When it rains, it pours.

Yesterday I felt as though there was no way I was going to get a job. Today, I have one albeit in Las Vegas. Further, I have an interview in Monticello, NY on August 9 and am attending a job fair on August 2 for the Bronx. Good news. The Bronx has been given the go-ahead to hire outside the DOE for English positions. Please, please, please let me get a job close to home and in the same time zone.

I am becoming increasingly irritated and bothered by the economic situation in this country. I am tired of hearing about the debt ceiling and the republicans and the democrats. Why can't the two parties just make a list of things they can agree on and work from that? Is it really so difficult? I am not alone here either. The American people are being taken hostage by a group of politicians who don't realize that they are supposed to represent the people, not the lobbyists who pay for their campaigns. (And, as an aside, why is it legal for the republicans to sign a contract saying they won't raise taxes? Don't we need taxes to pay for things like war?)

this same failure to accept ownership of the economic downturn seems to be causing problems in the educational system. We have too many teachers who simply will not do more than they have to do. Some teacher contracts state that they do not need to attend extra-curricular events without pay flies in the face of research. We are supposed to teach the whole child not just the one sitting in the classroom. If teachers are doing nothing over the summer, then they are probably in the wrong field. Reading, traveling and such are pieces of the job. Broadening horizons is what makes us better people and teachers. Many do not bring that extra something into the class room. It's time they did. And those who do not should be looking for employment elsewhere.

Teaching interviews are a joke. Oftentimes I am asked about what technology I would use. The simple truth is this: we are hindered by the limits the school has. If the school has little in the way of access, then it doesn't matter what technology I would use. And, it stands to reason that if the school is tech savvy, so too will the teachers who work there. Knowledge of programs or technology does not make good teachers. Keeping the eyes on the content and doing what is necessary to enable children to learn that content is what is most important. Being asked what I know about differentiating instruction is a laugh: teachers generally don't do it. So, why bother asking what I know if you don't embrace it and demand it from every teacher on staff? There are a lot of new teachers out there willing to apply all this knowledge to the classroom but no spots are available to them because teachers too lazy to create new lessons are using up space.

America needs to get back to what made it great in the first place. We need to work harder and expect superior output. If we continue to allow the status quo to be the yard stick by which all is measured, then we will continue in this downward spiral.

So it continues to rain.