OH NO-THE MATH AND READING SCORES HAVE DROPPED SINCE LAST YEAR!! DANGER, DANGER, WILL ROBINSON!!! September 1986-My first day, of my first contract teaching year. We were blowing bubbles. Why? Because I wanted these sweet souls to love school, to want to come back tomorrow and most importantly to know that they had a teacher who valued each of them. Oh no!! Where is the objective written? Don’t worry-I had it all written out in my plan book as a Science lesson, because it was in fact, Science(using various instruments to create change and evaluating which instrument/tool was best for the task), and it was Social Studies (creating a caring community),and it was Language Arts (encouraging the give and take of conversation, expanding vocabulary) and it was Math (How can we measure the bubbles? What tools do we need? Recording our findings, building our math vocabulary)…yeah, it was all there. Oh yes, and it was FUN!!!!!!!! And that, dear friends, was my primary objective.
Isn’t it just so liberating to speak your truth? How many discussions have we had about our ideal school? Oh the curiosity that each child possesses and the responsibility we have to pave the way for them to blossom! Dismantle the school board and it’s politics! I’ve said it before, Mary, every child that you taught is all the better for it! No other teacher compared!
Mary, you hit the nail on the head!!!! We are having an issue in Tennessee with the governor trying to undermine public schools by trying to bring in ultra conservative charter schools. An investigative reporter from a local tv station attended and recorded the charter school founder calling current teachers as people who took the stupidest classes in the stupidest colleges. And the governor sitting there and saying nothing!!! Hillsdale is the name of the charter school. Teachers are the most influential people for children, unless they have good parents!!! Pay them, value them and realize how important they are to our country!!!
There are so many issues with our education system. I don’t understand why teachers, support staff, and others in schools aren’t asked what can we do to make our schools better; instead we continue to ask people with no teaching experience to make the policies. And you’re right when it doesn’t go well we as teachers are blamed. It just doesn’t make sense!
I LOVE that you included the Support Staff in your quest for ideas to help kids learn! These are often the people who have the most one-on-one contact with the students. They know who is struggling and who is cheating; who is heartbroken and whose behavior is different than usual. They have lots of common sense ideas for how to reach kids. Yes, talking to those people who teach and support the students would be more effective than having ponderous curriculum ideas imposed from above.
Ahhhh....ponderous curriculum ideas. Common Sense Ideas-yes!! You have been in the trenches and you know first hand that when a student is struggling, broken hearted, hungry, tired, over scheduled, over homework (yes, that's not a word) or just having a rough day like all of us have, that it influences their ability to access learning. Scripted curriculum is enough to suck the soul out of any living being. (Hmm..perhaps that shall be Part 2 of my "DANGER DANGER" piece. I think there is some way to invite "guest hosts" on my site (like you) I just haven't figured it out yet. Hey, I know, how about if I receive "Remediation in that difficult skill with no break until it breaks me?!" Hee/hee
Isn’t it just so liberating to speak your truth? How many discussions have we had about our ideal school? Oh the curiosity that each child possesses and the responsibility we have to pave the way for them to blossom! Dismantle the school board and it’s politics! I’ve said it before, Mary, every child that you taught is all the better for it! No other teacher compared!
Mary, you hit the nail on the head!!!! We are having an issue in Tennessee with the governor trying to undermine public schools by trying to bring in ultra conservative charter schools. An investigative reporter from a local tv station attended and recorded the charter school founder calling current teachers as people who took the stupidest classes in the stupidest colleges. And the governor sitting there and saying nothing!!! Hillsdale is the name of the charter school. Teachers are the most influential people for children, unless they have good parents!!! Pay them, value them and realize how important they are to our country!!!
There are so many issues with our education system. I don’t understand why teachers, support staff, and others in schools aren’t asked what can we do to make our schools better; instead we continue to ask people with no teaching experience to make the policies. And you’re right when it doesn’t go well we as teachers are blamed. It just doesn’t make sense!
I LOVE that you included the Support Staff in your quest for ideas to help kids learn! These are often the people who have the most one-on-one contact with the students. They know who is struggling and who is cheating; who is heartbroken and whose behavior is different than usual. They have lots of common sense ideas for how to reach kids. Yes, talking to those people who teach and support the students would be more effective than having ponderous curriculum ideas imposed from above.
Ahhhh....ponderous curriculum ideas. Common Sense Ideas-yes!! You have been in the trenches and you know first hand that when a student is struggling, broken hearted, hungry, tired, over scheduled, over homework (yes, that's not a word) or just having a rough day like all of us have, that it influences their ability to access learning. Scripted curriculum is enough to suck the soul out of any living being. (Hmm..perhaps that shall be Part 2 of my "DANGER DANGER" piece. I think there is some way to invite "guest hosts" on my site (like you) I just haven't figured it out yet. Hey, I know, how about if I receive "Remediation in that difficult skill with no break until it breaks me?!" Hee/hee