Teacher Movie ...

I am so sorry I have been remiss in posting to this BLOG.

I received an email last night which contained this link .... http://www.teachermovie.com/ and a warning to have kleenex nearby .... good warning!!

This comes from a story which circulated for years via emails ... and always made me cry when I read it ... WATCHING it made me cry even more ...

I am doing some consulting for a small Math and Science Academy in Flower Mound ... and the women I work with there are the types of women who can make such a difference in their students' lives. Actually, everyone has that chance ... but these women are dedicating their lives to helping each child be his or her best.

I am honored and humbled to be working with them.

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My tutoring business is going very well, too. I have been very blessed with a lot of wonderful students and parents to work with this Fall.

Business is BOOMING!

WOW .... I have had a Great September.

I tutored the equivalent of 125 hours this month .... if you know what I charge per hour, you do the Math .... I basically earned more than my gross pay as a teacher per month!! AND ... I did it with Friday's off!!

I am very BUSY .... and that is awesome!! I have some students on a waiting list .... but hours will open up after the next SAT is given and after the TAKS test in a couple of weeks. I have a lot of daytime work, too .... including the 6th and 7th graders at BridgePoint Academy. That also seems to be going well. I am also enjoying the Unschoolers I am working with.

The DVD signing at BORDERS went well. I sold 6 DVD's and talked to LOTS of people. Good exposure and I hope to do more things with them.

I am considering different ways to take my tutoring business to the next level ... including the possibility of doing some online tutoring .... or hiring and training other tutors .... all that requires some serious thought, though.

All in all ... feeling successful ... and that is a great feeling!!

Confidence Vs. Self-Esteem

In my American Heritage Dictionary I found the following definitions:

Self-Esteem ... Pride in oneself.

I didn't think that was a very good defintion, so I looked up Pride.

Pride ... A sense of one's own proper dignity or value; self-respect: One should not be robbed of his pride.

Confidence ... A feeling of assurance or certainty, especially concerning oneself.

Self-Confidence ... consciousness of one's own powers and abilities.

A child's Self-Esteem and maintaining that self-esteem has had a major effect on education over the past 20 years. For instance .... many schools no longer publish an A-Honor Roll or even an AB-Honor Roll because it might hurt the self-esteem of the students who didn't make it onto one of those lists. Cheerleading sqauds and athletic teams must take all comers because to hold try-outs might hurt the self-esteem of those who get cut. Instead of holding classes based on a student's ability, classes are now all "mainstreamed" with children of all abilities from 70 IQ to 150 IQ all placed in the same classroom and asked to learn at the same rates. Yes there are Honors classes and Pre-AP classes ... but schools are not allowed to deny entry to anyone who wants to take those classes, even if the classes are way beyond the student's current abilities. Teachers who teach these classes are often pressured to teach to the ability of the lowest student in the class because it is that one student's parents who will complain the most about how hard that teacher is teaching and how their child's self-esteem is being injured.

Okay .... I could go on and on .... but I bring all of this up because of a question I put on a Parent Survey for the parents of my new classes of 6th and 7th graders. Well ... not because of my question .... but because the the Parents' response to my question.

The question was ... "What would you like to see your child get from this Math class?"

Here are some of the responses ... "To gain the confidence back that he lost last year." ... "Confidence with numbers." .... "Continued improvement and confidence in her Math Skills" ... "A confidence on Math Skills, which I have never had." .... "To feel confident in her Math ability." ... "Confidence and understanding of concepts - not just rote memory."

I was touched, and amazed, by how well these parents expressed exactly what I believe is one of the most important things for an educator to offer a student ... CONFIDENCE.

Competence is another one of my "key" words ... which I will touch on now and again, and not one parent mentioned Competence .... but not one parent mentioned "self-esteem" either!!

Okay parents, leave a comment and correct me if I am wrong ... but here is what I see you asking for ... You want your children to learn Math and learn it well. You want them to leave my class in May KNOWING that they can now do certian things and do them well. You also want them to be able to say ... "I'm not sure how to do that, but I would appreciate it if you would show me how so that I can become even better" ... as well as be able to say to someone ... "I am absolutely sure that I have done this problem correctly." and to be right!

I am 46 years old and I am have only recently, in the past few years, begun to feel the power of confidence in myself. I am confident and competent in my Math Skills and in my ability to teach children (6th grade and higher ... I also know my limits). And it feels really good to be able to say that!! I am good at what I do. I would love to be able to have my students feel the same way about themsleves. (And my son, too, for that matter.)

I want to give my students an environment where it is very safe to be wrong because if they are anything like me (and you) they often need to learn from their mistakes. They shouldn't be ridiculed for their mistakes, but instead allowed to make mistakes and then given corrections in a positive way. Many students (and people in general) who are ridiculed for their mistakes simply give up trying at all. That is no way to teach a person. That is no way to build confidence and competence.

What is the Thomas Edison quote about the number of attempts it took him to make a lightbulb? (I have run several searches, the numbers differ ... so I will make up an example) It took Thomas Edison 342 attempts to make a light-bulb which worked ... he not only invented the lightbulb ... he also discovered 341 ways to NOT make a lightbulb.

