Politics of Education

This week I submitted my MAP-A binders to my principal.  The MAP is the standardized test in the state of Missouri and the the MAP-A is the alternative version for the small percentage of special education students who can not take traditional tests.  I had three tenth graders participate.  For each I had to write four specific activities that showed acquisition of four grade level learning requirements in math.  Each activity had to be tested six times over the period of two months.  It's a bit of work and really the creating and writing of activities that my students can actually do was the tricky part.  Alas I did it and turned in my volumes of work to my principal.
Wait...Did you see what I did there?  I was the one really being tested...I was tested on how well I can creatively write an activity that I can assure my student can do.  That is correct, my tenth grader who can't tie her own shoes is advanced in the grade level learning requirements for math in the state of Missouri.  How can this be?  Why is this common practice?  Well, it's a simple answer... our government has made it so and I prefer to stay employed.
Of course, it would be this week that fellow teacher and running buddy Wendie would post two amazing articles that provoke deep thought into the matter I just discussed.  The first article is from the Washington Post and was written by a teacher out west who truly understands the dilemma.  Data, it is all about the data.  She robs children of their innocence for the sake of data.  She knows it is not right, but after all, it is her data she can produce that keeps her employed year to year.  The second article is from Education Week.  This is a great blog that helps make the connection between product driven environments and schools.  For example, a business is not going to continually spend money to market a product that no one wants.  It is a waste of time and energy and this is proven by the lack of dollars being brought in to the pockets of the businessmen.  Now think about that product as children and the money as test scores.  Should a teacher stop investing in children that are not going to bring the test scores that are so desired?
All of this is just some food for thought.  Clearly, I hope readers understand the perspective I hold on the issues.  As I am tired, my head hurts and thinking about things such as this that bring me down so much, I will save my further ranting for another day.

A World Without Autism

Can you even imagine a World without Autism? It sounds amazing! Sure, I would be out of a job, but the millions of people who would be free from this struggle would make it all worth while! Well I guess this is my lucky day...Jenny McCarthy has yet again fixed our Autism epidemic. In case you are not completely familiar with the history of this situation, let me inform you: Jenny McCarthy was a Playboy model, had a son with Autism, claimed to cure his Autism, created a bandwagon of dingbats who assumed they could do the same, Ms. McCarthy's son never had Autism, and then she published a book about it! I understand this rant is a bit late for a book published a few years ago...but lord help me I just discovered it!

Now, Amazon claims that millions have been sold. I am not sure if people are turning to this book for true advice or in hopes of seeing JM naked. Lets hope it's the latter, as that speaks higher of America! Anywho, I hope JM gets lost in a cave never to be heard from again as she keeps spouting off false hope for parents, care takers, and loved ones across the globe as Autism is here to stay. Do I like it? Other than the paycheck, no. It breaks my heart knowing my students need something and they lack the ability to communicate that want/need. It saddens me knowing they do not fully understand relationships and those who are there to help them. I would love for people to not have babies, children, and siblings that can't love them back the way they were meant to be loved. Does that mean I can cure Autism? NO! Much like you can not add numbers to an IQ or subtract extra chromosomes, you can not cure Autism. Please be aware of this and never listen to JM, regardless of how little clothes she has on her body!

The State of Education

The state of Missouri is currently trying to pass a new bill regarding education and teaching in our fine red state of Missouri. I could do my best to sum this bill up in wording that makes me sound incredibly educated yet understandable to the masses. Yet, I feel it would be easiest and most accurate if I copied and pasted the information this bill contains. I will give all credit to the Missouri National Education Association, for the finely written excerpt below:

The House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee approved an HCS version for HB 1740 (Scott Dieckhaus) on Feb. 22 in a contentious executive session.

The bill is on a fast track for consideration and is expected to be taken up for floor debate on Feb. 28. Stay tuned for an upcoming action alert to all state representatives concerning HCS/HB 1740 on Feb. 24.

The HCS:

1) repeals teacher tenure for all new hires and eliminates use of seniority in reduction in force,

2) repeals the minimum teacher salary for teachers with Master's degrees and ten or more years of teaching,

3) contains a tax-credit style voucher for students of unaccredited districts to attend private schools,

4) adds charter school expansion and accountability similar to HCS/HB 1228 (Tishaura Jones),

5) creates statewide virtual district school and virtual charter school open enrollment,

6) includes provisions allowing accredited districts to establish class-size capacity standards with regard to student transfers from unaccredited districts,

7) contains the provisions of HCS/HB 1174 (Mike Lair) to allow the State Board of Education to hold a hearing and act to revise the governance of a school district when it becomes unaccredited, rather than automatically lapsing the district after two years, and

8) contains the provisions of HCS/HB 1043 (Mike Thomson) regarding distribution of school formula funds when the formula is underfunded.

