When I read this story in Education Week, I found it incredibly condescending. The thesis was that teachers really do well by having a little microphone in their ear, in which a coach whispers advice as they are teaching. I am not a teacher, and I never tell anyone how to teach, but I couldn’t imagine that many teachers would love to have an electronic coach in one of their ears. The only time I previously heard about this was when I was writing about the Bridge International Academy private for-profit schools in Africa, where the teachers were given a script and a tablet and a bug in their ear.
I thought I would wait to hear from someone else who read the story, someone with classroom experience.
Thankfully, Peter Greene came through.
He explains where the idea came from.
Do you want a bug in your ear when you teach with an expert coach in the back of the room whispering tips to you?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“Do you want a bug in your ear when you teach with an expert coach”
Who decides that the ‘expert coach’ knows anything? I knew my subject matter extremely well and anyone who thinks they know more has cotton inside their head, plus a huge ego to tell me what I should be doing. I’d would have quit teaching if that was the norm.
I found that few administrators know anything about music. Actually, none knew much but some thought they did. Administrative noses can get very long. Now we have to contend with ‘expert coaches’. BS. It’s one more reason teachers quit. They are not being respected and resent this intrusion.
Most crucial and yet overwhelmingly unanswered question: WHO decides that the ‘educational expert’ actually knows anything? In our district SO many top-down management positions created suddenly by outsiders deciding how to ‘fix’ our schools were then willy-nilly filled by people who did not in any way fit the description of an educational expert. The money was handed out and the chaos began.
The point of “reform” is Disruption.
YES.
You can’t build strong working relationships with students with a third party acting as interloper. And by the way, Tom Brady doesn’t have anyone talking in his ear while he’s playing football. That would confuse and conflict him. The coaches talk to him only in between plays. I wish I had more time to debunk this ridiculous tech nonsense. It reminds me of the short lived fad of walking around with a Bluetooth headset all day. Goofy.
I think the idea of teachers having listening devices in their ears is idiotic, demeaning and ultimately unworkable over the long term.
That said, Tom Brady does have speaker in his helmet. It’s functional for the first 15 seconds once the clock is set between plays and is silent for the last 15 seconds. In Brady’s case coaches are giving him a group of plays to choose from once he’s at the line of scrimmage and as an experienced player who has the trust of his coaches he always has the option to call a different play based on what he sees from the defensive alignment. Even with the speaker it’s still ultimately his call which play is run which isn’t the same as turning teachers into anthropomorphic robots.
Nevermind. re-read what Left Coast Teacher wrote and realized I misinterpreted him/her. Yes, Brady doesn’t have anyone in his ear while he is in the middle of a play.
Good ol’ Tom.
As a jet fan I have to say that I’ve “enjoyed” his play for decades, now. I will grudgingly say that he is one of if not THE best quarterback I’ve ever seen.
And he will take suggestions on that helmet mic.
The big difference there from a teacher in the classroom is that he’s taking suggestions from some very highly paid extremely knowledgeable coaches.
DO forgive the capitals, but until you (teachers, edcators, professionals) change the national conversation from ‘TEACHING’ to LEARNING, and until you guys and gals USE WORDS LIKE ENABLE AND FACILITATE LEARNING… then crap like this will continue.
it is 20 freakin’ years later since Harvard did research on THE PRINICPLES OF LEARNING, as Pew researched these STANDARDS that must be in place, if children are going to ACQUIRE real CRITICAL-THINKING SKILLS.
Across the nation (in 20,00 classrooms) PEW LOOKED AT whether kids were learning, and sought the common practices that made it possible.
I remember because I was the cohort in NYC, where they filmed me, and I attended all the seiners given by the LRDC (Learning and Research Development Center) of the U of Pittsburgh –which went itto the classrooms to find what all the most SUCCESSFUL teachers did TO FACILITATE & enable LEARNING.
I remember when the HUGE VOLUMES o f the PERFORMANCE STANDARDS lined the walls of the storeroom in NYC. I remember because this room was th eRUBBER -ROOM, and I had been removed from my celebrated practice at EAST SIDE MIDDLE SCHOOL, as the war on teachers began. it was 1998.
Since then, this third level research on LEARNING, which included standard “Principles’ that administrators must put in place to support LEARNING in the classrooms) is gone. POOF! Vanished, and replaced by the COMMON CORE CRAP, and the mendacity of the talking heads like Duncan < Rhee > DeVos < Gates who serve the power elite like Broad, Walton and the EDUCATIONAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX https://greatschoolwars.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/eic-oct_11.pdf
FINALLY, IN CONCLUSION:
Some skills benefit from training. Even ambulance attendants are ‘trained’ in medical procedures, but who do you want to diagnose and operate.
Some skills are needed by legal assistant, but in court you want the professional…who does not need a bug in his ear…(unless it is from a mobster like Trump giving orders.)
