My stomach is in knots and I want to scream.
I want to hit something.
I look at my students’ test scores, the growth they have made,and I am proud of them.
I refused to teach to the test, and they still kicked DCAS !
I looked down the AYP column on the all-glorious data chart, and saw that some of my students grew by over 100 points. Only two of my students did not show “growth”.READ MORE…
“Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity and well-being of our country.”
A special Labor Day shout-out to all the teachers out there! On my day off, I will be working , trolling for new ideas, sharing, reading blogs and ideas shared by my PLN. Just like a teacher, always working, always learning, always thinking of new and innovative things we can do in our classrooms to promote learning!
I am very proud of my chosen career, and I know there are millions of us out there who feel the same way. Don’t let the naysayers who let test scores determine our worth, our value, bring you down, just keep doing what you do best, teach! So, to all those teachers who are a number of careers rolled into one every single day: social worker/psychologist/mother/father/custodian/secretary/artist/tech specialist… I could go on and on.
Happy Labor Day to you!
Very interesting article : The Teachers Are All Right — In These Times.
Faculty meetings the first day back are usually pretty easygoing. You go back, see your colleagues you haven’t seen or spoken to all summer, introductions are made, and the principal pretty much thanks you for a job well done the previous year. Well, I should have known something was up when I walked in, and saw the little gift bags on the table for EACH teacher. They were filled with chocolate, a plant, a mouse pad, and more chocolate! My ecstasy over the contents of the bag were short-lived once we got down to business. My school is under academic review!!!!! That means, according to one test score and the data gathered from it, we suck! We suck, and “they” get to come in and tell us what to do to fix it, or come in, spend 15 minutes in our rooms, sit my principal down, and tell him everything we are doing wrong. The consequences? If you don’t do better next year, you are in bigger trouble, they will send more people. Another year? They will get rid of the staff, whoever they deem unworthy AND send the parents a letter saying the school sucks(not in those words), and here are schools more worthy of your children. WOW! This is scary, overwhelming, frustrating, did I say scary? At the end of the day, my principal asked the team leaders how we felt about the staff meeting, we concurred, scary, but necessary. Unfortunately, we can whine all we want about the test scores being used to judge us, but it’s not going to change. I’m not mad at my principal, he did what he had to do to motivate us. Happy First Day!
DIARY OF A PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER 