is that for the first time my boss at the TV station (in case most of you didn't know I work at my local TV station) let me use the NHTV (North Haven Television) Van where a good amount of equipment is when we need to film meetings and the like. It was freaking awesome 'cause I've never seen so much equipment crammed into a medium to large vehicle.
I used to drive and work with an outside broadcast van. The amount of equipment it carried was a bit intimidating... the mixing desk cost far more than the van itself! I almost crashed it twice.
Once I was driving along a four lane motorway. I was in the third lane (the second fastest) going at about 70mph in busy traffic. The front right tire exploded. I really struggled to get it over to the hard shoulder without hitting anything.
The other time was equally not my fault. Someone had parked on the hard shoulder on an uphill stretch of motorway, but the DIDN'T PUT THE HANDBRAKE ON! So there I was, driving along at about 60mph, middle lane, again with quite heavy traffic... and a car rolls backwards down the hard shoulder a bit, wobbles, then turns out into the stream of traffic, directly into the path of many oncoming vehicles. I couldn't swerve to either side as there were cars in the other lanes, and I couldn't slam on my brakes as the truck behind was a bit too close. I had to just keep going, and hope to miss. The empty car passed between the back of the car in front of me and the front of my van, and I passed it just as it rolled into the fast lane. Thankfully the traffic behind managed to avoid it too. I almost shit my pants.
I just got my one mile run time down to 5' 38''. On a less Boo yah! note, I chafed open the back of my foot in the process. Ouch. >_<</p>
Solid time. Keep workin' on it. Always good to know you're getting faster.
Yup. Next up: 5' 30''.
I was hoping to check my 5K time sometime this week to see if I can break the 20 minute mark, but I need to find some way to protect my ankles first. Running with open sores is not fun.
I was hoping to check my 5K time sometime this week to see if I can break the 20 minute mark, but I need to find some way to protect my ankles first. Running with open sores is not fun.
Unless you are just a sprinter, you should easily be able to crack 20, with that mile time. I'd put you around 18:45-19:30 tops.
I was hoping to check my 5K time sometime this week to see if I can break the 20 minute mark, but I need to find some way to protect my ankles first. Running with open sores is not fun.
Unless you are just a sprinter, you should easily be able to crack 20, with that mile time. I'd put you around 18:45-19:30 tops.
Well, during the off season I do quite a bit of cross country running on my own, but because I joined the track team as a sprinter this year I rarely run more than two miles in a single shot. I'll just have to make sure I watch Gurren Lagann or something before I go for it.
When I did my workout today, I managed to survive 30 minutes on the elliptical machine without losing feeling in my feet. Also, a few days off made the weight lifting much easier. Go. Me.
Also, a few days off made the weight lifting much easier.
A few days off from weight lifting? You should always be giving yourself a few days off from weight lifting -- at least a few days off between working the same muscle groups.
Also, a few days off made the weight lifting much easier.
A few days off from weight lifting? You should always be giving yourself a few days off from weight lifting -- at least a few days off between working the same muscle groups.
My left brain gets this. The trouble is managing to do that without my right brain insisting that stopping for even one day will mean that I'm a fat lazy slob, and will remain so forever. If I ever manage to balance this, it'll be a bigger boo-yah than I think this thread can contain.
My left brain gets this. The trouble is managing to do that without my right brain insisting that stopping for even one day will mean that I'm a fat lazy slob, and will remain so forever. If I ever manage to balance this, it'll be a bigger boo-yah than I think this thread can contain.
If you're always working the same muscles over and over without rest, you're just continuously breaking them down without allowing them to build up. You can actually lose muscle this way, as well as injure yourself, get sick, have trouble sleeping, and assorted other things that come along with overtraining. (I did this to myself once -- had trouble sleeping for months until I backed off on the workouts, and immediately, I started sleeping like a baby.) That doesn't mean you can't lift weights almost every day (though you should take at least one day a week completely off to let your system recover). A good way to break it up is legs one day, upper-body pushing motions on another, and upper-body pulling motions on another.
While listening to the Pluto episode and hearing Rym and Gomily's musings on Uran, I had a brilliant idea. Make an arbitrary plot that somehow makes its way up to Pinoko and Uran having either an epic argument or epic fight (or both if you prefer). Imo, one of the better ideas I've had lately.
I had a three day long probable cause hearing last week. To give you some perspective on what they're normally like, I had another one last week that lasted one hour. I won both of them, but the hour-long one was just the sort of run-of-the-mill hearing that you always win. The three day odyssey involved a strong defense that often works. However, I beat it. I was very happy.
Even though there are some disadvantages to legal work, there is nothing, and I mean NOTHING more satisfying than arguing to a fact finder and then winning. There's no never-ending debate. There are clear winners and losers. Additionally, it's loads better than winning in debate club, because there is an immediate, real world consequence.
