Teaching, would you

Within minutes of meeting me I will often find some way to bring up the fact I am a teacher and I work with disabled children in a local public school. I used to love my job, it brought me such a great sense of pride, and where I still feel that, I often now feel frustration and angst too. One of the reasons for this is because teaching is one of the most misunderstood and quite frankly disrespected professions around.

I am sometimes asked aren't you just glad you have a job and isn’t it great to have summers off, and my answer is always "yes very, however after a second or so, I throw in a, “but”. Now let me ask you a few questions.

Would you work a job where your bosses expected you to put in hundreds of unpaid hours of overtime? The modern teacher is supposed to be data driven which requires untold hours of data entry, this despite the fact most teachers can get the same information about their students by working with them for a few days.

Would you work for a job where you had to spend your money not just for the basic necessities that you needed but also to buy supplies for other people’s children too? I was given one hundred and seventy-five dollars in money to out-fit my classroom. A pencil sharpener, class note books for my kids and a scanner later it was all gone. Many teachers routinely spin hundreds if not thousands of dollars on their students and classrooms.

Would you work at a job where the powers that be piled on arduous and unnecessary task that had nothing to do with your job? The state makes teachers follow learning standards, schedules and curriculums but then requires teachers to spend hours writing lesson plans, why can’t we just use the aforementioned items? A colleague in a neighboring county told me how she was complimented on her lesson plans by her principal and as she walked away she thought to herself, well I write them just for you, I don’t use them for teaching and the kids never see them.

Would you work at a job where you were often disrespected and belittled by those you were charged to help, and then your higher ups looked at you like you were the problem? For consequences to be effective they must be meaningful. What can I take away from someone in my science class that will make them behave, what can I offer. If it gets to the point where my teacher look and me raising my voice doesn’t work there is not a whole lot else I can do, to get the defiant, disrespectful and disruptive student to behave. If I am forced to send them out, I often don’t often have time to call their parents or write the referral right then, after all I have other students who are willing to learn and listen that I have to take care of.

Would you work at a job where the higher ups blamed you when the things they tried to implement, without consulting you failed? Teachers did not get together and decided to socially promote children, nor did they add algebra II to the curriculum, take away art and music, reduce physical education, eliminate must vocational and trade programs, ask for Americas Choice or for the F-Cat. Yet when graduation rates drop and dropout rates rise teachers are the first to be blamed.

Would you sacrifice time with your family for your job? I have to leave my kids in extended day because I have to finish up my work and I can’t help my own child with their homework because I have to grade papers are things I have heard recently. Lesson plans and graded papers do not magically appear and there is rarely time during the day to do them.

Would you work at a job where you were paycheck to paycheck? My first year of teaching my contract was for twenty-six thousand six hundred dollars. By that winter I had four thousand in the bank. Fast-forward ten years and with prices rising and my student loans due, I am little more than paycheck-to-paycheck. Teachers everywhere live in fear of them or a family member getting sick, pray they won’t need new tires and more than a few have second jobs.

Would you work at a job where you received little direction about important things? A colleague of mine feeling overwhelmed, asked his administration to prioritize all the things he had to do and was told they are all equally important. Really, creating a word wall and making sure your bulletin board is standards based is just as important as teaching and engaging your students?

Would you work at a job where you were micromanaged about minutia? I was asked where my essential question was the other day, when I pointed to it on the board; I was asked why it wasn’t labeled essential question. The powers that be seem obsessed with how we have our boards set up, how our seats are arranged and if our lesson plans follow a certain format. I was told that during the state walk though that these are the things that they would be looking for not if students are engaged and learning.

Would you do a job where you were held responsible for other people’s performances? I would say the vast majority of students want to learn and want to do well. Sadly however there is a persistent ten percent or so that has no interest in school or learning, who’s main aim when they come is to cause trouble, yet teachers are still held accountable for their lack of effort and achievement as well as their behavior.

Would you work at a job where the powers that be scrapped one failed experiment after another without asking you what you need? Teaching in Duval County is like the weather in Florida, if you don’t like the latest county wide education policy wait a while and someone will read an article while waiting for a flight and we will be off to the next one; America’s choice or sophomores declaring majors and a half dozen computer programs anyone?

Would you work at a job where you ended up hurting the people you were supposed to help? I got a note from a former math teacher telling me how frustrated and sad she would get as she watched students who just wanted to be a truck driver struggle as they took algebra II. I myself often feel like I am part of the problem. All my kids I teach are getting special diplomas which are basically worthless; they won’t be able to join the military, go to college or be eligible for many jobs. I know they should either be in regular education classes and I should be providing them accommodations and modifications or they should be working on their GEDs but still I show up every day. Feeling like you are part of the problem is not a good feeling to have.

Teachers don’t do the job because they think they will get rich, but is it unreasonable for them to want to be able to pay their bills, help their children out and be prepared if an emergency should come up.

Teachers don’t do the job because they get the summers off. The sad fact is many teachers have to work second jobs over the summer to make ends meet; they also have to take classes and workshops, work on certifications and find ways to improve their crafts. Furthermore technically teachers don’t get paid over the summer, they are unemployed.

Teachers don’t do the job just so they can say they are happy to have a job. They do it because they want to make a difference. They do it because they care about children and that’s more important to them than all of the other things they have to go through combined.

In case you were wondering about what my “but” from the beginning was , its life shouldn’t just be about being happy to have a job

I am proud of you, one teachers story (unedited)

Our dinners arrived and she dug in, twirling her spaghetti with her fork. So, I started as I cut my meatball in half, excited, having looked forward to it for quite some time now, how was your week. You know, one of those innocuous questions people throw out to keep the conversation moving.

She stopped doing what she was doing and looked up at me. Chris, it had its ups and downs. I thought; well as a teacher could it have anything but? The way she said it however, with a mixture of sadness and relief seemed to indicate her response was a little bit more than innocuous.

