Still getting hit on by Ron Clark.

I mean, TNT shows the movie and then I get hits. The movie's coming on again tonight at 11:30/ 10:30 Central. I picture a teacher who's going back to school tomorrow without an idea for a first day activity frantically searching for the rap for hours...and hours. Falling asleep at their computer, waking up late without finding the rap... Although, I've got to admit that with the enormity of the world and the amount of useless time people have (for example, to rant about Ron Clark) someone, somewhere has figured out the words to the rap and posted it.

Updated Note: I finally found it-- and for only $20 plus shipping and handling, you can have it too.


Recent keword searches below, if you're interested in that sort of thing:

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president's rap
presidential rap
the president's rap
president's rap ron clark
ron clark's presidential rap
ron clark presidents rap
ron clark presidents of the usa rap
presidential rap ron clark
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the ron clark story spoilers
ronald clark nyc teacher
the ron clark story reviews
presidents rap lyrics
when will the story of ron clark come out on dvd
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inspirational stories for principals on opening day
makes out with ron clark story
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the ron clark story 55 rules
the ron clark story spoiler
the presidents rap from ron clark story
ron clarke ny teacher

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Flags....they can cost you big time!

The Education Wonks, recovering from what must have to be a collective, severe and recent head injury (given the inanity of their recent post) sheds light on a recent happening in Colorado with middle school history teacher Eric Hamlin here.

A few comments and questions from my perspective:

1. You automatically assume that Hamlin was insubordinate simply because the administration told him to do something. That operates on the principle that whatever comes out of an administrator's mouth is correct, infallible and legal. This is a dangerous assumption-- administrators are people and make mistakes, as seen in this situation. Just because they're the boss in the situation doesn't mean they're right. Ultimately it's the people that elected their bosses on the board who are in control, unfortunately most of the electorate just doesn't realize it.
2. Does this teacher have an "Academic Freedom" clause in his contract? (For those of you who say "Huh?" when you hear the term, it basically means that teachers are able to use their abilities within the general standards of professional responsibility to teach their kids.)
3. You asked the question was he insubordinate? My answer is no, as the administrator's directive was clearly outside of the bounds of the law. For example, if your boss tells you to shoot his secretary and threatens to fire you if you don't comply, you don't have to shoot his secretary. Then you can go back and sue him for wrongful termination. Heh.
4. You mentioned that the "race card" was played in this column. I strongly disagree, as the composition of who is being taught is just as important as what is being taught-- this is a real issue, not something that was fluffed up for the paper.
5. Why should an administrator be concerned of whether or not a flag is up that shouldn't be? Isn't there something that the administrator could be doing that is more time-effective and beneficial to the community than creating a ruckus about a couple of potentially illegal flags? I would be VERY interested to see how much this entire debacle has cost the district in terms of administrative, teacher and substitute time-- and I'd love to see a dollar value placed on it.
6. Finally, I'm not familiar with Colorado labor laws, but where's his union standing up for him?

This is one of those situations where you've gotta pick your battles.

The ball is in your court, Education Wonks.

Union Bouquet #2 (The Back to School Version)

Welcome, ladies and gentlement to the second installment of the Union Bouquet. As it is, we shall highlight some back to school stories, advice and such in keeping with the whole "back to the grind" theme of this time of year. If you have something you'd like to see in the next Union Bouquet, email me at drhomeslice at hotmail.com !

Syntactic Gymnastics has 20 tips for back to school NYC teachers. Check out numbers 8 and 2.

SailorEcchi posts a little allegorical ditty about being a teacher.

The AFT blog tells a tale of fear, loathing and anti-union sentiment in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Gary, Indiana (yes, I'll say it once again-- Gary, Indiana) teachers are on strike. Good luck guys.

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Ron Clark gets me hits...heh.

So my last post was a play-by-play analysis of just how horrid the Ron Clark story was. The funny thing is that it's gotten me quite a few hits from 'net search engines (Google's been showing me a lot of love lately). I don't know if you believe this or not, but people (perhaps they're about to be student teachers and don't know any better) have been looking for the online lyrics to the less than dope presidential rap that Ronny let flow amongst his students.

