This teacher definitely gets it.

[callous taoboy]

Half of the students in the school live at or below the poverty line. I never take time off and I am often at school when I don't feel 100% because I am committed to the success of my students. I have 17 years of experience and I am one of the most requested teachers at the school. Let me give you a snapshot from yesterday because it illustrates what I'm up against on a yearly basis.

Yesterday we gave the final math "benchmark" test before the students take the real test in April. One of my low-performing students (who happens to be from a non-English speaking household) came in crying as she often does because of the constant strife at home. She made a 58% on the benchmark but I will continue to tutor her during my lunch break and any other time I can manage to see her when she isn't being pulled for reading tutoring by our reading specialists. Her mom refused to come to the parent conference until I got our no-nonsense, Spanish-speaking home-school liaison to call her. I found out at the conference that the girl is not living with her mom but with her elderly grandmother who is illiterate. Mom has had legal problems related to drugs and there is no dad in the picture. The bright spot is that this girl is beginning to enjoy reading so my colleagues and I have managed to pull her up from a first grade reading level to on-grade level. She was chronically absent during second grade.

Another student on my worry list did surprisingly well. He has a history of mental-health issues and has been a huge challenge this year. He was smearing his feces on the walls in second grade. We finally convinced his mom to get him into our "emotionally-disturbed" program and to get him back to the doctor to get his medication adjusted. He is responding well to both, hence his good score. Prior to this he was failing and making my life and those of his classmates hell. During all of his turmoil I kept telling him that I was not giving up on him. His mom divorced the dad last year because he was physically abusive to both she and her son.

Two of my other students barely failed the test. They are both dyslexic and since the math test is as much a test of reading as it is math it is understandable why it was challenging for them. One of these students was chronically absent in first grade and second but since her mom was taken to court over this late last year she has not been absent as much, but she is still absent too much.

I could tell you more sad stories, such as the one about the girl whose mom was prostituting her, but I need to run.

Do you get it?

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. I get it

Smearing feces is a sign of sexual abuse. Those kids are such heartbreakers.

[callous taoboy]

2. I know you do, proud2Blib. I always read your posts.

I think Obama gets it as well, which is why I can't help but feel that he has bought into a secret agenda (not so secret I guess) to dismantle public education.

[mediaman007]

3. Obama gets it, so he will dismantle public education?

I don't get the connect.

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. Tht's what is happening

They are defunding public schools to beef up the charters.

[Catshrink]

6. Or provide tuition tax credits for private schools

That's how Arizona is gutting education. It's just another tax break for the wealthy.

[proud2BlibKansan]

10. Didn't AZ eliminate tenure as well?

[Catshrink]

20. It can't be used in deciding which teachers get riffed.

It's so depressing here... the legislature is hellbent on dismantling public education. Shock.

[MattBaggins]

14. Beucase those H1-B visa teachers the private charters will cycle in and out

will show such concern for kids like these.

[callous taoboy]

22. What I meant to say

was that it baffles me that, as intelligent as he is, he would think Sec. Duncan's approach is correct.

[nadinbrzezinski]

37. They are Neoliberals

people need to understand this...

[nadinbrzezinski]

35. Didn't want to go there myself

but one of my young patients tried to commit suicide after doing that.

Let's just say the cops did investigate. I think his dad should be coming out soon, assuming he survived the tender loving care of the inmate population.

This is a common trait around the world. The guards let the animals in jail know that a prisoner is a sexual abuser. Well most have kids... so accidents do happen.

[Catshrink]

5. These are the results that should be rewarded!

From a first grade reading level to on-grade? That is a tremendous improvement. Your post illustrates why this business model Obama-Duncan are pushing won't work: kids are not widgets to be mass produced.

:yourock:

[annabanana]

7. Thank you ct... Teachers have ALWAYS been under appreciated

and inadequately compensated. This sad state of affairs has gotten steadily worse since the Reagan administration.

[LWolf]

8. I get it.

But then, I'm a teacher. I'm a long way away from you, but I've got stories to tell, as well. I have as many students who have unique home and family issues, mental and physical health issues, economic issues, social issues, and learning issues that stand as roadblocks to learning as I do reasonably healthy, functional students who come from relatively stable, supportive environments.

And it's not a coincidence. We ALL do. Teachers across the nation have those stories to tell, those children to care for and worry about. We do what we can, with whatever resources we've got, to reach out to them, to support them and move them forward. The idea that academic failure is a teacher or school failure, and not a personal or societal failure, is a dangerous error.

I had a meeting with my principal Monday night, who is looking at all those test scores and feeling the pressure. He's very supportive of all of our efforts, and he knows those stories as well as I do. We talked about those students who, while we've tried everything we can think of, are still failing. We talked about the reasons, and brainstormed to see if we could find ANYTHING else a school could do for them that we haven't already tried. With our current physical and human resources, there isn't anything new. It was frustrating.

We talked about what worked, what didn't, and what we needed to find more time and support for.

We did end the meeting by celebrating the many more successes than failures. Some of our neediest students have traveled far this year. They DID meet benchmarks; they learned, they grew, and they reminded us that we can, and DO overcome some tough odds every year.

Some of those who didn't meet benchmarks also succeeded. My 7th grader who has a severe learning disability, suffers from severe depression, takes anti-psychotic meds, who, when having a bad day, week, or month, shuts down and doesn't function at all; who has a harsh, heavy-handed step-father, who doesn't get to see the father he adores, who has an abusive sister and a mom who works too many hours and is just not there...he came within 2 points of meeting the benchmark. He's never been that close. Not only that, but this young man, who hates reading with a passion, just last night begged me to allow him to read a new book I picked up from our most recent classroom book order before I took it home, read it myself, and processed it for my classroom library. I promised him the book by Monday. With a straight face, wishing desperately I could record him. My heart was bursting.

