A day (or week) in the Windy City

[Cross-Posted at Macs Class]
Chicago was a blast. Stressful, but a blast. We left around 11:00pm on Memorial Day and returned on Friday at about 11:45. I cannot say enough about the kids we took on this trip. They were polite and well behaved the whole time. Before this year, I could not have imagined taking eight students 600 miles away to a city of nearly 3 million people!

We got there on Tuesday afternoon and toured the Art Institute of Chicago. I have to admit, this was one of the things that I considered skipping to catch up on sleep but boy am I glad that I didn't. It was really cool to see some of the paintings that I've only seen in books. I was pretty ticked that I left my camera at the hotel because the pics that I got were on my blackberry. The first painting that I saw was Sunday Afternoon on the Isle of La Grande Jatte by Seuratt. It was unbelievable how BIG this painting is in real life! I'd say that it stood at least 15 feet tall. Maybe even 20 feet! Another painting that I really enjoyed was American Gothic by Wood. You see this done in parody everywhere and to see it in real life, up close and personal was real neat! Later that evening we went down to the Ford Oriental Theater and went back stage for Behind the Emerald Curtain and later to see the Musical, Wicked. Again, this was so cool! Without spoiling anything, the musical is based on the book, Wicked, and goes behind the scenes and takes a closer look at the characters, Elphaba (the wicked witch) & Galinda (the good witch) from the Wizard of Oz. If you are ever in Chicago, I highly recommend it, it is well worth the time and money! After the show, we walked around for what seemed like forever looking for Pizza Uno. Let me tell you, after eating there, I'd have walked twice as far to get it. It was amazing! Sandy ordered 5 pizzas and the waitress said, "mam, that will be way too much, you'll never be able to eat all that pizza." Well several of the boys took that as a personal slam against their manhood and said, "we'll eat all of it, in fact, order six pizzas!" Well, we did and took four of them out in to go boxes! No lie. The homeless of Chicago really appreciated us that night! The picture of this pie really doesn't do it justice. That pan is around 2.5-3 inches thick. Pizza Uno piles the cheese, toppings, and sauce on thick, and I mean thick! I ate all that I could (2 pieces) and was stuffed. Talk about feeding starving people, this pizza could feed a family of 6 easily.

Wednesday was not my favorite day. We spent most of the day shopping and walking and vice versa. We visited the Magnificent Mile and the Navy Pier. I wasn't very impressed, but Jenny would have loved it! I did get a pretty cool picture of the replica ferris wheel from the World Fair Expo with the sky line in the back. That night we went to Medieval Times dinner theater which was fun. The kids really enjoyed it.

Thursday was a fun day. We got to spend several hours in the Field Museum. It was really a good experience. One thing that I did notice at the museum was that there was a heavy emphasis on evolutionary thought. I mean, if that floats your boat then that's fine, but I assumed that the people at the museum would be free thinkers and not just go with the norm. I was wrong. And we also got to see the Cubs extend their win streak to 6. Of all the things that we did, I think that I enjoyed the seeing the Cubs play at Wrigley was the best!
One last thing...We did not have to take out a paper map one time during this trip! I downloaded Google Maps for my Blackberry and it worked wonderfully! I mean, All I had to do was search for the place that we were going and it gave me turn by turn directions and a map to go along with it. This was a life saver...especially during rush hour on Wednesday, but that is another post for another day!

WARNING: RANT

Most of you know that I am earning a masters in education (Educational Leadership). I feel very confident in my ability to get a job as a principal in the near future due to the fact that there are many, MANY people in the program who are, shall we say, incompetent to say the least. This semester we were assigned a budget simulation project where we took the state minimum salary schedule and our own school’s salary schedule and compared them. We were to complete a budget as to how we spent categorical funds, write a two page summary, and make a PowerPoint presentation displaying the data. Some of these “educators” (and I use that term VERY loosely) need to do a quick Google search and learn some better techniques for making presentations. Below is a shortened list of things that have annoyed me this morning:

1. Too many words

2. Hard to see color

3. Font too small

4. Graphs too small

5. USING ALL CAPS

6. Annoying clipart

7. Unable to open presentation from flash drive

…and possibly the WORST one of all,

8. Reading the entire presentation

Another pet peeve that I have had with this experience is the fact that I am paying for a master’s level education and professors are still assigning busy work.

Why assign questions at the end of chapters? Discuss them.

Why assign students to teach the chapter? That is why I am paying YOU $300+ to teach.

I truly feel regret for students and teachers who will have these future instructional leaders.

"Be careful little eyes what you see"

Today's THV - KTHV Little Rock News Article

Let's not jump the gun on this one...Recently someone shared a story that will make you cringe. The teacher was falsely accused then released. The law says...Guilty until proven innocent...but if proven guilty...bury 'em.

We (educators, ministers, anyone dealing with children) are one lie away from unemployment! That is why it is so important to distance yourself to a certain extent.

I feel for the guy if he IS innocent. Actually, it is a lose-lose situation. If he is proven guilty than an innocent child is scarred...if he is innocent he loses all credibility (even though he is innocent).

Sad, very sad.

This is disgraceful...

Bryant Teacher Charged With Sexual Assault

Twenty five-year old Joseph Bresnahan is the Assistant Band Director at Bryant High School when he arrived on campus Tuesday morning, he was sent home, suspended with pay.

Tuesday afternoon, he was arrested at his home in Bryant on four counts of sexual assault. The victim was a 15-year old male student. Word of the arrest spread quickly as parents picked their kids up at Bryant North.

"Well, if it's true, they need to fire him and throw him in jail," says Randy Sanders.

Police say the assaults of the 15-year old boy occurred at Bresnahan's apartment in Bryant. Four separate assaults over three months and the last one occurred in recent days.

"It is very important for the parents to pay attention to their kids and start watching what they're doing and pay attention to their reactions to the phone calls they receive and so on," says Sgt. Harold Edmonson with the Bryant Police Department.

FOX16 knocked on Bresnahan's door, but no one answered.

"It's terribly shocking, I mean this is such a nice community, it's such a Christian faith based place, and it is shocking," says Jerry Bowers.

Bryant Police said it's the first time they've ever investigated an alleged sexual assault of a teacher against a student.

Randy Sanders says, "You wouldn't expect it to happen anywhere, but it seems like it happens everywhere. So you just deal with it, I've got a good kid, I'm not worried about her, but you never know."

"You know, of course it's disgusting that anybody in authority would do something like that, it's horrible," says Jerry Bowers.

Sources close to the investigation confirmed to FOX16 that it was the mother of the victim who alerted police Tuesday morning.

Bryant is not Joseph Bresnahan's first teaching job, after graduating from Harding University, he was a Band Director at Vilonia High School for three years.

He goes before a judge Wednesday morning.