Carol, The problem I have is how will this pay be divided? Everyone, like the school librarian, is also a factor in a student’s success, but because he/she is not a classroom teacher, may not be included. What about the art teacher, music teacher, computer teacher, gym teacher? Also, administrators do play favorites and a successful teacher may not be rewarded if the principal has a personal problem with that teacher, ie: pro-union teacher. You have defined some problem areas succinctly. Will there be a perfect plan? Probably not. Should we go ahead with a semi-perfect plan. YES!! Tweak the plan as new solutions are found. Elementary teachers would be easier to identify for merit raises. It would be difficult to do this in high school. Librarians and support staff might be green with envy at first. But…..An all-building merit raise, if the entire student population increased levels scored might be an answer to both high schools and support staff with special additional merit payment for elementary classroom teachers. This might improve morale and team building both. mmmm? Fr

Carol, “If a teacher has a student that is behind 3 years in reading, and he/she improves 2 years but still is not on level, should the teacher be denied merit pay?” The case example given above, IS exactly an example of a when merit pay IS needed.thanks for the pitch so i could hit it. :) No small thing to bring a student up two years in reading over one year of time. The lower economic areas have lower collection of property taxes and little money. period. These schools have wonderful, caring, hard-working teachers that very much deserve merit pay for their work. Attracting teachers to these schools is often difficult and the knowledge that “extra, Hard-Duty pay” is possible can make that teacher’s personal life better when he/she is enabled to pay more bills.Four years of college for that degree usually comes with loans to repay. These same caring, hard-working teachers often end up using their own salaries to buy supplies and teaching materials for the students. I know my son makes many trips to the local Wal-Mart and book stores. Merit pay would reinburse his expenses plus give extra incentive for keeping motivated. We all respond better to carrots, ya’ know.

tests….now there is a whole wasp’s nest of conversation. Having golas. anchors, objectives, end-points of learning…what-ever the names, is a positive thing and can be evaluated and/or tested. Teachers use tests to determine if the subject matter has been learned. These NCLB tests have had a negative effect on creativity, insightful inderstanding, problem solving, and a wide range of positive goals. Teachers are changing their methods of cooperative learning, socratic method, using projects, and exploratory learning and many other methods to encourage learning—not by choice, by by edict through NCLB. This is happening is my school district. Our schools have not met basic levels for three years running. There are problems. We need many threads on this topic to really discuss this. Please Wowowow!!

Unions. Big topic—-and yet not talked about much.in the Pres. debates…. glad to have a chance here. As a teacher, I have enjoyed the “protection” of a union, but unlike wowowow Jane, have never had to test out their use. My son teaches in the lowest performing HS in NC. TFA. The school could not attract teachers there and so he is not taking anyone’s job away. He is working for only two years as a teacher and so is willing to work 14-16 hour days. Many union teaches do this in their first year too. The NEA does too much to protect 3 years plus-teachers that have “given up” and the results of student learning are low. The NEA needs to do more to protect teachers doing a great job—-and if this means merit—then so be it. Merit based on percentage of increase of learning. Not based on working in a high socio-economic schools—but on improvement of scores. Teachers—-please tell me where I am wrong in this.

Mary, Wowowow has absorbed , as if drawing up droplets of time, parts of each day. It has been pleasant. Hearing differences of opinions well stated, and life-views spoken, are enlightening to me. Due to several of the women suggesting that Ann Karinina was a favorite book, I asked my son for this for my birthday. Just finished reading it. My college courses were filled with lab sciences of biochemistry, biology, neurochemistry, microbiology and so forth,…. and so I missed all the great literature courses of a liberal arts education. My limited understanding of Tolstoy’s book is this: loved the discussion on the politics, segmented society, religion, agricultural methods and the changing social stratum. The plot of the characters seemed to be a frame upon which these insights were draped. How could he have written such a modern book in 1870’s? Thank you wowowow for this gift of suggesting this book.

Beatles……timeless….and a part of our DNA now, if that ispossbile. Would sing Yellow submarine while washing my kids in the tub when little. They know most of the words to most of their songs. :) Got to “see” Paul this May in Conn…and still he gave me chills….. not so much for him tho….just another crowd of folks thinking he is a genius of a writer of music, lyricist and an icon. swoooooon.

