Teachers Make Easy Targets

I am livid with the current discussion regarding education. Being an ex teacher I am becoming more and more personally offended for myself and my ex colleagues who are also my friends. Lately the discussion about education has come back to the forefront and many of the reasons the system is failing are being either completely ignored or blatantly lied about. Where the hell are the teachers? Are we as a group so beat down that we’ve just given up and will let everyone say what they will? Where the hell are the unions we pay dues to so that they will represent and stand up for us in situations like this? I am appalled at the current education climate as well as where everyone is placing the blame.


Now don’t get me wrong, as you see in any profession there are bad employees and teaching is no different. It is impossible to have perfect employees all around no matter what the job. The problem is, one bad teacher can ruin many so weeding them out is very important. At the same time, blaming teachers as a population for the downfall of public schools is completely unacceptable. If anyone sat down to think about it, there are many ways to seek out the defective teachers and none of them have to do with “Standardized” testing. As far as standardized testing goes I feel that was the final straw in the downfall of public education. For one thing there is nothing “standardized” about our children. No one person learns or performs in a “standardized” way so why is so much riding on such tests. They use the tests as a means of doling out much needed funds and have thrown around the idea of linking the tests to teacher performance. If you want to know how a teacher performs then you have to SEE it live. There needs to be more unannounced classroom observations done by principles or district officials. Someone should observe several lessons in different subject areas on an unannounced basis throughout a particular week. Then at the end of the week to get an idea of student performance and teacher effectiveness graded assignments from a random few of the observed subjects should be requested. Since the teacher doesn’t know when the observation will happen or which subject results will be required there can be no lesson faking or grade padding. If this is done a few times over the course of a school year (or a school quarter) you will get a view of teacher effectiveness because those students should be performing better over that period of time. The person observing will also see the more visual activities which make an effective teacher such as questioning students to insight thinking, proper lesson planning, knowledge of subject matter, etc. While I appreciate the need for one neat little package that says pass or fail education is not a place where that should be expected.


The other night on the news it was mentioned that it wasn’t the parents or the government taking down the public schools and after my teaching experience I beg to disagree. The school at which I taught was in a low income area with a high turnover rate (many kids moving in and out throughout the year. I had one girl move in and out of my class 3 times throughout the year). During my parent teacher conferences I would work hard to start off with the positives about my students then delve into the areas where they struggled. Many students as we know struggle with reading. I would advise parents that reading is not taught in the manner that math or social studies is, that I was giving them the strategies to help them read but in order for their children to successfully read they would need a platform to practice those strategies. We did some of this in class but I asked all of my parents with struggling readers to read with their kids for 15 to 20 minutes per night. I have to say that almost 70% of those parents told me they didn’t have time and 2 or 3 gave me the great “Isn’t that your job?” answer. I understand being busy and coming from a town with many people working odd hours I offered alternatives like reading to siblings or whatever caregiver that stayed with the child while they were at work. No dice. I also offered to stay after class for an extra hour 3 days a week to offer math tutoring. I offered this to all students then made sure to let parents of my struggling students know because 5th graders aren’t great at making the decision to stay after and get help. Only 2 kids showed up. Even though I hunted my struggler’s parents after school and begged them to make their kids come 2 showed up. One mom told me her daughter (who could not do multiplication in 5th grade and was one of the kids I was extra worried about) just did not have a “mathematical” mind and wanted to be a mom when she grew up so there was no need to push. Another example was this great report I assigned for social studies. Each student was to pick a historic figure they admired or were interested in then study and investigate the person for a multi format report. Only 3 students had parents that were willing to take them to a public library to get information. Since our school library was limited I went to the public library with a list of each student’s choice and checked out as many books as I could to bring to class and check out to my kids so their reports wouldn’t be limited (I did this on similar reports we did on the states). Without parental support, I was swimming against the tide at all times. In addition to teaching many of my students had tumultuous home lives so I spent a lot of time trying to help them focus through the haze of nasty divorces, drug abuse, and violence.


