Do the Impossible or Else...
We had a faculty meeting this morning. It was yet another of the school district’s dog-and-pony shows regarding how resources are limited and telling us our share of the pittance. Someone should tell them that Power Point slides of one dollar amount after another do not make this information more accessible or palatable. They are an outstanding way to make the people watching feel consumed by the overwhelming desire to jab their ballpoint pens into their eyeballs because it would be a) more entertaining and b) less painful.
Good news! They are not cutting the number of high school teachers, as planned. We must, of course, show “results” for this concession, or teachers will be cut next year. “Results” are higher test scores. We must take the same number of teachers, with fewer resources, and create “results.” If we fail to do this, we will pursue “results” by decreasing the number of teachers, raising class sizes, and perhaps maintaining the level of other resources, but probably cutting them. Can’t argue with that kind of logic.
The final slide bore this inspirational message: What we teach is ultimately a reflection of why we teach.
Ummm…”I teach to the test because the test is the only thing that matters.” Yup. Makes ya proud to be an educator! Did the irony escape the folks who put this thing together?
The dreadful Power Point is all the district’s fault, the limited resources, not so much. Coloradans can’t spend enough tax money to build sports stadiums, arenas, and ballparks, but they deplore wasting it on schools. We rank 31st in the nation on school spending, although we’re in the top 10% of the nation in per capita income. Despite this, we rank 15th for national test scores. And people feel like we’re wasting their money.
Bear in mind that today was the last day of having our students produce “results” for this school year. That is to say, they finished the state tests. I have a young woman in my group who, throughout all six tests, has refused to answer any question that requires writing. Now, I’ve seen her writing. She can write. This is not a young woman who is afraid that she will be shamed by her performance and so does not make the attempt. She just doesn’t answer these questions. God knows it takes enough effort just to fill in all those bubbles. Each time she takes a test, I remind her that she needs to answer ALL of the questions. She does not. Do you know who will be accountable for this? Me. It will be obvious to anyone who sees her writing scores that, clearly, Mrs. Reed made no attempt to teach this child anything about writing. I explained this to her once, and she said, “No offense, Mrs. Reed, but if it doesn’t affect me, I really don’t care.”
There are days that I love teaching and days that I find it utterly demoralizing. Guess which one today was.
UPDATE
Lest you all think me manic, I should clarify that Thursdays are often the pits since this is the day we have department and faculty meetings, and they are usually full of bad news. Bell to bell, I still pretty much love what I do. Sometimes I just have to remember that on Thursday mornings it’s best to mentally plug my ears and sing very loudly.
I also have an idea for another time travel that I tossed out to my agent for a possible two-book pitch. We'll see what she thinks. Also on the writing front, it's a no-go on the guest editorial contest that I told y'all about earlier, which is actually fine. I have plenty to keep me out of trouble.
What grade are you teaching again?
Yes Paula,"April is the cruelist month.." but hang in there, school
teachers are remembered and appreciated, often many years later.I go with
Meleny on this one.
Thanks, Neddy and Mel (always good to hear from you, Mel). Unfortunately,
it's the kids who pay the highest price.
Do you ever wish we could go to the Socratic method of teaching? That
would more than likely deep six those tests. I don't know what the answer
is to our educational woes. It sounds like your school district is doing
well, what is their problem then?
In many ways, the Socratic method is best, but it tends to breed thinkers,
and that's the last thing today's politicians want. As for what our
problem is, No Child Left Behind does not recognize "good enough." Test
scores must rise every year. Even if you're doing a great job of prepping
kids for college, you have to raise the scores, so sooner or later, you
have no choice but to teach to the test, which raises scores and fails to
prepare kids for anything else.
When that student said, “No offense, Mrs. Reed, but if it doesn’t affect
me, I really don’t care.”, I'd have told her exactly what I thought of her
in no uncertain terms, and would have probably lost my job.
W that was funny Lol. I didnt know it was hard for teachers, not this hard.
Alot of pressure it would seem.
Kinda reminds me of the "My holiday" slide shows that friends would subject
you to after inviting you for supper. Two hous of bad photos and inane
commentary which made you want to bolt before you fell asleep and snored
and totally embarrassed your wife.
We haven't quite got to the level that Colorado is at but the neo con
idiots are taking their cues from the USA and pushing for the same nonsense
in our educational system.
Several friends are newly retired teachers who are very glad that they are
out of it. Between having a lot of ESL students and special needs kids,
plus large class sizes it was becoming almost impossible to properly do the
job. Of course every cut eliminated the resources to help the class room
teacher, all the while demanding higher scores on the provincial, state,
exams.
You hit that nail right on the head, JWL. These tests are in no way meant
to actually improve education or help kids. They are designed to make the
public think that the system is broken beyond repair so that we can
privatize education.
What do you think about the schools where, in an effort to raise math and
reading scores, all other subjects are being dropped in favor of 2-3 hr.
long math and reading classes?
Well, obviously every kid should be literate, so if it's really necessary
to give the kid basic reading skills, I guess that's what you have to do.
But the notion that every child has to be college ready or give up the
classes he or she loves? That's not going to help the dropout rate.