Teacher World

Our school system, like so many others in this troubled economy, is facing massive cuts if we are unable to pass our next levy, and if our levy passes by some miracle, we are so far in the red, that cuts will need to be made regardless. If your schools are facing similar financial concerns, you know the fear that such uncertainty brings.

In our school system, rumors are running rampant, and teachers with little seniority and no tenure are sweating bullets. This makes for an uneasy feeling as we all wait impatiently to discover the fate of our schools, teachers, paraprofessionals, and other staff members.

We have faced these issues in the past. Earlier in my teaching career I spent three summers on the RIF list myself, so I know the fear and worry that such times create. These fearful times will either bring out the best or the worst in us. When we work together to try to save as many jobs as possible, we show our compassion and concern for each other. Unfortunately, the opposite is usually seen, as self-preservation takes over, and everyone begins to look out for themselves. And some people just love to spread the rumors that are so very destructive and so often completely fabricated. The turmoil that results creates negativity and suspicion, two emotions that are counterproductive and harmful for a school system and the education of our children.

So, I appeal to my school system and so many schools like ours to be cautious. Know your rights and your contract, and wait patiently for the facts to be determined. Don’t get roped into the rumors, and don’t help spread them. Be kind and fair, especially to those who face uncertainty. When the dust settles, we need to be able to work together in a co-operative and cohesive fashion for the sake of our students. So let’s practice now until we get it right!

Funding Education, Teacher-World's Blog cutbacks, RIF lists, school budgets, school levies, troubled economy

While visiting other blogging sites, I spent some time on http://assortedstuff.com. The author of this blog talked about a gathering of educators to discuss “why schools have remained isolated islands of status quo over the past twenty years, while the rest of the world has been fundamentally altered by computers, networks, and communications tools”. He will be a speaker at this conference where he will talk about his “growing frustration with American education and the two-faced embrace of techie tools while at the same time rejecting the transformative possibilities they offer.” He continues to contend the following:

“Schools in the US have spent billions of dollars in just the past decade to buy laptops and software, install networks, connect classrooms to internet, and train teachers. However, walk down the halls of your average American school, especially high schools, and you’re likely to see a teacher-directed, lecture-demo formatted lesson, with little or no technology use by either teacher or students. Over the past few years, the most visible example of technology use in the classrooms of our overly-large school district has been interactive whiteboards, devices which chain teaching to standards of the previous century. Talk all you want about ‘student engagement’ and ‘interactivity’, these boards are little more than expensive electronic extensions of blackboards and chalk, controlled by the teacher, and locking the learning focus on them, not the students.”

First, I use a smart board daily in my classroom, and I do allow it to direct my instruction by either introducing or reinforcing subject matter which is to be covered in an interactive way. And with more professional development, I am sure I could utilize it even more effectively. But therein lays the problem with incorporating technology into the classroom to its full extent. How many schools in this crippled economy have the financial resources to purchase the technology needed and provide the professional training required to truly bring classrooms into the 21st century? Our school still doesn’t even have smart boards in each classroom, and those we do have are hooked up to antiquated computers which are living on borrowed time. Our district has been unable to pass a levy, which is true of many districts in this troubled economy, so we are looking at significant cuts in order to survive. We have already been told that the budget for replacing computers is non-existent, as is money for professional development. Now that is about as bare-bones as it gets.

How can we provide 21st century classrooms without the significant amount of money it requires to do so? It is expensive to purchase the technology, and even more expensive to train teachers to use it adequately. So often, software is purchased, but teachers are not thoroughly trained in how to use it. And if they aren’t comfortable with it, they will not use it. It is that simple. And the cost to purchase software licenses is often a deterrent for school systems that are pinching pennies.

So here is the bottom line. You cannot expect significant changes in the use of technology, which I totally agree is necessary to better prepare our students for the future, without the resources that it takes to implement them successfully. Where is that money coming from? Because, sure as shooting, it isn’t coming from our overwhelmed school systems or already-taxed tax payers.

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Funding Education, Teacher-World's Blog economy, school levies, technology

After spending quite some time reading a variety of articles both for and against the issue of merit pay for teachers, I feel, as all teachers should, the need to weigh-in on this important issue. Especially as President Barack Obama plugged teacher bonuses based on student achievement in the first education policy speech of his presidency.

We all know that in education, as in any profession, there are employees who produce average work with average to little success, and are unmotivated to do much more. A common fallacy in the teaching profession is that it is predominately the veteran teachers who fit this scenario as they have become burned out and are simply waiting to retire. While I do not deny that I have seen my fair share of this condition, I must also adamantly state that this attitude has no age requirement. I have seen the same attitude in teachers fresh out of college, and some who have a few years under their belt. In teaching, as in any profession, our labor force ranges from the dedicated, hard-working, and tireless to the “I’ll-do-the-bare-minimum”, and various stages in between. The difference between the business and education world is that our teachers’ unions, which protect us in a multitude of important ways making our work places fairer and safer places to work, also do our profession the disservice of fighting to protect teachers, both young and old, who legitimately deserve to be let go. In the business world, job retention is directly related to job performance. If our unions did not work so diligently to protect teachers whose performance necessitated their being weeded out, does it not stand to reason that we would be left with a higher caliber of teachers who, by that very definition, are all deserving of merit pay?

I propose that unions should establish strict and multi-layered guidelines for teacher dismissal and should ensure that these guidelines are followed to the letter. But when thorough documentation proves a teacher’s unwillingness or inability to take the necessary steps to improve their teaching skills after a methodical, multifaceted evaluation process established by the union, it becomes counterproductive and hurts a school system when its union fights for that teacher. Allowing the administration to release these teachers from their contract would ultimately create a higher caliber school system which encourages respect from the community and makes it far more likely for these community members to support levies that pay all teachers in these schools the salary they deserve.

Changes in Teaching, Funding Education, High Caliber Schools, Teacher Education, Teacher's Unions, Teacher-World's Blog job performance, job retention, merit pay, Obama's education policy, school levies, teacher evaluation, teacher salary, Teacher's Unions, veteran teachers