I wrote this last March when I had decided I'd had enough of being required to lie to young adults. I'm not saying I don't lie. I do. Everyone does. But, I'm not a sociopath and I taught to enlighten, not create even more monsters in the dark.
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/Bridging-Differences/
I have much to say on this, and like the link I posted above, I will soon when not completely worn out from prepping children for tests that in no way render a true evaluation of their skills or knowledge level. As a teacher, (and believe it or not, a pretty damn good one) I am disgusted with the present state and future path of education in America today. The first letter in the above linked article from Education Week is excellent. The description of the Title 1 school in the middle of it could be my school.
I love my kids.
I love my smoked salmon classroom with its stage and red polar fleece curtains.
I love being a teacher when I get to teach.
I don't get to do that much these days, and just like a frustrated sex drive, a frustrated teaching drive combined with threats of job loss and constant criticism from multiple and at times seemingly omnipresent sources (I put a fake ad on craigslist for research -read: writing material to amuse my friends- and was told, via anonymous email, that people like ME are the reason public schools are in the state they are. I corrected his grammar, spelling, and sentence structure and sent it back to him. Dumbass.) can send even the most devoted and idealistic teacher out of the classroom and into a less draining and more respectable job, like Wal-Mart greeter or high-end prostitute.
I am a constant seeker of new (to me) concepts, language, and mentors to improve my own understanding of this ludicrous life and the people and systems that exist within. If we want to stop paying lip service to future leaders of tomorrow (I hate that phrase and all educational hoo-ha that gets thrown around like it actually means something. I got your accountability right here, Asshole...Easy. Not now. Later...breathe), we must first begin to instill respect for learning and the learned and for being learned and then revise our educational system accordingly. Also, we must remember when comparing our "scores" with other developed countries, we are the only country that educates everyone and does our damndest to make sure that all children receive equal access to the degree that we tend to focus on our slower learners while short-changing our more gifted students. Other countries start weeding out lesser performing students in their early teens, sending them to work or vocational training. 100% of our students (75% if you account for the dropout rate; another subject entirely) compete with the top 25% elsewhere. Math totally gives me a rash, but this is so simple, even this mathematically not-so-cunning linguist can see the problem.
Read this. Call me.
Don't kill the messenger. I'm in the trenches fighting this battle over and over again every day as are many other stalwart and idealistic souls who were fighting long before I got here and will continue to do so long after I am gone.
I'm pretty sure if Don Quixote had a day job, it was as an American public school teacher.
Education is not test scores. Testing and textbooks are a business. If you don't believe me, then please explain to me how some ignorant Texan with a Jesus agenda could get Thomas Jefferson removed from history books. Could it be that Texas is the largest purchaser of textbooks in the United States? Or, how a Biology book bought by a college student for $100 one semester has become obsolete by the next semester and can now only be sold back for a fraction of the price. Or, how attendance and test scores, not the actual outcome of the students' lives, determine funding and success rates. Follow the dollar every damn time.
Freeze. Dried. Bullshit.
I understand science is a dynamic field, but every semester? Seriously? We're still trying to get people to accept Evolution as a valid theory. It's been 150 effing years all ready! Maybe when that occurs, science will finally move at a pace that demands new textbooks each semester, but for now, it just reeks of greed to this jaded old cynic.
I heard Texas wasn't doing testing this year through a teacher who knows a teacher in Texas. I will investigate and get back to you. California better get its bankrupt ass together or Kaplan and its ilk will go under. I need a minute...that was such a pleasant thought.
Speaking of pleasant thoughts, I have to go prep to teach "Twelfth Night" tomorrow to 100 14 year olds with screaming Spring Fever. I spent all last nine weeks doing test prep (8th grade writing test and 3rd quarter benchmark) and we were all miserable. Whereas we used to do a pre test and a post test, I've now had to do quarterly benchmarks which means my kids haven't gotten to do half of the projects I've done the last few years that, based on the feedback I still get from former students, were memorable and rich learning experiences they've taken with them and developed into Youtube channels and writing habits. That pleases me.
I haven't even looked at their 3rd quarter scores yet, and frankly, I don't care. For the next seven or eight weeks (when we're not testing), we're going to hang out with Will and Viola and Malvolio and Duke Orsino and Countess Olivia and we're going to hurl Shakespearean insults at one another and have insanely silly sword fights and wear, if possible, even sillier hats while we do it all. Maybe we'll read and write a few sonnets while we listen to Incubus and Public Enemy and enjoy the sheer magical poetry of immortality through art. Yeah. That's it. I like it.
P.S. If you get a chance, check out The Reduced Shakespeare Company's "Complete Works of William Shakespeare: Abridged. Best intro to Shakespeare ever. The kids totally dug it. They may remember Othello as a brother who liked white women and who liked green jello, but at least they'll remember. And, they want to learn more.
Freeze. Dried. Bullshit.
I understand science is a dynamic field, but every semester? Seriously? We're still trying to get people to accept Evolution as a valid theory. It's been 150 effing years all ready! Maybe when that occurs, science will finally move at a pace that demands new textbooks each semester, but for now, it just reeks of greed to this jaded old cynic.
I heard Texas wasn't doing testing this year through a teacher who knows a teacher in Texas. I will investigate and get back to you. California better get its bankrupt ass together or Kaplan and its ilk will go under. I need a minute...that was such a pleasant thought.
Speaking of pleasant thoughts, I have to go prep to teach "Twelfth Night" tomorrow to 100 14 year olds with screaming Spring Fever. I spent all last nine weeks doing test prep (8th grade writing test and 3rd quarter benchmark) and we were all miserable. Whereas we used to do a pre test and a post test, I've now had to do quarterly benchmarks which means my kids haven't gotten to do half of the projects I've done the last few years that, based on the feedback I still get from former students, were memorable and rich learning experiences they've taken with them and developed into Youtube channels and writing habits. That pleases me.
I haven't even looked at their 3rd quarter scores yet, and frankly, I don't care. For the next seven or eight weeks (when we're not testing), we're going to hang out with Will and Viola and Malvolio and Duke Orsino and Countess Olivia and we're going to hurl Shakespearean insults at one another and have insanely silly sword fights and wear, if possible, even sillier hats while we do it all. Maybe we'll read and write a few sonnets while we listen to Incubus and Public Enemy and enjoy the sheer magical poetry of immortality through art. Yeah. That's it. I like it.
P.S. If you get a chance, check out The Reduced Shakespeare Company's "Complete Works of William Shakespeare: Abridged. Best intro to Shakespeare ever. The kids totally dug it. They may remember Othello as a brother who liked white women and who liked green jello, but at least they'll remember. And, they want to learn more.
