Now here is a first for this blog. A comment that appeared
on the blog by Robert Rendo was picked up and posted by blogger
Jonathan Pelto. It was indeed a brilliant statement, and somehow I
failed to turn it into a post. So
I am taking the post from Jonathan Pelto’s blog and
posting it here so everyone can read it. Rendo explains how Common
Core and the high-stakes testing mandated by No Child Left Behind
and Race to the Top have degraded schooling and education. Here is
a sample: In fact, we have stepped a long way back into a
new epoch of factory style education, where every student is a
widget, and every widget is hyper-inspected along the conveyor belt
to see if its frame will hold up once sold to the consumer, who is
now the future employer. And if the person hired to do the assembly
messes up just a few times, they are fired and replaced. This
process happens knowing full well the conveyor belt is moving at 45
MPH, up from 10 MPH several years ago. Who can
really produce that many widgets when the belt is rolling by so
quickly? It conjures up the imagery of the classic factory
chocolate making scene from “I Love Lucy”. But
it’s anything but cute or funny. Students are
not widgets. Teachers are not robots. The process of teaching and
learning is a humanistic endeavor. There are bonds to be forged,
even while measuring situations and outcomes with data. The data
used to help contribute indispensably to that human bond.
Presently, the bonding has been devalued, thrown aside, and the
data has become the new humanism.
A site to discuss education and democracy
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They’re destroying education to send a message: don’t get out of line.
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Using the factory-style education increases profits for those that are in it for the money. We have to start looking at these reforms as a theft of the public school system that belongs to everyone. We cannot allow this theft to continue.
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Teachers being treated as robots is exactly correct. Here’s a piece of a conversation I had with our literacy coach earlier this week as we begin to implement the Wonders reading program in our elementary schools:
Me: So what if I don’t like the way they teach a skill and I want to teach it a different way?
Coach: You follow the book without deviation.
Me: What if the way the book says to teach it is lame or doesn’t match the needs of my kids? Can I use my professional judgement and change it?
Coach: Nope.
Me: What if I want to make time later in the day for something like readers’ theater?
Coach: You’ll be using that time to finish up anything you didn’t get to in the morning so you won’t have time,
Me: So where is the fun and engagement for the kids?
What am I doing in that classroom? A stranger off the street could take a teacher manual and read the script. Or, yes, a robot.
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Which school in district in China do you teach in? Or is it North Korea?
Russia perhaps?
You: Yesim’ boss
Coach: Now that’s a good little girl
You: Shut your door and do what’s best for your students
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Haha!
And that was exactly my next reply to her:
If you see my door closed, just trust that my kids are learning in there. 🙂
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Pearson believes that as long as their script for Scott Foresman’s Reading Street is followed to a T, even a caveman could teach my first graders and they will all be able to read and be “College and Career Ready”. I am sick to death of Pearson and wish that they would somehow go bankrupt!
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I believe they dream of a churn of test prep automatons so the labor force can be reduced, salaries lowered, pension and health care decline and the taxpayer funds can be diverted to the educronies.
If school gets reduced to test prep, we no longer need seasoned, experienced professionals. Maybe that’s the plan.
Benefits the corporations, but not the children.
Can you sneak a real book inside the Pearson propaganda and read what you want to the kids?
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In reality, I do just about what I want to. despite the fact that we are supposed to be following the program. Because my students are solid readers by the end of first grade, my principal mostlytries to ignore me. However, after this upcoming Wednesday’s meeting between my principal and Superintendent of Curriculum, the Resource Teachers will be required to use the Pearson’s Intervention Kit materials rather than what I want them to use with my students, so I’ll end up using more time to do reading groups to do what I believe those students need, leaving me less time to do extra, creative teaching with the whole class. My principal is scared of this superintendent and I don’t think that the Resource teacher will be willing to go against directions. You’d have to know how I organize my reading to understand how this new directive interferes with my teaching, but as my Mother commented the other night when I was complaining about it, “It wasn’t broken, so they decided to fix it”. The reality is, my first graders go into second graders as strong readers and always score in the “Above Average” range when their class Iowa scores are compared to all of the other second grad classes in the system in which I teach. I get the students going in first grade and the second grade teacher at my school takes what the students come with and runs with it.
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Not a caveman, Alabama, but a TFA!
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“What am I doing in that classroom? A stranger off the street could take a teacher manual and read the script.”
Or a newly minted TFA teacher?
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Yes, most likely even one of them. Though, unlike the random street person, they’d probably feel superior while doing it. 🙂
Does anyone remember the days when we got to take a piece of literature, read it with our kids and enjoy it, and use it to sift out the skills they needed? I’m only in my 30s and I remember that freedom. Ahhhh…the good ole days!
