A police state

One of the many reasons that I left Arizona was that I constantly felt like I was living in a police state.  Laws were being made that I felt were blatantly racist.  Students are sequestered into places based on whether or not they can "speak" English.  The politicians, judges, and policymakers in Arizona are out of touch with the population of America today. 

I had to get out of that place.  It wasn't me.  I couldn't be in a place that had so much racism and defacto segregation. 

And then I read this in the NY Times.  If the Times is covering it....something MUST be changed.  It has to get better. 

Brilliant.

So brilliant.

I completely agree with this.

What makes me happy is that we do this.  Not the exact same indicators, but words that mean the same thing. 

Think about this one...

I'm working to transform a school.  Our kids don't have OR NEED laptops.

Each teacher has a laptop.  We have a projector that works exactly like a smartboard, except it projects onto our whiteboards.

We spent our money on SWEET ASS COPY MACHINES and paper.  (And considering how much I struggled at my old school with making copies....it is like Christmas every morning.  Oh wait, each group of 10 teachers gets a copy machine?  And there is ALSO a teacher workroom?  WHAT?  My copy machine is 2 steps away from my desk?  Yes.  Yes please.)

Do you know why?  Because studies show that above anything else, good teaching and transformational teachers close the achievement gap.  Not laptops. 

Oh, and let me point out one thing.  My salary, comparative to the district mentioned in the article (one very close to where I used to work) is 10% more than THE HIGHEST PAID TEACHER.

So maybe ya'll should spend less money on classroom response systems and more money keeping great teachers in the classroom?  Perhaps. 

An impasse?

This article describes a major impasse in public school funding. 

Basically, research says kids need more time in school.  More hours in a day, more days in a year.  This is why charter schools go for more hours in a day and more days in a year.  In the article, a school district in Phoenix was even referenced about expanding its school year and how it positively impacted children.  Obviously, the more time the kids are in school, the less time they have to forget things they have learned.  And the more learning time they have.

Well then, why do we make it SO HARD for schools to do this?  Why do we allow them to cut school days when they have budgetary restrictions?  Why is the disconnect so large?

I fully understand that we, as a nation, are in debt.  I fully understand that we shouldn't be spending money we don't have.  What I don't understand is the irresponsibility in allocating funds by the federal government.

I will use one example.  I have a family friend who joined the military out of college.  He was in ROTC (to pay for school) and then after his commitment to the armed forces, he stayed on.  He made a choice.  He wasn't drafted.  He was not forced to be there.  He made a choice.

Did you know that he gets a salary and a living and housing stipend for himself, his wife, and his child?  Did you know that when he is away on duty, SHE still gets that housing and living stipend?  Did you know that the whole family pays no money for medical benefits?  Did you know that HIS son will get his ENTIRE COLLEGE EDUCATION paid for by the military and he doesn't even need to join the ROTC?

That angers me.  I am paid by the government.  My salary comes from taxpayers money (just like the military.)  Do I get a living stipend?  NO.  Do I have to pay for benefits for me and my ficticious family?  YES.  (Now I have to pay for them in my new job for me...before, it was only beneficiaries).  Is my child going to get to go to college for free?  HELL NO.


I understand that people in the military work to protect this country.  A good deal of what they do overseas is considered humanitarian.  They keep the peace and try to teach other countries how to form a government that functions.

Isn't that what I DO EVERY DAY OF MY CAREER?  Teach our country's future leaders how to form a government that functions? 

Oh yes, I forgot, it is.  But I'm paid in sunshine and rainbows.  And the federal government is telling my students, OUR CITIZENS, that schooling is not so important.  We can cut your hours and your days.  We can let you graduate being unprepared to be productive citizens.  BUT THOSE military families, they can have the money we should give to you.

So, if you're wondering where all that money went, I'm pretty sure that we can cut something from the military budget.  Because it is our tax money.  Buying them a house.

Homework?

As a teacher, I find it disturbing and maddening that dictives are coming down from the top and telling teachers how to run their own classroom.

Do we tell professionals like doctors and lawyers (lawyers having only 1 more year of schooling then myself) how THEY should be doing their jobs?  Do we tell them what work THEY should be assigning to their paralegals?  OH WAIT, we don't?  So why are you telling teachers how to do their jobs?  

  I don't like giving a lot of homework because, honestly, my students wouldn't do it and their parents couldn't do it with them and it wasn't in Spanish and so I always have a whole slew of children at recess detention for not doing their homework.

But I still assigned it.  And if it took 10 minutes, fine.  And if it took an hour, maybe you should have been paying attention in class, child.  MAYBE you should have done your work during the SCHOOL DAY when I asked you to.  That's most of the "large chunks" of homework that I give. 

And in EVERY GRADE, it is important to read for 20 minutes a night.  If you cannot read, get read to.  If you struggle, pick a book that you enjoy.  But you better be reading.  It is the ONLY way to improve literacy outside of the classroom.  

Or what about the fact that I did TONS of homework in middle and high school.  If I hadn't, I would have NEVER been PREPARED FOR COLLEGE.  Did we forget about this one?  How do we teach good homework habits for college (where ALL of the work is done outside  of school) if we do not model good homework habits starting in elementary school? 

So, sorry, man at the top.  You should ask why we give homework.  Yes, we.  As in, the teachers.  As in, the professionals (with licensure) who assign it in their OWN CLASSROOM. 

I think it is because we are smarter...

This article is very intriguing...

I agree with what they say, but maybe it all boils down to one thing:  women are smart enough not to get caught. 

WWDD?

What would Degrassi do?

Obviously, we've learned from Degrassi to not send compromising photos on our cellphones.

