FOUR FOR FRIDAY
Q1 - Teachers: The Houston Independent School District (HISD) is about to become the largest public school district in the United States to tie teachers' pay to their students' standardized test scores. How do you feel about this? Do you feel HISD and other school districts around the country should be able to tie teacher pay to student performance, or should merit or something else aside from student performance figure into the equation?
I disagree with having a correlation between teacher pay and student test scores. It could prompt cheating on the test and unnecessary focus only on the test and not on the overall learning of the students. It should not be allowed in any U.S. School district.
Q2 - Osama: Do you honestly think Osama bin Laden will ever be captured or killed by U.S. troops?
No, unfortunately, I don't think we'll ever capture or kill Osama. Look how long he's kept us at bay thus far. Also, I don't feel it is truly a priority of the government like Saddam was or else we'd have focused our resources on bin Laden instead of Iraq.
Q3 - Emotion: When and why was the last time you screamed at the top of your lungs?
I can't say that I can recall. Probably calling my my dog the one time she ran out of the yard a few months ago.
Q4 - Your Bed: Is your bed really comfortable, or do you live with poor sleep caused by the quality of your bedding?
My bed is fantastically comfortable. It is important to me to have a cozy place to sleep as we spend so many hours of our lives there. I have great sheets and a terrific mattress.
Hi, Lisa: Thanks for participating in my 'Four For Friday.' Here are my answers:
Q1: Teacher pay based on student test scores is a real mistake, in my humble opinion. ‘Teaching to the test’ is nothing but a threat to individual student progress. The very idea of this sort of pay is based on several faulty premises, one being that teachers, like salesmen, are motivated by money, and that poor educational results are the fault of teachers, not learners and their families and the resources the schools themselves provide. Students/learners are not empty vessels to be filled; they are either active participants in the learning process, indifferent to it, or hindrances to it. There’s no great mystery to improving education: reduce student-teacher ratios, provide skilled classroom para-professionals, provide up-to-date plant (buildings) and software (books, curriculum, etc.), and do more to actively require parent participation and support. The idea of teacher pay based on student test scores is just another example of republicans and democrats alike trying to apply privatization to education, just as they do to nearly everything else.
Q2: No, I don’t. In fact, unless he has already been captured and killed by us—and we just haven’t been told—I think there’s very little chance anyone will ever see this guy again.
Q3: This past Sunday afternoon, when the Indianapolis Cots recovered a Pittsburgh Steelers fumble on the three-yard line with a minute nineteen left in the game. I leapt off my couch, screamed at the top of my lungs in celebration, going as far as to open my front door and scream and yell into the hallway (just to make sure everyone in the building could hear me). The moment was short-lived though.
Q4: My bed is truly comfortable. About nine years ago I invested in a handmade mattress, one that’s stuffed with organic cottons and other 100 percent organic materials. The only bed that even comes close to the comfort of my own is the “Heavenly Bed” at the Westin Hotel chain (which you can order for your own home at a total cost of nearly $3,000.00). For now, I’m sticking with my own heavenly bed, but someday I’d like to trade up for the Westin Hotel version.