I want to create students who aren't afraid to try .... try and maybe be wrong .... and try again and keep trying until they are right ... and are SURE they are right. And tomorrow and next month and next year they will still be right. And if someone says they are wrong, I want to create a student who will respectfully defend themsleves and be confident in their ability to do so.

This is something I hope to give to my students which NO ONE can take away ... all Pride and Sef-Esteem aside.

Back to the Classroom ...

LOL .... well .... I post a post about being glad that I am not going back to school ... and here I am a week later about to go select a curriculum for 6th grade and 7th grade classes I have agreed to take on!!

I will be teaching these classes twice a week ... for a total of 1.5 hours per day or 3 hours per week .... which isn't much. Should be nice to walk in at 9:30am and out at 11:00am ... and that's it! Eleven 6th graders and seven 7th graders ... should be interesting ....

The school is called Bridgepoint ... and is Private .... linked with a program called the Circle of Sciences .... http://www.circleofsciences.com .... and is here in town. The classroom I will be teaching in is in a very nice building in Parker Square in Flower Mound, TX ... which to those of you who live nearby, you know it is Hoity and Toity!

I am to meet the students on Wednesday ... and start my classes next Tuesday 8-22 ....

The woman who runs the school contacted me Friday evening and I mulled it over all day Saturday and had pretty well decided that I didn't want to do it ... it has been forever since I taught 6th graders ... do I want "classes" of students again? .... do I want to be making quizzes and tests and grading homework and keeping grades and planning lessons again? .... the really nice thing about tutoring is that you don't have to do that stuff!! ....

But then I met the lady on Sunday ... and set my price pretty high ... but the more I listened to her as we chatted about all kinds of things, the more I liked her .... she has really good energy about her and she is very straight-forward ... and her robotics team beat my ex-husband's robotics team (and that is a BIG DEAL) .... well, we negotiated a price we could both live with.

So now I need to go find curriculum. I don't think Saxon is going to cut it ... but I can for sure use the Saxon software to generate tests and quizzes and such .... and I still have my Grade-Book Plus software to set up a gradebook and generate all kinds of reports ....

Oh .... and I am getting a lot of calls from parents of students who failed the July retest of the TAKS Exit Level Math .... but they are all local and want private tutoring ... instead of buying my DVD .... more $$ for me ... but I really want the DVD to get out there!! Also there are parents calling me to "save " them spots for their kids for either the Fall or Spring ... depending on what their schedule says today ... which I think is great!! I have a feeling business is going to go well this year!!

I am so Grateful!!

It is on days like today ... which happen once a year .... that I am so grateful I became a Math Tutor with my own business.

Today ... August 7th ... LISD teachers went back to school ... they started 5 days of Teacher Inservice. August 14th .... next Monday ... they will be back at it for another school year!!

Now .... don't get me wrong! I LOVE Teaching!!! I absolutely LOVE teaching. But I am pretty happy with my decision to run my own business. I am learning SO MUCH about so many different aspects of Mathematics education here in Texas. I am learning about Homeschoolers and Unschoolers and Private Schoolers and Middle Schoolers and High Schoolers and Community Collegers ....

I am learning about all different kinds of curriculums and testing.

I am also learning about what it takes to make an educational DVD and sell it to the public ... I am learning a lot!!

I am REALLY GLAD to not be in a teacher inservice right now!!

I have also noticed lately that the Dallas Morning News seems to be making a special effort to bring education to the forefront. I like seeing that. They are publishing more articles on TAKS and on school starting dates and requesting articles from teachers specifically! I think that is great and plan to try to add my $.02 to the general knowledge!!

I need to write more in this BLOG ... I do have lots to say, so I need to get back at it!!

I will!!

Borders Booksellers ....

Borders Booksellers in Lewisville, TX .... What a wonderful store.

I visited them today and chatted with a woman named Amy about my DVD. I had left a copy there on June 30th for my ex-student to look at ... (she was on vacation and I was leaving for Illinois) ... so I thought I'd check in today and see what she thought ...

Well ... Chrissy was still on vacation ... but Amy was so welcoming and positive and immediately offered to set me up for a book/DVD signing ... she was very excited!! So .... we have set up a book/DVD signing for Saturday Sept. 16th .... Noon-4:00. And they will advertise online and in their stores .... AND she said she would contact Dallas area stores and let them know I am available for signings and such!!

I must say .... I was a bit "put-out" as I had stopped at Barnes & Noble first and was basically given a major runaround .... I was actually told that the woman I wanted to see had "Gone to see a man about a horse." So I left the store and sat in my car and called her voicemail and left a message about why I wanted to see her. By the time I had driven to Borders ... about 4 blocks away ... she was returning my call .... sitting at her desk, glancing at my book. Hmmmmm .... and then all she cared about was ISBN#'s. LOL .... considering she just returned from vacation herself, my guess is that she has no idea what she has in her possession ... "Gone to see a man about a horse ..."

Whatever!!

Thanks Borders!!

It's Here!!!!

Yes!! It's here!! The DVD is finally replicated and shrinkwrapped and ready for sale!! Come one, come all!!

