gee?! ya think?

I just read something on MSNBC that headlined..."The most experience is one to two years". They were talking about teachers. Hmmm....let me think about this....one or two years. I wonder why?

This year I have felt more pressure to get kids' testing scores up than any other year. With the threat that that teacher based or merit based pay is on the horizon - that pressure increases about ten-fold. So why would we have more teachers with one or two years? Perhaps because the rest of the veteran teachers are....oh let me see if I can get this right?.....SICK AND TIRED OF TESTING?!?!?!?!

As a veteran teacher, I am tired of being told that how a student does on a test will determine whether or not I am doing a good job in my room. COME SEE MY ROOM!!!!!!!! This is my challenge again to those doubters that we have it easy, that all the children are behaving and that we can get stuff done every single day the way it needs to go. Seriously, I am inviting you in. I want people to come in and watch what I do everyday. I want you to see how much time I get during the day to plan, to collaborate with my colleages, to see how many speed bumps there are along the way, to deal with students that aren't always behaving....EVERYTHING. I want people to come in and watch and then to consider how unimportant that test is to me at times.

When I tell people that I'm a middle school teacher, inevitably, their response is...."better you than me....I could not do that job." Well, you know what? Perhaps they're right....perhaps they can't, but I like what I do. Not everyday....but overall in the grand scheme, I do.

What I don't like is being told by people who HAVE NEVER been in the profession, how to do my job and what makes a good teacher. I don't like people making educational policy that don't know a lick about urban or public education. I don't like it when people try to tell me how easy my job is when they've never done it before.

People aren't blocks that can be pounded in a space just to fit and especially children. Each person learns differently. Paper and pencil tests just don't cut it anymore....they can't check for everything....they just can't.

So, when I see that most of the teaching population only has one or two years under them...I'm not surprised. Oh, and by the way....most of those teachers are coming out with things that they can teach us veterans....so don't think their lack of experience is always a negative thing!

each class...

Each class is so different from the other...just as each student is. I'm finding this year that this class is somewhat less mature than my kids last year - but oddly, I like it. They still have a childlike innocence and manner that I'm ok with. It can be annoying at times...especially when you wish they would follow directions the first or second time and not the 15th...but the childlike manner is still attractive.

Right now I have a group in my room...one boy asked if he could dust...he is...everything that he can find to dust. I have kids working together to construct a "building" with Jenga blocks and yet another watching a student create a poster for drama class. It's a different mix of personalities, maturity, and genders.

What I've learned about myself recently is that I'm somewhat unhappy in what I do. I still love teaching but I'm also looking for something else....something that will help make me feel a little more complete. I've found that it's music...and that I am going to have to do something with it or "perhaps perish!"

But even now as I watch the kids running, shouting, pushing and shoving in the hall to get to lunch....I'm still content here as well. They have ups and downs just like adults and I can safely say that there will be times that I wonder why I'm doing this - but I'm still ever in awe of these kids at times....

new year...

It's been a while I know...while everyone thought I was doing fun stuff - which I was, I was also working.

So far this year, I've been pleasantly surprised. I came into the year not really wanting to be here. It wasn't the kids or staff or parents...it was just a feeling of extreme tiredness. Once things got going though...I was good.

This summer Ron Clark came out with a new book, "The End of Molasses Classes". I was very excited to read it and it hit home. He has a way of saying things that you want to say and in a nicer way than sometimes teachers want to say it. I enjoyed the book a lot! GO AND GET A COPY!!!

I have some pretty interesting students this year. Skill wise - it's like they clustered my classes, but I can work with that and am also so very lucky to have a collaborative teacher in my room for an entire block! Last year....it was kind of crazy. Our special education teachers could only be there for a certain amount of time...it was harder to truly collaborate. The woman I work with this year is hard working and knows how to teach differently than I do...which I really need. I've worked with other collaborative teachers in the past and each one has taught me something. I appreciate ANYONE who works in special education...all the paperwork and extra little things they keep throwing at these guys is crazy!

