Future teachers – failures before we even start
Are new teachers undermined before they even step into the classroom? (AP Images)
Anabel Fender is a graduate student in education at the University of Georgia. This is her first essay on the Get Schooled blog.
I think it is terrific and an ideal follow-up to the survey results I posted earlier today. Read them both and you will get a sense of what teachers are experiencing right now.
By Anabel Fender
I am an idealist. A dreamer.
An…Oh-My-Goodness-Scared-To-Death-Future Teacher.
And I am made out to be a failure before I even start.
I am battered and bruised from the war against teachers and I haven’t even started teaching yet.
Scripted curricula tell me that the “higher ups” have no faith in my words. My Words! An integral part of what makes me a teacher is not trusted, so I will be given a script telling me exactly what to say, when to say it, and how to say it. In what other profession do we not trust the words of the professional? Before I start, they make me question my words.
Merit pay initiatives imply that the teachers of America are not working as hard as they can already. In theory this initiative reflects the business world, but in the business world workers design their own goods and services. Teachers no longer have the freedom to design their goods and services – those are ready-made and required from above. It makes more sense to hold those creating the standards, curriculum guides, and scripted curriculum accountable for test scores – they are the ones making the “goods” and “services.” Before I start, they make me question my power.
In an effort to “improve” the teacher with scripted curriculum and merit pay, governors, federal government, and educational “reformers” favor alternative routes to certify teachers. Colleges of education are accused of using students as cash cows for funding research. Flyers for Teach for America hang on bulletin boards in the same universities. I am completely invested and have worked hard for my undergraduate and graduate degrees in education. I have made personal and financial sacrifices for a profession that will not give me great returns monetarily.
And policy makers have the audacity to think that a 22-year old business major spending six weeks of summer training to be a teacher is better equipped for teaching than I am. They help pay her loans, find a job, and offer funding for further education. But me? I graduate with education degrees when no one is hiring, teachers have no job security, and my student loans equal a teacher’s annual salary. Before I start, everyone is questioning my capabilities.
Teachers want what is best for students, but the current war against teachers is enough to wear anyone down. Teachers are constantly being told they are not good enough and then considered a threat when they speak out against injustices in schools.
Teachers’ tenure has been all but eliminated, furlough days are required, salaries are stagnant, and policies are written to fire teachers for being tardy but not to compensate them for their long evening and weekend hours. And since Georgia is a right-to-work state with no union to protect its teachers, teachers do what they must to keep their jobs. Teachers are afraid to speak out as intellectuals. Before I start I am questioning whether I am “allowed” to be an intellectual as a teacher.
I am battered and bruised but I am not going to question my words, my power, and my ability to be an intellectual. I will not let others define me, but I need teacher allies – former, current, and future teachers who will stand up with me and for me against this war on teachers. This is not about competition or jobs or our future. This is about improving our quality of life in schools so we can make schools powerful places for idealists to make their dreams a reality.
–from Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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126 comments Add your comment
crankee_yankee
March 7th, 2012
5:27 am
Amen
Concerned Teacher
March 7th, 2012
5:46 am
I am with you.
Peter Smagorinsky
March 7th, 2012
5:54 am
I admire Anabel for persisting in spite of the toxic environment within which teachers work. But I wonder how many other talented young people are being discouraged from considering teaching as a profession by the constant barrage of negativity surrounding education these days.
Anon Kindergarten teacher
March 7th, 2012
5:59 am
Fantastic article!
Vohndaddy
March 7th, 2012
6:10 am
Talk with current effective teachers/educators and ask them are they encouraging their children to become a teacher. Sadly, the most frequent answer is “no”.
mountain man
March 7th, 2012
6:27 am
I would NEVER advise anyone to aspire to be a teacher. Let the teacher shortage begin and we will see how much policies can change.
mountain man
March 7th, 2012
6:28 am
As I have said before, 50% of teachers leave the profesion in the first five years – and it isn’t the bottom 50%!
Elizabeth
March 7th, 2012
7:18 am
Very well said and absolutely true in all respects. I wish people would listen. Now I am waiting fora ll the dissenters to start their “whiner” comments again. It seems that no one wants to hear the truth. We are watching the demise of the real teacher unfold before out eyes.. It is coming. Soon we will have scripted babysitters in classrooms. Why would anyone want to go into this profession? I continue to wonder.
Georgia Educator
March 7th, 2012
7:26 am
There is truth to what the author has written, but it is also true that colleges/schools of education do not uphold the highest academic standards. Amongst other college professors, they are often seen as a joke. Why? At my college you cannot find any education major earning anything less than a “C” no matter what. Failed the test? Don’t worry, you can re-take it — in fact, you can re-take the same test as many times as necessary to get the required score. There are, of course, some very bright students who major in education because that really is how they want to spend their lives. But the vast majority become education majors only after they realize they cannot succeed at their first, chosen academic discipline — the statistics course required for psychology majors is too tough, the biology course required for physical therapy is too hard, etc., etc., etc. If public educators really want to be valued and treated as professionals, they need to begin by policing their own ranks. If speaking the truth means losing your job, and you care more about keeping your job than speaking the truth (and really helping your students), then perhaps you really should not be a teacher.
Teacher Turned Business
March 7th, 2012
7:26 am
I taught for 8 years and saw my real pay decrease over that time (accounting for inflation). In addition to that, after all those years in Fulton I was forced with the prospect of having to potentially move to another school and would have pretty much no say in which one. When I started as a single guy, the salary was fine. With two kids and a wife who takes care of them to provide for, it wasn’t possible for me to continue. I had a Masters in Math Education myself but a business degree for my undergrad so I was marketable in the business world. I really like my new job but find myself wistful of my classroom and my kids. I wish the school system had made more sense for me long term, but you can’t treat a person poorly, give them a no salary increases, and expect them to stay.
Atticus Joad
March 7th, 2012
7:36 am
I have been fortunate to have several former students tell me over my 20 year career that they became a teacher, or planned to, partly because of me. It was and is quite a compliment. Now, I discourage them as soon as I hear it.
Mary Elizabeth
March 7th, 2012
7:41 am
Ms. Fenders words, above: “I am battered and bruised but I am not going to question my words, my power, and my ability to be an intellectual. I will not let others define me, but I need teacher allies – former, current, and future teachers who will stand up with me and for me against this war on teachers.”
======================================================
SPECIAL NOTE To Ms. Fender: I admire your courage in speaking out, even before you become a teacher. Keep believing in education and in yourself and keep your voice present. This article is not only truthful; it is impacting. Excellent. You will make an outstanding teacher.
NOTE to READERS: Let your voice be one who supports Ms. Fender and other teachers. Write state Senator Don Balfour, who has sponsored SB 469, which would curtail teachers’ professional oganizations, such as GAE, PAGE. from being able to speak for teachers, collectively. This is the heart of democracy which they are trying to undermine. The voices of teachers, and of all workers, have the right to be heard, in unison, in America. See link below:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/StopSB469/
NOTE to the AJC: Sen. Don Balfour says that bills similar to SB 469 are being written in other state legislatures across the nation. See the link I gave, above, for his quoted words. When are the investigative reporters at the AJC going to be allowed to investigate the sources of these bills, which have an uncanny similarity, and which are showing up in state legislatures across the country? Please investigate ALEC. Learn which legislators are a part of ALEC and how that effects legislation in specific states, such as Georgia, across the nation.
NOTE to READERS: This year’s voucher bill, SB 87, is sponsored by state Senators Chip Rogers, Tommie Williams, John Albers, Jesse Stone, Joshua McKoon, and William Ligon, Jr. If you support public education, oppose SB 87.
wanttohaveinput
March 7th, 2012
7:52 am
And make sure you do not email a legislator from a school email address about concerns you have about your profession. There is NO teacher voice and they are doing everything they can to make sure it stays that way.
Csoby
March 7th, 2012
8:00 am
Dump the teachers union, dump the Federal Government, put parent responsibility back in the picture and watch the change, both in respect and pay. thanks to the Fed’s and the State government, Schools have become a babysitting service.
teacher
March 7th, 2012
8:01 am
Very well said. As a veteran 15 year teacher, I encourge Anabel to get out while she still can! Teachers are not respected as they were in the past, and the salary is barely enough to live on. I love what I do, but I I cannot support my family. A teacher who tries to support a family of 4 on his/her salary is almost within range for food stamps! And if one person says “you don’t get into teaching for the money” I will scream.