I played Left4Dead survival. Out of the 5 rounds we played, I got 4 new gold medals, and one very close to a gold medal. I have now a grand total of 4 golden medals.
I have now a grand total of 4 bits set to indicate that I have achieved 4 things in the game, these are represented by representations of golden medals.
Moral of the story: God dammit do I want money to fix my computer to play Left 4 Dead.
The projected score for our school on the New York English/Language Arts tests was 84%, meaning that based on last years scores, 84% of our third graders were expected to get a 3 or a 4 (passing). Our school just got the results and we scored 94%! This is pretty spectacular seeing are a 90/90 school (meaning that 90% of students receive free lunch and 90% are black), it's a pretty big deal! The test was supposed to be harder than previous years, and we don't know how we compare to other schools yet, but the kids did a great job regardless!
Today is my "coming out" day for being a music major. Booh yah!
That's pretty badass. I took a theory course this year, and I must say, you have to been one incredibly talented individual to devote four years to that discipline. Very cool.
From an e-mail sent to our principal and then to us:
Thursday, May 7, 2009 Chris Bender, Executive Director ALBANY CHARTER SCHOOLS RANK #1 ON 4 OF 6 STATE ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS EXAMS Earn highest scores ever received by Albany schools
AlbanyÂ’s public charter schools ranked #1 in English language arts on 4 of the 6 state exams, according to results released today by the New York State Education Department. In the process, Albany charter schools posted the highest scores ever received on the state English language arts exams for the applicable grades by an Albany school.
Charter schools rank #1 in Albany in grades 3, 6, 7, and 8. The only district schools to rank #1 were the Pine Hills elementary school in grade 5 and the New Scotland elementary school in grade 4. Charter middle schools swept the top three spots in 7th grade.
Chris Bender, executive director of the Brighter Choice Foundation, stated “the results are clear – with multiple charter schools taking top honors, providing high-quality choices in public education is benefiting students at every level.”
Currently in Albany, charter elementary schools serve students in kindergarten through 4th grade, and charter middle schools serve grades 5 through 8. Charter high schools have also been approved to serve grades 9 through 12.
In 3rd grade, Albany charter elementary schools swept the first two spots: the Brighter Choice Charter School for Boys posted a 98 percent proficiency rate and Albany Community Charter School earned a 94 percent proficiency rate, both outperforming the Albany district school average and by 33 or more points. In 6th grade, the top-ranking Albany Preparatory Charter School scored an 80 percent proficiency rate, 18 points higher that the Albany district school average. KIPP Tech Valley Charter School swept the #1 ranking in 7th and 8th grades with proficiency rates of 91 percent and 100 percent respectively, 31 and 57 points above the Albany district schools averages.
In addition to sweeping the top three spots in 7th grade, Albany’s charter middle schools – Achievement Academy, Albany Preparatory, and KIPP Tech Valley – outperformed the Albany district school average in 8th grade.
Our kids ZOMGWTFBBQPWN!!11!!!one!!onehundredeleven!!'d the test.
Comments
Teaching to tests is almost mandatory because of your school does poorly on tests, you loose funding (thank you No Child Left Behind). It strangles teaching methods and does not allow for more stimulating topics to be taught in many classes, because all the focus is on test prep. Charter schools are at greater risk because instead of loosing funding, they can simply be shut down entirely if they're not performing (although this can be done to public schools that are not performing too, if they're bad enough).
I'll cut my rant here. I basically did a research paper during my masters on how the current form of standardized testing is beyond retarded and how NCLB fucked up everything. It's basically a ploy to kill public education.
Once I was driving along a four lane motorway. I was in the third lane (the second fastest) going at about 70mph in busy traffic. The front right tire exploded. I really struggled to get it over to the hard shoulder without hitting anything.
The other time was equally not my fault. Someone had parked on the hard shoulder on an uphill stretch of motorway, but the DIDN'T PUT THE HANDBRAKE ON! So there I was, driving along at about 60mph, middle lane, again with quite heavy traffic... and a car rolls backwards down the hard shoulder a bit, wobbles, then turns out into the stream of traffic, directly into the path of many oncoming vehicles. I couldn't swerve to either side as there were cars in the other lanes, and I couldn't slam on my brakes as the truck behind was a bit too close. I had to just keep going, and hope to miss. The empty car passed between the back of the car in front of me and the front of my van, and I passed it just as it rolled into the fast lane. Thankfully the traffic behind managed to avoid it too. I almost shit my pants.
I was hoping to check my 5K time sometime this week to see if I can break the 20 minute mark, but I need to find some way to protect my ankles first. Running with open sores is not fun.
If anyone is interested, I could tell you how.
@Funfetus: Thanks for the tips.
Even though there are some disadvantages to legal work, there is nothing, and I mean NOTHING more satisfying than arguing to a fact finder and then winning. There's no never-ending debate. There are clear winners and losers. Additionally, it's loads better than winning in debate club, because there is an immediate, real world consequence.