My friend teaches at a school that has been an “A” school every year she has been there and also for the six years prior. That’s a decade of excellence. It isn’t just one of the best schools in the county but also the state and perhaps the nation as well. The new principal, she continued, has really started to make things hard, all the teachers are stressed out. I have to have data notebooks this year and mine is already five inches thick (coincidently we are five weeks into the school year as well). I have to have RtI (response to intervention) lesson plans in addition to my regular lesson plans and I have to have an RtI period everyday. It’s hard too. I have to plan busy work for the other kids in the class while I do it. I feel like they are all missing out some but they aren’t the only one.

What do you mean, I asked?

She put her fork down, crossed her arms and looked directly at me. At first I didn’t know whether to continue eating or to stop and listen. I am at school till five o’clock everyday and then I take stuff home too. I have to, to be able to get all this stuff done. When I picked up my son the other day, he said mommy I miss you and it about broke my heart. He’s growing up so fast and in between the time he is at his dads and with all the time I am working I feel like I am missing it.

Wow that’s tough I said putting the meatball up to my mouth, but before I put it in my mouth it dawned on me, wow that must be really tough and it’s not an occurrence that is just exclusive to my friend. A few weeks back the mother of a pal of mine who has been teaching for over two decades told me she works from eight to six everyday and takes stuff home on the weekend, Chris, she said, it’s sucking the life out of me. A while back another friend of mine said she had to take a break from writing lesson plans to tuck her children in. Stress, overwhelmed, and all I do is work are also words and phrases that I have regularly heard from other teachers over the last few months.

This is what teachers do now. They have other children and televisions raise their children as they work on lesson plans and grade papers. They miss out on their children lives or if they are single their own lives to meet deadlines and get just part of the ever expanding mountain of paper work done. They do it for free too.

I put my fork down and wiped my lips with my napkin. I looked back at her realizing as busy as I was there was no way I could truly empathize with the feelings of despair she must be having as she missed her only child growing up.

I am sorry, I said and then nothing else for a moment. What could I? After a bit though I added, that’s the down I assume, what was the up. I got the map bonus she said smiling just a little. If you don’t know the MAP bonus is awarded to the top 25% of teachers and it’s about fifteen hundred dollars after taxes. When I got it a few years back I couldn’t use it to buy extras, I had to use it to replace my transmission. That’s awesome, I said proud of her, knowing she deserved it.

She smiled back; I could tell she was rightfully proud of herself as well. She reached for her fork and said yeah and I got it in the nick of time too. I nodded my head in agreement but as I reached for the meatball that had been waiting for me. I wondered what she meant. Nick of time, I asked.

Yeah Chris I really didn’t know how I was going to pay my mortgage this month.

I hope you just did the double take I did as I realized the situation.

This is one of the best teachers we have at one of the best schools we have and here she is missing her child grow up because she has to work all the time and if she didn’t get a one time bonus would have had to decide what bills she paid and what bills she didn’t. Well friends, welcome to teaching in Duval county 2010.

I know so many teachers that are pay check to pay check, living in fear of a flat tire a child’s illness, a broken washer or some other mundane life occurrence happening. I know others that have had to get part time jobs to make ends meet. I myself have my good check where I can afford to go out a few times and my bad check where I can’t.

I smiled at her even though I could feel my anger at her situation building and said, I am very proud of you. I was too as I am of the vast majority of teachers here in the county. People have no idea of the sacrifices and the difficult choices they make. They make them because improving children’s lives is more important to them than creature comforts and because they feel making a difference for others is more important than themselves. She smiled back as she started to twirl her spaghetti. I started at her for a moment as she did so.

I knew next month she would probably be back in the same place she was now. That’s missing her son and deciding what bill to pay and what bill not to. Sadly there isn’t a lot I can do about that. The public however could if they decided enough was enough, that it is important to them that their teachers aren’t living their lives pay check to paycheck and they have time to be with their families as well. Sadly though since that doesn’t seem like it is going to happen anytime soon, when the check came I said, hey let me get that, let dinner be on me.

Why, she asked.

Because I am proud of you, I answered.

Her problem is…

She paced back and forth trying to hold back tears. She reached for a tissue off her desk and wiped the corner of her eyes. "It just sucks, G". (That's what my co-worker calls me, like in the movie Top Gun all teachers have call signs). "It sucks so bad", she said. I sat there and gave her a weak smile, nodding my head ever so slightly in agreement. At first I thought she had just become overwhelmed with being a teacher. Many work 12 hour days during the week and even more on the weekend. They leave their kids in day care as they attempt to get caught up with an endless list of tasks many of which only have a peripheral relationship to education. I also thought maybe an administrator had come down hard on her because a t wasn’t crossed on a lesson plan or she had dare write a referral. It turns out her problem was eve worse.

She came and sat across from me and put her head down on the table, a tear suspended on her cheek for just a second before it fell. "I am trying so hard, I want these kids to succeed so bad", she said, before closing her eyes and going silent. I nodded this was a sentiment I am practically all teachers has, after all we didn’t join the profession to be rich and recently the prestige of being a teacher had been severely tarnished as they had become the face and unjustly so of all that is wrong in education as parents, the government and policy makers had all gotten a pass.

I reached over to stroke her hair to give her some reassurance that it was going to be okay, that things were going to work out; but at the last moment, I stopped because I knew I could give no guarantee. Teachers are overwhelmed these days and there is no end in sight, but so to our kids as more and more who can’t see any light at the end of the tunnel are choosing to drop out. The allure of the street trumps the hopelessness that many kids feel at school. I wanted desperately to reassure my friend that her problem would work out...oh, and what is my friend’s problem? My friend's problem is that she cares.

