The Back of the Pantry

Buffalo Chicken Strips with Blue Cheese

noreply@blogger.com (Jeanne Whitmore) — Sun, 24 May 2015 17:26:00 +0000

Messy to make but worth it. Stolen from Martha Stewart Everyday food magazine, Issue 26; 10/2005

Ingredients:

Sauce

2 Tablespoons of butter
3 Tablespoons of ketchup
1 -2 Tablespoons of hot sauce

Flour dredge

1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
course salt and pepper

Eggs

1 1/2 lbs of chicken boneless, and skinless cut into 16 equal strips

Make sauce - Melt butter, add ketchup and hot sauce.

Mix up flour , salt and pepper and put in a flat pan.

Beat eggs and put in a bowl.

Dip chicken strips in flour, then eggs, then flour again. Deep fry chicken strips until golden brown and drain on paper napkins. Toss chicken strips in the sauce. Serve chicken strips on romaine lettuce with blue cheese dressing.

Cream Cheese Chicken

noreply@blogger.com (Jeanne Whitmore) — Sun, 24 May 2015 17:13:00 +0000

This is easy, delicious, filling and the kids love it. Serve over noodles or rice.

Ingredients:

1 envelope Italian Salad Dressing Mix
1 stick butter
6 boneless skinless chicken breasts (8.5 lbs)
1 can of cream of chicken soup (not diluted)
1 8 oz. cream cheese

In a crock pot or pan.

Melt the butter, (crock pot should be on high).
Add envelope of Italian Salad Dressing Mix
Stir mix into butter
Cut chicken breasts into 1" peices
Place chick in pot or pan and stir to cover
Cook on high until the chicken is cooked through. (2 hrs in crock pot)
Remove chicken from pan.
Add can of cream of chicken soup and the cream cheese to the pot.
Stir to melt.
Add chicken back to the pot and warm through.
Serve over noodles or rice.

Chicken and Rice on top of the stove

noreply@blogger.com (Jeanne Whitmore) — Wed, 14 May 2014 14:55:00 +0000

Joy of Cooking, page 599, but with my variation

A very large skillet with a lid that fits or one that can be covered with aluminum foil
6 - young chicken thighs
1 cup of frozen lima beans ( can be omitted)
2 cups - uncooked rice
3 cups of prepared chicken bullion liquid ( not 3 cups of the powder)
1 - Italian mild bratwurst, cut it up into 1/2 inch pieces
1 TBS (tablespoon) of dried Oregano
3 - cloves (not heads) of minced garlic (more to taste)
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Brown Chicken thighs on the stove in a pan with a oil. You won't be cooking the chicken at this point, just creating a crusty skin and delicious brown color so don't leave them in the pan too long, about 1-2 minutes on top, bottom, side, side, etc. Don't worry about cooking them too long.
Take the chicken thighs out of the skillet. They'll be put back in the pan later, so don't take them too far, because they are not cooked all the way through yet.
Drain most of the oil from the skillet , leave at most 1 Tablespoon of grease in the pan.
Put the pan back on the stove and turn the heat to med -> low. Brown the minced garlic and the dried oregano in the pan. About 1-2 minutes.
Add salt and pepper
Brown the Italian bratwurst in the pan.
Add 2 cups of un-cooked rice to the pan and mix it around with the garlic and oregano to coat the rice with all that delicious oil and savory flavoring. You'll see the rice become slightly transparent as you cook the rice in the pan. When you start to see it change color and most of grains are the same...( About 1-2 minutes)
Add the 3 cups of liquid chicken boillion
Bring this all to a boil on the stove.
Turn the stove down to medium -> low so the rice mix is no longer boiling
Nestle the chicken into the rice so that it is mostly covered and only the delicious browned tops are showing
Cover the pan tightly (with lid or aluminum foil and put a plate on top) and cook for 20 minutes.
Add the lima beans and then cook for another 10 mintues

Eat! Enjoy!

Evil Sauce

noreply@blogger.com (Jeanne Whitmore) — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 04:26:00 +0000

I have a recipe for this sauce but given the odd ingredients I often improvise.

This is the one I liked the best so far.

Ingredients:

Butter - 1/2 cup
16 oz. fresh button mushrooms
Fresh sweet red peppers - 2 cups diced in 1/2 inch cubes
1 onion - yellow or white

Sauce
1 cup Malbec wine
1 cup hot water with one "brick" of chicken bouillon
Dijon mustard - 4 tablespoons
Pickapeppa sauce - 3 Tablespoons
Brown Sugar - 1 cup
Worcestershire Sauce - 1 tablespoons
Ground Pepper

Melt the butter in a skillet
Slice onions thin and saute in the butter until soft (1-2 hours)
Add mushrooms and cook until very soft and water is cooked out
Cook the sweet red peppers in the butter until soft.

Mix together the sauce ingredients.

Add the sauce to the vegetables and let it cook down into a thick, sweet, liquid. (1-2 hours)

The sauce should be black and sweet and thick.

Pour over noodles and love every sweet and hot spicy moment.

noreply@blogger.com (Jeanne Whitmore) — Wed, 01 Jan 2014 20:10:00 +0000

Bronson and Alisha's Wedding Rehearsel Dinner Menu

Captain Rodney's Dip

Vegetable Tray with Knor Spinach Vegetable Dip

Meatballs

Appetizer Misc Items, Spanish Olives, Kosher Pickles, mixed nuts, Roasted Peanuts

Mango Salsa

Texas Caviar

Rolls

Chips

Potato Chips

24 hour, 7 layer salad

Chicken Salad

Dessert - Mini Peach Cobbler cupcakes

Drinks were spicy tomato juice,

The Truth about the Common Core in Utah

noreply@blogger.com (Jeanne Whitmore) — Sun, 05 May 2013 15:37:00 +0000

Truth about the Utah Common Core

A group called “Utahns Against Common Core” is rallying support for repealing the Common Core in Utah.

This article is to refute and explain why their “evidence” is just plain wrong or misguided.

Below are their claims in Italic.

1. Utah did not seek out CCI; the initiative was presented as an eligibility enhancement by the U.S. Department of Education in its The Race To The Top grant. Joining the SBAC, too, improved eligibility in the grant application. When Utah agreed to join the CCI and SBAC in 2009, the standards had not yet been written.

Utah joined both the CCI and the SBAC to win points toward getting the grant, and although Utah won no money, the extremely expensive and educationally restricting consequences of having agreed to sign up for CCI and SBAC remain.

Just because the Federal Department of Education supports the Common Core doesn’t make it evil or bad. Even a broken clock is right twice per day. The Common Core Standards should be evaluated on their own merit and not dismissed because it improved eligibility for a grant.

Utah withdrew from SBAC in August of 2012. So, SBAC does not, in fact, remain. This proves that Utah’s adoption of these measures is completely voluntary and up to Utah.

2. Utah has two new, conflicting sets of educational standards to juggle– the Utah Common Core, to which we currently teach, and the CCSS, to which our tests are being written. Utah is not likely to stick with the Utah Common Core when testing begins based on the federal CCSS in 2014. The appendix to the SBAC states that the tests will be based on the CCSS (federal) standards, and the SBAC project manager, WestEd, has affirmed:

“In order for this [testing] system to have a real impact within a state, the state will need to adopt the Common Core State Standards (i.e., not have two sets of standards.)” -April 2012 statement from WestEd Assessments and Standards Senior Research Associate

Yes, we have two sets of standards in Math and English. This would be the case every time we enhance, upgrade, or improve our standards. The Utah Core Standards are always evolving and changing. While calling for enhanced or improved standards this group also seems to feel that could happen without changing. Whatever Utah did with its standards inevitably we would have to transition.

