New here? Want to know how it works? Click here!

The condensed directions: Read the cue, react to the cue. There's no right answer, no research required. I cite sources where applicable but it's all about coming up with creative answers. Winners are picked in a week.

The number one rule? Have FUN!!!

05/23 - I'll be naming final winners this week!

Monday, March 22, 2010

Funeral for a Foe

In the News: This category features news-related prompts.
Death of a Browser
Recently, a "funeral" was held for Internet Explorer 6.0, the web browser that just didn't want to die. If you could hold a "funeral" for something (other than a person or animal), what would it be?

We Have A Winner!!! 03/29/10
Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to mark the passing of the No Child Left Behind law. While its intentions may have originally been based in the betterment of the education of all students, it quickly became evident that it was nothing more than a hindrance to the educational process. No Child was Left Behind because instead Every Child was left behind. Teachers lost the freedom to teach in a manner the benefited their students and became prisoner to teaching to the tests mandated by this law. Students no longer learned functional skills, but only what was covered on the mandated tests. Instead of improving schools and student performance, the opposite occurred during your reign. Schools continued to fail and student performance continued to be an embarrassment in comparison to other nations. High school drop out rates remained high, students failed to learn to read, and minorities continued to demonstrate a gap in performance. I wish we could say you will be missed, but we can finally get down to the task of educating our students in ways that will make learning an active process that engages children. We can finally make accommodations for all children who learn a little differently, who need a little help, and who may not master the concept the first time it is presented. Finally learning can be individualized for all children and teachers can teach instead of prep students for tests. Rest in peace, or rest in pieces.
Winner: Bethany (@Auburnrose)
Reason: JenM voted for her and I believe in democracy. Also, many programs are created with great intentions and then continue on long after it's become obvious that the plan is falling short - I wouldn't mind seeing quite a few of these buried. Great answers all around.

6 comments:

C. Beth said...

Rest in peace? I think not. You should rest, instead,
With anxious thoughts simmering throughout your head.
What a beautiful wonder--
You're six feet under!
My old foe Worry--you're finally dead.

Heather said...

I would like to host a hasty burial for my appetite. I'd like to eat when I feel hungry, not when I feel morose, angry, or elated. And during the wake, I'll eat food, not my feelings.

JenM said...

How I mourn the loss of big hair. Like a warm blanket on a cold night, it was a source of comfort in my younger years. The height alone deserves a moment of thought. The painstaking hours spent teasing and combing, perming and curling, coloring and spraying. I loved you, and your passing has left me limp, straight and brown. I'll never be the same. RIP 80's hair!

Enri Zoltz said...

Dear non-organic farming practices:
After much deliberation, it was finally decreed that your proliferation should not be guaranteed. Your chemical runoff outweighed your uses and consumers could no longer subsidize your abuses. Farmers, we still love you and will pay more for our food; glory to be rid of sprays and fertilizers, that are just plain rude. Here lies a trend that grew larger than one could hope, and is going the way of toxic detergent soap. Rest in peace, and trace amounts, for at least 500 years. We'll carry you around in our blood, sweat and tears. Since the water supply is our lifeline that you overtly threatened to ruin, we're burying you carefully as to prolong our own undoing.

Bethany said...

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to mark the passing of the No Child Left Behind law. While its intentions may have originally been based in the betterment of the education of all students, it quickly became evident that it was nothing more than a hindrance to the educational process. No Child was Left Behind because instead Every Child was left behind. Teachers lost the freedom to teach in a manner the benefited their students and became prisoner to teaching to the tests mandated by this law. Students no longer learned functional skills, but only what was covered on the mandated tests. Instead of improving schools and student performance, the opposite occurred during your reign. Schools continued to fail and student performance continued to be an embarrassment in comparison to other nations. High school drop out rates remained high, students failed to learn to read, and minorities continued to demonstrate a gap in performance. I wish we could say you will be missed, but we can finally get down to the task of educating our students in ways that will make learning an active process that engages children. We can finally make accommodations for all children who learn a little differently, who need a little help, and who may not master the concept the first time it is presented. Finally learning can be individualized for all children and teachers can teach instead of prep students for tests. Rest in peace, or rest in pieces.

JenM said...

Bethany,
From one teacher to another- LOVE your post! I'd dance on that grave, for sure!!!

Post a Comment

Answers below, please!