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Yes…just last week after teaching about character, setting and plot using several read alouds of my choice I read aloud Somebody and the Three Blairs (a really good remake of Goldilocks) and gave my first graders a sheet of drawing paper that they folded into thirds and illustrated the characters, setting and plot. Doing my own thing is getting harder to do though.
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I would interpret the big push to “honor” teachers by Rhee and the folks who brought us “Waiting for Superman” as a positive sign, politically, and “reform” is a sophisticated, well-funded political campaign.
I think it’s a recognition that ordinary people “on the ground” trust teachers far more than they do reform politicians and lobbyists.
Which itself is pretty amazing, considering this is AFTER a decade-long campaign to discredit teachers and public schools (as we saw most recently in the Indiana emails) and label them self-interested “educrats.”
The trust for teachers is resilient. I think that’s a huge advantage for advocates for public education. It’s not a difficult choice for me, I have to say. Arne Duncan and Michelle Rhee or my child’s teacher? I know which “expert” I’m likely to find credible. If my local school board tells me they have lost 1.6 million a year in funding under “reform” and Arne Duncan tells me they’re “investing” in public schools I’m going with the school board. That’s the human factor at work, it’s relationships.
Why the change in rhetoric from reformers? Why the mid-course correction in their political campaign? If the message was working they wouldn’t be fixing it, and they are fixing it.
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They will have to differentiate between the formerly “bad” teachers and the the “good” teachers in their media campaign. Have to pay attention to see how they do that.
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Chiarra, I SO hope you are correct about the reason for any change in reform message…pressure still needs to be heavily applied so the reformers are held to these changes in message
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I hope so, too. Honestly, I find the blatantly political nature of “reform” amusing. I don’t have any problem with “politics”- it’s part of our system where we elect rather than appoint, but I do have a problem with people who insist they aren’t acting politically when they so obviously are.
The idea that “unions” are the only political actor while reformers are pure as the driven snow is ridiculous. It would be insulting if it wasn’t so silly. There are MOUNTAINS of evidence showing otherwise.
They’re embedded as lobbyists in my statehouse. They had a huge part in the last state education budget. They lobbied on behalf of gutting collective bargaining in Ohio and they lobby on pensions. They have an absolute alphabet soup of non-profits and advocacy groups and straight-up lobby shops. I can’t keep them straight as a parent. I don’t know who works for whom. It is so intensely political is bewildering. At this point I am FAR more likely to trust my local officials and school employees over national reformers. It’s a defensive position. I don’t know any of these people, and I don’t know what they want.
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Just the other day, I was speaking with the mother of two now adults. She spoke about how her two children were raised the SAME way and how DIFFERENTLY they both turned out. Trying to make us ALL the same is an exercise in futility. Tell this to the deformers. Oops…they don’t care. Their children are not considered to be widgets as others are. Hmmm…the factory model, inappropriate for learning.
“I believe in standardizing automobiles. I do not believe in standardizing human beings. Standardization is a great peril which threatens American culture. . . .”
— Albert Einstein, Saturday Evening Post interview, 10/26/1929″
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Part of this problem, as I have stated before, is that we as educators are being forced by legislators to participate in this demise of public education in our nation. We are participating in our own demise because we are rule followers who do as we are told. By removing the historical local decision making from local communities we have allowed corporate interests to take over. Our political environment has been sold to the highest bidder. We as voters have lost our voice because corporations are now considered people. As long as we continue to allow our legislators to make decisions that are in the best interest of corporations, at the expense of what is in the best interest of the 99%, the gap will continue to widen.
I struggle daily with balancing what we do in our schools to improve education for our students with that which is in direct opposition that are the mandates required for testing and accountability required by state and federal laws. I see a generation of teachers and students who are slowly being trained to do as they are told, even as I recognize that there is no research to support these unproven mandates. We talk about teaching critical thinking and problem solving, while we mandate tests that measure just the opposite. How do I justify the fact that I am required by law to put these things into place, while I know that these mandates are harmful to students and teachers. Here in Louisiana we are being subjected to an experiment in education reform that has no basis in research.
I am doing my best to improve outcomes for students by empowering teachers to continue to improve as educators. I spend my time researching best practices and educational innovations that are founded in research. I look at all innovation with a critical eye and an open mind. When all is said and done, we as educators must face children everyday. The EduDeformers have removed themselves from the realities of what is happening in schools. Our president and Mr. Duncan have not spent enough time in public school classrooms to know that they are harming children. Each day I wonder what we are producing in this generation of future adults who will eventually be the democratic citizens of our nation. I have hope that a rebellion will occur that will bring balance back and restore some semblance of sanity. I refuse to believe that greed will win over common good.
