The Times Union thinks that test scores of teacher's students should be revealed, they think it would be fair. I disagree and this is why.
I ran into one of my students in the hall, which isn’t that strange, sadly the fact that he had missed my class, which he was supposed to be in the period before, wasn’t all that strange either. I said hey, where you been, we missed you in class. He looked at me and said, I lost my schedule and didn’t know where to go.
I could just imagine this young man searching the halls of Ed White high school looking for help but finding none. I even imagined him a little panicked that he was missing my class. Furthermore in my fantasy he was also saying to himself, I got to find Mr. G’s class so I can learn.
Instead of making a big deal out of it, I just smiled, shook my head and said; well let’s go get you a new schedule so that never happens again. While we were waiting he told me he had to go to his reading class, apparently that part of the schedule he remembered. I said okay and walked him to that class just to make sure he got there. We never did get him a new schedule so it may be a while before I see him again.
Then in my first period class we are studying the scientific method and the parts of an experiment, you know hypothesis, independent variable, dependent variable, control groups and conclusions. Today’s assignment was to design an experiment. A young man came in considerably late, busses of course, and was a little behind. Most of the class finished ahead of him.
When he turned in his assignment I noticed his experiment was identical to the student next to him. When I suggested he had copied, he became indignant, no way Mr. G, I would never copy, I came up with that all on my own. As he was protesting the charges, I thought, well maybe I am being to hard on him, I guess it’s possible for two separate people to design a pour bleach on gas experiment. Then I thought nah, probably not possible. He protested for a while but eventually agreed to come up with a new experiment. Oh and believe it or not this kid is one of the brightest and likeable students in my class.
On a side note I will be reaching this subject next Tuesday, which because of the benchmark tests and Labor Day, will be the next time I see that class. That will be my second class meeting in 11 days, third in fourteen.
These two students and a few others just like them and a system that is okay with 11 days passing between class meetings, which believe it or not hurts learning all hold my fate in their hands. How fair is that Times Union? Does the idea still sound good? The sad fact is a test score doesn't always give an accurate picture of what is happening and that's something the Times Union, the public and the-powers-that- be need to understand.
Chris Guerrieri
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Benchmarks: standards by which something can be measured or judged
At my school, I have more of a home base than a home. I teach three classes on one day in the same class; well, four - if you count the fact that one of my classes actually has two different groups of students in it - but that’s another story. The other four periods I teach see me in different rooms around campus.
At the end of the day, I always return to my base to take care of whatever I can. There, I am surrounded by English and Reading teachers, some of whom were particularly frustrated today. It seems that it just came down the pike that they are to administer benchmark tests this Thursday and Friday. Benchmark tests, in theory, provide data on where the kids are; I say "in theory", because quite often, kids don’t take these tests seriously. It’s gotten to be so bad that teachers have begun bribing kids with extra credit in order to try to get them to try.
The benchmark tests themselves aren’t the problem; even though they duplicate a lot of the information that teachers can already get from looking at a student's F-CAT scores, they can be useful. Now, they are also being given earlier this year than ever before, and the teachers who have to administer them would have liked more than a 24-hour notice, but, like I said - if the kids try, they can turn out to be a valuable tool.
The problem is that the benchmark tests are coming on the heels of the FAIR test, which came on the heels of the F-CAT Writes test (and that’s just in English class - imagine all the tests the students have been taking in their other classes, too). If you have a high school student at a turn-around school, ask them. I'll bet you will be surprised. Think about this: by the end of the week, English classes will have met 7 times, and one teacher estimated 4 of those days were spent giving some kind of pre- or data-generating test.
In our zeal to collect data, we’re overlooking something very important, and that’s actual teaching. "I would really like to teach, one day..." another teacher said. Yes, folks - it really is all about the data and the F-CAT.
Another problem: I don’t think it’s a real stretch to think that if school becomes nothing but a drag for the kids, then the kids will tune out. They won’t try, they won’t excel and they definitely won’t succeed. When I was in school, I could pretty much count on the first day to be a bit of a free one; after that, we were off and running. Friends, we’re halfway through the third week, and with the massive schedule changes called for by the state along with all the pre-testing going on, learning has been, at best, limited in many classes. If a benchmark is a standard by which something can be measured or judged, surely the way we are doing things can’t be judged favorably.
"I would really like to teach, one day..." another teacher said. I imagine the kids, the ones who haven’t tuned out already, would really like to learn one day as well.
At the end of the day, I always return to my base to take care of whatever I can. There, I am surrounded by English and Reading teachers, some of whom were particularly frustrated today. It seems that it just came down the pike that they are to administer benchmark tests this Thursday and Friday. Benchmark tests, in theory, provide data on where the kids are; I say "in theory", because quite often, kids don’t take these tests seriously. It’s gotten to be so bad that teachers have begun bribing kids with extra credit in order to try to get them to try.
The benchmark tests themselves aren’t the problem; even though they duplicate a lot of the information that teachers can already get from looking at a student's F-CAT scores, they can be useful. Now, they are also being given earlier this year than ever before, and the teachers who have to administer them would have liked more than a 24-hour notice, but, like I said - if the kids try, they can turn out to be a valuable tool.
The problem is that the benchmark tests are coming on the heels of the FAIR test, which came on the heels of the F-CAT Writes test (and that’s just in English class - imagine all the tests the students have been taking in their other classes, too). If you have a high school student at a turn-around school, ask them. I'll bet you will be surprised. Think about this: by the end of the week, English classes will have met 7 times, and one teacher estimated 4 of those days were spent giving some kind of pre- or data-generating test.
In our zeal to collect data, we’re overlooking something very important, and that’s actual teaching. "I would really like to teach, one day..." another teacher said. Yes, folks - it really is all about the data and the F-CAT.
Another problem: I don’t think it’s a real stretch to think that if school becomes nothing but a drag for the kids, then the kids will tune out. They won’t try, they won’t excel and they definitely won’t succeed. When I was in school, I could pretty much count on the first day to be a bit of a free one; after that, we were off and running. Friends, we’re halfway through the third week, and with the massive schedule changes called for by the state along with all the pre-testing going on, learning has been, at best, limited in many classes. If a benchmark is a standard by which something can be measured or judged, surely the way we are doing things can’t be judged favorably.
"I would really like to teach, one day..." another teacher said. I imagine the kids, the ones who haven’t tuned out already, would really like to learn one day as well.
Monday, September 6, 2010
The price of labor
There I am, on the cover of the Florida Times Union. It’s just a headshot, but it’s still pretty neat. The article is talking about how much money people in different professions make. In case you are wondering, it says $40,000 next to my picture. That’s forty thousand before taxes and after nine years of teaching. I am starting my tenth year.
My first contract was for $26,600, and even though that’s considerably less than what I make now, ten years ago it seemed like a lot more. I remember by Christmas that first year I had nearly $4,000 in the bank. Flash-forward a decade and I am little more than paycheck-to-paycheck.
That’s okay though - I get by and I knew when I started that you don’t go into education to get rich. You do so because you believe in service and you know much of your payments will come in the form of the knowledge that you have made a difference and impacted a child’s life. There’s also something awesome about nailing a lesson and seeing a light go off above a child’s head as they finally get what you are selling. Yes, you don’t go into education to get rich - well, unless you plan to work for the district office, that is.
Next to me in the paper was Bonnie Upright. I have never met her and, to be honest, I don’t know what the Director of Strategic Partnerships does, though I hope it’s important and she is doing a good job. I do know that her salary was listed and it was more than three times mine at $129,000.
I also know that of the thirty-three school board employees that make over a $100,000, topped by our superintendent’s whopping $270,000, a handful are principals but the vast majority make up the superintendent’s inner circle. I also know that members of the district staff (those employees who don’t work directly with children but perform some other tasks) typically make a lot more than teachers as well. I counted eighteen ESE support staff and they averaged $78,000 though by "support" I mean they often make my job more difficult and challenging. Just write a FBA they say, like it’s nothing and I have nothing else to do.
