Teacher World

True confession: I don’t love teaching as much as I did when I first started in this profession. It pains me to admit this, but I don’t think I am alone. In conversations with other teachers, I am hearing the same complaints. Teachers are increasingly overwhelmed, overworked, and unappreciated.

Why are we overwhelmed? Because instead of being able to teach children to love learning, we are now in the business of teaching them how to take tests. Those of you who have moved to standards-based report cards know what I am talking about. In our district, we have created three formative assessments for each standard we cover in a trimester. We are required to administer these tests at the beginning, sometime during, and at the end of the trimester for each standard. The goal is to show improvement towards mastering each concept. After each test, we intervene with those who are not grasping the concept in a variety of ways before testing again. This is all above and beyond the normal testing that has always occurred in a classroom.  Is this what I signed up for when I became a teacher? Is this how you pictured yourself making a difference in your students’ lives? Is this really the way to get children excited about learning?

I am in my thirtieth year of teaching, and most people probably think that means I am coasting along doing less than I did when I started out. But I am working harder and longer hours with each passing year because so much more is demanded of teachers than ever before. Now, I don’t mind working harder if I feel I am working smarter. But I contend that we are losing sight of simple truths. Like the fact that repetitive testing is turning our kids off. And that teachers need to believe in and love what they are doing in order to be effective in the classroom. And that I can assess a student’s progress in a variety of ways, and testing is just one way. And that working harder doesn’t always mean working better.

And I feel unappreciated. No one will ever realize the additional hours I put in to try to meet my districts’ and state’s expectation that somehow I can get every student in my classroom to pass a test that has no real significance to them. We have even heard students voice the opinion (that they obviously have heard at home) that the tests are really to see how well the teacher is doing, not how well they are doing. When my students do score well, does anyone congratulate me on a job well done?

Again, I am working harder, enjoying it less, and not even recognized for the extra efforts I make. So, sadly, I find myself thinking more and more of retirement because my job is gradually become more work than it is a labor of love.

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Okay, so President Obama is advocating year-round school and extended hours to our school day. And I can’t help but wonder when enough is enough! His argument is that our school calendars are based on an archaic agrarian time schedule which needs revamping. And yet I ask myself, didn’t we turn out okay under this archaic calendar? Is this really about the need to compete with other countries educationally, or is it instead just a smokescreen to provide safe after-school programs for low income areas at the expense of school districts?  The president admitted as much when he announced his plan for schools. This is a bad idea for several reasons.

First, children need to be children and have time to play and spend time with their family. If the school day extends till 5:00 or 6:00, how does that leave any time for family and fun? Family time would revolve around dinner, homework, bathes, and bedtime. Much of a child’s development revolves around family and the normal activities that are part of family time in the evening. Forget that with Obama’s plan. And forget enjoying time with friends or playing outside, both important activities for developing children.

Second, what about extracurricular activities under Obama’s extended day plan? Where would sports fit into this extended schedule? How could coaches schedule practices if kids don’t even get home until early evening? What happens to after-school programs like drama, debate teams, choir, band, etc.? Am I alone in recognizing that fewer students would be able to take advantage of these programs? These are all part of a child’s educational experience, allowing them to expand their interests and become well-rounded, young people. Colleges look for extracurricular involvement in applicants. They recognize that academics are crucial but extracurricular involvement make for a more balanced individual. Involvement in these programs often teaches children about their skills and where their interests lie, which helps them plan for their future. With limited time in the evening, these programs would suffer and so would students who are unable to attend them.

Last, I would also suggest that those who advocate a longer day actually visit schools to observe elementary children for a day and see if they still think this is a great idea. Young students are tired by the afternoon, and it becomes increasingly more difficult to hold their attention as the afternoon progresses. Now, we are thinking of adding at least two more hours to their day? Do you really think that their energy level and attention will last that long? Parents, does your child’s attention level last that long at home? What are we thinking?

Again, should all students have to adjust to a longer day to provide after-school care for students who don’t have it? Not only does this seem unfair, but it seems counterproductive. President Obama and his advocates need to talk to teachers of elementary students and see what we think. It sounds great to say that adding two to three hours onto the school day will create more competitive students, but I don’t believe it will, not if students are exhausted and done by 3:00. And let’s not rule out what students stand to lose with less time in the evening. It’s a bad idea, and it hurts more than it helps!

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Recently, President Obama made the national statement that our children do not spend enough time in school, which he claimed places U.S. school children at a disadvantage in a global world. He proposed a two-pronged solution to this dilemma. First, he advocates year-round school, and second, he would push to extend the school day by possibly as much as two hours. My question is: Who is going to foot the bill to make this happen?

