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Shannon George

Teachers agree: Bad teachers with tenure too tough to fire - USATODAY.com - 6 views

www.usatoday.com/...08-05-06-teachers-tenure_n.htm

shared by Shannon George on 02 Nov 10 - No Cached
    • Anthony Logan
      Anthony Logan on 02 Nov 10
       
      Are the lack of evaluations to blame for ineffective teachers getting tenured status?  If so, what can we do to fix it? 
    • Benjamin Caulder
      Benjamin Caulder on 02 Nov 10
       
      I don't have evidence to back this up as it was from the mouth of one of my credential program profs. but what he said was that for the first couple of years teachers have to play a political game to make sure they get tenure then once they have it, its a different game they play with the school and the union. Not all "bad" teachers are really "bad" teachers, but for those that really are my prof. argued that the system works if the admin is actually willing to follow through to the end, which can be as long as 2 years. Most admins aren't willing. Sorry I can't provide evidence to back that up.
    • ameia sarkisian
      ameia sarkisian on 03 Nov 10
       
      Yeah, that's really sad that administrators aren't willing to go through the process, however long and arduous it may be, to make the learning environment a better place.
    • Michael Horder
      Michael Horder on 08 Nov 10
       
      I have heard that as well, Ben. Admins rarely put in the effort to reprimand teachers. The teacher's union protects all teachers, good or bad. Admins are afraid to go up against the union because they have so much power. I think teacher's union might be the problem with the whole tenure thing. Another interesting note. If you look at the leadership of teacher's unions i.e. the reps. They are some of the "bad" teachers. I know this is true in Madera, and I have been told the same thing occurs in other districts. I find that fascinating. Bad teachers protecting bad teachers. Hhhmmm. Bad system maybe?
  • Tenure provides teachers with job security and generally is awarded a few years after educators enter the profession
    • Shannon George
      Shannon George on 15 Nov 10
       
      Sadly, tenure is being mis-used. The original intention of tenure was for teachers to have due-process if they were being fired; it was an effort to help. Now it has turned into a "job for life," and many districts have to treat it like that or they will have to pay big money to the Unions.
    • Ryan Williams
      Ryan Williams on 19 Nov 10
       
      yeah I have read this statement time and time again. I guess it would make a huge difference to students and the administrations if the tenure teachers were ineffective, but I just don't see a negative trend among teachers that have earned their tenure. I have had quite a few tenure teachers at Fresno State and they are not all old burned out senile geezers that need to be fired.
  • Anthony Logan on 02 Nov 10
     
    Tenured teachers are hard to get rid of, even other teachers acknowledge this.
  • ameia sarkisian on 03 Nov 10
     
    There is a section towards the middle of this article where they talk about principals not wanting to "deal with" the ensuing process after they discover a less-than-effective tenure teacher... I find that to be kind of a scary thought... The PRINCIPALS, the administration in charge of ensuring the best for our students, don't want to deal with the problems that they were hired to face if necessary?! I think that evaluating the teachers and giving them feedback is important for the teachers (especially the "bad" ones) but what happens when the people in charge of evaluating them feel like it''s "pointless?"
Stephanie Flores

Dealing with so-so teachers - Quality Teaching | GreatSchools - 6 views

www.greatschools.org/...mediocre-teacher.gs

shared by Stephanie Flores on 26 Oct 10 - No Cached
    • Stephanie Flores
      Stephanie Flores on 26 Oct 10
       
      I thought this was interesting. This quote goes along with the articles on teacher tenure. I'm curious if the "weakness' that is seen in teachers is supposed to be compensated with parent involvement?
    • Michael Horder
      Michael Horder on 01 Nov 10
       
      So parents should do the teachers job! Should they get some of the pay as well. Don't get me wrong I think parents should be more involved in their children's education but they should not have to compensate for a weak teacher. Just get rid of the weak teacher or retrain them.
    • Anthony Logan
      Anthony Logan on 02 Nov 10
       
      I'm actually curious as to whether they (meaning parents) realize that these things are totally going under the radar and how helpful they could be.  I mean, at some point, the blame has to be shared equally.
    • Stephanie Flores
      Stephanie Flores on 05 Nov 10
       
      M- I'm on the same page as you. I mean I've heard of parents that are too involved with schools and their child (some have even requested to be in the class with their child!), but parents having to teach their kids at home when the teacher should be doing it is obsurd! I'm old school, so I'm all about getting rid of teachers who don't bring their all. A- Same here. I was wondering if parents were aware of what was going on in the school. Also, I don't remember seeing a state, city, district, etc. that said where this "supplementing" was occuring. I agree that if things stay on this path blame will be on both parties and it will be the student that suffers.
    • Shannon George
      Shannon George on 14 Nov 10
       
