My first class was a group of lovable and outstanding 3rd graders. Those lovable kids wanted to learn and please their parents and their teacher. It was Heaven on Earth. Course, we were always doing something exciting. I had 22 adorable 8-year olds. Their curriculum was easy to deliver and grade; teacher’s edition were rarely opened. Spelling, language arts, math, science, and social studies assignments and activities could be graded quickly...the old ‘eyeball’ method.
They were a class that could work in groups very successfully and productively. We did “Healthy Teeth puppet plays for kindergarten, our own version of Fairy Tales puppet plays for first graders. We had guess speakers sharing with us their life on the farm, ‘what happened and when.’ We hatched little chicks. We turned the eggs three times each day, and I came up every night to turn them.
We went on a field trip to Energy Center in Wichita. We did projects focusing on energy conservation, cooked in a solar oven, made model wind turbines, made paper-sack kites, saw films on renewal energy sources and fossil fuels. We made an ‘energy’ quilt. Made commitments to lower our own energy usage. I had a class of conservationists, tree huggers! They were going to save the world. I was SURE every one of my kids was going to grow up and do something GREAT! And they’d say they owed it all to their 3rd grade teacher….ME!!
I had wonderful support of parents, staff, and administration. I thought I was the best thing to happen to the classroom in decades. All the time and energy and years I spent to become a teacher…..this was exactly what I thought teaching America’s children was all about.
I knew nothing of tenure, due process, negotiations; I was sure if you’re GREAT that was all that was necessary. I was so full of myself and completely naïve. I stayed this way for about 5 years. Then I began to see GREAT teachers being verbally abused, picked on, set-up to fail. I was amazed this could happen. It actually took me a while to see the ‘light.’ It is easier and saver to believe the ‘teacher’ surely did something and got in trouble for it. Surely, it had to be something terrible….had nothing to do with personality or differing opinions. I was still inside the ‘protected bubble’ where every thing is fair, and everyone is nice and professional. After all, this was the grand world of educating all the children. Surely, anyone involved in this endeavor was true, ethical, and the best people on this Earth.
Well, over the years, I have learned, painfully I might add, that not all those in education are true, ethical, and sometimes can be quite ruthless. I continue to wonder how someone like this would even consider education as a career. The ones I have met that fit the above description have always been administrators. All school administrators had to first be teachers. The general consensus regarding these type of administrators is s/he has totally forgotten or ‘blacked-out’ their time in the ‘trenches’ with the kids.
I experienced this between my 8-15 years of teaching. It was brutal for my teaching partners and me. Looking back, I can identify this as plain and directed harassment. Folks might be written up for tardy for meetings, being out of the classroom, not being in the hall, not communicating with peers or parents in a productive manner……it was ongoing, relentless, and completely BOGUS! The harrassment did its damage. Teachers became ‘jumpy,’ paranoid (course it’s not paranoid if someone is out to get you). Teachers began ‘hiding out.’ Teach their classes and stay ‘below the radar.’ Teacher collaboration was shutdown completely. The hostile work environment was VERY detrimental to the learning environment. Creativeness and productivity was stifled! Survival mode kicked in. We were scared. Teachers are VERY NICE people. Treating teachers in this mnner is criminal.
Eventually, we did start ‘collaborating’ outside the school day and off school property . We discovered we were all in the same boat. Prior to this, we all had felt it was just us. We had a support group forming. Once this happened, teachers took the ‘power’ away from our tormentor. AND before long (took a couple of years), the administrator moved on down the road.
And even though many of the teachers experiencing those years have also moved on, my staff has never let administration divide us again. The ‘oldsters’ teach the ‘newbies’ the importance of staff unity. We old teachers watch the mood of the school, and we TALK to each other!! We address conflict in the open, not behind closed doors, and never keep ‘secrets.’ We do not manipulate each other and do not allow ourselves to be manipulated.
It was a very difficult time, but what we learned from it has made us a stronger staff, making it easier to fight for our students and our fellow peers.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Teacher Evaluation and Student Testing - Who’s brilliant idea was this?? Public School Saboteurs??