I sat there looking at her. Her breathing was a little labored as she tried to hold back tears. I sat there wishing I had a magic wand or a time machine because I knew whatever I said, even if it was earnest, heartfelt and sincere, wouldn't be able to change things - not now, anyway. Even practical sentiment such as, 'move on', or 'all you can do is hope for the best', seemed inappropriate. It was made even more difficult because there I was, experiencing her pain first-person.

She has a student in her class that for some reason stood out to her, that she took an extra interest in. For whatever reason, this student was special to her and her doing right by this student was exceptionally important. Of course, she put time and effort into all of her students, but with this one she went above and beyond. For a while, they were making progress. This was a child who, for much of their young life, was unappreciated and uncared for - and now, finally, they had someone in their corner who would 'go to bat for them', 'go the extra mile', and all the other metaphors you can think of. This was working, too, because for a while, this child had prospered. For a while anyways.
But now, the student was gone; a snap decision, an impulsive moment had seen this student drop out, and this act devastated my friend. "Why didn't [they] come to me before quitting; do [they] know how hard it is going to be? What did I do wrong..." and a thousand other questions were swirling around my friend's mind, numbing it, overwhelming her. Sadly, these were questions I had no answers for; and, to be honest, I wasn’t even sure there were answers to be had.

I had not just sympathy for her, but empathy; in my life, I have also felt the same way a few times before - like when my mom was sick, or when a relationship that was special and important to me ended - and, yes, despite my best effort on the occasions I had let a student or two into my heart, as well, only to see them make bad choice after bad choice. I had recovered from those events, (well - as much as anybody ever really recovers from them) and I had no insight as to why. I mean, I didn't miss my mother any less, and I was still disappointed about this or that, but then one night I went to bed sad, and the next morning when I woke up, things were a little bit better and then a little bit better and then...

I just sat there with her silently until she looked up; her face was a little red and her hair was in her face. I reached over and pushed her bangs back, giving her a sympathetic smile as I did so. She gently grabbed my hand and leaned her head against it for a few seconds. She then sat back wiping her eyes. She looked at me and smiled back. I could tell it wasn’t a real smile though, just one of those fake ones we give so that people won’t know how upset we really are. (That never works, by the way).

A few moments later, I had to leave, as the planning period we shared was coming to an end. I walked to the door and before exiting; I turned and looked at her. I thought to myself, 'if I had a magic wand I would wave it; if I had a time machine, I would loan it to her, and if I had words that didn't involve clichés about time, I would say them'. But, despite my empty bag of tricks, I felt like I had to say or do something. After a moment, I said her name, to get her attention, and then for a moment we just stared at each other. I then smiled at her and nodded my head, my intent to at least let her know I cared. Which makes me rethink what I wrote, above - because if caring is the problem, well then, I have it too. And so do most teachers. It is a problem I think more of us should have. I think she got that as she smiled and nodded back; she seemed better, even if it was just a little bit, and just for a second. I then walked to my class, hopeful that her day would improve and if so, despite my silence, glad that I was able to play a part in that.

I wonder if all the teachers in all the schools who experience similar happenings (because many will - we’re losing so many kids a year to the streets and to hopelessness) have a friend who will give them a nod, too? Maybe it’s time society stopped pointing the fingers at teachers and gave them a nod as well.

Chris Guerrieri
School Teacher

Industrial Strength

I teach my classes in an old portable at the back of my school. It’s a bit smelly or so I am told by my students. It’s funny what you will get used to after a couple years. Though I guess it’s equally funny what you won’t. Sometimes at the end of the day after my students filter out, I cup my face with my hands and fight back a tear. Things seem to be getting worse and daily fewer and fewer things make sense. When I started teaching I wanted to change the world, after a couple years I decided if I could just make a little difference that would be good enough but now many days I am just interested in surviving and going home and I am not alone.

Mr. Smith (not his real name) teaches regular education math at the same school I work at, geometry, algebra and such. He has been a teacher for six years all of it here, which means this is our forth year working together. Even though we teach different subjects (I teach special ed. science) we have a fair amount in common. We’re both Italians from Ohio who relocated to Jacksonville, neither of us are big fans of the cold and two years ago we started a staff fantasy football league. We also have a daily routine which consists of me complimenting his shirts and him telling me the (I am sure made up) history behind them. Pretty silly I know but sometimes it’s the silly things that you have to grab onto to get you through the day.

I visited his classroom a while back and found him standing near his white board (a modern day chalk board) with a little tub in his hand. What’s that, I asked. He turned to me and sighed a little bit. Its board cleaner, make that industrial strength board cleaner, he then sighed again and added, I might finally be able to use my board.

I was a bit flabbergasted, as I said Mr. Smith is a math teacher and I always figured that math teachers had to use their boards more than any other type of teacher and I had no idea that for the whole year he had been unable to use his. I would be lost without mine, well the half of mine that works anyways.

He later told me that he let the administration (the same administration that kicked me out of my sixteen year old portable for three days so they could retile it), know before pre-planning had even begun (some four months ago) that his board was useless and that he had reminded them several times since. How have you been teaching math without it, I asked. He shrugged his shoulders and pointed at his over head projector and a small 3x3 portable white board. It’s been a struggle he said and then he added, like most things this year have been a struggle.

I could tell he needed to talk which was okay with me because I sincerely believe that teachers have to be there for each other, because if we’re not, then who will be. The district and even the administration are too far removed from the classroom; so far removed they really don’t seem to have a clue as to what is going. The public doesn’t seem to want to get a clue and all the union seems to only care about is teachers’ hours and pay.

If the district cared they wouldn’t give teacher more work than they can do. If the administration cared they wouldn’t send unruly children back to class without consequences for their behavior. If the public cared they would be in the streets clamoring for change. And if the union cared they would realize there are so many other things that affect teaching than just hours and pay. I however do care about my friend and his plight which I figured was most likely my plight as well so I asked him, what’s wrong.

