A while back, Ohio Governor John Kasich proposed that teachers should be required for recertification to spend time in a business so they could understand the real world.

Sarah Guinn of The Athens “Messenger” reported that:

“Some legislators responded by proposing the Get REALS Act (Governor’s Externship for Training of Realistic Expectations of Academic Leadership in Schools) which would require Kasich to spend 40 hours of on-site observations inside a public school. The Messenger decided to do the externship for a day at Athens High School.”

Guinn took on the challenge that Kasich has so far ducked. She learned a lot. The teachers wish that Kasich would try it. He would stop loading up the schools with mandates and unnecessary tests. He might learn a lot too.

She writes:

“Natalie Bobo’s classroom is replete with a tennis shoe-filled box for anyone who may need them, a griddle she uses a few times during the year to make breakfast for students and a myriad of basic school supplies and materials — a number of which are paid for from her own pocket.

“So what else might Kasich see if he were to venture to Athens High School?

“For this psuedo-Kasich who hasn’t spent a full day at high school in almost a decade, the experience was eye-opening in a number of ways.

“Bobo, an intervention specialist, changes gears many times throughout the day. She spends three periods in her own classroom providing instruction to students who need a slower-paced class than what’s typical for their grade level, and three outside of her classroom co-teaching. Two other periods are dedicated to academic coaching and planning.

“For the periods outside her classroom, Bobo teams up with Molly Roach to co-teach two freshman English classes; one for students at a typical level, and another at college-prep. She also co-teaches social studies with Paul Kaiser.

“This is a typical day for Bobo from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., but her true hours reach far beyond what’s contractually agreed upon, as is the case with many teachers.

“Teaching is physically and mentally exhausting,” Roach said. “I am on my feet all day, lecturing, monitoring group work, jumping from student to student to give individual help. I have to attend meetings. I have to plan and write tests. I have to grade the work of 132 students. I have one 43-minute planning period during which I am supposed to accomplish all my grading and planning, make copies, enter my grades, check and answer my emails, make parent phone calls, and Heaven forbid use the restroom or call home to check on my own children.”

“She eats and works at her desk during her 30-minute lunch break, she said, and takes home folders of ungraded papers each night.”

“When you are a teacher, you get no rest. There is always someone needing something from you,” she said. “You’re never finished with your work. It feels like a treadmill on high speed sometimes.”

Take this idea and run with it. Invite elected officials to be a teaching assistant for a day. Target state legislators. They have no idea what happens in schools.

Julie Rine, a teacher in Ohio, wrote a public letter to Governor John Kasich, rebuking him for his insulting proposal to require teachers to spend a day in a business to learn about how to prepare students.

“Your proposal in the budget to require teachers to complete an “on-site work experience” with a local business as a condition of renewing our teaching licenses is baffling. Even the state legislators in your own party didn’t seem to see the value in it, and have indicated that they most likely will not support it. What exactly did you hope to accomplish by our spending time observing or even participating in a field outside of education? Despite a lot of press coverage, we were given few details about the thinking behind this mind-boggling mandate, but the director of your Office of Workforce Transformation indicated that this added licensing requirement was intended to “help teachers get a better idea for what jobs are available to students and what skills employers need”[1].

“Governor, even if your proposal does not become a requirement, you don’t need to worry. Teachers know the skills that employers value, whether the job requires a college degree or not: a willingness to work hard, to ask for clarification if a job expectation is unclear, to show up on time, to demonstrate respect when speaking to others, to take initiative and go beyond basic expectations, to work just as hard whether under direct supervision or alone, to accept criticism, to work well with others, to communicate effectively in person, on the phone, or through email. Armed with these skills, a person can be trained in any job from making a pizza to governing a state. Teachers don’t need to shadow a business person to understand what skills make a good employee. We know what those skills are.

“And you know what? We already teach those skills…”

She points out that teachers would be more effective if they didn’t waste so much time prepping for and giving tests.

She has a counter proposal:

“Governor, your proposal indicates that you think teachers are in the dark about life after high school. Frankly, we think you are in the dark about life in the classroom. Perhaps this could be remedied if you and our state legislators spent time with a teacher. Imagine if one day each year, across the state of Ohio, across all content areas and grade levels, in small schools and big schools, wealthy districts and high-poverty districts, every single state legislator and our governor shadowed a public school teacher for an entire school day. We could practice one of the life skills we both want our students to have: learning to see a situation from another’s point of view. Ohio’s teachers would know that when our legislative leaders discuss educational policies, each one of you would have had at least a one-day experience in our public schools with the students and teachers your policies will impact. Your proposal argues that it’s important for teachers to know what jobs await our students and what skills they will need in those jobs; I would argue that it is at least equally important for our politicians to know what our jobs are really like and how your policies affect our ability to educate our students in meaningful ways.

“My spending time working in a local pizza parlor would not likely improve my ability to teach, but your spending time in a classroom could improve your ability to enact policies that would have a positive impact on teaching and learning. Will you visit our classrooms? Will you talk to us? Will you listen? We will if you will. Our classroom doors are always open.”

Thank you, Julie, for expressing so well what every teacher was thinking.

Do you think Governor Kasich and Ohio’s legislators will accept your invitation? Given their penchant for telling you how and what to teach, it would be reasonable for them to spend time in the classroom.

During the Republican primaries last year, many friends of mine considered John Kasich the adult in the GIP field. When I explained his demonstrated hostility to public education, they thought I must be exaggerating.

But now the proof is there for all who are willing to learn about it.

Kasich wants all teachers to spend some time visiting businesses so they know how to prepare their students.

http://www.ohio.com/news/local/kasich-wants-teachers-to-learn-another-job-or-lose-theirs-1.747817

“Ohio Gov. John Kasich wants public school teachers to see what it’s like to work outside the classroom so they can better match their students to the needs of local employers.

“Tucked a third of the way through Kasich’s 3,512-page 2018-19 state budget is a new education mandate. If the Ohio House and Senate accepts the proposal, educators looking to get or renew a teaching license this fall would have to work at or, more likely, tour a local business.

“The plan, which prioritizes industry over pedagogy, is part of the governor’s broader plan to drive career education and marry schooling to the needs of the economy.

“It could be as simple as teachers touring local business and having those conversations … to just get a better sense of what those in-demand jobs are,” said Ryan Burgess, director of the Governor’s Office of Workforce Transformation, which put together the group that developed the “on-site work experience” externships and about 20 other proposals in Kasich’s budget.

“Asked how kindergarten teachers might benefit from touring a local business, Burgess said it’s never too young to explore a career.”

So five-year-olds will “explore a career.”

Here is a better idea: How about if business leaders commit to teach for one full day in the public schools? Think of what they might learn by doing so.