Back to School Night: Part II
In Back to School Night: Part I, I sketched out differences between two schools.
School #1 is a public charter school, has pretty poor facilities, test scores are high, parent engagement is high, and the teachers appear to have a relatively high degree of freedom in the classroom and seem to be happy.
School #2 is a regular public school, has amazing facilities, test scores are low, parent engagement is low, and the teachers are strictly regimented and mostly unhappy.
What I left out, intentionally, is that School #1 has a student population that skews heavy to the middle- and upper middle-incomes while School #2 skews just as heavy to low-income students.
At the end of the post I posed the following provocative question: What’s going on here?
I want to talk about the requirements placed on teachers in these two schools. At School #1, my son’s school, it appears to me that teachers have a great deal of freedom in deciding how they want to begin their classes, pace them, schedule assessments, choose texts, create projects and other assessments, etc. They are trusted to do these things in a responsible way to meet the needs not only of their students but, just as importantly in my opinion, in a way that makes them comfortable with what they are doing and plays to their strengths. (Recall at this school that teachers seem happy and scores are high.)
At School #2, teachers are told what to do in the most minute detail. The scope of requirements is breathtaking, demoralizing, impossible to fulfill, and ultimately takes as much discretion out of the hands of teachers as possible. This school loses about 50% of its teachers every year. (And, yet again, the fucktards in DCPS made her Principal of the Year.) Probably half the posts on this blog are devoted to describing the insanity of teacher control and regimentation in this school. So I will spare the details here.
It appears that great facilities alone don’t go far in raising achievement; and that poor facilities alone don’t prevent it. And it probably matters less whether a textbook is 20 years old or brand new if nobody is going to read it anyway. Everybody would enjoy a nice auditorium, but nobody really needs one, strictly speaking.
So, what about teachers? If we keep teachers living in fear and try to control their every move and thought, will that help poor kids learn? It doesn’t seem to be helping. Unless the argument is that scores would really be much worse if we didn’t force you to have a data wall and write the objective on the board in the form of Students will be able to…in order to….and if we didn’t force you to collect tons of useless data. Maybe we have to make sure that students are “engaged in meaningful and challenging work” every single goddamn second of the day in order to prevent total chaos and no learning whatsoever.
But this isn’t the way middle-class public schools are run and it’s not the way private schools are run. The underlying assumption, then, of the reform movement of the School #2 type seems to be that poor kids are different from middle class kids and if we ran schools with all the freedoms you can enjoy out there we would be in a whole lot of trouble. If we don’t treat the teachers like morons and the students like inmates, all hell would break loose.
I’d like to propose that teaching low-income kids and teaching upper-income kids are functionally two different jobs. Low-income urban kids come to school generally unprepared and unable or unwilling to hold up their end of any reasonable teacher-student compact. This is precisely what the achievement gap is. So in the part of the agreement that is normally the students-doing-stuff part, we see teachers dancing around like idiots instead.
It doesn’t sound nice, but can we agree that upper income kids are generally better prepared and work harder in school than lower-income kids? This is the reality that teachers face. This is the achievement gap. It’s about school. I think we would do ourselves a favor if we defined the causes of the achievement gap in terms of school-related variables rather than race and class.
It might help us to be more creative and realistic in solving problems if we didn’t have to run everything we do and everything we say through the filter of identity politics and the Self-Esteem-O-Meter.
Anyway, I don’t know how to fix this. Thanks for sticking with it this far, but I hope you weren’t thinking there would be an answer when you got down here. All I can say is I’m pretty sure the answer isn’t to simply put every teacher in the same mold and then tell them they’re bad if they don’t fit. It’s just as clear that it’s not working as it is that it’s not true.
Mr. Teachbad
Hey Mr. Teachbad,
Do you know about E.D. Hirsch, Robert Pondiscio and the Core Knowledge Foundation? I ask because you are starting to sound similar (which I think is a good thing). They have defined the achievement gap in scholastic terms. Here’s a sampling:
Is Grit Enough?