I'm also starting to feel better about my new team. Last year, I returned to 7th grade after about 8 years in the 8th grade. I wasn't sure about where my place was on this new team...this year, I feel better. Our literacy department is working a little more fluidly as is our grade level team. I'm excited about what we could do this year. We're starting to create units and lessons that go along with our new IB program. I like the way it's heading and I hope that it goes well.

I'm starting to see myself as hopeful this year as we start. I'm trying to be positive....I'm trying to be hopeful and I'm trying to see the bigger picture right now.

I will say that I'm still feeling a little beat up from last year...and I can't say that it isn't still coming looking at today's paper and seeing what our state would like to move to...but I'm hoping that we can whether the storm. I guess we'll see how positive I can remain as well.... :-)

reflection...

This week I learned two things...first - I really enjoy sharing ideas with other teachers and secondly - that I am headed to the dark side and have truly started teaching to the assessment. On Tuesday of this week, I had the opportunity to leave the building. This was really cool for me. I haven't been gone but a half day all year. The other part, is that I am in a group of teachers that is rewriting the curriculum for the entire 7th grade Literacy. I felt very good to be asked to participate with this group of teachers. Without getting into all the details, it was a productive meeting AND it was interesting to hear all the things that are going on around in the district. It was nice to connect and reconnect to other teachers in the district. I really did enjoy the day. And we got A LOT done! :-) The second thing - which has slowly been a depressing insight to me, is that we have truly started teaching to the assessments. Last Friday and this Thursday we had the kids take assessments to see if what we covered they were able to learn and understand. The results were very telling. I found myself sitting down last night and trying to figure out how to get the kids to pass the next assessment by teaching almost, with the same terminology, the test we will have during the next term. Today I sat and talked with the students. I told them how they did on both assessments and then I laid it on the line. I said that we had to figure out a way to do better on the next assessments. I told them that we'd sit down after the pretest, go over the answers and talk through ways to get them to the answers that they needed for the post test....as I did this - I cringed inside. While I understand the benefit of assessing students, I don't agree with how we're are being asked to do this. I wish people would understand that these assessments are not how we show what our kids know. These assessments only show how they did THAT day. It's only a score on a piece of paper. Unfortunately, what people should be looking at, is not what the nation wants to look at....it's the other assessments we do, the observations we make, the mental notes we take - it's just so hard sometimes. I guess I'm just tired. It's getting to be the end of the year...the kids are tired and done. It's going to be an every day conversation to keep them as on task as they can be for a while...I'm hoping that they can do it....I'm hoping that I can do it.

It's the little things....

I've been discovering that it's the little things we do that make a big impact. Last year was hard for me personally. I could feel it in October and about the time of Winter Break - I actually was thinking of quiting and finding something else to do. I was really unhappy...I didn't feel like anything was going right or that anything I was doing was going right. It finally culminated last spring. I was asked to come down to talk with my principal....and got reamed. I mean I was flabergasted...I had no idea that I was doing so poorly - or that she felt I was doing so poorly. I left that meeting in tears and feeling like I was terrible at what I did. I felt like I had wasted a college degree. I went to another teacher in the building...we talked. I asked her what she thought and I thought about what she had said. I also went to my Literacy leader. Our conversation was helpful as well. We got to know each other a bit...I learned that sometimes she wasn't sure if she could be direct with me and she learned that she needed to be direct with me. I waited for two days and processed my situation...then I went back to my principal with the teacher I had originally spoken with. I went in, told her what I had heard, asked her some questions and we talked. It was productive. Today, my principal came to me again. This time she stopped me in the hall, she looked me in the eye and told me that I was doing a great job. She told to be happy with all that I had been doing this year and that I should be proud of my accomplishments. Today was the day that I felt appreciated and justified in my profession. I've learned that sometimes you need to take things - even the bad ones, and find something you can learn from the experience. And hopefully, you might even get a nice compliment in the end.

More bad press....

Why? That's what I've been wondering lately...why I'm teaching, why do I have to justify my job to others, why do I feel demonized?

