Posted on Jul 17, 2023
Algebra 1 effectively eliminated from Harvard-area middle schools because too many white and...
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Instead of holding teachers accountable and raising the standards to teach to the masses, they've just lowered the standards. Dumb but equal is a lousy standard that can only lead to a race to the bottom.
Algebra 1 effectively eliminated from Harvard-area middle schools because too many white and...
Posted from theblaze.com
Teaching
Mathematics Education
Equality
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 1
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This does not seem like a teacher accountability thing to me, CSM Chuck Stafford . It is much more a case of school board stupidity.
I will agree that there are activist teacher, and that there are bad teachers.
But I believe that teachers, in general have gotten a bad rap, lately. From what I have seen, heard, and understand, after talking with many MANY teachers and parents through my job, plus a lot of conversations with my brother who is a teacher on the verge of retirement.... Teachers, for the most part, are doing their very best. Parents have stopped blaming Johnny for failing courses, and started blaming teachers. The fact that Johnny didn't do any homework is somehow the teacher's fault. And parents are pissed that teachers have "gone woke" but they don't realize that this is almost always not the teacher's decision. It is a decision coming down from the administrators or the board. Teachers usually have very little input into curriculum. They control HOW they teach the curriculum. But they don't usually get to pick the units or the text.
This appears to be another case where teachers are getting the blame for an administrator decision.
Let's ask our reaident teacher... Cpl Vic Burk am I out in left field, here?
I will agree that there are activist teacher, and that there are bad teachers.
But I believe that teachers, in general have gotten a bad rap, lately. From what I have seen, heard, and understand, after talking with many MANY teachers and parents through my job, plus a lot of conversations with my brother who is a teacher on the verge of retirement.... Teachers, for the most part, are doing their very best. Parents have stopped blaming Johnny for failing courses, and started blaming teachers. The fact that Johnny didn't do any homework is somehow the teacher's fault. And parents are pissed that teachers have "gone woke" but they don't realize that this is almost always not the teacher's decision. It is a decision coming down from the administrators or the board. Teachers usually have very little input into curriculum. They control HOW they teach the curriculum. But they don't usually get to pick the units or the text.
This appears to be another case where teachers are getting the blame for an administrator decision.
Let's ask our reaident teacher... Cpl Vic Burk am I out in left field, here?
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Cpl Vic Burk
SFC Casey O'Mally You opened a can of worms here! Are you ready?
What you say is the truth. In my electronic grade book, I can add comments to any and all assignments. I add plenty especially for ones like "Little Johnny" who act up in class, never does any homework, refuses to work in class, turns in their test either blank or with a bunch of scribble that has nothing to do with the problems. Yeah, some parents blame me because Johnny doesn't do his homework. I get this comment/question often, "Can't you make him do it?" Say what?
1) It isn't my job to "make" Johnny do his homework
2) It's your job as a parent to see to it that he does it
3) If you can't make him behave and do his work what makes you think I can. You're the parent not their best friend.
Number 3 is the real problem. The parent doesn't want to be the bad guy, so they dump it on the teacher. When Johnny gets in trouble or is failing a class, the parent goes into get helicopter mode. For those who don't know what that is, the parent flies in and makes excuses to get the kid out of trouble and as soon as they accomplish this they fly back out until next time. Instead of holding the kid accountable for their actions the parent justifies the behavior with nonsense excuses. By the way, with the electronic grade book system the parent can look up their child any time they want to. I update the grade book daily so they don't have to wait for mid-term notices or quarter/semester grades to be released but they still ask me why I didn't let them know sooner!
The most common excuse is, "His/her father left us and I'm raising him/her on my own." Whenever I hear this I politely and tactfully tell the parent that she just described half of the students in the school.
Curriculum, the state pretty much dictates this for classes with an End of Course Exam with dozens upon dozens of standards. In my school anyways, us teachers get together regularly to review things, We have a pacing guide that we follow so at any given time we are about on the same page as far as the content we covered at that point in the school year for each subject in math.
I teach math and other than stopping occasionally to tell a joke or story (to bring their attention back) I don't get into other stuff like politics, transgender issues or whatever. I don't push my beliefs and ideas onto them. They can figure this out on their own time.
Administration, many are too far removed from the classroom and really don't know what is going on any longer. Some administrators have a degree in administration and have never taught a class in their life. If you haven't been in the trenches, you don't know what it's like. Textbook and real life are more often than not different administrators.
So why do I put up with it? I really do enjoy teaching. As long as I feel like I'm making a difference (and my wife's health holds up) I'll continue. I could have retired years ago. I'm there because I want to be, many teachers don't have a choice.
Sorry for the long rant. In the end what you said SFC Casey O'Mally is the facts. I just expanded them a little bit.
What you say is the truth. In my electronic grade book, I can add comments to any and all assignments. I add plenty especially for ones like "Little Johnny" who act up in class, never does any homework, refuses to work in class, turns in their test either blank or with a bunch of scribble that has nothing to do with the problems. Yeah, some parents blame me because Johnny doesn't do his homework. I get this comment/question often, "Can't you make him do it?" Say what?
1) It isn't my job to "make" Johnny do his homework
2) It's your job as a parent to see to it that he does it
3) If you can't make him behave and do his work what makes you think I can. You're the parent not their best friend.
Number 3 is the real problem. The parent doesn't want to be the bad guy, so they dump it on the teacher. When Johnny gets in trouble or is failing a class, the parent goes into get helicopter mode. For those who don't know what that is, the parent flies in and makes excuses to get the kid out of trouble and as soon as they accomplish this they fly back out until next time. Instead of holding the kid accountable for their actions the parent justifies the behavior with nonsense excuses. By the way, with the electronic grade book system the parent can look up their child any time they want to. I update the grade book daily so they don't have to wait for mid-term notices or quarter/semester grades to be released but they still ask me why I didn't let them know sooner!
The most common excuse is, "His/her father left us and I'm raising him/her on my own." Whenever I hear this I politely and tactfully tell the parent that she just described half of the students in the school.
Curriculum, the state pretty much dictates this for classes with an End of Course Exam with dozens upon dozens of standards. In my school anyways, us teachers get together regularly to review things, We have a pacing guide that we follow so at any given time we are about on the same page as far as the content we covered at that point in the school year for each subject in math.
I teach math and other than stopping occasionally to tell a joke or story (to bring their attention back) I don't get into other stuff like politics, transgender issues or whatever. I don't push my beliefs and ideas onto them. They can figure this out on their own time.
Administration, many are too far removed from the classroom and really don't know what is going on any longer. Some administrators have a degree in administration and have never taught a class in their life. If you haven't been in the trenches, you don't know what it's like. Textbook and real life are more often than not different administrators.
So why do I put up with it? I really do enjoy teaching. As long as I feel like I'm making a difference (and my wife's health holds up) I'll continue. I could have retired years ago. I'm there because I want to be, many teachers don't have a choice.
Sorry for the long rant. In the end what you said SFC Casey O'Mally is the facts. I just expanded them a little bit.
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