Student Achievement Poverty and Toxic Stress
A Visit to the Core Knowledge Auto Body Shop
Depressingly, despite yelling from the rooftops for years, very few hear them. They are largely dismissed for pimping both their own products and the virtues of dead white males. Regrettable, as they define the debate in terms of what goes on in the classroom: precisely where the debate needs to be.
MTB:! You have finally defined and explained the Acheivement Gap. This post should be front page on every newspaper in the country.
I had a class a while ago that scored very high. I liked the kids and had some freedom to teach. I remember and still remember their names.The following year I was forced to teach using scripts in a regimented restricted environment. I hated this , never really ‘met’ my class and couldn’t tell you one name of any kid.
This past Friday, I assigned an eighth grade class the task of researching the Internet for educational websites that met the criterion of being both fun and educational. When the principal showed up unexpected, it looked bad because my students were looking at some pretty fun stuff. It is September and my Secret not written on the board “will be able to” objective was classroom management based. I wanted to teach that my assignments might be fun in order to get the kids to consider doing the “student – doing- stuff” part of the educational compact.
Why should I have to do the Teacher Dance as you stated above or worry that it looked like the kids were having fun.
Maybe this wasn’t the best use of instructional time, but it beats some tedious assignment that won’t be done anyway. It should be up to me to decide how to best create a positive learning environment. Teaching requires creativity and I can’t teach using somebody else’s mouth no matter how hard I try. If they are going to evaluate teachers based on some arbitrary standard using some absurd rubric based on science fiction data, at the very least, teachers should be able to use their own teaching decisions and skills. Otherwise, administrators aren’t even evaluating the teacher, but rather a warped mirrored reflection of their own scripts, policies, practices and crap they make the teacher do.
The last thing disadvantaged students need are miserable, stressed out puppets posing as teachers in their classrooms. If anything, these kids need you to be totally involved with who they are if one is to even have a chance to teach them. Actually, I don’t think anyone would relate well to a scripted puppet come to think.
“If they are going to evaluate teachers based on some arbitrary standard using some absurd rubric based on science fiction data, at the very least, teachers should be able to use their own teaching decisions and skills. Otherwise, administrators aren’t even evaluating the teacher, but rather a warped mirrored reflection of their own scripts, policies, practices and crap they make the teacher do.”
YES! A thousand times YES!
And another thing:
While you seem to always have clarity regarding the many ways teachers are being sabotaged in the classroom by administrators crap, I have struggled for years for clarity. I have not been as able to pinpoint what is driving me nuts. I suspect other teachers have struggled with this too. Let me give you an example
Last year I ran a 45 minute computer preparation period ( students come to use/ learn computer skills while their teachers are to to prepare) for children from kindergarten to eighth grade. So, depending on the age of the group I created my lesson plans. Now anyone that knows anything about learning computers knows it’s a lot like learning to drive or video games initially. You have to play around and get the feel of it. Here I’m talking young kids. Anyway, I had plans that made sense at least to me, but the admins came in and forced detailed plans in which I was to elaborate on “student will be able to find the letter D .. Or able to click the red button to close the window . Then, they wanted me to teach this way. Thankfully, I knew that if I did this, my room would fall apart, all hell would break loose for real as you said in your post and then they would get me on “my classroom management”. I wrote the crap they wanted, posted the objectives and taught while ignoring the admins crap. They were upset that I had a great year. Hard to believe, but the admins just couldn’t stand that I didn’t needtthem for support with the kids. It subtracted from their power and their need for control.
I refuse to let tese morons mess me up anymore, but you put words to what I was feeling. Thank you
Interestingly, the upper class public school I teach in is heading toward the “teacher as moron” model in order to secure Race to the Top funding. I admit that for some lessons, SWBAT works well–but every day? I have more than a decade of experience and degrees from impressive universities to hopefully contradict moron status, and this push to have us all pander to commonality frankly makes my blood boil. Especially as a parent–this is not the kind of education I want for my own children.
NO SWABAT – it is Students will… in order to …
you are clearly a terrible teacher
Signed
Administrator Man
You don’t have Race to the Top yet? For the love of all things holy, if your school does get it, do yourself a favor and leave ASAP. The “Teacher is an Idiot” model is the centerpiece of RTTT, heavily augmented by the award-winning “We brains at the state and federal level KNOW WHAT IS BEST!” model. Everyone here hates it. No amount of money is worth that level of meddling. And it’s not like the teachers get any input on what materials are purchased with those funds, anyway.