I have heard the argument that to get top quality people you have to pay top dollar, though, I imagine there are a few thousand teachers who are little more than paycheck-to-paycheck, who live in fear of an ordinary occurrence like a child getting sick or a car needing new tires, who would disagree that Duval County is practicing that policy - at least top-to-bottom, that is. Now please don’t get me wrong: I am all for people making as much as they can. I just think that when you work in public education, the high end should be on the bottom, not on the top. I think the people in the classroom - those making the actual difference in children’s lives- are the ones who should be taken care of, first.
I will close by saying I am doing okay. Now, some weeks I have to write a check at Publix the Wednesday before payday, but I am managing - and, like I said, I get the vast majority of my payment in other ways.
My first contract was for $26,600, and even though that’s considerably less than what I make now, ten years ago it seemed like a lot more. I remember by Christmas that first year I had nearly $4,000 in the bank. Flash-forward a decade and I am little more than paycheck-to-paycheck.
That’s okay though - I get by and I knew when I started that you don’t go into education to get rich. You do so because you believe in service and you know much of your payments will come in the form of the knowledge that you have made a difference and impacted a child’s life. There’s also something awesome about nailing a lesson and seeing a light go off above a child’s head as they finally get what you are selling. Yes, you don’t go into education to get rich - well, unless you plan to work for the district office, that is.
Next to me in the paper was Bonnie Upright. I have never met her and, to be honest, I don’t know what the Director of Strategic Partnerships does, though I hope it’s important and she is doing a good job. I do know that her salary was listed and it was more than three times mine at $129,000.
I also know that of the thirty-three school board employees that make over a $100,000, topped by our superintendent’s whopping $270,000, a handful are principals but the vast majority make up the superintendent’s inner circle. I also know that members of the district staff (those employees who don’t work directly with children but perform some other tasks) typically make a lot more than teachers as well. I counted eighteen ESE support staff and they averaged $78,000 though by "support" I mean they often make my job more difficult and challenging. Just write a FBA they say, like it’s nothing and I have nothing else to do.
I have heard the argument that to get top quality people you have to pay top dollar, though, I imagine there are a few thousand teachers who are little more than paycheck-to-paycheck, who live in fear of an ordinary occurrence like a child getting sick or a car needing new tires, who would disagree that Duval County is practicing that policy - at least top-to-bottom, that is. Now please don’t get me wrong: I am all for people making as much as they can. I just think that when you work in public education, the high end should be on the bottom, not on the top. I think the people in the classroom - those making the actual difference in children’s lives- are the ones who should be taken care of, first.
I will close by saying I am doing okay. Now, some weeks I have to write a check at Publix the Wednesday before payday, but I am managing - and, like I said, I get the vast majority of my payment in other ways.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Hit it with a sledge hammer, the group story
While waiting for a flight, a mid-level bureaucrat read a pamphlet about how kids should work together in groups and now it has become all the rage - as in, it is inducing rage within the district's teachers.
Teachers are required to have group justifications at the ready, and there is even a part of the two-page lesson plan form dedicated to it. Most classrooms are no longer set up in the traditional row format that was good enough for you and me and the generations and generations of students that preceded us; now they prefer a new 'pod' configuration.
Don’t get me wrong - I see some good with students working in groups; some kids can learn from other kids and some kids can teach other kids. The group should definitely be in a teacher’s bag of tricks. Though, (like most changes that the state forces down the throat of education without a care as to what is best for teachers and students preferring to go with the fad of the moment) the application quickly goes off the rails.
I find that in most groups there is usually one kid who takes the lead, and not always by choice. Then, there is usually at least one (though often more students) who ride the leader's coat-tails to success. You can see them not contributing, just copying. And if all they are doing is copying, you know very little learning is going on. Furthermore, I know kids who don’t like to be in groups, preferring, instead, to work alone - and they are not uni-bombers in the making it, that’s just who they are. I hated grouping up when I was in school, yet daily I find myself saying "now, work on this in your group".
I am not against classroom groups, and, in fact, am a big believer of grouping children by ability. I am just against the state's heavy-handed 'hit it with a sledgehammer' approach. Teachers have always paired up high-achieving and low-achieving students, and teachers have always had group assignments for special projects. Instead of saying this is a cure-all that will save education, (especially when those in the actual classrooms know it’s not), why don’t they send teachers the data (if it exists) and encourage it. Forcing classes to group up even for the most trivial assignments flies in the face of what has worked in education since Plato rounded up some kids to talk about some folks trapped in a cave. Once again, it’s bureaucrats versus teachers and the bureaucrats are winning and education is losing.
The state knows one speed and that’s 'hit it with a sledgehammer' and ram it down the throats of teachers and students alike.
Teachers are required to have group justifications at the ready, and there is even a part of the two-page lesson plan form dedicated to it. Most classrooms are no longer set up in the traditional row format that was good enough for you and me and the generations and generations of students that preceded us; now they prefer a new 'pod' configuration.
Don’t get me wrong - I see some good with students working in groups; some kids can learn from other kids and some kids can teach other kids. The group should definitely be in a teacher’s bag of tricks. Though, (like most changes that the state forces down the throat of education without a care as to what is best for teachers and students preferring to go with the fad of the moment) the application quickly goes off the rails.
I find that in most groups there is usually one kid who takes the lead, and not always by choice. Then, there is usually at least one (though often more students) who ride the leader's coat-tails to success. You can see them not contributing, just copying. And if all they are doing is copying, you know very little learning is going on. Furthermore, I know kids who don’t like to be in groups, preferring, instead, to work alone - and they are not uni-bombers in the making it, that’s just who they are. I hated grouping up when I was in school, yet daily I find myself saying "now, work on this in your group".
I am not against classroom groups, and, in fact, am a big believer of grouping children by ability. I am just against the state's heavy-handed 'hit it with a sledgehammer' approach. Teachers have always paired up high-achieving and low-achieving students, and teachers have always had group assignments for special projects. Instead of saying this is a cure-all that will save education, (especially when those in the actual classrooms know it’s not), why don’t they send teachers the data (if it exists) and encourage it. Forcing classes to group up even for the most trivial assignments flies in the face of what has worked in education since Plato rounded up some kids to talk about some folks trapped in a cave. Once again, it’s bureaucrats versus teachers and the bureaucrats are winning and education is losing.
The state knows one speed and that’s 'hit it with a sledgehammer' and ram it down the throats of teachers and students alike.
Give them (our children) a chance
I called the University of North Florida and asked them what a full time college schedule was. They told me it was four classes. I asked the lady who picked up if I could take eight at a time. At first I believe she thought I was joking. When I assured her I wasn’t she said I would have to get a special override but it was unlikely that I would get permission. That’s just to many classes, she said.
I called Jacksonville University and asked them what a full time college schedule was. They told me it was four classes. I asked the lady who picked up if I could take eight at a time. At first I believe she thought I was joking. When I assured her I wasn’t she said I would have to get a special override but it was unlikely that I would get permission. It would be crazy to take that many classes, she said.
I called Florida State College at Jacksonville and asked them what a full time college schedule was. They told me it was four classes. I asked the lady who picked up if I could take eight at a time. At first I believe she thought I was joking. When I assured her I wasn’t she said I would have to get a special override but it was unlikely that I would get permission. I have never heard of anybody ever taking that many classes, she said.
I didn’t have the heart to tell the lady that’s how many classes all the students in public high school here in Jacksonville take. That’s right they all take eight classes double what would be considered full time in college.
Furthermore when I was in college I made sure if I could to put some fun class in my schedule. A class I enjoyed not just some hoop I had to jump through to get to the next level. Many of our kids today don’t have that luxury. They are taking eight academic classes at a time. It’s not uncommon for children to have two maths or two English’s concurrently on their schedule and furthermore some take both a class and it’s prerequisite at the same time. Many students go without electives.
There are undoubtedly some kids who would fail if all they were taking just one or two classes but at the same time how aren’t we overloading many of the children attending our schools.