Somewhere in America on the first day of school, a newbie history teacher will actually do the rap for their students. Once those kids pick their jaws up off of the floor and stop laughing, the only sound will be the hysterical sobbing coming from a broom closet a short distance from aforementioned newbie teacher's room.

A sampling of some of the search terms follows. Apparently one individual thinks the rap is free, though keep in mind Ronny charges $17,000 per speech, plus travel fees.

For the latest on teacher union strikes or negotiations, click here.

ron clark story
graffiti from the ron clark story
ron clark story preview
the ron clarks story
ron clark story review
ron clark 55 classroom rules
ron clark-school teacher
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free presidents rap by ron clark story
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the ron clark story presidents rap
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presidential rap from ron clark story

Update: Each time TNT shows this uh, mockumentary my hits spike. Keep it up TNT, keep it up.

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The Ron Clark Story-- the Teacher's Review.

For the latest on teacher union strikes or negotiations, click here.

With school approaching and my teacher's hat on, I shall engage my cynicism drive and begin to spew forth my thoughts on "Ron Burgundy" er, Ron Clark. What worked, what was ridiculous, et al. I will try to keep it in chronological order, but may stray at times. I know very little about this guy, but I'm glad, because it allows me to bag on the story even more.

Note: Spoiler to the plot follows.

1. He pretty much dressed like a teacher. Too many suits though.
2. He got his own parking spot concrete thing. I mean, come on-- he taught in rural North Carolina and they probably spend $53.67 per student, which means in order to buy/ make him that parking thingie Miss Winland's first grade class probably had to do their artwork on paper grocery sacks-- and then he up and left, for crying out loud!
3. On the topic of him leaving...what? Why? Just up and left for the Big Apple? In the middle fo the school year? If I tried to do that, my district would grab onto my teaching certificiate and hold on with all their strength. I could only pry it from my superintendent's cold dead hands. In rural NC, where there are few teachers willing to teach? They let him leave? C'mon.
4. Good portrayal of him working as a waiter before (and during) his teaching career in NYC. How many of us have to find second jobs to make ends meet? Too many.
5. I found it really funny how he actually went to the schools to see if they were hiring. Ha! Apparently New York has no central office for hiring or human resources.
6. One of the best parts was when the old teacher chases after the student (great graffiti artist) and ends up quitting right there. Then Ron is like "I can start now?" then the principal (Ernie Hudson of Ghostbusters fame) is like "No, you'll start on Monday." I'm thinking the whole time, dude, he could be the biggest child rapist in NYC and you just hired him. Though, at the same time I realized it was fantasy TV-land because no principal in the public school system has the power to just look at someone's resume and then hire someone off the street.
7. Those kids-- I think we were all secretly thinking of comparisons to those TV kids and matching them up to past students. How many of you wanted to just grab the hat off of the kid Clark later played cards with at the coffee shop? He ALWAYS had it on. He could not sit in his chair the right way! What about the other student with the head scarf (the graffiti guy)? Come on!
8. The whole classroom sequences in the beginning were good, I have to say. Cheers on that, I suppose. The kids were pretty snotty, but at the same time frighteningly realistic to a bit of a veteran like me. A little over the top, but this is TV after all.
9. So at one point Ron Clark walks out. Grabs his stuff after shaking the desk (I cringed there, let me tell you, that would have been a letter in the file, perhaps a downtown hearing and a bit of a suspension on that one there) and just LEAVES early on FRIDAY with a WHOLE CLASSFUL OF KIDS SITTING THERE. IDIOT. Then the principal doesn't know that he left the next Monday. (Perhaps he was playing coy, I didn't really analyze that deeply.)
10. What was EVEN DUMBER was the fact that he left and just kind came back. Just like that. However, if you look at the grand scheme of things it did make sense, because when he got to his classroom every morning the kids were already in there. Uh.... yeah.
11. I liked the chocolate milk thing, but he should have spaced it out to like one per minute instead of every 15 seconds.
12. The President's rap? C'mon. No one cares about the Presidents, when they were born or how long they served (academically speaking) because that's just too dang rote! Buh...
13. What about when the young lady's very agitated mother came in? Parents that angry never agree with you, no matter how rational or appeasing your statement(s) or action(s) are.
14. I liked the part about how he videotaped his lessons and sent 'em in.
15. 55 rules? 55 freakin' rules? I have 5, and they work for me. I can't remember all the Presidents, how do I have time to enforce 55 freakin' rules with my students? Come on!
16. I find it very funny that network TV has now been able to dramatize the instructions to a standardized test to make it actually seem....dramatic. No, ladies and gentlemen, no longer are teachers subjugated to carrying the test materials, or sharpening pencils. Never again will teachers read the "opening monolgue" instructions to the test with inflectionless voices. No, true belivers, in the real world it is the principal who carries the test in, hands the pencils out and sits there and monitors the student body while they test and the teachers just simply wait in the stairwells, nervously contemplating the future of life in their perfect world.
17. Of course, just at the perfect time when the aforementioned young lady in #13 was about to recieve her award, in comes the Principal with the results. Not one student failed, and everyone did great-- and the young lady did better than anyone else in NYC in Math and Science. In reality, you don't get your test results when you want 'em, and unfortunatley, not everyone in my classes pass-- yet.
18. The best part about the reveal on the scores was the fact that his kinda-sorta girlfriends Cleopatra (from the restaraunt) just breezes into his classroom. Yeah, that happens. Great security, Inner Harlem Elementary School.
19. That brings me to another point, not being from NYC, aren't all your schools designated by numbers and stuff? The idea of naming an urban school Inner ANYTHING just completely blows my mind. However, this is TV land.
20. If you look up Ron Clark now, he's charging approximately $17,000 for a speech and travel expenses. He's beginning the Ron Clark School (a private school) in Atlanta. Way to give back, Ron.
21. Note there is no mention of any kind of labor organization anywhere in the film. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. It's a good thing to know that teachers in New York have been able to achieve the gains they have when it comes to working conditions without the help of unions.