Principal Teacher
March 7th, 2012
8:03 am
“It makes more sense to hold those creating the standards, curriculum guides, and scripted curriculum accountable for test scores” – Most insightful and soooo true!
retired teacher
March 7th, 2012
8:07 am
Wow…this is excellent. I sure hope she decides to stay in education because she’s exactly what we need. But it’s going to be a long haul the way things are going and no one would fault her in the least for leaving eventually.
atlmom
March 7th, 2012
8:12 am
why would vouchers be a bad thing? I’m confused. We have seen that the govt running an education system is a bad thing.
So please, let me know why it wouldn’t work. If you say: oh, well, there will be kids who fall thru the cracks… my answer would be: as opposed to now? How many more years will we have to put up with this failure, with yet another federal govt program that is bound to fail?
Dr. Craig Spinks/Georgians for Educational Excellence
March 7th, 2012
8:26 am
“You’re on your own.”
It’s “sink or swim.”
And, by the way, here’s “a bowling ball” containing a heritage of disrespect for authority figures, of classroom and school disorder as well as of student and co-worker detachment for you to carry as you swim toward the completion of a successful first year.
Not Blind
March 7th, 2012
8:31 am
Anabel, what you are fighting are the highly publicized mistakes in judgement made by a tiny handful of teachers. It’s an unfortunate fact that young people make mistakes and most if not all of the mistakes are made by young teachers. The whole “math questions containing slavery references” is obviously stupid to someone in their late 50’s [ me ] but I could see me back when I was in my 20’s not thinking those questions were too controversial.
I do have one corollary. When in school I remember the whole class being disciplined for the actions of an individual. Now teachers find themselves in the same boat. It sucks doesn’t it?
Mary Elizabeth
March 7th, 2012
8:33 am
@atlmom, 8:12,
“why would vouchers be a bad thing?”
========================================
Vouchers would not be a bad thing if you want to dismantle public education for private education. There is much negative propaganda against public schools, which comes not only from state sources, but also from national sources of much wealth and power who have their own interests and agendas. Some of your thoughts reflect this relentless propaganda, which paints public schools with a broad stroke, and is deliberately cynical in tone.
There are many excellent public schools. I am not advocating for public schools to remain static. I am advocating for improvement in traditional public schools. Public schools must educate every child. Public schools do not use children for profit. Public schools are able to coordinate with one another, throughout the state, in terms of knowledge of students’ standardized test scores in a computer data base that will help to refine instruction, which will be more individualized for every student, even when students transfer from one public school to another.
Dekalbite
March 7th, 2012
8:33 am
Anabel is right. Scripted curricula has been sold with the profit motive in mind. Remember the $400,000 Hollywood Conference to learn how to teach America’s Choice when so many DeKalb Central Office personnel were sent to Hollywood during the height of the Great Recession using stimulus money meant for improving student achievement? America’s Choice has been used for 6 years and the MADE AYP rate in the low income schools it has been used in have declined to the lowest achievement rate (only 20% of our Title I schools MADE AYP in 2011) in the metro area. DCSS has spent over $50,000,000 for this program alone. And they spent millions more for Springboard, a scripted leading program for all middle and high schools. Since discontinued, Springboard was intensely disliked by the teachers and produced no positive results. These scripted learning programs are expensive, often hire school administrators of the systems they sell to when they retire, and are rarely evaluated in terms of efficacy for students.
The administration of the school system and its BOE must have the burden of student achievement placed on their shoulders. The school system administration hires all the teachers and tell them WHAT and HIOW to teach. They set ALL policies, procedures and programs for the district. They allocate all of the funding. Some do a very good job – Decatur City, Marietta City, Rockale come to mind. Some do a terrible job – APS, DeKalb, Clayton come to mind. Good leadership attracts and retains good teachers, seeks input from parents, students and teachers, and directs the bulk of their funding into the classroom for instruction of students. It’s really that simple.
The leaders of the school system namely the superintendent and the BOE have the control and make the decisions. They must be held accountable if their decisions negatively impact students. If the leaders of the school system are not held accountable, nothing will ever change for the students.
Misty Fyed
March 7th, 2012
8:35 am
Unrealistic expectations from a bygone era. The world is changing. Tenure?.give me a break..pay based on performance? get used to it.
Time and time again I see my loved one criticized for enthusiasm from the “main line” teachers because of the contrast it brings to their lack of it. Its time to give management the tools they need to motivate teachers who take up space or move them out.
That said, teachers are not the problem. I have never seen anything so poorly managed as the school system. The only way to fix the system is with competition; where broken systems die a natural death. Teachers should not fear this. Whoever runs the school will still need teachers. Imagine working for a place with competent management. Where what works not what feels good wins the day. Where the school holds parents equally accountable for their kid’s education.
I truly think teachers who oppose vouchers miss the point. It’s not a condemnation of them. It’s a condemnation of the central office.
GTT
March 7th, 2012
8:38 am
“My Words!”
Words is not a proper noun.
Susan Curtis
March 7th, 2012
8:41 am
Good for the writer! As a former teacher, my advice, is to shut your classroom door and do what is right for the kids and their learning. Jump through the hoops you have to, keep asking questions about best practices (and ones that you know aren’t best), but know that most days, you can teach as you know you should if you are getting results.
Susan Curtis
March 7th, 2012
8:43 am
Oops. I should have proofread. No comma after advice. Sorry.
Tad Jackson
March 7th, 2012
8:44 am
One of the greatest academic accomplishments of my life was in sixth grade when I led my team of classmates in running off a substitute teacher. Her name was Miss Anderson. Wanda Lynn Anderson. She sang for money at a lot of local churches, too. I know this because my parents made me go to church every damn Sunday and sometimes even on Wednesday nights and sometimes Sunday nights even when we had already been there that morning. Miss Anderson sang love songs, very passionately, into a microphone, to Jesus.
Anyway, back to one of the greatest academic accomplishments of my life. Beginning while we were mangling the Pledge of Allegiance, we delivered for the next two and a half hours a highly coordinated psychological attack on Miss Anderson … and then she sort of had a nervous breakdown and then she trotted out of the classroom with her purse and her coffee mug. Before lunch, too. The pride we felt for ourselves was palpable. Miss Anderson had come to the belief, which she verbalized that morning a number of times to us, that we were all possessed by Satan. We took that as a compliment.
After Miss Anderson ran out the door we ran to the windows at the back of the classroom and watched her get into her car and drive off. Miss Anderson had put her coffee mug on the roof of her orange Corvette while she fiddled with her keys and when she peeled out of her parking spot the mug tumbled down the back of her car and busted apart on the asphalt.
After we stopped cheering, I strongly suggested to my team that we read books and draw and color and play our educational board games while we kept real, real, real quiet. I tiptoed to the front of the classroom and eased the door shut.
Forty-five minutes after Mrs. Anderson took herself off of the substitute teacher list, the assistant principal, the real cheerful Mrs. Nix, bopped by to see how Miss Anderson was doing. After looking around the classroom, and then by asking us a couple of questions that she demanded we answer because we were acting pretty puckered up, Mrs. Nix found out that Miss Anderson had left the building. Mrs. Nix asked us how long Miss Anderson said she’d be gone.
I told Mrs. Nix that we all felt Miss Anderson would not be returning. Ever.
http://www.adixiediary.com
carlosgvv
March 7th, 2012
8:46 am
This young would-be teacher needs to know that social experimentation in order to pull black student’s scores and behaviors up to white standards has been the order of the day for many years now. She also needs to know that, even though none of these social experiments have ever worked or will ever work, there will be no end to them in the foreseeable future. Also, the “higher ups” will never tell her this directly but she will eventually catch on to this with experience.
thespanishbandit
March 7th, 2012
8:46 am
“my ability to become an intellectual”??? so, only by being a second class citizen, a teacher, I may be an intellectual…
Mary Elizabeth
March 7th, 2012
8:49 am
@DeKabite, 8:33 am
“Good leadership attracts and retains good teachers, seeks input from parents, students and teachers, and directs the bulk of their funding into the classroom for instruction of students. It’s really that simple.”
====================================================
I agree with that statement.
Batgirl
March 7th, 2012
9:04 am
@Mary Elizabeth @ 7:41, I signed the petition a couple of days ago and e-mailed my senator and asked him not to vote for the bill should it come to the floor. I focused more on the criminalization of demonstrating/picketing, and he told me that I did not understand. That that was just to keep people from picketing homes. Maybe it is; I haven’t read the bill, but if that’s true, it seems like a stupid waste to me. Oh, wait, I’m talking about our legislature!
