Jan 19 Ed Week

"Teachers Feeling Chill On State Capital Front" is another article talking about how politicians are trying to devalue the work of teachers. If it wasn't for collective bargaining teachers would be making less money and have less benefits. Teachers are already making less money than most professionals that have a masters degree. And they are definitely making less money than the politicians that are trying to make teacher accept less than what they are worth. It has been proven in the past that when teaching is not valued teachers leave the profession. Most teacher can get jobs in the private sector in middle management and make more money. Yet most teachers go into the profession because they care about kids and they want to make a difference. Lack of support and appreciation make teachers want to quit teaching. Lack of income and  reduced benefits will only make things worse.

Jan 19 Ed Week

"Toward Greater, More Equitable Access To an Excellent Education" focuses on the need to continue to give our students a "liberal arts" education. The article made some good points about the art of teaching and providing "space" for learning to go on. It reminded me of the book by Parker Palmer "The Courage To Teach", which I think is an excellent book about teaching and should be required reading for anyone entering the teaching profession.
I have been recently observing high school social studies classes and I've been pretty impressed by what I'm seeing--good teaching, attentive students--very encouraging!

Jan 12 Ed Week

Richard DuFour's article "Which Students Warrant Our Attention" interested me because of course it would seem that the question shouldn't have to be asked. But apparently there are administrators and teachers that are willing to sacrifice some students in order to do better on tests. That would be like doctors trying to save on the patients that had the highest probability of surviving. I like Richard's answer that "the school must focus on each and every student who demonstrates he or she is not learning." However, as he point out that might involve re-scheduling and extra effort on the students part.

Jan 12 Ed Week

"Simulations Helping Novices Hone Skills" Hey, I thought this is really cool! They have developed computer programs that simulate real student behaviors in response to teaching techniques that provide real feed back.I wish we had the option of computer simulated practice teaching. I think "all the practice we can get" should be the philosophy of teacher education. Theory is fine but it isn't going to help you teach difficult students. We should be practicing teaching lessons in front of our peers right now to help us get ready. We get very little time speaking in front of class. But it's a skill that can only developed by practice.

December 8, ed.

"Elementary Students Encouraged to Raise College Expectations" Here we go again--let's push college on everyone as early we possibly can. Ridiculous! College isn't the "be all and end all", there are plenty of valid career paths that don't require college, ie. the trades. Sure we should encourage kids to do well in school, but for its own sake not just so they can get into college. Besides, getting into college isn't all that difficult anyway. Most colleges are so money hungry they'll take anybody whose check doesn't bounce. Yeah, to get into some of the top colleges may be tough but the kids that make it are usually pretty self motivated and/or have parents pushing them all the way. I think college should be an option but not one that should be crammed down every ones throat. Besides, if we were doing a better job of educating kids  so they can actually read, write and do math when they graduate from high school--college wouldn't be necessary for a lot of jobs. Employers require college now just because people are graduating high school lacking basic skills.

December 1, ed.

I loved the picture of Fernando Chavez on the cover. How cute!

The article "Class--Size Limits Targeted for Cuts" is just another example that if you skew the right data you can make it say anything. I would be willing to say that you would have to be a "complete moron" to honestly believe that class size doesn't matter. Now having said that, it is possible to have a class of 60 successfully taught by 4 full time teachers if it's done right. That still uses the same personnel recourses that four 15 student classes require. I thought it especially counter intuitive for the Japanese and Korean classes of 33 and 36 respectively to be thrown in as some kind of example of large classes are working just fine. Talk about apples and oranges--or more like lizards and chimpanzees! Clearly these are homogeneous classes in cultures that prize self-discipline, conformity and respect for your teachers. And you can bet that they are using a direct instruction model not a cosntstructivist one. That doesn't even remotely resemble classes in this country.
Whenever you have to use completely unrelated examples to try to support an argument--you know it's weak.

The article "Calif. Supreme Court Upholds In-State Tuition Law" is just another example of supporting the unsupportable. If it is illegal to be in this country without documentation, than any argument that supports benefits for such persons are clearly flaunting the law. If a person is discovered to be in this country illegally there is only one legally supportable action--deportation. To somehow suborn illegal acts is morally and ethically wrong. If we decide to change the law that makes them "legal" great that we can proceed to provide them with benefits afforded to "legal residents".

November 17, ed.

The article "Media Leader Tapped to Head N.Y.C. Schools" really got my "goat". The notion that any business leader is somehow magically qualified to run a major city school system is just arrogant. Schools aren't just another business. If you don't have an intimate knowledge of the school system gained through going through the ranks of being a teacher and an administrator, I don't think you have any business running a school system.

This is in response to an advertisement in this issue: Speaking to the issues: Creating remedial tracks for"the Good of the Kids" I think the writer "hit it on the head" when he said that if you are going to eliminate remedial classes that you have to "provide students with intensive intervention and support instead. But just dumping remedial students into a regular classroom without that does a disservice to the teacher, those students, and the rest of the students. Students that are clearly behind the level of other students in a class aren't just going to catch up by "osmosis". And to expect that a teacher is just magically come up with the extra time to service their needs without help is just another recipe for failure.