Learning is a brain function that benefits from repetition and review, and that is a technique that teacher-training can offer…BUT… the experienced, educated and talented PROFESSIONAL-practitioner (another phrase all of you should begin to USE) is the one in the room with that kid for 10 months, and is the only one who has the SKILLS to evaluate whether or not a child is LEARNING.
Assessing “TEACHING” Is their game.
YOU have to change it and get the words LEARNING, and FACILITATING out there, because the classroom is the battle ground for democracy and shared knowledge, and if there are swamps like Florida, where there is a dirty of teachers who GRASP WHAT LEARNING LOOKS LIKE–where novices are ‘trained’ to parrot a ‘curricula’– where the BUG in the ear is planted by fools — then it’s over folks!
This is an ultimate form of micromanaging. I think that this intrusion would be a distraction that would impede the flow of the instruction. Big brother watching should not be a “bug in the ear.” It is absolutely non-productive to subject a professional teacher to such a distracting “big brother” experience that would undermine confidence.
As an undergraduate, we used video and audio tapes of lessons that were later critiqued by all the student teachers. This exercise was useful as a many teachers learned from watching themselves. We also made suggestions for ideas other activities or follow-up lessons related to the topic. These were learning experiences and brain storming sessions on which we were not graded. We worked in a collaborative setting in which we shared ideas and experiences. The goal was to help each other to become better teachers. This use of technology was helpful, not meddlesome.
This concept could only come from classic Ed Reformers.
Could you imagine doing this to a lawyer in the courtroom? Dealing with a client?
How about a surgeon in the middle of a surgery?
And great point by LeftCoastTeacher about Tom Brady actually in action.
(Though George W. Bush’s presidential debate performance brought speculation that he had handlers feeding him lines: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/10/12/bush_wireless_coaching/)
As bad as this is for the teacher, it’s hard for me to imagine how awful this would be for the coach. I’m sure the Reformers have some AI in mind to take over that role.
Diane, This isn’t a comment on Peter Greene’s article, but a link to a piece I read on the Marshall Report. Yikes!
https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2019/03/13/mental-health-trails-metal-detectors-in-school-safety-dollars?utm_source=The+Marshall+Project+Newsletter&utm_campaign=6783c9f315-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_03_15_11_23&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_5e02cdad9d-6783c9f315-174436209
Given the needs of my students, I can’t imagine having to parse my attention any further than I already do.
But yeah, this is a dumb idea in general. And I must endorse the comments about the quality of the average teaching “coach.” Every one of these people I’ve dealt with doesn’t know anything (for example, the coach I with whom I am presently dealing for a Sheltered English Immersion endorsement on my Massachusetts teaching license didn’t know what an abstract noun is) like what he or she should about the learning arts and science.
I’ve actually been shocked by the ignorance of another coach with whom I currently deal (and because I asked some tough questions of this person, I was warned about my “unprofessional” conduct) who fronts for a nationally known scripted curriculum.
Oh but it only gets worse.
Tulsa, which has fully embraced CT3, is now going a step further.
You see it wasn’t enough for the district to bring in TFA, no they had to bring in their own bastard child known as Tulsa Teacher Corps
https://www.tulsaschools.org/careers/teach/tulsa-teacher-corps
And now, they don’t see the need for any real program to tell them their teachers are certified. They want to do it all on their own.
Legislation proposed to expand Tulsa Teacher Corps, allowing district to independently certify
https://www.kjrh.com/news/local-news/legislation-proposed-to-expand-tulsa-teacher-corps-allowing-district-to-independently-certify
And considering TPS sends our principals to Relay Graduate School of Education and uses TNTP for things like this
RECOMMENDATION: Amend the contract with TNPT approved on June 18, 2018,
item E-33, to add support for the development of a four year novice teacher arc of
development and an aligned coaching model to support the growth and development
of our dynamic and evolving teaching force.
COST: Not to exceed $1,009,032.00 (an increase of $118,508.00)
FUND NAME/ACCOUNT: Grant Fund, 11-0224-2212-503200-000-000000-000-05-
060-0224
REQUISITION/CONTRACT: 11905591
RATIONALE: The original contract with TNTP included support to the district with its
ongoing priorities to create powerful learning experiences for students that result in
improved student outcomes. The scope of work involves a multi-pronged approach to
build capacity and create the conditions that advance Tulsa Public Schools’ academic
and talent management priorities. This work rests on three years of support in the
2018-2019 school year: Academics, including instructional quality reviews to monitor
progress and provide professional learning; talent management, including supports for
infrastructure to increase collaboration, coaching of staff and capacity related to
teacher acquisition efforts; and data systems supports.
Teachers are being degraded. And you will notice it is the billionaires who are paying for it.
