US Schools Face Perfect Storm

[proud2BlibKansan]

http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=5463

This is part 2 of an interview with Karen Lewis, newly elected president of the Chicago Teachers Union. She makes so many wise points and captures the mood of every teacher I know.

A few points from the video. (But watch it if you can!)

1. Teaching takes years to master. Few professions have such a long probationary period.

2. If we get rid of older experienced teachers, who will help the new teachers?

3. You have to teach children where they are.

4. Tests are supposed to be diagnostic, not tools for high stakes evaluations.

5. Non educators running our school systems need data because they don't know anything else. They don't know child development or the role it plays in education so they fall back on data.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. And all children don't respond to one particular method of teaching.

One child is Piaget, another is Gesell, another is Skinner, another is Montessori. A master teacher hones the lesson to the challenges of the individual student with the impediment of class size and time restrictions.

[AnotherMother4Peace]

2. Yes, & for my son it was MUSIC - & a wise "old" teacher recognized this, thank heavens!!

He is now a math major, and music minor at a top university. I thank the lord for the teachers he had - especially the "old" ones.

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. Mine was an artist

We taught him to read by writing down what he told us about the pictures he drew. An absolutely wonderful older kindergarten teacher helped me figure that out.

[LWolf]

8. I worked with a kindergarten teacher for many years who did the same.

Among the many other things she did with students, she had them draw regularly. Then, as they explained the drawing, or tell a story about it, she'd write their explanations down for them. They would have the opportunity to read those drawings to each other in small groups, to parent helpers and aides, etc..

For the 15 years that we worked together, it was very rare for a student in her class not to be reading, writing, and speaking quite well by the end of the year.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. Exactly

And there's no data that can measure those skills.

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. Dupe

[knitter4democracy]

6. Data is all they know.

Unfortunately, much of what we teach doesn't boil down to data points very well. How do you create a standardized test for writing poetry, painting pictures, playing an instrument or sport, or finally really understanding all of the causes of WWII? Portfolio assessments work best for those, as well as essays, but those don't plug into data points and aren't on the state tests, so they must not be real. If it's not on the test, it's not real.

[Jakes Progress]

7. Like the crisis opportunities

that bushco used with 911 and wars, the corporate shills in the administration are using trumped up crises to dismantle public schools.

Change here is like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. We get changed faces, changed names, changed offices. But the corporate iceberg is still taking the country down. "Amazing grace how sweet the sound".

[LWolf]

9. That was a great interview.

Especially coming out of Chicago.

"They have to have data because they don't know anything else."

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[proud2BlibKansan]

13. Love that quote!

You're going to have to help keep me from putting that on a banner and hanging it up in my classroom. LOL

[LWolf]

16. We can help each other.

It wouldn't be a popular with MY district, lol.

[flyarm]

10. If I may make an analogy..because your post struck me so sincerely!

I was a flight crew for one of the biggest airlines in the USA..

we all remember the USAIR flight that went into the Hudson River in NY, My best friend flies for USAIR..so the First thing I did was call her, to make sure she wasn't on that aircraft...

And as I watched, from the first moments, with my heart in my throat..I was praying they were an experienced crew, another words, a more senior crew with years of flying under their belt..I knew that plane would sink pretty quick..it was a miracle and expert Piloting that the aircraft didn't rip apart in the water ditching...I knew that ..and my thoughts while watching were..get those people out fast..I was yelling at the tv..come on..get those people out..

What I saw was the most incredible evacuation I had ever seen!!

And I have watched air crashes for 33 years on video..and seen every major crash investgated and re-enacted by NTSB..

Other than having angels watching over that aircraft..and a miracle that the plane didn't rip apart..

Every one of those survivors survived because of... EXPERIENCE ..of that flight crew.

They were WELL TRAINED ..but what they had, that saved all those people was EXPERIENCE..FROM THE COCKPIT TO EACH AND EVERY FLIGHT ATTENDANT. They had years of Experience...and a miracle thrown in.


Now, why do I bring that up..well I have raised my children , and although for a very short stint in Los Angeles schools...a a couple times having to put my kids in Voucher schools in Canada...MY children were edcuated in Public Schools.

I could have had my child in private schools..but I always believed, as I do today, in the Public School system.

And experienced Teachers are the Lifeblood of our children's learning. I saw my child have new teachers and teachers that taught many years..I would take the experienced teacher for my kids any day! They know what works with the kids, they love their job, or they wouldn't be there so long, and every experienced teacher ..my son would come home smelling like her perfume..because she hugged ..she touched ..she gave of herself. Equally My son had Great Men teachers..because of those teachers and coaches ..my son signed into the minor leagues of Baseball..he didn't make it to the majors..but he got an incredible education by caring, loving teachers.
In fact the first person my son invited to his new baby's christening was his high school English teacher and his High School Baseball Coach.