No amount of teacher bashing, of privatization, of union-busting, of "competition," is going to make us work harder or better, or care more about our students, about their successes and failures. Support for creating environments and systems most likely to help them achieve their potential; acknowledging and addressing the social, economic, and health factors; those things are what we REALLY need to lift more students up.

We need the general public to "get it." We need politicians to get the message that our support is contingent upon these things, as well.

[stray cat]

9. But we can't reward dedicated teachers because teachers are not individuals

that can be evaluated like other workers on the basic of competence or performance. They all have to be treated the same with only differences in senority given credence

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. Such bullshit

But thanks for crapping on yet another thread.

[Nikki Stone1]

13. A school district would go BROKE rewarding all the teachers like the one in the OP

They simply can't afford to pay for all the work that teachers put in, especially the dedicated ones, which account for most of them.

[MattBaggins]

15. Keep repeating bullshit as loudly and as often as you can

It becomes true if you just say it's true over and over.

[Orsino]

17. We can "reward" teachers by not screwing them so hard.

all teachers are overworked.

[Fumesucker]

19. I'm not a teacher and never have been..

But I can easily see how teaching ability is a skill which would be very difficult to objectively and accurately measure. Furthermore, after a near lifetime in business and the job market on both sides it's easy to see how workplace politics can enter into evaluating a teacher's performance. Admittedly this is a problem in most or even all workplaces but due to the highly variable environment which teachers have to deal with it's even a bigger problem for teachers than it is for most workers.

Two teachers, one has a thoroughly middle class student body that is for the most part disciplined and motivated, the other teacher has a fragmented, undisciplined and unmotivated group of students with a high percentage of kids with psychological problems (smearing feces on the wall!!). The first teacher's students meet or exceed the requirements on the performance test while the second teacher's students fall well below standards.

How do you tell which is the better teacher? Is it the one whose students meet the standards? How can you be sure?

Right offhand I can't think of another job in which the perceived performance is so highly dependent on the raw material with which the worker is expected to deal.

[NashVegas]

27. Still Doesn't Matter

In my school district, the salary of two IT workers with less than 3 years in the system (database + Chancery admins) is more than 5 high school math teachers, combined.

And Bill fucking Gates says we need more tech in our schools.

[callous taoboy]

23. Here is my proposal:

Take a look at a teacher's test scores over a 5 year period. If they are significantly below those in the rest of the school or district there could be a problem with that teacher. Here is why I propose this. For the two years prior to this one I had, by and large, classes that were being well taken care of at home or I managed to get the parents of struggling students on board with the program early on. I'm usually good at that. I had 100% passing rates in math and reading during those two years. This year, however, my class includes at least 6 students who are hard-core cases and the parents are MIA. I've already alerted my boss that I'll do what I can but that I cannot guarantee 100% passing rates this year. He understands because this same group has been notoriously low since first grade.

[callous taoboy]

26. I think Obama's original plan

was to give dedicated teachers who work in the toughest schools a little more as an incentive. By the way, I've worked in quite a few schools in different regions of the U.S. and I have known very few teachers who were not entirely dedicated to the job. But thanks for your input.

[roody]

32. In my district, teachers are evaluated by

principal observation regularly.

[Nikki Stone1]

12. Thank you

.

[Boxcar Johnson]

16. I get it

Thank you.

[callous taoboy]

24. Thank you, and welcome to DU!

[livetohike]

18. Until people realize that classrooms are made up of individuals

and not robots, they will not get it. As a former elementary teacher, I get it.

[Solly Mack]

21. k/r

[Starry Messenger]

25. I get it, totally

These kids' lives are a real world snapshot of all the horrors of life in this country. I don't know why people think students enter an airlock when they get to the school where they are transformed into fresh-cheeked, prosperous and well-fed children who just need a little encouragement.

[etherealtruth]

28. What I get ....

Is that you (and everyone like you) is a true gift to the children they encounter and society as a whole. I think our society simply doesn't understand that we all benefit when "disadvantaged" children are helped to reach their full potential.

[callous taoboy]

29. Thank you very much.

[MichiganVote]

30. Get it and deal with your stories and more every year.

Don't think its going to be possible for me to vote for Obama or the Dem's much longer. Such a shame. But that's life.

[xynthee]

31. Bless you and all the teachers on DU for your thankless, but unbelievably important job . . .

. . . that you perform at such a high level!!

Never doubt for a moment the incredible, positive impact you have on the lives of those you teach!! I hope that at least slightly mitigates the many less-positive aspects of the job.

Again, thank you all!! :hug:

[donco6]

33. I can see why they'd request you.

Thanks for telling it.

[nadinbrzezinski]

34. I get it

and for your dyslexic kids, I triple get it.

Yes, 2+2=5 and transposing letters and numbers is triple common

Hugs, I used to get these kids as riders in the back of my rig, for other reasons mind you.

[Zoigal]

36. Thanks, taoboy, we need more teachers like you.

I taught forty years. Quite a few years in pretty rough areas and have had my share of kids with
problems, but sounds like you have more than your share. While i loved teaching, wouldn't recommend anyone going into the field now. Many people just don't have an inkling of what
public school education is all about IMO....You have my deepest respect and admiration......z

[TexasObserver]

38. So true. Expecting teachers to fix socio economic problems is GOP nonsense.

Their logic always comes down to "why can't you produce students who score as well as those from districts with well to do or middle class white kids?"

Teachers and administrators cannot transform the communities in which they work, but they do try. Thanks for trying.

[callous taoboy]

39. Thanks for all of the kind words. Despite its flaws, I still enjoy my job.