It’s amazing to me all the ‘talk’ about evaluating teachers on student test scores, especially if that measurement is based on an arbitrary ‘cut’ score. Students are not pieces/parts. They cannot and SHOULD NOT be measured like a bolt on an assembly line...in-tolerance, out-of-tolerance. A TEST will NEVER tell us what all a child knows or doesn’t know. In the ‘kindest’ words, this idea is very misguided. Or more to the point, “What a REALLY STUPID IDEA!!!”
Whatever happened to the notion “All kids can learn, but not always at the same rate." AND besides that, when did we EVER want people in America to be the SAME. We all benefit from our differences! When I look over and reflect on the variety and diversity (new word of the decade) of my fellow teachers, not one of us is like the other. Our teaching styles are vastly different, we relate with kids differently, we relate with EACH OTHER differently. AND we ALL work together to teach and maximize our students’ time with us.
I might be less annoyed if student ‘improvement’ was used. But even that approach has major flaws. A teacher has a student for nine months. In my case students are 13 or 14 years old. They have had 13 or 14 years of prior experiences and ‘baggage’ before getting to me. Five of those years, school was not even a part of their lives. Research says when kids come to school in kindergarten the variances are HUGH. The thought is, as a school, we should be able to narrow the variances. But what actually happens is the variances increase. So, is the school, the teachers responsible for this? Nooooo!!
So, what IS going on? Well...teachers have students for about 6 to 7 hours a day and 180 days a year. In the state of Kansas this equates to at least 1116 hours each year. Even if we as a nation ever went to year-round school, the number of days probably wouldn’t increase significantly...the days would just be spread out. Might help, might not.
So, the ‘school learning’ amounts to just under 20% of the hours in a year, 365 days. Teachers can teach kids willing to learn, where parents support teachers, and impress upon their children the adults in their lives are united and working together. And OH...we MUST have parents that insist their children attend school and do required work. Cool concept, huh!!
I actually like looking at test results. I can get ‘big picture’ information looking at scores. I may be able to identify skills where my kids struggle? What strategies, different approaches to teaching can I implement to address these weak areas? I, also, like to see the areas where the kids ‘kicked-butt.’ I might be able to free up some time by spending less time on the ‘easy’ stuff and more time on the ‘hard’ stuff.
I use scores to focus on individual students’ weak areas. Yes, this sounds a lot like differentiated teaching strategies...maybe even a little MTSS. WOW!!! I can ASSURE parents, lawmakers, and business leaders; teachers have utilized individual instruction strategies for a VERY LONG time! I do think we continue to get better at it and possibly the attention this is receiving isn’t a bad thing. As long as those in the education field do not expect miracles, we can continue to improve learning. It’s another ‘focused’ strategy…..not God’s gift to teachers! He already gave us that gift.
My goal each year is to teach kids my subject areas. But more importantly, I want to impart skills to my kids that will allow them to get the most out of their education, strategies to advocate for themselves next year when they enter high school and later in life. I want them to experience making mistakes and learning from those mistakes (both academically and personally). Much of a child’s learning cannot be measured objectively; only subjectively or intuitively. Experienced teachers do this, and they rely on teaching partners to assist in this area.
Evaluating teachers on student test scores is the most ridiculous notion I’ve heard (& I have heard it before). I find it very naive (& certainly insulting) of the ‘groupies’ behind this to assume teachers don’t already care about their students’ progress! Why else would we be teachers? It certainly isn’t for the money, great benefits, because we feel loved by society, are appreciated for the long, long, stressful days, and are often sabotaged in our efforts.
We DO IT because we WANT to teach kids and we WANT the kids to learn. AND we are ALWAYS looking for ways to do our job BETTER. If the “scores & evaluation” army would redirected their efforts to assist teachers rather than continuing to ‘lob grenades’ at us, I know this would produce positive results?
IF the goal is for teachers and schools to educate America's children, America HAS TO EMPOWER teachers and schools to do so.
At a minimum, this must include parents:
•Getting their children TO school,
•Insisting their children DO the work required,
•Providing schools/teachers/kids necessary tools and materials as needed
AND FINALLY if we want GREAT RESULTS for our kids....