Agree, it’s the ingredients not the kitchen or the chef.
I wish the comparison of charter vs public would stop. There are good and bad amongst both sectors. Although, I work for a charter school, I don’t like it. I don’t believe in “my” charter companies philosophies, nor practices.
I would love to know what public charter school your child attends. I work for a well known charter company (NH__) and we are much like your example #2. Most of our schools serve the lower income areas. We are told what to teach, when to teach, how to teach. In fact, we are observed weekly by deans, DSQ and our principal. If we aren’t teaching science by the specified scheduled time, there better be a good reason for such insubordination.
We are brought in for weekly meetings and told how we are not meeting our students needs (translation: you aren’t making your NWEA growth of 130% growth for all students). Our for profit, public, charter company, is all about test scores and when those scores aren’t met, it’s all because of the teacher (not enough rigor, lack of experience (yet they choose to hire recent graduates), lack of knowledge in subject area, not able to manage class, pacing, no differentiation… There’s couldn’t be other factors that may impede student growth..excessive tardiness, excessive absenteeism, lack parent support, lack of student motivation, poverty (which like it or not plays a huge part in education)…
Our test scores beat the areas that we are serving, but barely. I equate working for this Charter company as being similar to enlisting in the military (from a military family). They hire you and then break you down and train you to their philosophy. They want everyone to conform and to be on the same page. Classroom one should look just like classroom two. If I’m on page 3 in math, my teammates better be on page 3, too. What? You need an extra day to teach a concept, because after using your data from your formative assessments, you see that your kids are stuck. AAAAHHH SORRY you can’t have that extra day because everyone needs to be doing the same thing, at the same time.
You seem to be comparing apples and oranges. Both are fruit, but very different. Compare a public charter school, with low income students, to a public school, that also serves low income, and you may not find too many differences.
In a comment to Back to School Night: Part I, I address this. The fact that one is a charter and one a regular public school is incidental. Let me reiterate that this IS NOT an endorsement of all charter schools. I have also taught at a crappy charter school and didn’t enjoy it very much at all.
Brilliant analysis that I totally agree about. I’ve taught in one of the best urban schools in the country and whyat you said was still true. I’ve become so ill from the stress that I can’t do it anymore. My husband has taught forever under the same circumstances. The district is trying to fire him for trying to change things. The harassment has been going on for years. We both give up. We are both very sad about this. I noticed that middle class schools often dont “fence in” kids – rather have open lawn areas. The middle class kids are deemed smart enough not to wander off like lost cattle and to be smart enough not to run into the street. They are being groomed to be managerial decision makers, not factory bots.
If a person breaks the law, society had a consequence in place.
If large groups of people break the law, it is examined, discussed and very
Little is normally done in terms of consequences. I’d give examples but I am so dam stifled by having to worry about political correctness that I’ll leave this up to the reader to ponder.
This is bad schools vs good schools. There was a reality TV show called Principals a couple of years back that t cancelled quick. It was so funny watching a kid get suspended for hat wearing on passing notes in class.
When cursing off the teacher is no big deal and Pds focus on ways to handle behaviors that simply put have zero place in a school setting, we are creating the student doesn’t have to do shit model!!!
Since you are looking for suggestions, I suggest this, let’s take back our lower income schools. Let’s start adding discipline staff to address and punish ALl adverse classroom behaviors and let the chips fall–Even If 90% of The Kids are suspendier. Over Time I beliebe a Zero tolerante policy would pay off in the long term– not in six weeks. People will initially scream, people will argue and litigate, but within a teat or so most of the kids would stop their silly crappy shit.
Then we could teach- and of course, creative teachers who aren’t puppets should be waiting for the return off their students to a truly healthy learning environment . You see, in upper income schools, they don’t put up with shit because there are fewer problem behaviors so they can control their mobs of students.
When lower income student bodies have to behave like students, I vote that that this will mean that 25% of the kids will do 50% of the work 75% of the time. And the GAP will starve!