I don’t want to come off placing all blame on the parents because our federal and state governments need to shoulder the majority of the blame. The standardized tests I mentioned earlier have made the local governments go crazy. Here in Las Vegas we have a school district the size of Los Angeles yet we only have 1 superintendent. Now this person (following in the foot steps of his predecessor) along with the assistants and other decision makers in the district have purchased programs to be used throughout the school day which take all creativity and thought out of teaching. My day as a teacher found me with a 1 hour and 45 minute reading program which consisted of a text book that took some of our most loved chapter books and broke them down into 25-30 page atrocities. Then we had to do 45 minutes of math (another scripted text but with less rigidity) and an hour of language arts (text based program also). The students had an hour for lunch and an hour for electives (P.E., art, music, and library). At the end of my day I had to squeeze in social studies and science intermittently. Since they no longer had time to read chapter books I would also squeeze in 20 minutes after lunch during which I read to them. I was able to read them Matilda and Bridge to Terebithia during the year. Because of this, they were motivated to check out books and read at home on their own (I provided the books because they could only use the library once a week so I purchased over $700 in books for my classroom library which I then checked out to them myself).


In college I was taught to make lesson plans based around chapter books like Where the Red Fern Grows or Bridge to Terebithia but here was this one book with a program I had to follow (I had an actual script). Remember book reports, gone. In boxes in storage I have several lessons for all elementary subjects I made up myself according to the district standards. These lessons included tasks that were meant to reach all learners. We were taught everyone learns differently so lessons should include ways to reach each child. There were 7 main learning styles which we built our lessons around; Linguistic, Logical, Spatial, Musical, Bodily, Intra/Interpersonal (to find a description of each go to The 7 Learning Styles b y Stacy Mantle or Google “7 learning styles”) . I was never allowed to use these lessons even though they were written with the required learning. I was made to use the magical programs the district spent a fortune on but offered little support with. If you’re a teacher or parent you know about in service days when teachers go to school for training and kids get a day off. We spent these days with “specialists” of the reading program, constantly asking how to personalize the program without compromising it. They could not answer the questions, advised us to stick to script, and they would try to figure it out later. Teachers used to be effective because they would take the expectations of the district and use it as a framework to create a lesson. I don’t know about teachers in Ohio but here in Las Vegas, we don’t have that freedom. With the day being so full, we also don’t always have the opportunity to go back and redo a lesson the majority of the class may not have gotten. The local governments also have an issue controlling class size. I had 35 students at one time. A private school can usually provide a 16 to 1 ratio giving teachers there the ability to provide better one on one care when needed.


Another very rarely addressed and slightly large problem is the new belief that anyone can teach. Here in Las Vegas and at several schools throughout the country we have a program called Teach for America. It is a program which takes graduates of other professions such as political science or accounting and offers them a full or partial pay off of their school loans in return for teaching 3 years in a struggling school (this financing option was told to me by the Teach for America student I worked with making it heresay so I have included the link to the program's website above for those who wish to investigate). These students get 2 years of “training” and then are sent into really rough schools to try to save the world (and their future bank account). While most teachers have 4+ years of education these folks are coming in with a year of the basics and are motivated extrinsically. People who chose to teach know there is little to no financial reward which is what sets them apart, but you get a psychology major looking to rush through 3 years of teaching so he won’t have school loans and what kind of education do you think is going to be handed out. I worked with one of these students. He was a very young, nice guy who majored in political science and entered our grade level with big ideas for how he would run a classroom. The problem was he was going to run it from a political point of view and the students weren’t having that. Because teaching was not his chosen profession his passion fizzled quickly and by the middle of the year we were doing everything to get him to the end. The poor guy had little to no real classroom management training, did not understand lower income families, and could not relate to his core audience. That guy left the program the following year and sought out a job in his original field. Teaching can not be done by just anyone. Would you allow a program called “Surgery for America” where graduates from other professions got a condensed overview of the field of surgery then were released perform tonsillectomies on the general public for 3 years? Maybe if teachers got some respect back and the profession regained some of it’s public regard there would be more motivated and effective teachers. I know respect is earned but I feel in this case it has been taken so that the public and politicians can avoid their share of the responsibility for the current education debacle.