Http://www.Math-Matters.org

It is available on the shelves of Home Educators Resource Stores in Lewisville and Duncanville right now ... and I will be talking with Borders and Barnes & Noble today!

Need help passing the Exit Level TAKS Math Test??

Or are you just curious about exactly how hard this test is and why over 60,000 Juniors failed it in Texas this past Spring 2006??

Buy the DVD and Test Booklet and try it yourself!!

DVD Debacle ....

Is that how you spell debacle?? I just ran Spell Check and it says it is okay ...

Anyway .... The whole DVD thing has been a real DEBACLE ....

We wanted the Master DVD ready to send to the printer by Monday May 8th ... it wasn't even near ready ... it still needed to be authored and menued and whatever else goes with that ... and the authoring menuing guy was ill .... (However .... the editting does look AWESOME!)

Tuesday May 16th rolls around ... they almost have it done ... Bob brings me a test copy to view ... over six hours of DVD to look at and I am still tutoring morning noon and night. Tom looks at it and there are TONS of problems with the menuing .... I mean TONS ... he writes 3 pages of critiques and changes and we email that back up to UNT. Bob and Greg worked on it when they could and tried to be finished by Friday May 19th ... but then they had a software glitch ... an error message which no one recognized .... Bob thought maybe it was too much info for one DVD ... maybe we should go to Two?? But when they tried two, the software still got hung up with the same error message .... and the software maker was offline all weekend upgrading their systems!!!

Finally!! Sunday night Greg works it out ... he has gone through the data piece by piece to try to find the problem and he finally locates it and is able to burn all the info onto one Double Layered DVD-9. ((Thanks Greg!!)) Bob brings it to us Monday (May 22) and once again we have to watch more than 6 hours of me ....

Meanwhile .... news about over 60,000 Juniors failing TAKS is on the front page of the Dallas Morning News .... and orders begin to come in!! I am happy ... but also feeling pressured ... we are still looking at a 7-10 workday turn around with the replicators and we have yet to get them the Master! Schools are wanting the DVD for Summer School starting June 6th.

Tom watched the DVD ... and it was STILL wrong. Not near the errors of before ... couldn't get to question #39 ... and questions #99 and 100 were out of sync with voice and video. We called Greg ... he fixed those things and a couple other things .... and got us another Master .... this one we couldn't even access TEST #2 .... and all the problems were menued wrong #11-#20!! And #99 and 100 were still out of sync ....!!!

By this time I am getting REALLY tired of watching myself teach TAKS problems!! We had to check each and every problem #1-100 to be sure the menuing was right .... be sure the Tests played through ... be sure it played on TV's and laptops!! Finally on Wednesday evening we get a Master that works perfectly .... Hurrah!!!

On Thursday May 25th we take the Double-Layered DVD-9 Master down to Tele-Print in Carrollton ... whom we had found through One Stop Media Shop. One-Stop had quoted us for 15, 10, 7, or 3-day turnaround time ... each getting more expensive the shorter the time. We hand the DVD to the saleman I had been dealing with (allan s.) and he just sets it aside like it is nothing ... he then proceeds to tell us that he doesn't think they can do Double-layered DVD-9's ... he needs to check with Danny Redd and Danny Redd isn't in at the moment. They had also agreed to shrinkwrap the booklets with the DVD's ... so we unloaded 14 boxes of booklets in their shipping bay.

And we walked out of there ...

We didn't sign anything ... they didn't ask for a down payment ... nothing .... and we still weren't sure they were going to be able to replicate the DVD!!

It felt very weird driving away from there ... Tom asked me if I was feeling better ... and I had to say "NO!! Not at all!"

A few hours later, I got an email from Allan S. saying that the cost was going to be $2.39@ and that in oder to for them to do DVD-9's they had to have a 10-15 business day turnaround time!! And that they wouldn't be able to shrinkwrap the booklets with the DVD's unless we also bought some heavy cardboard inserts (which would block the UPC code).

I was shocked and angry. That was 3 full weeks before I could get a DVD to the people wanting them and that was TOO LONG and way too much money for that long of a wait. It was nowhere near what One Stop Media Shop had quoted us.

So .... on Friday May 26th, Tom and I went back down to Tele-Print in Carrollton and asked to speak to the owner, Danny Redd. We told him that Allan's quote was way above the previous One-Stop quote and he preceeded to tell us all about the lawsuit he has against One-Stop blah, blah, blah .... which started after we got the quote from One-Stop. Fine, whatever .... we just want our DVD's replicated within 7 business days, forget the shrinkwrap, what will it cost ... he gives us a price .... we agree ... still no contract or down payment (even though I offered). We gathered up our 14 boxes of booklets and left ... still not feeling very good. We also realized that Danny Redd had been in his office the previous day when Allan told us he needed to talk to Danny and Danny wasn't there.

The story STILL isn't over ....

The following Wednesday ... I get a call from Tele-Print ... one of the Ladies in the front got a look at my artwork for the DVD sleeve before it got sent to the printer and she called me to say she didn't think the color looked right .... could I come down and look at it?