Alrighty, back to me...This bill has a lot going on and I do not feel the need to dig through it all as I am not the most educated on some of these topics. I did; however, put in bold some finer points I feel should be made clearer for those who may not be aware.

1. Wanting to repeal teacher tenure. Tenure is basically grandfathering in a teacher and making it so they can not be dismissed without just cause. Let it be known that any teacher who is abusive in anyway to children deserves to lose their jobs and 99.9% of the time will lose their job, so don't feel this would ever keep a truly bad teacher in place. People who support the repeal of tenure often feel that it promotes complacency amongst teachers in work ethic and growth. First being that teachers will not work to their full potential if they have no fear of losing their job, thus keeping lack luster teachers in the schools. This is a legitimate concern for the general public. As a current teacher in a public school, I would like to offer the insight that there are not many ways a teacher can slack off. We are held accountable for what each student learns and we are held accountable to see that our students make Adequate Yearly Progress (a term that came about from No Child Left Behind, which is another discussion for another day). Not making adequate progress is just cause for letting a teacher go. Secondly, a teacher becoming complacent might refer to not keeping up with trends in education. One thing I can say, which goes for a large majority of teachers, is that we love learning. We would not make a life long career out of education if we did not adore soaking up new knowledge as it became available. That aside, we are still required to upkeep our learning within the field. We have certain training opportunities that are required of teachers that vary from district to district. The state also requires a certain number of professional development hours by each teacher each year. So the fact of the matter is that teachers will continue to work hard as their job will always depend on it.

What good can come from tenure? First of all it was started by universities as a way to ensure that academic staff was not filled with young researchers but instead filled with seasoned minds with more background and understanding of academia. How can this be a bad thing? It makes sense to me. This trend has dropped off in US colleges and universities but is still held as common practice in many countries in Europe and Asia (both continents who routinely out score American schools for the record.) Think about it in regards to our public school systems in Missouri. Would we want only first year teachers educating our youth? I am in my sixth year of teaching and I am still learning ways to perfect my classroom management and handling student behaviors. By having tenured teachers we would have teachers who understand how to run an efficient classroom.

Finally I will sum up my rant on tenure with, there is very little draw to the teaching profession in the material realm. We obviously have a pay check that very few would like to see in their bank account, the least we could get is some decent perks and benefits that attract people to the profession.

2. Repealing minimum pay. I will not go into great depths here. All I will say is, SERIOUSLY? Our minimum pay for a Masters Degree teacher is still laughable compared to other professions. When they start to CAP the salaries of doctors, lawyers and businessmen then maybe I would consider a minimum pay for a teacher.

6. Accredited districts capping class size. Basically as we stand now, if a child attends an unaccredited school district they have the opportunity to attend an accredited school district. Now making sure schools are able to stay accredited is again a discussion for a much longer post. For the purpose of this, lets just assume it was unavoidable. If schools can cap class size on accredited classrooms then I promise that will leave students in an unaccredited district with no where to go. Why would we not want to offer all our students an education at an accredited school? Now I understand that a teacher can not feasibly educate a class of 45. I am not promoting that at all. I just think that there has to be a better way that what is proposed. I don't have a solution and I am not sure what options are available. What makes this even more upsetting is that many unaccredited schools are often in low income areas and it makes me wonder if they are capping class size or if they are eliminating the unworthy. Either way, education has gone through many struggles to make it unlimited for students of all abilities and races and I would hate to think that anything would change that. Its a battle we already won, I would prefer to not revisit it again.

Civil Rights Education

It is quite obvious that in the state of Missouri we are not as liberal as other states around the country. We carry the color red proudly, and unless you live in St. Louis or Kansas City, you stick to your guns on this matter! (And I LITERALLY mean you stick to your GUNS!)

Lucky for me, I am one of those hippie-liberal types and I push the envelope with my thoughts in a rather conservative state. I was raised to accept all people, regardless of race, religion OR sexual orientation! I clearly remember one family vacation, when I was quite young and being introduced to Uncle Billy and Aunt Paul. I was like, sure, got it...and I think I ran out to roller blade by the beach. It didn't phase me and I was in a family where this was not unusual. Later in life I had a brother openly express his homosexuality to the family...I think our reaction was, "Great, pass the green beans." Yup, no big deal...why should it be.