      It could be because all of my research on Tenure, but the problem here is is THE SO-SO TEACHER! It is very frustrating to know that teachers are so protected that it is now easier to tell parents to pick up the slack then have the teacher fired.
    • Stephanie Flores
      Stephanie Flores on 26 Oct 10
       
      Ha ha!
    • Elvira Ledezma
      Elvira Ledezma on 18 Nov 10
       
      Strategic Support! As a parent I have encountered problems with my daughter's teachers but most of them don't what this kind of support
    • Evonne Villagomez
      Evonne Villagomez on 19 Nov 10
       
      I've witnessed the total opposite of what this is saying also. A lot of teachers become offended and angered when you try to suggest offering that kind of support . I think most teachers feel like it is the child who is not performing well and not them, but in actuality it is the teacher who is doing a poor job.
Michelle Arce

Making Schools Work with Hedrick Smith . School-By-School Reform . Scripted Lessons | PBS - 4 views

www.pbs.org/...lessons.html

shared by Michelle Arce on 26 Oct 10 - Cached
  • proven methods
    • Ashley Muniz
      Ashley Muniz on 26 Oct 10
       
      I wish the article was more specific about what the "proven methods" are
  • As an experienced teacher she found the process of adopting her district’s program “humiliating and demeaning.”
    • Michelle Arce
      Michelle Arce on 16 Nov 10
       
      I totally understand why experienced teachers may feel this way. HOWEVER, this is a way for our school system to make sure that teachers are at least addressing the correct material in class.
  • Ashley Muniz on 26 Oct 10
     
    This article is about scripted lessons and teachers reactions to them
  • ...1 more comment...
  • ameia sarkisian on 29 Oct 10
     
    I can see how failing inner city schools, with students in the absolute worst conditions, might benefit from a scripted program. I don't agree that it's right, but I can see how one might justify the implementation of such a method when all else seems to have failed. I cringed at the end of the article when the teacher said that the scripted program "allowed for alittle bit of personality" on the teacher's part to show through... A LITTLE BIT?! Isn't the personality of the teacher that acts as an example for the students? isn't it the personality of the teacher that students "judge" right off the bat, sometimes effecting how much they choose to learn and participate in that particular class? I can't believe people actually believe our whole nation, which is SUPPOSED to be a diverse melting pot of people and experience, should adopt this rigid and inflexible curriculum method.
  • Ashley Muniz on 05 Nov 10
     
    I agree that direct instruction may help some students but I feel like a scripted lesson denies the individuality of the students and the teacher. These types of lessons tell you how to conduct the lesson word for word as well as how to answer students' questions. I feel like this takes all creativity out of teaching and turns the teacher into a robot. These systems are also meant to "teacher-proof" the classroom so that even bad teacher can "teach" as long as they know how to read.
  • ameia sarkisian on 05 Nov 10
     
    Wow and the scripted curriculum even tells the teacher how to answer questions?! If school, especially high school, is supposed to reflect a small scale-real world for students then what kind of message are we sending when we ("we" being teachers) are told how to do everything by a higher power; that we're all more successful if we do everything exactly the same all the time? So much for the development of critical literacy.
Linda Garcia