Understand, I am not saying all parents are bad, the government sucks, and all teachers are greatest people ever. I am trying to speak out on behalf of teachers who at this point and time are taking the brunt of the blame for a flailing school system which we should all be sharing blame for. I have been watching people this week talk about the obliteration of public schooling as we know it. This system was set up for a reason; people have the right to a free and GOOD education. As long as we keep seeing kids in all 50 states as standardized this will never be a reality. I believe teachers need to be held accountable but I also believe they need the freedom to control that which they are being held accountable for. Districts like Las Vegas need to dump these magic bullet programs and go back to old school ways of offering information. By standardizing our way of achieving funds we have standardized the manner in which we teach. I believe funding should be fair and when it’s based off one test for all that is an impossible feat. Here in Las Vegas students in the wealthier areas perform better because they have the mental and physical support system they need which in turn earns them the funding. What about those kids whose single parents work 2 jobs or who have parents who were never worthy of children in the first place. Those children are not going to perform the same. Maybe funding should depend more on real academics. Break it down by state in a more real life way. The information and standards a school district in a rural area deems important is not going to be exactly the same as a district in a metropolitan area so why would we give students from such differing areas the same exact test to determine their worth? Break it down, individualize schools and programs, and then go into the actual schools and classrooms for your results. If Washington wants to judge a teacher they need to back off of the school districts and allow them to empower their teachers to create their own lessons using their own districts standards as a framework. Then, education bureaucrats and district employees need to come out from behind their desks and go observe what is happening in classrooms. As I said, if you watch actual lessons then take the results on a continuous yet sporadic basis you will receive an honest view of what that teacher is doing. If you want independent thinkers with the skills needed to perform in society quit placing them in a standardized box and stop trying to place blame in one place for the failure of all. It truly takes a village to educate our children and for a long time now all inhabitants of our village have been failing to do their part.


I’m sorry this was so long but I’ve been mulling this over for a while. I may take heat for this post but these are my opinions based on my experience in one of several school districts and they in no way reflect the opinions or experiences of all teachers in America. Though, I am guessing they represent more teachers out there than I think.

Washington's Chickens Roost in our Homes

Why do we expect such moral aptitude in Washington when we ourselves do not practice what we preach? I am not saying everyone is corrupt, but many people are when it serves their purpose. Small to large business and the home have increasingly become places of questionable practices. Some infractions small and some big, but all pushing the moral envelope.
In construction it can be found in the client who awards a contract to a contractor mentioning during the meeting that there is a need in their personal life as well. Never mind hiring the contractor because they do a great job and serve your company well. No, you’re entitled to some type of assistance because you just gave their company work (which they deserve and you required anyway). While most times this isn’t identified as a kick back (kick back in sheep’s clothing) because assurances of wanting nothing more than to pay for this extra work are made, the contractor feels the pressure to charge less than market value or nothing at all because the “extra” was mentioned while signing paperwork for a job that will keep their employees working. Don’t think the person doing the asking isn’t aware of this fact. Why else would they ask at such an opportune time?
Or the hypothetical example of the couple who can afford their home but because values have dropped and the house isn’t worth what it should be they walk hoping to get something bigger and better that someone else honestly could not afford. According to statistics these strategic defaults aren’t that prevalent. Yet. With more and more people becoming upset by the overspending and backdoor deals in Washington and the few banks coming back for more bailout these strategic defaults are in danger of being justified by flimsy excuses. If the banks or our politicians can act irresponsibly than why shouldn’t we? Maybe in this instance some thought should be given to what a strategic default will do to your neighbors who now find their already depreciated investment falling even further because of a frivolous foreclosure just happened next door.
There’s also shoppers that feel entitled to super deals and complete flexibility in the market place because times are tough (I am flexible on this one because it’s hard to judge someone for trying to get a deal on things for their family and/or enjoyment). Who cares that a 70% off sale may put a smaller store in the red, it’s a buyers market and if you want our business you better offer some incentive. Does it matter that the goods being sold outside of food and clothing aren’t a necessity and deal or no deal it’s on the buyer to make responsible purchases for their home? Of course not, we drive prices down by flocking to warehouse store sales for that bigger TV (which we finance in hopes we’ll pay it off soon) making smaller businesses take risks in order to keep some kind of business going. Is it immoral to ignore Harry the home town appliance store owner to get a better price at Best Buy? Probably not, but I wonder when I make such purchases (again this example is a little sketchy because in Vegas we don’t have many Harry the small shops so of course you go to a large warehouse type store. Who am I to judge others then? My husband and I do however, frequent small restaurants in our area as often as possible instead of the more lavish and hip ones to help keep the small ones going).
These examples lead me to my title, Washington. Everyone is so appalled and dismayed about the state by state deals in our health care bill or the fact that Congress pockets its unused travel per diem instead of giving it back to the taxpayers but out here we’re no better. My belief is that your expectations of others should match those you hold for yourself. It is unfair to hold others to a higher standard than you are willing to uphold. Even if it is public office, it is held by a human being just like you are me (actually a little different because that human is rich and hasn’t lived like you or I in a very long time). Either way, if you’re out in the world looking for a kickback, why not expect your Senator to be doing the same? It’s wrong yes, but all too acceptable everywhere for anyone to be amazed it’s happening at the highest levels. Maybe politicians and banks would feel more inclined to do moral business if “we the people” led by example. If that bank is offering you a loan you know you can barley afford turn it down. I know it’s not all black and white and it sucks not to own a home but it sucks more to know ownership only to lose it later. And I know no one reads the fine print but on a purchase as large as a home don’t you think the fine print is worth some of your time?
If you are hiring a contractor or accountant to do work for your company keep your personal shit to yourself. Even if you’re not looking for a handout and honestly just need some work done you should know in the back of your mind that the person doing that big job is going to feel they should do your personal job for less, so just take that shit elsewhere. Am I saying everything can be fixed by doing unto others or that the corruption in the world is entirely our fault? No. What I am saying is that many times as individuals we are the example and if we aren’t being such a great example then we can’t expect others not to act accordingly. We can’t stand by and allow people (Washington) to rip us off for years when it’s convenient and times are decent then throw a fit when things are tough. We need to demand morality in a uniform manner in order to receive it as such. I’m not saying everyone’s a crook or that Politicians should be held to a lower standard. I’m definitely not saying I am perfect and have never taken advantage of a sale (hello Black Friday) or fudged on my morals here and there throughout my life. I am saying that I am starting to feel that if we want to see morality in business or in our capitol, maybe, it starts at home.

