The 54th day of school is about ready to begin. It appears to be an ordinary day, but you never know. The Communication Arts classes will write opinion papers over Dr. Thomas Sowell's column lambasting public schoolteachers. Unfortunately, in our discussion yesterday on the topic, the eighth graders lambasted public schoolteachers. I suppose that was to be expected.
During the second half of the block, we will continue reading, then discuss, the Ray Bradbury short story, "There Will Come Soft Rains."
I am also going to have the address the minor cheating scandal on the Accelerated Reader tests. Two of my students. whose names will remain unmentioned for obvious reasons, were taking tests for other students. Though both are good students, they are not the people whom I would want taking AR tests for me. On the other hand, when I was a freshman at East Newton High School, I copied off a sophomore girl in algebra, figuring that she knew her stuff because she had taken the same class the year before. That did not turn out to be one of my smarter decisions.
All kinds of dramatic changes have been proposed for the AR tests after the cheating was discovered. I believe keeping a better eye on those two when they return from in-school suspension would probably be the best plan, rather than changing passwords for every student enrolled in AR (in other words, every student in my reading classes).
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The multi-media classes will begin a scavenger hunt today, attempting to find the answers to 100 questions on various topics by the end of the week. The members of the winning team in each class will receive $2.50 apiece. Hopefully, this will serve as an educational distraction while a few of the students in each class are able to continue the business of getting the South Middle School website ready for a successful relaunch.