The Next Big Super Star Teacher

In the late '60s I was in love with a Shindig, a television show with lots of rock and roll.  The big thing were the girls, in their mini skirts and go go boots who danced.  I remember one girl who wore big, ugly black glasses and I always wondered why.  A news article about the show said the producers wanted this young woman to stand out and they did this by putting the glasses on her face.  She was going to be this station's next super star.

The next big superstar teacher is being created now too.  The teacher is not wearing big glasses, but the people in charge are doing their darnedest to make this person stand out.  Recently, a fellow teacher watched the department supervisor go through superstar's roster, removing kids who were not doing well and inserting others who are known to excel in the class
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 No one will bear witness to this  but I would bet real money it happened.  Just like on television,  the new superstar is born.

New Evaluation System and Public Perception

Just got off the phone with a retired teacher, a person who has been out of the system quite a while and only knows what she reads in the papers.  She was under the impression that the new evaluation system was not so bad as only 20% of the evaluation would be based on scores.  We talked about several of the really bad teachers we knew in the past and she thought this would be a way to get them out of the schools. Of course she forgot about the few administrators who actually did their jobs correctly and got the bad ones out.  Most were just too lazy to do the work required.  A system was always in place to remove ineffective teachers.

It took less than two minutes to set her straight.  She didn't know that 20% was really two grades of 20% or 40% and she didn't know about he Principal's 60% that could override everything.  And, when I told her the 60% meant nothing if the teacher didn't make the 40%, a light went off.  You see, she retired from the math department at Packemin and remembers all the things Mr. AP did to her.  (This teacher currently teaches at the same college I teach at and is loved by the students and the administration.)  Her comment, "Oh my G-d, he will have a field day getting rid of people."  As for the 40% scores, she said, "Watch how the classes will now be stacked.  He did it before when it meant nothing."

The public has been fed a bunch of false and misleading information, scapegoating teachers for all the ills in society.  The general public has bought into it.  Right now, it is a terrible time to be a teacher and, if I hadn't retired last year, I would be handing in my papers now, instead of writing this.  I discourage young people from entering the profession as it is no longer a career to grow old in and to perfect and it is no longer one that is respected.  Giving 200% of yourself means nothing anymore in the entire scheme of things.  If an individual who has been through the system didn't see through this new evaluation system, how will others not so close get informed correctly?

Times will change and the economy will improve.  As in the past, bright young people will no longer go in for teaching. The city will have to go back to foreign countries to recruit teachers again.  But, no one cares.  A body in front of the room is all the politicians want.  Our kids aren't worthy of quality teachers.  If they were, this system used to determine effectiveness would not be in place.