Boy was she right ... the fonts and background were all in tones of black and grey .... not the blues and greens they should be. They tried to blame it on La ... I wasn't buying that. They offered to go into her Corel files and change colors to make it look like it should .... at the cost of $85/hr .... (mind you ... the DVD was supposed to be 3 days into a 7 day turnaround ...) so I agreed. Later that evening I get an email charging me for 2 hours of work in Corel.

Thursday ... they call again ... come look at the artwork for the DVD sleeve .... I go down there ... the background is better ... but the fonts are all still black and grey!! It looks dreary and depressing instead of warm and friendly. I want my blues and greens!! I spend 2 hours down there trying to figure out what to do ... looking at "PanColors" and discussing what I want ...they tell me it will cost hours of work on Corel to get those colors like I want ... (mind you, they have had this artwork for over 4 weeks but they refused to look at it until I brought in a Master ... even though I offered to pay for them to go over the artwork weeks ago to be sure it was right).

Finally, in tears I am sad to say, I agree to let them use the artwork which featured blacks and greys ... I told them this was only 1000 DVD's out of a potential 60,000 ... and I would never consider using them again. I cried all the way home ... (once I start, I can't stop) .... and of course Tom saw that I was upset ...

We talked ... and Tom suggested we check with the man who printed the booklets to see if he could print DVD sleeves ... Tom called him and he said Yep! So I called Tele-Print and told them to hold off on printing the DVD sleeves while we checked out a local printer ...

Next thing I know I am getting an email from Tele-print telling me that Danny Redd thinks that I seem to be "impossible to make happy" ... so he is canceling our whole order!!! Canceling the DVD replication which is supposed to be more than 1/2 completed!

Aaaaaarrrrrrgggghhhhhhh .......!!!!!

Anyway ... I spent Friday (June 2nd) trying to find someone else who would replicate the DVD's ... and just duplicate 5 or so to fill the immediate orders. One Stop is going to do the replicating ... if Danny Redd doesn't like them ... they must be good .... I tried to get Greg to make 5 more copies for us ... but he has a busy weekend and following week ...

FINALLY .... on Saturday, Tom and I went to Office Depot and bought DVD copying software ... label maker software ... blank DVD's and jewel cases ... all of which cost us less than the 2 hours of Corel Draw from Tele-Print would have cost (which Danny didn't make me pay for... good ol' Danny). And today (Sunday) I burned DVD's and printed covers and disc art ... and now I have DVD's to send out ....

I am feeling MUCH better ....

Oh ... and the folks at Minuteman Press here in Lewisville ... what wonderful people! They took La's corel files and we sat there for about an hour and messed with colors until we got their printer to print out the colors I wanted .... they were so kind. And it looks like they will print the DVD sleeves for us. It was all about RGB color vs. CYMK color ... which I now kinda understand ... turns out ... for $99 upgrade Tele-Print could have used FULL-COLOR and we wouldn't have had any of these issues!!

Summer Classes Available ....

Summer 2006 Classes offered by Math-Matters ...


GREEN GLOBS AND GRAPHING EQUATIONS

Tuesdays and Thursdays in June … June 6-29 … 8 total classes

Class Time: 2-3:00

Supplies: Must have a laptop computer

Cost: $160 total … paid in advance.

Course Description: Green Globs is a graphing program which has been around since the mid 80’s. I will supply a copy of the software. The Green Globs program contains 2 different graphing games with 2 different levels of difficulty and an area to practice your skills writing algebraic and trigonometric equations. This software actually helps students see how changing a sign or an exponent in an equation can affect the graph of that equation. Green Globs is a very hands-on and fun way to learn the graphing skills needed to be successful in Algebra I and Algebra II and Trig/Pre-Calculus.

Basic knowledge of how to work a laptop computer is all that is needed.


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GEOMETRY on the TI-84 SE Graphing Calculator

Tuesdays and Thursdays in June …. June 6-29 … 8 total classes

Class Time: 3-4:00

Supplies: Must have a TI-84 Silver Edition Graphing Calculator

Cost: $160 Total … paid in advance.

Course Description: Texas Instruments has written a series of programs to make Geometry a more interactive course. Their TI-84 SE calculator has the ability to graph triangles and circles and various other geometric figures and manipulate these figures in order to better understand Geometry Concepts. Most geometry courses do not have the time to work with these hands-on type activities. (Nor do they have access to TI-84 SE calculators!) I plan to make this course a fun “exploration” of Geometry and its concepts.

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Algebra I Prep and Review Course

Mondays and Wednesdays in June …. June 5-28 … 8 total classes

Class Time: Two Classes available 2-3:00 or 7-8:00

Supplies: Text Book … Effortless Algebra by Maran Illustrated (available at Border’s or Barnes and Noble or on-line through Amazon.com, pad of graph paper, and writing utensils. A TI graphing calculator would also help but is not required.

Cost: $160 … paid in advance

Course Description: This is a course for students who have completed 8th grade Math or Pre-Algebra or Algebra I and who want to refresh concepts and prepare for Algebra I or Algebra II. This course does not replace a full Algebra I course. It will help to improve your Algebra skills overall.