Won’t ever happen.
Why?
Because of fear of litigation. Minority (read Black and Hispanic) students will be affected the most by this. The ACLU and its lawyer paratroops and media corps will parachute in with discrimination lawsuits and television cameras. Schools will back down instantly.
It’s a nice dream though.
Miss Friday, you nailed it. Thanks for not being afraid of political correctness too (which has played a HUGE part in the problem with our system).
Low income and minority students “generally unprepared and unable or unwilling to hold up their end….”
_______________________
Ding. Bottom line.
What if these factors are essentially beyond the control of teachers AND beyond the control of schools? What if all this regimentation of teaching is so harmful that it risks *worsening* average outcomes (and/or, even more likely, crushing variance at the cost of the top quintiles)?!
Realistically, what if the practical challenge of such #2-type schools is NOT closing achievement gaps by avoiding their widening (as that may be the normal momentum)? Or ignoring their widening in exchange for a focus on greatly bettering the performance of the students who are BOTH **”willing and able”** to carry their end?! Wouldn’t that be a different conversation?
Never happen, though, when schools and classrooms are largely under the control of egalitarian zealots (reformers or not), on the one hand, or cynical, burnt-out hangers-on, on the other.
These prevalent urban political and social conditions surely push both teachers and administrators deeper into those two groups, whether they started there or not.
MTB: dare I tell you that you run the best PD I have ever been to:)
Sorry folks for typos– it’s my cell!
Can you imagine rolling out a program that changes how schools deal problem behaviors?
If the adults accept behavior that stinks, why should kids be able to differentiate school work behavior standards from conduct standards?
We have so lowered the conduct bar and we wonder why a kid who can refuse to behave can refuse to work? Who are we kidding? Not the kids – that’s for sure.
When behavior went to hell and standardized pressures soared, controlling teachers became the focus since there was no way to exercise adult control of the kids.
The adults need to be treated like adults again. Teachers need to be free to do their jobs and the kids need adults to make the RULEs and f’n enforce the rules,
Is it time to change how the GAP is calculated. If we all agree that certain kids present way more challenges to the public education system, then maybe the math needs to be reevaluated. Maybe we can face realities and close the gap kid by kid. Let’s not grade the school or teacher based on whole group but rather based on percentages of improved kids. Yes I know they claim they are doing this now, but the lie is in the input numbers. If we start tallying kids who are basic and their growth to proficient , start measuring improvement in kids who are challenged, and stop comparing apples to oranges, I think the inner city teachers would look like heroes.
We need to begin by quantifying kids that ate behaviorally challenged and not treat this as a disability, but face the hard truth that this is the case, and view the math differently.
Better yet, is to stop focusing on the math in ways that punish and blame and use the numbers to learn ways to help the schools become better. The numbers are only valuable when interpreted for what they are: they may demonstrate mastery, but not teacher effectiveness or student ability. They show the state of growth and may expose areas that need work. Used incorrectly, they do damage to us all.
Maybe what needs to be addressed is the
BEHAVIOR GAP !!!!!!
True, but as Miss Friday noted, political correctness won’t allow it.
My parents were DCPS from the 60′s through the 80′s. Daily they would complain about the ineptitude that existed within DCPS administration, which begat ineptitude in the schools.
I have taught in greater Los Angeles for the last 17 years, and it’s no coincidence that the same ineptitude they saw I’ve experienced in varying degrees, yet at my current charter school not so much.
When a school sought to control what I did, my teaching was less effective, and that includes a well-known charter operator here in LA. When I was trusted to employ my skills and concern as an educator, my students learned and flourished.
Teachers do not have dysfunctional family mitigation, violence prevention, or poverty abatement credentials; we can only control what and how we teach in the classroom. Until society seeks to fix those debilitating issues, urban students will never succeed as they should in public schools.