He went on a rant, saying there was too much work and a lot of it that didn’t have anything to do with teaching. He felt the scrutiny on teachers was too great, he didn’t know how to make children care about themselves or school or how to get parents involved and those things reflected on him. Then the district with all their formatives and tests wasn’t giving him enough time to teach the material, his students, most of who didn’t arrive to him with the basic skills needed, had to be caught up before new material could be covered. He went on also mentioning a lack of support from the administration, his classes being too big and being filled with too unruly kids that made learning nearly impossible for those students who wanted to learn; he mentioned all those things and more.

He then looked at me and with a look of defeat on his face that I had never seen from him before and said, “Chris, the worse thing of all is I am afraid I am starting not to care anymore.” When he said that I knew I was right, our plights are the same.

I thought about saying, why should you. Like most teachers he comes to school every day and fights a losing battle. Kids uninterested in school as well as being defiant, disruptive and disrespectful are common throughout the city. The state and district are piling on teachers like never before, which means many teachers routinely work ten hour days just so they don’t fall to far behind and that’s on things that only has a peripheral relationship to learning. Mr. Smith doesn’t need a data notebook the size of several encyclopedia volumes to be a better teacher, what he needs are white boards that work.

I thought about saying why should you care when the state, the district, the administration, the parents and the union, entities with the power to make things better didn’t or at the very least didn’t appear to care.

Like I said, I thought about saying why should you care, along with those thing s above and I even thought about adding why should any of us, maybe it’s time all teachers stopped carrying and made making it through the day our only priority but I didn’t, instead I said, hey at least you got the board cleaner, I paused and added, the industrial strength board cleaner.

Teaching isn't easy

Things have changed in society. At one point teachers were looked up to and revered, sadly now they are often treated with ridicule and disrespect. It’s not just the kids in the halls who come from neighborhoods that don’t value education and who have never received true consequences in their schools for their behavior those who don’t know any better that I am talking about. It’s also our community leaders, those that should know better who treat teachers the same way.

Just look at senate bill six, which was very punitive towards teachers and Governor Crist’s Task for Educational Excellence whose mandate is to improve teacher quality. The Task force is made up of eighteen Presidents of that and Chancellors of this, one parent and three classroom teachers. Then there is our own home towns City of Hope initiative led by the Times Union. Their thirty-five-person leadership council recently met to discuss education issues and not one teacher was invited. Teachers are considered so ineffective and unknowledgeable about education issues that their counsel on said issues aren’t even solicited, businessmen and politicians yes; teachers no.

The street kid in my class doesn’t know any better and sadly schools have had their ability to teach them stripped away, our leaders however should know better. They should know that teachers have to be part of the solution. I think the reason they feel that they can disregard teachers so easily is they blame teachers for the problems education is facing. The thing is teachers did not decide to fund education at such poor levels, create the f-cat, move away from discipline, pass many unfounded mandates and create a one size fits all curriculum that quite frankly is unrealistic and serves very few.

I also believe these leaders who put their memberships on these commissions on their resumes like normal folks put quarters in meters also think teaching is easy. They think not only do they get their summers off but anybody can do it too. The thing is teachings not easy; it can often be very hard and below is just one example of how hard it can be.

I try not to get to close to my students. They all have a story and it can quickly become overwhelming if I let it. The other day I didn’t do a very good job at this.

In one of the classes I co-teach a quiz was returned to the students. One of the kids had one correct out of twenty this despite the fact the quiz was both open book and open notes. This is a good kid too, participates, asks questions and always ends a sentence with sir.

I said, what’s up girl why did you do so badly. She just shrugged her shoulders. I said, come on what happened, and again she just shrugged. I rolled my eyes a little frustrated and said, okay let me see your notes, thinking she must not have been taking any. She opened her binder and there were pages and pages of notes and her handwriting was beautiful, not chicken scratches that could be hard to read. She had even taken the time to highlight the parts that were highlighted in the power points or on the board. I looked at the notes and then the questions and they matched perfectly. Every question was answered. It should have been easy and she should have made a hundred

Girl what’s the problem you have all the answers right here? Again all she gave me was a shrug. Seriously, I started getting a little frustrated, what’s the problem, in my head I thought, wow this girl can’t be that lazy.

She paused and you could literally see sadness wash over her eyes and with a wavering voice said, I can’t read them. She was humiliated. I had just humiliated her. I was momentarily speechless. After I composed myself, I rubbed her shoulder and said, we’ll get through this, we’ll make this right. I had broken my rule and let her in.

I hope we can get through this from now on I’ll go over the notes with her read the tests to her but here she is eighteen a junior in high school and she can’t read. If I am being honest I don’t know if anything I can do at this point will be meaningful.

Should I point my finger at her teachers who passed her through? Should I be mad at the administration that tells teachers with a wink and a nod to pass kids no matter what or should I be mad at a society that has let it come to this. I can’t be mad at the kid, who always participates, asks questions and ends each sentence with a sir and I pretty mad at myself already.

Teaching isn’t easy. Teachers are often faced with the choice between doing what’s right for the kid and possibly facing repercussions or doing what they have been told to do to the kid which often isn’t in the kids best interest. You might be thinking it should be an easy call; the thing is it wasn’t teachers who put themselves in that position. It was our leaders who decided they new better than teachers did, who are so dismissive of teachers they don’t even consider asking them about educational issues. A pattern that is currently repeating itself.

Nope teaching definitely isn’t easy, however having meeting about teaching without teachers apparently is.

Best Practices

Follow me for a second.

School districts talk all the time about best practices. They say we employ best practices as a district and we have our teachers employ best practices too. Simply put it just means to do what is best for students (if there is a better explanation I couldn’t find it).
Well Jacksonville routinely has two of the highest ranked schools in the country, Stanton and Paxon. If they are the best it stands to reason they are using the best, best practices. If we truly want things to improve in all our schools doesn’t it make sense to mimic what they are doing at all the schools?