The Superintendent in Tulsa is Deborah Gist, who was State Superintendent in Rhode Island, who agreed that every teacher in Central Falls should be fired in 2010. Gist is a Broadie. When she approved the mass firing, she was applauded by Duncan and Obama as “courageous.”
Oh, yes, Central Falls, having been “reformed,” just registered the lowest scores in the state of RI
As you can see, her leadership style with all the Broadies is working really well.
Tulsa World editorial: Public school trend lines point the wrong way
https://www.tulsaworld.com/opinion/editorials/tulsa-world-editorial-public-school-trend-lines-point-the-wrong/article_d0095f7e-6f0d-5a27-b05a-e458048ca9b5.html?fbclid=IwAR3_sUdFUXwDOTJgauLKnw2lsafm83VO6zZgprmjxA8NajpnflSZ9QtbQ3k
When teachers have people like Arne Duncan and Betsy Devos, they already have a bug in their ear.
The kind that bores down deep and takes a visit to the doctor to remove.
More like an albatross in the ear, much bigger, heavier, and painful.
This is ONE OF THE MOST INSANE IDEAS … EVER.
Another reason I’m glad that I’m still not teaching. If any idiot administrator had the courage to tell me I had to put a bug in my ear like that, he or she would deserve whatever I dished out and my first weapon of choice was always the “pen”.
You know, the old saying that the “pen ” is mighter than the “sword”.
Bullets are only a choice once the “pen” has failed. Always, always try using the “pen” first.
I am not a big fan of teachers as everyone knows. Yet the idea of constant supervision is preposterous, it comes from ed schools “professors” who think of themselves as policymakers:
https://quillette.com/2019/03/06/how-ed-schools-became-a-menace-to-higher-education/
BA,
That’s why I often delete your posts, because you have no respect for teachers.
“I am not a big fan of teachers as everyone knows.”
Never seen a better example to confirm the aphorism, “Better to keep your mouth shut (or in this case, use the keyboard) and have people think you a fool rather than open it (or write it) and remove all doubt!”
Feel free to think whatever you like. Here is one smart teacher who woke up after doing poor job for 28 years. Naturally, she is a private tutor now.
“After 28 years of kids coming into my class who couldn’t read and then leaving my class and they STILL couldn’t read because I didn’t know how to teach them, I found the Orton-Gillingham [approach to reading instruction] on my own. I took an 80-hour class that changed my teaching and changed the lives of countless students.”
— Mary Binnion, former Indianapolis teacher, now a private reading tutor
https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/co/2019/03/14/we-asked-you-answered-teachers-weigh-in-on-how-they-learned-to-teach-reading/
One cherry-picked example to support a sweeping (what’s more encompassing than sweeping?) to smear all teachers. I’m surprised you didn’t use the more accurate “someone said” or “I heard” from the virtual graduate school of Individual-1. Not only have you removed all doubt, you’ve chiseled it in stone.
i can’t even fathom have an ear bug! How in the world can I be paying attention to what my students are saying if someone else is speaking in my ear? This is crazy!!!
This reminds me of the great movie, “Broadcast News” (gosh, Mate Wierdi, could you please put up that link again that tells one how to boldface & italicize when posting a comment? Forget which blog post that was in. Thanx!!). The William Hurt character–chosen to be an anchor over Albert Brooks because he was considered to be the more handsome & thus tv-worthy–had had difficulties in school, & did not read well, so the uber brilliant (“How does it feel to always be the smartest person in the room?” Jane: “Just awful.”) producer, Holly Hunt/Jane, put a bug in his ear & would read copy to him/give him talking points.
Just as illegitimate as this, but doing this with teachers is CRAZY bad, especially because these “coaches” probably don’t know their @&#*$ from a hole in the ground.
Bold
Italics
The easiest way to boldface is to immediately precede and follow the word with two asterisks
To italicize, precede and follow with a single asterisk *
You can also use html tags, buts that’s much more typing
Incidentally, I discovered this by accident when I lost access to the angle brackets on my keyboard one day (required for html) and decided just to emphasize a word by surrounding it with asterisks instead.
I think it only works on WordPress blogs.
SomeDAM Poet: I wondered how you did that! Thanks.
Wow, I didn’t know that this works here. Thanks.
It was reported years ago on this blog that the truly revolutionary idea is to put a bug in the kids’ ears, not the teachers. Here is the easy-to-understand description of the method for the general audience, but there are literally hundreds of cognitive and other scientific papers backing up the utility of the method.
http://wd369.csi.hu/apu/earbud_method.html
I remember hearing and reading about this some time ago.
My colleagues and I weren’t surprised at all. We were already being given inappropriate (and unmeetable) “standards“ and curriculum; so it made perfectly logical sense that now we’d get to have someone questioning, directing, and operating us from the back of the room like automatons.