My school system will not allow me to access the link you posted, so I am working from memory here, but I think that Sen. Balfour said that this bill comes directly from the Chamber of Commerce and is also being used by several other states. I mentioned this in my e-mail to my senator and asked why we in Georgia could not think for ourselves. He had no response that.
I would like to ask other teachers if they also have trouble linking to some of the websites mentioned here. I could not link to the article, “If you kill the heart and soul of a school, what’s left?” because it has the word “kill” in it. There are many other words that trigger our firewall, such as “anti-gay”, “lace dress”, “murder-suicide”. A representative from our technology department says that this is required by the state. I find that hard to believe. Do any of the rest of you have trouble with articles containing such words?
Mary Elizabeth
March 7th, 2012
9:08 am
Ms. Fender, please disregard carlosgvv’s pessimistic advice to you, at 8:46 am today.
I am a retired teacher who saw substantive increases in my students’ test scores, of all ethnic and racial groups, as well as of all socioeconomic groups. Many of my students, within my essentially African-American high school, increased their verbal SAT scores by as much as 200 points. If their math SAT scores increased that much, then their overall SAT scores would have increased by 400 points. Quite a significant improvement. Education can make a difference not only in individual student’s lives, but also in the fabric of our nation, as a whole.
Hope
March 7th, 2012
9:15 am
Amen! I’m with you all the way!
Negatory to the Lowest Common Denominator
March 7th, 2012
9:21 am
The highest performing school system in the world hires only teachers with a Masters Degree in the subject they are to teach, a math teacher must have a Masters in math, a chemistry teacher must have a Masters in chemistry. The students do not start school until they are eight years old. In the middle of the pack America, we hire teachers with a degree in education, a subject that concentrates on the bells and whistles of how to teach, but not on the subject matter to be taught. American teachers have mostly a superficial knowledge of the subject matter, gleamed from the textbook. In middle of the pack America, we start school at age 5 and earlier, and still fall in the rankings. Until we eliminate education degrees as the qualifying degree to teach in America, we will continue to sink in the global rankings. Until we allow boys to grow to the point they are ready for formal education, we will continue to drive boys from academic achievement. Girls may be ready for school at age 5 or 6, but boys are better off waiting until age 8.
@ Batgirl
March 7th, 2012
9:28 am
Your tech guy is mistaken. This is not required by the state. I think it is generally decided at the district level, although some districts may give individual schools a bit more freedom in what they are or are not allowed to access on the internet.
GM of IST @ CCDOE in GMU
March 7th, 2012
9:34 am
Ms. Fender has just written one of the most cogent arguments against today’s teaching establishment that i have seen to date. Good for her.
It is a testament to her fortitude if she sticks with this profession knowing the challenges and bureaucratic nightmares she faces.
Fled
March 7th, 2012
9:41 am
Ms. Fender,
It seems that you answered many of your questions in your essay. I am sure you know that there is very high turnover in the teaching ranks. That has long been the case and seems to be accelerating rapidly these days. Also, Maureen shared some information that many teachers are planning to leave as soon as they can. Throughout this blog, there are many postings by highly experienced teachers who cannot wait to quit.
You will soon learn that most administrators ran away from the classroom because of their limitations as teachers, so if you begin to shine they will attack you mercilessly. You will also find that most of the parents are nice people who want the same thing you do, but there is a toxic minority that is so unpleasant in every way that you will not want to deal with any parents. Always remember that the admins will never ever support you when a parent complains no matter how ridiculous the complaint is. You will also find that the repuke government in Georgia undercuts and fails to support you in every way possible (please keep in mind that half of these people would vote for Gingrich).
I actively discourage all my former students from becoming teachers, especially the bright ones who could make a difference in students’ lives. Colleges of Education are refuges for tenured mediocrities and failures; the education that you have paid so much for will not serve you well at all in the realities of the classroom. You would have been better off to have earned a real degree and then entered alternative certification: at least you would have something to teach.
When the schools are fully privatized, you will find that your position will become even more degraded. The classroom will then be a profit center, and you will be an employee. Companies like Mosaica know how to look good on paper, so the fraud will continue. You will never be able to speak out for fear of losing your job.
Don’t buy a house or do anything else that would ground you in Georgia. When you need to flee, it is best not to be encumbered.
Batgirl
March 7th, 2012
9:42 am
I don’t think my tech guy (girl actually) is mistaken. I think she lied. It is quite common for our central office folks to blame the state for things they don’t want to take responsibility for. Likewise, my school administrators blame the central office for policies that they make up.
Mary Elizabeth
March 7th, 2012
9:48 am
@Batgirl, 9:04 am
Here are the words from the link that I gave at 7:41am today, which came from GAE:
================================================
‘You see, SB 469 will criminialize picketing, punish employee associations, and penalize civil disobedience We consider this a direct attack.
GAE, AFL-CIO, Communications Workers of America, and other organizations-t work diligently to support and represent public educators and other hard working Georgians. SB 469 undermines our capability to provide those services and protections to you. In GAE’s case, one of those primary resources is legal protection for educators.
We believe the state has NO AUTHORITY to interfere with your PRIVATE CHOICE to have a preset amount automatically deducted from your paycheck. Stand united with us to protect your right to organize!”
====================================================
And here are the exact words of SB 469:
First Reader Summary
“A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 6 of Title 34 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to labor organizations and labor relations, so as to provide that certain provisions prohibiting mass picketing shall apply to certain private residences;
to provide for an action to enjoin unlawful mass picketing; to provide for punishment and penalties;
to provide for injunctive relief;
to provide for public policy concerning refusal or decision to withdraw from a labor union or employee organization;
to amend Code Section 16-7-21, relating to criminal trespass, so as to provide for both criminal trespass and criminal conspiracy;
to provide for punishment and fines; to provide for related matters;
to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.”
Status History
Mar/05/2012 – Senate Read Second Time
Feb/29/2012 – Senate Committee Favorably Reported
Feb/22/2012 – Senate Read and Referred
Feb/21/2012 – Senate Hopper
Sponsored By
(1) Balfour, Don 9th(2) Hamrick, Bill 30th(3) Cowsert, Bill 46th (4) Tolleson, Ross 20th
Committees
SC: Insurance and Labor
Title of SB 469: “Labor; provide provisions prohibiting mass picketing shall apply to certain private residences”
The title is misleading in that the bill contains more than “picketing private residences” – see above for all of the content within the bill. I understand that the bill could come to a vote at any time.
http://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/en-US/Display/20112012/SB/469
Horrible
March 7th, 2012
10:04 am
I got my teaching certificate last year, but for some reason I’m not in a hurry to leave my corporate job right now…..
Mary Elizabeth
March 7th, 2012
10:07 am
Below are the words of Martin Luther King III, regarding SB 469:
=========================================================
“We urge all Georgia lawmakers to oppose SB 469. This bill restricts the free speech rights of Georgians.
It burdens small businesses by forcing them to issue additional notices to their employees, and it puts extra strain on our already-stretched public safety forces. We need lawmakers to focus on real solutions to our jobs crisis, not push bills that take away our basic free speech rights. Again, please vote NO on SB 469.
Extreme lawmakers in the Georgia legislature are pushing a bill designed to intimidate those who would engage in protest activities, such as picketing or sit-ins.
This is an effort to silence protesters who are standing up for economic justice.
My father, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., died fighting for economic justice. Before his assassination in 1968, one of the ways he supported striking sanitation workers in Memphis was joining them on the picket line.
It’s shocking to me that, 44 years after my father’s death, extreme Georgia legislators are trying to silence today’s peaceful protesters. My father would not back down from this bill and we cannot either.”
http://signon.org/sign/this-ga-bill-would-make.fb1?source=s.fb&r_by=206641
NONPC
March 7th, 2012
10:14 am
Merit pay initiatives imply that the teachers of America are not working as hard as they can already. In theory this initiative reflects the business world, but in the business world workers design their own goods and services.
Merit pay initiatives do NOT imply that ” teachers of America are not working as hard as they can already”. They imply that some teachers are more effective than others, and that those teachers should be rewarded… and that whatever they are doing should be spread through the teaching community. Ever notice how teachers run from the merit idea like it is the plague?
” in the business world workers design their own goods and services.”. Again, a load of trash. Maybe a tiny fraction of workers get to design their own goods and services. The rest of us, 99.9999%, are following the company line on who/what/when/where to sell and support.