We MUST LOWER the classroom teacher/student ratio.
We want the children to learn?
Don’t give a teacher more than 10 kids to teach!
The RESULTS we would have!!!!
How do I know?
29 years of 'ACTION' research!
Whatever happened to the notion “All kids can learn, but not always at the same rate." AND besides that, when did we EVER want people in America to be the SAME. We all benefit from our differences! When I look over and reflect on the variety and diversity (new word of the decade) of my fellow teachers, not one of us is like the other. Our teaching styles are vastly different, we relate with kids differently, we relate with EACH OTHER differently. AND we ALL work together to teach and maximize our students’ time with us.
I might be less annoyed if student ‘improvement’ was used. But even that approach has major flaws. A teacher has a student for nine months. In my case students are 13 or 14 years old. They have had 13 or 14 years of prior experiences and ‘baggage’ before getting to me. Five of those years, school was not even a part of their lives. Research says when kids come to school in kindergarten the variances are HUGH. The thought is, as a school, we should be able to narrow the variances. But what actually happens is the variances increase. So, is the school, the teachers responsible for this? Nooooo!!
So, what IS going on? Well...teachers have students for about 6 to 7 hours a day and 180 days a year. In the state of Kansas this equates to at least 1116 hours each year. Even if we as a nation ever went to year-round school, the number of days probably wouldn’t increase significantly...the days would just be spread out. Might help, might not.
So, the ‘school learning’ amounts to just under 20% of the hours in a year, 365 days. Teachers can teach kids willing to learn, where parents support teachers, and impress upon their children the adults in their lives are united and working together. And OH...we MUST have parents that insist their children attend school and do required work. Cool concept, huh!!
I actually like looking at test results. I can get ‘big picture’ information looking at scores. I may be able to identify skills where my kids struggle? What strategies, different approaches to teaching can I implement to address these weak areas? I, also, like to see the areas where the kids ‘kicked-butt.’ I might be able to free up some time by spending less time on the ‘easy’ stuff and more time on the ‘hard’ stuff.
I use scores to focus on individual students’ weak areas. Yes, this sounds a lot like differentiated teaching strategies...maybe even a little MTSS. WOW!!! I can ASSURE parents, lawmakers, and business leaders; teachers have utilized individual instruction strategies for a VERY LONG time! I do think we continue to get better at it and possibly the attention this is receiving isn’t a bad thing. As long as those in the education field do not expect miracles, we can continue to improve learning. It’s another ‘focused’ strategy…..not God’s gift to teachers! He already gave us that gift.
My goal each year is to teach kids my subject areas. But more importantly, I want to impart skills to my kids that will allow them to get the most out of their education, strategies to advocate for themselves next year when they enter high school and later in life. I want them to experience making mistakes and learning from those mistakes (both academically and personally). Much of a child’s learning cannot be measured objectively; only subjectively or intuitively. Experienced teachers do this, and they rely on teaching partners to assist in this area.
Evaluating teachers on student test scores is the most ridiculous notion I’ve heard (& I have heard it before). I find it very naive (& certainly insulting) of the ‘groupies’ behind this to assume teachers don’t already care about their students’ progress! Why else would we be teachers? It certainly isn’t for the money, great benefits, because we feel loved by society, are appreciated for the long, long, stressful days, and are often sabotaged in our efforts.
We DO IT because we WANT to teach kids and we WANT the kids to learn. AND we are ALWAYS looking for ways to do our job BETTER. If the “scores & evaluation” army would redirected their efforts to assist teachers rather than continuing to ‘lob grenades’ at us, I know this would produce positive results?
IF the goal is for teachers and schools to educate America's children, America HAS TO EMPOWER teachers and schools to do so.
At a minimum, this must include parents:
•Getting their children TO school,
•Insisting their children DO the work required,
•Providing schools/teachers/kids necessary tools and materials as needed
AND FINALLY if we want GREAT RESULTS for our kids....
We MUST LOWER the classroom teacher/student ratio.
We want the children to learn?
Don’t give a teacher more than 10 kids to teach!
The RESULTS we would have!!!!
How do I know?
29 years of 'ACTION' research!
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