OCTOPODICON 2012

I attended Octopodicon 2012 at the Magnuson Hotel in Oklahoma City. I met many great people, got some ideas for my school's Steampunk Reading Club, and enjoyed myself.

Here are pictures of some of those attending.

I asked him if he knew any songs from "The Mikado." He didn't.

From the Metropolitan Public Library. She is displaying a book my  school's Steampunk Reading Club will be reading next, "The Steampunk Anthology."

Two young Steampunkers

Captured but uncowed!

I warned her not to fly to close to the sun.

Trying to navigate a course with a flying machine.

A fencing demonstration

This is "Copper Claw," a Steampunk performance group. Her name is Ay-Leen the Peacemaker.  I didn't get his.

Leanna Renee Heiber I plan to get her book as a possible Steampunk reading. Very intelligent person.

The Old West is a popular Steampunk theme.

Kind of a spooky outfit.

Toymaker

I believe they have a shop named "Otherwhen Oddities" www.otherwhen.net
Please correct me if I'm wrong.

His name is Montague Jacques Fromage, the entrepreneur of the SteampunFunk Bizarre. www.steampunkfunkbizarre.com

Pirate in jail awaiting bail

Another jail bird. This was to raise money for a charity.

I told those whose pictures I took about my blog. I should have gotten more names, so if anyone wants to give me a name for the pictures, I would be grateful.

Had a GREAT time!

(Recently the members of the AFT-OKC voted to reject the contract that the union leadership negotiated with the district administration.  The union went back to the administration and asked to reopen negotiations, which the administration rejected.  There will be a second vote by the membership. This will be on whether or not we choose to go to impasse, which is a long process and will delay ratification until next year sometime.
The union sent out a flyer urging members to reject impasses and to accept the negotiated agreement as it was first presented.  
I recently resigned as Executive VP of the union because I felt the union leadership has been very neglectful of our membership. This was my response to their flyer calling for us to accept the agreement.

We really only have ourselves to blame for having lost the vote on the contract. 

I include myself in this because until recently, I was a part of this whole mess.
We have approved worse contracts than this, but the perception among the members is that we have not been on their side during the changes going on in the district.
We have not spoken out against those who have blamed the teachers for the perceived failures in the schools. In fact, several statements Ed has made have given the impression that we agree with those who believe that by firing teachers, we will somehow transform the culture in our schools, much of which is beyond our control.
These are forces involved with poverty, racism, neglect of the problems brought on by these forces and a host of other ills.
We have neglected this because we did not want to be perceived as giving excuses rather than solutions.
We could have been working for reforms while we were pointing out that simply firing teachers will not bring the sort of systemic change that is needed to truly and permanently turn our schools around.
This sort of change seems to be happening in places like Harlem, but we have never brought this up to my knowledge, and certainly not to the knowledge of those who voted down the contract.
Now, we are on the verge of losing this union.  Even if those showing up vote to reject impasse, as you urge, those hundreds of members who feel abandoned by their union will be tempted to "vote with their feet" out of the union.
This could have been avoided had we played it smarter, had we talked about the need for real change in our community.
We brought this on ourselves. I want no further part of it.  I will vote to go to impasse and urge others to do the same. 

Romney Explain Obama's Voters

I cannot respect a man who feels so dismissive of half of the American electorate.

Add caption

Romney contemptuously dismisses half of the American electorate.

Mentor: The Kid & the CEO: A Simple Story of Overcoming Challenges and Achieving Significance by Tom Alan Pace
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

On the back of the book there is the claim, "Tony's [the book's narrator and protagonist] story will change your life." I have always been skeptical of such claims, particularly when made of a "self-help" book. And this one didn't (so far) change my life. However, I am probably not the book's primary target audience.

Mentor, written by Tom Pace with Walter Jenkins, told from the point of view of a young man named Tony, age 19, who is sent to jail for a parole violation and faces the real possibility of going to prison for several years. While in jail awaiting sentencing, he goes to a group therapy session run by a businessman named Malcolm who offers all who come the hope of turning their lives around. At first, Tony is skeptical and barely listens to Malcolm, just glad to escape the boredom of jail life. However, in a fairly short amount of time, largely due to the encouragement of a "lifer" convicted of murder, Tony attends, listens and becomes interested.