This article has so much baseless commentary that it is not worth going through. I, personally, hope this person never gets to teach a child… ever.
bu2
March 7th, 2012
10:16 am
Given that APS can’t get rid of teachers who have admitted cheating and has been paying them for a year, I don’t think teachers need “tenure.” It is already far harder to fire teachers in Georgia than anyone outside a union.
As for the evil administrators, doesn’t she realize they ALL have education degrees? So do a substantial number of board members.
A little outside perspective would be very useful for school systems. A lot of the parents have no jobs or have had salary freezes or cuts or furlough days as well. Its not just teachers having a hard time right now.
William Casey
March 7th, 2012
10:18 am
@NEGATORY: Your 9:21 post made TWO very important points regarding the improvement of American education–
“Until we eliminate education degrees as the qualifying degree to teach in America, we will continue to sink in the global rankings. Until we allow boys to grow to the point they are ready for formal education, we will continue to drive boys from academic achievement.”
IMHO, there should be no such thing as an undergraduate degree in “education.” A student should have to demonstrate competence in (and love for) a subject matter field. “Education” should be a graduate program. Think law school. We have discounted content knowledge to the point that many new teachers today would struggle in my 10th grade world history class. My girlfriend, a professor of Business Laws tells me all the time that the weaker students bail out of business and become “education majors.” No way to run a “profession.” I’m not saying that there isn’t a need for instruction in pedagogy, just not at the undergrad level. Of course, with the dismal status teachers suffer today, who in their right mind would go through the “Casey Teacher Preparation Program” to become a “data-driven robot?”
I’m writing an op-ed piece on the problems boys have in schools. I’ll save that discussion for later.
William Casey
March 7th, 2012
10:27 am
@NONPC: I’m a teacher who began advocating merit pay in 1979 (PHI DELTA KAPPAN, March, 1979.) Of course, the ways in which it has been implemented (or attempted) since then have been a complete joke.
carlosgvv
March 7th, 2012
10:39 am
Mary Elizabeth – 9:08
My “pessimistic” observations are known as reality. Your rosy recollections of your teaching career seem to indicate an exageration of the good and a total ignoring of the bad.
Fericita
March 7th, 2012
10:39 am
Way to go, Anabel! You hit the nail on the head. I’ll be your teacher ally!
In all the talk about how teachers must differentiate for their students, no one talks about how evaluators must differentiate as they grade teachers. Why should we all use scripted lessons? Why should we all have the exact same things on our bulletin board and word walls? What happened to teacher autonomy? All of these “improvements” just turn away the smartest teachers, those who miss their autonomy. But Anabel, I hope you stick with it!
jm
March 7th, 2012
10:41 am
Grow up Ms. Fender.
jm
March 7th, 2012
10:45 am
bu2 – second that
Douglas
March 7th, 2012
10:46 am
“And since Georgia is a right-to-work state with no union to protect its teachers, teachers do what they must to keep their jobs.”
The fact that GA is a right-to-work state does not mean that there can be no union to “protect” teachers. It just means that a teacher does not have to join a union.
Ron F.
March 7th, 2012
10:53 am
“The rest of us, 99.9999%, are following the company line on who/what/when/where to sell and support.”
Yes, but your company, in the interest of its bottom line, will make sure that raw materials/products are of sufficient quality that profit can be made without excess waste or damage to the company’s ability to continue its products/services. Businesses make sure what comes in has the quality level needed so that what goes out reaches standards.
In education, we have absolutely no control over the variety, grade, or workability of the raw material we get. We have to educate every kid, every day, regardless of any mitigating factor. There’s no quality control over what comes in and a myriad of standards we have to get that raw material to pass before we can be successful. The fact that we typically get better than half of kids passing many tests says a lot about our ability to work with anything you give us. How many businesses would be willing to take that risk? They’d be fools to try.
irisheyes
March 7th, 2012
10:55 am
I keep hearing how teachers should be experts in their content areas and not education majors. It sounds great for middle and high school, but what about us elementary teachers? What would our majors be in? I teach reading, writing, math, science, social studies, and health (not to mention 10 ESOL students and 2 special ed students).
MiltonMan
March 7th, 2012
10:55 am
She complains about the profession but still decides “too rough it out”??? Let me guess. She does it for the “love of children”.
Back in the day an education degree was one of the easiest degrees to obtain. I bet that has changed very little. Sacrifices??? Try going to school to be an engineer & then having your job “outsourced” because “better/cheaper” engineers can be found overseas. Then having clueless elected officials state that this country does not produce enough engineers, scientists, etc.
Ron F.
March 7th, 2012
10:56 am
“A little outside perspective would be very useful for school systems. A lot of the parents have no jobs or have had salary freezes or cuts or furlough days as well. Its not just teachers having a hard time right now.”
And they are allowed to discuss it just the same as we are. We’re all allowed to complain a little if we feel the need. I don’t anyone posting here thinks the rest of the world has it any better.
Ron F.
March 7th, 2012
10:58 am
MiltonMan: go get an education degeree and you’ll find it isn’t as easy as you think. Maybe it was until about 1985, but let me assure you it got much, much tougher after that. I’ve been teaching over 20 years and I doubt I would want to try for a degree in elementary ed.
MiltonMan
March 7th, 2012
10:59 am
irish, my junior high Algebra teacher was the PE teacher who did not understand the quadratic equation enough to explain. When we complained we were told “tough” and to quit being “disrepectful”. We ending up teaching ourselves the material.
MiltonMan
March 7th, 2012
11:01 am
Ron I will make a deal with you buddy. Go obtain an engineering degree & I will do the same for an education degree. Then post-completion we will compare notes. BTW: Given that most engineering degrees are 5 years, you will need an extra year.
irisheyes
March 7th, 2012
11:18 am
@Milton, you didn’t answer my question. I asked about elementary teachers. I said I understood the idea of requiring middle and high school teachers to have a degree in their content area, but I teach lower elementary. Which one of the six content areas that I teach should I have a degree in? Or, should I have one in teaching ESOL or special ed?
Future teachers – failures before we even start « GAERA
March 7th, 2012
11:55 am
[...] http://blogs.ajc.com/get-schooled-blog/2012/03/07/future-teachers-%e2%80%93-failures-before-we-even-... [...]
Mary Elizabeth
March 7th, 2012
11:56 am
@carlosgvv, 10:39 am
===============================================
“Mary Elizabeth – 9:08
My “pessimistic” observations are known as reality. Your rosy recollections of your teaching career seem to indicate an exageration (sic) of the good and a total ignoring of the bad.
===============================================
Carlos, my “reality” has simply not been your “reality,” and I do not believe that you have spent 35 years in teaching our young, or in educational leadership. As to my “rosy recollections of (my) teaching career,” I seem to recall the day that one of my students had brought a loaded gun into my classroom, which I promptly reported. I seem to recall the day that I broke up a fight between two huge guys who were exiting my classroom, when I was a young teacher. Moreover, if you have read any of my instructional posts, you would have noticed that I have shared, on this blog, that 1/2 of all 9th grade students, who had entered my high school, were reading on 6th grade level and below, yearly, for over a decade. Those examples are not such “rosy” recollections.
However, the good news is that I have, also, shared ways that I have found to improve those situations. It is easy to make sweeping generalities either about me, personally, or about the state of education, in general. I have been where the “rubber hits the road” in public education, and I know, firsthand, how to improve it because I did improve it, both with students’ academics and with their behavior. I believe that it is more productive to work to improve the problems within education and within society than to assert that the problems are unsolvable. I know otherwise.
Prof
March 7th, 2012
11:58 am
@ Tad Jackson, 8:44 am. You certainly relate your amusing tale of driving off your substitute teacher with relish. But I’d like more details.
When you note: “We delivered for the next two and a half hours a highly coordinated psychological attack on Miss Anderson” that caused her to “have a nervous breakdown,” what did she do to deserve this retaliation? What exactly was the two and a half hour psychological attack? And why are you so proud of this now as an adult?
Beverly Fraud
March 7th, 2012
12:01 pm
In the LONG RUN, you can make a case that teachers like Fled FLEEING are doing the best possible thing for Georgia students. I say that because it may just take Georgia losing ALL of its quality teachers for the legislature to get a clue.
Already whining
March 7th, 2012
12:14 pm
This new teacher will fit right in on these blogs. She’s not even in the classroom yet and she is already whining.
Good grief. If whining is her idea of “idealist” then she can keep her degree and go back to school to do something else.
We need adults in the classroom, not more whiners to babysit.