Proposing year-round school presupposes that our schools are currently able to accommodate children throughout the summer. This is all well and good for schools that have air conditioning. Unfortunately, many schools, like the elementary schools in my district, do not. There is physically no way we could work in these buildings or expect students to learn in these hot classrooms during the summer. Logically, that means that schools would need to be air conditioned in order to safely teach children throughout our hot summer months. Who is paying for these expensive renovations? Is the state going to shell out the money, or are they going to put the burden on already-burdened taxpayers who have difficulty supporting the current school taxes? Who is going to pay the increased operating expenses to keep schools open or the increase in fuel costs to run air conditioning throughout the summer? Our over-burdened school districts?

And what about teachers’ salaries? Does President Obama think teachers will donate their time, working both extended hours and an extended calendar with no increase in salary? Who would pay for the increase in salaries? And not just for teachers. What about the bus drivers, the cafeteria workers, and the rest of the support staff? Where is this money coming from? Again, to expect it to come from the school district or increased tax revenue is just ludicrous! We can’t get renewal levies to pass in this depressed economy. Forget new levies!

This is so typical of educational reform in our country. Decisions are made without consideration of how we, who are in education, are going to be able to make it work with little to no support from the government financially. Before this reform goes any further, questions of financial feasibility need to be addressed. Our overburdened schools and communities can’t shoulder this additional financial responsibility. 

So, I ask again, President Obama: Who is going to foot the bill?

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This school year started with a gift from the Department of Education for those of us who teach social studies in Ohio. Due to budget cuts, our state will not be administering the Social Studies Achievement Test for the next two years. Excuse me while I yell, “Yahhhhhhhh!” What a gift! Especially since those of us who administer the fifth grade version of this test feel that it is more of a fourth grade test then a fifth grade test anyway. So life is good, right?

Unfortunately, this news, while very welcome, is strongly reinforcing the downfall of state achievement tests. I have been bombarded with questions from my fellow social studies teachers about what I am teaching or not teaching this year. There has been talk of leaving out chunks of previously taught subject matter. And, to make matters worse, there is a general feeling from those who do not teach social studies, that those of us who do should be picking up the slack and volunteering our services in other ways.

First, whether we are administering tests for social studies or not, it is our school’s curriculum, not the tests, which dictate what we must teach, and this is based on our state standards. So why are teachers questioning what to cover this year? Before we administered these tests, were we not accountable for the board approved curriculum? Unfortunately, we are all so bombarded with the continual message that we must get our students to pass state tests, that it becomes our focal point.

Second, if we accept the premise that it is about teaching for mastery of the curriculum, it goes without saying that those of us who teach social studies will clearly be too busy covering our own curriculum to help other teachers cover theirs. So, while I am grateful for the test break, I respectfully decline any additional duties since my job really has not changed at all. I’m just breathing a little easier for the next few years and enjoying teaching social studies a little bit more.

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I love technology and the fact that it makes my life easier, and I love integrating technology into my classroom.

I preface this blog in this way so that you don’t think my next complaint is born out of a hatred for or frustration with technology in general. What is that complaint, you might ask? Simply this: Every year we provide our students with assignment books which are part of their school fees. Each student is expected to write their assignments down daily in this book copying it from their teacher’s assignment board. The expectation is that students will take these books home each night along with the materials they need to complete those activities, and bring everything back the next day. Clearly, the goal here is to teach and encourage responsibility; the same responsibility that will enable them throughout their life to complete necessary tasks on time and on their own. Sounds reasonable, as certainly, this is a life skill we all must master, right?

Suddenly, our principal announced at our opening meeting that he would like us all to have a web page on which we post our students’ homework daily. Now, bear with me as I think out loud here, but if the students already have assignment books provided by their school, and they are being told that they need to copy their assignments and use this assignment book to be responsible and get their work in on time, and then we tell them that if they forget their assignment book or don’t write their work down as they were instructed to do, it’s okay; all they need to do is get on their teacher’s web page and the homework will be right there, how are we teaching and encouraging responsibility? The only responsible party then becomes the teacher who not only needs to write the assignments on the assignment board, but must also post it daily on a web site, which may include updating it during the day again if the homework was adjusted for whatever reason. My responsibilities have now increased as my students’ responsibilities have decreased! And students will learn that they don’t really have to listen to their teacher and write their assignments because they can always use the website later.

Why have we been asked to do this? Because some parents want to be able to see for themselves what their child has for homework either because their child is not copying their homework at all or they are lying about what their homework is. Wouldn’t it be wiser to deal with these issues directly? Shouldn’t there be communication with the teacher to change the negative behavior in order to achieve responsible behavior in the future?

