The public is often eager to blame teachers when things go wrong in a school, but take it from me, the problem starts at the top. I feel that we have a crisis in leadership in education right now. I cannot say whether it is an issue of people are being promoted too fast, that they don't receive enough training and support or that too many just don't have the skills to be leaders. I have worked with plenty of administrators during the course of my 13 years in education, and sadly can count very few of them as effective. Most seem to forget what it is like to be a teacher in the classroom. Several are unapproachable and unwilling to take input from teachers. Staff development is decided by them and all teachers are treated alike. They ask us to differentiate in our own classrooms, but never give us the opportunity when it comes to professional development. They act as if they have all the answers and constantly remind us that they have control over our schedules. Any given year they could make you teach a new subject, regardless of whether that is in the best interest of the students.
I thought that maybe it was just my school experiencing this lack of leadership, but sadly I am hearing from many fellow teachers that their schools and districts have the same problems. What is the consequence of a lack of leadership at the top? Well, in my particular school, morale has declined as we have been made to feel that we are not doing as well as we think we are. Teachers feel as if they have to "battle" administration on everything from meeting times to schedules. With so much to focus on in our classrooms and with our curriculum, it seems to me that a positive working environment should be a priority for administration. I think about how good of a school we are already and how amazing we could be if we just felt more support from our leaders. I am inspired when someone gives me autonomy to be creative and work with colleagues to come up with solutions for the challenges that face my school and students. I don't feel inspired when I am told what to do and how to do it. I like to feel as if I have a voice in improving my school. I like to know that my unique talents and skills add value to the staff and are utilized. However, too often my requests to provide assistance have been overlooked. It makes me not even want to offer any more and leads to burn out. I know I am not alone.
Another problem is that in California, a person only needs three years of teaching experience to become an administrator. That is not nearly enough. It takes far more time to really become a master teacher. How can an administrator with only 3 years of classroom teaching experience possibly be an instructional leader for their staff members? Often times this person is responsible for evaluating a teacher with 20+ years of experience. This I believe is one of the problems with our educational system. Evaluation should be done through peer review and the instructional leaders on campus should be the master teachers.
If we want to improve education, we need to take back our schools and allow those who are in the trenches day in and day out to make the important decisions. We often times know a lot more than administrators give us credit for. We have good ideas and really do want to work to solve problems. Most of us care a great deal about our students and schools. If you would just ask us, you might be surprised at how much we could do to help improve our schools.
Saturday, August 10, 2013
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
This Is Why I Teach
Today was the last day of school for my senior economics students. During 5th period, many students gave me hugs goodbye as they left my classroom for the last time. Then I left my classroom to use the restroom as most teachers do between classes. When I returned, I sat down at my desk to take roll for 6th period. There on my desk was a note that said,
"....Thank you for emailing my parents. Thank you for never giving up on me. Thank you for actually caring. I haven't met a teacher who cared as much as you do in a long time. I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate it. Not only have you given me good advice for life, but you have also taught me a lesson the hard way."
This student was not a challenge behaviorally. In fact he was a nice, fairly quiet student. He was very late in turning in many assignments and was failing and in danger of not graduating just a few weeks ago. Now he is passing my class and will graduate on Thursday night.
His note brought tears to my eyes. This is why I can continue to return to the classroom year after year despite attacks on my profession, larger and larger class sizes and cuts to my pay check. This is why I teach.
"....Thank you for emailing my parents. Thank you for never giving up on me. Thank you for actually caring. I haven't met a teacher who cared as much as you do in a long time. I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate it. Not only have you given me good advice for life, but you have also taught me a lesson the hard way."
This student was not a challenge behaviorally. In fact he was a nice, fairly quiet student. He was very late in turning in many assignments and was failing and in danger of not graduating just a few weeks ago. Now he is passing my class and will graduate on Thursday night.
His note brought tears to my eyes. This is why I can continue to return to the classroom year after year despite attacks on my profession, larger and larger class sizes and cuts to my pay check. This is why I teach.