The new CCS are not that much different than Utah’s current standards. We are not going to start to teach physics in the first grade, for instance. It’s only a matter of moving some small subset of standards up a grade or back a grade.

And of course, the testing system will have to align with what is being taught, that is just common sense.

3. There is no amendment process for the CCSS (federal standards) and withdrawing from the SBAC requires consortium and federal approval (page 12). If we delay the state will be too financially invested and legally entangled to withdraw.

First, the CCSS is not a federal, meaning government, standard. The standards are designed and agreed to by the people who sign up for them. As long as Utah is a member of the Common Core Standards Initiative we will have a voice in the standards.

Withdrawing from the SBAC does not require Federal approval. Utah already withdrew based on a vote by the State School Board. See this link for the article. -> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/07/utah-withdraws-from-smart_n_1752261.html

4. There has been no cost analysis, legal analysis, legislative input or public input regarding CCI/SBAC. Implementation of CCI has already begun in Utah schools; full implementation of the initiative and its tests will be completed in the 2014-2015 school year.

The Utah State School Board is a public body and is subject to the same open meeting laws as all public bodies in Utah.

Is there a cost to changing standards? Yes, there is, but that would have been the case for any new standard. The alternative would be to never change our standards which no one is proposing. There are very low cost ways of changing over to the new standards. Teachers can use current text and curriculum and enhancing them with free resources. There are lots of ways to use the web and free resources creatively to enhance classroom teaching. Most teachers know how to do this because it’s what they do all day long.

5. Utah leaders have signed Utah on as a governing member of the SBAC. As a governing member we get one vote out of 21 governing states to influence deviations from the original assessment structure and scope, consortium policy, and consortium governance. Utah can be held hostage by other states.

Utah withdrew from SBAC. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/07/utah-withdraws-from-smart_n_1752261.html

6. The U.S. Department of Education (through the America COMPETES Act, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and the Race to the Top competition) has required the states to develop massive databases about school children.

If Utah doesn’t want to participate in these programs then Utah should turn down the money from the Federal Government. But these acts have absolutely nothing to do with the Common Core Initiative. They are completely separate things.

The America Competes Act was signed into effect by President Bush in 2007. If there was a requirement to create a massive Federal Database of our children in this act, then we should have it by now. There is no such database. Likewise the ARRA act and the Race to the Top Grant were awarded in 2009, still no massive federal database. In addition, only 12 states received the funds and Utah was not one of those states.

If Utahans don’t want Federal intrusion into Utah schools it’s quite simple to do that, just stop requesting and taking the Federal money.

As an educator, I can assure you that there has been no request for any student identifiable information from the school to report to the Federal Government.

All grants from the State of Utah and the Federal Government require some form of reporting of how money was spent and how students were served. This is not new to these grants. This reporting is always and everywhere summary data and is presented in the form of a report not loaded into a database.

7. The Common Core initiative represents an overreach of federal power into personal privacy as well as into state educational autonomy. There will be personal student information collected via the centralized testing-data collection, accessible to the Executive Branch. SBAC assessments’ inclusion of psychometric testing for database profiling purposes and is a violation of Utah law per code section 53A-13-302.

Utah is not part of the SBAC so there will be no psychometric testing. The Common Core initiative has nothing to do with collecting information about students. It is just a list of standards in reading and math.

If Utah doesn’t want federal involvement in Utah schools, then Utah should stop asking for and receiving money from the Federal Government.

8. Both of the CCI’s testing arms (SBAC and PARCC) must coordinate tests and share information “across consortia” as well as giving the U.S. Department of Education phone responses, written status updates and access to information “on an ongoing basis.” Data will be triangulated with control, oversight and centralization by the Executive Branch (U.S. Dept. of Education). “Cooperative Agreement between the U.S. DOE and the SBAC”

Utah is not part of the SBAC and has contracted with a completely different testing group. The "Cooperative Agreement" link above is with the DOE and Washington State. It has no affect on Utah. Further the grant was under the auspices of the Race To The Top grant which only went to 12 states and also does not have anything to do with Utah.

9. The Department of Education has eviscerated the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) by issuing new regulations that allow nonconsensual tracking and sharing of this personal data with other federal agencies, with government agencies in other states, and with private entities.

As a school administrator I can tell you that there has not been any information promulgated to Utah Schools of any change to FERPA. I believe this statement to be completely false. As of today, May 5^th 2013 the US Department of Education page on FERPA has the following statement:

"FERPA generally prohibits the improper disclosure of personally identifiable information derived from education records. Thus, information that an official obtained through personal knowledge or observation, or has heard orally from others, is not protected under FERPA. This remains applicable even if education records exist which contain that information, unless the official had an official role in making a determination that generated a protected education record."

The Department of Education can’t change legislation by Congress. Only Congress can change legislation. If the Department of Education is changing rules and regulations regarding FERPA then Utah should sue them and have it changed back. But attacking the Common Core because of what the Department of Education may or may not have done regarding privacy laws is completely non-sensical. One has nothing to do with the other.

10. Utah has ceded her voice and educational sovereignty because Utah’s top educational leaders are persuaded that having standards and testing in common with other states matters more than holding onto the state’s right to raise standards sky-high. To Utah education leaders, the right to soar seems a freedom not worth fighting for, and maintaining state educational sovereignty is not a priority.

In an April 2012 statement from the Utah State Office of Education’s legal department: ” The whole point is to get to a place where there is a ‘common core’ – that would mean the same standards for all the states that adopt it. If the states had the freedom to ‘disagree’ and ‘change’ them, I guess they would no longer be ‘common’.”

Utah also has agreed to standard weights and measures and the width of railroad tracks and other standards that exist across the country. Does this mean that Utah has ceded its sovereignty over how many ounces are in a pound and how many inches are in a feet? Utah didn’t cede its sovereignty because it can withdraw from the Common Core Standards at any time, just like it withdrew from SBAC.

Frankly, Utah cedes its sovereignty every time it takes a dollar from the Federal Government, not by agreeing to be part of a completely voluntary non-government controlled program.

11. The effort to nationalize and centralize education results in severe loss of state control of education and pushes states into a minimalist, common set of standards. Dr. Sandra Stotsky, an official member of the CCSS Validation Committee, refused to sign off on the adequacy of the standards and testified that “Common Core has yet to provide a solid evidentiary base for its minimalist conceptualization of college readiness–and for equating college readiness with career readiness. Moreover…it had no evidence on both issues.”

Ask a Utah educator if the standards are better than what Utah has now. I believe they are. Naming one person who disagrees with them is hardly an argument. We can move to this set of standards which are more precise and higher than what we have now, then work to improve on them. Deciding to stay where we are is not an option because most people agree we need better written standards that have higher standards.

12. The Common Core standards are experimental, expensive, controversial, and have not been piloted.

This is not actual evidence, it is more of a statement of opinion. We are not trying out a new vaccine for stupidity, we are just moving from our current standards to a slightly better set of standards. Further the new standards, though better, are not radically different from our current state standards.