Do these kids not know what could happen to them?

DUMB. 

Frustrating

Dear Politicians,

If you would spend less time policing the bedroom and trying to instill your ideological crap into the heads of people who don't want to hear it, and more time on issues like education, I bet you wouldn't have such a shitty educational system. 

I want to ask you this, overzealously religious politicians: how are people supposed to read the Bible if the educational system in this country is failing to produce functually literate human beings? 

Start thumping your Bible at bills aimed to increase literacy in our youth.  Then, they'll be able to read the stuff you are spewing at them. 

Sincerely,
A frustrated educator

Biographical

I feel like the NY Times is trying to write my biography.

I've been saying this for YEARS.

And yes, I've always hated the phone.  I have been known to drive somewhere and walk inside and ask a question instead of just calling.  (Don't get me started about ordering pizza....)

Sad face.

Sad face for this.

NY Times is going to start charging for web use. 

Crap.

I either have to start budgeting my money wisely or just give up an addictive habit I've had since my sophomore year of high school. 

Crap.  Crap.  Crap. 

Yes.

Yes. 

Read this now.

All I want to say is, duh. 

“You can spend a lot of money on education, but if you don’t spend it wisely, on improving the quality of instruction, you won’t get higher student outcomes,” Mr. Schleicher said."

Thank you.

The title of this opinion piece, "Pay Teachers More," says it all. 

But read it because it is actually very interesting.  And obvious.

Here's my favorite:
"These days, brilliant women become surgeons and investment bankers — and 47 percent of America’s kindergarten through 12th-grade teachers come from the bottom one-third of their college classes (as measured by SAT scores). The figure is from a study by McKinsey & Company.
Changes in relative pay have reinforced the problem. In 1970, in New York City, a newly minted teacher at a public school earned about $2,000 less in salary than a starting lawyer at a prominent law firm. These days the lawyer takes home, including bonus, $115,000 more than the teacher, the McKinsey study found."

Love.

I just love this show so much, I have to celebrate any time it is put in the news. Especially the NY Times.

I don't like it

I don't like this.

For various reasons.

Mostly the fact that the principal though he could hire 1 master teacher, and put 3 other novices in the room with 60 children, and it would be okay. It would not make the master teacher crazy. It would not overwhelm the other teachers.

HELLO?

Obviously, doing something like this is a bad idea - thinking that new teachers will be able to figure out how to collaborate with 3 other colleagues. And teach when 40 children are running amuk.

It all comes down to this, doesn't it...

This is the latest technological fad in education, as per the NY Times.

This is my favorite part of the article:
“There is very little evidence that kids learn more, faster or better by using these machines,” said Larry Cuban, a professor emeritus of education at Stanford University, who believes that the money would be better spent to recruit, train and retain teachers. “IPads are marvelous tools to engage kids, but then the novelty wears off and you get into hard-core issues of teaching and learning.”

Amen, my friend, amen. It all comes down to the hard-core teaching and learning, doesn't it? DOESN'T IT?

I'm pretty sure DaVinci didn't have an Ipad. He did pretty well for himself.

Karma. Or coming full circle.

I was looking at my bookshelf today after school, looking for a specific book.

I caught sight of this: a book my mother bought for me when I graduated college and moved into my new role in the working world.

I've read it once, and I think I should probably read it again. Why? Because today I read this article in the NY Times, about the new chancellor's first day of school.

What does the new chancellor say about good schools?

"Taking stock of all she has seen so far, Ms. Black said, 'Where there’s a strong and effective principal, where parents are committed, you have great schools.'”

Oh YEAH. The author of my inspirational big girl book is the new NYC school chancellor. Karma? Coming full circle?

Or just getting so frustrated with my lack of leadership that I MUST get away, put my big girl pants on, and find something to do where I am valued.

Time to do some reading. And job applications.

Oh I am fully aware...

That ADHD is a real neurological disorder.

I have clearly seen this disorder rear its ugly head. In my classroom. I've seen it. I'm not the "too strict" one or complaining because some boys have too much energy.

At Northwestern...

AND MY CLASSROOM!

That's right, everyone. An article in today's NY Times, that opens with how Northwestern University Professors use clickers in class....

And let us all remember that we use our CPS remotes every day! It gives instant feedback, instant differentiation, (instant grades) and it is generally more fun than using a pencil.

That's right, friends. We're doing something like the college kids!

Guess who's sharing THIS article before we take our benchmarks tomorrow? That's right, this kid.

Food for thought

Well, really, more words for thought than food. (See how I got that explicit explanation of the idiom in there? It's because I teach fifth grade. We don't understand any idiom.)

I was reading the slew of articles about Joel Klein's departure as NY City Schools Chancellor, and one part of the many articles really stood out for me.

Before Klein got to the school system, this is how it was: (taken from here)

In the New York school system, nobody could be fired. Not only was there no accountability, Mr. Brill said, they had nothing to be accountable to. “There wasn’t any data in the entire system that could tell whether a student or a school was improving,” he said. “It didn’t exist.” Mr. Brill added: “I was talking to Bill Gates about this just last week. He said, ‘name a business where you have more than 100,000 employees and you have no idea who’s more effective than others.’ “

So interesting. Gates gets it. We cannot keep giving children a disservice by getting educated by an ineffective teacher.

My only concern

This article seems great.

Nice turnaround.

But the only thing that sticks with me is that the Introduction to Algebra II class is doing, in the NY Times, a math problem that we teach sixth graders.

WE. TEACH. SIXTH. GRADERS.

So something has gone terribly wrong. Either in that Algebra II class or the sixth grade in Arizona.