Great piece about being a teacher
I loved this piece from The Guardian entitled "Yes, I am a teacher. No, I am not going to destroy society and your children." Here is the link: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/12/teachers-anti-union-celebrities-educators. I have posted about Campbell Brown and others who are talking about all the bad teachers who deserve to be fired so all the good teachers can gel kids score higher on tests. But here is a spot-on piece about how teacher voice is devalued if not completely ignored while folks from the outside get plenty of on-camera time to spew facts they cannot back up.
Here is the paragraph that sums it all up nicely IMHO: "Instead of talking about new best practices for the classroom and ways to improve teacher training and mentoring programs; instead of discussing innovative school and community partnerships that can enrich student experiences; instead of waging a real war against the insidious poverty depriving many of my students of the advantages and opportunities their peers in wealthier, better-funded districts enjoyed ... teachers now have to convince “real” people (and their very real, very secret monied backers) that we, as professional educators, actually know a thing or two about education."
Having to defend one's own profession is more than frustrating. I watched as Morning Joe gave a great deal of time to an article from the Atlantic about doing away with universities as we know them. I will post about that in the next couple of days. But the point here is that this show (and most others on MSNBC and PBS and the major networks) have bought into the "education is a mess and the only way to fix it is to take it away from educators and give to to corporations" mentality.
Where are the stories about lack of training for TFA candidates before they are unleashed on a classroom? Where is the outrage about spending cuts? Why is no one doing any fact-checking? Why are teachers not being hailed for the work they do each and every day?
Here is the paragraph that sums it all up nicely IMHO: "Instead of talking about new best practices for the classroom and ways to improve teacher training and mentoring programs; instead of discussing innovative school and community partnerships that can enrich student experiences; instead of waging a real war against the insidious poverty depriving many of my students of the advantages and opportunities their peers in wealthier, better-funded districts enjoyed ... teachers now have to convince “real” people (and their very real, very secret monied backers) that we, as professional educators, actually know a thing or two about education."
Having to defend one's own profession is more than frustrating. I watched as Morning Joe gave a great deal of time to an article from the Atlantic about doing away with universities as we know them. I will post about that in the next couple of days. But the point here is that this show (and most others on MSNBC and PBS and the major networks) have bought into the "education is a mess and the only way to fix it is to take it away from educators and give to to corporations" mentality.
Where are the stories about lack of training for TFA candidates before they are unleashed on a classroom? Where is the outrage about spending cuts? Why is no one doing any fact-checking? Why are teachers not being hailed for the work they do each and every day?