13. Common Core standards are not considered among the best standards in the nation, and there are clearly superior standards. Additionally, the CCI robs states of the sovereign right to raise state standards in the future. There’s no provision for amending the CCSS federal standards, were we to choose to still remain bound by them.

They may not be the best standards, but we can’t allow perfection to be the enemy of the good. We can choose to remove ourselves from the Common Core Initiative at any time. The new standards are better than what we have now. Let’s move from strength to strength and then work on improving the standards through the completely voluntary and state based standards organization over time.

14. The Common Core English standards reduce the study of literature in favor of informational texts designed to train children in a school-to-work agenda. The unsophisticated composition of those selected to write the Common Core Standards and the lack of transparency about the standards-writing process also raises concerns.

Not true. The English texts are a wonderful collection of classical literature. The literature collection is not even part of the Standards, it is only a suggested reading list. States can adopt their own reading list. Also, some of the informational texts include: The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution of the United States, etc.

15. CCSS states a goal to promote “career and college ready standards,” a euphemism for “school-to-work” programs, diluting individual choice by directing children where to go and what to learn. They make no distinction between 2-year, 4-year or vocational standards.

Untrue. The Common Core Standards is only a list of what children should have learned by grade level in reading and math. No part of the Common Core Standards directs children on how to lead their lives. If anything it increases the standards so that children will have more choices.

16. Common Core has not proven to be state-led nor strictly voluntary; the U.S. Department of Education Secretary rages against states who reject the Common Core Initiative.

The fact that states have voluntarily not agreed to the common core seems to invalidate your argument. If states can pull out of it, then, by definition, it is voluntary.

17. The Common Core Initiative, far from being state-designed, is the product of the U.S. Department of Education funding and directing special interest groups (NGA, CCSSO, NCEE, Achieve, Inc., WestEd, and others) via federal grants.

Let’s evaluate the Common Core Standards on their own merit, not based on conspiracy theories. If you don’t like the Federal Department of Eduction, then work to abolish it or stop receiving the funding.

The Common Core Initiative is a product of the State Governors Association belief in the need for common state education standards to assist students and families.

18. The Common Core Initiative violates fundamental laws that protect states’ independence. The Federal Government’s creation of national curricular materials, through contractors, and its control and oversight of testing and data collection, and its tests written to federal, nationalized standards, are in violation of three existing laws: NCLB, the Department of Education Organization Act, and the General Education Provisions Act; States have a responsibility to protect the balance of powers granted in the Constitution.

Again, then work against these things which are completely separate from the Common Core Standards. Utah doesn’t have to accept Federal Funds.

Finally, the Common Core Standards in no way tell States or Agencies what curriculum or texts to use.

19. Transparency and public debate about Common Core are lacking. Utah educational leaders have a responsibility to encourage public discussion and lively debate about Common Core, because the initiative will impact children, taxpayers and teachers for a long time to come.

It seems like we are debating it right now.

Michelle Malkin is wrong about the Common Core

noreply@blogger.com (Jeanne Whitmore) — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 00:25:00 +0000

Michelle Malkin Part 2

Michele Malkin is a blogger, conservative syndicated columnist, author, and Fox News Channel contributor.

Below is my response to her irresponsible articles on the Common Core. You can find Part 2 here ->

http://michellemalkin.com/2013/01/25/rotten-to-the-core-part-2-readin-writin-and-deconstructionism/

Ms. Malkin, is obviously not an educator because she doesn’t know the difference between standards and methods. The common core standards are only standards and don’t define how the standards should be taught. In addition Ms. Malkin doesn’t understand the difference between standards and curriculum. Standards are the things students should know, but curriculum is the material used to teach the standards. Ms. Malkin confuses standards and curriculum.

She begins:

Thanks to the “Common Core” regime, funded with President Obama’s stimulus dollars and bolstered by duped Republican governors and business groups, deconstructionism is back in style.

First, the stimulus was spent a long time ago. ARRA money was given and spent 2 years ago and has nothing to do with the common core adoption. The #StopCommonCore group believe that the Race To The Top (RTTT) grant was a payoff to states for adopting the Common Core Standards Initiative. (CCSI) They are wrong. The RTTT grant was a competitive grant that states could choose to apply for. Only 12 states received funding. Unless the #StopCommonCore group now feels that the US only consists of 12 states, their assertion that this is the evil plan to take over 50 states' education departments, is weak.

The grant does require states who get the grant money to adopt standards. There is absolutely no requirement to adopt CCSI. None. Nada. The state could adopt its own standards. Most states had core standards prior to the CCSI and continue to have them without the CCSI. And, only 12 states received money from this grant. Is there some other super top secret funding they won't tell us about?

They are also confused by the requirement that states who apply as a consortium, have to adopt common standards. In education speak, a consortium is a group of agencies that apply together. So if, for instance, Maine and New Hampshire and Vermont decided to apply together as one group, then they and only they would have to create common standards. Even these states don't have to adopt the CCSI, they could create their own standards.

Traditional literature is under fire. Moral relativism is increasingly the norm. “Standards” is Orwell-speak for subjectivity and lowest common denominator pedagogy.

There are no literature requirements of the common core, there is an appendix to the common core which specifically states: “They expressly do not represent a partial or complete reading list.” Pedogogy is the method to teach the standards, which is not specified in the core.

the new achievement goals actually set American students back by de-emphasizing great literary works for “informational texts.”Challenging students to digest and dissect difficult poems and novels is becoming passe. Utilitarianism uber alles.

What exactly does Ms. Malkin not like about the following books? “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”, “The Secret Garden”, “The Black Stallion”, “Little Women”, “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”, “The Odyssey”, “Metamorphoses”, “ The Gift of the Magi”, “The Grapes of Wrath”, “Fahrenheit 451”, “Euclid’s Elements”, “The Canterbury Tales”, “Pride and Prejudice”. Most of these books are also recommended in the most conservative schools in the country. The examples of texts given in the core are some of the best loved books in English Literature and classics in their own right. These are only the novels. I have not even listed the “informational texts” like the “Declaration of Independence” or the “Constitution” that Ms. Malkin seems to think are not challenging.

The Common Core English/language arts criteria call for students to spend only half of their class time studying literature, and only 30 percent of their class time by their junior and senior years in high school.

Nothing in the Common Core standards specifies class time spent on any specific material.

Under Common Core, classics such as “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” are of no more academic value than the pages of the Federal Register or the Federal Reserve archives — or a pro-Obamacare opinion essay in The New Yorker. Audio and video transcripts, along with “alternative literacies” that are more “relevant” to today’s students (pop song lyrics, for example), are on par with Shakespeare.

Ms. Malkin makes another bold and completely false statement, here. There is nothing in the common core that requires any specific material to be taught to teach the standards. No opinions are given about the value of any material. Teachers, school districts, and states are completely free to pick their own books and emphasize any material they choose.

I found one Common Core “exemplar” on teaching the Gettysburg Address that instructs educators to “refrain from giving background context or substantial instructional guidance at the outset.”

Let me reiterate that the common core doesn’t determine how to teach which the quote above seems to indicate. Are there some companies in the market place trying to sell curriculum and training around the common core? Sure, it’s America, why wouldn’t some companies do that? If a text book company is trying to provide guidance on the Common Core Standards Initiative that is idiotic, then rail against that text book company, not the CCSI. Put the fault where the fault lies instead of with the CCSI.

