so teachers in grades four through eight will be evaluated in a huge system called impact this year. the impact is one which will be felt with many as we are educating students in a school system that is the most broken, if not the worst in the country. the chancellor, who was seen by many on the cover of Time magazine holding a broom in a classroom, appears to want to sweep the whole public school system clean of teachers that she deems inadequate.
talk about not holding the right people responsible. i am all for being held responsible for part of my student's success. however, fifty five percent of my evaluation scores-of which three will be done by my asst. principal, and two will be done by an outside source...a so-called "Master Educator. one of each evaluation from each person will be scheduled one day ahead of time. for the remaining three, we will not be notified.
the score on ONE test...will turn the results in either a direction enabling me to teach again next year for the district, or having me lose my job for not being adequate.
ONE test...which is a grade level assessment, when NONE of my kids that i have in my classroom are at grade level to begin with. three are brand new to the united states and do not even speak a complete sentence in english.
the other clincher is that the results do not even come out until august, which means that many of us will believe we have a position and then depending on the test results, may find ourselves without a job right before school begins.
what the chancellor does not seem to want to acknowledge is the fact that the majority of students in these classrooms across the district are eligible for free lunch. most come from homes where parenting is not well established and education as well as behavior seems to be expected to be taught only in school.
this type of parenting runs rampant in public education.
however, the chancellor really is bringing out her industrial sized broom for this one.
hire amazing teachers with experience, or teachers in teach for america or fellowship programs and then have them gone based on ONE test. what will you be left with. for most of these students, the test is not the most important thing on the table for them. the most important thing is that their home life is disastrous, some do not have breakfast before leaving home, and many do not spend much time at all with their parents. do these children visit the library? do they see their parents curling up with a good book at night?
just take a glance at their language and behavior on the schoolyard one day. what you will see from even first graders will shock you.
this makes me think of a quote heard before..."i care because i teach..."
yes, and i have mice droppings on my desk in the morning as i log in to check my dc gov email in my classroom.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Thursday, September 17, 2009
passion
I realized then that it wasn't just me that the whole thing would be affecting, but it would affect whoever was horribly chosen for this predicament. After speaking to many people, no one seems to understand the rationale of how they just recently hired so many teachers over the summer and now want to get rid of many people. Are teachers really that expendable? Are teachers worth anything to society?
Why do teachers continue to do what they do, face the adversity they face, deal with people placing blame on them for every under achieving student and school system, and still desire to teach?
The answer my friends is passion. Pure, passion.
Why do teachers continue to do what they do, face the adversity they face, deal with people placing blame on them for every under achieving student and school system, and still desire to teach?
The answer my friends is passion. Pure, passion.
I arrived this morning and checked my mailbox at school. There was my normal attendance folder, a few notices informing me of things happening around our school, and a letter from the chancellor. For some reason I began reading this letter as I ascended the stairs to my classroom. This letter was filled with information stating that there was a large budget problem and that many teachers would be losing their jobs. Notification would be sent out by September 30, 2009. Teachers who then have lost their jobs would be expected to work for another month.
At first, all of my thoughts began racing. I started thinking maybe I should go downstairs to the principals office and ask if my job was safe, and how they would make the determination for who they would lose.
Then, I began thinking about how I had just given up everything...my entire life in Colorado, to come here. To be closer to family, to try out something new and have a support system, to be able to take short weekend excursions, or even travel overseas once again.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
eve of a new year
I remember preparing for the first day of school when I was younger. Things were so much different then. After shopping for new white school shirts at Epsteins in Baltimore, my mother would take them out of their plastic packaging and carefully take all of the straight pins out of the shirts that were holding them to their cardboard 8 1/2 by 11 inch frames. She would then wash them and also wash my uniform jumper. I usually got a new one each year and also had an older one from the year previous, which would require letting out the hem a bit to accomodate my growing waistline. Thankfully I wasn't as conscious about my growing waistline back then as I seem to be now.
We also had gone shopping for new school shoes.
Docksiders were the trend, and each year I would have a brand new pair to start the year. Usually they were brown with thick leather laces in the front. When you purchased a new pair, you were also given a plastic "Dockside" bag that I cherished.
The night before school started, my mother would be busy ironing my new school shirts. She would usually buy me at least five new ones so I would have enough to wear for a week. She would also iron my jumper and all of the pleats in it so that it looked just right. My brother had his uniform pants ironed, as well as his shirts too. She would then bring all of the ironed clothes upstairs from the ironing board set up in the basement to the second floor in our house. Mom would hang the uniform jumper and one shirt on my door handle to my bedroom, and would put the rest of the shirts in my large walk-in closet with a window, so that they would be ready for the rest of the week.