GM
GM
Ron F.
March 7th, 2012
12:26 pm
MiltonMan: I’m no math whiz, but I guarantee I could tough it out if you could. If you’re still teaching after the first year, I’d owe you.
I don’t judge engineers because I’m not one and don’t know your job well enough. How about you do the same buddy…
As I’ve said many times- if you think it’s sooooo easy to be a teacher, come do it and get back to me after the first year.
Tom B.
March 7th, 2012
12:31 pm
Elizabeth
March 7th, 2012
7:18 am
“Now I am waiting fora ll the dissenters to start their “whiner” comments again.”
Starting with the whiner who wrote this drivel? Does she really think this problem started while she was getting her degree? I take it she is not a History Major.
Proud Teacher
March 7th, 2012
12:34 pm
As a veteran teacher, I am weary of being ridiculed and chastised for everything that is wrong with public school education. I still love to be in the classroom, but I’m not sure that I could recommend teaching as a career anymore. Being a “whipping boy” for things that are not in my control and not being allowed to teach to the students in front of me rather than teaching canned lessons are good career qualities. I no longer can teach the volume of material that I used to teach because of the testing and administration demands for more paper work that have nothing to do with my students.
Tad Jackson
March 7th, 2012
12:43 pm
Prof … relax, bud. Have a little fun.
Dr. John Trotter
March 7th, 2012
12:52 pm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/creative–motivating-and-fired/2012/02/04/gIQAwzZpvR_story.html
Stuff like this happens to good teachers all the time. At MACE, it is our goal to protect good teachers against bad administrators. Bad administrators are usually extremely insecure, small-minded, petty, vindictive, and abusive. They are, more times than not, threatened by good teachers. Hence, they go after good teachers because they feel more comfortable when good teachers are not around.
http://www.theteachersadvocate.com
Beverly Fraud
March 7th, 2012
1:00 pm
SB 469 sounds like more intimidation pure and simple. But GAE sounds like it’s worried it won’t get PAID. Maybe if GAE had a TENTH of the passion about issues like DISCIPLINE and administrative RETALIATION, they’d sound a little more credible about SB 469.
Let’s make no mistake however; if those who put forth SB 469 ALSO had a tenth of the passion about discipline and administrative retaliation, we might actually have some LEGITIMATE gains in education in this state.
Beverly Fraud
March 7th, 2012
1:02 pm
Of course perhaps it’s hard to have passion about administrative retaliation if you REPRESENT those who retaliate and the SYSTEM that allows it.
Dr. John Trotter
March 7th, 2012
1:08 pm
Well said, Bev. I forgot to mention that MACE does NOT represent administrators nor supervisors. This is a classic conflict-of-interest. You know that I always appreciate your emphasis on discipline and administative retaliation.
Beverly Fraud
March 7th, 2012
1:09 pm
Maybe if the Georgia General Assembly were more concerned about providing “egress” to SEVERELY and CHRONICALLY disruptive students OUT of the learning environment, instead of trying to curtail FIRST AMENDMENT rights to peaceful assembly with the twin red herrings of “entrance and egress” Georgia wouldn’t be a NATIONAL embarrassment in education.
These guys think this will lead to higher SAT and CRCT scores? I’m not sure they can even SPELL the acronyms, much less implement policies that will improve the scores on either.
Beverly Fraud
March 7th, 2012
1:18 pm
Dr. T, I gotta think GAE has their collective (undergarments) in a tightly wound wad right now LOL
GAE has been WEAK and TEPID when it comes to TRULY advocating for teaching conditions, ALL BUT acquiescing to all manner of foolishness from the General Assembly, and now the Senate wants to take away their cheddar!
The question a GAE member MIGHT to ask themselves right now; is GAE willing to FURTHER acquiesce to the Gold Dome crowd, in order to get the cheddar (automatic payroll deduction) back?
If there IS a “quid pro quo” in order to get the cheddar back, will it be in the best interest of teachers, or the best interest of GAE?
Perhaps a GAE member can offer an ALTERNATIVE take on it. It’s a BLOG after all LOL
Prof
March 7th, 2012
1:20 pm
@ Tad Jackson, 12:43 pm. “Fun,” like pulling wings off flies? I bet you enjoyed dropping rocks off traffic overpasses when you were in 6th grade, too.
Prof
March 7th, 2012
1:29 pm
I’d like to follow up on the point by “Douglas” at 10:46 am that Georgia’s Constitution is a “right-to-work state” because it does not allow unions to automatically deduct dues from employee paychecks.
Georgia’s constitution has a ‘right to work’ provision which prohibits interference with employment to compel any person to either join or [note!] refrain from joining a union. And also, as Mary Elizabeth reminds us, SB 469 will prohibit mass picketing outside private residences. It will force union members to put into writing every year that they want to pay union dues or organizational fees through paycheck deductions (additional source: today’s AJC, B6).
My question: even with the state constitution, and the passage of SB 469 and approval by the Governor—what is to prevent teachers from forming a union and then sending in their union dues voluntarily rather than having them deducted automatically from paychecks?
Even better….why couldn’t GAE and MACE combine into one big teachers’ union?
Beverly Fraud
March 7th, 2012
1:35 pm
Simple Prof. MACE represents teachers only, GAE teachers AND administrators, and in the current educational environment, isn’t a teacher joining an organization that represents administrators about as nonsensical as a chicken asking Truett Cathy for career placement assistance?
jm
March 7th, 2012
1:55 pm
Kids are better off using this (with parental help) and dumping their lousy teachers
http://www.khanacademy.org/
Brandy
March 7th, 2012
2:07 pm
Well written. I hope she becomes a successful and engaged educator. I also hope that her writing of this Op. Ed. does not prevent her from gainful employment.
Beverly Fraud
March 7th, 2012
2:18 pm
On the other hand Brandy, if it does prevent her from gainful employment, in the long run it may spare her years of miserable teaching conditions.
Fled had some EXCELLENT advice for those who insist on trying teaching in this environment.
Parent Teacher
March 7th, 2012
2:18 pm
GM
I would love to see how wonderful a teacher you would be. If you have all the answers and can solve the problems in education by bringing your positive attitude and brilliant selve to the classroom, by all means do. Until you work as a teacher and understand what it takes to educate children you should stop posting on this blog and all education blogs.
Mary Elizabeth
March 7th, 2012
2:19 pm
GAE, a branch of NEA, is credible and advocates for educators in Georgia. I have been a member for 40 years. GAE keeps its members informed, offers legal counsel, and supports public education for the benefit of students.
dc
March 7th, 2012
2:29 pm
Maureen, it would be such a breath of fresh air if you had a blog where teachers and administrators came on and actually shared ideas that might work….instead of just talking about how stupid everyone else’ ideas are…and how the ideas that were potentially good were “of course implemented all wrong”.
Oh, and “more money” isn’t a good idea…been tried, failed miserably. As a parent, I had no idea there was such a large group of whining, griping teachers out there who were so convinced everyone else is wrong and stupid, but had no ideas of their own….it’s really scary.
William Casey
March 7th, 2012
2:47 pm
@dc: I’m a “retired teacher” now but I have LOTS of ideas including many on how to improve and “professionalize” teachers.
Common Sense
March 7th, 2012
2:48 pm
Frankly, it’s hard to have empathy for anyone that gets into a profession and then complains about it.
These are the same debates I had with college friends as they were going into teaching.
Their desire to teach outwighed their income potential.
To choose teaching is something they have to live with. But don’t complain to us the rest of your career about the choice you made.
William Casey
March 7th, 2012
2:59 pm
@irisheyes: I’m well aware of the challenges in Early Chilhood Education as my first wife was a K-3 teacher. When I was advocating “content area” undergrad degrees, I was thinking of Middle and High schools. However, I think that it also might be true for the early grades as well. It takes more than “loving kids” to be a good teacher. Maybe use a “team” concept. I’m not certain on this, though.
Beverly Fraud
March 7th, 2012
3:06 pm
Mary Elizabeth, like so many GAE advocates who dare to tread here, you AVOID the issue.
How, with administrative retaliation PART and PARCEL of the current education climate in Georgia, can GAE FULLY advocate for teachers and FULLY advocate for administrators?
And how much of GAE’s opposition is DIRECTLY related to the fact they won’t get their cheddar (AUTOMATIC payroll deduction)?
And if there is a “quid pro quo” with the Gold Dome crowd, what will GAE’s teachers lose in return for the unfettered cheddar?