It’s not just the amount of classes that they are taking that are holding many of our high school students back either.
High school starts for most schools at 7:30 and this means most students get up much earlier. This is how we have set it up for the group of children that most experts say need the most rest. We are doing the opposite of what’s best for them putting them in a position that assures that in actually they are getting the least. Also if this is the group we want off the streets the most why do we put them back on the streets, in most cases at 1:45, the earliest.
Furthermore classes are way to long. This fast food, video game generation is not programmed to sit in a class for ninety minutes at a time, simply put they don’t have the attention span. Invariably this leads to instruction time being lost in many classes and in more than a few this leads to discipline problems as well. If classes were fifty minutes, coincidently enough the same length as the majority of college classes’, kids would be distracted less and focused more.
If we are determined to keep kids on the block schedule what about switching it back to when children only took four classes at a time. Not only would this stop forcing some kids to take both the prerequisite for a class and the class or two math’s and two English’s at a time but it would make things fair. The only reason I know of that the district switched to an A/B block schedule (eight classes at a time) is so students taking Advanced Placement classes would still be taking them at the end of the year when the tests were offered.
Though and I understand reasonable people can disagree, I think the best schedule is a six period day that is fifty minutes to an hour long where at least one elective could be worked in that starts later in the day. Shouldn’t we give more of these growing kids filled with hormones, who by nature are already sleep deprived, who have short attention spans, many of who have absent parents and live in neighborhoods that don’t care about education, at least, at the very least a fighting chance.
You hear all the time about what parents and the community should be doing and about what teachers should be doing more of. Well what about the system? It currently sets up many high school students to fail or to be mediocre at best. What changes are they making? How are they making things better?
I called Jacksonville University and asked them what a full time college schedule was. They told me it was four classes. I asked the lady who picked up if I could take eight at a time. At first I believe she thought I was joking. When I assured her I wasn’t she said I would have to get a special override but it was unlikely that I would get permission. It would be crazy to take that many classes, she said.
I called Florida State College at Jacksonville and asked them what a full time college schedule was. They told me it was four classes. I asked the lady who picked up if I could take eight at a time. At first I believe she thought I was joking. When I assured her I wasn’t she said I would have to get a special override but it was unlikely that I would get permission. I have never heard of anybody ever taking that many classes, she said.
I didn’t have the heart to tell the lady that’s how many classes all the students in public high school here in Jacksonville take. That’s right they all take eight classes double what would be considered full time in college.
Furthermore when I was in college I made sure if I could to put some fun class in my schedule. A class I enjoyed not just some hoop I had to jump through to get to the next level. Many of our kids today don’t have that luxury. They are taking eight academic classes at a time. It’s not uncommon for children to have two maths or two English’s concurrently on their schedule and furthermore some take both a class and it’s prerequisite at the same time. Many students go without electives.
There are undoubtedly some kids who would fail if all they were taking just one or two classes but at the same time how aren’t we overloading many of the children attending our schools.
It’s not just the amount of classes that they are taking that are holding many of our high school students back either.
High school starts for most schools at 7:30 and this means most students get up much earlier. This is how we have set it up for the group of children that most experts say need the most rest. We are doing the opposite of what’s best for them putting them in a position that assures that in actually they are getting the least. Also if this is the group we want off the streets the most why do we put them back on the streets, in most cases at 1:45, the earliest.
Furthermore classes are way to long. This fast food, video game generation is not programmed to sit in a class for ninety minutes at a time, simply put they don’t have the attention span. Invariably this leads to instruction time being lost in many classes and in more than a few this leads to discipline problems as well. If classes were fifty minutes, coincidently enough the same length as the majority of college classes’, kids would be distracted less and focused more.
If we are determined to keep kids on the block schedule what about switching it back to when children only took four classes at a time. Not only would this stop forcing some kids to take both the prerequisite for a class and the class or two math’s and two English’s at a time but it would make things fair. The only reason I know of that the district switched to an A/B block schedule (eight classes at a time) is so students taking Advanced Placement classes would still be taking them at the end of the year when the tests were offered.
Though and I understand reasonable people can disagree, I think the best schedule is a six period day that is fifty minutes to an hour long where at least one elective could be worked in that starts later in the day. Shouldn’t we give more of these growing kids filled with hormones, who by nature are already sleep deprived, who have short attention spans, many of who have absent parents and live in neighborhoods that don’t care about education, at least, at the very least a fighting chance.
You hear all the time about what parents and the community should be doing and about what teachers should be doing more of. Well what about the system? It currently sets up many high school students to fail or to be mediocre at best. What changes are they making? How are they making things better?
Call Teachers Daingerfields, after all they get no respect
“Must be nice to have Summers, holidays and spring break” “Oh, you have it so rough,” Most teachers hear that and more from people who have never so much as chaperoned a field trip. Most people don’t think they can be doctors or rocket scientists , but for some reason people think they can be teachers as if all it takes is showing up. Then at the same time think teachers should be miracle workers. Teachers should be able to take any child regardless of home environment, ability or a lack of resources and make them Ivey league material, that’s if they aren’t lazy teachers. Teachers have without a doubt become the Rodney Dangerfield’s of society. Teachers get no respect.
There was a time when it was the opposite. Teachers were revered and valued. In 2010, teachers have to scrape for supplies and are just as likely to be treated with disrespect by a parent as they are a student. “It’s not my babies fault they ______ (fill in the blank with whatever), parents will justify junior’s bad behavior. But it’s even worse than that as the whole profession is under attack by elements both in the government and society as well. These ‘leaders’ really have no idea what they are talking about, use manipulative and deceptive information through mass media, and obviously consider teachers as a lazy group, filling a role anybody could do.
So those in the Ivory Tower need to create a diversion, a need to fix society’s problems. These leaders kick up noise about an epidemic of bad teachers. Test scores are low, a significant amount of kids can’t read on grade level and kids are dropping out, get pregnant, doing drugs, skipping class, sleeping in school, etc.. And the blame is shifted to: teachers and the education unions. There is no mention of how parental involvement and personal responsibility factor into determining a students success. Meanwhile states all across the nation are slashing education budgets. Teachers are told to do more with less. Every school district has policies in place to fire bad teachers and the unions are there just to make sure those policies are followed.
Go ahead and admit it. At some point you probably thought to yourself, “Well if I wasn’t doing what I do now, I be a teacher to have summers and holidays off.” Maybe even more people have thought: ”How hard could it be? They’re just kids.” Teachers have it so much easier than those of us in the ‘real’ world of work.
Teachers every day in Jacksonville are cursed out, assaulted and have their wallet, car keys, or other possessions vandalized or stolen. I wonder how many people in office jobs can attest to having the same things happen?
Like many people in many professions teachers provide many of their own tools and supplies. Unlike many people in many professions, teachers have had to provide many others their tools and supplies, too. Teachers selflessly give to other people’s children: clothes, back packs, books, grocery store gift cards, hundreds of lunches, mountains of paper, folders and pens and pencils.
Teachers are paid for only work seven and a third hours a day. Most teachers however work several extra hours a day, into the evenings and on weekends too. Teachers sacrifice time with their friends and families to do so and they do it all for free. I would guess the average teacher works at least ten extra, ten free hours a week.
Teachers aren’t living in the lap of luxury either. Over the summer teachers are basically unemployed. Many teachers get second jobs during the year and over the summer. Most teachers I know live pay check to paycheck in fear of a smoking engine, a child’s illness or some other emergency that professionals in different fields would quickly just write off. People become teachers knowing they will never be rich; but is it too much to ask that they be able to pay their bills and that they don’t have to live in fear of even the most mundane happenings that life throws at them?
There’s another thing that people routinely forget too. Teachers are professionals. They need degrees and certifications and they must continually work on their craft, taking classes or workshops to be recertified. When do they do this? Well often it’s the evenings or during their supposed summers off.