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Private Tutoring available by the hour for any and all of the following:

TAKS Exit Level Math

Algebra I, Algebra II, Geometry, Trig/Pre-Cal, Calculus

GED, SAT, ACT

Cost: $40 per hour Flexible scheduling available


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All courses will be taught by Cindy Mackinnon, Certified Math Teacher and Private Tutor, and will be taught in her home located at:

2010 Warrior Dr.
Lewisville, TX 75067

You may contact her through http://www.Math-Matters.org or by phone at 214-649-0176

Pulling it all Together ...

I have submitted the test booklet for printing ... and it should be ready by next Friday ... 1,000 copies.

La has finished the DVD slipcover art and the art for the DVD itself and I took it down to the DVD printers today for them to make sure it is as it should be. The art looks really good. Very Professional!! I should be hearing from the printers about that today or Monday.

We re-shot several segments of the DVD last weekend and that seemed to go well. I actually got to see some filmed footage on the big screen TV here ... and it looked pretty good!! I am thicker around the middle than I see myself being in my mind's eye ... but still ... I looked like a cool teacher! My goal!

I got a Tax number yesterday .... which allows me to collect sales taxes .... AND which keeps me from having to PAY sales taxes on getting the DVD and booklets printed!! That is a BIG SAVINGS!!

Tom is working on getting my website set up to sell DVD's and accept credit cards .... we are hiring it done ... to be sure it is done right!! It needs to get done soon!!

Tutoring is going great! I have about 25 hours a week scheduled right now and that equates to about $1,000 a week .... which is pretty good!! But May is the last month of that until Aug/Sept ... so I need to be able to sell DVD's at the rate of 25 per week to make up for the loss of tutoring! When I put it that way ... it seems doable!! Especially considering I can sell them all across Texas via my website. We need to sell 250 DVD's to make back what it has cost us to make the DVD ... then 25 per week or so to keep me solvent ... anything above that is gravy!! Investment in future DVD's!! Investment in future retirement!!

Also ... TEA has contacted us and decided to offer us the rights to use the Study Guide materials!! Too late for this DVD .... but GREAT for future possibilities!!

All of this is VERY positive!!

I'm nervous ... but also very excited!!

DVD is Coming Along ....

The DVD is coming along. Bob is working on editting and he has seen some things he would like to re-shoot .... so we will do that this coming weekend. He says that for the most part, it looks really good and he is pleased with the way we used two cameras .... one aimed at the board and one on me. Bob seems to be a bit of a perfectionist .... which is a VERY GOOD thing ... but it could delay the release of the DVD by a week or more .... he wants everything to be perfect ... and I understand that ... so do I!!

La is working on the DVD cover art and it is coming along nicely. She is designing the face of the DVD itself and the front and back of the DVD cardboard pouch. Everything is pulling together nicely.

Tom is working on getting the webpage up for accepting credit cards. That requires building an entirely new web page .... so the look of http://www.Math-Matters.org is going to change totally soon. Tom is also putting together lists of newspapers and radio stations and TV stations and we will be sending out Press Releases THIS WEEK ... because this is TAKS TESTING week in Texas. We will also send out a different Press Release in May when TAKS results come back.

OH!! And the Texas Education Agency has decided that it is okay for Pearson Educational Measurements to offer us a proposal to use the Study Guide in our DVD .... isn't that swell of them?? I'll be talking to them tomorrow and get further information. We have already filmed about 50 of the 102 questions from that Study Guide ... so we may come out with a 2nd DVD next year WHEN money starts coming in from this DVD.

The Borders thing can't happen for awhile ... we need to send a completed DVD to them for preview .... and the DVD won't be completed until mid-May at the earliest .... I think we can still get it on their shelves ... but not sure when. We have a UPC code for the back of the DVD and the booklet .... makes it look all official!!

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On a side note: While teaching one of my HomeSchool classes at HERS, a local CBS news crew came to interview HERS owner, Hope, on homeschooling. I guess they will be doing a weeklong series in May on Homeschooling in Texas. Anyway .... they wanted to see a class, and my class (of two kids) was the only class there ... so they ended up filming me and my students in my Saxon Algebra I class. They also interviewed me when they found out I had been a public school teacher for 22 years. I had no make-up on. No special clothes. Totally unprepared. But Hope thought it went really well ... she watched the whole interview and seemed very pleased with it.

I slipped the reporter my card and wrote on the back of it info about my DVD .... well see if anything comes from that!

Another Nudge ....

I received yet another nudge from the Universe yesterday!!

Borders Bookstores are having a teacher appreciation weekend and they are offering 25% off of your purchase to all current and retired teachers ... so Tom and I decided to go take advantage of that lovely offer!!

At the front of the store there was a table set up for teachers to sign up for a drawing of some sort. Two employees were standing there setting up the table and getting it ready for the expected onslaught of teachers throughout the weekend. They asked me if I was a teacher and I said that, yes, I am a retired teacher. One of the employees looked at me curiously and asked where I used to teach. I told her Lewisville High School and The Colony High School. She did not look familiar to me. But she kept on ... asking me what subject I taught. I said Math ... and her face lit up and she said "I did have you!! I remember you!! You taught me Algebra II the last 9 weeks of my senior year .... after I had already failed it twice ... and I needed it to graduate!!"

