This has been an odd year. It started with planning a mission trip to Brasil which led to a trip to Missouri to pick up music instruments. Then the two weeks in Brasil followed by a few days in Wisconsin to unwind. This led to beginning my "Danielson" evaluation training for the upcoming school year. That was often an exercise in frustration which led to another short trip to Michigan to "unwind" again.
I now find myself behind in the video watching process for evaluation training which starts the stress building. I have school meetings this coming week. I had thought that my evaluation training might lead to some hourly consulting work with area school districts who don't have enough administrative staff to carry out the burden imposed by the new process. In interesting discussions with principals I follow on Twitter, there is a common thread, they don't believe anyone is going to want that neutral outsider coming into their school to evaluate staff. They said too much is at stake for the principal (their job, raises, etc) for a third party who has no stake in their school to evaluate staff. Inter-rater reliability? So much for an honest effort to improve education. I truly believe the new process will be effective for a few years until administrators figure out how to manipulate the data to their advantage.
On a brighter note, I have been reading Values, on Wall Street, Main Street, and Your Street by Jim Wallis. The introduction contains Gandhi's Seven Deadly Social Sins and are worth repeating here:
1. Politics without principle
2. Wealth without work
3. Commerce without morality
4. Pleasure without morality
5. Education without character
6. Science without humanity
7. Worship without sacrifice
As you scan the newspaper on your electronic device or in print format please refer to these and see how many appear each day in the newspaper. I will write more on this book as time allows.
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