I would challenge any GAE advocate to explain why these aren’t fair AND legitimate questions to ask of GAE.
Prof
March 7th, 2012
3:26 pm
I got my acronyms mixed up in my 1:29 pm post: Why couldn’t GAE and PAGE combine into one big union? And maybe a ceasefire arrangement with MACE?
Oh yes, I know what an outsider I am….and I now remember some of the news stories I have read about activist MACE… But I gather that PAGE also includes administrators. I don’t know the percentages of teachers vs. administrators in those organizations… but it just seems that somehow the state has managed to divide and conquer the educators. Three main organizations…a strong grass roots dissatisfaction with the educational status quo… As I believe Benjamin Franklin said about the American revolutionary cause: “If we do not hang together, assuredly we shall hang separately.”
Beverly Fraud
March 7th, 2012
3:35 pm
Prof PAGE actually took to this very paper and said that a proposal to remove an educator’s right to run for elected office where they live and pay taxes “has merit”.
Not exactly the stand up kind of attitude teachers need right now, IMHO. Why PAGE teachers weren’t OUTRAGED by this, is beyond me.
Prof
March 7th, 2012
3:59 pm
@ Beverly Fraud. When? What year? Maybe teachers/PAGE are more activist now that they’ve undergone furloughs, layoffs, all the classroom indignities, the national testing debacles, climaxed by the cheating scandal with its truly fascist atmosphere. For this latter indignity was not confined to APS, we now learn. I would think that those who taught/educated through the 2000-2010 era would be more militant, more cognizant of what happens if one is quiescent.
I understand (I think) some of the political nuances involved here….and I also lived through the 1970s when social and political activism ran the gamut. But it just seems like a traditional political ploy to get an underclass (here, educators–surely there are some decent administrators along with the teachers!) to splinter into groups that turn on each other, as a way of preventing them from joining and turning on the dominant class that is victimizing them all.
Beverly Fraud
March 7th, 2012
4:04 pm
Prof, the PAGE editorial was in the last year of Perdue’s administration, if I remember correctly.
Perdue nixed it. I have NO idea why Georgia teachers aren’t more OUTRAGED, both at the legislature AND their advocacy organizations.
I would think, at least in some small part, Georgia teachers need to ask if they themselves are not active co-creators in their own misery.
Mary Elizabeth
March 7th, 2012
4:13 pm
@Beverly Fraud, 3:06 pm
“Mary Elizabeth, like so many GAE advocates who dare to tread here, you AVOID the issue.”
====================================================
(1) You assume conflict between teachers and administrators. More often than not, there is not conflict between teachers and administrators, and both work together, in harmony, for the benefit of students. When I was an Instructional Lead Teacher, part of my job function was administrative and part of it was teaching. I had state certification as a Supervisor of Reading, as a Teacher of Reading and English, and as a Data Collector. Where would my role, as ILT, have fit into a strict division of labor? In fact, part of the job function of the ILT is to coordinate instructional objectives between the administration and the teachers. If some teachers desire to be part of a more exclusionary professional organization, there are those they can join, as well.
(2) You assume that GAE’s opposition to SB 469 is mainly for its own benefit. I find that extreme thinking based upon my association with GAE. I have found that GAE works diligently and effectively for its members. I have never observed inordinate self-interest from GAE. From my experiences, GAE places its priorities squarely on the purposes I described in my 2:19 pm post.
(3) You assume that there is a “quid pro quo” from GAE with “the Gold Dome crowd,” and you assume that teachers will “lose” something, as a result. I have observed neither of these assumptions to be true.
(4) If you wish to pursue more questions regarding GAE, I think that you should call GAE, directly.
Barry Krakovsky
March 7th, 2012
4:29 pm
Well said! I am a teacher and I am with you!
To Parent Teacher
March 7th, 2012
5:01 pm
You have forgotten something very important. You work for parents. Parents are the stakeholders and we pay your salary.
We matter. What we think is important.
If you don’t get that basic concept, find another profession where you work but you don’t have any customers…good luck with that.
GM
jdl2
March 7th, 2012
5:20 pm
Where in the world did you come up with…”but in the business world workers design their own goods and services”. Hon, I don’t know where you got your “business world” expertise, but I hope it wasn’t a teacher. And teaching lives on a different planet than the business world, the two are like night and day. Tenure is outdated and a joke, there’s no tenure in the “business world.”. Guess what else? In the “business world” no one is hiring, and workers “have no job security” either. Finally, if you think you’re “battered and bruised” now, wait till you finally leave the school yard and go to work to start crying about how hard your life is. Nobody is making you be a teacher. Do it or don’t but don’t start whining before you even start working.
Ben
March 7th, 2012
5:53 pm
I’m not going to say anything negative. I wish you all the best, be well and watch your back.
duke
March 7th, 2012
5:56 pm
We can certainly sympathize with a young person in her position. She has no way of knowing what this is about; it all happened before she was born. All she knows is what she was taught in grade school, and then in college in her education program. The problem is with what she was taught. The criticism is not against teachers; it is against the curriculum in the grade schools and in the colleges of education. This has been going on for a long time. John Dewey began his experimental programs in progressive education in 1904. It was a failure from the beginning, and continues to be a failure to this day. The United States entered World War II with a literacy rate near 100%, including segregated Black schools. Today at some universities, as many as 25% of freshmen require remedial work in basic literacy. Companies are complaining that they cannot find job applicants who can read, write, add, and subtract. It is simply not a tenable position to deny that US education is failing. The only remedy the education establishment knows to suggest is more money, but the inverse relationship is very clear: down through the decades, as education spending has steadily increased, the quality of education has steadily decreased. The problem is in the textbooks and the curriculum, and the problem is very severe.
Get a copy of John Stormer’s book, “None Dare Call It Treason-25 Years Later”, and read the chapter on education. It begins with a quote from Admiral Hyman Rickover, my old boss in the nuclear submarine force, which he wrote in 1959: “America is reaping the consequences of the destruction of traditional education by the Dewey-Kilpatrick experimental philosophy…Dewey’s ideas have led to the elimination of many academic subjects on the grounds that they would not be useful in life. Thus the individual receives neither the intellectual training nor the factual knowledge to understand the world in which he lives, or to make well-reasoned decisions in his personal life or as a responsible citizen.”
Non only does that describe the problem with education; it also describes Annabel Fender, and explains why she has trouble making sense of all this. She is a product of this educational system. Man cannot live without ideals, but his ideals must be based on truth. Modern western man does not believe in truth. President Obama has said, “Christianity is true for me; I cannot dictate whether it is true for anyone else.” He has no concept of a truth that is truly true for everyone, independent of what anyone believes.
A good author to explain what has happened to our concept of truth is Francis Schaeffer. He says that unless we reach an agreement that there is such a thing as truth, we will be talking at cross-purposes forever. The way to understand it is to study the history of philosophy, to see how our notion of truth has been manipulated. Schaeffer is a good author for that study. He has a very deep compassion for intellectuals who have been led into the ideals of a false philosophy, and then find themselves completely lost in a world which does not match their false understanding of it.
I love teaching. I hate what it is becoming...
March 7th, 2012
6:12 pm
@GM “You have forgotten something very important. You work for parents.”
Actually, I work for my students, and sometimes the needs of my students and the desires of their parents do not match. When that happens, I will ALWAYS advocate for the student. All citizens help pays my salary, and that includes more than just parents.
@jm… I use khan academy in the classroom, usually as a follow up review to lessons I have already taught, or as a different way of presenting material in hope of sparking interest with some of my more distractible learners. The videos are not perfect. My students have caught occassional errors. However, I am not perfect either, and have made mistakes. It is always gratifying when my students catch the errors. It means they have learned the material well enough to realize something is incorrect!
Old Physics Teacher
March 7th, 2012
6:29 pm
jdl2,
What world do YOU live in? I spent 20 years in the private sector. There IS tenure in the business world. What do you think those golden parachutes are? What do you think happened to the failed execs of Enron, Lehman Bros, et al? You really believe they went to jail? Boy you do live in a dream world.
If you believe “tenure” which is education-ese for “Before you fire me, you have to tell me what you’re firing me for, and I get to defend myself.” is the cause of the problems in education. Let’s look at some facts: You know those things that have a “liberal bias” – like reality?