The modern teacher also has very little control over their classroom. Initiative, innovation, and creativity have all been replaced with pacing guides, the test and standarized classrooms. Imagine going into art or music but you are only allowed to paint one picture or play one song. Teachers are all but told teach to the test, helping children learn how to think has been replaced by helping children learn how to pass a test. Furthermore falling behind or deviating from the curriculum to help their students understand is becoming more and more acceptable.
Being a teacher takes professional credentials, an enthusiasm to put yourself on the line to all different types of children and families and it takes a willingness to know you may never be able to provide for your children they way you want to, while at the same time providing for others. It’s not an easy job. People just can’t show up and do it. And for every bad one the talking heads point to there are hundreds of good ones.
Teachers all have one thing in common. They do what they do to make a difference in kid’s lives. Teachers believe in service and giving back to society and still do so, though lately teachers seemed to be more denigrated than appreciated. Teachers don’t ask for a lot, you can look at our pay checks and see that, so how about just a little respect, you might be surprised how far it gets you, your children and society.
There was a time when it was the opposite. Teachers were revered and valued. In 2010, teachers have to scrape for supplies and are just as likely to be treated with disrespect by a parent as they are a student. “It’s not my babies fault they ______ (fill in the blank with whatever), parents will justify junior’s bad behavior. But it’s even worse than that as the whole profession is under attack by elements both in the government and society as well. These ‘leaders’ really have no idea what they are talking about, use manipulative and deceptive information through mass media, and obviously consider teachers as a lazy group, filling a role anybody could do.
So those in the Ivory Tower need to create a diversion, a need to fix society’s problems. These leaders kick up noise about an epidemic of bad teachers. Test scores are low, a significant amount of kids can’t read on grade level and kids are dropping out, get pregnant, doing drugs, skipping class, sleeping in school, etc.. And the blame is shifted to: teachers and the education unions. There is no mention of how parental involvement and personal responsibility factor into determining a students success. Meanwhile states all across the nation are slashing education budgets. Teachers are told to do more with less. Every school district has policies in place to fire bad teachers and the unions are there just to make sure those policies are followed.
Go ahead and admit it. At some point you probably thought to yourself, “Well if I wasn’t doing what I do now, I be a teacher to have summers and holidays off.” Maybe even more people have thought: ”How hard could it be? They’re just kids.” Teachers have it so much easier than those of us in the ‘real’ world of work.
Teachers every day in Jacksonville are cursed out, assaulted and have their wallet, car keys, or other possessions vandalized or stolen. I wonder how many people in office jobs can attest to having the same things happen?
Like many people in many professions teachers provide many of their own tools and supplies. Unlike many people in many professions, teachers have had to provide many others their tools and supplies, too. Teachers selflessly give to other people’s children: clothes, back packs, books, grocery store gift cards, hundreds of lunches, mountains of paper, folders and pens and pencils.
Teachers are paid for only work seven and a third hours a day. Most teachers however work several extra hours a day, into the evenings and on weekends too. Teachers sacrifice time with their friends and families to do so and they do it all for free. I would guess the average teacher works at least ten extra, ten free hours a week.
Teachers aren’t living in the lap of luxury either. Over the summer teachers are basically unemployed. Many teachers get second jobs during the year and over the summer. Most teachers I know live pay check to paycheck in fear of a smoking engine, a child’s illness or some other emergency that professionals in different fields would quickly just write off. People become teachers knowing they will never be rich; but is it too much to ask that they be able to pay their bills and that they don’t have to live in fear of even the most mundane happenings that life throws at them?
There’s another thing that people routinely forget too. Teachers are professionals. They need degrees and certifications and they must continually work on their craft, taking classes or workshops to be recertified. When do they do this? Well often it’s the evenings or during their supposed summers off.
The modern teacher also has very little control over their classroom. Initiative, innovation, and creativity have all been replaced with pacing guides, the test and standarized classrooms. Imagine going into art or music but you are only allowed to paint one picture or play one song. Teachers are all but told teach to the test, helping children learn how to think has been replaced by helping children learn how to pass a test. Furthermore falling behind or deviating from the curriculum to help their students understand is becoming more and more acceptable.
Being a teacher takes professional credentials, an enthusiasm to put yourself on the line to all different types of children and families and it takes a willingness to know you may never be able to provide for your children they way you want to, while at the same time providing for others. It’s not an easy job. People just can’t show up and do it. And for every bad one the talking heads point to there are hundreds of good ones.
Teachers all have one thing in common. They do what they do to make a difference in kid’s lives. Teachers believe in service and giving back to society and still do so, though lately teachers seemed to be more denigrated than appreciated. Teachers don’t ask for a lot, you can look at our pay checks and see that, so how about just a little respect, you might be surprised how far it gets you, your children and society.
Duped
Generations of African Americans were robbed of their rights and a chance of a decent education here in Jacksonville and that’s not hyperbole that’s just how it was. Exacerbating matters, our cities leaders were resistant to change even as the writing appeared on the wall during the civil rights movement of the sixties. It was kicking and screaming that they agreed to bussing in 1971 when the best solution would have been to provide the proper resources to all the schools regardless of what side of town they were in. Though I can imagine any trepidation the leaders of the black community may have had if that promise would have come through after all they were the recipients of the systematic abuse and discrimination. Unfortunately bussing didn’t work as well as well as some would have hoped.
Children were forced to travel many miles from their homes to unfamiliar parts of town when there was often a neighborhood school close by. African American opponents believed it created problems with discipline and eroded away the cohesiveness of neighborhoods. White opponents claimed their children were being sent to dangerous neighborhoods. Both groups thought it hurt parental involvement and extra-curricular activities and some people think it worsened the problems of economic and racial segregation by encouraging white flight (white families moving to suburbs). It would be disingenuous of me to blame all these problems on the school district because bussing was the nations plan and like the rest of the nation Duval County gave it the old college try.
The next thing the Duval County School District tried was the creation of magnet schools to be located in predominantly African American areas of town. They thought specialized programs could recruit whites to voluntarily travel out of their neighborhoods and they were right. The magnet schools have been an amazing success that at the same time created a whole new set of problems.
They have created a two-tiered system of education of have and have not’s. And however the school board twists the facts they are basically glorified private schools financed by the tax payers dime. Where your students go to school in Jacksonville partly determines what type of education they receive and in a public school system that should be unacceptable. But worse than that the school board has come to believe the hype generated by the academic magnet schools and thinks they can duplicate that success at all the schools and the reality is they can’t, though the school board keeps on trying.
Which begs the question, why do we have academic magnet schools if the graduation requirements such as taking and passing algebra II are the same at all schools. Where preparing every student for college is a laudable goal, it’s also a completely unrealistic goal. Not every child is interested in going to college but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t stimulate their growth, interests and needs too.
The county has practically eliminated the teaching of trades and skills despite the fact that’s a lot closer to what many students want to do and are interested in. Plumbers, electricians, mechanics, carpenters, chefs, cosmetologists and day care workers will never be outsourced to India and many of those professions make as much if not more than professions that require college degrees. Furthermore many of the kids that do go to college will get liberal arts degrees and why don’t we cater to them as well instead of just catering to the math/science crowd.
Somewhere along the way the School Board also initiated an unwritten with a wink and a nod policy of social promotions. If you want proof of this look at the eleven of nineteen failing or turnaround high schools. Children didn’t arrive there and suddenly forget what they had learned. On the contrary they never learned it and were pushed along. I don’t blame elementary and middle school teachers for this. It’s gotten so difficult to fail children and often teachers are called to the mat if they try and do so. Because of this some teachers have told me the C is the new F. The thing is once they get to high school there is nowhere else to promote them to and they are forced to sink or swim with a lot of sinking going on. Social promotions have in effect dumbed down the district, unless of course you are attending one of the academic magnet schools.
If you don’t daily see the frustration on lost children’s faces you might be able to get a sense of the reasoning behind it. Children that fail are more prone to drop out, though what the powers-that-be didn’t take into account was children that have fallen behind don’t always catch up, in fact it’s often the opposite that happens and they fall farther and farther behind.