Malcolm stays to talk to Tony and gives him the book "The Greatest Miracle in the World" by Og Mandino to read. Tony doesn't read the book at first, but finally, with Malcolm's encouragement reads the book and begins a life-changing journey. Malcolm acts as Tony's mentor, and when Tony is released from jail without having to go to prison (due to his good behavior), Malcolm is there for him to offer guidance and encouragement. As is typical for these stories, Tony, by following Malcolm's sage advice, and through his own hard work and perseverance, succeeds as a person, a businessman, and a family man. (Tony goes to church and there meets the love of his life.)

All through the book, in the bottom margins, are bits of wisdom and advice like "finish what you start," have integrity," "have values," "save 10 percent," "read books," and so on.

I respond to this book on different levels, wearing different hats.

My book critic hat, for example, says that this is a pretty average plot line. The conflicts are resolved rather quickly with little dilemma. Malcolm introduces Tony to Gary, also a ex-con who now owns a backhoe business. It just so happens that Gary has a need for some extra help. Surprisingly, it takes a chapter or two for Gary to realize that Malcolm is the answer to his problem. Malcolm later gets into financial trouble and faces a class action lawsuit. He solves this problem by selling some of his property, and the suit is dismissed as "frivolous." Great plots are not this neat. The Joads have no property to sell to get them out of their troubles. They mortgaged it away long before they are dispossessed.

However, when I look at the advice the book offers, I am pleased with it. The advice is simple, mainly involving taking responsibility for yourself and working hard to achieve your dreams. Simple is often good and the advice is good in this simple form. My students, many of whom have already made some wrong choices (I have several fathers and mothers in my English 11 class.), should heed the advice in the book. The book is easy to read and moves quickly. Mr. Pace has made several copies of the book available to my school and others in our district. I plan to use them.

The next hat I put on is my teacher hat. I can use this book to further some lessons I have been teaching this year, particularly those involving the Heroic Archetype. Tony is on a journey, a quest for significance. He follows many aspects of the archetype, particularly, as the title says, having a mentor. He also descends into the "belly of the beast", both the jail and his own limited thinking, rises out of the depths to fight his enemies, those of his inner character. He emerges victorious and brings something good from his life: a business, a family, an opportunity to mentor others.

However, the last hat I wear is my social hat. Pace's philosophy is one of individual initiative and personal responsibility. It is a philosophy rooted deep in the American psyche and includes adherents as American as Ben Franklin, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Dale Carnegie. (Tony reads "How to Win Friends and Influence People.") It's the American ideal of "rugged individualism." I have no quarrel with those who remind us that we are ultimately the ones responsible for our lives. However, we are not in this alone. We cannot ignore larger social forces at work that create the Tonys of our country. Poverty is not just an individual problem. Pace only hints at the larger social forces at work in America. Tony at first cannot find a job because businesses won't hire felons. He is lucky to be living with Gary when Gary, a convicted felon and therefore sympathetic to Tony's plight, develops the need for another employee. Pace also never mentions Tony's race, probably for good reason, but we cannot ignore the fact that race and poverty have become in inexorably intertwined in America.

Yes, we need individual action; my students need to take action to move their lives in a positive direction. We need self-help books, but we need just as much "social-help books" and social mentors. We do have them in America,books like "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" by Barbara Ehrenreich and mentors like Marian Wright Edelman of the Children's Defense Fund.

Too many individual responsibility advocates look at these voices and claim that these community organizers somehow shirk our need for individual responsibility. Such is not the case. Instead, they make us aware of the systems we have in place in this country that have led to the largest gap between rich and poor in our nation's history, and they make us ask, "why?" Are the millions of poor people in this country simply lazy? Is there not something wrong about a person working full time at minimum wage and still being far below the poverty line?

Of course, that is not the focus of Pace's book. Where he is focused, he does well. My students would do well, or at least much better, if they followed his advice. For that reason, this book, will be good for them. As I said, I plan to use it.

View all my reviews

Steampunk Mini-Con Downtown Library

I attended a "Steampunk Mini-Con" at the Oklahoma City Downtown Library today.

I meet many interesting people; several of whom are pictured here. I also heard a presentation on games from the Victorian era and even got to make a "steampunk toy", which I unfortunately left behind (sob).