Administrators (education-ese for “boss”) lost “tenure” almost a decade ago. Principals (bosses) and assistant principals (assistant managers) get fired all the time — actually they don’t! Occasionally, very rarely, one of the many total incompetents (you know – like the AP who suspended the student for having a Tweety-Bird knife) gets called in and told “Don’t you ever do that again!” The teacher who created the slave math got in so much trouble he quit. Tweety-bird guy is still at the school.
Even rarer is the administrator who gets fired. He/She generally quits and becomes a principal/AP at another school system.
As I said, the administrators lost tenure and the overall quality of administrators either stayed the same OR WENT DOWN. You think getting rid of tenure will do better? Remember Einstein’s definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
Losing tenure has already been tried and found worthless.
Old Physics Teacher
March 7th, 2012
6:40 pm
You parents want better schools? You can do what the best private schools do: get a better class of student.
East Cobb teachers aren’t any better than the teachers in any school system. My first year teaching I decided to go to the National Science Teachers Association and learn how to teach from the best teachers in the nation. I listened to a teacher from a public middle school in the cough, cough, North Western Atlanta area. He said he taught density by bringing a 55 gal drum into his classroom and had his students get into swimming trunks and get weighed. He then had them get in the full 55 gal drum, and he measured how much water came over the edge. He then divided the student’s mass by the volume of water displaced.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? You want me to let MY students leave the classroom, go to the bathroom, take off their clothes and get into swim trunks during the regular class-room day? They’ll be all over the school. Where am I going to get a 55 gallon drum from that is clean enough to have my kids dunk themselves? What am I going to do with the 5 kids who are severe discipline problems when my quiet well-mannered kids get harassed in the boys bathroom? What about the girls in the girls bathroom? – I CAN’T GO IN THERE!! His response was that they didn’t tolerate that type of behavior at HIS school!
I left and went home and learned how to work with my red-neck kids the best way I can. Complain about us all you want; just don’t blame us for the ills of society. YOU FELLOW CITIZENS caused that; not us!
southside teacher
March 7th, 2012
6:57 pm
Proud teacher, I am with you. When students cannot be required to follow the rules, much less do their work, thanks to spineless administrators who let them get away with everything under the sun, my job becomes pretty much hopeless. When I can’t get anyone to care about a student who has walked out of class- WALKED OUT OF THE ROOM because he feels like it- there is a serious problem in the school. And it isn’t me. I spend many extra hours each week, on weekends, and during holidays, locating engaging materials and devising creative solutions to my disctrict “Curriculum Map”. You knnow, the one that makes no provision for the days lost to benchmark testing, nationally-normed standardized testing, etc. The one that has me three weeks behind despite my best efforts. I explain my expectations for the behavior or 14-16 year olds in my eighth grade class. When I try to hold them to those expectations, not only do the kids (and parents) make excuses, but admin gets on the bandwagon as well. If you have a problem with expecting a kid to make up work/quiz/ whatever after school, on the grounds that this is an athlete whose time is too precious, then I wish you would ask him/her what they were doing DURING CLASS that prevented completion of such. If we took care of that issue, there would be no schedule conflict. when you allow parents to dictate discipline in the school, you have given up the keys to the store. Without good order, how can we perform the miracles that are expected on a daily basis. I’m sorry to vent my spleen like this, but I had a student strip down to his basketball shorts today in my room, and that’s supposed to be okay with us. He will be in high school soon, and driving shortly after that. Brace yourselves, here he comes.
RenPrepmom
March 7th, 2012
7:50 pm
I think she made a lot of interesting points. It makes you wonder what the moral is for students who are trying to BEGIN a teaching career. We talk so much about retaining quality teachers, but if we are downgrading at the beginning of service where is the incentive to stay?
It’s time to move away from the monotone school day. Annabel seems very passionate about being allowed to showcase creativity and innovation. Hopefully her school will allow her to let that inspiration grow!
Proud Teacher
March 7th, 2012
7:51 pm
Southside Teacher, I fully understand your anxst. The bar has been lowered for so many years that the bar for learning has become a joke. Curriculum map? What a laugh. We teachers will need a GPS to find any students on a curriculum map soon if something is not done to empower teachers to teach!
Parent Teacher
March 7th, 2012
8:25 pm
GM your an idiot.
bilbo799
March 7th, 2012
8:41 pm
I love how people are praising this essay. Does it offer any real solutions? Anyone can describe how bad things are.
bilbo799
March 7th, 2012
8:44 pm
If we’re to believe this essay, pretty much everyone is in the wrong, except for all these super-hardworking, qualified teachers that are all over the place. Does that seem likely?
Jayne
March 7th, 2012
9:13 pm
This essay is all about her. Her debt. Her pay. Her credibility. Her feelings. Scarcely a word about what is best for the students. Seems she is going to fit right in with being a teacher.
AlreadySheared
March 7th, 2012
10:41 pm
@Proud Teacher:
“angst”. When in doubt, look it up.
Dr. John Trotter
March 7th, 2012
11:37 pm
I see you guys have been having fun on this thread today. I just returned from the MACE Office. Sorry I couldn’t participate earlier.
If someone doesn’t mind the ever present potential conflict-of-interest between GAE teacher-members and GAE administrator-members, then he or she should stay with GAE. I worked at GAE for six years. The conflict-of-interest is real. This is why when we started MACE 17 years ago, we determined from the beginning that administrators and supervisors would not be allowed in the membership of MACE. We also decided never to allow school systems (or, in this case, the legislature) to have power over MACE by MACE asking the school systems to collect its membership fees for the organization. This gives the school systems too much leverage. They could always threaten to stop payroll deduction. I think now that people can see our wisdom of foregoing payroll deduction.
Theoretically, having all teachers in one union/organization seems the best route for teachers. But, PAGE is entirely too pro-administrators and GAE is entirely too-conflicted. When a teacher joins MACE, the teacher knows whose side that MACE is on. There is no doubt about it.
Beverly Fraud
March 7th, 2012
11:43 pm
1) You assume conflict between teachers and administrators. More often than not, there is not conflict between teachers and administrators, and both work together, in harmony, for the benefit of students.
Mary Elizabeth, I was talking about teaching in Georgia, not Pollyanna.
Perhaps that’s where the confusion is.
And if you think there is no “quid pro quo” going on at the Gold Dome…
Mary Elizabeth
March 8th, 2012
1:40 am
@Beverly Fraud, 11:43 pm
“Mary Elizabeth, I was talking about teaching in Georgia, not Pollyanna.”
============================================
I taught in DeKalb County for 28 and 1/2 years, under 9 different principals and under many more assistant principals. In Lowdnes County, I taught under 2 principals. I never received a poor evaluation. I did not say that “there is never conflict” between teachers and administrators, I said that “More often than not there is not conflict. . .” That was an accurate statement, according to my experiences.
Where did you teach, Beverly, and for how many years, and under how many principals, for you to assert that I was teaching in ‘Pollyanna’ because my response – to your inquiry of me – does not overlap with your assumption. Of course, you have to realize that your words to me are insulting ones. Perhaps, you seek conflict. If you seek conflict, you will probably find it. But, not with me because I do not care to indulge in conflict with you.
And, I never said that there is no “quid pro quo” going on at the Gold Dome. I said these words:
“You assume that there is a ‘quid pro quo’ from GAE with ‘the Gold Dome crowd,’ and you assume that teachers will ‘lose’ something, as a result. I have observed neither of these assumptions to be true.”
I will only write what I have observed to be true, and not what you believe I should write. I am not swayed by insults. I see them for what they are.
mountain man
March 8th, 2012
6:30 am
Those who can, teach.
Those who can’t teach, become principals.
Grammar Police
March 8th, 2012
6:32 am
“GM your an idiot”
Did you mean to say “GM, you’re an idiot?”
Anngie1984
March 8th, 2012
9:49 am
The war in Florida may actually violate civil law as teachers who are only accused of inappropriate actions are publicly outed. Read more http://bit.ly/bvmfjr
tchr
March 8th, 2012
11:18 am
Anabel and other soon to graduate education students,
I’d like to contribute my two cents as a 1st year teacher.
1.Do whatever it takes to be in a classroom every day. Period. If that means being a substitute in 3 different systems, so be it. If that means working as a paraprofessional (as few of them as there are these days), so be it. You simply must show administrators and department heads that you are serious about education and not just looking for a job.
2. Find something you’re passionate about to specialize in. I know that sounds strange because you are getting a MAT/MEd in a specific subject area but the truth is, you’re a dime a dozen right now. There are thousands of better qualified and more experienced teachers out of work and you have to compete with all of them. I developed an interest in adolescent literacy through my degree program and developed a draft curriculum for teens who are non-readers. Tossing that on the interview table made a huge difference.
