Teachbad: Teachbad Book Club Going “Pretty Badly”
FAKE EDUCATION NEWS
-Washington, DC
Mr. Teachbad, author and creator of the wildly popular Mr. Teachbad’s Blog of Teacher Disgruntlement, says he is “less than giddy” about his first venture into the cutthroat world of online teacher book clubs and adds that the “whole thing is going pretty badly.” Mr. Teachbad’s audience of unhappy, disgruntled, angry, saddened, forlorn, castigated and otherwise disenfranchised, disaffected, downtrodden teachers has responded poorly to the first discussion in the book club series.
Teachbad Education News (TEN) caught up with the reclusive Mr. Teachbad to ask him about the details.
TEN: Hey, Teachbad. What’s up with the book club? How is it going?
TEACHBAD: Well, like I said before, it’s going pretty badly.
TEN: Why do you think that is?
TEACHBAD: I’m not sure. I thought I picked a pretty good title: “Why Great Teachers Quit”. Doesn’t that sound about right for me?
TEN: Sounds awesome. Right up your alley.
TEACHBAD: Exactly! Thank you. The title of this book says it all. It’s about why teaching can suck and make you want to quit. The blog is basically the same thing. The only difference is that the blog is more vulgar and indulging in extended depictions and mockery of real, awful people and explicit fantasies of defiance and illegality. But the general themes of the book and the blog are the same. I don’t fuckin’ get it.
TEN: Get what?
TEACHBAD: Why the first book club eventacular post is in the bottom 1-to-2 percent in terms of comments received by readers. Check this out: the post announcing that there would be a book club has so far received more than three times as many comments as the actual book club post.
TEN: So, what are you going to do?
TEACHBAD: I can wait.
TEN: What do you mean? Wait for what?
(Mr. Teachbad is now standing and pacing and seems to be addressing an audience that is not present…)
TEACHBAD: So…how many of you read the book?…Yeah, THIS book. The one we talked about for A MONTH. Hands up….That’s what I thought.
We previewed difficult vocabulary. We put them on the word wall. We filled out a reading log and we think-pair-shared until we all wanted to kill ourselves. We used graphic organizers and talked through our norms for discussion and I read half the book to you IN CLASS for Christ’s sake! And nobody has anything to say?
So…!?!?!?
Wait…I see what’s happening…I lay it out and nobody picks it up.
OK…but I’m not going to give up on you…I will not allow my biases and low expectations to dictate your failure. Never. This is my responsibility.
You see, reading opens up other worlds for you to explore and if you miss out….wait.
Oh my God…you people have put me back in the classroom.
Sorry TB. I have no excuse other than feeling so worn out after finishing the book (yes, I DID read it) that I had a case of the vapors and had to recline on a chaise lounge for days with a cool compress on my brow. The earnestness of Ms. Farber’s work was just exhausting for me. It seemed to me that if teachers would only work hard enough from within the system, we could /modify/change/fix the problems and issues that plague our schools. I am now convinced that the system is broken beyond all repair, and as more charters start up, things will continue to deteriorate further in those schools where everyone–students and teachers–are being left behind. I am incredibly grateful to be retired.
However, I didn’t always feel this way. Hop on over here and take a gander. Aside from the song choice, this is how I felt for the first 30 years of my career:
http://www.teenagersareridiculous.com/2012/03/spring-break-update-2.html
It really was that good. Not all the time, of course, but for the most part.
I’m so glad that M is having the experiences EVERY teacher should have….
I gotta say, Teachbad, the title got to me before I’d so much as seen the cover. I was a great teacher (don’t disillusion me) and I quit (retired) nearly two years ago. I didn’t want . . . REALLY didn’t want . . . to see someone else’s reasons for what I’d already done. My school is BLEEDING great teachers who are running for theitr sanity, and from what I hear, conditions are only getting worse. And it’s destroying the kids.
I was going to do it at lunch, but then I had to do this other book club’s homework, and the teacher I was going to copy it from didn’t do it either. Also my printer broke last night, and I’m really stressed out, and it was only worth a few grades. I had some nominal work to do in some other area of my life, also, so that really set me back. But mostly, since I knew none of the other teachers in the book club were going to do the reading, I figured you couldn’t punish all of us… but if I’m wrong, I’ll approach you the night before grades come out with twenty crappy, misspelled pages of book club answers that I expect you to deal with immediately, and I’ll give you this look like I expect you to just pat me on the head until you develop an arm cramp because I am so bright. Then I will tell you I want to be a pediatrician when I grow up and have my own private practice even though I have straight D’s in science and spelled pediatrician wrong. Also, I spelled practice wrong. Books are stupid and your book club is boring. Can we have a free day?
Have you been hiding in my classroom the last five years???????
Ahhh…now I’m home. Thanks, Rox.
My reasons for not reading: book was kind of costly plus lengthy for me to go through during school year.
Suggestions: start with something we can buy used on Amazon.
~ or give people something shorter to read (something like a lengthy article or blog post)
~ Post a survey asking us what we know first-hand is driving teachers out of our own schools. Choose top items and invite people to discuss and possibly add articles that they know will back up their opinions. Kind of a research-seminar?
These are just off the top of my head. Please realize that it’s not because we’re slacker-dirtballs.
I’m planning my own exit from teaching in June. Financials are all worked out, hubby is in full support and Yippee!! I’ll be free! it feels soooo liberating! *And* I’ll have time to read whatever you want to put out there.
CongratulationsCongratulationsCongratulationsCongratulationsCongratulationsCongratulationsCongratulationsCongratulationsCongratulationsCongratulationsCongratulationsCongratulationsCongratulationsCongratulationsCongratulationsCongratulationsCongratulationsCongratulationsCongratulationsCongratulationsCongratulationsCongratulationsCongratulationsCongratulationsCongratulationsCongratulationsCongratulationsCongratulationsCongratulationsCongratulations
Unfortunately the plans fell through and come September, I am destined to work at least another half year.
I don’t want to give the kids a bad deal so I’ll do my best. But it will be damned hard putting up with all the administrative, student and parental bullshit.
Good Lord…that is devastating.
I am leaving too. My family stepped in to liberate me from my own misery. I can earn half of what I was earning and live better than I am living now. I’ll find something else to do with my life.
You are the best. I’m sure you are a great teacher. But even if you aren’t there is little reason for the misery. It just made you quit. I think that’s what this is coming to. Who will replace you? Maybe a drone?
We wish you luck with the new thing.
Teachbad