The Average Day

You cannot make up for the mistakes of the past at the cost of our future!

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Caggia) — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 02:44:00 +0000

Teachers continue to fight in Wisconsin for quality education. We are paying attention to their efforts, meanwhile right here in North Carolina the General Assembly is considering legislation to limit teacher pay and school funding and basing pay strictly on merit and eliminating a pay schedule all together. Educators are consistently sent a contradicting message from government from "We are falling behind in education compared to nations around the world and we need to step up our efforts to improve," to "We must cut funding in schools in order to meet or to make a budget." Government "leaders" you cannot have your cake and eat it too. You cannot cut teacher pay, school funding, eliminate teaching positions and reduce the resources available AND expect the quality of education to improve. It is an impossibility.

You cannot make up for the mistakes of the past at the cost of our future!

The students of today are the ones who will ultimately pay the price and in turn our nation will continue to fall further and further behind making it more and more difficult for the United States to compete in the global economy.

As a teacher in North Carolina, I have had my salary frozen for 2 years with the projection for it to be the same for 2 more. Yet rates of inflation continue to rise, gas prices are soaring. With the increased cuts in school and the elimination of teacher positions, my classroom (a doublewide trailer) is about bursting at the seams with students. I am unable to devote enough attention to each student to determine their needs and target their learning. And yet, if we go to a merit based system, my salary will be based on how difficult the government makes it for me to teach my students.

To all my NC friends, please pay attention to what is going on, write the state legislature, let them know that cutting teach pay and school funding is not the way to make North Carolina and the United States ready for the future. Let them know that you support education and its promise for the future. Use the link below to send a message directly to the members of the NC Senate and NC House Appropriations committees.

http://capwiz.com/nea/nc/issues/alert/?alertid=30777516&type=CU&show_alert=1

June 10, 2010: The Best Part About Summer Break...

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Caggia) — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 01:56:00 +0000

...is the freedom! The biggest perk of the summer break, is the freedom. Realizing that you are in control of your schedule is the best part of the break. It allows teachers the opportunity to indulge in their hobbies and creative interests. This is in stark contrast to during the school year. During the school year a teacher can go on vacation or take "time for themselves," but in the back of their mind is always the nagging thoughts all teachers are concerned about: "When will I grade those papers?" "I hope no parents email me." "Did I forget some random piece of paperwork?" "Do I have a good lesson plan ready for my next day at work?" See, there is no time off for a teacher during the school year - contrary to popular belief. (Mind you, I am not saying other occupations do not provide people with concerns and worries during their downtime.) But it is very difficult to enjoy what from the outside seems to be the copious amount of "vacation/holiday" time teachers receive. During the summer the teacher gets the opportunity to, as my principal told us today, "recharge our batteries." By the end of the school year the energy level of teachers dwindles while the students' energy levels build. Imagine those days when your child is being "difficult." Multiply that by 90 children and that is what a high school teacher has to potentially deal with.

Please understand, I am not at all complaining about my job - I am sure I would receive little sympathy from anyone who works in what teachers call "the real world." I am just trying to put into perspective what people on the outside of the teaching profession may not think about. Overall, I enjoy my job, like any other jobs there is an upside and a downside. But the beauty of being a teacher is you get to live vicariously through your students. You get to recapture a tiny bit of your youth in watching and empathizing with their daily lives. With regard to this there are two types of teachers - the ones who get old quickly because they cannot tolerate the teenage behavior, and the ones who remain young by taking that energy and drinking it in like the fountain of youth. I like to consider myself a part of the latter group and it is the summer break that allows me to feel that youth while tempering it with the experience of my age. The expression "youth is wasted on the young" does not have to be true, we can choose to live life youthfully.

June 8, 2010: Summer is here...

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Caggia) — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 01:07:00 +0000

Not officially, but summer is here in the school sense. Today was the last day with students - that is, the last day of exams. Tomorrow will be make-ups and a few retests but overall, the teaching part is over (actually it has been for almost a week). We all know how much we loved the summer as a student. We remember the little song, "No more pencils, no more books, no more teachers' dirty looks! Kick the tables, kick the chairs, kick the teacher down the stairs!" And it sure was fun, but from the other side of the desk, the summer is SO much more gratifying! Students progress on through their high school career (with some exceptions). Teachers do the same thing over and over and unlike most professions, there is a definitive beginning and end. At the end of each school year, while we are looking forward to the relaxation and leisure of our "mini-retirement" we look back, at least for a moment, at what we could have done differently, better. It may not be until August (September in the north) that we really reflect on it by adjusting and hopefully improving our plans from last year. But the best part of the end of the school year is knowing we have the chance to do it again better next time - a clean slate. How many people can boast that about their careers?

Today, after administering the last regular administration of our Civics and Economics End-of-Course Exam I began the process cleaning up the room from the school year. All the desks and chairs are stacked neatly against the wall and all the textbooks are accounted for (at least those that were returned). Tomorrow I will spend my time putting away papers into my unit notebooks so I can find them for next year (without having to print a new copy each time). After that, I consider myself done with still Thursday and Friday to go. Graduation is tomorrow and pretty much every teacher is assigned a duty. It is held at the Raleigh Convention Center. My biggest dilemma is to leave early (as we were given permission for) to get dressed for graduation, or stay at work, get dressed there, and proceed directly to graduation. I am leaning toward choice B so I can get more work done. We'll see, but I think I will bring my clothes to change into this way I leave my options open.

Tomorrow, what I like best about being out for the summer.

April 18, 2010: Another Fast Weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Caggia) — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 02:18:00 +0000

And just like that the weekend is over. Good thing is it was pretty productive. Got a bit of yard work done as well as cleaning out the gutters on Saturday. Sunday consisted of a couple of birthday meals - Chuck's and Mercer's. Chuck's was earlier this week but we went to brunch today to celebrate. We ate at Joyce's Family Restaurant in Fuquay. It was some really good home cookin'! Good enough to rival Mama Dip's Kitchen! None of the food would be suggested to anyone looking to lose weight before the summer. Dinner was Applebee's for Mercer's birthday, which is actually today. To compensate for brunch, I decided to have a half order grilled chicken caesar salad, followed by a trip to Ben & Jerry's (oh well, there is always tomorrow).

