Dilbert Says It Again

Saw this and thought of all the unqualified Principals and assistant Principals in schools today like the totally unqualified math teacher (she certified after leaving a business career, failed teaching exam first time) who became an AP in special education or the math AP who observed my AP calculus class with not a clue about what I was doing.  I could go on and on but every teacher reading this can add plenty of their own examples.  Also add in all the people who think they know everything about teaching because they went to school.

Dilbert Does It Again

I saw this cartoon and thought about a supervisor who had know idea about anything she was supervising.  She picked the brains of the experienced and knowledgeable and then tossed them aside when there was nothing left to gnaw off.

You young ones beware.  She hired you because you are smarter than she is and you make her look good but she will toss you aside too once she has extracted all the good you have.

When The Uneducated Are In Charge

The AP realized the more students she put in main stream classes, the better she would look.  Team teaching classes seemed to be the best way to dump educate these children.  A problem with this was not enough special education teachers were available to team teach.

The AP was not one to stress about such a major minor thing.  She assigned anyone free to these classes.  So now a mainstream teacher with no experience dealing with learning disabled and emotionally handicapped children was working with a teacher straight out of college with no special education degree or experience.

As luck would have it a boy with many issues was in one of these classes.  His mom was well aware of the problems her son faced and wrote long letters explaining his disability and promising to be available whenever she was needed.  This letters went to the main stream teacher as there was no special education teacher on record at the time and then the extra teacher assigned was not even certified in special education.

After two days the young man said some very inappropriate things to the young teacher in the room.  She freaked out.  She spoke to the AP who immediately removed the boy and put him in another class.  From what I understand, he was moved around many times.

The AP whose job it is to help students like this boy failed miserably at her job.  The boy was lost in the system.  Eventually a special education teacher was assigned to the class and the remaining students got the help they needed and were entitled to.  The AP looked good as many of the students were not in self contained classes any longer.  But, I wonder how many got lost along the way?  How many never received the help they deserved?

Gleeful Administrators Ruining Schools

Ratings came out and 50% of the school was rated highly effective.  Interesting that no older teacher was rated highly effective.  These are the teachers that kept the school going in Quality Reviews for years. These are the teachers that kept the school as an "A" school for years.  Interesting that the school did not do so well in its rating this year.Could it be too much emphasis on Danielson and not enough emphasis on what the older teachers know is the way to reach students?

On another note, two long time teachers retired.  The AP stood up at the end term meeting and praised one, thanked him for his service and wished him well.  The other one, she ignored.  Secretly she was happy both left.  Two less veterans to worry about.  In another meeting a different AP addressed his department.  He gleefully told them of the "troublemaker" who would not be back.  He was really talking about the 35 year old veteran teacher who gave her life to her students who was retiring.

The incompetent and inexperienced administrators of today are ruining teachers careers and reputations but more importantly they are ruining schools and no one cares.  More importantly, they are leaving today's youths in the hands of teachers not properly prepared to help them grow to capacity.

The Plan

Imagine you are a 25 year veteran teacher who, until recently, has always been considered a very good teacher.  Your inexperienced newbie of an administrator has decided to rate you ineffective.  You need a plan if you are going to survive.

The incompetent administrator has handed you a plan to help you improve.  She really does not know the first thing about teaching, especially teaching your subject, but is quite good at intimidation and has mastered the art of making people believe she knows what she is doing.  Don't be fooled.  Make her go over the plan with you.  Insist she teach model lessons for you to observe.  In other words, make her work for her money.  And, most importantly, force her to show herself as the ineffective teacher she has accused you of being.

Afternoon Walk

I ran into an old friend from Packemin while walking on the Cross Island Parkway this afternoon.  He left the school over 10 years ago and has no idea how bad things have gotten there.  He was shocked to here how many good teachers were harassed out of the school.

This friend had been some who worked closely with the kids, did much above and beyond the scope of the job.  He remembered what I and others did for these kids and felt sad for the kids without teachers like us around.  I told him about the incompetents in charge of some departments, people without experience in the field supervised.  I told him about the AP who instructed her teachers to give out answers during exams and to complete credit recovery assignments for students.  He knew what I was saying was true.  He was disgusted by the turn and what has happened to a place he once felt had the well being of students at heart.

Pushed Out Before Her Time

After 30 years the teacher had enough and retired.  It had nothing to do with the students and it wasn't to get the extra money the contract would give her.  No, it had to do with her incompetent, mean spirited administrator.  A person who had no idea what it took to teach a population like the one this woman taught.

This incompetent rated the teacher ineffective time and time again.  Eventually a different admin came to observe.  This admin raved about what she saw and rated the teacher highly effective.

The kids lost a good caring teacher.  The admin is happy.  One more senior teacher, one more threat to the admin's security is gone.