Bipartisan Common Core defenders claim their standards are merely “recommendations.” But the standards, “rubrics” and “exemplars” are tied to tests and textbooks. The textbooks and tests are tied to money and power.

The common core only has standards, there are no rubrics or exemplars that are part of the CCSI. Yes, there will be text book publishers who want to sell their line of texts and tests, but no State or School district has to purchase the texts. Teachers can build their own curriculum. Most high school teachers I am aware of don’t use a text book for their Literature curriculum or buy standardized tests. The State Tests are devised by each state to test to the standards. No curriculum or pedagogy is required or recommended by the Common Core Standards.

Federally funded and federally championed nationalized standards lead inexorably to de facto mandates. Any way you slice it, dice it or word-cloud it, Common Core is a mandate for mediocrity.

Ms. Malkin doesn’t provide a source for the statements above. I would like to know where the funding is coming from. What law did Congress pass to provide funding for the states to adopt common core? Again ARRA money has been spent by the states long ago.

Is CCSI federally championed? Sure, it is. It’s a good idea to have national standards. The only law which is currently pending which specifically refers to the Common Core Standards Initiative is a two page resolution of support which provides no funding and doesn't require any state to use the standards. It is merely that, a resolution of support.

The hysteria surrounding the Common Core is completely out of proportion to its affect in the education community.

Michelle Malkin is wrong about the Common Core - Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Jeanne Whitmore) — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 02:48:00 +0000

Part 1.

Michelle Malkin is posting articles promulgating inaccurate and irresponsible information about the "Common Core". I have excerpted her information in the indented sections. Below each section are my comments. Her comments are from the article found here.

For decades, collectivist agitators in our schools have chipped away at academic excellence in the name of fairness, diversity and social justice. “Progressive” reformers denounced Western civilization requirements, the Founding Fathers and the Great Books as racist. They attacked traditional grammar classes as irrelevant in modern life. They deemed ability grouping of students (tracking) bad for self-esteem. They replaced time-tested rote techniques and standard algorithms with fuzzy math, inventive spelling and multicultural claptrap.

Under President Obama, these top-down mal-formers — empowered by Washington education bureaucrats and backed by misguided liberal philanthropists led by billionaire Bill Gates — are now presiding over a radical makeover of your children’s school curriculum. It’s being done in the name of federal “Common Core” standards that do anything but raise achievement standards.

Michelle doesn't understand the difference between standards and curriculum. Think of ends vs. means. The standards are the ends, the curriculum is the means. Standards determine what kids should have learned after they have studied. The curriculum is the method by which they study. The Common Core Standards do not determine what text books your child will use or how they will be taught. The same standards could be taught using the Great books or they could be taught using the progressive claptrap Michelle eschews.

For example: CCSS.Math.Content.4.OA.A.1 Interpret a multiplication equation as a comparison, e.g., interpret 35 = 5 × 7 as a statement that 35 is 5 times as many as 7 and 7 times as many as 5. Represent verbal statements of multiplicative comparisons as multiplication equations.

This standard could be taught by any number of methods or texts. No text or method is prescribed or proscribed by this standard, it only states that at the end of 4th grade, students should be able to understand that when we multiply, we are multiplying groups of things a specific number of times.

Common Core was enabled by Obama’s federal stimulus law and his Department of Education’s “Race to the Top” gimmickry. The administration bribed cash-starved states into adopting unseen instructional standards as a condition of winning billions of dollars in grants. Even states that lost their bids for Race to the Top money were required to commit to a dumbed-down and amorphous curricular “alignment.”

The Race to the Top grant is a competitive grant and states don't have to apply. If they do apply, there is no reason to believe they will receive the money. The Race to the Top grant does not require states to use the "Common Core" standards, only that states involved in a consortium should develop some common standards and that the schools who participate should comply with them. Again, many states didn't participate in this program. No one was required to adopt the "Common Core" even if they won. They could have adopted their own standards.

In practice, Common Core’s dubious “college- and career”-ready standards undermine local control of education, usurp state autonomy over curricular materials, and foist untested, mediocre and incoherent pedagogical theories on America’s schoolchildren.

States can adopt the "Common Core" or not, as they chose. Also, the "Common Core" doesn't require any specific curriculum. The "Common Core" does not "foist untested, mediocre... pedagogical theories on America's schoolchildren", because the core doesn't talk about pedagogy (how to teach), it only talks about outcomes.

Over the next several weeks and months, I’ll use this column space to expose who’s behind this disastrous scheme in D.C. backrooms.

Michelle makes it seem as if this is a program driven by the Federal Government. In fact there have been several state regional efforts to develop common core standards. The current "Common Core" is an outcome of the state's efforts to develop a common core. The "Common Core" initiative is published by the National Governors Association, not a Federal Government agency.

Previous to the common core, large states like California and Texas were able to drive core standards without input simply because they were large purchasers of text books and text book companies catered to them in content areas. The new way of having a national standard is much more egalitarian in that educators all over the country have input into the standards and not just a few bureaucrats in a few states.

Professor Jonathan Goodman of New York University found that the Common Core math standards imposed “significantly lower expectations with respect to algebra and geometry than the published standards of other countries.”

The paragraph above promulgates the myth that standards are maximum standards. That somehow if a school wants to have higher standards they are prohibited. Any state, school or teacher can exceed the standards and teach at a higher level. Nothing in the "Common Core" would prevent accelerated classes. Further the "Common Core" spreads Geometry and Algebra throughout all the grade levels instead of treating it as a separate subject. If you look up the math standards there are Algebra and Geometry standards in each grade.

Under Common Core, as the American Principles Project and Pioneer Institute point out, Algebra I instruction is pushed to 9th grade, instead of 8th grade, as commonly taught. Division is postponed from 5th to 6th grade. Prime factorization, common denominators, conversions of fractions and decimals, and algebraic manipulation are de-emphasized or eschewed.

Algebra I is not pushed anywhere because Algebraic thinking is infused within the entire K-8th grade curriculum as a strand and not as a separate class. Division is not pushed from 5th to 6th grade because division is introduced in the 3rd grade. Fractions are also introduced in the 3rd grade and represent a significant strand in 3rd, 4th and 5th grade. Algebra is again a strand in all the lower grades. Factorization of all number from 1-100 is required in the 4th grade. Fractions are introduced in the 3rd grade.

Traditional Euclidean geometry is replaced with an experimental approach that had not been previously pilot-tested in the U.S.

Euclidian Geometry can't be replaced by and experimental approach because the standards do not indicate any approach to geometry, only the things students should know.

Common Core delays proficiency with addition and subtraction until 4th grade and proficiency with basic multiplication until 5th grade, and skimps on logarithms, mathematical induction, parametric equations and trigonometry at the high school level.

This is so blatently wrong that I can't even begin to understand where she got this information. Proficiency for grade 2 is to "know from memory all sums of two one-digit numbers." That seems fairly proficient for me. Multiplication proficiency for the 3rd grade is to "Fluently multiply and divide within 100".

Whether the common core skimps on high school math is up to the states. States can choose to supplement any of the standards or teach to a higher level of proficiency. Nothing in the "Core curriculum" would keep a state from teaching more or offering accelerated classes.

Moreover, there are organizations that have reasons to work for lower and less-demanding standards, specifically teachers unions and professional teacher organizations.

