Yeah. Our school, an elementary school, has over 500 kids in pre-K-6th with one admin, up until a month ago. I have 26 and 27 high-needs kids and we have the highest office referral rate in the 50K-student district. And yet, the response has not been, "Let's throw all our support behind this school to turn it around," but rather, "Lower your referral rates."
I don't even worry about test scores; I just want to get through the days without being injured again.
Not okay Not okay at all
No, it's not. But it's been this way for a very long time. There's a reason our school has an obscenely high turnover rate.
No, it's not. But it's been this way for a very long time. There's a reason our school has an obscenely high turnover rate.
I'm just going to leave that here. When staff and students keep turning over, and have been for years, shit is on fire, no matter what the compromised (aka loaded) data metrics tell the general public.
"Hello babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. On the outside, babies, you've got a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies-"God damn it, you've got to be kind.”
I'm just going to leave that here. When staff and students keep turning over, and have been for years, shit is on fire, no matter what the compromised (aka loaded) data metrics tell the general public.
Del as per request
I was a school social worker and 3x worked summer school in one of the schools where they collect all the "poorly performing" children from the area and put them in one school. I spent an entire summer just chasing kids in the hall and taking them to class. I stopped wearing work shoes the first week and started wearing sneakers.
I spent the rest of the time with truancy issues going around to all the homes trying to explain to parents that summer school wasn't optional for their child and that s/he had to show up.
That meant the entire summer the 300 or so children who desperately needed counseling got NONE. I did not one non-truancy home visit, even though I had what felt like a million mandated ones, I had kids that were cutting, high levels of anxiety, severe acting-out,... and the teachers were left on their own to make sure they got those test scores up. How would they do that???
Post by W.T.Faulkner on Feb 12, 2016 23:50:41 GMT -5
Success Academy was widely celebrated at the Teach for America Summit I attended last weekend, of course.
Quite frankly, the methods they employ would never, ever be even dreamed of when it comes to teaching the children of white, middle-class parents; that, for me, is a larger issue than any one teacher.
While I can appreciate the zeal and good intentions of Ed reformers like KIPP, Mastery, Uncommon and Success charters, their "no excuses" bullshit distracts mightily from the real issue: that children who need the most education funding and trauma-informed instruction are getting told to pick themselves up by their bootstraps and do better on their tests.
I had a coach in high school who was pretty abusive and basically humiliated me at every practice for 3 years. She just hated me. I somehow irked her because I was quiet? She gave me a "space cadet" award for being "ditzy" at a parent/school athletic award ceremony. Right after my best game senior year, she cut me from the team and replaced me with a freshman "just because." I would pay good money to see that woman right now.
I can't see in what world or in what scenario any teacher behaving that way toward a student is justified. You can't handle your shit? Get out. You can't deal with the day-in-day-out of teaching? Time to find a new profession. I don't doubt that it is fucking crazy hard to be a teacher in suffering schools, schools where you have no support and it's every one for herself. I can certainly empathize with that. But this kind of treatment of students is just not ever justified. Not. Ever.
ETA: And I say this as someone who distinctly had five of extremely hard, sometimes unyielding, and arguably harsh teachers from elementary school through college. They pushed. They took no prisoners. They made you do every assignment to their liking and you did it because you didn't dare not to. But they never humiliated their students. They never belittled them or made them feel insignificant and small. They gave praise when and where praise was due. I was a better student and am a better person because of those five men and women, but not because they ripped up my paper in front of my peers and insinuated I was an idiot. There is a way to push and get the best out of your students and then there is what this teacher did in the video. We all know which way is the better choice.
Post by mrsukyankee on Feb 13, 2016 8:46:33 GMT -5
Teaching kids to be afraid of making mistakes is one of the worst things you can do. If you don't believe this, please read the book "Mindset" by Carol Dweck.
Success Academy was widely celebrated at the Teach for America Summit I attended last weekend, of course.
Quite frankly, the methods they employ would never, ever be even dreamed of when it comes to teaching the children of white, middle-class parents; that, for me, is a larger issue than any one teacher.
