A Bad Bill

A recent article explained how legislators in my state are looking to eliminate–in part or in whole–the use of seniority when RIFFs go into effect. While I don’t believe that every teacher of more experience is better than a new teacher, I also know that I don’t believe in pitting teachers against one another for evaluation scores. I posted the following on the article’s comment section:

Why in the world would I ever help a new teacher in my building if this becomes law? It would be against my interests to help anyone but my own students. If I help someone else, I would essentially be lowering my chances of keeping my position.

Besides this, the evaluation system is not set up to be a competitive model, and the criteria for evaluating teachers does not lend itself to a teacher by teacher comparison.

This is a poorly thought-out bill which really misses the true problem: administrators need to stop hiring poor employees, need to weed out those who shouldn’t teach in the teacher’s first three years (no due process then), and terminate those who do not perform.

Fix the disease, not the symptom.

However, some teachers do advocate for legislation like this one. I don’t think a teacher wants to hurt his/her own profession, but I do see this bill as one more way to introduce competition into a collaborative work environment.

Stories from School, an excellent education blog, posted two opinions on the attempt to side-step seniority (for and against). On the comments sections of these two posts, I posted the following comment:

This bill only tries to cure a symptom of the real disease: administrators who hire poor performers, who do not get rid of inadequate teachers before due process is required, and who do not terminate bad teachers.

This bill obviously creates competition, and–worst of all–it uses an evaluation system not designed to compare instructors to do just that.

Plus, people often forget the history that has led many districts and states to use a seniority-based system.

First, Administrators in cash-tight areas would fire more experienced teachers to hire cheaper, younger teachers to save money. This wasn’t based on effectiveness; it was based on age and money. (Many charter schools do this now.)

Second, since teaching does not offer a lucrative career, teachers of experience are rewarded for their longevity with privileges like transfer priority and security (for the sake of their families too).

Sadly, private and public sector workers are now pitted against one another. Pushing teachers into a competitive system would further harm the basic premise of education as well as the public perception of it. This bill fuels this short-sightedness.

Then I said this because the state has already commissioned groups around the state to create a new evaluation system for teachers and principals:

I think some patience is in order.

The state has commissioned districts to create a new evaluation system for the state (which will completely change the way evaluations are conducted). These bills not only undermine the value of the work being done, but also they attempt to cure the symptoms of larger educational issues and slowly introduce a competitive rather than a collaborative approach to education.

Within two years the entire state will have a brand new evaluation system for teachers and principals, and the way they must be completed and assessed will forever change the profession.

I advise everyone to start contacting and following the progress of the pilot districts. Voice your opinions and follow the work…

This type of legislation could really hurt my area, and legislation like this uses a sledgehammer instead of a scalpel to try and fix a problem.When we race to change the law instead of working to fix the real problems, we run the risk of putting into effect a bad law. And, changing laws back is virtually impossible. Plus, these bills put the power of evaluation and teacher contracts–locally bargained and adjusted based on local needs–into the laws of the inexperienced at the state level.

I very much fear this type of legislation because nuances are ignored, the experts are cut out, and another one-size-fits-all approach is enacted.

I know this is a national debate, but WA State has traditionally been more progressive and forward-thinking. The evaluation pilots around the state have a positive intent (even if I don’t think it’s perfect), but legislation like this hurt more than help the profession.

What has your state done?

Hope Renewed

One of my students won a dance competition and was awarded a trip for two to Vegas. He gave it to his dance teacher as a “thank you” for her help.

He gives me hope for today’s youth.

Buried in the Sand

120 thesis papers.

150 finals.

1 long-term sub in need of lesson plans.

Ugh.

Find An “In”

I have many, many areas in my teaching that needs work, and I try to do something each year that improves my effectiveness. However, one area in which I’ve had great success is creating a rapport with students. Of course, no one method works well, so I try to reach my students in various ways.

I posted previously about my first day of school where I allow my students (anonymously) to guide the first day by asking questions about my classes and my background. One year I started with a classroom version of The Match Game. These types of activities are great introduction activities, but I prefer some indirect ways of talking with students.

One of my favorite rapport builders is having a couple items of trivia on the board each day. At first I thought it was really for me more than students–since I’m a huge trivia nut–but one day I forgot to put up the new trivia and student after student walked in and asked me where the trivia facts were. They were genuinely disappointed that the factoids were not on the board. More importantly, the kids’ curiosity would sometimes initiate brief discussions on different topics or entice them to look up additional information on the bits of trivia. I now receive suggestions for topics and even receive requests to put up their own factoids. I included a fun link to a trivia site for the The Simpsons on Friday.

I also really like an idea by Dana Huff at HuffEnglish.com that I may explore.

Another rapport builder in my classroom is what I call my Happy Wall. I take a corner of my classroom every year and reserve it for pictures and notes I have received from students. Having taught for slightly over a decade, I now have amassed a fairly large collection, and my students enjoy looking at my former students’ pictures and their messages to me as well as their reflections on the class. Some of them like looking for their older siblings and seeing what their experiences were like.

Lastly, I try to rotate the posters in the room, the student works I display, and the themed bulletin board I keep. I started the year with a Harry Potter wall which became a Lord of the Rings wall. It became a science fiction wall and then a student project wall. The students enjoy expressing their enjoyment of the themes and exploring the articles, pictures, maps, and brochures centering on the chosen theme. Right now it’s blank and I need to decide on the next theme to be displayed to start the 2nd semester.

MLK Day and Education

Martin Luther King, Jr., was killed when he traveled to Memphis and was there to support sanitation workers in their attempts to gain justified benefits and pay. He was defending the middle class worker in addition to being a part of the more widely known Civil Rights Movement; the two are not mutually exclusive.

Fast-forward almost 50 years and the middle class worker is under attack. While corporate greed runs rampant throughout the country, Americans have been misdirected their ire to middle class employees and public workers. Consider these facts presented by Robert Reich in an article titled “The Shameful Attack on Public Employees”:

• Wall Street bonuses are higher than ever (even before the bailout),
• Corporations are reeling in record profits,
• Loopholes in the tax codes exist specifically for hedge-fund managers and private-equity managers,
• 48% of public workers have college degrees compared to 23% of private employees, and
• public workers–even considering benefits–make 11% less than their equally educated private sector counterparts.

Remain vigilant. Do not allow cuts to your salaries, benefits, pensions, and work environments go unchallenged. Speak to your legislators, e-mail them, text them, and call them. Tell them your stories. Make them listen to you. You vote and your family votes.

You have power. Use it.