Every time I read the paper I get extremely frustrated. Yesterday in the opinion section of the paper, I again saw teachers and teaching relegated to statements like "free health care" and "summers off for break". I wish people would get things straight...they latch onto the statements and use them as facts.

Firstly, I don't get free health care. I pay for it through my benefits. Education gets an allotted pot of money. The school district and union then sit down and figure out how they are going to allocate it. The teachers for the past few years have decided to use part of it to offset our health care. We have given up money that we could be using in our salaries to help pay our health care. How much LESS interesting is it to know the facts versus what everyone thinks is going on there?

Secondly, I don't have summers off. In fact the last time I had a "summer off" was to work on my master’s paper. I have worked or coached EVERY summer since I began teaching. Every five years, teachers are required to be recertified to teach. With the ever changing requirements from NCLB, sometimes our certifications change. Last summer I had to go back to UNI to take two classes. These two classes now make it possible for me to teach reading and Language Arts to Kindergarteners through 12th graders. I don't get paid to take these classes, I PAY!

If I'm not taking classes to get recertified, I'm teaching or working a second job. Usually, it does have something to do with my career though. I don't get paid to not work in the summers either contrary to popular opinion. We, in the Des Moines school district have decided to spread out our pay throughout the year.

Thirdly....and this is something to really pay attention to. Governor Branstad and part of the House of Representatives have decided for 0% allowable growth for the next two years. I wonder if people understand what this means? This means that we are only allowing funding for the amount of students we have in our district now. If we get any more students in the district - we SOMEHOW have to fund them. Where are we getting this money? Hmmmm? I wonder.....that's right our school districts will have to eat the cost!!! If Iowa schools weren't strapped enough, now we would have to take up the slack. When the article blames schools and school boards for raising property taxes and outsourcing to other places....it's not us! We have to figure out where to get the funding to pay for ANY student that would potentially come into the district based upon what the LEGISLATURE and the Governor allot us. So blaming us for the inevitable raise in property is specious, at best.

Fourthly, the part of the article that I would like to address was the quote of the "average salary". I loved it. It was around the $50,000 range. That's nice. But do you realize that ALL teachers were in that average number? Teachers that have been teaching for 25 + years to first year teachers? If you want to talk apples to apples, break it down. What was the average by age, sex, and race? Then compare it to the private sector. Make sure they all the same education though - ALL teachers have a four year degree and some have masters. Those figures would actually show an appropriate comparison and breakdown of the material.

Again - lastly, if you don't know a teacher and have never been in the profession - I challenge you, come sit in a classroom. Come watch us do our jobs. If you want your children educated by people that are trained in the curriculum, management and care that it takes for us to do our jobs, then we need to know that we are appreciated in what we do. Teaching is a challenging profession, but I love what I do. I love making those connections to my students and watching them make connections to what I'm teaching. I love the seeing how excited they can get and then being able to show what they know. I love seeing that light and excitement as they learn something new for the first time. Going into this profession, I knew that it wasn't for the money or fame or glory - it was the love of the subject I was teaching and the love of the subjects I would teach.

Please remember this when you read things and hear things about teachers. Please make sure you get all the facts and not just latch on to what is being repeated over and over. Please remember who taught you - the good and the bad and what they brought to your life. We are your neighbors, friends and citizens of Des Moines too. Please don't forget that.

Thank you Obama...finally, you are speaking up.

Obama: Don't Vilify Public Employees
President Defends Public Workers In Face Of Budget Cuts
PHILIP ELLIOTT, Associated Press
POSTED: 2:57 am CST February 28, 2011UPDATED: 11:08 am CST February 28, 2011

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama says public employees should not have their rights infringed upon as states look for ways to cut spending.
Speaking to the nation's governors, Obama says he understands the fiscal challenges facing cash-strapped states and says everyone should be prepared "to give something up". But he says that shouldn't mean public employees are "vilified" during budget debates.
Obama's comments come as Republican governors in Wisconsin and Ohio back bills that would end collective bargaining agreements for public employees.
The governors are in town for meeting of the National Governors Association.