She then went on to tell everyone within earshot how much she enjoyed being in my class and what a great Math teacher I was. She was so excited to see me again! Truly a teacher appreciation event for me!!

She even mentioned that she and her group of friends had been talking about Math education a couple of weeks ago ... and she had even mentioned me to her friends, but she couldn't remember my name ... just what a good teacher I was. I told her I was probably Ms. Khan then and her face lit up again!! (I just love it when that happens! It's like the "lightbulb" moment a teacher lives to see on her student's face!)

My husband is listening to all of this conversation and finally tells her to ease up because I already had such a "big head"! I told her to keep it up because I needed all the affirmations I could get! I then told her about how we are filming this DVD and putting all my money into it and how I hope it will be a success.

She asked what the DVD was about and I told her that it was for helping students who fail the Exit Level TAKS Math Test. The other employee then asked if Borders would be selling them? And they both asked how we would be marketing them?

I told them we planned to sell them online, but if I could sell them through Borders, that would be awesome!!! Well .... it turns out ... that my lovely ex-student who thinks I am wonderful is .... THE CORPORATE AND EDUCATIONAL SALES REP. for Borders!!!

She seemed to think we would be able to sell them through not only the Borders in Lewisville, but also in the DFW area .... and if they do well ... then maybe in Borders across the state!!

Is that not the most awesome nudge from the Universe??

We hope to finish filming the DVD this week and I need to be sure the booklet is ready to go to the printer. This is becoming reality ... and it is nervewracking, but also really exciting!!

I have also had two seniors contact me this week ... girls who have not passed the Exit TAKS Math Test and need to pass it by May if they want to graduate. We have less than 4 weeks until their next chance to take it. I am going to use my new test booklet with them and see how it goes!! I met one young lady yesterday and I think she will be okay. I will meet the other one this afternoon. I really hope I can help her.

Otherwise, tutoring is going great guns!! I now have 29 hours a week booked up ... and will soon begin to do small groups as these students bring their friends and classmates along for extra help, too. For groups, I charge more per hour, but less per student .... which helps all involved!! I'm liking it!!

Filming Continues ...

We started back filming the DVD this weekend. Tom and I have spent the last two weeks putting together the 100 new questions we are going to use and working on the graphics and dividing the 100 questions into 10 mini-tests. Then we had to be sure all the questions had solutions and recheck to be sure all the solutions were correct .... and we emailed Tests back and forth ...

Tom has been a BIG help!! He is a WORD Wizard!!

The 10 Mini-Tests which we have created each have one problem from each of the 10 objectives. I am hoping that will be a good selling point.

So we started filming all over again on Saturday morning .... we managed to get through 9 of the problems before we received a phone call that one of Tom's best friends, John Smith, had collapsed and died suddenly. We had just been out with him and his wife on Friday night. He was only 52. They had only been married for a couple of years .... they had just bought a home. Life is precious and short. Treasure those you love.

We went to the hospital and then to his home and waited until Marsha's family members began to arrive. Tom and I will be helping her as much as we can. We are planning to have a wake to honor his life .... he didn't want a funeral. This is all so sad ....

So .... Bob the film guy came back today and we managed to get through about 1/2 of the problems by the time we finished today. Bob now has 2 weekends off for Spring Break and he is going to Florida ... and we hope to finish the filming on the last weekend in March.

Then Bob has to do all the editting of the DVD .... yet we are still on track for a May 15th release.

However .... now we need to also publish the Test Booklet. Geez .... just to get it printed will cost as much as making the DVD ... at least according to KINKOs .... dang TEA .... but we can do it ...

Onward!!

Tutoring Report ....

I am very proud to report those of you who read this blog that my tutoring business is going VERY WELL. January topped all previous months and February has already topped January ... and I still have 2 more working days of February left!!

In January and February both, I have surpassed my take-home pay from teaching.

Now I need to make this DVD successful so that I won't have to worry about income over the summer months.

Tutoring is really going pretty well. I still need to increase my daytime hours. My evenings are almost totally full ... I even go from 5-10:00 on Thursdays ... which is quite a stretch for me!! All my students are reporting a rise in their grades ... something I LOVE to hear. Parents seem pleased ... and hopefully will tell other parents ....

I miss my tennis girls .... wish they would come back!! I need to investigate further how to find students like those girls ... athletes who travel circuits and need help while in this area.

I was hoping to have my daytime hours fill up with homeschoolers ... but the more I see of the homeschool business, I am pretty sure that won't happen. Most homeschoolers will not pay $40/hr for help ... and, from what I have seen .... they really don't care about the Math Skills of their children. I am absolutely 100% certain that a public school Math education is far superior to what 90% of the homeschoolers get ... especially at the secondary level.

Teaching the one day a week homeschool Saxon Math classes has been okay ... I will probably continue to do those classes but I'll have to charge more because the HER Store wants more from me!

All in all ... I have been pretty darn successful so far with this new business .... thanks for keeping me in your thoughts and prayers!!

TEA's Wrench ....