This blog is entertaining. As a former teacher I realize you guys are right. The problem is that you are preaching to the choir. Education has always been a political issue but the body politic in this country has become increasingly ignorent and unwilling to be held accountable. Its always someone elses fault my kid is a moron. The publc has latched on the the notion that teachers are to blame. It was inevitable. Maybe politicians know the truth of which you speak and maybe they dont. They do know who elects them, and it sure isnt people like you. The one group politicians are not going to blame is their constituants, the parents. Teachers are, for the most part, job scared and looking for someone to end the insanity Mr. Teachbad describes so well. Public education in the once great country is being destroyed. This is just another step in that destruction. Americans have become weak and soft. The behavior of their children in our classrooms was learned at home. If there is any way to halt this race to the bottom, and I honestly doubt it, its by getting out of teaching and refusing to prop it up by your heroic, well meaning efforts. Let it fail. Find another way to make a living and enjoy whats left of your life. Teachbad was lucky…they took is choice away and I have a feeling he will never go back. The rest of you who continue to participate in the madness are culpable. If public education is going to ever make a comeback, you got to go and hopefully hasten the day of reckoning. Oh yes, if you are going to disagree with me dont insult our intelligence by claiming you stay in the field “for the kids”. The best way you can serve “the kids” is by getting out.
I’m out, but, in a way, still in. I work at a private school and for a private company that provides music teachers for schools.
Think about that for a second: They are now outsourcing teacher’s jobs. Mark my words, it’s the wave of the future.
As far as the public and politicians, they’ve seen too many Hollywood movies (Stand and Deliver, Freedom Writers, Dead Poet’s Society, Mr. Holland’s Opus, etc.) and think that’s reality.
Do you like your teaching situation? My first job offer was for the same type of company, but I turned it down because the salary was $13K lower than my offer from the public school (where I still teach). I often wonder how my teaching life would have been different had I chosen that first job. But at this point, I don’t want to waste any more time switching jobs and finding out. I’m ready to just get out and be done with.
You are correct. I feel like a guard in a WWII concentration camp. The evil I do is not my fault because I’m just following orders. By participating we perpetuate the machine, and the stacks are smoking with the souls of the destroyed. Every time we pay for materials or implement a new stupid command from der superintendent, we are looking at evil, and it is us to misquote Pogo
Tom – I am with you 100% on all your points. I felt you were reading my mind. I have been teaching for 14 years, always in lower income middle and high schools in a large urban Texas district. I started in 1993 when teaching was fun, creative and I had some level of freedom. I left in ’96 to stay home with my 2 kids till 2003, and it seems with each passing year since i returned, I have grown more disillusioned with public education. I took a job this year in a very poor HS, but a new and beautiful facility. I thought that this campus would somehow be an answer to my prayers. Boy was I wrong. All I have found is that the campus I teach in is just like the others – a high stakes testing environment that has made education worse over the years and I am mad as hell about it. I am sick to death of being told how to teach, when to teach and what to do in a fear based environment!! I am so sick of bullsit meetings/seminars/trainings/paperwork and watching my back for fear of the “big man”that I am slowly losing my mind! Our district has scripted everything, all the way down to telling us we shouldn’t ever be “caught” sitting at our desks because that would mean we aren’t teaching and things aren’t right!! As I look back on the years when I first started I feel so sad….teaching is just not fun anymore or rewarding. My district has zero respect for my personal time as the expectation is “just do it at home if you can’t at school.” When am I suppose to fill my vessel? How is any of this going to make me a better teacher and do a service to my students? I am on the clock for at least 81/2 hours a day and we have to use our fingerprints to “thumb” in and out because our district doesn’t trust its employees to be honest about a fulls day work!!!! I am now back in therapy just to deal with the loss of a career I once loved , and figure out where to go from here. I have 6 years till early retirement, and I just don’t think I can make it. The sad part for me is that I know I am a good teacher, I have positive relationships with my students and I care and have passion for my subjects. But in the world we live in that doesn’t seem to matter. It’s all about test scores and blaming the teacher. Some days I feel like a factory worker and my students are widgets!!
In the end I have concluded that I have NOT left the world of education, it’s leaving me.
The famous quot of Mead about a small group of determined people can change the world.
Just look how Teachbad!
He is doing radio and his blog put him in the National discussion. I bet Rhee reads it. Hopefully he will go further.