I am all for technology, but this is one time when I feel very strongly that it is a copout, and I will not design a web page (at least until I am told that I must) because I feel that the life lessons that will be missed in the process are far too valuable.

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Like everything else in education, disciplinary methods are always changing. When I first started teaching, corporal punishment was very much a rule of thumb. In fact, in my interview with the gentleman who would later become my principal, I was asked about my view on corporal punishment. Like any new teacher just out of college, I gave a verbose description of my well-rehearsed discipline plan. I rebutted the concept of corporal punishment labeling it archaic and unproductive, and talked instead of making the punishment match the crime to make sure that better habits would develop over time. My soon-to-be-principal proceeded to inform me that he was a firm believer in the use of the paddle and so were the teachers in his building. I remember leaving that interview both disillusioned and convinced that I would never hear back about that teaching position.

To my surprise, not only was I offered a teaching position (I am convinced it was more because I said I would be willing to take a coaching job than any great impression I made in the interview) but before long, I found myself buying into the corporal punishment frenzy. And it was a frenzy! I taught in a middle school at that time, and discipline was always a huge issue. Many of the male teachers had honed their paddling skills to such a degree that they volunteered their services to those of us who were too squeamish to do the deed ourselves. Eventually, corporal punishment became a thing of the past, but I sometimes look at where we are now and think perhaps we went too far in the other direction.

Many parents have become almost militant about teachers denying their child privileges as a disciplinary action. You can take away recess, but heaven forbid you take away a class party, field trip, or fun activity. (Even if their child does not deserve it.) I believe it is a reflection of our society that work needs to be fun and, rather than striving for those intrinsic rewards, it is rapidly becoming more about the extrinsic rewards. Why do schools feel they have to buy into this philosophy? I think it is because the fear of parent advocates and lawyers coming into the schools has become a reality.

Suddenly, our school system has gone soft. And the irony is that ours was once a school system which actively utilized an extremely harsh form of punishment on a regular basis. Now I would never want to go back to the days of corporal punishment, but is there no middle ground between that and the so-often-too-soft-to-be-effective forms of discipline we see in schools today? Let’s send the firm message that you earn what you work for; you don’t get it just because your parents will make a big enough stink!

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On Monday mornings in my classroom we spend the first few minutes reconnecting after the weekend by sharing something exciting we did over the weekend. One memorable morning this past spring, we were making our merry way around the room sharing our happy tales until I reached one young man, I will call Tim, who had been absent on Friday. Thoroughly expecting to be told that Tim spent most of the weekend in bed, I inquired, “So, Ted, I know you were sick so I assume you didn’t do much this weekend, right?”

To my utmost surprise, Tim boldly proclaimed, “I wasn’t sick on Friday.” Okay, so now I expected to hear that perhaps he had a doctor’s appointment or a family obligation, so I asked him if either of these two possibilities was true. He very patiently replied, “No.”

Now I was stumped. So I pursued the matter a little deeper by asking why he had stayed home then on Friday. Now get ready…His exact words were, “I had to stay home and help my mother set up the pool.” This happens to be a student who has struggled academically all year and whose mother I had been in regular contact with for support, so it took awhile for this proclamation to sink in fully, not just for me, but for the rest of the class as well. When I trusted myself to speak, I asked if he had begged to stay home to help. Tim retold the story that his mother came to his bedroom door in the morning and asked him if he would like to stay home and help her with the pool. Again, I had to take some time removing the shocked look from my face as I asked if this pool work could not have waited until he got home from school or over the weekend. He just smiled and shrugged. At this point I questioned whether setting up the home pool qualified as an excused absence. The only thing that saved me from a complete melt down was the fact that I was not the only one in that room that was amazed at the craziness of this situation.

I tell this story because it is indicative of a serious problem we face in education today. So many activities are becoming more important to parents and their children than school: sports, movies, computer games, vacations, concerts, and now I have to add pools to this list. For those of us in the business of educating and trying to get students to pass state tests, it is frustrating to say the least. I’m sorry, but when parents believe that setting up a pool is more important than getting their children to school, our schools and our students take a real dive.

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On July 2, Education Secretary Arne Duncan spoke to members of the NEA at their national convention in San Diego exhorting them to stop fighting the idea of student achievement as a consideration for teacher pay. While he did say that test scores should never be the driving force behind teacher compensation, he also stated, “But to remove student achievement entirely from evaluation is illogical and indefensible,”

Well, the dreaded words are being spoken! Every time I hear the concept of merit pay linked in any way to state testing results it frightens me! Let me add that most of my students’ test results over the last several years have been well above passing, but I fundamentally disagree with test scores being used as the litmus test to judge teacher quality. Teachers understand the wide variety of factors that affect test results: parent involvement or lack of; parent concern or apathy for their child’s test results; the student population which covers everything from discipline problems, the number of students who are gifted, SPED, ADHD, on 504 plans, etc.; class size; home situations; and when the tests are taken to name a few. (This year, we administered the tests in our district the week students came back from Easter break!) What about teachers who work in intercity schools with the multitude of issues they face daily? These are all factors we cannot control, but they certainly impact test results.