From the Classroom

Friday, 1st period was interesting. It went smoothly from the start, but something unusual happened towards the end of the period. The class had finished taking a test and a few students who were absent the day before were taking notes from the board when I heard quite a bit of discussion and conversation outside my trailer. When I stepped outside and stood on the stoop of my trailer several students, around eight, began to scatter in all directions - not running, but walking briskly - some walking away from campus, some back onto campus, but none I was going to be able to catch neither by my chasing them or calling on the phone for an administrator. So I had to let them go. However, down the sidewalk I recognized one of my student who was talking with his mother. As it turns out, she had returned to campus to drop off a student at school, I am not sure if it was a friend of the family or a younger sibling, and saw her son, not in class. We met on the stairs and we had a pleasant conversation about her son who has a habit of not being in class and who did not do well at all last semester. The thing of it is that if he were to come to class regularly he is smart enough to easily pass the class, most likely with a grade in the 80s at least. We spoke to him encouragingly though we clearly showed our disappointment with his performance. I told him that I was there to help no matter what and that there are many opportunities to get and turn in missing work and gave all of my professional contact information to his mother. Despite having caught the student skipping class, I felt good about the situation and am confident that is the student commits to being in class, he will do well and I would work with him regarding his third quarter grade.

April 15, 2010: Tax Day

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Caggia) — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 01:48:00 +0000

Yes, it is Tax Day, but it is a non event for us, have already received our tax returns. Our philosophy is simple, "Pay, pay, pay, and get a refund." We know we are not disciplined enough with our money to have money in savings in case we owe in taxes. Therefore we claim the least deductions possible, allow the government to take as much of our income as possible, and then settle up with us next year. In this way, we are involuntarily saving money and giving ourselves a gift each spring when the tax return checks come. Sure, I know, if we kept the money ourselves and held onto it in even a basic savings account we would collect interest on the money and technically we would have even more money when it is all said and done. But like I said earlier, if we see that money is in the bank, it won't be in the bank for long.

From the Classroom

I have been teaching at Leesville Road High School for almost 14 full years, but I know I still have a lot to learn about teaching. Just yesterday I made a couple of observations that will be pretty important in the future.

1) Students are superstitious.

My 1st period class, regular Civics and Economics, was viewing a Power Point presentation and taking notes. I offered to put the presentation online on my website - both the Power Point Show and the handout/paper version. The hope was to speed up the class by not having to spend so much time on each slide while the students all copied down the information. Mind you, although I have done this with my two honors classes this semester, I have been reluctant to do so in the regular class because I do not trust that they will actually view the presentation on their own time. But I took a chance and let them have a try. More importantly was that some of the students who were the biggest advocates for putting the presentation on line continued to write down the notes during class. So I did not save any time at all! From this I have that the students are superstitious, they will stick to their habit out of fear that if they don't do things the way they always have, that they will not do as well. I think I will change the expectations from the beginning and give them more independence from the start.

2) Some Students Need a Forum

I have student in my 2nd period honors Civics and Economics class who needs to be in the spotlight. This student has gone so far as to challenge me to a foot race (although we did not race, I am confident I would win). The class has discovered that his goal is to fill all silence in the class with words. He does not understand the idea of "meaningful silence." Every time I pause he will interject with a story or a "what if" type question. Yesterday this became painfully obvious because I needed to finish up a unit as I was giving test on the information today. True to form, every time I paused to allow the students to think on an idea or write some information down, he filled the space with a question. I learned a valuable lesson from this, do not give him an audience and he will eventually stop. For most of the semester I have enabled this behavior by entertaining most of his questions and comments (it is social studies, being social is an important skill). But out of necessity, I had no time to entertain him and so I was forced to move on and ignore him - which at times came of as though I was being rude. We did finish the lesson yesterday and had the test today. I must remember to keep the spotlight for myself.

From the Sports Desk

Last night, Fences of Cary Blue (our softball team) had a "West Coast" game - not literally, but since it started so late it felt like I was up late watching a game from the west coast. We learned that we are not an 8:45pm team, we do much better when we begin our game at 6:45pm. We lost 16-6, run ruled in the 6th inning. Overall our bats didn't come together for most of the game until the late innings, and our defense was less than spectacular. Tack on to that the fact they were good hitters that seemed to always find the holes in the field made it very difficult to get any momentum in the field. I did continue my usual contribution going 3-3 with two doubles, one single, one run batted in, and one run scored. I do take blame for some of the things that went wrong in the game. Right from the beginning, I tried to stretch a double into a triple to lead off our half of the first inning and was thrown out at third. It is the first game this season that I led off with an out. I put us out of our rhythm from the start. It is also the first game this season we did not score any runs in the first inning. I did learn a bit from the game, but I will see just how much come next week.

To see my website for my classes, visit: Caggia Social Studies. It will always be a work in progress. So far the only pages with content are under Civics & Economics.

April 13, 2010: It's Official, the Mets Suck!

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Caggia) — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 02:00:00 +0000

Were it not for the lowly Houston Astros (0-7), the New York Mets (2-4) would boast the worst record in the National League. But do not worry Mets fans, the season is still early, they could have the worst record before you know it. Mets fans nationwide (if there ARE Mets fans nationwide) had high hopes after their 7-1 drubbing of the Marlins on opening day, but since then it has been a train wreck. Tonight, by the 3rd inning the Mets were already trailing 8-0 to the Rockies. It seems I will have not have a team to get excited for until the fall when hockey season starts up again. I would like to say I could get excited for football, but let's be realistic, I am a Browns fan, what do I have to be excited about?

Today was an average day. I gave a LOT of notes to my honors classes today. I really hate doing it, but sometimes it has to be done. Some students began to complain citing the pain in their hands as the symptom. There was not much for me to do or say, so we trudged on until we were done. I am trying to catch up, not that I am behind, but I want to keep at the pace we have been - I want to give a test on Thursday.