Here are some of the folks who came in costume:

Kit Holley and Mandy Cole with daughter

Caterra King, Shadowleaf Joyce, and Nikki Watson

Anna and Ryan McKinley
Ryan has authored two Steampunk books: The Pirate Bride and The Lost Crew

Heather Copple, Samantha Royka, and Matt Copple

Zenon Awful (that's the name he gave me)

Xander

Olivia, Andrew, and Nicholas

Cat and I had a great time. I learned a good deal made some good contacts.  I hope that some of these become good friends.

I  am looking forward to Octopodicon, a much bigger Steampunk convention, or "Con" that will happen October 5-7 at the Magnuson Hotel in Oklahoma City.  For more information, you can go to  http://octopodicon.org

Barry Tramel's Reply to my comments on Penn State U Football

Barry Tramel sent me a reply giving his reasons why the NCAA should not step in and shut down Penn State's football program.

Lynn: Interesting. I guess I would say this. If Penn State football should be shut down, then the Catholic Church should have been shut down, too.What needed to happen was the Catholics (sic) to shut down themselves. What needs to happen if (sic) for Penn State to shut itself down. If the NCAA shuts down Penn State, it could have the reverse effect of changing the culture. It could galvanize Penn State into some kind of victim's mentality, that everyone is out to get them. That doesn't need to happen. The culture needs changed (sic).

 (Please note that I have added the "sic" comments not in any negative fashion, but simply to quote accurately.)

My response was that the Catholic Church has to answer to its authority for its actions (a slightly higher one than the NCAA). However, PSU has to answer to the NCAA for its actions in sports, and that makes it ultimately the NCAA responsibility to see that PSU does the right thing.

Should Penn State Lose Its Football Program?

I wrote to Barry Tramel, a sports columnist for The Oklahoman newspaper about his opinion on whether or not Penn State Univ. should lose its football program.  I have reprinted my remarks below. I will reprint his reply. Feel free to join in the debate.


Hi Barry,

I would like to know your opinion about whether Penn State should lose its football program

I have read several opinion pieces calling for something like this to happen.  I have to realize that my politics are quite "left-wing"; therefore, most of the blogs I read are of the same stripe.

However, I believe that Penn State has lost the right to run a football program, and that it should be closed for a significant amount of time. (5 years is the number I would call for.)

I have several reasons for this:

1. This was not just a horrible crime. It was also a systemic failure of a program more concerned with image and self-preservation than with the innocent lives being destroyed.

2. Since those in charge of the football program were covering up these crimes to protect the program, the penalty for their crimes should be the loss of what they attempted to protect.

3. This would send a message to all of college football that it is far better to "tarnish your image" than it is to engage in a cover-up since you risk losing anything to tarnish.

I am aware of at least some of the arguments against ending PSU football, and in my, perhaps not so, humble opinion, they don't hold water.

1. This would punish innocent football players.  Yes, these young men would have to find a new program as their step ladder to the NFL or a college degree (perhaps), but if one is good enough to get a PSU scholarship, the odds are well in that player's favor to find a new scholarship.

2. This would "punish" "innocent" fans.  First, I am sickened by many of the fans reaction to the scandal as they wanted to punish the victims for exposing the crimes.  Also, there is no "right" to sports entertainment. The fans and alums of PS have no right to demand that their desire to paint themselves in school colors and show up on a fall Saturday precedes the need to provide a just punishment for a program that was involved in a criminal conspiracy. 

3. The NCAA has no business getting involved in this. I know you argued this in a column you wrote, but I argue that PSU is not likely to take this step on their own. They should, but in the event they don't, the NCAA should do the right thing and do it for them. See my reason #3 above for my thinking on this.

I am guessing that you have a different perspective on this, and I would like your point of view. Should you wish, again, to include my remarks in your blog or elsewhere, you have my grateful permission.

Your loyal reader,

What I did on my first real day of vacation.

There are calendar dates like July 4th or December 25th, there are seasonal dates like the equinox and solstice, and then there are psychological dates where we feel that something has begun or ended.

Today, for me, was the first day of teacher summer vacation.  We were officially through with school on June 2nd. However, that was a Saturday. Saturday we are always out of school whatever the time of year. The same goes for Sunday.  Monday was "sortof" vacation but it was tempered with the fact that the next day, Tuesday, we were back at school for a 3 day teachers' workshop. Friday was recovery from Tuesday through Thursday, and then it was back to Saturday and Sunday.

Monday was the first day that was completely our own, our true beginning to summer vacation where we could do whatever we wished (within the bounds of legality) for however long we wished.