Behavior Gap is a really interesting sound bite and we should all banter it around until one day we might hear it as a sitcom joke : then who knows- as a discussion point. Our world is fickle and it’s amazing how something small like this blog can change the national discussion.
The problem won’t go away by quitting. If I had another job I would quit but at the moment I am okay because I like working with computers. This makes it tolerable for me because I am the one whose getting the education in my room:)
Let’s keep blogging and supporting teachbad. I have been reading old posts and the tone of the blog has changed. The humor needs to come back but the discussion has way more heat.
So I will do funny. I got stuck with a strange assignment this year. I have a one day school and a four day school. I called the computer out-sick system and the prompt had no option for the one day school, do the sub was to go to the four day school. The vp of this called called my four day school screaming her fat mean 400 lb- cant walk let alone get to the second floor– mouth off. The secretary said she sounded like angry Gestapo and told me she is a lunatic who wants to get me for job abandonment. F her– I don’t even plan to call and when I have to see her shit crazy face again, I have every intention of telling her that as an aim she should have proactively anticipated this problem and dealt with it. They can kiss my butt.
Hope this gives a laugh out there!
I certainly agree with Tom: This country is declining and education is one of the root causes.
Miss Friday, I think you’re lucky to be working in a Private school. Though some may not be able to afford to do so, I think the reality is that teaching in a Private school is the only option if you want (for the most part) peace of mind.
I have heard that some nonsense paperwork is finding it’s way into some Private schools. Not sure how true this is or isn’t.
I actually began teaching in a private school. After about a year and a half, I left to do public because it was more money, there was a pension, a union, etc.
I look back at it all now and if I could go back (we all wish we could), I would have stayed there and cut back on other things. Actually, I would not have gone into teaching at all.
I’ve considered going back to Private, but money aside, I just want to be completely out of teaching now. Even though it would not be as intense, I don’t want to make lesson plans, grade papers, speak to parents, set up/break down a classroom………or hold in my pee.
Now the plural of anecdote is not data, but I can a test to the creeping of nonsense into private education. It comes in the form of a headmaster with an “educational leadership” degree.
That’s what destroyed my last (private) school. I still have not forgiven the asshole responsible. (Neither has a number of other former employees.)
I have been at a private school for the past five years too, after eight in public schools. I have seen an alarming lassitude in standards here in the past couple of years. The responsibilities of students and parent have been almost entirely shifted to the faculty. The new priority (under new leadership) is to make sure that students have fun and parents are content, while furiously fundraising. This means grade inflation, relaxed academic seriousness, and an atmosphere more like a fucking cruise ship than a school. Any interference with these things is blamed on faculty. We are mimicking the nonsense in the public schools, albeit at a slower pace.
I am trying to get back into public schools. If I have to put up with this infantilizing bullshit anyway, I may as well make 30% more money to do it.
I have a couple of thoughts. First, I left public school to get my Master’s degree and when I was looking to reenter the teaching force, went private in order to avoid the pitfalls described here so well. I ended up in a private school that does not seem to care what happens in the classroom, as long as they can produce pretty glossy pictures for the parent magazines and the tuition checks clear. It’s also pretty demoralizing. Recognizing that this is purely anecdotal evidence, it keeps me from seeing private schools as these pantheons of good teaching and learning. Like with charters, there are ones that do it right, and ones that don’t.
In full disclosure, I used to work at Latin (that’s school #1) and would like to go back there as quickly as possible. I think it is important – if Teachbad is going to use it as an example – to acknowledge that Latin’s demographics shift dramatically in high school (largely because middle and upper-middle class parents use the high quality middle school as a spring board into private schools in the area), making the characterization that it skews middle to upper-middle class incorrect if you are looking at the whole school. That said, I think this further upports your argument, because even with the demographic shift in high school – and the incoming 9th graders from DCPS who have not yet been socialized to the high expectations, work ethic, and behavioral norms required for success there – Latin still does a great job educating its students. The teachers (for the most part) aren’t dancing around like idiots. Teacher morale is high, scores are high, and the program is creative and challenging. In fact, many of the students and their families who chose to leave are now speaking on behalf of the school and acknowledging that they made the wrong decision, because their children were receiving a better education at Latin. I guess what I am trying to emphasize from your position is that if administration supported teachers to practice their passion with all students and recognize the actual students for who they are (instead of as data points), maybe we could get more done in education.