I have been feeling a bit "lazy" lately, although I am not sure "lazy" is the correct term. Perhaps distracted would be more accurate. The weather is beautiful and the last thing I want to be doing is working (but I am sure that is true of everyone!). I am finding myself a little behind in my planning; I am getting to work needing copies for that day. Pretty much all year I have been doing well keeping ahead of my planning by turning copies in well in advance. I would like to get back to that and I think I will be able to after this up coming test.

I have also been having a difficult time exhibiting the will power to stay away from snacks at home. I am enjoying the taste of cookies and sweets of late and I really would like to lay off of them so that I can lose the rest of the weight I have set for my goal - ~15 more pounds to get to 160 lbs. I will continue to be more active with softball and getting in a few workouts here and there at the gym, but the will power just isn't where it needs to be. I need a little something to push me over the edge back to the level of dedication I had last year around this time. Maybe if I put on a bathing suit from last summer I may find the the incentive I need.

April 12, 2010: Crazy turn lanes!

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Caggia) — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 01:41:00 +0000

I didn't realize it had been since Wednesday that I posted! I knew I took off for the weekend but forgot I hadn't posted at the end of the week either! Oh well, here we go.

So the Town of Cary comes up with a brilliant idea that violates rule #1: "If it's not broke, don't fix it." (Actually, Rule #1 in my class is "Read the Directions", so this is a later rule). Well apparently Cary thought it had a better idea than your usual turn arrows. It now has a crazy plan with a strange blinking yellow arrow. When the light for the oncoming traffic turns green, the turn lane will show a blinking yellow even if your side of the road remains red. It is the stupidest thing I ever saw. So now, when you get a blinking yellow, you don't really know what you are supposed to do... Do you wait because your traffic has a red, do you go because your light changed? The correct answer is choice 'c', take your chances and good luck! I saw an accident Saturday because the light turned blinking yellow and a car turned while the oncoming traffic turned green. This could easily have been avoided if the town had simply LEFT THINGS ALONE!

The weekend rolled by way too quickly. Before I knew it I was getting ready for school this morning. At least I like my classes this semester, but still getting up at 5am and being at work before 7am just seems unholy. We are rolling through the branches of government and will be testing on executive and judicial branches by the end of the week. The problem is, I am not sure what to do between now and the test. Do I bore them to death and just give them worksheets? Or should I try to be creative after years of having my creativity stifled by apathetic and unmotivated students? I am trying a few things differently; my honors class emailed their assignment to me this weekend, it was due by 7:25am this morning to my inbox! It was a current event project of sorts and I think it went over well. I will figure out how successful it was once I grade everyone's work. I have now assigned a timeline project for the President's cabinet. This is due next Monday, it is to be a poster so no email this time.

Evan and Michelle went to Wrightsville Beach for the day. They seemed to have a nice time but Michelle did not put sun block on in time and now looks like a lobster. One day she will learn, but I doubt it.

Another softball game today. We won again, this time 11-6. We are now 3-0 and in first place! I am still hitting well, I went 3-4 today, with one double, 2 runs scored, and 1 run batted in. So far I am 9 for 12, with 2 triples, 2 doubles, 6 runs batted in, 5 runs scored. I account for 26% of our run production! I feel really good about my contribution to the team! I am a little disappointed and relieved at the same time - no one is hitting the ball to me. I like to think it is because they know better, but I just think they just haven't hit the ball to me for no particular reason other than it just hasn't happened. For that I am disappointed because I want to field the ball, get some action out there. On the other hand, my should is probably around 60% and it is a good thing I haven't had to throw and make any plays.

April 7, 2010: Happy Birthday to Me

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Caggia) — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 02:17:00 +0000

Does that sound to self-centered? I am not trying for that, but that was pretty much the only eventful thing to happen today. The day was typical, other than finding a big "Happy Birthday" sign on my classroom door when I arrived to school today. I gave the students their grade reports for the 3rd quarter. This is a print out of their all their grades for the class, it is not a report card which just lists the grade the student has for each subject. I had to go through the typical, "You all can do better" routine. I do believe many of them can do better, I am not just blowing smoke to try and motivate then. The challenge is, as the weather keeps getting nicer and nicer (80-90 degrees all week so far!), the students will be thinking more and more of being somewhere else.

I did demonstrate my naivety in class today. We were giving an example of the President meeting with party whips in Congress, and I innocently mentioned that I did not mean that he would be whipping them. I went on to say that of the US Presidents, he would be the most likely to be whipped himself. I am sure you are thinking the same thing a few of my students were, I was making bad, inappropriate, off color joke. A few of my students began laughing out loud, unable to believe I had said that. I didn't see what the big deal was because in my mind I was thinking that, well, of all the Presidents so far, Obama does not seem very physically strong compared to the previous US Presidents, as a result they all could kick his butt. That is where I was going, but it quickly became the race card. Fortunately, the students did NOT believe that I was making a racist comment. But needless to say, after the fact, I did feel pretty uncomfortable.

We had a softball game tonight. It went well, we jumped out to a 7-0 start in the first inning and won 12-7 in the end. I hit well (2-4, 3B, 2B, 2 R, 1 RBI). So far this season the team is 2-0 and I am hitting an awesome .750 (6-8, 2-3B, 2B, 4 R, 4 RBI, 2.000SLG%). I am feeling pretty good about it. I was a little disappointed on a play I was running out to first. I was thrown out but less than an inch, I know he got me, I am not arguing that. I am disappointed because I wonder if I have "lost a step." I joked, if I were 38 I would have beat out the throw!

April 5, 2010: I Hope You Like the Color Green

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Caggia) — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 02:30:00 +0000

... because we have enough of it here in North Carolina! This time every year the Oak trees explode! The spew thick green pollen on everything coating the entire world in green. The dusting is complete, if you sit still for five minutes your are covered. It is atrocious! We could use a little rain wash all this away.