While I can appreciate the zeal and good intentions of Ed reformers like KIPP, Mastery, Uncommon and Success charters, their "no excuses" bullshit distracts mightily from the real issue: that children who need the most education funding and trauma-informed instruction are getting told to pick themselves up by their bootstraps and do better on their tests.
There is so much wrong with the "success" academies and the other charters that use the "no excuses" "pedagogy"
There was a charter here that had a video circulating for a while (it has been taken down). It showed a white teacher with predominantly minority student body. The kids were in "drill" formation and it was frightening to watch. It is not the time of education I would want for my white upper middle class children so why is it okay for these kids? She should be sparking curiosity not drill and kill. The no excuses schools also have standards of behavior that aren't developmentally appropriate and as a mother of a HFA kid the demerits for not making appropriate eye contact is alarming.
Teaching kids to be afraid of making mistakes is one of the worst things you can do. If you don't believe this, please read the book "Mindset" by Carol Dweck.
mistakes should be a chance to learn. We learn from failure. Fear of mistakes means we don't move forward and become static.
This is not tiger mom behavior. Purposely embarrassing and humiliating children as young as 5 in a large setting? That is extremely abusive, no matter the intent OR result. I seriously can't put into words how this makes me feel.
@kirkette, and summer, would you mind deleting the part of my post where I said PDQ? I'm overly paranoid about posting too much identifying info about my school.
I didn't read all the comments, but what I found most disturbing was how all the kids were sitting legs crossed with hands crossed in their laps. You know they've had a lot of coaching/training to do that and it seems like there is a lot of emphasis on behavior management in the classroom. I wouldn't want students to be running around during a lesson, but easing up on the reins would be preferable.
And I say this as a kid who went to a school where teachers would knock over your desk or empty the contents of your backpack on the floor if things weren't sufficiently organized.
This is awful, no child should be subject to this treatment. This woman needs to go.
It also makes me sick that this wouldn't even be on the radar for bad teaching, threatening or wrong in most failing districts around here. How is a teacher and a principal going to punch or get into a brawl with a middle schooler, and be back on campus a few months later? My heart breaks when I recall things from inner city schools. It was "okay" because it was other people's children. It's fucking depressing.
I teach in an inner city school that is 90& African-American/mixed race. There is so much I wish I could say about it, but I'm too afraid of it affecting my career if somehow someone from work identifies me. It's horrible, disheartening and trauma-inducing, for both students and teachers. Our school is truly one of the forgotten schools.
Do we work at the same school?? We have been identified as a failing school and one of the lowest performing in NY, but that shit would never fly at our school, thank god. I would hope that the day I ever treated a child like that would be my last day in a classroom.
I'm so stressed out and overwhelmed this year . We are under so much pressure to show growth on the state tests in April. But there is absolutely no excuse to treat kids like that. Especially first graders!! Babies! Makes me sick.
I was a school social worker and 3x worked summer school in one of the schools where they collect all the "poorly performing" children from the area and put them in one school. I spent an entire summer just chasing kids in the hall and taking them to class. I stopped wearing work shoes the first week and started wearing sneakers.
I spent the rest of the time with truancy issues going around to all the homes trying to explain to parents that summer school wasn't optional for their child and that s/he had to show up.
That meant the entire summer the 300 or so children who desperately needed counseling got NONE. I did not one non-truancy home visit, even though I had what felt like a million mandated ones, I had kids that were cutting, high levels of anxiety, severe acting-out,... and the teachers were left on their own to make sure they got those test scores up. How would they do that???
Our school social workers (well, workeR. One just got fired for who knows what) end up doing crisis management all day and chasing kids. That means the kids who are scheduled to receive scheduled counseling sessions rarely get what they need. It sucks. But no excuses, gotta get my test scores up!!
The title 1 school I worked in CA had no counselors. A school of 900 middle school kids, most living in poverty. And I had classes of 37. It was awful, for me and for the kids.