Confessions of a Bad Teacher. From today's NY Times

[Smarmie Doofus]

This one hits pretty close to home. The inescapable "logic" of the school "reform" movement followed to its "logical" conclusion.

Mind. Less. Ness.

PLEASE: can we try a different Sec. of Ed in term #2? You know.... one that doesn't tour the country promoting "Newt Gingrich" ideas about "reforming" public education?

*With* Newt Gingrich??!?

That might be a great starting point to rethink this whole issue. And boy.... does the current policy bear rethinking.

From today's NYT:

>>I AM a special education teacher. My students have learning disabilities ranging from autism and attention-deficit disorder to cerebral palsy and emotional disturbances. I love these kids, but they can be a handful. Almost without exception, they struggle on standardized tests, frustrate their teachers and find it hard to connect with their peers. What’s more, these are high school students, so their disabilities are compounded by raging hormones and social pressure.

As you might imagine, my job can be extremely difficult. Beyond the challenges posed by my students, budget cuts and changes to special-education policy have increased my workload drastically even over just the past 18 months. While my class sizes have grown, support staff members have been laid off. Students with increasingly severe disabilities are being pushed into more mainstream classrooms like mine, where they receive less individual attention and struggle to adapt to a curriculum driven by state-designed high-stakes tests.

On top of all that, I’m a bad teacher. That’s not my opinion; it’s how I’m labeled by the city’s Education Department. Last June, my principal at the time rated my teaching “unsatisfactory,” checking off a few boxes on an evaluation sheet that placed my career in limbo. That same year, my school received an “A” rating. I was a bad teacher at a good school. It was pretty humiliating.

the rest:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/04/opinion/sunday/confessions-of-a-bad-teacher.html?src=recg

[cynatnite]

1. Excellent read. n/t

[ibegurpard]

2. k&r

[Lionessa]

3. Not to nitpick, but I'm a tad confused by her/his story.

First it says, "I am a special education teacher."

Then it says, "being pushed into more mainstream classrooms like mine..."

Which is it? Is his/her classroom special ed or mainstream?

Sorry, just a nitpick, but discrepancies like this cause me to worry about credibility of the author.

That all said, we need to get rid of the Sec of Ed, and NCLB, and standardized testing. I also think though that some sort of federal oversight of class and course features are necessary to keep some states and districts from failing to teach proper science and history and such. I know that my national and world history as taught in Texas was nothing like what my ex-hub had learned in Idaho, which I imagine would be even more different in a progressive or liberal district, my thoughts being that the latter would be the most honest and comprehensive, though I have no such proof.

All this ridiculous testing though should stop. Tests are not an accurate gauge of learning. I was a straight A student, graduating at 16 at the 11th top spot in a class of 300+, but I guarantee you it was simply vomiting up what I memorized the day before and I don't recall even half of anything I memorized to pass the tests. Whereas, when I got to college, and at first profs could teach as they saw fit (at Texas A&M I arrived just as they were standardizing classes in many areas, so I left, but at first there was teaching freedom), I became much more interested because the teachers made it interesting instead of rote.

[knitter4democracy]

5. There are mainstreamed special ed classrooms. That's probably his.

There are the classes for the kids who cannot be mainstreamed at all, the classes for mainstreamed kids who just need a special ed class (usually called academic support or advisory or something similar) or two a day for help with some of the basics, and then special ed kids who are entirely mainstreamed and just get help from parapros or special ed team teachers who are in some of their classes.

[knitter4democracy]

4. It's bad science, and it's bad teaching.

Teachers need the freedom to experiment, but with the crazy micro-managers and state-mandated coaches, we're not allowed much freedom any more. We can only use date-driven strategies, but when the data says those don't work with our students, we're told we're not doing them right or that we have to use them anyway.

Meanwhile, I wish I had a better way to reach my 9th graders.

[Lionessa]

6. What subject do you teach?

[knitter4democracy]

8. I'm a long-term ELA sub until the end of the year.

I have Forensics I & II, two classes of English 12, Honors English 11, Honors English 9, College and Career Readiness (aka ACT prep for the state testing next week), and Excel (a homeroom designed to be about raising test scores in our areas--really neat idea but zero curriculum or support). It's a bit much, and I really should be grading and planning right now but am taking a break.

[Smarmie Doofus]

7. I teach special ed. The mismatch between these inane RTTP "reforms" and the reality...

... of teaching kids with severe learning issues is so .... JARRING.... that it's hard to explain to the casual observer.

Which is not to say that the aforementioned "reforms" aren't a disaster in gen ed as well... they most definitely ARE... it's just that their attempted application to special ed is beyond-belief ridiculous.

You have to live it to appreciate how crazy it is. But Mr. Johnson makes a 'better than good start' at mapping it out for the casual observer.

We have to start over in term #2.


HAVE TO!

[Fumesucker]

9. Thanks for what you do...

[Smarmie Doofus]

11. Backatcha. But they do pay me and I do like the work. Or USED to.

It use to be fun.

I still love the kids but now its like working in a death camp.

Everything is bureaucracy, data ( doesn't matter whether it's good data or bad data they just want DATA) legalisms, alignment w. learning standards ( An especially lunatic idea when you consider that some of my kids have measured IQs in the 40s and some are officially "untestable". Their learning activities must still align w. the standards. No, I'm not making it up. 9th grade age kids have to be taught HS algebra whether of not they can add two plus two. Otherwise, we are "out of compliance.&quot .

But thanks.

If you have any pull can you have the President visit my school?


Anyone???

[dickthegrouch]

10. It's a major surprise to me

That any kid in the US manages to graduate. It's an incredible testament to the desire and drive of the ones that do. However, we're seeing the effects more and more of those that don't discipline themselves to succeed. The other difficulty, as is said in the article, is trying to teach all the students the same thing at the same pace.

I was in a Conference Keynote speech this week given by Sal Khan of the Khan Academy and he's been tutoring family members in various math disciplines since about 2003. The results have netted him about $2,000,000 in funding in the last 9 months (after years of doing it on his salary and savings). I'm impressed, and have asked my partner to take some of the tutorials to see if they improve his math skills. (There are a lot of other courses available on the Academy site). The lessons are FREE to anyone (who understands english, currently, they are translating them).

Please visit http://www.khanacademy.org/ for further information.

[proud2BlibKansan]

12. Kick

[Starry Messenger]

13. k&r