Friday, May 25, 2012
Teaching American History Grant
Last night was the showcase event for the year of learning as part of a Teaching American History (TAH) grant. This grant was sponsored by the federal government, but the funding runs out at the end of next year - yet another victim of government budget cuts. In reality, some of the money the federal government spends does go to very worthwhile projects. The TAH grants were such a thing.
Over the past year, 130 teachers in Riverside and San Bernardino counties attended at least 80 hours and some close to 150 hours of professional development (depending on their status as participating teachers or content leads). There were several optional sessions and the requirement was to attend 75% of the sessions. This included scholar sessions, reading books and discussing historiography, field studies (Nixon & Reagan Libraries, Museum of Tolerance and the Autry Museum) learning literacy strategies and developing lessons using the latest technology. I personally logged 92 hours because I could not attend all of the sessions, but what I did attend made me so excited about not only my subject of US History, but also about incorporating more technology into my lessons and student projects.
Many of these sessions were from 4-8 PM, after a full day of teaching. Every day as I drove the hour plus from my school to the site for the sessions I was tired. Every evening as I drove 30 minutes to my house, I found myself wide awake and eager to tell my family about what I had learned that evening.
Yesterday lessons were showcased using Prezi, Haiku, Movie Maker, iMovie and much more. We had a few principals and district personnel present, but not nearly enough. Here I am showing my excitement for technology!
In my district, there is a huge focus on student engagement. Many of the strategies that I learned this year create tremendous student engagement. After I learned about Prezi, I had my economics students create one. I could not show them how to do it as I was learning alongside them. I created one of my own and then had my US history students create one. Every single student was on task and excited about the technology. Now I have students using Prezi for other classes and impressing their teachers, who now want to learn Prezi!
As the public demands better teaching, they must realize that professional development such as the TAH program is what makes people better teachers. So instead of cutting funding to education and eliminating programs that support teacher learning, we must find a way to continue programs such as this. We will have better teachers and thus better students!
Over the past year, 130 teachers in Riverside and San Bernardino counties attended at least 80 hours and some close to 150 hours of professional development (depending on their status as participating teachers or content leads). There were several optional sessions and the requirement was to attend 75% of the sessions. This included scholar sessions, reading books and discussing historiography, field studies (Nixon & Reagan Libraries, Museum of Tolerance and the Autry Museum) learning literacy strategies and developing lessons using the latest technology. I personally logged 92 hours because I could not attend all of the sessions, but what I did attend made me so excited about not only my subject of US History, but also about incorporating more technology into my lessons and student projects.
Many of these sessions were from 4-8 PM, after a full day of teaching. Every day as I drove the hour plus from my school to the site for the sessions I was tired. Every evening as I drove 30 minutes to my house, I found myself wide awake and eager to tell my family about what I had learned that evening.
Yesterday lessons were showcased using Prezi, Haiku, Movie Maker, iMovie and much more. We had a few principals and district personnel present, but not nearly enough. Here I am showing my excitement for technology!
In my district, there is a huge focus on student engagement. Many of the strategies that I learned this year create tremendous student engagement. After I learned about Prezi, I had my economics students create one. I could not show them how to do it as I was learning alongside them. I created one of my own and then had my US history students create one. Every single student was on task and excited about the technology. Now I have students using Prezi for other classes and impressing their teachers, who now want to learn Prezi!
As the public demands better teaching, they must realize that professional development such as the TAH program is what makes people better teachers. So instead of cutting funding to education and eliminating programs that support teacher learning, we must find a way to continue programs such as this. We will have better teachers and thus better students!
Monday, May 21, 2012
Internet Censorship
How do we protect young children from accessing harmful and/or inappropriate pictures and information on the Internet without infringing upon the rights to legitimate information? It is a challenge that those in the education community are currenly dealing with.
Yes, young children (especially those in elementary school) need to be sheltered so that they do not accidentally access a site with inappropriate or sexual conduct. However, should every single site or program that contains key words that might be sexual or inappropriate be blocked? NO! Biology & human anatomy students are one good reason why it is not so easy just to block certain words.
Below is a screen capture from Google images of a search for " Martin Luther King Jr " - this is how it appears on my school computer due to the Internet blocking software they use. I checked at home and NONE of these pictures are inappropriate!
