By Tracey

When I first saw the headline in the Seattle Times What's the Matter with Teachers Today?, I prepared myself for more teacher bashing.  I was relieved to find an article seeking to provide a historical perspective on the teaching profession, and how American society has perceived it over the years.  From the mid 1800's, when we were more concerned about shaping our youth into moral citizens than skilled workers, to today, when we expect everyone to go to college, Linda Shaw sheds just a little light on how we've come to where we are today — holding teachers' feet to the fire and raking them over the coals.  She even quotes our very own, Tom, and Jeanne Harmon, from CSTP.

While I won't say that the article solves any problems, or settles any arguments, I felt a little better after reading it.  It's reaffirming in the same way that when Ferris Bueller's sister goes home to catch her brother getting away with skipping school and she opens up his bedroom door to discover his fake snoring soundtrack hooked up to a pulley operated mannequin and screams, "I KNEW IT!"  

Knowing this doesn't change anything for me, nor did it for Jennifer Grey's character in the movie.  Maybe it will help others understand just a little more about the teaching profession and the pressures we face.  Towards the end of the article, Shaw alludes to just one more pressure teachers must deal with, poverty.  Yes, it would be nice if people took our profession more seriously; but honestly, I'd much rather see us take poverty more seriously, and not treat it as just another challenge teachers have to work with.  If we're truly serious about competing academically internationally, then we would end poverty today.

By Tracey

I'm a huge fan of the Moth podcast.  If you haven't heard of it before, it's a collection of true stories told live, without notes.  I was listening recently and heard the story, My Unhurried Legacy, by Kyp Malone.  The story is a good reminder that the children we teach are, often times, small replicas of their own parents, fated, or perhaps doomed, by genetics.  The story is about a man whose daughter begins kindergarten.  Without giving too much away, the teacher has some concerns.  But, the "concerns" were him.  He had the same issues growing up.  He recognizes himself in his daughter, and realizes where this will lead if he keeps her in her current classroom with a teacher who doesn't understand them.  

The story stuck with me for days, as I began the school year and met my new students.  Two and half weeks into the school year, I've started having some "concerns."  As I pick up the phone to talk with parents, I remember Kyp Malone's story.  I might just be speaking to an older and more experienced version of my student; and so I tread carefully.  I should anyway.  I'm OK with that.  But, I wonder if, in today's high stakes testing environment, these "concerns" might be interpreted differently.  Are they intensified by the need for all students to reach standard?  Even for students as young as kindergarten?  

Luckily for Kyp and his daughter, he was able to pull her out of the classroom and send her to a Waldorf school.  For what shouldn't feel like a utopian view on assessment, but does, I recommend reading the Waldorf school's approach, Assessment without Testing.  Just don't look up their tuition rates. 

By Tracey

Welcome back to Stories from School!  While we still have a few more weeks before the school year begins, our blog is back in session, with three new wonderful bloggers joining the dialogue.  Our stories from our classrooms are critical.  I’m realizing this more and more, especially today, in Washington DC, as I talk with people and explain to them why I came all the way from Seattle to participate in the Save the Schools March.  So many people truly don’t know.  And, unfortunately, some of these people make policy decisions. 

I want to begin by sharing one of my greatest concerns, and one of the reasons I felt so moved to travel to DC.  Jonathan Kozol says it much more eloquently than I.  So, I videotaped his speech to the thousands of teachers who came.  In his speech, he says that segregation in schools today is worse than it’s ever been since 1968.  I’m seeing the inequalities in my school, where the education my students, 80% of whom get free or reduced lunch, is not the same as the education on the other side of town in the affluent neighborhood.  Their parents wouldn’t allow the arts, science, and social studies to be absent from their child's program.  But, we remove it altogether, or we offer a truncated version of it for our low-income students.  And the result, as Kozol attests, is a modern-day version of Jim Crow in our schools.

He ends his speech with the words, "I don't care what happens to me, or what price I may be forced to pay, but I intend to fight in this struggle to my dying day."  Thank you, Jonathan Kozol.  I think we'll have a lot to talk about in the year ahead.

By Tracey

As I’m sure you’ve heard, Wisconsin Governor Walker succeeded in his aim to remove collective bargaining rights to teachers and other public employees.  And, following right behind, Providence, Rhode Island issued pink slips to all of their 1,926 teachers.  Sure, most will likely get hired back.  But what this move effectively does is remove collective bargaining for these teachers.  If you watch the heart-wrenching video of the board meeting, the teachers were begging to be laid-off rather than terminated.  A termination for everyone means that the district can hire whomever they want back, regardless of seniority.  It’s difficult to sit back and watch these two demoralizing attacks on teachers and teachers’ unions. 

In both of these stories, the governor of Wisconsin and the mayor of Providence claimed these were necessary moves because of severe budget shortfalls.  While it’s true they’re experiencing a budget crisis; it’s false to presume these actions will aid in alleviating the budget.  We know that Walker offered tax cuts to businesses and is further diminishing state revenue by eradicating collective bargaining for public employees. 

Unfortunately, people seem to be buying the argument and agree that everyone “needs to sacrifice.”  I wonder if these drastic moves are being blamed on budget issues because if Gov. Walker and Mayor Angeles Taveras came right out and said, “We want to dismantle labor unions and end collective bargaining for working Americans,” they know they wouldn’t get elected.  A recent poll shows that Americans are still in support of collective bargaining.  This brings me some hope.  However, there’s no question teachers’ unions are under attack.  And the fervor behind this comes from the mistaken notion that teachers’ unions are all about protecting bad teachers. 

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By Tracey

In the spirit of David Letterman, and the recent Why I Teach theme, I wrote the reasons why I teach in the form of a top 10 list.  So, here you go, drum roll, please:

 10.  I never get bored –Everyday is different.  I’m always discovering new ways to teach something, taking different approaches, and incorporating new ideas.  I was shocked one day when a friend of mine asked why I still worked so many hours at my job. “Don’t you just get out the October box and do the same thing you did last year?”  This was probably my fourth or fifth year of teaching, and she wondered why I was still putting in the time, when at this point I wasn’t a new teacher anymore. I never teach anything the same way twice.

 9. You get to share your passions with others and watch kids become excited about something - I love learning, so it’s a perfect job for me.  I especially love the elementary level because I get to teach everything.  If you asked me to choose a subject, I’d have a tough time.  I want it all – the math, science, and social studies content, and all the reading and writing that goes along with it.  I love that in my job, I can teach content and skills through my own passions and interests and watch kids become interested, even excited about them. 

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