Today was a good day, a teacher workday. Evan was at work with me today without any students. I spent the entire day getting my grades entered and finalized. They are due tomorrow by 8am and I will not have time to take care of it before that time, so I needed to get it done today. Evan is such a good kid, he is my champ! He spent the entire day watching movies on the big screen, drawing pictures, playing his DS. We went to lunch at Five Guys with a few other teachers. And Evan contributed to conversations almost like he was one of the grownups. He is awesome.

We had our first softball game this evening. A great way to start the season; we won 19-6. I went 4-4, with a triple, 3 RBIs, and 2 runs scored. It felt great to win, but I had butterflies most of the game. Well, I make it sound like a long game, we did run rule them after 4 innings, but I did have the butterflies for the duration.

Yesterday, Donovan McNabb was traded from the Philadelphia Eagles to division rival Washington Redskins. Normally trading a quality player to a division rival would be a no-no, but considering it is the Redskins, it doesn't matter. What is worse is how the Redskins (former) starting quarter back Jason Campbell found about about the trade - from a reporter who called his home to get Campbell's take on the deal. You would think the team would want to be the first to let the player know about a trade that will affect his status as a starter. Looks to me like Campbell will be throwing the football for another franchise come this fall. But what can you expect from Dan Snyder?

Campbell found out about McNabb trade from reporter

April 4, 2010: Happy Easter

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Caggia) — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 02:16:00 +0000

Today flew by, unfortunately as I have to go back to work tomorrow after what seemed like the shortest Spring Break in history! I spent at least 3 hours today blowing leaves left over from the fall - and I am still not done. Please, I do not want you to think I have left the leaves all winter, I blew most of them in the fall, but now I am tackling the corners and areas I do not usually clear. It is unbelievable how many leaves fall in my yard annually! (You will get an idea as to why when you look at the pictures below of the Easter Egg hunt in our back yard - too many trees!)

We had Easter dinner at home with Pete, Katie, their boys and Mercer. Spiral ham, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, and Banana Cheesecake for desert - my request for my birthday! Michelle made the cheesecake and found an alleged Cheesecake Factory recipe online - authentic or not, it was gooood!

The boys all colored eggs in the traditional dip and dye. We "hid" filled plastic eggs in the yard for the boys to find (all filled with jellybeans). It was nice, the boys played, the adults sat and talked, nothing much to brag about other than good company.

More pictures at: My Photo Album

Chris, Brendan and Evan coloring Easter Eggs

Chris, Brendan and Evan hunting for eggs

April 3, 2010: Turn Signals!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Caggia) — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 01:44:00 +0000

If there is one thing that drives me mad on the road it is when people do not use their turn signals! They spend so much money on their cars and then choose not to use all the features - what is up with THAT? They slow down, slow down crawl to an intersection and finally turn without any warning, and I then miss the light. That is the one time a person should be allowed to just punch someone in the nose.

Today Evan woke me up on the wrong side of the bed. Basically he does this every weekend. His routine is simple: wake up early and call into our room, "Mom, what time is it?" It is usually sometime before 7am. "It is ___, go back to sleep." After about 25-30 minutes, Evan climbs out of bed, uses the bathroom in our room, drops the toilet seat with a bang, flushes the toilet, and then climbs into bed. Actually, more like climbs ONTO the bed, onto Michelle usually but then proceeds to reach across and touch me. Not for nothing, the last thing I want at a quarter after 7 in the morning is an 8 year old gently touching my arm! Usually he will not be content until one of us gets up with him and goes downstairs. Even if we convince him to just lay there with us, he cannot lay still. So this morning after repeated commands for him to go into his own bed, I finally just got up and came downstairs. I hate that kind of morning, which, as I said, is most weekends.

Today we attended the Easter Egg hunt in downtown Raleigh, at Moore Square. It was nice, organized moderately well, but still pretty chaotic! Evan only came away with six eggs after two runs. Even though he would like to get many more eggs, he is over it. He knows whatever is inside he can get elsewhere, and likely already has somewhere in his playroom!

Afterwards, Michelle and Evan went fishing with Dan and Aidan. I chose to head home and attack the back yard yet again - my never ending battle with the trees and whatever they feel like dropping into my yard. My goal today was to get rid of more leaves from the fall and all of the "prickly balls" that the trees drop. I did as much as I could before I ran out of gas in the leaf blower, I will finish the job tomorrow morning in order to clear the way for our little Easter Egg hunt in the back yard.

We ate dinner watching the hockey game on TV and true to form, the Canes lost at home 4 - 0, AGAIN. At least this time we weren't at the game! We know they are not going to make the playoffs but I'll be damned if they aren't going to cut it close. It is made all the worse when the TV announcer before every game tell the audience how close they are and that the Canes still have a chance. Why do they do that? They renew my hope every time, even after I have resigned myself to a short season.

Anyway, here a couple of pics from the Easter Egg hunt today, I will likely add some of tomorrow.

Aidan, Carlee, and Evan

Evan, Aidan, and Carlee

April 1, 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Caggia) — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 03:05:00 +0000

I couldn't come up with a catchy title for today, so the date will have to do.

It was a gorgeous day today, and we spent part inside and part outside. Evan and I went bowling with Katie, Chris and Brendan. It was fun, but I opted not to bowl so as to not hurt my neck. It is doing fine but I didn't want to do something stupid to it and screw it up just days before our softball season opener. After the two game, we went to the game room to win tickets to cash into prizes. I dropped a dollar in the "Deal or No Deal" game and came away with 75 tickets! (the 3rd highest ticket total). Afterwards we all went to Chik-fil-a for lunch, then we parted and Evan and I came home.

At home we hung out outside for a little while. Evan helped me rake the yard, then we played a little basketball and Evan wanted to ride his bike - that is wanted me to help teach him some more. It was an absolutely gorgeous day outside!

We came inside and just hung out some. I decided to work some on my website - to create a new page that will list the handouts as we encounter them so they can be printed. It will include the date assigned, date due, and instructions. . The goal is to minimize the number of excuse students will have to not have their homework. I was getting a bit frustrated at the process today when the design was not working correctly, fortunately I discovered the problem this evening and got past the first obstacle. I will like to work on it some more tomorrow but I have plenty of things to do to keep me outside most of the day, and by the looks of the forecast, that is where I will want to be!