So I read books, that glorious pastime that all true English teachers lust after but never get to fully indulge. I read history books, Young Adult books, political books.  I am in my version of heaven.

Hope you are getting to enjoy your summer too.

Percy Jackson & The Olympians, Book Three: The Titan's Curse

The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the 3rd in the Percy Jackson and The Olympians series. In this, Percy searches for his friend Anabeth with the help of Artemis' huntresses who are searching for the goddess of the hunt. Percy's quest sembles the labor of Heracles: fighting the Nemean Lion, dealing with the Erymanthian boar,and finally, because the Titan they are fighting is Atlas, he holds the sky on his sholders.

Percy wins because he rejects the idea of being Heracles showing that he is growing as a man as he completes each quest.

View all my reviews

Attended the Smith-Stuart Reunion in Edmond, OK

I attended a reunion made up of relatives from Cat's side of the family. These were from her mother's family, the Smith's and Stuarts. Enjoyed myself a lot. 

The reunion was at the Bickham-Rudkin Park in Edmond, a very lovely place

We bid on some gifts that were brought to help finance more reunions

Some of Cat's relatives

Some of the prizes for the bidding

And, of course, I managed to get in a game of chess or two.

A Day of Good News and Bad News

Today Cat and I got good news and bad news.

The good news is that the Performance Task training we finished today was some of the best professional development training either of us have ever experienced.  A good deal of the credit goes to our excellent trainer Suzy Page, a very down to earth type of person who has real world teaching experience, in urban schools in Memphis, Tennessee  no less!

Suzy helps a participant develop a performance assessment

We ended our training today by developing performance tasks. In a performance task, a student is given a problem related to the Common Core State Standards for which they will produce a writing or a product that shows that they have mastered the standard's objective.  

For example, one writing standard calls for the student to produce a narrative that demonstrates they understand how characters react to a given situation. One of the reading standards requires them to do character analysis.  My performance task incorporates these objectives.

Native American Coyote figure

My performance task calls for the students to read and analyze the character known as the "trickster" who appears in the myths and tales of all cultures. The trickster is an animal or a person who survives by his wits as opposed to his strength. Think Bugs Bunny or Huck Finn.  In my performance task, the character they will analyze  is Coyote, a common trickster figure in many Native American cultures.  My students' performance task is to create their own trickster character and have their trickster solve a problem using the skills that the figure possesses.  I hope to use their writings in an anthology of student work we will create during the year.

Now for the bad news.

Cat and I had hoped to visit my folks in Washington state this summer. On Tuesday I took our PT Cruiser into Hibdon's Tire for an oil change and a diagnostic once over.  The car is still at Hibdon's and the bill currently stands at over $2000! It seems that the car needed new struts, had oil in the brake line, and needed a new master cylinder.  So, we will be staying home this summer with maybe a few short trips here and there.  

I bought tickets to see the Kansas City Royals play at home, so one of our trips to will be to Kansas City where everything is up-to-date, I've been told.  Play Ball!

How I'm Spending My Summer Vacation

This week Cat and I have been attending a 3-day teaching training workshop put on by Pearson Education. The workshop concerns how to use "performance assessment" in teaching students the new Common Core Standards for education that the state of Oklahoma will implement in a couple of years.

Performance assessments are a way of determining if our students are "learning by doing."  We are learning about the Common Core Standards by analyzing the standards, developing lessons and creating performance rubrics.

So what do teacher do on their summer "vacation"?  We go to school!

Suzy Page,our excellent workshop leader

Some of our work during the workshop

Some of the other teachers at the workshop

A workshop discussion (showing the back of my wife's head)

Suzy Page makes a point

AFT-Oklahoma The President's Report: 4 Myths of Education Reform

Today, I attended the annual convention of the convention of the American Federation of Teachers-Oklahoma, Local #8034. This is the state organization for Oklahoma's AFT members.  I serve as an executive officer for AFT-OKC, Local #2309. (I might add that I, as are the rest of the officers in the AFT do this unpaid lest anyone throw the charge that we are "fat cats" living off the dues of our members.)