At the same time the school board started their push to prepare every student for college or what I like to call put every peg regardless of shape into a round hole, they also went soft with discipline too. Like with so many other things they have done I can recognize there may have been some noble reasoning behind it. There was a whole movement afoot for a while, which called for a kinder gentler approach to discipline that the county got behind, unfortunately the county got that wrong as well and have nearly gutted discipline as a result. Many teachers have stopped writing kids up preferring the toxic learning environment rather than being called to the mat for having dared written a referral or have the children receive no consequences for their actions. It’s a waste of my time they often say. Furthermore it doesn’t help that Principal’s evaluations are party determined by how many children they suspend. That effectively takes a tool out of their box when it comes to discipline.
Short of selling drugs or beating up a school board employee it is nearly impossible to remove a child from a school even if they are a constant discipline problem and are failing all their classes. These children often hijack the learning environment and not only stop teachers from doing their job but other students from learning as well. And if you were wondering where civility went to, well you won’t find it at most schools because it’s no longer required. Instead of just preparing children for college, I thought schools had a higher calling and that was to prepare children to be good and productive citizens.
Each of the School Boards quick fixes resulted in even more serious problems. And that’s the problem; they are trying to come up with quick fixes which in some cases are flat out unrealistic as well. They are doing this instead of sitting down and coming up with a cohesive plan that looks at the long term ramifications. Where there are so many students who have been successful despite the school board at the same time the school board has contributed to an ever growing band of students who lack manners and basic skills. Time after time the school board has been filled with good intentions that have gone awry and we all know what is paved with good intentions. I don’t think we as a city can take many more of them
Children were forced to travel many miles from their homes to unfamiliar parts of town when there was often a neighborhood school close by. African American opponents believed it created problems with discipline and eroded away the cohesiveness of neighborhoods. White opponents claimed their children were being sent to dangerous neighborhoods. Both groups thought it hurt parental involvement and extra-curricular activities and some people think it worsened the problems of economic and racial segregation by encouraging white flight (white families moving to suburbs). It would be disingenuous of me to blame all these problems on the school district because bussing was the nations plan and like the rest of the nation Duval County gave it the old college try.
The next thing the Duval County School District tried was the creation of magnet schools to be located in predominantly African American areas of town. They thought specialized programs could recruit whites to voluntarily travel out of their neighborhoods and they were right. The magnet schools have been an amazing success that at the same time created a whole new set of problems.
They have created a two-tiered system of education of have and have not’s. And however the school board twists the facts they are basically glorified private schools financed by the tax payers dime. Where your students go to school in Jacksonville partly determines what type of education they receive and in a public school system that should be unacceptable. But worse than that the school board has come to believe the hype generated by the academic magnet schools and thinks they can duplicate that success at all the schools and the reality is they can’t, though the school board keeps on trying.
Which begs the question, why do we have academic magnet schools if the graduation requirements such as taking and passing algebra II are the same at all schools. Where preparing every student for college is a laudable goal, it’s also a completely unrealistic goal. Not every child is interested in going to college but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t stimulate their growth, interests and needs too.
The county has practically eliminated the teaching of trades and skills despite the fact that’s a lot closer to what many students want to do and are interested in. Plumbers, electricians, mechanics, carpenters, chefs, cosmetologists and day care workers will never be outsourced to India and many of those professions make as much if not more than professions that require college degrees. Furthermore many of the kids that do go to college will get liberal arts degrees and why don’t we cater to them as well instead of just catering to the math/science crowd.
Somewhere along the way the School Board also initiated an unwritten with a wink and a nod policy of social promotions. If you want proof of this look at the eleven of nineteen failing or turnaround high schools. Children didn’t arrive there and suddenly forget what they had learned. On the contrary they never learned it and were pushed along. I don’t blame elementary and middle school teachers for this. It’s gotten so difficult to fail children and often teachers are called to the mat if they try and do so. Because of this some teachers have told me the C is the new F. The thing is once they get to high school there is nowhere else to promote them to and they are forced to sink or swim with a lot of sinking going on. Social promotions have in effect dumbed down the district, unless of course you are attending one of the academic magnet schools.
If you don’t daily see the frustration on lost children’s faces you might be able to get a sense of the reasoning behind it. Children that fail are more prone to drop out, though what the powers-that-be didn’t take into account was children that have fallen behind don’t always catch up, in fact it’s often the opposite that happens and they fall farther and farther behind.
At the same time the school board started their push to prepare every student for college or what I like to call put every peg regardless of shape into a round hole, they also went soft with discipline too. Like with so many other things they have done I can recognize there may have been some noble reasoning behind it. There was a whole movement afoot for a while, which called for a kinder gentler approach to discipline that the county got behind, unfortunately the county got that wrong as well and have nearly gutted discipline as a result. Many teachers have stopped writing kids up preferring the toxic learning environment rather than being called to the mat for having dared written a referral or have the children receive no consequences for their actions. It’s a waste of my time they often say. Furthermore it doesn’t help that Principal’s evaluations are party determined by how many children they suspend. That effectively takes a tool out of their box when it comes to discipline.
Short of selling drugs or beating up a school board employee it is nearly impossible to remove a child from a school even if they are a constant discipline problem and are failing all their classes. These children often hijack the learning environment and not only stop teachers from doing their job but other students from learning as well. And if you were wondering where civility went to, well you won’t find it at most schools because it’s no longer required. Instead of just preparing children for college, I thought schools had a higher calling and that was to prepare children to be good and productive citizens.
Each of the School Boards quick fixes resulted in even more serious problems. And that’s the problem; they are trying to come up with quick fixes which in some cases are flat out unrealistic as well. They are doing this instead of sitting down and coming up with a cohesive plan that looks at the long term ramifications. Where there are so many students who have been successful despite the school board at the same time the school board has contributed to an ever growing band of students who lack manners and basic skills. Time after time the school board has been filled with good intentions that have gone awry and we all know what is paved with good intentions. I don’t think we as a city can take many more of them
How the airline industry ruined education
Gather around children and let me tell you the story about how the air line industry ruined education.
Not so long ago a faceless man who worked for the state government who has never been in a classroom and didn’t particularly like kids while waiting for a plane read an article on data driven classrooms. It was undoubtedly written by somebody perched high up an ivory tower of academia who also undoubtedly had either never been in a classroom or it was so long they might as well have never been in a classroom.
A light bulb went off over the head of our intrepid public servant and he hatched upon the most dangerous of things for people of his ilk, an idea. When he got back to his office after all the lobbyists and special interests left he then wrote a memo titled “Data Driven Classrooms, what is needed to save education.” Pretty much he googled the original article, cut and pasted it and threw in a few grammatical errors for believability’s sake. When he was done he then went home to his 2.3 children and even though it wasn’t the second Tuesday of the month made love to his wife, after all he had just saved education.
The memo eventually made it to a state senator who also had never been in a classroom and didn’t particularly like kids, first they don't vote and second if he did he wouldn’t have been part of the government that cut education by 1.3 billion dollars over the last four years. And in between stuffing his pockets with campaign contributions and planning tax breaks for companies or people who didn’t need them, realized he hadn’t done anything in a while that would give the little people, or what he liked to call “the voters” back home the impression that he cared. So he decided to act upon the memo.
The memo became a bill which the rest of congressmen and senators none who also had never been in a classroom or particularly liked kids, because if they did they wouldn’t have been part of a government that funded education at the lowest level in the country, that’s fiftieth out of fifty, liked what they read. They too felt like they hadn’t showed the people back home much love and that they cared about the fates of them and their families even if they weren’t lobbyists or special interests. Also with elections fast approaching something had to be done to justify their continued employment. Since this was the case the bill easily past and landed on the governor’s desk.
The governor who had never been in a classroom and who didn’t particularly like children himself, who was also part of the administration that only spent a total of 3.1 percent of its resources on education saw the bill and thought, this has a good chance of making people think I care so he signed the bill into law. He knew that he needed the people to think he cared if he wanted to be a United States Senator one day.
