Be Honest



As I walked towards my class Monday, I saw Mary walking in my direction.  I secretly hoped she wouldn't see me because she did not pass last semester and I didn't know what her reaction to me would be.

Well, Mary did see me.  She ran over and threw her arms around me in on of the biggest hugs ever.  She told me she knew she couldn't pass that class.  (I had tried, unsuccessfully, to get her to drop and take a remedial in its place.). She told me I did more to help her than any teacher ever had and vowed to find a way to improve her math skills and pass next time around.  I walked away feeling at the top of my game, knowing I made a difference in some one's  life.

Did you read what she told me. Mr. Education Mayor, Mr. President?  Test scores aren't everything. There is more to education than a number on a page!  Helping and teaching students is not a score on an exam.  The students know this, why don't you?  Stop playing games with our schools.  Admit you don't care about the kids of this country.  Keeping budgets low by constantly hiring new and getting rid of old teachers is what it is all about.  Keeping the pockets of the testing companies full is also your priority.

Just In

Pictured above is a building on a man made island, near the Verrazano Bridge that was used to house immigrants passing through Ellis Island but unfit for American soil.  They sat here until passage could be arranged home.

Presently the island is inhabited by harbor seals and other wild life.  The DOE plans to send teams of ATRs here to rebuild the building which will then be used as the new rubber room for teachers whose scores are not quite good enough. 

No Teacher Wants Bad Teachers In The Profession



Let's get one thing straight--NO TEACHER WANTS BAD TEACHERS TEACHING.  Doing clean up, after a child has had one of these is not fun.  It is impossible to teach division if a child can't multiply and you certainly can't teach Shakespeare if the student can't read.  It is painful to listen to kids term after term complain about someone who can't teach when you know that child is correct and you can't say a word in agreement.

The schools don't need a new way to evaluate teachers.  There always was a good method in place.  It is only under the reign of Bloomberg that things like value added data has become important.  Administrators, who used to be required to teach for 10 years before they became assistant principals knew their subject and knew how to teach inexperienced teachers how to teach.  They spent more than 5 minutes in the classroom and were master teachers themselves in the subjects they were in charge of.  When, for example, a math teacher is put in charge of a special education program there is bound to be trouble because the person has no idea what good teaching should entail.  The same goes for the guy who became a principal through the leadership academy or some other back road and knows nothing of academics.

It used to be teachers that needed help were given it.  Senior teachers took newbies under their wing, shared lessons, gave guidance.  Now, it is dog eat dog as one teacher's statistics are compared to another.  The teacher with 10% failing will be in trouble when compared to the one with 6% failing although the numbers themselves can't involve more than one child and no one bothers to look at the background of the children that fail.  It used to be that teachers who gave it all, who came in early, stayed late and gave up preps in an effort to help were rewarded and thanked for this effort.  Now, it is thanks for the effort but the numbers count more.  It is more important for a data specialist to help with numbers than it is to help with students.

One of the ways the colleges evaluate their adjuncts and new teachers is with student evaluation forms at the end of each semester.  If 30 students currently in a class say the same negative things about a teacher, maybe they are right.  In contrast, if 25 say good things and 5 say otherwise, that says something as well.  In addition, the teacher is observed by a colleague, a colleague who knows the subject and knows about teaching.  BAD TEACHERS ARE NOT REHIRED.  The college doesn't need a data specialist because it knows the kids come in as a mixed bag.  The college knows the data specialist does nothing to enhance learning.  The teacher can't make students buy the text, do homework or go for help.  The teacher is required to teach and engage, plain and simple.

Plenty has been written and said about that awful idea of grading and releasing teacher numbers so I won't go into it here.  I don't know if the system can even go back to hiring qualified administrators as most of the people qualified are long gone but there has got to be a better way than releasing meaningless numbers, numbers designed to hurt, not help.

You Can't Make This Stuff Up

I told them to take out their regents books.

Tabatha took out hair rollers and started curling her hair.

I'm ineffective.  I just can't get them engaged.

Good thing I am leaving.

Real Value, Not That The Bloombergs Of The World Would Notice



It was a day in the middle of a vacation week.  The teacher was sitting in the middle of a group of students, all who had given up their day off to get some extra help.  (I was there to do some per session work I am getting paid for.)

The teacher was taken aback to see me.  He didn't want anyone to know what he was doing.  He swore me to secrecy, as if his actions were criminal.  I will keep his secret and not share his identity or even the subject he teaches.  But, I have to share his actions.  Here is a person who cares.  Here is a person whose value is more than a some data on a sheet of paper.  Here is a teacher of real value.