State AFT President Clifton "Skip" Ogle

During the convention our state president,  Clifton "Skip" Ogle, a retired teacher, most recently from US Grant HS in OKC, have his annual "State of the State" address.  His report, while acknowledging that there had been many challenges to our profession was basically optimistic.  We have found that if we present our concerns in a reasonable manner, there are members of the Oklahoma legislature who are willing to work with us.  He did, however, note that there are many "school reform" myths legislator's have about public education in generation and educators' unions in particular. He analyzed 4 of these myths:

1. Teachers, unlike other professionals, are not held accountable for the results of their teaching. Ogle noted that teachers are evaluated for their classroom performance, but this myth oversimplifies the complex process of education. Teaching involves creating changes in complex human beings, our students, and that the responsibility for the success of those changes relies on a variety of individual and social actions. He compared this to a doctor who has a patient who smokes.  We would not hold the doctor accountable for the patient's inability or outright refusal to quit smoking, nor would we hold a minister accountable if one of his parishioner's was caught in an embezzlement scandal.   
2. Taxpayers have not gotten their money's worth because large amounts of money have been spent on education with no improvement. Ogle noted that we have seen gradual improvement in education, but not nearly as dramatic as our critics seem to feel is called for. He noted that politicians and teachers seem to operate in two different time.  Politicians operate in media time where results must be achieved quickly or they do not happen at all.  Teachers operate in practitioner time where results are achieved after a long and complex process. It has been said by many that a teacher never truly knows what her influence is nor where it will lead her students. I know that many of my teachers' lessons did not reach their full effect until years after I was in their classrooms. I may not be aware of some of the ways I was influenced by them.
3. Teachers' unions do not want to fix the staus quo. We only care about protecting our members' jobs. A personal observation about the "status quo". Any teacher in the profession for any time knows that the "status quo" for teachers is constant change. Our teaching curriculum and methods are often the victims of the "latest, greatest" educational fad. Those of us teaching in the 90's remember the hurrah that was made over "Outcomes Based Education" and how quickly that "sure cure" for education ills faded away. Why don't we ask teachers what does and does not work in their classrooms?  Why do we spend millions of dollars in consultancy fees or paying for the hottest educational programs in search of a quick fix when we could just as well invest the money in hiring more teachers and more reading coaches who could give our students the attention they need to overcome the cruel handicaps with which so many come into our classes?
4. Teachers broke education. Ogle pointed out that military failures are not blamed on "lazy soldiers" nor do we create "merit pay" to pay one soldier in a unit more than others. Instead, we seek to correct these failures by looking at our procedures and strategies.  He noted that while he was teaching at US Grant, the school board decided to change the attendance boundaries which resulted in two rival gangs going to the same school.  His students became more concerned about staying alive than they did about their education.  Grant soon feel under a federal mandate that required half of the teachers in the school to lose their jobs. That's blaming the soldiers for a failure of strategy.

Our union is deeply involved in education reform that believes that teachers are the answer not the problem. To that end, we have developed the Peer Assistance and Review (PAR) program where teachers who have been successful in the classroom come out for a short period of time and are tasked with helping "probationary teachers", those with 3 years experience or less, with their teaching.  PAR teachers are in my school at Centennial, and they have assisted several of our new teachers. The PARs also can and have recommended that some of these teachers not have their contract renewed.

The American Federation of Teachers feels that teacher based education reform is the most effective of all.

Record Day, Retirement, Reflection

Wrong Kind of Record

Today was the last teacher day in our district, known as Record Day. Record Day is the day for all grades to be turned in, all classrooms to be packed away, all receipt books to be turned over, all keys to be handed in, a time to wrap up the old term and look forward to a few days of rest, relaxation and recovery.

Right Kind of Record

We had a farewell party to some of our staff who are retiring.  Cynthia Boyd our Language Arts facilitator, Mr. Allen who taught horticulture,  and Marjorie Harris, an excellent high school science teacher had their last Record Day and will now enjoy a good retirement.  We will be losing some teachers who will, for one reason or another, be gone from us next year.

This year marked my 18th year as a public school teacher.  I likely will be teaching at least 5 more years before I can enjoy full retirement. It's not something I am particularly looking forward to, except for the opportunity I may have to do more traveling while spending more time with my wife and my new family.

I really do enjoy teaching. I don't know what else I could ever be happy doing.  I also enjoy being in the classroom with the kids. Administration has no appeal to me, nor does consulting or some other education profession that doesn't involve being in a classroom with a group of students. For all the struggles I have trying to reach them, I love being involved in their lives.


I hope I communicate that to them.  To quote that great social philosopher Carol Burnett, "I enjoy the time we have together."