The faceless man, all the people in the state legislature and the governor then went to their homes and made love to their wives despite the fact it wasn’t the second Tuesday of the month after all they had saved education. It didn’t matter that they had never been in classrooms and didn’t particularly like children. Now this is where the story really gets going.
A copy of the bill then went to the superintendents in their ivory towers of academia throughout the state, none of whom had been in a classroom for quite some time and in many cases so long it was as if they had never been in one. They passed the bill on to the principals and with a wag of thier fingers commanded make it so. The principals none who have been in a classroom for a while, having left some time ago then told their vice principals and administrators all who had chosen to work in education but not with children to make it so.
They then went out into the classrooms and asked well how can you know if children are learning and how can you know which students need extra help without data notebooks and don’t give me that, you work directly with the children, you have gotten to know them and that combining that with how they do on their assignments tells you how they are doing nonsense. The bill passed by the state legislature says it’s impossible to know that stuff without a data notebook and thus it must be true.
They then said, you must spend untold hours gathering information and putting it in volumes and where I can’t officially tell you to do it on your time but with a wink and a nod you know what I actually mean. If you don’t your evaluations will suffer, your jobs will be in jeopardy and worse of all it will be impossible for learning to occur.
What none of these people understood or if they did, they didn’t care, was that the creation of massive data notebooks wasn’t going to save education. At best the data notebooks would give teachers the same information they would receive if they spent just a few days with the typical student or just reviewed their cumulative file and previous report cards or talked to their former teachers. At worse it was going to interfere with the learning process because it was going to create many more hours of unpaid work for teachers to do. Teachers would now be forced to be away from their friends and families and instead of working on tasks important to the teaching process, like say actually teaching. Now teachers would have to concentrate on creating cumbersome data notebooks instead. Like I said none of those people understood or if they did cared
And that children is how education was ruined by the airline industry and exactly how it happened too.
Not so long ago a faceless man who worked for the state government who has never been in a classroom and didn’t particularly like kids while waiting for a plane read an article on data driven classrooms. It was undoubtedly written by somebody perched high up an ivory tower of academia who also undoubtedly had either never been in a classroom or it was so long they might as well have never been in a classroom.
A light bulb went off over the head of our intrepid public servant and he hatched upon the most dangerous of things for people of his ilk, an idea. When he got back to his office after all the lobbyists and special interests left he then wrote a memo titled “Data Driven Classrooms, what is needed to save education.” Pretty much he googled the original article, cut and pasted it and threw in a few grammatical errors for believability’s sake. When he was done he then went home to his 2.3 children and even though it wasn’t the second Tuesday of the month made love to his wife, after all he had just saved education.
The memo eventually made it to a state senator who also had never been in a classroom and didn’t particularly like kids, first they don't vote and second if he did he wouldn’t have been part of the government that cut education by 1.3 billion dollars over the last four years. And in between stuffing his pockets with campaign contributions and planning tax breaks for companies or people who didn’t need them, realized he hadn’t done anything in a while that would give the little people, or what he liked to call “the voters” back home the impression that he cared. So he decided to act upon the memo.
The memo became a bill which the rest of congressmen and senators none who also had never been in a classroom or particularly liked kids, because if they did they wouldn’t have been part of a government that funded education at the lowest level in the country, that’s fiftieth out of fifty, liked what they read. They too felt like they hadn’t showed the people back home much love and that they cared about the fates of them and their families even if they weren’t lobbyists or special interests. Also with elections fast approaching something had to be done to justify their continued employment. Since this was the case the bill easily past and landed on the governor’s desk.
The governor who had never been in a classroom and who didn’t particularly like children himself, who was also part of the administration that only spent a total of 3.1 percent of its resources on education saw the bill and thought, this has a good chance of making people think I care so he signed the bill into law. He knew that he needed the people to think he cared if he wanted to be a United States Senator one day.
The faceless man, all the people in the state legislature and the governor then went to their homes and made love to their wives despite the fact it wasn’t the second Tuesday of the month after all they had saved education. It didn’t matter that they had never been in classrooms and didn’t particularly like children. Now this is where the story really gets going.
A copy of the bill then went to the superintendents in their ivory towers of academia throughout the state, none of whom had been in a classroom for quite some time and in many cases so long it was as if they had never been in one. They passed the bill on to the principals and with a wag of thier fingers commanded make it so. The principals none who have been in a classroom for a while, having left some time ago then told their vice principals and administrators all who had chosen to work in education but not with children to make it so.
They then went out into the classrooms and asked well how can you know if children are learning and how can you know which students need extra help without data notebooks and don’t give me that, you work directly with the children, you have gotten to know them and that combining that with how they do on their assignments tells you how they are doing nonsense. The bill passed by the state legislature says it’s impossible to know that stuff without a data notebook and thus it must be true.
They then said, you must spend untold hours gathering information and putting it in volumes and where I can’t officially tell you to do it on your time but with a wink and a nod you know what I actually mean. If you don’t your evaluations will suffer, your jobs will be in jeopardy and worse of all it will be impossible for learning to occur.
What none of these people understood or if they did, they didn’t care, was that the creation of massive data notebooks wasn’t going to save education. At best the data notebooks would give teachers the same information they would receive if they spent just a few days with the typical student or just reviewed their cumulative file and previous report cards or talked to their former teachers. At worse it was going to interfere with the learning process because it was going to create many more hours of unpaid work for teachers to do. Teachers would now be forced to be away from their friends and families and instead of working on tasks important to the teaching process, like say actually teaching. Now teachers would have to concentrate on creating cumbersome data notebooks instead. Like I said none of those people understood or if they did cared
And that children is how education was ruined by the airline industry and exactly how it happened too.
Creating Criminals
My friend leaned forward to better hear what the administrator was saying. At first he wasn’t sure because he couldn’t imagine a school administrator saying anything close to what he thought he had just heard.
If you want to make merit pay, the first thing we look at is referrals, if you have written a lot of referrals you will not get merit pay. Also If you think you are on the bubble of being retained or being surplused the first thing we look at is referrals, if you have written a lot you may have room for concern. Not even with a wink and a nod here was this leader of teachers telling her staff not to write referrals that to do so could cost them both money and or their jobs.
Sometimes a lot of referrals can be indicative of poor classroom management other times however it can be indicative of poor classes. If a kid doesn’t respond to my teacher voice or look, doesn’t care if I call home, can get on the computer or where they sit. If a kid doesn’t care about school then there is no other option but tot send them out on a referral that way I can teach and other kids can learn. But what do I do now that money and my job are on the line. Well some teachers scared for their futures will endure toxic leaning environments in their classrooms and that leads to a whole host of other problems.
Duval County doesn’t get it. When we fail to discipline, the problems don’t miraculously go away. On the contrary they get worse and they create other problems as well.
This year the Duval County school system will create doctors and lawyers, teachers and business men, they will create engineers, scientists, and accountants too but sadly they will also create more than their fair share of criminals and bad citizens as well. And they will do it at the same schools that your sons and daughters, your nieces or nephews or your neighbor’s kids go to.
If you want evidence think about my friend who was pistol whipped last January during a robbery or my neighbor who was recently gang raped in broad day light on the street or the residents of 45th street and Moncrief who were terrorized for over a year by a gang of street punks. Of the thirteen young men arrested for crimes ranging from homicide to drug possession four are still teenagers. Over the summer a half dozen young men all under the age of 18 were convicted of murder one case involved a pizza another three dollars
If you want further evidence just walk through the halls between classes at most neighborhood schools there is little fear of or respect for authority.
I can point them out to you, the second year freshmen with six F’s and one D on their latest report card. The junior who doesn’t bring any materials to class and tells me he can’t write with a pen only a pencil when I offer him a pen. The multitude of students who have massed dozens of tardies in my class with no penalty, or seem both outraged and confused when I announce to them that we have work to do, something we do even on Fridays. You can also see the girl that hijacks my forth period class every day, yelling at me telling me no, even when I ask the most reasonable of requests like please take your seat and quietly do your work. I could go on and on.