I don't know how teacher's unions could use the "Common Core" to fight for lower standards. They seem to be fighting for the lowest possible standards now.

This is all in keeping with my own experience as a parent of elementary- and middle-school age kids who were exposed to “Everyday Math” nonsense. This and other fads abandon “drill and kill” memorization techniques for fuzzy “critical thinking” methods that put the cart of “why” in front of the horse of “how.” In other words: Instead of doing the grunt work of hammering times tables and basic functions into kids’ heads first, the faddists have turned to wacky, wordy non-math alternatives to encourage “conceptual” understanding — without any mastery of the fundamentals of math.

Michelle may not like the curriculum or pedagogy her children used, but the common core doesn't standardize curriculum or pedagogy. Schools can decide what curriculum to use and what methods to use to teach the standards. Michelle also has choices if she doesn't like the curriculum her school is using. She can try to change the curriculum by getting on the parent organization, or running for school board. She can opt out of the state school system by sending them to a charter school, or a private school.

Sorry, Michelle, but you are wrong, wrong, and wrong.

Sequestration affect on IDEA funding

noreply@blogger.com (Jeanne Whitmore) — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 16:12:00 +0000

From an e-mail from the Utah State Office of education on the affect of sequestration on Special Ed funding.

Latest news on the sequestration:

· The White House issued a notice on Friday that companies working under government contracts don’t have to provide notice of potential layoff because the sequestration is still “uncertain”. Normally, this notice is required 60 days prior to layoff, which coincidentally is right before the election. http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/memoranda/2012/m-12-19.pdf

· The White House also issued a report last week that describes in more detail the cuts for each department (see attached). This report lists estimated percentages, but does not have any information about how each specific federal agency will handle the assigned cuts. For us, this means that we don’t know how much of the cut will be taken at OSEP and how much will be passed on to States.

We also don’t know if this cut will change the minimum and maximum amounts that are included in the IDEA formula. This report was prepared by the current administration and includes a fair amount of finger pointing.

You’ll find the Department of Education on page 60, and OSERS on page 61. The reduction for OSEP is estimated at 8,.2%, or just over $1 billion. There is also a $2 million reduction to the American Printing House for the Blind, which provides specialized instructional materials for Utah students with visual impairment.

· Both parties agree that the sequestration poses a threat to national economic growth. They are unable to agree on how to resolve the sequestration (new taxes vs program cuts). Because of their inability to work together, sequestration is still a very real possibility.

· There is still no move to change or adjust the expectation that LEAs meet the MOE and Excess Costs requirements for state and local funds.

Small House in a Big House #4

noreply@blogger.com (Jeanne Whitmore) — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 19:46:00 +0000

I measured the space in my kitchen/family room. It is less than 500 sq. ft. My goal is to eventually get everything that I personally own in that space. I won't physically move everything to that space, but I will make sure that all that I have will fit. There is no way I will be able to get my entire family's stuff in that space. The kitchen has tons of cabinet space to store things so I can definitely get all of my items in that space. Most of the small house designs I have seen have a loft for the bed, so I am going to assume I don't have to leave room for that.

I am pondering what do do with the yard and cleaning supplies. I am not going to get my new LG washing and drying machine in the kitchen. I guess there are some things that I will simply have to exclude with the intention of getting rid of them if I actually downsize.

I realize now, this process is going to take at least 6 months. Even with the stuff I have gotten rid of so far, it has hardly made a dent.

Today's project was a small linen closet upstairs, I cleaned out a small linen closet upstairs and was able to identify two full garbage bags.

No one ever looked in the closet for linens. There wasn't room in it to store clean linens, so they ended up in my closet.

I swear I am not a hoarder.

Small House in a Big House #3

noreply@blogger.com (Jeanne Whitmore) — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 02:34:00 +0000

Continuing my efforts to live in a small house, inside my big house. I am sorting out the books in the family room.

I have sorted out the book shelf.
Books I am taking to the school library

Books I am taking to the thrift store

I don't know why the picture below won't come into the blog the same way it shows up in my camera, but oh, well.

This is only half of the books I have in my family room. I still have so many more to go in this house.

Small House in a Big House #2

noreply@blogger.com (Jeanne Whitmore) — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 22:20:00 +0000

Today I cleaned out my kitchen again. I think I throw out a garbage full of stuff every 3 months, but I still have more.

I threw out a garbage bag full of just junk, and a large box full of recipe books and kitchen equipment.

I also threw out 5 garbage bags full of clothes and other kitchen equipment from my basement. Today I threw out some items that I really didn't want to get rid of. My sister gave me a dish with impressions in it to make shortbread cake. I think I used it once and the shortbread stuck to the dish.

I also got rid of some 1950s vintage baking dishes that were divided in half. I have no idea what anyone used these dishes for. If you have two different foods they would generally have two different cooking times or temperatures. I don't know what you would cook in a baking dish that was separated, unless it was essentially the same food but with slightly different ingredients, for instance baked mac and cheese, with different cheeses on each side. I had 3 different colors of these dishes and they looked great, but I never used them.

Small House in a Big House

noreply@blogger.com (Jeanne Whitmore) — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 02:43:00 +0000

I love the idea of the small house movement. Seeing people that live in a 300 ft sq. house is an inspiration. I have a large house and I am not going to sell my large house to move to a small house. I can however have a small house within my large house.

First step, go room to room and throw out at least a garbage bag full of junk.
Second step, eliminate rooms of furniture.
Third step, go to step 1.
Continue until I can fit all my stuff in a van.

Problem 1: I like having CDs of my music. It is very comforting to me to know I have a hard copy of the music. I don't like the idea of having all my music digital because I don't want to lose a password, or have a disk go bad or lose access to the music. This is weird because I am not a music person. I don't listen to music on a regular basis. What I don't know is what I am going to do with all the vinyl records in my basement. Probably KSL.com for all of them.

John Carter from Mars - The movie

noreply@blogger.com (Jeanne Whitmore) — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 05:15:00 +0000

The movie adaption of Edgar Rice Burrough's John Carter books, opens with a brief view of Mars then flashbacks to a flash-forward of John Carter on earth, then flash backs through the reading of a journal. If all these unnecessary time warps were not confusing enough, the screen play inserts a completely unnecessary complication at the very beginning that undercuts the logic of key points of the movie.

John Carter is shown at the beginning as a war weary veteran who refuses to fight or take sides. He is asked by the local Army outpost to fight against the Indians. Because he refuses he is beaten and thrown in a cage. This is not in the movie and for good reason, what could beating a man who won't fight accomplish. You can't make someone fight who doesn't want to and they have nothing to hold over him at all and if they did, the don't try. The point of this is to show that he is now a pacifist and won't take sides.

He flees from the army outpost and in the process needs to rescue the officer who beat him and is now chasing him. John Carter and his pursuers meet a group of Indians and, in another cliche, one of the army men shoots an Indian while they are beginning to communicate. Fine the Army was bad, but can movies just avoid cliches at least? I was already insulted. "See kids war is bad, the army is bad! John Carter is good because he doesn't want to fight and rescues the man who had him thrown in jail."

The problem with this cliche is that we know he is going to Mars. Mars is the War god. The entire point of the book is that the ethos of Mars is one of martial virtue. All the different cultures and races on Mars honor war, warriors, and are in constant war with each other.