I would already have placed my school supplies that we had bought at various stores inside of my brand new backpack. My mother would allow us to pick out special pencils with cool designs on them, and special folders too. I loved shopping for new school supplies. Every year I got a new pencil box. They were made out of cardboard at the time and usually had a school bus theme on them, even though I didn't take the bus. As I got older, the school box became a pencil case, and paste became liquid glue.
As she was placing my freshly ironed clothes on my door handle, I would take out my school socks. They were long and we were required to pull them all the way up to the bottom of our knees.
The last thing I would do would take out my new Docksides and leave them out by the door, ready for the first day of school!
As a teacher, I am sitting here contemplating different things as the first day of school is coming for another round of fifth graders. I am thinking of how I have arrived here in DC. The long road to my employment with the DC Public Schools. All of the hoops I have had to go through in order to secure employment here. Some of which are still not completed. I am still waiting for my DC teaching license to arrive. I also have not been able to sign up for benefits yet as the system is overloaded with new hires. Shouldn't anyone have been able to forsee this and propose a solution?
This past week has been filled with alot of action. Luckily, I have been very relaxed in regard to most of what has been going on.We have had meetings galore, as the start of a new school year always brings new professional development opportunities.
We have been trained in new expectations for teachers, what one of my new teammates has decided to rename her binder as "Teaching for Dummies."
Apparently the district has not ever told teachers that it has expectations for them, or for behavior in their classrooms.
We will also be evaluated this year five times. Twice by our Principal and three times by someone in the district. Most of these will be conducted without prior notice.
Despite all of these setbacks, I am here for my class and am very excited for the promise of a new year. I, like most of my kids, do not have new shoes for this school year. I also do not have a new lunchbox, unlike how I used to get a new one every year. However, each year still opens with excitement...and wonder...
We also had gone shopping for new school shoes.
Docksiders were the trend, and each year I would have a brand new pair to start the year. Usually they were brown with thick leather laces in the front. When you purchased a new pair, you were also given a plastic "Dockside" bag that I cherished.
The night before school started, my mother would be busy ironing my new school shirts. She would usually buy me at least five new ones so I would have enough to wear for a week. She would also iron my jumper and all of the pleats in it so that it looked just right. My brother had his uniform pants ironed, as well as his shirts too. She would then bring all of the ironed clothes upstairs from the ironing board set up in the basement to the second floor in our house. Mom would hang the uniform jumper and one shirt on my door handle to my bedroom, and would put the rest of the shirts in my large walk-in closet with a window, so that they would be ready for the rest of the week.
I would already have placed my school supplies that we had bought at various stores inside of my brand new backpack. My mother would allow us to pick out special pencils with cool designs on them, and special folders too. I loved shopping for new school supplies. Every year I got a new pencil box. They were made out of cardboard at the time and usually had a school bus theme on them, even though I didn't take the bus. As I got older, the school box became a pencil case, and paste became liquid glue.
As she was placing my freshly ironed clothes on my door handle, I would take out my school socks. They were long and we were required to pull them all the way up to the bottom of our knees.
The last thing I would do would take out my new Docksides and leave them out by the door, ready for the first day of school!
As a teacher, I am sitting here contemplating different things as the first day of school is coming for another round of fifth graders. I am thinking of how I have arrived here in DC. The long road to my employment with the DC Public Schools. All of the hoops I have had to go through in order to secure employment here. Some of which are still not completed. I am still waiting for my DC teaching license to arrive. I also have not been able to sign up for benefits yet as the system is overloaded with new hires. Shouldn't anyone have been able to forsee this and propose a solution?
This past week has been filled with alot of action. Luckily, I have been very relaxed in regard to most of what has been going on.We have had meetings galore, as the start of a new school year always brings new professional development opportunities.
We have been trained in new expectations for teachers, what one of my new teammates has decided to rename her binder as "Teaching for Dummies."
Apparently the district has not ever told teachers that it has expectations for them, or for behavior in their classrooms.
We will also be evaluated this year five times. Twice by our Principal and three times by someone in the district. Most of these will be conducted without prior notice.
Despite all of these setbacks, I am here for my class and am very excited for the promise of a new year. I, like most of my kids, do not have new shoes for this school year. I also do not have a new lunchbox, unlike how I used to get a new one every year. However, each year still opens with excitement...and wonder...
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