Note: There are countless teachers who work harder than this guy and achieve more realistic results. No one will ever make a movie about them, and if they did, it would be a thousand times better than that one. To all of you who make a difference every day despite ever obstacle possible, you are our Ron Clarks.

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The Ron Clark Story on TNT

This just in: Ron Clark story airs on TNT.

How do they take such a noble profession (teaching) and make it seem so.... "Hallmarky"?

More later.

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AFT / Mike Antonucci/ EIA / Cleverspin read this blog?

Alright, alright...it may sound like shameless self-promotion. And I guess it is in a way.

A few posts previous, I commented on an EIA communique about the leak of an internal AFT study. I ended the post by daring Mike to comment on where he got his information. I even complimented him (yes, complimented him) on not releasing the names of AFT staffers who were quoted in the study.

And whaddya know, he replied. I rarely read the replies on blogs I read (simply because I'm there to read someone's writing, not comment on it...unless it really strikes a chord) but dangit if he didn't reply. So, here's his reply.

Hi. I rarely respond to dares, but I did want you to know that I alerted AFT to the release of the report beforehand, and explained to them how I got the information.

I don't mean to be mysterious, but it would be counterproductive to reveal it publicly. Suffice it to say, my receipt of the material was due to a monumental blunder.

Thanks for the kind words. My aim was to write the best story I could based on the material, not to get employees in trouble for saying what they really thought. It was an easy decision to maintain their anonymity.

Best regards,

Mike Antonucci

I was out during the day yesterday, and as I have to publish comments to this blog (I've never not published, I just use it for 'bot protection) I was surprised when I saw in in my Inbox. I was also surprised to see my traffic shoot way up (uh, but it keeps the Blogger servers humming even on the slow days...heh).