Is there any tangible evidence to support the assumption that student test scores determine the competency of a teacher? How do we figure in all of the extraneous factors over which teachers have no control?

There are a plethora of characteristics that make an exceptional teacher, some measurable and some not. Certainly with the myriad specimens of obtainable evidence which attest to a teacher’s merit, we need not resort to test results as evidence of anything but how we were able to rise above all of the countless issues and distractions we face in education every day and still facilitate student progress.

Take a stand and get vocal! Post some comments here and on other sites on this volatile topic. This is not the time to be complacent.

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I find it difficult to the point of ridiculous to pinpoint any one surefire way to evaluate a teacher’s excellence in order to decide who receives or does not receive merit pay, and I am a teacher. How then, do we leave this colossal decision in the hands of government officials who are distinctly removed from the classroom and have little or no firsthand knowledge of the many qualities involved in being an excellent teacher? It is frightening!

It seems to me that any reliable evaluation designed to fairly determine who receives merit pay would require following every teacher around throughout their day, both at school  and at home. If you are not a teacher or have never lived with a teacher, you have no concept of the number of hours that are dedicated outside of the school day to planning, preparing, and grading. Who will evaluate that?

Who will evaluate what kind of relationship you have with your children, the counseling you do with your students in your classroom and with parents at conference time, the hours you spend on committees, the modifications you make to your curriculum to accommodate children on IEPs, the phone calls you make to parents to praise their child or try to solve a problem their child is having in school, the children’s assignment books you check and initial daily, and the ones whose book bags you help pack at the end of the day? Who is going to see and evaluate these things? Who is going to evaluate the love you give each child in your classroom, even the ones who are hard to love, and how does that factor into an evaluation? Who will take note of the countless times you worked through your prep time at recess to intervene with students who were struggling with a concept you taught that day, or your reward system you utilize to encourage them to do their best? And who is going to observe your lessons frequently enough to evaluate the strategies you teach your children to be successful, the mnemonics you teach them to remember concepts, how you engage and motivate them, your knowledge of the subject matter and the variety of  techniques you use to pass that knowledge on to them?

It boggles my mind how this evaluation nightmare can be resolved! But the bottom line is this: I did not get into teaching because of the big salary (clearly), and I couldn’t work any harder than I already do for a bigger pay out. My reward is more intrinsic, and I’m okay with that. So I guess I just don’t place much value in merit pay, but I sure would take umbrage with someone who tried to tell me I don’t deserve it.

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One of the most offensive opinions I am confronting as I research other blogging sites regarding merit pay for teachers is the accusation, sometimes subtle and sometimes very direct, that veteran teachers do not deserve their higher salary as they just don’t work as energetically as younger teachers do following the same lesson plans year after year. I take huge exception to these statements as I am a veteran teacher. I feel compelled to “talk turkey” about veteran teachers and what we have to offer our school systems.

We have years of invaluable experience (in the business world this is a coveted thing). We have experimented with a variety of teaching techniques and fine-tuned our styles over the years. We have taken a variety of graduate classes in education usually earning master degrees. We have attended a wide range of professional development workshops and incorporated many of these concepts into our classroom. We have served on a multitude of committees in our schools, been a part of evaluating new curriculum for our classrooms, been mentor teachers, helped develop standards based report cards and short cycled assessments, and received countless letters of thanks from our parents and students. We have knowledge that we love to share with anyone who is interested, but we are just as willing to listen to the ideas of younger teachers and try them out in our classrooms. Good veteran teachers understand that teaching is not a stagnant thing, and are just as willing to learn as to teach.

Somehow people, and often this includes other teachers, have come to believe that when you reach a certain pinnacle in your educational career, you become complacent and unwilling to make changes. I categorically deny this, and furthermore state again that there is no age requirement for this mind set. I have seen teachers from all age groups and years of experience who are very willing to coast along doing the bare minimum. But the highly charged issue of merit pay breeds in some people this kind of divisive thinking. It is one of the dangers I see in the adoption of merit pay, and I would take issue with anyone trying to tell me that the job I do and the years I have put in do not qualify me for the salary I have earned as a result of dedication and hard work.

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