For the most part day after day I let it go. You see I have to pick my battles. If I fight everything then I am considered the problem and my classroom management skills are questioned, or if I write up to many black students it’s whispered that I might be a racist. These are things that as a teacher you don’t want to be thought of as.
In my class students get several opportunities to be disrespectful to me or to refuse my reasonable requests, instead of just the one they should, before I send them out. When I do some students question my logic, they tell me nothing’s going to happen to them and that I will be the one that gets in trouble, though when they say it, expletive deletes usually accompany their words.
Sometimes they are back in a few minutes with cat eating grins on their faces because they were just asked not to do it again, though administrators call it counseling. Other times they receive the most minor of inconveniences, I say inconveniences because for something to be a consequence it has to be meaningful. That’s if even that happens.
A colleague of mine recently stumbled across boxes of unprocessed referrals from last year. I suspect they weren’t processed because referrals affect a schools grade, the only alternative I could think of is the administration is either lazy and doesn’t care or they were directed to ignore the referrals by higher ups. Who cares if children are taught its okay to be defiant, disruptive and disrespectful, which is what happens if they receive no consequences for their actions as long as the school grade improves.
Above isn’t exclusive to my class or school by any means, it happens all across the county and at every grade too. First graders threatening teachers, fifth graders caught having sex, middle schoolers assaulting school board employees and wore are all nearly daily occurrences here in Duval County. A few here and there are removed but most are sent back to their classes with no real consequences where quite often their behavior worsens. A student attacking a teacher and scratching their cornea gets a one dy suspension in at least one county school. Looking up a teachers adress on google maps so they can come visit them later gets a period of in school suspension at another.
When we ignore bad behavior or don’t deliver a real consequence for it, it invariably worsens and why wouldn’t it. I am not a bring swats back to school kind of guy, but what about having children work all day Saturday or after school. Why can’t schools mandate community service hours like the legal system can, and then have the police pick them up to make sure they do it. What do you think happens to children who receive no consequences, well I will tell you, they grow up to be adults who think they can do whatever they want and are easily angered when they can’t. They join gangs, they commit crimes and they are not the person you want sitting next to you at work.
Involved parents of good children don’t think this doesn’t apply to you or your family. What does your child think we he sees no consequences given to the disruptive student, do they think they are cool; do they mimic their behavior or fall into that crowd? Do we want to even take the chance that they might. Furthermore even if they don’t, if a teacher spends just ten percent of his or her time dealing with the unruly student, then your student is missing 18 days worth of instruction. I know teachers who say they spend up to fifty percent of their time working with the students who are discipline problems or don't care. If your child is in one of those classes, do you know how much instruction they are missing? Also what about the child thaat just needs that consequence one time to straighten out, to see the light. Whats going to happen to them if they never get it.
I know what you are thinking and you are right, of course it’s the parents of disruptive children’s responsibility, and yes it is their job to keep these children in line, to raise them right. The thing is, if we know some parents are abdicating their responsibilities, and it is painfully obvious that more than a few are, then isn’t it up to us, society, and the school system to step up and do something because if not us then who. Isn’t it time we stopped just hoping they did the right thing and did the right thing ourselves, regardless of effort or cost.
And the cost being prohibitive is another tired argument, because make no mistake we are already paying for it. Its’ not pay now or pay later, it’s we are already paying now and we are going to have to pay a lot more later. Think about it, we are already paying for it through higher insurance rates, crime and more police on the streets; we are footing the bill with violence and blood. How much is it worth for your daughter not to be raped or your son not to be murdered, or are you just content hoping it doesn’t happen to them, you or somebody else you know or love.
How many of those kids in the 45th street gang did schools make by ignoring their behavior or by giving them no real consequence for it. How many mothers are saying he was such a good boy until he got mixed up in the wrong crowd? How many could we have saved had we done something, my bet is more than a few.
Please don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of good kids here in Duval County the vast majority in fact want nothing more but to come to school and learn. but there are kids that the schools need to look out for, because if they don’t then society will have too.
If you want to make merit pay, the first thing we look at is referrals, if you have written a lot of referrals you will not get merit pay. Also If you think you are on the bubble of being retained or being surplused the first thing we look at is referrals, if you have written a lot you may have room for concern. Not even with a wink and a nod here was this leader of teachers telling her staff not to write referrals that to do so could cost them both money and or their jobs.
Sometimes a lot of referrals can be indicative of poor classroom management other times however it can be indicative of poor classes. If a kid doesn’t respond to my teacher voice or look, doesn’t care if I call home, can get on the computer or where they sit. If a kid doesn’t care about school then there is no other option but tot send them out on a referral that way I can teach and other kids can learn. But what do I do now that money and my job are on the line. Well some teachers scared for their futures will endure toxic leaning environments in their classrooms and that leads to a whole host of other problems.
Duval County doesn’t get it. When we fail to discipline, the problems don’t miraculously go away. On the contrary they get worse and they create other problems as well.
This year the Duval County school system will create doctors and lawyers, teachers and business men, they will create engineers, scientists, and accountants too but sadly they will also create more than their fair share of criminals and bad citizens as well. And they will do it at the same schools that your sons and daughters, your nieces or nephews or your neighbor’s kids go to.
If you want evidence think about my friend who was pistol whipped last January during a robbery or my neighbor who was recently gang raped in broad day light on the street or the residents of 45th street and Moncrief who were terrorized for over a year by a gang of street punks. Of the thirteen young men arrested for crimes ranging from homicide to drug possession four are still teenagers. Over the summer a half dozen young men all under the age of 18 were convicted of murder one case involved a pizza another three dollars
If you want further evidence just walk through the halls between classes at most neighborhood schools there is little fear of or respect for authority.
I can point them out to you, the second year freshmen with six F’s and one D on their latest report card. The junior who doesn’t bring any materials to class and tells me he can’t write with a pen only a pencil when I offer him a pen. The multitude of students who have massed dozens of tardies in my class with no penalty, or seem both outraged and confused when I announce to them that we have work to do, something we do even on Fridays. You can also see the girl that hijacks my forth period class every day, yelling at me telling me no, even when I ask the most reasonable of requests like please take your seat and quietly do your work. I could go on and on.
For the most part day after day I let it go. You see I have to pick my battles. If I fight everything then I am considered the problem and my classroom management skills are questioned, or if I write up to many black students it’s whispered that I might be a racist. These are things that as a teacher you don’t want to be thought of as.
In my class students get several opportunities to be disrespectful to me or to refuse my reasonable requests, instead of just the one they should, before I send them out. When I do some students question my logic, they tell me nothing’s going to happen to them and that I will be the one that gets in trouble, though when they say it, expletive deletes usually accompany their words.
Sometimes they are back in a few minutes with cat eating grins on their faces because they were just asked not to do it again, though administrators call it counseling. Other times they receive the most minor of inconveniences, I say inconveniences because for something to be a consequence it has to be meaningful. That’s if even that happens.
A colleague of mine recently stumbled across boxes of unprocessed referrals from last year. I suspect they weren’t processed because referrals affect a schools grade, the only alternative I could think of is the administration is either lazy and doesn’t care or they were directed to ignore the referrals by higher ups. Who cares if children are taught its okay to be defiant, disruptive and disrespectful, which is what happens if they receive no consequences for their actions as long as the school grade improves.
Above isn’t exclusive to my class or school by any means, it happens all across the county and at every grade too. First graders threatening teachers, fifth graders caught having sex, middle schoolers assaulting school board employees and wore are all nearly daily occurrences here in Duval County. A few here and there are removed but most are sent back to their classes with no real consequences where quite often their behavior worsens. A student attacking a teacher and scratching their cornea gets a one dy suspension in at least one county school. Looking up a teachers adress on google maps so they can come visit them later gets a period of in school suspension at another.