I started looking at some of the stats on my traffic and saw some hits from believe it or not, AFT in Virginia! The referring link was a Google search with the terms AFT and Cleverspin. So wow...both sides embroiled in this thing have found me. Here I was, thinking I was insignificant and spewing forth pro-union stuff and no one was paying attention. (Note: self-importance level rising dangerously).

So, in all fairness, I dared Mike and he responded. So...AFT: I dare you to respond about this whole thing.

I'm not exactly daring you, but I would be interested in hearing your side of the story. Remember, Mike said I'm "unabashedly pro-union" so don't be shy. We can work something out where I don't use your name...c'mon, someone, anyone.

UPDATE: I know you AFT Nationals are still coming to this site-- welcome. Please post.

UPDATE #2 (8/14): AFT'ers, my email is drhomeslice at hotmail. com . How thoughtless of me to not leave it here.

Union Bouquet #1

This is an example of where a Union needs to get some oomph. My heart goes out to SWMBO.

Chaz in his daze laments the need for NYFT's leadership to do something to stop eroding a teacher's ability to control their classroom.

JR experiences quality union representation at a, uh, facility, and even though it's a UAW affiliate, they did a great job.

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Shocked and Awed. And Dismayed. And Disgusted.

I just finished reading the EIA special report on the audit the AFT did on their staff using a Chicago-based firm, Cleverspin.

I came away with mixed feelings.

First, you could say it's a good sign that Ed McElroy (AFT President) or his cabinet (so to speak) commissioned the report. The fact that they want to listen to what is being said about the mission of their organization and how it is being handled by their staffers is a good thing. An institution of the nature and stature of AFT being as honest as they should be about the inner workings (or deficiencies) of their organization is good. How many corporations encourage that kind of honesty?

As a counterpoint to my first point, why do you have to hire a public relations firm to get this survey done? I suppose the pat answer would be to find out what's going on. However, on the flip side of things when you've got to pay money (dues money paid by hardworking teachers like me) to figure out that your organization is dysfunctional and doesn't communicate well within the national structure or with it's state affiliates then it is truly a sign that you have lost any and all touch with the reality of your rank and file.

Second, how in the heck did that study get out, and to Mike Antonucci of all people? Note the part of his post where he states "Cleverspin assured interviewees that while their comments would be culled and quoted for the report, it would be done without attribution. EIA has obtained not only the updated interim report, but also audio files of those interviews – with the interviewees' names attached. After listening to 34 hours of candid conversations between Kemmerer and AFT employees of all ranks, EIA has determined that no purpose would be served in identifying the individuals by name. EIA will abide by Cleverspin's promise of anonymity and will quote staffers without attribution or identification."

I want to make some kind of a snide comment here, but at the same time I realize that the attribution of comments to particular people would be nothing less than even more destructive than the wholesale release of the report. So Mike, you and I disagree often-- but the anonymity thing is pretty classy, given the fact that we do live in the "A Current Affair" state of journalism. Though I still ask the question, how did you get it? Of course, a good reporter never names their sources. (And no, I'm not saying you're a good reporter, Mike.)

So Mike, I think you should respond to my post. I dare ya.

UPDATE: Mike responded to my post, I responded back and encouraged someone from the AFT to write back in this post.

Rethinking Unions

If you've never read Rethinking Schools, you're in for a treat. Read it.

Start with this article, about revisiting the idea of teacher unions and improving upon it.

Hilarious!

Mr. Macnamar in Washington posted this entry on "The Daily Grind" about the 10 types of the most annoying people on staff at your school. Thankfully, after reading his descriptions, I was none of them (including the union thug).

A Window into the Hearts and Minds of Teacher Unionists

Sherman Dorn linked to this post over at Edwize by Leo Casey.... I shall tease you with the pivotal question it asks within the first few paragraphs....

Would teachers and the important work teachers do be more respected and more
valued if teachers did not have powerful organizations of their own? Would
teachers and the important work teachers do be more respected and more valued if
the educrats in charge of schools did not have to sit down and bargain with
teachers, but had a free hand to do as they pleased?

Goll-durn this is good. Go here to read it. I might have to write my response to it, I've been busy the past few days and in a non-creative mood.