Entire programs, like the poster making Glogster, are blocked by districts because a student could search using the word "boobs" and a poster would appear. Fortunately there is an educational companion, but that costs $99 a year for 200 student accounts. Teachers and districts don't have money to sign up every student with a Glogster Edu account. And what about other great learning tools that do not have a companion site for students?
Is this really the responsibility of the districts to prevent entire sites - many that have educational technology that interests students - because a student might conduct an inappropriate search. Or is it the responsibility of the parents to teach their children how to use the Internet and what they should not be searching for, especially in school?
We all sign acceptable use agreements as students and staff members. Should that not be enough? I am completely okay with the blocking of legitimately inappropriate websites that deal with sexual conduct. But I question the infringement of students and staff members rights that happens with some of this blocking software that exists.
All blogs are blocked. So is You Tube. There is an override button for an hour if you are a teacher, but not for the students. There is so much legitimate content in blogs and on You Tube that we cannot access because a kid might choose to search for something inappropriate. What if I decided to create a blog just for my class. I could request the district to allow it, but should I have to? Facebook is not the enemy. It has legitimate educational uses, but because it is a social networking site, it is blocked.
Instead of a wholesale blocking as is currently done, we need to be taking the time to educate students on what is appropriate and inappropriate for an online environment. We cannot beat these 21st century technologies, so let us surrender to the fact that they exist and teach them the proper use. Students want to use this technology. If we can't beat them, then as educators we must join them!
Yes, young children (especially those in elementary school) need to be sheltered so that they do not accidentally access a site with inappropriate or sexual conduct. However, should every single site or program that contains key words that might be sexual or inappropriate be blocked? NO! Biology & human anatomy students are one good reason why it is not so easy just to block certain words.
Below is a screen capture from Google images of a search for " Martin Luther King Jr " - this is how it appears on my school computer due to the Internet blocking software they use. I checked at home and NONE of these pictures are inappropriate!
Entire programs, like the poster making Glogster, are blocked by districts because a student could search using the word "boobs" and a poster would appear. Fortunately there is an educational companion, but that costs $99 a year for 200 student accounts. Teachers and districts don't have money to sign up every student with a Glogster Edu account. And what about other great learning tools that do not have a companion site for students?
Is this really the responsibility of the districts to prevent entire sites - many that have educational technology that interests students - because a student might conduct an inappropriate search. Or is it the responsibility of the parents to teach their children how to use the Internet and what they should not be searching for, especially in school?
We all sign acceptable use agreements as students and staff members. Should that not be enough? I am completely okay with the blocking of legitimately inappropriate websites that deal with sexual conduct. But I question the infringement of students and staff members rights that happens with some of this blocking software that exists.
All blogs are blocked. So is You Tube. There is an override button for an hour if you are a teacher, but not for the students. There is so much legitimate content in blogs and on You Tube that we cannot access because a kid might choose to search for something inappropriate. What if I decided to create a blog just for my class. I could request the district to allow it, but should I have to? Facebook is not the enemy. It has legitimate educational uses, but because it is a social networking site, it is blocked.
Instead of a wholesale blocking as is currently done, we need to be taking the time to educate students on what is appropriate and inappropriate for an online environment. We cannot beat these 21st century technologies, so let us surrender to the fact that they exist and teach them the proper use. Students want to use this technology. If we can't beat them, then as educators we must join them!
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
A Sigh of Relief
My principal brought me a notice today that my lay off notice will be rescinded tomorrow. Finally I can breathe a sigh of relief!
I hate this roller coaster that our current state law makes districts put us on. One minute we are terrified that we may lose our jobs. The next we feel hope from retirements and vacancies.
Sadly, many of my teacher colleagues will not be so lucky as to receive rescissions of their lay off notices. They will be unemployed and left with no jobs to even apply for as districts have no vacancies.
I hate this roller coaster that our current state law makes districts put us on. One minute we are terrified that we may lose our jobs. The next we feel hope from retirements and vacancies.
Sadly, many of my teacher colleagues will not be so lucky as to receive rescissions of their lay off notices. They will be unemployed and left with no jobs to even apply for as districts have no vacancies.
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