Dilbert Says It Again

This is the way today's incompetent, inexperienced, insecure administrators treat teachers who are more experienced, more secure and more knowledgeable.  They beat them down.

The APs who got the job, heaven only knows how, is threatened by teachers who not only know more than them, but are better teachers than they are use this technique all the time. An AP who could not pass a licensing exam without help and who got an administration degree with borrowed papers is incapable of anything but ruling by abuse.

Such is the system in too many of the schools I am familiar with.

Why I Still Write

I'm retired and many say I should enjoy my retirement and leave the schools alone.  Well, I am enjoying my retirement but I haven't forgotten those still working and as long as I can sit at this computer I never will forget them.  I want to be a voice of those still in the trenches, those unable, unwilling or afraid to speak for themselves.  If you happen to be an administrator, or a politician, or anyone else who is a pretty lame excuse for a human being you might want to think about what you are actually doing.  You see, my stories cover schools throughout the city, throughout the country and even schools as far away as England and France.  Chihuahuas are in charge everywhere and it is not right.

My friend from the south just wrote to me about evaluations in her school.  It seems almost every senior teacher is being told their lessons need developing while those straight out of college are always told they are highly effective.  The senior teachers are the ones that kept this school running and succeeding for years.  (The school is one of the top schools in the state.)  Now, they are considered incompetent, incapable of writing a lesson.  To me, this is insane.  To make matters worse, the math and English lessons are being graded by an assistant principal licensed in a totally different subject, an assistant principal who failed licensing exams in his subject and in supervision numerous times.

If you are one of those administrators who cringe when you read this blog, good.  Hopefully, enough people will see you for what you really are and do something.  You are hurting teachers and you are hurting children because you are putting the wrong people in the classroom with them.

(The above picture is from a recent trip to Sarasota, Florida.  In case you are wondering, I have been doing quite a bit of traveling, sight seeing in the city, visiting museums and hanging out with friends.  I will always leave time to write about your incompetence.)

ATR and the Know Nothing Administrator

 



The 20 year veteran teacher, who is now an ATR goes on interview after interview.  He is an ATR because the elite program he worked in has been eliminated.  His first two years as an ATR were spent at the school that wrote the recommendations for the elite program.  Instead if bringing him back, the school hired several newbies, straight from college.

The ATR has worked in many schools, has done everything asked of him, but he can't get a permanent position.  Recently he got a call from the school that gave him the rave reviews.  He was interviewed by a 30 something AP, supervising a subject she knows nothing about, for a position in a subject she knows nothing about.  Needless to say, the ATR did not get the position.

It is sad to see how low education has sunk since I began teaching.  Experience and quality are a threat to these incompetent, know nothing administrators.  They can't help new teachers and they won't hire those who can.  Heaven help the students in their schools.

Danielson Purpose

 



Many years ago a Principal told me the reason APs find so many things that need improvement during an observation is to justify their existence.   A part of their review at the end of the year had to show what they did to help their teachers and to improve instruction.  He told me he knew I was a good teacher and not to worry aobut what she had written.  (The lesson was satisfactory and that was all I worried about-that and the kids understanding it.)

Things are different today.  The job of the AP is to rid the school of senior teachers and to deny tenure to as many as possible.  They can't improve education because they know little to nothing about the subjects they are in charge of.  They have minimal teaching experience,  often not in the subject they are in charge of (for example, the special ed supervisor at Packemin taught math before she got her job.)  I caught two math APs making major math mistakes and I remember an AP calculus student asking if the AP who had just observed our class knew any math.  He didn't.

Everyone is worried about he Danielson Framework, and I don't blame them.  This plan is just a way for incompetent administrators to justify getting rid of competent teachers.  The stuff in this plan is nothing new, it is stuff I did 30 years ago. 

If anyone really cared about improving education, they would start with hiring administrators who know their subjects and know a thing or two about teaching.  When I look at the admins at Packemin, I think about the teachers you would see on tv--young, pretty and clueless.

(Pictured above is an AP in training.)

How An AP Is Chosen

The AP had absolutely no experience in the subject she was put in charge of.  No one could figure out why she got the job, except of course Scott Adams.  She has no ethics.  She lies and cheats and throws both teachers and students to the wolves to improve her numbers and her standings. 

And then there is the AP who stands at meetings publicly berating and humiliating teachers.  He carefully removes failing students from the classes of those he likes and places them in the classes of those he does not like and then accuses them of being ineffective.  He constantly talks about those long retired in a demeaning manner.  He loves going on vacation and partying with the chosen few and has even been showing favoritism to one very pretty, very young new teacher.  His specialty is writing incoherent memos and going after those over 50.

 

Ethics and morality seem to be the only quality these people have and no wonder they are in charge.

 

Also included in this group should be politicians.

