GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

Greetings to ye, NYC Ed.

“Where I Stand” is definitely worth a read, though it’s simply what any intelligent, reasonable person in education is already thinking. In Klein’s own stupid words regarding Diane Ravitch, Tweed ‘knows nothing’ about education.

‘How to create high-quality learning environments: First and foremost, trust and empower teachers. Right now, teachers have very little control over what we get to do in our classrooms. The textbooks and curriculum guides we’re pressured/required to use are some of the most boring, non-stimulating “resources” I’ve ever encountered. (And how retro is it that we’re still so reliant on them at all?!) If we’re forced to read from these things, and kids are forced to listen and regurgitate their “learning” on stupid, low-level tests, we shouldn’t be surprised that so few kids (and increasingly, teachers!) like school.’

Sabrina, “Where I Stand”

How convenient is it that this year since Bloomberg is on an agenda to destroy the UFT the grading system for the schools have changed and also the reading and math tests were made harder. The state of our education system is a disaster, but the people that are running it, such as Bloomberg and his puppet Klein, they are disasters also. The system needs an overhaul from the top down. Klein needs to go. If they really want to change the education system they should spend at least six months in the classroom of one of the worst schools in the city, particularly a classroom in one of the 19 schools he wanted to close. At this point Bloomberg is closing schools to further his agenda – to get rid of teachers with seniority and high salaries. He needs to get the best of the senior teachers and make up a department to have their input on what would work in the classroom. Instead of hiring outside people with no educational background at all to come up with curriculum to be used in classrooms, he should let the teachers that have made a difference in the lives of kids decide what needs to be taught in the classrooms. He should even involve some retired teachers in the process. Since Obama started gicing money to aid states and districts with educating kids, we hear how bad things really are. In the past couple of years since Bloomberg took control of the schools, the only thing he has done is brag about how well the kids are doing, how much they are closing the educational gap. I agree there are teachers in the classroom that shouldn’t be there, but there are more good teachers than bad. The teachers that need help should get it. The rating system for teachers should be changed, but there needs to be a different rating system for the type of students that a teacher works with. If a teacher is working in a school in a bad neighborhood and the students are from troubled families, these teachers need more assistance and should not be rated the same way you rate a teacher who has students that don’t have behavior problems. Everyone that talks about education lately ignores the fact that there are students who will constantly disrupt a classroom every minute of every day. No one wants to blame the kids for the failures of a school, but people need to. Since they want to open more charter schools, why don’t they open a charter school where all the students in it are the students with behavior problems. Then and if they can get those students to enjoy learning and behave in a regular classroom, and the reading and math scores on the state exams are good, then you can say charter schools are a good thing. The charter schools select the students they want. A public school has to take a student no matter what. Why don’t they make a movie about what a teacher goes through in a classroom with disruptive students. Why doesn’t the DOE put a student teacher or a paraprofessional in every classroom the way they did years ago. Years ago K-6 schools had a paraprofessional in classrooms whether the class had special education students or not. Instead of hiring talent coaches with grant money use the money to have more classrooms in trouble schools with 2 teachers in each class. Obama needs to oversee how the money is spent. Put the money in the classrooms where it belongs. Stop creating positions such as mentor principals and talent coaches who cost a lot and will do nothing to help the kids. Team teaching should be done in regular education classrooms, not just classrooms with special ed students. Having two teachers in a classroom that has disruptive students will give the teachers the extra support needed to succeed. If two teachers in a classroom that are working together and the reading and math scores don’t improve then there might be a reason to say the teachers aren’t qualified to be teaching. If a teacher disciplines a disruptive student then the teacher is wrong. The parents come in to complain that the teacher is picking on their child, et cetera. These are the things that teachers are facing, but no one talks about. The DOE needs to give support to teachers who have children in their classrooms with disciplinary problems and that is in every school. Teachers today are scared to discipline the kids because they will be brought up on charges. If there is a troubled student and the teachers removes the student from the classroom then the teacher isn’t considered a good teacher by the principal. Wake up America, there are a lot of those students in each and every school. Parents need help also. Parents need to support the teachers who teach their kids. Parents need to stop the teacher bashing when you are called to school because your child was disruptive. Your child isn’t being picked on. Maybe if parents supported the teachers the way they did years and years ago, a disruptive student might change. When I was a kid and the teacher said I misbehaved or talked to much my mother took the teachers side and I was punished. My mother didn’t yell at the teacher or curse her out the way some parents do today. I knew if my mother was called to school I was going to be punished. Today when a parent is called to school because their child was was disruptive, et cetera, majority of parents come into the school with an attitude or are just annoyed that they are being called. If the parent isn’t called and the child is just punished, the child goes home and tells the parent he was punished, then the parent is pissed off and mad that their child was disciplined. It works both ways, but until parents really support the schools, things won’t change. There needs to be a change at home to. A child needs to be shown that if you are bad in school during the day you are going to be punished by your parent at home. Parents – stop teacher bashing. Not everyone’s precious little angel is so precious when they are in a classroom.