If you are interested on the website I am working on the link is below. Presently I am only working on the "Civics & Economics" section as that is the only course I am teaching this semester. The page I was specifically working on today is also linked below. There is no direct link to it yet from the website because I haven't prepared any content, I was only working a little on the appearance. Let me know what you think.

Caggia Social Studies

Handouts at Caggia Social Studies

March 31, 2010: How to Train Your Dragon

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Caggia) — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 02:46:00 +0000

Yesterday proved to be busy but mundane. Evan and ran errands for a good part of the afternoon - mostly groceries and such. We did manage to buy the last two Harry Potter movies we were missing (episode 3: "The Prisoner of Azkaban" and episode 4: "The Goblet of Fire"). We were able to watch "The Prisoner of Azkaban" before dinner and will likely watch "The Goblet of Fire" tomorrow.

Today was a little more leisurely, well for the kids at least. Track out camp at the gym was full so I volunteered to watch Aidan today. I figured the best plan to keep the kids happy was to get them out of the house. My plan was to go see "How to Train Your Dragon", then to the park for a picnic lunch (Jersey Mike's subs) and then to just run around and play. Considering it was 80 degrees today, outside was the best plan. Everything went well, the boys played at the park and I got to sit on a bench and just read while soaking up the sun. Very nice.

I watched "V" this evening, and although I like the show, I cannot believe how many commercials they are throwing in there! There is absolutely no way I will watch it unless I record it first - I absolutely HATE commercial television!

"How to Train Your Dragon" was a good movie! We all enjoyed it and the action was great. I did not drop the extra $3 per ticket to watch it in 3-D, but it was good nonetheless. I give it 5 out of 5 stars for a kids movie. We also saw the previews of a few movies I plan to see, including "Toy Story 3," "The Karate Kid," and "The Last Airbender."

March 29, 2010: A Day Lost

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Caggia) — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 01:51:00 +0000

Originally scheduled, today was to be Spring Break, BUT the county decided to close school on a day that didn't need to be closed. So this morning I had to be up at my usual time to go to work. And what a WASTE of a day today was. I only saw 25 of my 90 students today - 5 in 1st period, 7 in 2nd period, and 13 in 4th period. Essentially today was a waste of a day in the curriculum. Fortunately I had planned to finish showing Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and while it is an excellent movie and is an excellent example of Congress in action as well as the potential for corruption and the power of the media, the students didn't miss any actual instruction, only enrichment. So I can live with that. On the bright side, I used the day to my advantage to get a good many papers graded so next Monday when I go in for a teacher workday I will have more time to plan ahead and will spend less time catching up on the past.

I forgot to mention that yesterday we went to see the movie, Diary of a Wimpy Kid. It was cute, I enjoyed it. We took Chris and Brendan with us, they liked it too. I recommend it for younger audiences, I rate it 4 out of 5 stars for children's movie. (There is about a 25 second lead-in with nothing before the actual trailer begins).

March 28, 2010: The Average Day Returns!

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Caggia) — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 00:31:00 +0000

I think I am finally ready to post here on a regular basis again. Things have been going well and I finally feel mentally up to the task again! (But does anyone really care?)

Softball season is here, and practices have been under way. We had practice today, it was a pretty good one, and our last one is tomorrow. Games begin the following week, so I think I am ready. Good news for me is that my trips to the gym combined with the education I received in physical therapy have really helped my shoulder. I threw today and for the first time in a long time, I felt strength in my shoulder and no pain! I am very excited and encouraged. I am looking forward to a great season, it should be a lot of fun.

Tomorrow was supposed to be the first day of Spring Break, but since we had one snow day too many, we will have to make it up tomorrow instead. My plans are simple - finish showing Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. We began it in all my classes Thursday and Friday and will finish it up in all three tomorrow, which was my plan all along. It also means we are in a great place regarding pacing. For the first time in a long time I am not behind! I credit this to the fact that all of my classes are Civics & Economics (I do not have to divide my planning time between two curricula) and that I have students this semester that are inspiring me to challenge them. My biggest fear is that I am boring them. Once we get back from Spring Break it will be the 4th quarter. I am planning being refreshed and returning with some plans that will be more fun and thought invoking. We shall see!

Inabilities of State Government

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Caggia) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 00:38:00 +0000

Today I received an email from my professional organization, NCAE (North Carolina Association of Educators) - it is not a union since North Carolina is a "right-to-work" state, any such combination would be seen as in restraint of trade and would therefore be illegal... whatever. Anyway...

Today NCAE sent me an email highlighting some disturbing information concerning a member of the NC Senate. Essentially, this Republican Senator is a liar. There is no mincing words, he is a liar. Let me explain.

As is the case across the country, North Carolina is no exception when it comes to budget shortfalls, especially in this difficult economic time. And, according to the NC State Constitution, the Governor MUST propose a balanced budget based on estimation of tax revenue for the upcoming 2 years (the North Carolina budget is biennial, it is a two year budget). This budget must then be approved by the NC General Assembly (NC House and NC Senate), just like any other bill. Once the governor proposes her budget, the House reviews it and makes its changes, followed by the Senate. Fortunately, the NC Senate rejected the House's budget, now the dirty fight begins.

The House's budget proposes to cut THOUSANDS of educators' positions across the state, especially in the classroom. Meanwhile the Senate Minority Leader, Phil Berger (R) says that there will only be a cut of 45 positions, and those will be from the Department of Public Education, positions that are mostly vacant at this time. Here is the email:

Berger's Whopper on Educator Cuts

Senate Minority Leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) sent emails to NCAE members this weekend claiming that the House budget only cuts 45 teaching positions this coming year.

Senate Minority Leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) sent disturbing emails to NCAE members this weekend, including educators whose teaching positions are facing elimination, and erroneously contended the "House budget cuts 45 funded positions, not 12,000, not 1,000, not even 100."

