Salon: Confessions of a Bad Teacher..

[Fumesucker]

http://www.salon.com/life/education/index.html?story=/mwt/feature/2011/08/29/confessions_of_a_bad_teacher

<snip>

Assign spelling words or read a short story in class, and it would take all of my wits to keep the texting, talking, sleeping and wrestling in check. But make it 80 words on "Would you give up your cellphone for one year for $500?" and every student -- even those who never did any schoolwork -- handed in a paper. When I read these essays to the class in dramatic, radio-announcer fashion, there was silence punctuated by hoots of laughter or roars of agreement or disagreement.

It was almost magic. It was really fun. And I often could squeeze in some spelling, even punctuation. But we weren't always quiet.

And, according to my personnel file at the New York City Department of Education, I was "unprofessional," "insubordinate" and "culturally insensitive."

In other words, I was a bad teacher.

<snip>

Read the rest of this very good article at the link..

[abelenkpe]

1. K&R nt

[ceile]

2. Wow. K&R

So many thoughts on that. Mediocrity, racism, status quo...no wonder teachers are suffering - and their students because of it.

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. God, that makes me sad. :^( And also glad I'm not teaching.

[immoderate]

4. Scary. I can't even begin...

I will though. I taught. I like teaching kids and I hate paper pushing.


--imm

[okieinpain]

5. my daughter stopped teaching this year and this is the happiest

I've seen her in 5 years. sad stuff.

[struggle4progress]

6. Class size matters. If we really wanted to do public education right, we keep class sizes

at or below 15 and we'd aim for sizes around 10 or 12

Different students have different abilities, backgrounds, needs and personalities: they must be reached individually. The more difficult the group, the more important individual attention becomes

According to the Census, there are about 69 million public school aged children in the US -- so we really need something like 5 - 7 million fulltime elementary and secondary classroom teachers in the country; and according to BLS, we actually have maybe 3.5 million. So we ought to raise the number of qualified fulltime public school teachers by at least 50%, and it would be better to double the number

http://www.census.gov/hhes/school/data/cps/2009/tables.html
http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos318.htm

[Fumesucker]

9. I agree with you, class size makes a huge difference..

Those billions we spent on air conditioning tents in Afghanistan would have hired a few teachers..

But an empire's got to have priorities you know.

[mopinko]

11. any school with more than 50% free lunches

should have a max class size of 15 in the primary grades. you can't fix the families, but you can fill at least part of the gap.

cellphones should be checked at the door, tho. jebus.

[LWolf]

15. In my district, we are being pushed to individualize instruction.

That's what all that extra data-work is supposed to lead to. Not just more individual attention, but actually planning different lessons for different kids based on assessment data.

I'm not against individualizing instruction. If we had the class sizes you've suggested, we could do a great job.

Our class sizes are not going down, though. With the state budget in tatters and repeated cuts to public education and other public services, our class sizes are going UP. Our professional duties outside the classroom are INCREASING.

:(

[Starry Messenger]

7. k&r

[Blue Owl]

8. Education is all about putting more money in Rupert Murdoch's pocket

nothing else.

[reggie the dog]

10. i am at the point now that i smoke weed before school

only difference is that i used to do it as a student, now i do it as a teacher, the administration has no idea how to get students to behave, neither do the parents, but it is my fault as a teacher that i have students who would rather talk on the phones and listen to music than learn, and if you give a kid a zero for cheating the parents bitch to the administration and the principal makes you give the kid the grade they "deserve" meaning the grade they cheated to get. i just do like as a high school student, i get stoned, go in and do my shit, and go home and dont give a shit anymore.

[Pooka Fey]

17. ...

I'm so sorry, I can hear your frustration. Peace & :hug:

[Reader Rabbit]

12. This is particularly depressing because it's happening everywhere.

I wish we could stick Arne Duncan, Bill Gates, Eli Broad, and their ilk in these classrooms for even a day. Still, as thick as they are, it would probably take a week or a month before they finally got it.

[LWolf]

16. If they don't WANT to get it, they never will.

We could fund-raise by selling tickets to watch, though.

I'd like to stick them all someplace working for minimum wage in a non-union private sector job, myself.

Karma.

[JackDragna]

13. This is how it works - make teaching a mindless, robot-like profession.

..when everything is spreadsheets, paperwork and keeping kids in line, it ends up creating an environment where everyone can be found lacking in some area. Of course, the hammer isn't usually dropped until a teacher becomes a personal enemy of the principal, but when they do, the principal always has an excuse. This is exactly what we need: a culture of fear and bullying among those who supposedly do one of America's toughest jobs.

It's times like this I'm glad I teach in a private school where what I do is valued. My sympathies to anyone who has to work in an environment like this.

[LWolf]

14. Worth reading the whole long article.

I could say a great deal about it, but the author has said it all. I'll just say that districts across the nation struggle with new teacher retention.

Why does the general voting public allow their politicians to grow systems like this?

Why do they place the blame on the wrong people?

Start at the top.

[Pooka Fey]

18. I used to be a public school teacher with "at-risk" populations

Most people who go into teaching do it because they like kids, they love teaching, and they love their subject matter. I knew how to get through to my students (usually); I had a really good education in pedagogy, and I have good instincts - plus I think many (not all) kids are really fun to teach.

Well, I got burnt out. I left the profession after 5 years, like 50% of my colleagues do. The administration of my last school just didn't want to hear it - anything about the difficulties that I was facing in the classroom. The stress of the job outweighed the benefits, so I got out.

Lucky for me that I could, but I might need to go back to teaching one day - which scares the crap out of me.