Now we have arrived.

At those schools they don’t have to have universal board configurations and complicated two page lesson plans that are written mostly for the state visits. In fact they rarely get state visits because things are going so well. I think there a correlation between state visits and poor performing schools. The problem with correlations is they don’t determine causation and many teachers think things would improve if the state visited less.

The teachers at Paxon and Stanton are given wide latitude to reach their kids, something that has been taken away from the teacher at the typical neighborhood school, with their learning schedules, pacing guides, and focus calendars. If flexibility and creativity is working at Paxon and Stanton it stands to reason they would work at the neighborhood schools too.

There are a few other best practices that Paxon and Stanton use to that help put them over the top. They do not accept students who are not on grade level, in fact quite often their kids are well above grade level. Many of the kids at the neighborhood schools find themselves in the opposite position. Then at Paxon and Stanton if you do not maintain a 2.0 grade point average or if you are a behavior problem you are sent back to your neighborhood school. Neighborhood schools have no such luxury; they are required to attempt to educate whoever walks through their doors. That’s the neighborhood schools best practice.

The sad simple truth is that education has lost its way, it’s been hijacked by people who don’t know what they are doing. Those in charge most of whom have never been in a classroom and those who have did so long ago are attempting to fix the problems by throwing solutions like paint against a wall and hoping something sticks.
Word walls, complicated lesson plans, data driven instruction, RtI, universally board configurations, posted standards, the five Es, and a thousand other things are just this year’s fad. Fads don’t last but our problems will unless we come up with real solutions, unless we come up with some genuine best practices that are best for all.

Scr*wed

Scr*wed

She lifted up the computer and slammed it down on the cart. It was quite an impressive feat for somebody so small in stature. “Whoa, what’s going on Sunshine?” I asked, seeing she was obviously upset. “Oh, I don’t know…” she started, (I think holding back a tear); “it’s either being lied to straight to my face or being treated like a child”. I sighed and put my hand on her shoulder. The teacher in front of me wasn’t just one of my best friends at my school but one of the best teachers the school had to offer, as well, and it hurt me to see her so upset. “Okay, okay - take a deep breath and tell me what happened”, I asked. As she started to tell the story I realized she was just the latest domino to fall from a line that started two years ago.

A week before the ‘08-‘09 school year began, I got a call telling me I would be moved from my Trainable Mentally Handicapped (TMH) classroom to a Varying Exceptionality (VE) classroom to teach Science. I wasn’t happy about the move, because (and to be frankly honest) I am not a Science teacher and it’s a subject I don’t particularly enjoy. However, partly since I am a team player but mostly because I wasn’t given a choice, I said “okay”; though, as the conversation came to an end, I did ask to be moved back to TMH if an opening became available.

A few months into the school year, a TMH teacher left and they hired somebody that had been the V.E. Science teacher at a high school just seven miles away. I was frustrated but I reasoned maybe they didn’t want to move me during the school year. Last summer, hearing about another opening in TMH, I lobbied hard to be moved back but instead they went with a woman whose only previous experience had been in a VE classroom. I felt resigned to my fate.

Another year goes by and another opening becomes available, and once again I make it known that I want that position – but, once again they hire somebody else, going with a recent college graduate with no teaching experience. When I complained to a colleague, she pointed out that the whole VE program was transitioning to Inclusion, and, since I had been the VE Science teacher, a colleague proposed, and not unreasonably - so that who else would they have do that, but me.

That, however, is when the dominoes started to fall.

The VE History teacher balked at becoming an Inclusion teacher, and even though he had no TMH experience, requested he be moved there; and for some reason, they said “yes”. Then, just like that, to make room for him they moved the recently-hired TMH teacher to a VE English/Math/Learning Strategies position, even though she has no training in those areas, and she must now get dual certifications along with taking the Teacher in Training program. It’s worse because her being moved there sealed the fate of the person who had held the position for many years and who was universally recognized to have done a good job. She had been forced to transfer by mistake and was actively trying to return. (Numerous teachers throughout the county have “mistakenly” been forced to transfer in the last few weeks).

My friend, who was highly qualified for the History inclusion position and who couldn’t decide whether she hated being lied to or being treated like a child worse, immediately let Administration know, again (as she had done the year before) that she would like the History inclusion position - but, instead, they hired somebody who doesn’t have any experience working with the school’s VE children. Now - he may come in and be a Wunderkind, (God’s Gift to Teaching), but that is beside the point - of which there are several:

First - you take care of your own. Experienced teachers shouldn’t be uprooted and moved around and they should be given first opportunity of what to teach. They know their strengths, weaknesses, and desires. Sure, there are always going to be times when the needs of the school supercedes these things, but every effort to find middle ground should be made.

Second - a school’s paramount job should be to put both teachers and students in positions to succeed. In this line of dominoes, we have several teachers who are now “out of field” - teaching subjects they never did before – while, at the same time, we have teachers who would be better suited being forced into teaching subjects they either don’t know nor have an aptitude or desire to teach.

Third - you follow your own rules. If you need to be highly qualified to work at a school, you don’t fire somebody for not being so and then hire somebody else who is not. You also can’t preach about the importance of certification and then hire people without it.

Finally - schools should practice what they preach. If I want my kids to be polite and respectful, I am polite and respectful. If I want my kids to be organized, I have to be organized. If I want my kids to act fair and care about school, I can’t act in a capricious, rash or random manner. It’s the third day of pre-planning and many teachers still don’t know what they are teaching, nor have they seen class lists. One colleague walks the halls constantly on the brink of tears because after years of dedicated service, they switched the classes she was supposed to teach and banished her to a portable. Another teacher said to me, “Chris, I really think they are trying to make me quit”.