The John Carter of the books is a warrior and adventurer, not a pacifist. Sure you say, but this is the movie and books can't exactly follow the books because it is a different medium. Yes, that is true, but the problem is that all the people of Mars are warriors, including Dejah Thoris, the Princess of Helium (more on her character later). Warriors on Mars are honored and respected. The movie ignores the warrior ethos and the logic behind how John Carter is able to show up on an alien planet and win over all the Green Men who he needs to fight for him at the end of the movie. The Green Men will not follow weakness, sentimentality or pacifists. The books show John Carter as not just strong but mad (yes crazy) with blood lust that matches the blood lust of those around him. He wins over this barbaric group by being a warrior. In the process of winning them, he can change them into a more caring society. Of course, John Carter exhibits chivalry in an old fashioned southern gentleman sort of way, but the initial pacifism of John Carter in the movie would have gotten him killed and shunned not honored and respected.

The aggravating point of this is that if the writer director wanted to "message" the audience, the message was there for the taking. Mars is a dying planet, a once great society is breaking down, the people are waring over scarce resources. There is a message that was obviously relevant to current discussions about fossil fuels and global warming. It was overlooked by the writer/director for some reason and instead the anti-war meme was inserted which holds the movie back and undercuts the logic of the movie.

The aggravating misuse of ideas continues with our introduction to Dejah Thoris. She is introduced as a scientist who is developing a new powerful weapon to save her nation. This ignores the theme in the book that Mars is dying, the culture is lost, and the people are living off of the intellectual capital of the past. Instead of embracing this message (again, if he wanted to message us, then how about using the one right in front of you) he tries to modernize Dejah Thoris as a scientist. Her first words are preparation for a speech to her father and the leaders of Helium. As she practices her speech for the presentation she is shown as insecure, not sure how to communicate her ideas and stumbles over her words. Again, he undercuts the message of her as an accomplished scientist with the little girl lost theme of the stumbling speech.

After she is told she must marry the enemy to gain peace she escapes and is shown as a warrior capable of killing other soldiers. Again, pick your theme! Is she a stumbling insecure scientist, or a princess as war prize, or a warrior. She is used as a guide to John Carter to find the meaning of the amulet, but this could have taken place without this departure from her character of the books. After a time, her character settles into the war prize theme of the book. At no time does she act like the Princess of Mars from the book. She is too common.

At the end of the movie, the Green Men leader, Tars Tarkis, is shown with a tear at the wedding of John Carter and Dejah Thoris. I could expect this knee jerk reaction from a Disney director who also directed Finding Nemo and Wall-E. Apparently this hack could not find a smidgen of sympathy for these warriors, survivors and monsters to retain their dignity. It is a horrifying betrayal of the character to make them into a sentimental ET.

The environments, cities, interiors and costumes were all very well done.

Interactive white board with Nintendo Wii remote

noreply@blogger.com (Jeanne Whitmore) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 08:18:00 +0000

     Interactive white boards can run about $2000.00. You can use the Nintendo Wii Remote to create one for about 85$. One Nintendo remote is about $40.00, software can be free to $25.00, an infra-red pen is $10.00 and the Bluetooth Dongle is $10.00.

     I have a Windows 7 64 bit PC without blue tooth capability.

     The most difficult part of this project was getting the Nintendo wiimote to connect to the PC.

     I ordered a bluetooth dongle from wiiteachers.com. The dongle came with software. DON'T USE THE SOFTWARE THAT COMES WITH THE DONGLE. Only use the bluetooth software included with Microsoft. Do not download this software either -> http://bluetoothinstaller.com/. There is a known bug in this software for the 64 bit software that does not allow you to open the Device and Printers window from the Control Panel after installing it. I had to go back to a previous restore point to get my computer back to a clean point so I could get the wiimote to work correctly.

     Put the bluetooth dongle in a USB port and wait for windows to install the device driver. Check to see if the USB "radio" device is in the "Devices and Printers" window.

     To connect the wiimote: Click on the START button, then Devices and Printers. Click on "Add a Device" at the top of the screen. Hold down the 1 & 2 buttons near the bluetooth dongle while the system is searching for the device. When the device shows up in the window, click on it and select next from the bottom of the window. Choose the option "No Code" at the bottom of the next screen. Close the window and check the device manager. Your new wiimote should now show up in the "Devices and Printers" window.

     I have not been able to make the new Wiimote with MotionPlus Inside connect to the computer correctly. The only wiimote I have been able to connect was the older basic version. Most stores don't carry the older versions of the Wii remote. I would recommend buying a new model and trading a neighborhood kid who has the older version that you need.

     After the wiimote is connected the software will walk you through the set up of the whiteboard. You will need a projector to finish the calibration and set-up. I used SmoothBoard 2 for software, mostly because there is not much else out there. The free version on http://johnnylee.net/projects/wii/ only seems to work with 32 bit machines. Or I just haven't been able to figure out how to download and install it, which may be the case.

     Here is a good website describing the Windows XP version of setting up the system. http://mkeadle.org/wiiboard/ This also has a good list of parts needed to create your own InfraRed pen if you don't want to buy one.

Who are You OWS and how are we going to get rid of you?

noreply@blogger.com (Jeanne Whitmore) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 06:38:00 +0000

The Daily Show’s video of the class divisions at Occupy Wall Street was delectable. See it here http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/occupy-wall-street-jon-stewart-zuccotti-park-263116.

An open, horizontal, leaderless process soon divided into a ghetto and an upper class enclave.

The rich kids were feeling guilty because of their un-earned success, while the poor kids were feeling betrayed by the American Dream.

The rich kids are mimicking their Grandmas and Grandpas who Occupied Woodstock and Kent State. Our condescending occupiers don’t understand why they have everything while others have nothing. I find it a hopeful sign because it’s not about entitlement; it’s embarrassment about entitlement. They still understand the American Ethos is about working hard to earn success and they are an aberration from it. Their teachers, even if they didn’t mean to, somehow inculcated the definitive American value by decrying the failures of the American system.

The ghetto dwellers are the kids who have worked hard and are failing to gain traction economically. Feeling betrayed by their teachers because they are working hard and yet nothing that should happen is happening, they rebel against the current injustices.

I’m hopeful because eventually Life will happen to both of these groups. The condescending ones will be slapped around by life like everyone is slapped around by life. They are, like all young people, sure that their life will go on in the same trajectory as it is right now. But it won’t. Life catches up with everyone eventually. They will have to struggle, they just don’t know it yet.

The ghetto dwellers need to keep working, eventually life will catch up with them too. The secret to gaining traction in the US economy is to get a job and save more than you spend.

Apart from all the trappings of hippie, anti-establishment rhetoric, the ghetto dwellers, condescending occupiers, and the Tea Party all have the same basic values … working hard should mean something and if someone fails there should be consequences. Because they are young, they have not experienced the great equalizer: the wheel of time. In the US, there is high mobility between low and high economic classes over time. Unfortunately for the occupiers some of them may have done the one thing to prevent them from moving upward by getting a criminal record.

I am sure that just like their Grandmas and Grandpas of the worst generation they will all eventually settle down, get married and work out their own compromise with the American Ethos.

Why my new hobby is looking at myself in the mirror naked

noreply@blogger.com (Jeanne Whitmore) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 02:57:00 +0000

Review of "20 Second Fitness"

Update: February 7th. Just finished my 3rd tour of the 4 week program and I am starting to do all the harder exercises . I hate, burpees with push-ups!