Berger even went so far as to claim that "NCAE is spreading false information" about the severity of budget cuts and even offered the possibility that the organization was disseminating a "purposeful lie."

Further down in the email, the longtime Republican Senate leader provided a web link (http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/sessions/2009/budget/2009/budgetreport06-13-09.pdf ) for members to review the 214-page House budget proposal for themselves.

"It was an odd link to provide in an email message falsely claiming only 45 positions were eliminated," said Government Relations Manager Cecil Banks. "The documents explain with no ambiguity whatsoever that thousands of educator positions are cut in the House budget proposal."

Banks points to page 21, item 20 in Berger's attachment. There it provides a $183 million cut by increasing class size in grades 4-12. "Where does he think the state will realize that cut?", asked Banks. "The $183 million comes from eliminating about 2,500 teachers."

Item 22 of the same page above, eliminates 200 literacy coaches at a cut of $12 million in the budget.

On page 22, line 24 of the document, over 4,000 teacher assistants are completely gone in the 3rd grade under the House plan at a cut of over $130 million. "There's also the non-instructional support positions facing elimination," said Banks.

So why is Berger claiming only 45 educator positions are cut?

Sen. Berger, shown here with Rep. Paul "Skip" Stam, his Republican counterpart in the House, is known for his right-wing ideology and anti-public schools stance.

DPB can only guess (or hope) that Sen. Berger has not reviewed the House budget carefully. Short of that, Sen. Berger seems to be referencing page 23, item 35 of the House budget linked above. There it cuts 45 positions at $3.2 million from the NC Department of Public Instruction.

"It is mind-boggling how a five-term senator could find that one line-item and come to the erroneous conclusion that ONLY 45 positions face elimination," said Banks. "And then to question NCAE for simply reading what is clearly in black-and white. This is very disturbing."

To read the full text of Sen. Berger's email to a member on Saturday, click here.

Feel free to send Sen. Berger a note at phil.berger@ncleg.net. His office number is (919) 7....

And, Sen. Berger, feel free to drop NCAE an apology at sheri.strickland@ncae.org. DPB will even print the full retraction.

This is the nonsense that this state must endure. Either this Senator did not read the bill himself and is making his decisions on ignorance, or he he believes that the people are ignorant and will not read the bill themselves. (Actually, I am thinking he is both - ignorant and believes the people are ignorant). Never have cuts to education solved problems, they have only created new ones. At the same time, I am not, myself, ignorant to the need to tighten our belts when necessary, but cutting more than 10,000 teaching positions is NOT tightening of one's belt, it is stupidity.

April 16, 2009 - Discretionary Fiscal Policy

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Caggia) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 13:48:00 +0000

Did you do it? Did you get it done? Of course I am talking about your taxes, yesterday was the deadline. Or, did you buy tea bags to protest taxes? That is right, yesterday, April 15, "Tax Day" became the day to protest increased government spending of the new presidential administration. As a history teacher, I definitely appreciate the symbolic "tea party" held yesterday in rememberence of the Boston Tea Party to protest the British tax on tea. (Actually, it wasn't so much that a new tax was imposed on tea, instead it was lack of tax on the tea sold directly by the British East India company that made their tea cheaper than that sold by the retailers in the colonies.) From the historic Boston Tea Party the slogan, "No taxation without Representation" really began to take hold. Unfortunately, no such memorable slogan will emerge from yesterday's protest. The only thing I recgonize from the protest is the ignorance of the protestors and the short memory they have of government spending.

A little research* will show that despite the size of government spending proposed (or due to be proposed) by the Obama administration, the Bush administration budget for Fiscal Year 2009 (FY09) is greater and contributed more to the federal deficit. And yet, yesterday's protest, supported (maybe even "sponsored") by Fox News was to demonstrate disploeasure with Obama's plan. To take the analysis further, according to the Obama plan, more money will be spent in America and less on foreign countries than Bush's plan. The Obama plan is designed to rebuild the US while the Bush plans were designed to rebuild other countries, like Iraq and Afghanistan. So I wonder why Bush's plans were not protested as vigorously as Obama's (which has not actually been presented yet)?

This is the essence of Fiscal Policy. Fiscal Policy refers to the tax revenues (T) and government expenditures (G) proposed by the government. What is proposed each year by the President is considered non-discretionary spending, while money spent for "incidentals" is considered discretionary spending. The budget is proposed based on anticipated tax revenue assuming full-employment**. This is called the "Full Employment Budget." The goal is for G = T resulting in no deficit and no surplus. However, since the economy is always affected by the business cycle, cyclical unemployment s never 0% and will result in a T less than expected. When this happens, G > T, a deficit results. Government actually spends more than is efficient which is an automatic result of Fiscal Policy - built-in stabilizers. The built-in stabilization of Fiscal Policy puts more money back into the economy than was removed by taxes and acts to stimulate growth, albeit, in small quantities.

If the government anticipates a shortfall of tax revenue, the government can adjust Fiscal Policy to combat or compensate for the short fall. There are two options: 1) increase G (Keynesian economic philosophy used during the Great Depression which was limited in its effectiveness due to protectionist trade policies that prevented the rest of the world from recovering) 2) decreasing T. In both situation, more money is allowed to circulate in the economy than under the "normal" circumstances which will either slow the economic "slide" or revitalize economic growth. President Obama will surely attempt to apply discretionary fiscal policy in order to help improve the economy. He will attempt to increase G to create new jobs to but unemployed back to work and will lower T in order to allow people to keep more of their income.

FY09 Budget (Bush):
T= $2,699,947,000,000
G= $3,107,355,000,000
Deficit = $407,408,000,000

FY10 Budget (Obama) Projected/Estimated:
T= $2,931,348,000,000
G= $3,091,340,000,000
Deficit= $159,992,000,000

(The above data includes discretionary and non-discretionary spending.)

The above data shows a few things:

Tax Revenue will be higher for the first Obama budget than the last Bush budget;
Government Spending will be lower for the first Obama budget than the last Bush budget;
The Budget Deficit will be less for the first Obama budget than the last Bush budget.

