Meaningful Evaluation

Last semester I ran into one of my former high school students, a girl from an AP calculus class.  She told me she graduated Queens College with a degree in Human Relations and after nine months working for a firm that was making her miserable she decided to return to school, come to the community college to make up courses she needed to go on to become an occupational therapist.  We planned on getting together but things came up and we never made it, until today.

We sat and chatted for about an hour.  It was great seeing her and hearing about how great she is doing.  The words that rang out for me was when she told me she learned to love math in my class and how she had no idea how she even ended up in an advanced placement math class as her math grades leading up to the class were not very good. I didn't want to tell her that I would bet being the same race as the assistant principal might have had something to do with her being in the class as other students, possibly more qualified were not allowed in, but that is another post, ones addressed on this blog many times.  Anyway, all ended good for this young woman.  She got a 3 on AP exam, enough to get college credit and never having to take math again.

I worked for an AP who, day after day, tried to make me feel like I was the world's worst teacher.In fact, years after I left, he still spent many department meetings talking about what an awful teacher I was.  I'm glad I never bought into his nonsense and left before he had any real power to destroy my career but I know he is doing the same to teachers still in the school and good, caring teachers are leaving in droves before they are actually ready to go.

The real evaluation of what I do and did as a teacher comes from the students who sat in my class daily.  A young woman who graduated in 2010 still remembers how she felt and learned in my class lets me know I really did make a difference.  The students are the ones who know.

The Real Most Powerful Educators



So the Forbes Magazine came out with a list of the World's 7 most powerful educators.  Looking at the list just shows how little they know about education and what really makes a powerful educator.  And, truthfully, why would they even have a clue as to who makes a strong effective teacher because those that make them are the unsung heroes, the ones sitting in a school, working with children and not having time to run around and get their faces on the front covers of magazines.

Ms. C, a teacher at Packemin is a powerful educator. When I began teaching at this school, Ms. C was working in the ISS department.  She is a former nurse and was running a successful nursing program for extremely limited students.  Several days a week she brought these children out in the field where they worked with nursing home residents and youngsters who were even more disabled than they were.  I remember a young woman who could not even ride the bus because she couldn't make change telling me how grateful she was not to be like the kids she worked with.  Ms.C gave her a reason to hope for a better future for herself.  Ms. C gave meaning to her education.

As with all good things in the DOE, Ms.C's work with ISS children came to an end.  A new administrator decided he only wanted ISS licensed teachers in his department and he transferred everyone teaching there without the certification.  (He removed two living environment teachers, one math teacher and one English teacher.)  Ms. C was upset but went on to teach living environment to mainstream students and she quickly found her niche working with the students who had a difficult time in most classes, many who didn't even like to come to school.  Ms. C spent (and still spends) hours finding songs and games to help them remember concepts and facts needed to pass the regents.  She gave (and still gives) hours of her free time helping these students achieve.  Ms. C is a tier I teacher.  She could be sitting at home, collecting her pension, but she isn't.  She is still in a classroom every day, reaching the hard to reach.

Forbes Magazine doesn't really care about who is a powerful teacher.  They care about who looks good on the cover, who will buy the magazine and who business people want to see because they see education as a business.  Children are commodities that count for nothing as far as they are concerned.  They have never heard of Ms.C and have no desire to ever know anything about her or the countless teachers like her.  The probably sold a lot of issues with these 7 powerful educators making headlines, issues that missed the truth by  miles.