Sadly, this is not the case for many. Children are actually being raised in families who teach them that this is wrong and this really bothers me. How can something so natural be wrong? To make matters worse, these ideals are then being reinforced in the school systems! A date to a dance automatically means a date of the opposite sex, sex education naturally only covers a man with a woman. We are creating human beings that will carry on this notion that homosexuality is not normal. We can never overcome this cycle unless we teach it differently. I know people will fight this idea. Hell, white people fought desegregation at first, but we overcame and now children of all races can attend school together and are accepted. Granted, they are accepted if and only if they have two parents of differing sexes.

I know this is a hotly debated topic right now and it falls near and dear to my heart. Many people will disagree with me and thats fine. I am hot headed and I love to upset the masses! I would love to leave you on a positive note. There are schools outside of our blood red state of Missouri that take this issue to heart. The District of Columbia has a school who is working hard to teach acceptance and respect starting with day one! This article shows the start of what I hope is an amazing movement that spreads across the country. Read it and be amazed. Major gratitude goes to a school with such heart!

The Newest Digs

Its been just over a semester since I have had my own classroom again. Here are a few quick pics just so you can see where I hang out everyday!

Yes, I am room 108...please do not stalk me!

Look at that visual schedule! If you teach students with Autism...you know this is how we roll!

I did say students with Autism correct? Yup, this is just one of my students getting in some sensory time on a therapy ball with a recycling bin on his head. I am not sure what sensory input he gets from the bin on his head...it was not recommended by his OT, it was self applied!

Look at all those cool job boxes I inherited with the classroom!

Did I mention I work with kids with Autism yet? Do you see the organization in these buckets? We don't just sort, we line up in perfect little rows!

New Directions

I feel like I do not post on this blog as often as I would like. I am wondering if it is because I do not feel I have enough good teaching stories at the moment, or I simply lack time. I am hoping that by expanding this blog to something more than just my daily life as a teacher I will be able to utilize it more. Do not get me wrong...a good portion will be dedicated to teaching, no doubt about it. I just feel this would also be a good venue for me to share much more. After all, teachers also have hobbies outside of the classroom. Some of mine include drinking wine, cooking, working out and spending ridiculous amounts of time on time wasting websites such as Pinterest! I am thinking that when I stumble across something I love that I will post it on here. Hopefully this new direction will help me become a more avid blogger for my fives and tens of fans!

Thats all for now, I will see you all again soon. Hopefully with some yummy recipe ideas you can't live without!

R.E.S.P.E.C.T

Teachers, generally, are not hated as a whole profession. There are a few bad apples, sure. But for the most part, people often do not find us all that horrible. Now dentists, no one likes dentists. There are fears that are endless and the pain of dental work is unbearable. I can understand why people hate dentists. There are all the Wall Street bankers and corporate workers that really seem to bother people recently. The one percent making gobs of money, yes they seem to bother people as well. There are also jobs people take for granted that really seem horrible: trash collectors, mail carriers, slaughter house employees, road construction workers and the like. We think little of them yet they make the world go round.

Teachers don't really carry a bad reputation or go unnoticed like the afore mentioned careers. People seldom fear teachers. No one protests our over paid salaries. We hardly get forgotten about in the grand scheme of things. I have even had numerous people go as far as to say they find my chosen career path admirable, respectable or even daring...until one man.

Now this was barely a blind date...a first meeting would be a better descriptor. He is one of the gems people describe when talking about online dating. We had ordered a first round of drinks...our last round as it turned out and started some of the basic "get to know you" questions. These questions are basically just a recall of everything on our dating site which spurred this first meeting originally. As we are talking jobs he asked me what I did again. I reminded him I was a teacher and then time stood still. He slowly opened his mouth and uttered the words, "I don't respect teachers."

It was not unlike the scene from A Christmas Story in which Ralphie slowly utters "fuuuudddgggee" while helping his father with the flat tire. We all remember the scene. We all know the terror Ralphie felt and the shock of those around him. This scene played out rather similarly and I blinked in disbelief. Did I just here those words uttered out loud? The knee jerk reaction to throw my drink in his face never happened as I was too stunned to react. Who actually says something so horrible, to a teacher at that?! He had no real basis for his thoughts. No bad memories causing this attitude towards a profession shaping the minds of the world's youth. It was just a general disrespect for a teacher, not unlike how I feel about strippers. Nothing completely wrong with strippers, I don't hate them, no bad experience, I just don't find it completely respectable. (I don't however compare teaching to stripping all that often. I mean, after all, a stripper makes much more than I do.)

Now correct me if I am wrong, but I have a rather naive belief that most people find most teachers somewhat respectable. To think so strongly in the other direction makes me really question a person. Do people truly not understand what a teacher does? Is this a feeling that is widespread among the general population? If this all happens to be the majority rather than the minority opinion, please contact me directly. Upon removing my foot from your ass I will escort you to my classroom to see what I do everyday. Maybe then you will understand.