What is most disturbing is Fox News and their weapons ready to open fire on President Obama the first chance they get, even if they do not report the entire story. Is it true, the government will have to spend more (bigger government)? No. Will it create larger budget deficits? No. But that is not how Fox is going to report it. And then, despite bigger government under Bush, Fox News and Republican cronies are crying "Socialism" from the highest mountains. All of a sudden, after eight years of wasteful spending we are supposed to believe that they are the party of fiscal responsibility? What the estimates are showing is that the Obama budget will try and fight the problems created by decades of poor fiscal responsibility across the economy, and do so with more responsibility than his predecessors. What it boils down to is this, ff they really want to see socialism, drastic measures are possible: forcing employers to retain workers, setting prices, rationing. If we do not want things to get to that point, actions must be taken now.

So save your money, don't buy your symbolic tea. Pay your taxes. Get back to work, and help make America productive again. And as for Fox News, stop sowing the seeds of revolt. Be a responsible media source, and don't tell us that your news reporting is "Fair and Balanced". You have already hoodwinked your pathetic sheep, the rest of us are too smart to listen except when what we hear is so ridiculous that we have no choice but spread some knowledge and useful information.

Fox News: "We report, you decide." I have decided, all glitz, no content.

* For information and data, visit the Government Printing Office (GPO), specifically the data for FY2009.

** Full-employment should not imply a situation where every eligible worker looking for work has a job, instead it occurs when there is no cyclical unemployment (those who are unemployed due to a "shrinking economy"). Those who are unemployed during full-employment are due to frictional unemployment (those in between jobs usually due to some "friction" between the employer and employee - perhaps something as simple as seeking better opportunity), seasonal unemployment (those whose jobs only exist a certain times of year, such as lifeguards), and structural unemployment (those who are out of work because their skills are now obsolete due to advances in technology).

The Wrestler

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Caggia) — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 02:55:00 +0000

I didn't know what to think about this movie before I saw it. The movie, The Wrestler, is about a washed up wrestler who still has a passion for wrestling. Mickey Rourke, who is perfect for the part, gives a magnificent performance as the washed up wrestler, Randy "The Ram." After a heart attack and bypass surgery he finally comes to grips with his career, his family, and his life, none of which is really existent. At which point he must decide to fight one last epic battle, a rematch from twenty years earlier. He must decide, does he have anything left to live for, this last match will surely be the end of him. Marissa Tomei is is excellent as an aging stripper who no longer has a passion for her work while trying to raise her 9 year old son. Will she be able to save him and be the last hope for his otherwise shattered life?

The movie is very emotional. You truly feel his pain. You want him to be happy. But will it be that makes him happy? Throw in his last attempts to reconcile with his daughter and you have a powerful movie that tears at your heartstrings. I recommend it. 5 out of 5 stars.

The International

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Caggia) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 03:55:00 +0000

It has been a while since I posted, but I will give it another shot here.

I Went to the movies today. I just needed a day to watch a movie without worrying about a thing. The International is a suspense - action movie, just what I needed today. Clive Owen was good as the hero working desperately to expose the inner workings of a huge international bank and its attempt to control the world. The bank is not really wanting to take over the world, but instead to control money and debt in order to keep itself wealthy. And by debt, I do not mean your average American's credit card debt, I mean national debt and the debts accrued through armed conflict. This movie is full of murder, assassinations, gunfights, chases, and international intrigue around the world, from New York City, to Milan, Istanbul, Lyon, France, and more. I recommend it for as an escape from everyday doldrums of winter. But were this the summer, it would not be able to compete with the action movies typically released.

My first introduction to Clive Owen was in a video game, Wing Commander: Privateer 2: the Darkening. He is the main character, the player's character. Fun game, but kind of funny that he is a legitimate actor now when he was once no more than a video game character. It could be worse, Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) ended up where Clive Owen began, as the main character in the same series: Wing Commander.

August 25, 2008: Back to School

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Caggia) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 00:56:00 +0000

Today was the first day of school, the day I most dislike. It is the day where I have to do ALL the talking, go over rules, procedures, grading, what to expect, and so on. It drives me crazy and by the end of the day, I am a bit horse. I usually have a good first day of school, and today was no exception. I have 1st period planning, which gives me an extra hour-and-a-half to get ready. Then I teach AP Economics. This class is challenging because of the content and the calibre of the students. They will be certain to ask me challenging questions that I may not know the answer to right away. The I have lunch, at 10:40am. It is more like brunch, but since I eat breakfast before 5am, it isn't a problem. Next is honors Civics & Economics. Another good class: intelligent and conscientious. And finally, I end the day with an average Civics & Economics. Another good class: polite and courteous. So this will most likely amount to a good semester. I will have to stay on top of some of the average students each day to keep them on task and caught up, but that is typical of an average class.

You may be asking why am I eating breakfast before 5am. Simple, I am going to the gym BEFORE school. As I previously mentioned, last week was an experiment to see if I could do it. It was pretty successful, so this week is the real challenge: to go to the gym and then be ready to teach. Today was OK, but by the time I got home, I was tired. Sitting in carpool for Evan doesn't help. I really get tired there. Another thing, my feet are killing me, already. I hope it gets better or else I am going to need to find more comfortable shoes!

August 24, 2008: Away We Go

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Caggia) — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 00:39:00 +0000

This is it. Tomorrow the students arrive. Will I be ready? All that matters is if the students think so. Appearances are everything. There are two important bits of information I remind myself at the beginning of the year (and along the way too, of course):

1) The truth isn't important, it is what you can get them to believe that matters.
2) Teaching is 80-90% acting.

If I am not prepared but the students think I am, then I am prepared, and that is a good thing. On the other hand, even if I have the best laid plans, they sometimes do not work and it comes off as though I am not prepared. If they believe I am not prepared, then I am not. Plain and simple. Therefore, no matter what I must act as though I am prepared. I must act as though I am ready for the next situation, no matter what it may be. The students must have confidence in my abilities, if they do not, then it will be an up hill battle from then on.