Sigh ... well ... Texas Education Agency and Pearson Educational Measurements have decided NOT to offer us licensing rights to use the Study Guide materials. Mind you ... they didn't DENY us rights, either .... they just put the idea "On Hold" and will "revisit" the idea in 3 months or so ...

Hmmmm .... let's see ... in 3 months time students will be receiving notice of whether they passed or failed the 2006 administration of the Exit Level TAKS Test ... exactly the time we wanted to be promoting the DVD. By then it will be too late to film the DVD and get it edited and ready for sale ... and in August 2006 there is rumor that the Study Guide will change anyway!!

I am suspicious that Pearson may be stealing the idea ... VERY SUSPICIOUS!

Well ... we already have over $2,000 invested in this project and exactly 1/2 of the problems in the Study Guide on film. We cannot just walk away from this. However ... our lawyer says we need approval from Pearson and TEA. So ... Tom and I have put together a proposal for them and will be sending it out this week .... offering payment for licensing rights and a percentage of the DVD sales ... and asking for immediate response ... which we are not counting on. But we are trying!! If we don't hear from them, then I guess we will put all the film in a shoebox and put it on a shelf for potential future use ...

HOWEVER .... WE ARE NOT GIVING UP!!

I have spent all weekend (and thank goodness it was a snasty, cold, frizzly, soup-on-the-stove, fire-in-the-fireplace kinda weekend) ... pulling out old benchmark tests from school and organizing and rewriting problems. Tom has been a big help with the graphics and formatting ... he is a Word Wizard, thank goodness!! I am creating 10 mini-TAKS tests with 10 problems each ... one from each Objective. We are going to have to publish these tests and bind them. And on Saturday we will start filming all over again .... this time going over all of these tests!! So now we are creating a Book of 10 mini-tests and a DVD explaination to go with them.

It will be a harder sell, not linking it to an established product, even if the established product is basically worthless without someone to teach it .... HOWEVER ... in the long run ... I think the product I am creating will have more value to classrooms and to students who fail the TAKS and need help preparing for the re-test. And it will be MINE! No need to share Royalties or profits!! So Pfffffttttttt to TEA and Pearson!!

It's okay ... we were probably going to have to reshoot the first day of filming anyway .... it's all good ....

Filming Has Started ....

We started filming the TAKS DVD this past weekend. We filmed both Saturday and Sunday and basically got 1/2 of the material covered!

We are filming the DVD in our living room. Tom and I cleared out the big couch and chair and coffee table and replaced them with a 4' X 6' White Board and a bookcase. I placed plants and some of my favorite books and things on the bookshelf ... but I am usually sitting right in front of the bookshelf when I am on film ... so you can't see too much of what is on it.

The man doing the filming and sound has noticed some things which we have basically tuned out over the years ... the sounds of airplanes flying overhead ... ( we are on a flightpath to and from DFW airport ) .... the clocks chiming on the hour ... my chimes out on the deck ... the cats messing around with stuff and with each other ... AND the creature which lives in one of our living room walls who occasionally makes scratching and banging noises in the wall!! Our door and windows BEEP when they open and if the back door isn't secured it will sometimes blow open with the wind ... sounding the sharp BEEP and allowing the chimes to sound even louder!! All of this gets picked up by my microphone. The sounds of "home".

Luckily this past weekend was very cold outside ... which means it was also cold in our house ... so even under the lights I had no worries about sweating off my make-up or messing up my hair. I stayed pretty comfortable ... but Tom and Robbie and Bob (the camera guy) all were pretty chilled. It worked out well ... I don't do heat well at all.

As I mentioned before. we got about 1/2 of the material covered .... that includes boardwork, and calculator problems, and some of the introductions. Tom is doing a great job of being the gaffer and of keeping track of what problems we have covered and what we need to do. He has even caught me making a couple of mistakes ... stop ... take 2!! Robbie is being the Gopher and my cheering section.

I am doing my own make-up and hair ... and I think I looked pretty good ... I don't usually wear make-up much nor worry about my hair .... I hope I look okay on film. I am not too happy with what I chose to wear on the first day of shooting ... the sleeves were too short and Tom mentioned that I might want to cover up my "relaxed triceps" wiggling as I wrote on the board ... so I got a denim shirt to go over it. This is a normal outfit for me to wear ... and I do look naturally ME .... but I like what I wore on Sunday better ...

By Sunday, I knew what to expect so I wore a 3/4 sleeve top to hide my upper arms ... and it is a multi-hued jewel-toned tie-dyed shirt with sparklies at the v-neck and sleeves. I like sparklies ... and bright colors ... but I was worried that the tie-dyed pattern might do weird things on camera. Tom and Bob said it looked fine ... I hope so!!

Tom also mentioned that my personality wasn't shining through on Saturday. I was nervous and worried about time. We have to fit all 102 problems on 8 hours of DVD .... so I wanted to be sure to keep things precise ... we started filming around 9:00 and finally at about 3:00 I called it quits ... my shoulders hurt ... my neck hurt ... and my energy was flagging .... and we had only covered 25 problems ....

