The Times Union Opinion Nugget, Teaching Matters, pulled a play from the Superintendents and the legislatures playbook and that’s blame the teachers when things don’t work out like hoped for.
It has to be the teacher’s fault if children aren’t doing well. It can’t be the lack of parental involvement and it can’t be the districts policy to pass kids along whether they have the skills or not. It’ can’t be the counties one size fits all curriculum that ignore so many kids abilities and desires and it can’t be the gutting of discipline county wide. It can’t be the neighborhoods that many of these kids come from that don’t value education and it can’t be an out of touch administration which is more concerned about appearing to do well and finally it can’t be a far off legislature, very few of whom have ever taught in a classroom but that doesn't stop them from meddling and probably leads to them not properly funding education. It can’t be any of those things.
No it has to be the teacher’s fault, teachers who are micromanaged and overwhelmed with minutia. Teachers who have seen the creativity in the field sucked out by pacing guides and universal curriculum's and who aren’t allowed to use best practices; teachers who are given all the responsibility but none of the authority to do the job.
The truth is, if we were to replace the staff at the best school with the staff at the school that was struggling the most there would be no significant improvement as long as we continued to do things the way we do them now. The truth is struggling schools are already staffed with some of the best teachers around, unfortunately they are put in impossible situations and now they are being blamed for it. The Times Union should consider all that before it writes it’s next opinion nugget
The Times Union Opinion Nugget, ("Teaching Matters,") pulled a play from the (Superintendent's) and the (legislature's) playbook and (that is:) blame the teachers when things don’t work out (as) hoped for.
ReplyDeleteIt has to be the (teachers') fault if children aren’t doing well. It can’t be the lack of parental involvement and it can’t be the (district's) policy to pass kids along whether they have the skills or not. (It) can’t be the (county's) ("one size fits all") curriculum that (ignores) so many (kid's) abilities and desires and it can’t be the gutting of discipline county wide. It can’t be the neighborhoods that many of these kids come from that don’t value education and it can’t be an out of touch administration which is more concerned about appearing to do well and finaly it can’t be a far off legislature, very few of whom have ever taught in a classroom(;) but that doesn't stop them from meddling and probably leads to them not properly funding education. It can’t be any of those things.
No it has to be the teachers fault, teachers who are micromanaged and overwhelmed with minutia. Teachers who have seen the creativity in the field sucked out by pacing guides and universal (curricula) and who aren’t allowed to use best practices. Teachers who are given all the responsibility but none of the authority to do the job.
The truth is, if we were to replace the staff at the best school with the staff at the school that was struggling the most there would be no significant improvement as long as we continued to do things the way we do them now. The truth is struggling schools are already staffed with some of the best teachers around, unfortunately they are put in impossible situations and now they are being blamed for it. The Times Union should consider all that before it writes it’s next opinion nugget.
Sorry, Chris, I couldn't help but notice all the typos and misuse of punctuation in your article. If you want your articles to be influential, you must learn to edit your blog; or your opponents will have a field day with it and miss the context of the message. I'm not a teacher, but I've substituted a time or two and I agree with much of what you said; but you have to make it grammatically correct or your readers will be distracted by the typos and lack of punctuation. The general public expects excellence from a teacher. I personally think we need to go back to phonics and handwriting in elementary school; then follow up with some good old spelling bees, multiplication drills, and diagrammed sentences and vocabulary tests.
Good luck,
MADge
Sadly I am not a writer, I am just a guy with a message. It's fine if my opponents atack me, because hopefully others will notice that leaves my arguement sound.
ReplyDeleteI saw your piece about running schools like businesses, and wanted to post a link to it on my facebook page, but then I started to notice all the misspellings. You do indeed have something valid to say, but your mechanics are distracting folks from your message. Regardless of what you teach, you should be better than that. It's a shame.
ReplyDeleteThanks that you like my message, but I pulled it down and rechecked it and there was one mispelled word and two apostrophe errors not the shameful mess you descibe. Like I said above I am not much of a writer just a guy with a message and I hope a mispelled word here or there doesn't distract you from it...
ReplyDelete