My son graduated college having been on the Dean's list every semester..while playing a sport on a scholarship..he was asked By the Deans at his University to be their first Rhodes Scholar, but he wanted to play ball, so he turned that down..He is now working full time and going to the Third/Fourth hardest MBA program in the nation.

I thank the excellent teachers who with their EXPERIENCE.. taught my child with the utmost professionalism, for helping my husband and I see our son with a love for learning , and highest standards, and respect for Education.

You are 100% correct OP..the new teachers need to learn from the Experienced Teachers...that mentoring is invaluable.

Now back to what I was saying about being a Flight crew with a major airline..in the year 2000 my airline, during the millinium New Years eve and New Years Day,Had an extraordinary high terror threat ..Gore and Clinton had forced the airlines to put all flight crew in this country through a special training for a year ahead of the Millinium.

My airline for that 2000 New Years night and day put an incentive pay in our pay scale ..and it was pretty high, I must say..they did that because most of the senior and seasoned and experienced flight crew always used their seniority to have that night and day off..the incentive pay was to keep us oldies flying..and working alongside the newbies..they knew the value of our experience, they did not want all newbies flying without the experience of us senior flight crew. They were right..serious incidences were averted ( I won't go into details.)
You can not put a price tag on experience.. I don't care who tries to bullshit and say you can..you can not.

Are there exceptions to every rule..yes. I have flown with great young people who loved and cared enormously for their job..and I have flown for 33 years ( now retired) with lazy assed junior people as well as senior people..as I have seen incompetant young teachers and incompetant senior teachers..but when my child is involved or the safety of my passengers..I will go for the experiemce every time! Life has taught me that.

I will say the people on that USAIR crash in the Hudson..they were blessed with a miracle ..but they were also extremely blessed with a very professional and Experienced flight crew!

Experience matters!

[proud2BlibKansan]

15. I'm crying

Thank you for an absolutely beautiful post.

[flyarm]

19. No, thank you for caring about the children you educate!!

You and those teachers like you ..are among my very small list of hero's!

[proud2BlibKansan]

22. You are too kind

Thanks for your support!

[tilsammans]

24. Crying, too

Thank you for your post and your airline service.

(I'm also crying because this country has gone so terribly wrong. :cry:)

[Starry Messenger]

11. k & r

[Catshrink]

12. K&R

thanks for posting this

[EFerrari]

14. K&R

[proud2BlibKansan]

17. I love this woman

I met her in Seattle and literally stammered. She is just so awesome it was hard to put my thoughts into words.

[leftstreet]

18. K&R

[Igel]

20. Tests have a lot of purposes.

Most teachers administer tests that are primarily summative. They may be formative for the next year or the next unit, but they're still summative. (BTW, I tend to regard "evaluation" and "diagnosis" as not that dissimilar.) I've seen grade assignment that didn't rely entirely on grades and objective evaluation of their work according to pre-set, explicit criteria. "He didn't really talk much in class." "I'm not sure he was motivated." "He missed section classes a lot." "He was really quiet" or "He asked a lot of questions." Then you look at the results and realize that there's a definite cultural/ethnic bias in who was quiet and who asked questions, that the guy who missed sections was an athlete and the professor had excused him but not told the TAs.

Of course, no teacher is ever biased or partial. At least in that teacher's self-opinion.

As for "data" there are good reasons for wanting data. They protect them, in principle, against litigation: Evaluating "expression" in a story is harder than evaluating structure against a rubric that is explicit and exhaustive, and provided to students ahead of time. It gives racists and bigots a little less leeway. They help make sure that variation in teacher training and skills don't disadvantage kids, esp. those who are already disadvantaged as well as identify traits that good teachers have and that can be taught to poor teachers.

Data are also useful for administrators and those administering the administrators. Consider that the claim of a "race gap" in education is based on data, the precise kind of data that advocates use to argue for meaningful (as well as not-so-meaningful) reform and use to show the persistence of institutional discrimination. They're used for evaluating the effectiveness of reforms, of increased funding and revised school cultures. Why is this useful? Because teachers see little-picture details. No teacher is going to say s/he's a bad teacher; no teacher is going to say they have enough money; no teacher is going to say that a program that purports to help the disadvantaged either hurts the advantaged disproportionately or fails to help the disadvantaged.

Note that a lot of child development folk would respond that they use a lot of data in their research. Data are good

[proud2BlibKansan]

21. You are confusing tests and assessment

What you describe is assessment. Good teachers do it every day.

What we have been forced into is a system of testing. Children are judged by one test taken on one day. Those scores are then used to judge schools and teachers. This is the data Karen Lewis is referring to. And the system we have been forced into where we are all being judged by this data is not helpful.

Did you watch the video? She does a great job of explaining all of this.

[proud2BlibKansan]

23. Kick