Education Without "Stuff"

[Squinch]

4. Absolutely! But now we have this situation where there are so many

administrators who have never been in the classroom (for example, the Principal's Academy in NYC) and have no idea what they are talking about.

A friend, teacher of 31 years (not in NYC), was just observed by an administrator who spent 1 year in a classroom twenty years ago. The teacher teaches special ed in a very low grade and has always had the highest rate in the district of her kids going from her class into general ed and doing well. The administrator gave her low grades because of things that routinely happen in the teacher's classroom, but which didn't happen to occur in the half hour the administrator observed.

The result of all this nonsense is that EVERYONE is treated as if they are a lousy employee.

My advice to this friend was to nod sagely, and say to the administrator, "You're absolutely right. I would like you to teach a few lessons to my class so I can see the correct way of doing it."