Peter Kupfer's Blog

Media…

I was in the checkout at Meijer the other day and was depressed by the magazine covers. I think you could pretty much sum up the subject of all the magazines as four topics:

1) Julia Roberts babies (both dieing and doing fine)
2) Jessica Simpson & Nick Leachey (On the rocks of course)
3) Lindsay Lohan (Her parents suck)
4) Jennifer Aniston & Brad Pitt (On the rocks of course)

Anyway the point is, these people’s lives are being torn apart. Especially poor Lindsday Lohan, she isn’t doing anything dumb right now. Her parents suck so there is an articles about how much her life sucks. I feel bad for her.

The other point is that why can’t we have positive magazine stories. For instance, why not have a story about what a freaking awesome show Joan of Arcadia is? I love that show and Amber Tamblyn is awesome!

Thanks.

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Presidential Policies

I found it funny when Presidents set policies that don’t have to be realized until they are long out of office. I am sure other have done it, but Bush currently is our leader and he has two I can think of.

1) The mission to the moon. I thought he said that we will have our moon base by 2010 and on Mars by 2020. This an easy thing for him to say, because he won’t be accountable when it doesn’t happen, which it won’t because he hasn’t mentioned it since or given NASA more cash.

2) NCLB — All students have to pass by 2014, which they won’t, it’s not possible, he won’t be there to take the fall. It is real easy to set an unrealistic goal that he doesn’t have to deal with later.

I just wish people would set some short term goals, like next year the budge will be balance. Not, in 10 years we will have a balanced budget.

Pisses me off!

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Killing my drive…

I proposed an idea to the general physics kids that I would give them homework to do on the Internet over winter break. I did this so that they would not ignore physics over break. I got a lot of resistance and was made to feel like a real jerk. Comments like, “It is a break, not for homework.” I said, well you just had a week off. The response was, “Don’t punish us because the school board is stupid.” So, I just gave up. The kids acted like it would be impossible for them to get on line. Maybe I am unique in that I check my e-mail and use the Internet every night, but I didn’t think so.

The whole experience made me not want to try anything fun or interesting or innovative the rest of the year. They just don’t care, or don’t want to try anything new. Very sad.

I have like 6 students that are taking either extra days before or after break for vacation. Most like a week or more. What the hell are their parents thinking!

Finals need to be before winter break. They just have to be. Anything else is a poor educational choice.

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It pains me to say…

Peyton Manning is *AWESOME*!

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The problem with schools…

This is problem: Schools hire good people.

I know you are all (the two of you at least) are thinking that I am crazy, but here is my logic.

I hate that many of my students don’t take responsibility and come & remember to take their late test and do their missing work. So, I go and hunt them. Even after I have done this, most of them still don’t do the homework (even though I hand it to them while they are sitting in study hall) and all I have really accomplished is enabling their behavior. In many ways, I am just perpetuating the behavior that I hate!

Why do I do this? Because I am a good person, I don’t want to see people fail. This problem is pervasive in our school & in all schools. Teachers and school employees enable the behavior that we hate because we care about students and think we are helping them. Maybe we are really hurting them by taking all of the responsibility off of their shoulders? At what point/age do we assume that people should start being responsible for themselves? Does it change for special needs kids? (I guess that is rhetorical, because it has to legally whether it should or not.)

I don’t have the answers. If I did I would be rich and writing books. I really don’t think anyone has the answers, or else we would all know what to do. I often wonder if I can handle this job.

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Positive Enegry

There is no positive energy source in my school right now. People are either mourning a person who died a year ago, upset about the new gradebook disaster, or overworked to the point where they have forgotten why they went into teaching in the first place. It is not a happy place to be.

How though, do you find a positive energy source. Every time we talk around here, it is about a problem. There is positivity coming from any where. I am in the mopey mood, and I don’t know how to break out of it and be the positive energy, because I really don’t have much to be positive about.

It is a vicious cycle. I have negative energy so I go talk to people and there is more negative energy there. I can’t change there negative energy because I have no positive energy myself. I don’t want to complain it, because that will just lead to more negative energy. So, I turn to the anonymity of the internet to vent, and I probably just depressing people here.

Sorry about that.

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My Beliefs…

Let me begin by saying that I am a teacher, I love being a teacher, and there is nothing in the world I could imagine doing with my life right now. I have wanted to be a teacher since I was 16 years old and that is because I had good teachers who inspired a love of education in me. I teach because I want to share my love of Physics and Science with children and because I want to install in them the love of education and learning that was instilled in me. I also want to provide a positive role model for students. I want to show them what it means to be a responsible well rounded adult. I believe that by modeling appropriate behaviors, I can instill those behaviors and attitudes in children. I believe that by doing this I will make the world a better place and that I will help those students become successful adults.

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