When the dominoes fell and my umpteenth request to return to a TMH classroom was again ignored, I resigned myself to make the best of things, as I am sure my colleagues will. I believe we will all roll up our sleeves and do our best for our children, and I likewise believe we will all have a measure of success - but, at the same time, like they probably do, I can’t but help feeling a little scr*wed.

I know it sounds like I am airing dirty laundry, but people should be excited and enthused about returning to school - but those two feelings seem replaced with confusion and despair. Maybe I am speaking out of turn, but doesn’t somebody have to say “if you put teachers and students in positions where they can be successful, you will have better results than if you don’t” and doesn’t somebody have to mention that teachers aren’t just pawns on a chess board to be moved around and sacrificed? Instead, teachers are the most important resource a school has and they should be made to feel important and valued instead of left wondering if Administration is trying to make them quit…or what they hated more, being lied to or being treated like a child.

Scr*wed

Reporter becomes teacher

I am not going to lie. It often wears on me being the bearer of bad news where education is concerned. Sifting through the shiny, happy cover talking about the warts.

Mary Maraghy is a former Times Union reporter who left to become a teacher and she wrote about it in a recent issue. The excitement she feels is literally dripping off the page. I wish her well and sincerely hope she can sustain it.

Here is where we come to the however. She wrote, “I thought we were crazy busy at the TU, then I became a teacher… teachers do the work of fifty people and never in forty hours.” That’s right because the typical teacher works far more than forty hours a week. Many leave their kids in extended day care and have to take breaks from writing lesson plans to tuck them into bed. Most teachers enter the field knowing they will have to do some lesson planning and grading on their own time and are okay with it. Unfortunately the paper work has become at best daunting to some and over whelming to others.

Later she wrote, “I’ve spent more than five hundred dollars making my classroom colorful and inviting…” That’s what teachers do; they routinely buy basic supplies that you think would be provided for their classrooms. They also buy supplies for their kids, things you think their parents would provide, items like notebooks, pencils and paper and unfortunately it doesn’t stop there. Many teachers also often buy things you might not think about such as food and clothes for their kids. Teachers do so even though many are paycheck to paycheck.

I applaud her choices. I have been there and remember the excitement myself. At the same time I think it would be nice if teachers were given just the amount of work they were paid for and didn’t have to spend their own money on necessities. I don’t think that is unreasonable or too much to ask.

Teaching can be a great gig; unfortunately the teaching part has actually become just a small part of the job.

The Death of Teaching as a Career

When I was in elementary school my third grade teacher was in her mid thirties and that was as young as I got. Back then most of my teachers were considerably older. They all had years if not decades of experience. You won’t find that now. It’s possible today for kids today to go all through school and not have a teacher who hasn’t been on the job for more than five years. Teaching isn’t a profession like it was just a generation ago, it’s a just a job and a job with a fairly high turnover rate at that and that is part of the problem.

Teaching is also a job that has tenure, which means if you do it fairly well it’s a job one can have for life. Teaching is a job that starts at a pretty decent wage and is also a job that has every holiday off. Despite all this, sadly this is a job that fewer and fewer people want to do, a job that fewer and fewer people stick with.

When John Thrasher and his ill-conceived senate bill six made the headlines a few months ago, one of his selling points was that a first year teacher could be as good as a tenth year teacher and where this is true it’s also highly unlikely. It takes years for teachers to hone their craft and I don’t know any teacher that thinks they were a better teacher when they started.

First year teachers even the ones with teaching degrees often don’t know what to expect and they don’t know what questions to ask. This is often compounded by the fact that most first year teachers are sent to the most struggling schools and are often inundated with extra paper work and tasks to do. The first few years of teaching is less about teaching and more about surviving. I have said it and it’s the same thing I heard my first year; “Just get though the first year kid, it will get better.”

In Jacksonville at the start of the 2009 school year 27 percent of teachers had less than four years experience. This matches up well with the fact that forty percent of teachers don’t last five years and this at a job that many say with a smirk gets summers off while they sit in front of their televisions and think to themselves I could do that.

Starting in year five and going through year 22 the amount of teachers in each subsequent year declines, 509 495 419 329 279 264 237 227 226 196 148 129 157 135 130 117 124 115. Over half of our teachers have less than nine years experience. Now nine years is a long time but as I stated above the teaching profession has changed.

Why do teachers leave? Well many feel overwhelmed, they are given more tasks than they can possibly accomplish or do well. If it was just teaching more would make it but sadly teaching today has less and less to do with teaching than many might think possible. Furthermore teachers are put in unattainable positions, every year the pressure on teachers seems to grow, while at the same time, parents, the community, the administration and the government seems to get a pass. Then others quickly grow weary of having to raise other people’s children. Teacher’s sighed up to teach and when they did so they knew some mentoring would go with the job. They didn’t know they would have to teach manners, basic rights from wrongs and how to be respectful as well. Others and I personally think this is the biggest reason that many have left the field is a lack of support.

The first year teacher shows up bright eyed and filled with optimism, ready to change the world, and this is an incredible feeling to have, though it is fleeting as many first year teachers have to go into survival mode. They try all sorts of methods to get the children to take care of their responsibilities, which are simple enough, come to class, listen and learn; First they come in as a strict disciplinarian, as this is the standard advice given to first year teachers. They are told to come in tough and then they can ease up as the year progresses. If this fails with some students, the first year teacher often reverts to being a social worker, trying to figure out why they act the way they do and tries to help solve their problems, then with some students they try to become their friend, figuring if they were friends, the students would treat them better, that's treat them with some with dignity and respect. They do this because it takes different strategies to get through to different students.

And for the most part with one of these strategies they are successful, as ninety percent of all students want to be there, they want to learn, or at worse are followers, which means if there ring leader isn't there they fall in line with the children who do want to learn. After a while it's just that ten percent of students that no matter what they try to do continue to cause them problems.