Education reform starts from a place of control and disruption. No excuses. So it makes perfect sense to have somebody who’s totally on board with whatever their program is, sitting in the back room, directing the whole process. It’s the ultimate control mechanism. And it doesn’t allow for any creativity on the part of the teacher is actually running the show in the room.
It’s relentless. I just so wish it would stop. These are amateurs and they’re running the show as though they are the best in the business.
I’m so tired of every article seeming like the teacher is to blame for every inadequacy of their students. Marzano has a lot of administrators thinking that everything is the teacher’s fault.
Tomorrow I will buy pencils and paper, along with some Kleenex and hand sanitizer. On Monday I will sweep my floor and arrange my books before writing one hundred things on the board “for the kids”. After that, I will put my lesson plans near the door so the administration (or whoever decides to come in) will see that I’m teaching the right standard. My students will come, two and three years behind in reading, and we will continue to differentiate so they can be ready to take a benchmark that is given by a private company in a public school. The best part: they will not have differentiated tests. By Tuesday, I will be aggravated by PLCs that tell me how to better prepare students for the test.
I don’t need a coach telling me anything. I need clean, well fed kids who bring in school supplies. I need them to learn phonics in kindergarten so they can comprehend by third grade. I need them to learn science before fifth grade so I don’t have to go back to first and catch them up. I need kids to have background knowledge in mathematical concepts so I can teach them accordingly. I need kids to be evaluated early enough to receive appropriate services so they can bridge the gaps.
Until the barriers to education are taken down, the test will still hurt the children. It’s a shame.
I second every thing you wrote.
mstinky : I’m so sorry for what you are putting up with. You are the backbone of the teaching profession and our country needs people like you who are frustrated but continue to work to help those who are behind.
It is the children who suffer when politicians ‘know more than teachers’. Shame on everyone of them to dictate what a teacher needs to do. The barriers to education in this country are humongous.
Thank you for staying and battling what shouldn’t be happening. It makes me weep to see how hard teaching has become.
The part we can’t control has to do with the kids coming in on grade level and not needing to catch up in basic ELA, math, and science skills.
The part that we can control is in the area of remedial instruction and teacher directed assessments that are specific to the grade (not age) level being taught. If the teachers were allowed to do this without fear of reprisal for not “meeting the grade level standards” the students would benefit immensely.
The kids don’t jump higher when the bar is raised. They simply give up sooner.
Marzano! on that list!
(Thanx, Some DAM, but the bold didn’t work w/the 2**).
Italics? Nope…
?!
Oh–it DID work! (When published.)
Thanks you, Some DAM, o Wise One!
I wonder if there is a trick to make bold and italics so I trying three stars, To be or not
What a waste of money. Glad I’m totally out of education except to write letters to complain to my state senator and representative. I feel sorry for the schools that continue to rate low. I feel even sorrier for the children who have to take tests all the time and the teachers who can’t use their knowledge to teach. This article comes from The Times of NW Indiana. In other words, “What a pile of crap.”
…………………..
[NWI Times] State school performance reports are out, detailing 2018 enrollment, graduation rates and more
The Indiana Department of Education released its Annual Performance Reports of Indiana school districts, detailing student enrollment, teacher salaries, test scores, graduation rates and more.
The report shows many schools have remained consistent in their performance with available data dating back four years…
The 2019 publication of Annual Performance Reports is based on data available in the 2018 school year and covers a range of statistics from pass percentages of ISTEP and IREAD exams, to the number of reported absences and disciplinary reports, covering both suspension and expulsion, in a district. Reports cover district statistics and individual schools…
https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake/state-school-performance-reports-are-out-detailing-enrollment-graduation-rates/article_cdae8ee3-32da-5559-8105-5e5dd698948c.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=user-share
Idaho is at the bottom of the pay scale so there is going to be a teacher shortage. 5 weeks of training does not make a teacher proficient in any subject area. Giving a permanent license after two years is ridiculous.
…………………………..
Teach for America is in Boise-area schools. Now it may expand to more Idaho communities
TWIN FALLS
Teach for America wants to extend its Idaho reach outside of the Treasure Valley, but it’s unknown yet where the program might expand to.
The national nonprofit, which trains people to work in low-income rural and urban schools, started serving Idaho in 2015 and now has 40 teachers in seven communities, all within the Treasure Valley. Plus, more than 60 alumni are teaching across the state.
The topic of future expansion came up when the organization’s Idaho executive director, Tony Ashton, presented in early February to the state legislature’s House Education Committee…
Corps members operate on a temporary teaching license, but receive a permanent, renewable license by the end of their second year teaching, Ashton said.
Teach for America has faced some criticism. Critics say idealistic college graduates who think they can change the world are sent into tough classrooms after only weeks of training…
Read more here: https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/education/article228060949.html#storylink=cpy
Well, those 100 TFA kids will solve all of Idaho’s problems, for sure.