Update: December 21st. Somehow it took me 6.5 weeks to complete a 4 week program. I think that has a lot to do with Thanksgiving. The biggest disappointment for me has been the weight gain. I look a lot better and I have great muscle definition but the fat seems to be accumulating on my now bigger tummy muscles which only makes it look that much bigger. I think my appetite has been increasing for fatty and high calorie foods. The holidays are never a good time for me to lose weight. I just have to get back on my calorie count program.

On a very positive note, I ran a 5K on Thanksgiving and it was no problem at all. I had a lot of energy all the way to the end and wasn't even breathing hard. I stopped running in early September when I started the 20 second fitness plan, so I thought that was awesome. On the other hand, I tried to run this Sunday and my left knee was killing me. I couldn't even run a mile.

Summary - Thumbs up! Great work-out, inexpensive program, short workouts make procrastination harder.

     I am now finished with the 2 warm-up weeks and the 4 regular work-out weeks. I can see amazing changes in my muscle definition, especially my abs. Then, there are tiny changes that can't be documented like losing weight around my ankles. I don't mind seeing myself in the bathroom mirror anymore.

      About two years ago I decided to get control over my weight and health. I lost a bunch of weight over 1 year by severely restricting calories, but I still wasn't in shape, so I started running using the Couch to 5K program in April 2011. That helped, I felt better and had more energy, but I stalled out at 125 lbs and 3 miles of running distance. It didn't seem to matter how little I ate or how much I ran, I wasn't making progress.

     In September, 2011, I was at a Women's Expo in Orem, Utah and met Spencer. He was selling his 20-second Fitness Program. I was very skeptical at first but after 3 days of talking to him and the other people at the booth who had tried the program, I decided to give it a try. He convinced me because of the real life, before and after pictures of him, his wife, and other people who had gone through the program. They didn't seem like fitness freaks and, in fact, Spencer described one of them as lazy. He also said you only had to work out for 12 minutes per day - MAX, 6 days per week. That sounded great because I was really getting tired of 40 minute runs that didn't seem to be getting me anywhere.

     I have not lost weight. I actually gained weight while losing 2.5 inches around my waist. I am hoping the weight gain was muscle mass which will shortly start turning into real fat loss.

     I will keep going because I love the way I look and want to stay fit for my kids.There really is no excuse when the workouts are so short.

	September 12th 2011	November 7th, 2011	December 21st, 2011	February 7th, 2012
Weight	125 lbs	127 lbs	130 lbs	128 lbs
Bicep	11 in	11.5 in	11 in	11 in
Hips	36 in.	38 in.	38 in.	38.5 in.
Chest	34 in.	34.5 in.	35.5 in.	35.5 in.
Thighs	18 in.	19.5 in.	20 in.	20 in.
Waist	34.5 in.	32 in.	32 in.	32 in.
Calf	13 in.	13.5 in.	13 in.	13.5 in.

See the program at http://www.facebook.com/20second and http://20secondfitness.com/ . It only cost $100 which included the stretch cords, mat, videos, and jump rope.

Spicy Meatballs

noreply@blogger.com (Jeanne Whitmore) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 19:26:00 +0000

I just made the best meatballs evah. They were spicy at the finish but not too spicy, browned on the outside but soft in the middle. Nom, nom.

Ingredients
1.4 lbs ground pork
1.4 lbs ground turkey
1.4 lbs ground beef

3 eggs
1.5 cups of Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1/4 cup of Shredded Parmesan Cheese
2/3 package of bacon ( 1 lb package)

Spices (dried)
4 1/2 teas basil
4 1/2 teas parsley
3 teas garlic powder
3 teas kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
Mix, by hand, all ingredients together in a bowl. They don't have to be completely mixed together, just roughly mixed. (You don't want it to look like batter. It should look like Chex Mix).

Turn pan on medium/low
Cook meatballs until slightly browned (about 5 minutes) turn occasionally to brown all sides - DO NOT COOK ALL THE WAY THROUGH
Transfer to baking sheet
Bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

Gravy

noreply@blogger.com (Jeanne Whitmore) — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 04:52:00 +0000

Basic Gravy

1/4 cup of turkey pieces
1/2 cup of white onion slices
1/2 cup of celery, cut up
include the young leaves of the entire stalk of celery

Saute the above until they are browned - takes about 20 minutes. There should be burnt spots.
After the vegetables are very brown and cooked, add 1 and 1/2 cup of vermouth to deglaze the pan.

Cook the vegetables and vermouth for 10 minutes.
Drain the vegetables and meat from the juices into a sauce pan
Add the meat back to the sauce pan.
Add 2 cans of chicken stock.
Add liquid smoke, about 1 - 2 teaspoons
Add salt and freshly ground pepper
Cook down by about half
Remove meat pieces

Mix the following together in a separate mixing bowl until the flour is well dissolved.
1/3 cup of flour
2/3 cup of chicken stock

Use a wire wisk to briskly wisk flour mixture into the sauce. Adjust seasoning.

Keep warm until dinner is ready.

Mushroom Yam Stew

noreply@blogger.com (Jeanne Whitmore) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 00:04:00 +0000

My son's (10 yrs old) comments. "Wow, I like this stew. It's really good. I want more. I would much rather have this than a sandwich." This is a rich, fall soup that is unusual and very tasty.

Mushroom-Yam Stew

Ingredients:
1 lb. button mushrooms, sliced
2 yams, sliced into quarters and then into thin slices
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 can chicken broth
5 tomatoes, quartered and sliced
2 cans of green bean juice - do not add the beans
1 tsp of basil herb blend. The kind in the tube that has already been ground up.
16 oz. - Polska Kielbasa - sliced (you could try bacon or some other rich meat)
Butter - 3 teaspoons for saute, 2 tablespoons for the pot
Salt and pepper to taste.

Directions
Put 3 teaspoons of butter in a large soup pot and saute the mushrooms until browned. Add garlic to the pot and let cook until savory. Add yams, sliced tomatoes, chicken broth, green bean juice, basil and sausage slices. Add butter to the pot to flavor if you want more richness. Let simmer until yams are soft and flavors blend. Salt and pepper to taste.

High School Reunion Blues

noreply@blogger.com (Jeanne Whitmore) — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 10:22:00 +0000

The beautiful girl in the first row, center of this photo was killed in her early 20's when a drunk in a speedboat nearly cut her in half. Their boats collided and, as the drunk's boat climbed on top of the one she was riding in, the propellors cut through her vital organs. She died instantly. She was a dancer at the Columbus ballet.

Old Avi Photo. Yup that is me with my blonde hair

noreply@blogger.com (Jeanne Whitmore) — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 21:34:00 +0000

Barack Obama's Pimp hand

noreply@blogger.com (Jeanne Whitmore) — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 14:22:00 +0000

    Barack Obama and the Democrats have started a new meme in the deficit reduction war and it is called "shared sacrifice". The idea is that we owe the government part of the money we earn as rent, or my version, "protection money" for living in American. I am grateful for living in America, but not to the government. I am grateful to the people who created this country out of nothing. We created this country, we paid for this country, we made it what it is: Free, strong, and wealthy. Now, the Democrats want us to forget that. They want us to believe we owe them for the privileged of living here.

       Barack Obama and the Democrats believe that we all woke up one day in this magical wonderland and it was created by the government; that they, THEY, the government, did this; that we are mere tenants on this land and should be grateful to them.