This speaks to another aspect of your achievement gap. Parents need to stop pulling their kids from public schools just because they are public. By all means, pull them if your kid is not receiving a high quality education or if they can have dramatically better options elsewhere, but at both Latin and my current private school parents pull their kids from public school because they think the private schools are better and in my experience, that just is not always the case. NCLB and RttT seem to me to exacerbate both of these problems. If I were a parent, I wouldn’t want my child to go to a school that only saw him or her as a statistic, in exactly the same way that I don’t like teaching somewhere that sees my students only as numbers.
Hey, do I know you? That private school you described sounds exactly like my last job. Image and money (for administrator salaries — I read the tax returns) was everything.
There are definitely sucky private schools with administrators who micromanage just as badly as their public brethren. And are just as stupid and immoral.
In this day and age, I would be leery about sending my child to ANY school.
That being said, I would choose private over public just because I believe there is a better chance of getting a decent education.
God how I wish we could go back 30 years when teachers were generally happy and treated with respect by most. It’s so pathetic now.
I really like Teachbad’s analogy of schools when he titled a past post: Circus For Grown-Ups.
Speaking of which, looks like Halloween is upon us. I teach in an elementary school, so you can bet I’ll be expected/urged/whatever…to dress up like a fuckin idiot as I pretend to be enjoying myself.
Hey, maybe if I costume up as a cum-dripping penis, I’ll get fired! :O)
These days, when acquaintances ask me about schools, I tell them the only certain way to ensure your child gets a good education is to homeschool.
Ok. I have nothing to add to the searing brilliant insight of all of you.
So, I leave you with a cut and paste of lesson plan feed back from what I term the “minutia militia” at work in my district. Enjoy:
“After reviewing lesson plans, I noticed that your objectives for your AP class need to be stated the same way that you did the objectives for your Film as Art class. Also, the times are confusing because you have 20 minutes at the top of the boxes and 60 listed in the bottom of the box. Could you please revise. Thank you for correcting these minor problems.”
“I checked your homework hotline and noticed that all of the dyas [sic] state that Catch 22 questions need to be turned in 10/8 and 10/7. What homeowrk is there for 9, 10, 11, 12? Even those dates state that homework is to be turned in on 10/7 and 10/8. Could you please revise and re-submit?”
um, no.
These roaches have nothing better to do. Period…
Thanks for the support guys @TBaby, DiffThis, MissF.
Might I add that both of these separate emails were sent today from the same person, WHEN MID MARKING PERIOD GRADES WERE DUE. Yeah. I’m gonna correct my homework hotline so it is a flawless record of what has already happened and what will not be happening. Think again.
TeachBaby, worried you might suffer an existential aneurysm from bullshit-itis. I suffer from the same condition, so listen to me when I say, have a glass of wine or warm milk, and get a good night sleep. You’ll need it to fight the good fight again tomorrow:-)
To Teach 22: These people Need to die– okay be fired .
This is what they have to worry about– we are sooo overworked and they get to waste time or crap and pester for more worthless paperwork from you.
This is why teachers quit. And new teachers actually do this crap. We ignore it and wait for at least the second nag letter.
F working on what you are going to do in front of a hundred kids tomorrow. Just spend your time fixing some worthless piece of crap paperwork. Maybe it’s time to look at AdminBads in education.
So many good teachers believe just give up.
Above is a comment from Administratior Man
He is a f’n moron breed of the minutia militia variety!!
Look at his stupid post!
He corrected an SWBAT acronym and claimed somebody in the blog ( I’m guessing teachbad but Mr. Admin was too stupid to note who precisely he was addressing) was unfit the be a teacher because of this. Yep, this is exactly how suck fucktard admins think. There are many variations on the ” student will” objective format.
But, he has one he likes and typos or variations prove in his mind something about teacher quality.
G-d I hate your rotten guts. I am glad I don’t know you.
There are many fine admins but the rotten apples make so many teachers suffer.