Why Do We Fall For It? How Massachusetts Got Me Thinking.

Our government has become like our worst high school boyfriend. Sure he cheats on us with no regard for our feelings and we’ve been with him far longer than we should but we just keep going back. I was reminded of this last night while watching the Massachusetts Senatorial Race. I’m not big on politics, I am registered as Non Partisan because I am not hooking my wagon up to any of these sinking ships. Coakley lost which was a surprise because I thought everyone was just going to go for whoever Obama told them to. It was great to see people actually thought for themselves.
Watching Nancy Pelosi before that election say they will push through healthcare no matter what made me question my fellow San Franciscans. How can they be proud of someone who only cares about her ideology even though the government is there to represent everyone. My husband is a small business owner, we do not have health insurance (I know, that’s like Russian roulette with kids) so I do feel something needs to be done but what is on the table is just wrong and we all know it. I would love to see TORT reform, here in Nevada we’ve lost hundreds of great doctors because they can’t afford the lawsuit insurance. I would also love to see competition across state lines, my in-laws live in California and have access to Kaiser which we would love to purchase but can’t here in Nevada. Opening up the market would force Sierra Health (Nevada’s Hitler of health) to lower their rates and provide better care. I would LOVE to see pre-existing conditions abolished because my last pregnancy which I found out about right after purchasing insurance was denied because of such a clause.
I am not just bagging on the Dems, the Republicans suck too. You can’t run anything based on straight negativity with no clear message the way they have. I say that the government officials are like a bad boyfriend because some of these fuckers have been in office for 20+ years and people keep electing them. Look at Arlen Spector, not only is he old but he doesn’t even have set beliefs. I know your outlook can change over the years but that dude bails when it looks like he’s on his way out. That’s not conviction, that’s cowardice and self preservation. This trait is okay in your neighbor or boss but shouldn’t the people who represent our beliefs and best interest be above that? How can any of those people relate if they’ve been living the good life for so many years? How do they know what we go through if they’ve never owned a company or it’s been a decade since they carried a real job? I do not agree with Obama and have not since day one but I was down with the change thing that came along with him. I get it, we are sick of the same. If that is true why don’t we start to wash out some of these incumbents come November? If we are ready for change lets start where the real decisions are made, the House and Senate. Don’t vote for someone because they’ve been there, vote for someone because they are new and daring (no I am not supporting Sarah Palin either). With all of these back door deals and double speak we should all be pissed at the whole rotten lot of them. They are selling you a bag of shit while telling you it’s roses. We are smarter than that people. I wish everyone (or more people) would go out and register Non Partisan, then they can’t claim you before an election and they would have to work harder because they would have no idea which way the vote was going to go.
I am not trying to preach I am just stating what I see. Maybe people are changing as some of the news stations were labeling what happened in Massachusetts last night but I don’t have that much faith. I think there are far too many of us that will just go along with what we’re told and vote along our party lines because that’s how it’s done. One thing I do know, the only party I subscribe to and will look out for is the human party. When I vote this November I will be thinking about my kids and yours, our families and their needs/future, not about whether or not Harry Reid and I are on the right or the left.