Danielson Framework For Teaching

Being retired, I had zero interest in learning anything about the Danielson Framework.  To me, it is just another BS system probably put together by and edu-idiot who has absolutely no idea what goes on in a classroom.  But, when it took up a full page in last month's UFT paper, I gave it a look.

From what I can see, this framework is no different than anything good teachers have been doing for years.  Only now, it has a fancy name and someone has gotten a lot of notoriety and money.

For this post, I will focus on Domain 1.

Domain 1: Planning and Preparation

1a Demonstrating Knowledge of Content and Pedagogy

1b Demonstrating Knowledge of Students

1c Setting Instructional Outcomes

1d Demonstrating Knowledge of Resources

1e Desingning Coherent Instruction

1f  Designing Student Assessments

If teachers are expected to excel at all of the above, their supervisors should be masters at this stuff as well.  After all, they are in place to make sure students are getting the best education possible.  Supervisors with little to know experience and expertise in the area they are in charge of cannot do any of the above.

Latest Department Memo

I just had to share the latest department memo.  I can't believe this person will continue determining who is an effective teacher and who is not one.  Too bad no one evaluates him.

BTW--my husband and I believe I am the teacher he is referring to. No one was ever allowed to question anything.  And, for the record, I only complained about being given the royal screw with a program once.  Thanks to a little work behind his back, I was able to fix part of it.  Guess that still hurts.

Dear all:
Attached, please find the department program for the Fall term. I advice you not to open it if you will complain in any ways or fashion. You are on vacation and so am I. Well, actually, I am still in the office. So, do not check your email if you believe you will find bad news.

I do not mean to be nasty, but a few years ago, a math teacher accused me of behaviors unbecoming of an assistant principal because I harassed her by emailing her in the summer. What happened was that she had the lowest passing percentage on the Regents exam of all the people who taught the course. If you believe you might operate or react the same way as that teacher, I sincerely suggest that you do not open this email or my emails to the department during the months of July and August. I will be sending you the Regents and course grade analysis during the summer.

Have a great summer! I am sorry I had to run out and did not have a chance to say goodbye to everyone individually. But we are a great department because we have great teachers who know how to get students to do the work.
Thank you for your understanding. I believe I am the only AP in our building who has completed the teacher program for next year. I just have to work on rooms.

Sincerely,

The Best AP in the city

PS. I do want to know if I give you only four classes, six classes, etc. Those errors I will fix. I will not engage in a conversation about the classes your did not get or someone else got, number of preps., or the session you are on (remember, most people have two preps or one. There is only one person with two and half preps). If you want a different session, then your classes will change. I refuse to make someone else program worse because another person complained.
 

(Radish picture from Union Square farmer's market.  The radishes represent NYC high school graduates and the education they got under the Bloomberg administration)

Evaluations



This whole teacher evaluation system and the "idea" that it is going to make better teachers is such a load of BS.  It makes me sick when I think about all the people that went into teaching to help children and now will spend all their time watching their backs to make sure they keep their jobs.

Evaluations like these do nothing to help a teacher become better.  These evaluations and observations do nothing to help.  All they do is emphasize what is not being done in some meaningless rubic.

If the state really cares about creating more effective teachers, they need to start with effective leaders.  When I first started teaching, my AP was a real nasty bitch but she did what the APs today cannot do--she knew how to teach and she knew how to teach teachers how to teach.  I started in that school at 20 years old, straight out of college.  I took a full series of math education courses, including student teaching at CCNY under the tutelage of Professor Posamentier, one of the all time great math educators.  But, nothing prepared me for being the sole person in a room full of 34 needy kids.  This AP observed three times a semester, always unannounced.  She stayed from bell to bell and wrote detailed notes on everything that transpired in the lesson.  The day after, we met and went over her findings.  While the meetings were not always comfortable for me, they were productive.  I learned classroom management, questioning skills, methodology and content.  This AP was ruthless.  In spite of her harsh demeanor, she loved the kids and would not tolerate a teacher who she did not feel was any good and she went after those with a vengeance.  I can honestly say our school, one of the first schools in the city to be closed down, had one of the best math staffs in the city.  Everyone went on to better schools, better because of location, parking and level of students.  Several became administrators, one a principal.  Everyone ended their careers teaching advanced classes and helping young teachers learn the ropes.  This AP did it all without a meaningless evaluation system.

Today's administrators have barely gotten their toes wet in the classroom.  Many are not experts in the field they are in charge of and teachers have no where to go with questions.  A special education AP I know taught math for several years before taking the job.  What can she possibly know about effective teaching in this field when she has almost no experience teaching it?  We had a math chairperson several years ago who could barely pass algebra.  When he observed my calculus class, a boy said, "that guy doesn't know much, does he?"

The media and everyone else ought to open their eyes and see these evaluations for what they really are, the thing an AP recently told her department at a conference--an easy way to get rid of teachers.