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This was posted in Edweek by the mom of a murdered Sandy Hook child:
Nelba Marquez-Greene’s 6-year-old daughter Ana Grace, who was killed in the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary on Dec. 14, 2012.
As another school year begins and old routines settle back into place, I wanted to share my story in honor of the teachers everywhere who care for our children.
I lost my 6-year-old daughter Ana Grace on Dec. 14, 2012, in the rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School. My son, who was in the building and heard the shooting, survived.
While waiting in the firehouse that day to hear the official news that our daughter was dead, my husband and I made promises to ourselves, to each other, and to our son. We promised to face the future with courage, faith, and love.
As teachers and school employees begin this new year, my wish for you is that same courage, faith, and love.
It takes guts to be a teacher. Six brave women gave their lives trying to protect their students at Sandy Hook. Other teachers were forced to run from the building, stepping over the bodies of their friends and colleagues, and they came right back to work.
When I asked my son’s teacher why she returned, she responded, “Because they are my kids. And my students need me now more than ever.” She sent daily updates on my son’s progress, from his behavior to what he’d eaten for lunch. And four months later, when my son finally smiled one day after school, I asked him about it. His response? “Mom. My teacher is so funny. I had an epic day.”
While I pray you will never find yourself in the position of the teachers at Sandy Hook, your courage will support students like my son, who have lived through traumas no child should have to.
Your courage will support students who are left out and overlooked, like the isolated young man who killed my daughter. At some point he was a young, impressionable student, often sitting all alone at school. You will have kids facing long odds for whom your smile, your encouraging word, and your willingness to go the extra mile will provide the comfort and security they need to try again tomorrow.
When you Google “hero,” there should be a picture of a principal, a school lunch worker, a custodian, a reading specialist, a teacher, or a bus monitor. Real heroes don’t wear capes. They work in America’s schools.
Being courageous requires faith. It took faith to go back to work at Sandy Hook after the shooting. Nobody had the answers or knew what would come tomorrow, but they just kept going. Every opportunity you have to create welcoming environments in our schools where parents and students feel connected counts.
Have faith that your hard work is having a profound impact on your students. Of the 15,000 personal letters I received after the shooting, only one stays at my bedside. It’s from my high school English teacher, Robert Buckley.
But you can’t be courageous or step out on faith without a deep love for what you do.
Parents are sending their precious children to you this fall. Some will come fully prepared, and others not. They will come fed and with empty bellies. They will come from intact homes and fractured ones. Love them all.
When my son returned to school in January, I thought I was going to lose my mind. Imagine the difficulty in sending your surviving child into a classroom when you lost your baby in a school shooting. We sent him because we didn’t want him to be afraid.
We sent him because we wanted him to understand that while our lives would never be the same, our lives still needed to move forward.
According to the 2011-12 National Survey of Children’s Health, nearly half of America’s children will have suffered at least one childhood trauma before the age of 18. They need your love.
A few weeks before the shooting, Ana Grace and I shared a special morning. Lunches were packed and clothes were picked out the night before, so we had extra time to snuggle. And while I lay in bed with my beautiful caramel princess, she sensed that I was distracted and asked, “What’s the matter, Mom?” I remember saying to her, “Nothing, baby. It’s just work.” She looked at me for a very long time with a thoughtful stare, then she told me, “Don’t let them suck your fun circuits dry, Mom.”
As you begin this school year, remember Ana Grace. Walk with courage, with faith, and with love. And don’t let them suck your fun circuits dry.
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Linda, thank you for this beautiful post! I’m tearing up. ” Don’t let them suck your fun circuits dry.” I want to put on a banner in the main entrance of my school!
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What would the principal say?
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Is there anyone minding the quality control division in public education policy?
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As with the term deform this one is dehumanize. Eventually, that always blows up in their face and if you watch the public worldwide they are rebelling and that is good. Fear is all they understand. I do not mean threatening their lives. I mean a politicians biggest fear is “NOT BEING REELECTED.”
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I work in NYC. Currently, we have about 8 hours worth of paperwork per day. Since school started I have had to test non-stop since I have both standardized and alternate learners. Now if my students fail regents or testing shows little growth it’s 40 percent of my rating. We all understand how little testing means as educators and how much variation there can be due to so many factors. I am not longer allowed to teach or nurture my students under the present system. We haven’t had a contract in 5 years and my expenses have doubled in those five years, I’ve had to dip into my pension to pay for basic expenses which my salary no longer covers. It’s all about wearing us down. My cousin and his wife work on Wall Street. Their advice to me “quit and work for a banker” your in a dead end career. Sad.
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