Still ... all in all it went okay. Bob said that he heard and saw personality ... so we shall see. Bob doesn't really know me that well. On Sunday, I ate a good breakfast and took some Aleve ...before the pain even started ... and that seemed to keep the pain at bay. But I was much more relaxed on Sunday and made sure my personality came through ... for better ... or worse!!

We will try to finish filming next weekend ... then there's all the editing and there will probably be some things we will have to re-film due to the noises and such ... we shall see.

All in all it seems to be going pretty well ....

Some Thoughts ....

As I have mentioned before in this BLOG ... I woke up one night and came up with this DVD idea ... an idea which really hinges on the TAKS tests and its associated testing materials. This is kind of funny ... because one of the reasons I left the classroom is because of the TAKS test!! I hated what it was doing to my geometry class. I hated what it was doing to Secondary Math period!! HOWEVER .... I wouldn't have minded teaching a stand alone TAKS Math class. But if the new principal had known I actually wanted to teach TAKS Math, she would have tried to find something else for me to teach ... I promise.

Anyway ... I woke up ... had this idea ... recorded this idea the next day ... and then ... within the next 10 days. I had two things happen which helped to affirm that this is what I need to be doing.

FIRST THING ... I walked into our local Wal-Mart and an employee stopped me and said "Ms. Khan??" (I used to be Ms. Khan .. for about 4 years). I told her I used to be ... now I am Ms. Mackinnon. She told me that I was her favorite teacher and that it was because I helped her pass TAAS (the older version of TAKS) Math that she was able to get her diploma and go on with her life ... and she gave me a big hug. I taught her 8 years ago .. and she now is a beautician at Wal-Mart and seems to be very happy!

SECOND THING ... A few days later I was getting a pedicure in a nail shop which I have been patronizing for 10 years or so. I was soaking my tootsies and reading a book when the woman in the chair next to mine touched my arm and said "Do you still teach Math?" She looked vaguely familiar ... but I have been teaching 22 years with about 180 students per year. I said that I had just left the classroom this past Fall. She then said that she couldn't remember my name but that she had never forgotten me because I helped her pass TAAS Math .... the one thing she needed to graduate. She had failed to graduate in her hometown of New Braunfels, TX (because of TAAS) and had moved to Lewisville to try one more semester in a different school to see if that would help. She was in my TAAS Math class and said it made all the difference! This was 10 years ago and she still recognized me!

I think that says something .... something about Karma ... and synergy .... and all that other cool stuff .... I decide to make a TAKS DVD to help students who have failed TAKS Math ... and within days I am met by 2 students who remember me fondly for helping them pass TAAS and graduate.

I just wanted to share that ... isn't it cool?

TAKS Math DVD idea....

Okay ... here is what is happening so far ...

I am going to make a DVD for the Exit Level TAKS Math test. I am going to have it showing ME doing the 102 practice problems from the Math Section of the Exit Level TAKS Study Guide for Math and Science. I am trying to get permission from the State to link my DVD to their Study Guide. The Study Guide is supplied FREE to students taking the Exit Level TAKS ... or it can be downloaded at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/student.assessment/taks/booklets/index.html and everyone has access to this site ....

I emailed the University of North Texas (Denton) Film School to see if anyone up there might be interested in doing this project ... we hoped it could be a student and cost next to nothing ...

One of the Asst. Professors read the email and seems to really like the idea ... but he beleives it needs to have a professional touch to it and he has offered to work with us to create a quality DVD. It will cost us some money, though. He came to our home last Saturday and we discussed the entire project. He thinks it is a really good idea and he would like to film it in our living room ... me, being me ... casual dress and barefoot ... with a white board ... bookshelves ... plants ... cats .... whatever ....

We are hoping to create maximum 8 hours of finished product which we can then put onto a Glass Master Disc and then be able to order DVD's by the 1,000's and hopefully sell them by the 1,000's!! We are planning on charging around $40 for the DVD .... which is what I charge for 1 hour of Private tutoring ... and the buyer will get 8 hours of "private tutoring" ... and be able to click on each Objective and go over problems ... and hopefully learn something!!

We want this to be available for sale by mid-May ... when the TAKS results come in ... so the counselors can hand the kid the study guide ... and a flyer advertising this DVD!!

I am recovering nicely from my surgery .... 2 weeks ago tomorrow .... will probably start filming early in February. Will keep ya'll posted!!

PS ... I just called TEA Copyright Offices ... spoke with a lady there. She took down my information and says she has not received my emails. She says she will have someone contact me soon. I made note of her name and number so that I can call her again if I don't hear anything.

DVD is becoming more and more possible!!

A man from UNT Film School contacted me again today to be sure that we are still interested in persuing making the DVD of me teaching TAKS Exit Level Math!!

YES!! We are still interested!!

I am getting pretty excited about all of this now!! Just wanted to let those of you who read this know that things are moving forward on that! Hoping to have it ready for sale by the end of May when TAKS test results are given to the students!

I am one-week post surgery right now and doing pretty well. I should be able to go back to tutoring and teaching without too much trouble at all next week. It will be slow, but that is even better for my recovery! And now I need to be outlining exactly what I am going to be doing and saying on DVD!!

This is pretty exciting!!