When we ignore bad behavior or don’t deliver a real consequence for it, it invariably worsens and why wouldn’t it. I am not a bring swats back to school kind of guy, but what about having children work all day Saturday or after school. Why can’t schools mandate community service hours like the legal system can, and then have the police pick them up to make sure they do it. What do you think happens to children who receive no consequences, well I will tell you, they grow up to be adults who think they can do whatever they want and are easily angered when they can’t. They join gangs, they commit crimes and they are not the person you want sitting next to you at work.
Involved parents of good children don’t think this doesn’t apply to you or your family. What does your child think we he sees no consequences given to the disruptive student, do they think they are cool; do they mimic their behavior or fall into that crowd? Do we want to even take the chance that they might. Furthermore even if they don’t, if a teacher spends just ten percent of his or her time dealing with the unruly student, then your student is missing 18 days worth of instruction. I know teachers who say they spend up to fifty percent of their time working with the students who are discipline problems or don't care. If your child is in one of those classes, do you know how much instruction they are missing? Also what about the child thaat just needs that consequence one time to straighten out, to see the light. Whats going to happen to them if they never get it.
I know what you are thinking and you are right, of course it’s the parents of disruptive children’s responsibility, and yes it is their job to keep these children in line, to raise them right. The thing is, if we know some parents are abdicating their responsibilities, and it is painfully obvious that more than a few are, then isn’t it up to us, society, and the school system to step up and do something because if not us then who. Isn’t it time we stopped just hoping they did the right thing and did the right thing ourselves, regardless of effort or cost.
And the cost being prohibitive is another tired argument, because make no mistake we are already paying for it. Its’ not pay now or pay later, it’s we are already paying now and we are going to have to pay a lot more later. Think about it, we are already paying for it through higher insurance rates, crime and more police on the streets; we are footing the bill with violence and blood. How much is it worth for your daughter not to be raped or your son not to be murdered, or are you just content hoping it doesn’t happen to them, you or somebody else you know or love.
How many of those kids in the 45th street gang did schools make by ignoring their behavior or by giving them no real consequence for it. How many mothers are saying he was such a good boy until he got mixed up in the wrong crowd? How many could we have saved had we done something, my bet is more than a few.
Please don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of good kids here in Duval County the vast majority in fact want nothing more but to come to school and learn. but there are kids that the schools need to look out for, because if they don’t then society will have too.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Much love for Ribault
You can tell that Tonyaa Weathersbee really loves Raines and Ribault high schools. She writes about them often and she takes any of their successes and contrary to popular opinion there are some, and shouts about them from the rooftops. Unfortunately more often than not, most of the successes fly in the face of overwhelming and systemic failure, though I believe if more people had her passion about those two chronically struggling north side schools they would undoubtedly be doing better.
She recently wrote about Ribault’s fledgling International Baccalaureate or IB program and how important it was and I have to say I agree. I have long thought we should have special programs in the neighborhood schools that play to the strengths and desires of the students. I just think it’s a shame that the program they put into Ribault High School and now several other neighborhood schools only plays to the strengths and desires of a handful of its students. The rest, the vast majority of the children are instead saddled taking a curriculum that many are neither prepared for nor interested in.
I think Tanyaa and the Duval County school district would love for every student to start, excel in and finish a rigorous academic program and if you think about it, who wouldn’t? Unfortunately our schools aren’t populated with the students they or maybe I wish they were. No, they are populated with who we have and at Ribault high school that means most can’t read or write at grade level. It means most won’t graduate on time and it means many will drop out. It means many students have schedules that don’t include electives and even though we don’t like to admit it, they go to a school where many children will have meager future prospects.
Instead of introducing programs to Raines and Ribault that the powers-that-be have created academic magnet schools to house, why don’t they introduce programs that would benefit the majority of the students those two schools have. Furthermore why does the district even have dedicated magnet schools if all the schools are going to have the same programs? And then it’s not like these neighborhood IB programs are very successful anyways. The IB program at Ribault started with about five percent of the schools population finished with less than one percent and graduated just two students.
The fifty-four students who started the program, the thirteen that completed it and the two that actually received the IB diploma should all be applauded but how about we now start serving the needs of the thousand plus other students attending Ribault as well? I’ll tell you why they are not serviced, it’s because the district thought they would throw the struggling neighborhood schools and the neighborhoods themselves a bone and that would be good enough, they figured nobody would question them. After all who would question advanced academic programs.
Well my hand is up. The top kids in the county already have two schools dedicated to them, what about dedicating resources and developing programs to those students who are a few rungs down the latter. How many kids would have graduated a graphic arts, auto mechanic or other skills program had they been offered at Ribault? I bet it would have been more than two, a lot more than two.
When Tanyaa Weathersbee beats the drum about two kids graduating an IB program, as impressive and they may be, she does the schools of Ribault and Raines a disservice. She attempts to convince people that Raines and Ribault are things they are not. She says if these two kids can do it any kid can but the sad truth is, if more could have done it, they already would have done it.
If our school system starts education the kids we have rather than educating them like they were the kids they wish they had, then we might just have a chance of getting a few more through. We might have a chance of putting a few more on the right path. Could we do worse if we decided we wanted to play to kids strengths and desires? I don’t think so, after all, all we would have to do is better than two.
I have to say though; I like Ms. Weatherbees’s passion it’s just her message that I find lacking.
She recently wrote about Ribault’s fledgling International Baccalaureate or IB program and how important it was and I have to say I agree. I have long thought we should have special programs in the neighborhood schools that play to the strengths and desires of the students. I just think it’s a shame that the program they put into Ribault High School and now several other neighborhood schools only plays to the strengths and desires of a handful of its students. The rest, the vast majority of the children are instead saddled taking a curriculum that many are neither prepared for nor interested in.
I think Tanyaa and the Duval County school district would love for every student to start, excel in and finish a rigorous academic program and if you think about it, who wouldn’t? Unfortunately our schools aren’t populated with the students they or maybe I wish they were. No, they are populated with who we have and at Ribault high school that means most can’t read or write at grade level. It means most won’t graduate on time and it means many will drop out. It means many students have schedules that don’t include electives and even though we don’t like to admit it, they go to a school where many children will have meager future prospects.
Instead of introducing programs to Raines and Ribault that the powers-that-be have created academic magnet schools to house, why don’t they introduce programs that would benefit the majority of the students those two schools have. Furthermore why does the district even have dedicated magnet schools if all the schools are going to have the same programs? And then it’s not like these neighborhood IB programs are very successful anyways. The IB program at Ribault started with about five percent of the schools population finished with less than one percent and graduated just two students.
The fifty-four students who started the program, the thirteen that completed it and the two that actually received the IB diploma should all be applauded but how about we now start serving the needs of the thousand plus other students attending Ribault as well? I’ll tell you why they are not serviced, it’s because the district thought they would throw the struggling neighborhood schools and the neighborhoods themselves a bone and that would be good enough, they figured nobody would question them. After all who would question advanced academic programs.
Well my hand is up. The top kids in the county already have two schools dedicated to them, what about dedicating resources and developing programs to those students who are a few rungs down the latter. How many kids would have graduated a graphic arts, auto mechanic or other skills program had they been offered at Ribault? I bet it would have been more than two, a lot more than two.
When Tanyaa Weathersbee beats the drum about two kids graduating an IB program, as impressive and they may be, she does the schools of Ribault and Raines a disservice. She attempts to convince people that Raines and Ribault are things they are not. She says if these two kids can do it any kid can but the sad truth is, if more could have done it, they already would have done it.
If our school system starts education the kids we have rather than educating them like they were the kids they wish they had, then we might just have a chance of getting a few more through. We might have a chance of putting a few more on the right path. Could we do worse if we decided we wanted to play to kids strengths and desires? I don’t think so, after all, all we would have to do is better than two.
I have to say though; I like Ms. Weatherbees’s passion it’s just her message that I find lacking.
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