I took that as ironic humor.
We have PD next Wednesday. I think I’ll take that as ironic humor too. It makes the time pass more pleasantly.
same.
I had PD (also stands for Poop D’jour) today.
Did not have capacity to imagine it as ironic humor so chose to show up 20 minutes late.
That worked too.
I love reading this blog during my lunch. It helps to make the day go by.
Us Special Ed. teachers need to attend a meeting today for TWO periods…6th and 7th period. That’s right, TWO periods. Wow, this meeting MUST be important. We know that all meetings are crucial, but this one is obviously a must-attend and I will take as many notes as possible to ensure I am providing the best education possible for my “special-needs” students. I really can’t wait. The anticipation is killing me!!!! Actually, I’m sure a portion of it will consist of the powers-that-be grilling us about paperwork being handed in on time. Apparently many of the Special ed. teachers, myself included, did not have some typical nonsense forms filled pout in time. We explained how we did not have the time and could not track down all others who needed to sign it, etc. However, I don’t think they cared about that. They usually don’t. Like a typical child, THEY WANT IT AND THEY WANT IT NOW!!!!!!
Hi: today there were Roaches- real ones, not admins- – and I am freaked out. I hate this. They were on and in my desk. Didn’t feel like hangin out when class was over. Don’t even want to ever return. Yep, they called maintaince who pretended they would do something . Teaches aren’t allowed to spray because of the Children. I am bringing spray tomorrow. I have had it.
Can you imagine the headline—teacher gets fired cause she sprayed raid!!!!
Good headline ?
I was told that I was lucky not to have met the mice and rats yet in this building. Effective teachers quit due to double dose of roaches. This is the working conditions . I can’t handle it anymore.
Facilities do matter- this is horrible.
Teachbaby, are you certain those roaches on your desk were not really Admin. having transformed into their original form? I’m serious. It’s a possibility. Perhaps they wanted to sneakingly look at your lesson plans,etc. Next time you see them (let’s hope you don’t), try calling the main office and see if Admin. is available. If not, you better assume it really is them and give your best lesson until they leave.
Yeah yeah.. Very f’n funny. Seriously, there r roaches on/at my desk. I dread going in tomorrow all the roaches young and old.
I bought stuff. Hope they fire me. I want to hear their rationale. Insectide isn’t safe but a roaches r fine . I wish Mr. Gates read this. I feel like I am about to be very ineffective cause I ain’t goin teach— I am just going to give some busy work and clean and put everything away I can!!!!
Have a great day tomorrow y’ll and check your area before you sit down. And whatever u do, don’t hang your jacket in the closet:(
I had an attack of flying termite = hordes flew around the room, onto everything. Kids screamed. principal said just deal with it. no bug spray allowed. Yea, alot a teaching went on. This went on for weeks.
I know this is an older post, but here’s how I dealt with roaches in my classroom: put Borax or baking soda on the floor in the closet and under bookshelves ect. It’s non-toxic and if it’s out of sight, no one will mistake it for anthrax (remember the white powder panic of ’01ish?) The soda or borax scrapes the roaches which causes them to dehydrate and die. I put a bunch around the pipe in the closet where I figured they were getting in and I never saw a roach again.
You can also preempt them at home by sprinkling soda/borax under the stove ect. just in case one of them catches a ride home with you. For the record, I’ve never brought home critters from school.
Have you seen this?
http://www.salon.com/2012/10/13/why_education_reform_may_be_doomed/
(Not that this will come as a surprise to anyone here….)
Whenever I read your blog I can’t help but think you have a clear voice for all that ails us in education. Thank you for spouting off!
With that said, you all miss the bigger picture that is trickling down to the huddled masses and that is UN Agenda 21 and Global Educational Monitoring (1992)! http://www.un.org/esa/dsd/agenda21/index.shtml
The work of attaining a global sustainability is what is driving everything. Teachers are just unwitting cogs in the process of dumbing down children (0-18) so that they will readily accept the mantra of a One World Order! Wake up America!
You need to have a pre-chorus and a chorus because without the two main BASIC components to a song; it will just drag and be so boring. I hope your teaching was nothing like your songwriting.