Thursday, March 10, 2011
Bring it!
It is a new phenomenon of teachers copping out and complaining that kids are unruly and they (the teachers) should not be penalized salary wise because their students in their classrooms are behind and under performing in tests. Yes, a huge majority of kids in America are failing and teachers want us to believe it is because they cannot handle the unruliness, that it is the kids. What a copout it makes me boil because no doubt many kids are rough and difficult but they are human and humans respond to us when we come from a n enlivened place and we love what we do and we speak a truth that is both connected to our hearts and our intellect and our souls in other words when we “bring it” it silences the masses and people stop and listen. On the other hand when we are speaking from a false place, a disconnected place, uninspired you bore the room. So the question is cameras in the classroom? Good idea, I do think merit pay is a great idea because if we as educators have a bully or two or three in a classroom than we the providers need to ask for help and bring attention to the kids who are causing disruption. On the other hand if you are phoning in your curriculum then you need to be out’ed and soon rather than later. Teachers who are phoning it in and being dead on their feet need to go. You teach a lack of integrity and children know when you are not there, when you are lazy, uninspired or just plain bad at teaching. Sack the crap teachers and overhaul America’s classrooms make learning a wondrous experience something life changing and better than computers or television.
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9 comments:
I totally agree with you on this. Working around teachers for many years (not being one) I see some teachers who love what they do and take their jobs seriously and then others that are there, I think, because they are "stuck". Maybe went to College to get a teaching degree, only to find out that is not what they wanted to do after putting in the years. That makes for a dull teacher that doesn't like what they are doing!
How was it seeing the Z men? I bet amazing I would LOVE to see them play OMG such fond memories it would be too much fun!
Getting rid of the teachers who are mailing it in is a great idea Rae, but once they are gone… what do you replace them with. Teachers need to engage students to be able to teach them. Most, but not all students will be drawn-in to an engaging teacher… some are just bad (25 years in education talking). The problem is that aside from the teachers who mail it in, some teachers just aren’t cut out to be teachers. Teaching is a secure union job like the police force, government positions, postal worker, etc. Some folks who never thought about teaching go into it because they can’t get anything else stable, so they take advantage of programs to recruit new teachers. Too many people who have both the knowledge and personality to be good teachers will never do it because of the pay. If you don’t substantially increase the pay at the same time you increase the accountability measures, you will create a bigger crises in the shortfall of qualified educators than we’ve ever had before.
In the absence of a new kind of teacher, their needs to be a better way of evaluating the students behavior as well as the teacher’s performance. I always told my students that the worst form of crime was student-on-student crime. If you steal $50 from your classmate, you can give that money back 25 years later. But if you steal a day of class time from acting up, unless you tutor your classmates before the final exam you can never give back what you stole from them. For that reason, pay based purely on productivity isn’t fair. Some areas just don’t have the high volume of distracting students. You will have teacher who try to change the grade they teach rather than run the risk of getting Pookie Jackson in their class next year (I know teachers who have done this already), or pass him to keep from getting him back. We definitely need a overhaul of the way schools are funded, and we need get rid of the teachers who are unprepared and/or mailing it in. But if we don’t address both at the same time we will completely destroy public education
It was a bit of the zmen, but it was actually the Rincon Ramblers which is the band Alan Thornhill was in before the zmen. They haven't played together in 40 years! But they played some of the same songs! (Alan carried some of his songs over to the zmen). Martin was there and Phil Salazar on the fiddle (who use to join the zmen now and then). It was incredible, because the vibe was like the ol' days and I saw people that use to come into the Sand Dollar, just gray hair now.. I was feeling so nostalgic! There was something about those days, or that summer that was so magical! Jim Monohan's brother and I have been trying to talk the guys into a zmen reunion. I've been bugging Todd, Brian has been bugging Jim. I asked Alan, but he seems to think that everyone is too spread out. The only one that no one is in touch with is Gordon (pedal steel). But the one from Rincon Ramblers could do it. And Martin, he is back in a relationship with a lady he went out with back then. I recognized her. They look really happy! Martin is off the market again (darn). Alan looks better and better as he ages!
Oh yea, George H. is on FB now.
Gee, I feel bad sharing all this on your blogspot, :/
OMG Suzi more details no worries...we can do this here why not?
Did the woman Martin was dating was her name Lynn?
Anyway I love hearing about all this.
It was 35 years ago that summer.
Thank you
I like hearing about Pookie who has a rough go and is not helping anyone especially "Pookie" I get your point. Still I also think the issue is cameras, we need them everywhere in class so we(parents) and the educators can keep track.
Let's be transparent and open up class to that as well.
I guess I didn't actually address your point. I think cameras in the classroom is a good idea on a certain level. It may put too much pressure on successful yet unorthodox teachers to adjust, and lose their mojo. Other teachers know how to "perform" more than teach, and they won't get the blame they deserve for the students failing. But overall, it is a very good idea.
Now I guess my other point has better perspective. Once you know who can't teach... who do you replace them with. You either need money for higher pay to get new teachers, or money for more extensive training for the old teachers. Weeding out alone creates a vacuum that causes over-crowding, rendering effective teachers ineffective.
You're right!! Exactly 35 years ago, does that seem possible? I was just in that same building a couple of nights ago and my memory was going crazy..
Do you know Lynn's last name? I'm not sure what Martins girlfriends name is, but she had long brownish color hair and kind of a round baby face. She was on the shorter side. Someone told me that he use to date Sheb Wooley's daughter and maybe it's her?? If it is I didn't know her. But I did recognize the lady he was with from back in the Sand Dollar days!
Kenny Loggins is playing at the Canyon Club next weekend, I'm curious if George will be playing with him. I could ask him on FB but I probably won't. It's kind of a small venue for Kenny, but it didn't sell out very fast.
It would be great to be able to post a pic with our comments :)
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