3. (Bonus cent) You should try to add additional certifications to your core certificate. I wouldn’t go so far as to add something completely unrelated (say Math if you’re looking to teach English) but perhaps ESOL or Speech and Language Pathology. Special Education needs teachers who know the curriculum content too.
Anyway, don’t be discouraged when you apply to 50 positions and interview for 2. It’s a tough job market for educators. I graduated in May 2010 but didn’t get a full time position until Jan. 2011 (and that was not a teaching position). Things change, jobs open up. Administrators are looking for someone who is committed to the students and the school.
Go all in, don’t give up.
go dawgs
Beverly Fraud
March 8th, 2012
11:20 am
Mary Elizabeth, from what you write, I give you the benefit of the doubt on YOUR intentions.
But if you taught in DeKalb, you are well aware of
-Pat Pope
-Crawford Lewis
-Ronald Ramsey (who according to MACE-which has a well earned reputation of being VERY well versed in the law, ILLEGALLY shut down a grievance hearing as soon as CHEATING came to the forefront)
-$41 MILLION dollar budget shortfall
-out of control discipline
And…
If you don’t want to admit counties like DeKalb engage in ADMINISTRATIVE RETALIATION, then you are being naive, for one who has the experience you have. Ok, it may not be 50% + 1 (a simply majority) but it doesn’t HAVE to be to be a CANCER on teaching conditions in this state.
How do you FULLY represent the administrators who are engaged in RETALIATION at the same time you represent the teachers who are being TARGETED?
Why can’t anyone from GAE explain that, or even ADMIT it is a concern?
Crankee Yankee's Daughter
March 8th, 2012
11:47 am
As I read this article, I was moved to tears. Ms. Fender is exactly right: in what other profession and the professional treated this way?
Then I read the comments. At first I was depressed by them, but then I got angry.
@GTT: I doubt Ms. Fender thought “Words” is a proper noun. She made a stylistic choice for emphasis. Any English teacher or editor (I am both) can tell you that.
Many of you seem annoyed that Ms. Fender is simply complaining and say that this is all that teachers ever do. Those of you who have never complained about your job, go ahead and throw rocks. Furthermore, you must consider her intent. She doesn’t have to offer solutions in order to have valid points. Her intent was simply to share her opinion.
I agree that teachers should have content knowledge before they even begin learning pedagogy, but don’t assume that all teachers got their certification at the undergraduate level. Some of us have degrees in our content area.
Teaching is not easy. As others have said, if you disagree, try it. Walk a mile in my shoes. No matter what you do, you need to have a passion for it in order to be truly successful. Every profession has its problems, and passion is what gets you through. It is no different in education. Unfortunately, it is not always enough.
There are a few career changers at my school. Every one of them is planning to leave education and return to their previous careers (accountant, lawyer, scientist, manager). Each one of them has said that teaching is much harder than their previous job. To them, the longer hours, reduced pay, and lack of respect outweigh their passion. They simply cannot do it anymore.
Crankee Yankee's Daughter
March 8th, 2012
11:50 am
Obviously, that first “and” should be “are” and “professional” should be “professionals.”
If you’ve never made a typo, go ahead and throw rocks.
Anonmom
March 8th, 2012
9:30 pm
I agree with Anabel (and many of the teacher posts) that we (at least in DCSS) have really moved away from teaching being treated as a “profession” — we hold a hammer above the teachers and seek to hold them accountable yet administrators do leave them with little “wiggle room.” In most professions — think accounting, law, medicine — the professional decides how the “problem” is to be solved. The supervisor may guide but doesn’t generally dictate how it is done. This is compounded in teaching with programs such as America’s Choice or “tools of the trade” such as DCSS’ middle school language arts book with requirements to post certain standards on the bulletin board that the kids could care less about. The teacher has no control over who appears in the classroom at the beginning of the year or on a daily basis and must “make do” with who shows up and do the best they can. We (DCSS at least) has a number of teachers who are in the wrong profession but many others should not be constrained by the “guidelines” of supervisor after supervisor (administrator after administrator) trying to justify their own jobs in a “top heavy” bureaucracy and then bear the price of being solely responsible for the end results… there are some good points being made in her essay.
N. GA Teacher
March 8th, 2012
11:54 pm
This is an excellent letter, remarkably insightful for a student who has yet to enter the profession. Much of her opinion was (correctly) formed, no doubt, from interacting with her mentor teachers at public schools, and from observations of administrators and other teachers. Those of us who have taught for a generation have witnessed the deterioration of respect and professional treatment of teachers. In 1970 schools held students (and, indirectly, parents) responsible for EARNING grades and graduation, teachers were backed by administrators in discipline, and were trusted to teach the courses using their personal skills and strengths in combination with knowledge and skills from college (sort of sounds like the best private schools of today, does it not?) My high school teachers were dedicated people whose unique personalities and freedom to implement imaginative, creative lessons made the classroom come alive and motivated me. (Again, today’s top privates!!) In 2012, we have the self-defeating NCLB, a lot of rather repressive, heavy-handed administration (except for a few enlightened pockets), and scripted curricula.
bootney farnsworth
March 9th, 2012
7:20 am
my advice:
teach for a couple years, while you’re young and don’t have the burdens of life piled up to heavily on you.
when you turn 26 or so, either marry well or go back to school. get out before you’re 30 and can build a real life.
simple fact: Georgia and Georgians (both stupid parties) don’t care about education.
societally, you’ll get more respect if you cook meth in your basement.
DemocraticTeach
March 9th, 2012
1:49 pm
Such an eloquent essay. I am sharing this with my preservice teachers who are facing these battles. Yet, like you, they are pushing on with their love of working with youth and the hope that their work will challenge the injustices that permit this attack on education. Bravo!
exteacher
March 9th, 2012
3:44 pm
Always interesting to read the content here. I thought it was a well written piece by someone new to the job. I can give her a gold star for trying to understand the issues and a pass for not knowing what to do because no one, including most on the blog, know what to do either. I hope you find a place to be that you like and are appreciated. It can happen. I also feel the pain of those that are not in such a place. It is no fun. The probable causes all make their appearances here- parents, administration, the state, the feds, the students…So many issues, so few solutions. So many accusations, denials and excuses. Why do I miss this?
Rouhollah Aghasaleh
March 9th, 2012
5:35 pm
That’s very true. How can teachers develop students as intellectuals when they themselves are not allowed to be one?
Ole Guy
March 10th, 2012
5:30 pm
Anabel, I can understand your viewing the current battles on the education front as a war on teachers, for I experienced pretty much the same reaction, many years ago, when the general population seemed to place direct responsibility and blame upon the American Fighting Man/the U.S. Soldier for an unpopular war in Southeast Asia. That particular “misunderstanding” (with the passage of time, I can allow myself the luxury of edtorialization) was corrected ONLY by a vocal (though not always correct) population which INSISTED that our government “get it’s act together”.
Without becoming enmeshed in the geopolitics of the Viet Nam War, I will employ this National experience as a stepping stone to the (as you label it) war on teachers:
While I have never held affiliation with organized labor, I can appreciate the impact of a UNIFIED VOICE; it is complete absence of a unified voice, within the teacher corps, which has led to the current difficulties which have degenerated into this “war”. The current teacher corps, through a historical reluctance to form this unification, has…in my humble opinion…all but invited…no, make that BEGGED…the current difficulties faced by teachers, school systems, and, of course, the “customers”/the future generations who are supposed to have trust in an educational system which will prepare them for the “start gate” of the big race called LIFE.
As I have constantly endorsed to the current teacher corps…”the ball’s in your court”. Upon achieving teacher certification, you will inherit that very same ball.
Atlanta mom too
March 13th, 2012
9:51 am
I love teachers. I chose nursing over teaching- . My sincere advice is work in a private school. You will have a voice there. You will make more money there and possible promotion. You will not have to burn both bridges just to get a kid to understand something. The public schools are tough, the administration chews young teachers up and spits them out. The parents also blame the teacher because don’t you know my kid is a genius. I have not met a private school teacher who hates their job- there are no CRCT’s, no special ed kids, no kid who has not eaten since G-d knows when, kids are so dang bright its amazing. I am in support of public school, but for a teacher- that is one rough unpaid road to hell.
Maureen Downey
March 13th, 2012
10:20 am
@Atlanta Mom too, If you look at the research, teacher turnover is higher in private schools.
Maureen