So tomorrow, I must be ready when the students arrive. I must have an agenda ready to go once the bell rings. I must be prepared to handle the students who arrive tardy, and those who ask to use the rest room. If I do not have all these things, then my ship is already sinking. The tone must be set minute one of day one.

Am I ready? Mostly. Will the students believe I am prepared? Absolutely.

August 21, 2008: Adjustment Period

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Caggia) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 21:06:00 +0000

On Monday I mentioned how this week was going to be a trial period. As of this morning I have successfully arrived to work at the time I desired, 6:45. I will admit, I am getting pretty tired. All of this up at 4:30am is starting to catch up. I am trying to get to bed earlier since I am waking up earlier, and I have been somewhat successful in that, but I am still pretty tired. The difficult thing about it is that I am unable to tell if I am tired because I am getting up so early or because I am back to work (albeit, without students). But if you think about it, I am not up all that much earlier than I will be next week when the students arrive. Last semester my alarm was set for 4:51, not it is 4:30. 21 minutes should not make that much difference. But I guess if I am at a gym working out in the meantime, then that could account for it too. The other thing is food. I get up and eat a bowl of cereal by 5am. I get to work around 7. And by 8:30 I am hungry. I am not going to eat another meal, I am going to have to find a sensible yet filling snack. The good thing there is that I have 'A' lunch, meaning I eat lunch around 10:30. So the morning isn't too bad that way. The long stretch will be after lunch. I won't get home until 4:15-4:30 each day, I will definitely need something before that to tide me over enough that I will not binge until I get home.

August 18, 2008: Trial Period

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Caggia) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 00:36:00 +0000

I now have a would be scheduling conflict, gym or work. Well, obviously I can't skip work to go to the gym. Sure, I could go in the evening, but I am reserving that time for Michelle to go since she does not have the "luxury" of going before work. I, on the other hand, do have the time to go before work. That is, if I want to wake up and get there around 5am. So this week is my trial period. I am trying to get to work at the normal school time (6:45am for me) and still go to the gym before hand. If I can successfully pull it off, then I will continue to do it next week when the students come back to school. I will have to make few adjustments such as better planning in the evenings and going to bed earlier. I will have to do my school work right away once I get home instead of after Evan goes to bed since I will likely be going to bed at about the same time. Breakfast may be a bit of a challenge. When should I eat? Before I go to the gym or once I get to school? This will all work itself out. Another concern is that the workout I am attempting is six days, Monday through Saturday. What happens when I have softball the night before? Even worse, what if it is a 8:45pm game that won't end until 10pm? I imagine the next day I will be pretty tired.

Friday and today we had workdays at school. That is no students, only teachers getting prepared for next week when the students come. It is cool to talk to my colleagues, but at the same time, I am finding myself less productive. Not to mention the meetings that, let's face it, must be conducted. I find myself in the same bind as I usually do, starting out the year. It is the first unit that baffles me, but after that I roll. So this week I am having a difficult time actually planning the first week. Tomorrow will be a "big" day for that. I would like to have the first week of all my classes planned and copies turned in before I leave tomorrow. Even better, I will have the first two weeks all planned and copied before I leave work on Friday. That is my goal. It can be done, but will it?

August 14, 2008: Bittersweet

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Caggia) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 01:42:00 +0000

Today was bittersweet. It was my last day before going back to work (for which I am not at all prepared). I passed on going to the gym today for two reasons, 1) I had a softball game this evening and I didn't want to get too tight, and 2) Evan had early release and I wanted a little time to myself at home. It was nice to hang with Evan most of today before I go back to work tomorrow, but it didn't go as planned. I spoke with Evan last night about going to lunch after school. He did not want to today, instead he just wanted to go home. I was a little disappointed. Then the day dragged on a bit. We finally finished putting together some Legos that we began last year sometime (it all got put away and we never thought about finishing it until Evan asked today). This evening, Michelle was going to take Evan to soccer practice for 6pm while I had a softball game for which I had to arrive at 6:15. Well, Michelle got held up at work so I got Evan all dressed and ready to go so Michelle could just pick him up and go, and I got myself ready for softball. I arrived at about 6:30. One important note here, Cary is too damn big! Tuesday I had a game all the way at one end of town (Middle Creek), about a 25 minute drive, and today I had a game at the other end of town (Thomas Brooks Park - USA Baseball Center), about a 20 minute drive. Cary keeps growing and it is getting on my nerves. By the way, we lost our game tonight in extra innings, 14-13. Oh well, it was a good game any way. I have been splitting time with other guys out in Right-Center field. I made a diving stop today that I thought might have been a catch but the umpire ruled it a trap. Its OK, the ball didn't get past me and they said it looked good - that's what is important, right?

I also found out today that the 6th Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will be opening July 17, 2009 instead of this coming November. Their reason was to take advantage of an open weekend in the summer schedule. I could understand if it was being put off because they were not finished or if it was only a week or two, but eight months?!?! This is ridiculous. It sounds just like NBC's coverage of the Olympics, think of themselves and their bottom line first before the fans. I am really getting sick of corporate America. Read the article:

http://www.wral.com/entertainment/story/3382426/

August 13, 2008: Much of Nothing

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew Caggia) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 01:15:00 +0000

Another busy day. As with every morning, I took Evan to school and like most, went to the gym. I added a couple of things more to my workout and am starting to feel like I am actually accomplishing something again. After the gym, I came home and had enough time to eat lunch before my dermatologist appointment. I was glad to receive a clean bill of health and the doctor removed what amounted to a skin tag from the knuckle of my big toe, weird spot, I know. After getting a haircut, I went to pick Evan up from school. We headed over to the book store, then home, then to dinner. And here I am. Not too much really. A busy day but one without excitement.

Today I worked out with Aaron Ward, former Carolina Hurricane, now Boston Bruin. It was cool. Of course I am making it sound like more than it is. He always seemed to need the machine next to where I was already working. That is cool if he thinks my workout is good enough to copy, him being a professional athlete and all. Just kidding. But we were working next to each other a lot. It makes me feel more important if I believe we were working out together. So do me a favor, don't tell me otherwise. Thanks.