They talk to their mentors, as every first year teacher is assigned one, and their colleagues and department head as well. They ask what they can do to get these last few students in line. The first year teacher laments when the unruly students are absent, "it's dreamy, I can actually teach". They veterans look at the rookies with sympathetic eyes but they also have problems of their own. Just survive the first year; we tell them, it gets easier. But how do I get through to them they ask, we shrug our shoulders and suggest, try and get the parents involved maybe they can help somehow, but in our hearts we know they are fighting an unwinnable battle with some students.

So they call the parents trying to set up parent teacher conferences, to discuss the child's performance both academically and behaviorally, because often-poor performances in these areas go hand in hand. Some of the parents can't be bothered figuring it was the teacher’s problem once the child came to school, others report having the same difficulties at home where they to are at a loss. The two parties might get together and try a few interventions and some students might actually turn it around, but just as often many students don't.

Backed into a corner the first year teacher writes the student up, only to find them back in class before the period is over or at best the next day and angry that they were written up, the problem begins to worsen. You see most likely the child received no meaningful consequences for their behavior, and thus continues it. The teacher writes the child up again and again the child is back in class the next day, except this time the teacher is paid a visit by an administrator or called to the office. Why can't you control this child, they are asked, they explain all that they have done and how none of it has worked. The first year teacher is then told, that referrals are only to be written for the most extreme circumstances and then only after every alternative has been exhausted. Most likely they aren't given any new alternatives as they slump their shoulders and heads back to the classrooms. Because of this lack of support many won’t make it.

When school starts up I will meet twenty or so first time teachers. Of those twenty a few won’t last through the first semester. I say this with some assuredly because this has happened every year that I have been a teacher. They just don’t make it, preferring to get a job at the mall or waitressing instead of sticking with the job that many of them spent years preparing themselves for.

Forty percent of teaches won’t last five, over half won’t last ten and probably less than a quarter of all first year teachers make it a career.

A Teachers Lament

I am part of the problem....

It definitely won’t make the news, but Duval County failed another student today, though they are not alone as I failed another student today as well. I am not talking about failed in the sense we gave them a bad grade, and F, I am talking about it in the sense we let them down, we set them back, we have just made the rest of their lives more difficult.....

If you aren’t already fired up by the county failing students (the second version) something they annually do to hundreds if not thousands of them, don’t feel alone because sadly very few people are, and if that’s the case then don’t get fired up about me failing this last one either, as she definitely won’t be the last one I let down. I teach a special education science class at Ed White high school and I am part of the problem.

Don’t get me wrong, everyday I come to class prepared to teach. I roll up my sleeves and jump right in it’s just as my peers do, unfortunately like many of them I also feel like I am chipping away at a mountain with a plastic spoon. Teachers and students alike are handicapped by the FCAT, unrealistic graduation requirements, a lack of discipline and other policies and procedures mandated by the district or state that don’t make sense, nor do they seem to be in the best interest of us or the children. Everyday so many teachers who want to do well, who want to help the students in their charges do as well as they can go to work feeling like the deck is stacked against them and stacked very high.

My group of students has what we call varying exceptionalities, which means we group, educable mentally handicapped, emotional handicapped and students with specific learning disabilities together. Not only do I have students from all three categories in most of my classes, but I usually also have all four high school grade levels represented as well, and then during a few classes I am expected to teach a few different subjects.

All of my students including those that are capable of doing so much more are on what’s called a special diploma track. When they graduate they won’t receive a high school diploma, instead they will get a certificate of completion, which has more in common with three squares of toilet paper than it does with a diploma.

A lot of my students could achieve so much more if they were in classes with low teacher pupil ratios (two of my classes have more than twenty students in them) and received intensive remediation in reading, writing and math, in fact if those services were provided I may just be able to find a rocket scientist or two, but the powers that be don’t think they those things are important, so instead I am turning out students who at best after many years of dedicated service might make it to lead associate at a box retail store, if they aren’t jailed, living on the streets or on welfare that is.

Instead of giving my students what they need, what would make sense and prove beneficial to them giving their circumstances, I break open my fifteen year old text books that recently talked about an exciting new technology called laser discs, and has used the twin towers in several examples, and try to introduce them to topics they should have learned about years ago, but aren’t nearly as important when considering the fact many can’t read or write or do math on any level approaching their grade level. I have a friend that teaches fifth grade science and I am amazed at how often what the two of us are teaching overlaps.

This year had been amazingly frustrating, instead of teaching them the water downed science that I am, I felt I should be teaching them to read and write properly, or running a G.E.D. prep class as my students who may have aspirations of doing more will have to take it one day, that’s it had been amazingly frustrating, right up to the moment it became down right depressing.

It started when I got a new student right before winter break, she moved here from Michigan. I thought it a bit strange she came on the last day of class, but if you met this girl you might think it fit her. A little quiet and introspective she often writes in her journal when her work is finished deciphering the latest song lyrics or pondering the make up of the world. I asked her why she had come on this day of days (all we were going to do was watch movies) and she replied she didn’t want to have too many absences and since she was here she felt she should.

She has dyscalculia a math learning disorder that makes learning higher maths very difficult if not down right impossible. Except for her math classes and my science class, which I am sure they just threw her into she has all regular education classes.

Despite her above average I.Q. her disability and the absurdity of the situation, one size fits all graduation requirements, has served to seriously set this girl back in life just as it is beginning, and the thing is nobody seems to care, that she is going to earn a special diploma. I was told that for any student not in one of the work programs to graduate with a regular diploma they had to have algebra I and two other higher maths, if they couldn’t pass them regardless of disability they had to be on a special diploma track, though if they renamed it worthless diploma track that would be more accurate.

She’s not the only one, at my school for the most part we don’t even try to put capable, with accommodations, modifications and a differentiated curriculum special education students in regular education classes at my school, students that with help and accommodations could pass most subjects. After all if we don’t think they can pass the advanced math classes required what’s the point.