Gal, You made me laugh. There was a tv show-Ally McBeal that tlked about men thinking with their dumb stick. I am so not willing to give up on men. Whoopi, do you think men are really so shallow as to think any old woman will fit the slot? Sarah Palin is completely oppostie in her positions on everything Hillary stood for—-and we will soon enough learn ALL about her. Just when I thought politics was going to be an intelligent debate on the issues……………. Please oh please somebody in the media— WHOOPI HELP US—— drive the topics BACK to fair education( my son is in Teach for America in a school that was inable to attract science teachers), available health care(my 85 yr.Mom cannot afford to have her teeth fixed), bringing our soldiers home( have a nephew in Iraq), finding ways to become energy independent, and not economic playthings for the uber-rich. (foreclosures abound here where I live—causing divorce, alcoholism and yet-a gambling casino just opened down the road—to stimulate the economy——but man oh man -a nother choice of addiction here we come!.) But, on the bright side. Whoopi and you,B gal thanks for the chuckle. I needed one. :)

To teach our children that debate, differnces of opinion and rspect for others is admirable. Happy Birthday to you Senator McCain. Interesting pick with Gov. Palan. She’s no Hillary Clinton—-just a polar opposite in views —-who happens to be a female., and someone we will get to know and hear much more about. This will stir things up. Meanwhile Happy Birthday sir. Please keep reaching across the aisle.

Lynn, Yes, well said. Happy Birthday to you Senator McCain. A personal story: my son Ben was absolutely “taken with the Moment of history” when he happened to be on the floor of the US Senate in 2006 when he saw Sen. McCain,and also Sen. Kennedy and Sen. Specter all in deep conversation together. You were trying to work out a bill for immigration.

Liz, You certainly are not one of those stalking hounding creepy critters. You stand head and shoulders above the fray. It has been a joy to read your postings and humor. Some of the Wowowow postings seemed a bit out of wack now and again, and hopefully I am not too too guilty; but I am happy that you have the knack of putting things straight. I appreciate this sensibility. Mentor us, please grand lady. Looking forward to your insights and sightings of people in our shared world.

My Alias, A brief pause. Love your classy avatar. pi on pie. “It’s about the issues … it’s not about her,” Wasserman Schultz said during a Denver breakfast. Yes, the issues. Sen Clinton And Sen Obama are very much in sinc with the important issues and their responses and programs. Sen McCain sees the world differently in many ways and comes to different conclusions & platform when responding to the issues.

We too were paying close to $15,000 a year for Blue Cross/Blue Shield for three of us through a company we retired with. The company recently changed medical carriers and my husband at this very moment is back “on the road” to earn enough hours of work to qualify for the new coverage and help pay for it. No longer retired-must pay for health insurance. I have read that huge percentage of medical costs are due “paperwork” for all the medical carriers. Stream-lining our system could be a means to lessening the costs.

Watched this conference meeting on CSPAN. To learn how Michelle Obama and Joe Biden think and speak about women’s issues, one only has to listen. They are INFORMED and will promote attitudes, prgrams and laws for equal pay for women, education at a better price and equal in all parts of the city/county regardless of local economics, and health care. This won’t be easy. TV can offer these small teaching situations and I encourage the operators of the many numbers on the “dial” of TV to give us more of this type of coverage. Coverage on non-cable channels too. There is so very much to learn.

Watching the weather channel with worry. Will the newly built walls keep the water out of New Orleans this time? The winds and water that come from the hurricane itself were awful all along the Gulf Coast three years ago and what a nightmare to think it may happen to some extent now. I wonder if the attitude of fear of the people living tin New Orleans will exist ? Holing people up in a stadium and then being afraid to take them water and provisions——I still cannot get over that our US citizens allowed that.—Hopefully individuals attitudes will be different this time and help people. WE, as a country are better than the outrage that happened 3 years ago.

Dear Mugsy, Your story has etched its way into my imagination; thus I felt compelled to reply after all these many days. I do not know your face—-but I think you will always have a stunning face that makes a statement. Did you keep the cameo or indeed give it as a gift as you had intended? It would be lovely to have your story as a comment of the week to bring it to other Wowowow ladies. Sometimes these beautiful thoughts gets swept away in the banter of the thread.