What I Know

I found out yesterday that my great great grandfather's Uncle Martin, indeed came to the United States in 1849, along with two or three of his brothers.

Education 2012 Chicago Teachers Support

Education 2012 Chicago teachers support

I am not a babysitter. I earned a B.A. a M.A. and have 46 graduate hrs past that. I have 35 years of teaching. experience. Can I learn more? Yes. Should there be accountability in the classroom? Yes. Should businessmen and politicians come tell me how to do my job? HELL NO! Kids are not business! Test scores are NOT the only measure of success in a classroom. Not all kids are created equally. Backgrounds are different. Experiences are different. Fewer than half of my students have a computer at home and most of those cannot access the internet. Not all classroom resources are the same. Many, many factors determine student success in the 21st century. So before you try to tie my paycheck to student test scores please make sure that All my kids have food at home so they can eat dinner. Make sure that they have parents who don't drink, do drugs, don’t have to have second jobs to make ends meet, are home at night for love and supervision. Make sure that parents don’t abuse their kids emotionally or physically. Make sure that high school kids come to school sober and dressed in clothes that do not like they just got off a “pole” somewhere or the boys…tired of seeing the prison-style pants rocking somewhere between the hips and knees.  Make sure that every child has “Leave It to Beaver” or “Father Knows Best” home life. Make sure EVERY home has a fast computer with internet access. Make sure to fund after school arts and sports programs for EVERY school age child and require attendance...but I thought you wanted less government programs and yet you cut, cut, cut funding for education. Yes to good, research-based, data-driven classroom teaching. Yes to fair teacher evaluation systems. No! to cutting education budgets. And Hell no tying student's test scores to my paycheck. And make sure that the benefits that teachers are offered are at the same level as other “state employees”  (separate issue).  Make sure that if a classroom teacher sees a need and makes reasonable requests for materials that they are ordered in a timely manner so that she does not need to spend $200 out of pocket for said materials.  Come watch me teach.  Come help me teach. Better yet, go to my friend’s class that has 43 10^th graders for World History and help him.  Don’t offer Elite programs to only certain kids.  Make them available to everyone.  This is a GIANT can of worms or a HOT Mess.  Oh, another thing the Chicago teachers are gripping about is losing a mere 25 days of instruction due to testing.  Try 46 days in Texas.  Check out the school calendar, it’s all there in black and white. LET EDUCATORS EDUCATE!  We love your kids.  GO Chicago Teachers!