     Who builds and pays for the roads? We do. Who created and pays for the court system? We do. Who dies in domestic and foreign lands for the protection of this nation? We do. Who pays for the Democrats and Republicans to manage our country? We do.

We owe the government nothing.

       Like a Pimp who demands a certain amount of money by Friday, or else, it is Barack and the Democrats who want us to believe we are not the owners of our bodies, our labor, and our futures.


Thank goodness Barack's pimp hand is weak. He does not have what it takes to bring in the mad money. He told all his ho's to come up with the money by Friday and we didn't do it, but what did he do? Well, nothing. The ho's are going to get restless if he keeps this up. Apparently there is a new sheriff in town called the "Tea Party" who has decided to let the ho's do what they want with the money they earn.


1.) Pimp Hand: The ability to be a pimp who has control over his ho's and brings in mad money as a result.

Text of Jim Matheson two e-mail blast letters.

noreply@blogger.com (Jeanne Whitmore) — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 21:30:00 +0000

First e-mail sent:

July 28, 2011                 
 
 
Website- Contact Jim- News Room- 2nd District- Online Office
Dear Jeanne,

Leaders in both political parties agree: defaulting on our nation's bills will have dire consequences. From successful programs such as Social Security and Medicare, to defense, veterans'benefits and transportation, every American will be affected. I am working hard to ensure that default does not occur and that serious budget reforms are adopted for the future.
However, if default does happen, another paycheck for Members of Congress should not be allowed. Members of Congress should not be getting paid while veterans, seniors and those with disabilities are not receiving their benefits.
That is why I support H.R. 2653-- the "Stop Pay for Members Act". This straightforward bill says that if the U.S. Treasury is unable to meet America's obligations in a timely way, Members of Congress should be paid last.
According to a bipartisan, independent analysis, if the U.S. should default, the Treasury Department would have to choose which of the approximately 80 million payments need to be paid with the limited cash available. The "Stop Pay Act"would place Members of the House and the Senate last on the list.
As I did when the threat of a government shutdown loomed, and government services and delivery of benefits were threatened, I want to make sure that we get our priorities right during the financial disruption.
Please let me know how you feel, by responding to the brief survey. As always, I want to hear from you.
Sincerely,
U.S. Representative
2nd District of Utah

My response:

You are an evil man to continue to say seniors wont get their checks when they will. Lier. How about congress doesn.t get their checks until we balance the budget?
Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4GLTE smartphone.

Second E-mail:

July 28, 2011

Dear Ms. Whitmore,

Thank you for sharing your concerns regarding the debt limit. I appreciate your interest in the issues facing our country and state, and I am glad for the opportunity to respond to your inquiry. By contacting me on issues important to you, I am better able to represent Utah in Congress.

The federal government's borrowing power – or debt limit – is capped by law and can only be raised by Congress. If the budget is not balanced, the debt limit must be raised in order to pay for previously approved expenditures. Currently, the government has exceeded this limit, and the Treasury has informed Congress that the debt limit must be raised by August 2, or the United States will not be able to pay its bills. These obligations include Social Security, Medicare, veterans' benefits, and debt payments. Economists and financial experts have warned that if the U.S. defaults on these payments, its credit could be downgraded and the strength of our nation in the global economy severely affected.

For any legislation to become law, it must be agreed to by the House, Senate, and signed by the President. For this reason, many proposals have been discussed this summer to negotiate a suitable compromise to raising the debt limit. I believe that any solution must be bipartisan and address the issue long-term. It should include structural reforms that fundamentally change the way we borrow and spend while helping us maintain a responsible, fiscally sound budget that prevents greater debt. It should be fair and equitable, requiring each of us to share in the sacrifice to reduce our federal deficit.

It is my hope that a workable, long-term plan can be developed that will protect the credibility of the federal government, maintain operation of essential programs, and set the stage for a future of financial solvency and discipline.

Again, thank you for sharing your concerns with me. If you have any additional questions, please feel free to contact my office.

My second response:

More lies. The government can choose what bills to pay with incoming money. There is enough money coming in to pay these SS, medicare, the debt interest and some other obligations. The treasury just released its prioritized list of payments.. You are evil to scare seniors when the treasury department will surely pay these bills after making debt payments.

Shameless

Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4GLTE smartphone.

Class size and student performance

noreply@blogger.com (Jeanne Whitmore) — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 17:23:00 +0000

Class size reduction and charter schools

Many educators and parents support lower class sizes. Aristotle Academy has reviewed the class size literature and has developed a best case scenario for fiscal responsibility, student achievement and teacher morale.

1. Class size reduction has been shown to increase student achievement when the class size is between 15 - 18 students. Fiscally it is not possible to reduce class sizes for the entire day to this level. Aristotle Academy will use small class sizes of 15 students per class for reading and math break out groups.

2. Small changes in class size from 30 - 25 or even from 25 - 20 appear to not increase student achievement. The reduction in class sizes from 30 to a number of less than 18 for the entire day would significantly endanger the school’s ability to operate within a balanced budget.

3. Class size reduction has been shown to be most effective in reading and math areas in the lower grades. The reading and math breakout classes of 15 students will be used for 1st - 5th grades.

4. Reduction in student/teacher ratio alone does not change achievement, only the number of children in a classroom with an educator appears to increase student achievement. Math and reading break out groups will be held in separate rooms to decrease distraction and allow the reading and math aide to focus on individual students.

References for Class size reduction research.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091014122045.htm - Note that the benefit is only for class sizes of 13 - 17.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080228112004.htm - Small class sizes don't close the achievement gap, those that were going to do well do even better, those that were struggling do better but don't close the gap.

http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Key_lessons_Class/ - Class size only works at the 15 - 18 level at the lower grades, reduced class sizes in upper grades has not been shown to increase achievement.

http://cepm.uoregon.edu/publications/policy_reports/class_size/student_achievement.html Reducing class size from 25 - 20 is ineffective, I would guess that reducing class sizes from 30- 25 is equally ineffective.

Teachers still remain the most important factor in student achievement (McRobbie et al, 1998).

“When certain services and technologies are available to achieve the small-class effect.
When well-trained teachers employ effective instructional techniques, students achieve more. No organizational reform, smaller class size included, will substitute for high-quality teaching, as many studies have documented (McRobbie and others 1998). If professional development that guides teachers in small-class instruction is used in conjunction with effective teaching practices, a strong curriculum, and smaller classes, researchers will be more able to examine the true effects of class-size reduction (Beall 1998; U.S. Department of Education 1998). “

http://www2.ed.gov/pubs/ReducingClass/index.html Summary of above, only micro-class sizes matter, teacher quality matters the most.

http://www.edweek.org/rc/issues/class-size/ Class size reduction efforts that come at the expense of quality teachers and reasonably safe and practical facilities may be a detriment rather than a help.

http://www.heros-inc.org/classsizeresearch.htm - A great summary of class size research, again supporting the 15:1 ratio.

Findings from the current major well-designed class size studies seem to have influenced policy makers toward the institution of reduced class size. Ernest L. Boyer, president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, has laid out a four-point plan to ensure that all children are educated to their full potential, which includes reducing classes to "no more than 15 students per teacher" for the early elementary grades. In addition, the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) Delegate Assembly has revised their class size policy statement from 20 to 1 down to recommending a student-teacher ratio of 15 to 1.