Here is the thing, when I was in high school, I took general math II as a junior and no math as a senior, if I were in school right now, I would be on a special diploma track, I would be graduating with a piece of paper that wasn’t worth the ink printed on it. In case you were wondering I have two college degrees from the University of North Florida, and my two degrees required a total of 7 credits of math, that’s two classes and a lab. Let me ask you a couple questions, how many of you would have received a special diploma based on our counties present requirements, how many members of the school board would, also how many of you recently used algebra II in your everyday life, and how many members of the school board do you think did.

In our mad rush to catch up with the rest of the world in math and science, despite the fact as far as I can tell we still lead the world in technology and scientific breakthroughs, I wonder how many students we are leaving behind, I don’t know the exact numbers but I know for a fact we are leaving more than a few behind in portable one at Ed White high school.

Why are kids that can barely read and write learning about the Revolutionary War and the cell, again? Why are we forcing students to learn higher maths that many who if they even go to college will not need or use again. Why are we trying to fit every child who is individual and has different needs into a one size fits all curriculum. Why do I get up everyday and go in despite the fact I know I am not giving my students what they need, despite the fact that I know I am part of the problem?.

I don’t have a good answer to any of those questions; maybe you do, because the school board doesn’t seem to have any good answers either

The girl with muddy feet

She came to my class with mud up to her ankles, I looked at her and shook my head, I considered asking what had happened, but I decided not to, I had Individual education plans, behavior plans and lesson plans to write along with a class to teach and twenty other disabled children to attend to.

She took her seat and within a few moments her head went down to her desk, I considered asking her to sit up and participate in class, but experience had taught me this was probably not the best thing for everybody involved. She rarely does her work and most of her interactions are negative. I would love to save them all but the reality is I can’t, days like this I didn't feel like I could save any.

Later I saw a few colleagues in the lounge and I considered asking them how the muddy footed sleeping girl was doing in their classes, and this time for some reason I followed through. “How is little Suzy doing?” I asked.

I wasn’t surprised to hear she rarely came to their classes, though I thought to myself what am I doing wrong, because she is always in mine, nor was I surprised to hear she didn’t do any work for them either. I shook my head and said something that you will hear daily in schools across the county. “You know that girls not dumb, she’s just so immature.”

“What do you expect” another teacher replied, “She was in fifth grade two years ago, socially promoted to sixth grade last year, a few months later grade adjusted to eighth and then boom she’s in high school after one year in middle school, I feel sorry for her, really I do.”

Welcome to special education in Duval County.

I feel sorry for her, really I do, is a sentiment I share, sometimes when you look into her eyes you can see a fast fading spark of potential. There have been a few times when she was bright and engaging but sadly there are sandwiched around to many wasted days.

Despite the fact she is in an age appropriate class, she is clearly overwhelmed. But it’s as if the powers that be have decided the grade adjustment is the cure-all for children with disabilities, though I have to say this is better than their last plan which seemed to be to sprinkle fairy dust on their heads and then sit back and watch their disabilities fade away.

She is just one of a dozen kids grade adjusted to Ed White this year many of whom are doing poorly, though the problems in special education don’t just stop there.

Another ESE girl has sat in, in school suspension (ISSP) for weeks, because there was no where else for her to go. When you ask her teachers about her, they say she rarely comes but when she does she is incorrigible. She has been in a half dozen fights this year along with multiple other offences, last year she earned one credit and she is on a pace todo worse this year. She is the poster child for needing an incredibly restrictive environment, social work services and counseling, but instead of getting those things, here she sits in ISSP a danger to herself and others. Special education children can only be suspended over the course of the year for ten days, and I don’t think it has dawned on the powers that be, that perhaps the reason these particular children are suspended so often is because they are misplaced.

It is incredibly difficult to move the special ed. child, regardless of their needs or what is best for them. The students in my classes remind me of Goldilocks porridge options. I have students in the same class that with accommodations and modifications could be successful in regular classes, students who should be in functional classes lower than mine and then the ones that are just right. When I taught severely emotionally disturbed kids (normal intelligence severe behavior problems), I had mentally handicapped kids in my class. When I taught trainably mentally handicapped kids I had a young autistic man, when I taught autistic students there was a little girl in my class I believe there just so her family could receive a social security check and when I worked at the magnet high school for severely disabled children one of my students drove to school. The process to change misdiagnosed children placement is time consuming and complicated and supposed to be done by teachers that already have incredibly full plates.

Warehoused studentsthat aren’t gettign the attention and services they both need and deserve, new edicts, which force teachers to teach water downed academics to kids that will neverget it,instead of life and employability skills, increasingly complex individual education plans, which no one can decifer and fewer people care about, people never in the classroom passing down new rules during the middle of the school year which just serve to cover the counties ass, and not the children, it’s maddening, and it’s depressing and it’s defeating.

Don’t get me wrong there are so many caring teachers who despite all this roll up their sleeves and everyday do great things and countywide there are many success stories, but they take place within a system that is broken, run by a school board that is afraid of being sued and has lost sight of why they are here and that’s to help kids, not just warehouse them until the age out. Children can’t be done halfass which is what is happening herein Duval county.

A colleague once told me that years ago many of the students I teach would have been institutionalized years ago. The thing is, for a lot of these children as things stand now, they may have been better off.

I later learned the girl with the muddy feet was skipping her early classes so she and a few other students could go to the woods, most likely to do just what you are imagining. She would return and attend my class because it was later in the day and she needed to be able to catch the bus home. I considered doing something, taking up her cause, demanding she get the help and services she needs, like I said I considered it but then I thought why should she be the one lone exception that happens to, why should she be special. I can't save anybody. I can't even save me .

I then went home with my shoulders slumped and my head down and despite the fact the sun was still out and would be for quite some time, I went to bed.

I went to bed.