The Answer Sheet - What 'Superman' got wrong, point by point - 6 views

voices.washingtonpost.com/...-superman-got-wrong-point.html

shared by Linda Garcia on 03 Oct 10 - No Cached
  • Promise Academy is in many ways an excellent school, but it is dishonest for the filmmakers to say nothing about the funds it took to create it and the extensive social supports including free medical care and counseling provided by the zone
  • Two-thirds of Geoffrey Canada’s Harlem Children’s Zone funding comes from private sources
  • In New Jersey, where court decisions mandated similar programs, such as high quality pre-kindergarten classes and extended school days and social services in the poorest urban districts, achievement and graduation rates increased while gaps started to close. But public funding for those programs is now being cut and progress is being eroded.
  • ...18 more annotations...
  • Most test score differences stubbornly continue to reflect parental income and neighborhood/zip codes, not what schools do. As opportunity, health and family wealth increase, so do test scores.
  • they reduce teachers to test-prep clerks, ignore important subject areas and critical thinking skills
  • But schools and teachers take the blame for huge social inequities in housing, health care, and income.
  • Unions have historically played leading roles in improving public education, and most nations with strong public educational systems have strong teacher unions.
  • The movie touts the benefits of fast track and direct entry to teaching programs such as Teach for America, but the country with the highest achieving students, Finland, also has highly educated teachers.
  • Charters were first proposed by the teachers’ unions to allow committed parents and teachers to create schools that were free of administrative bureaucracy and open to experimentation and innovation, and some excellent charters have set examples. But thousands of hustlers and snake oil salesmen have also jumped in.
  • And the Education Report, "The Evaluation of Charter School Impacts, concludes, “On average, charter middle schools that hold lotteries are neither more nor less successful than traditional public schools in improving student achievement, behavior, and school progress.”
  • The Center for Research on Education Outcomes at Stanford University, concludes that only 17% of charter schools have better test scores than traditional public schools, 46% had gains that were no different than their public counterparts, and 37% were significantly worse. While a better measure of school success is needed
  • While a better measure of school success is needed
  • While a better measure of school success is needed
  • It is not a sustainable public policy to allow more and more public school funding to be diverted to privately subsidized charters while public schools become the schools of last resort for children with the greatest educational needs.
  • In spite of the many millions of dollars poured into expounding the theory of paying teachers for higher student test scores (sometimes mislabeled as ‘merit pay’), a new study by Vanderbilt University’s National Center on Performance Incentives found that the use of merit pay for teachers in the Nashville school district produced no difference even according to their measure, test outcomes for students.
  • approximately a third of America’s new teachers leave teaching sometime during their first three years of teaching; almost half leave during the first five years.
  • many of the top students have been lured to careers in finance and consulting.” It’s the market, and the disproportionately high salaries paid to finance specialists, that is misdirecting human resources, not schools.
  • They ignore the social construction of knowledge, the difference between deep learning and rote memorization.
  • This is a common theme of the so-called reformers: We are at war with India and China and we have to out-math them and crush them so that we can remain rich and they can stay in the sweatshops. But really, who declared this war? When did I as a teacher sign up as an officer in this war? And when did that 4th grade girl become a soldier in it? Instead of this new educational Cold War, perhaps we should be helping kids imagine a world of global cooperation, sustainable economies, and equity.
  • So the outcome of No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top has been more funding for schools that are doing well and more discipline and narrow test-preparation for the poorest schools.
  • Waiting for Superman has ignored deep historical and systemic problems in education such as segregation, property-tax based funding formulas, centralized textbook production, lack of local autonomy and shared governance, de-professionalization, inadequate special education supports, differential discipline patterns, and the list goes on and on.
  • anonymous on 03 Oct 10
     
    This post corrects the misinformation in Waiting for Superman.
  • ...1 more comment...
  • Benjamin Caulder on 22 Oct 10
     
    This is a good read. I don't know if its only me but "documentary" somehow implicitly means "true story". There really ought to be some sort of rating system, like G-NC17, for the accuracy of a documentary so the public doesn't buy the misinformation.
  • Evonne Villagomez on 18 Nov 10
     
    This is article is particularly helpful for me since my essay is on charter schools. I found this read interesting because it hihglights the areas in education which charter schools seem to be disregarding.
  • Kyle Dodson on 18 Nov 10
     
    I love the criticism if offers on the poster/ text alone. Many professors in the credential program are irate over the film and it's nice to see point-by-point what is wrong with the "documentary." I just love this article in general. It helps to be able to combat certain statistics in conversation too :)
anonymous

Innovations in Teacher Prep Programs | Edutopia - 2 views

www.edutopia.org/...ograms-innovations-anne-obrien

TeacherPrep

shared by anonymous on 24 Jan 11 - No Cached
  • Research shows the importance of mentoring new teachers, so why not push that mentoring down into the student teaching experience? And also, why do student teaching programs take effective, experienced teachers out of the classroom while novice teachers are learning? They should always be available to work with kids.
  • And they graduate knowing how to collaborate with other professionals -- a skill that is increasingly valued in educators.
    • anonymous
      anonymous on 24 Jan 11
       
      CSUF is considering co-teaching because of the ways that schools are responding to standardized assessment. This model allows master teachers to stay in the classroom with the student teacher--which, CSUF hopes, would reassure districts and schools who are becoming less likely to want student teachers. An interesting by-product is how student teachers would learn to collaborate.
  • anonymous on 24 Jan 11
     
    A brief article about teacher preparation programs. CSUF is considering the co-teaching model. What do you think?
Justin Norris

Teachers Gone Wild! Teachers Unions Secretly Video Taped - 4 views

www.cnn.com/video

Teachers Video Taped Gone Wild Union Privacy Education

shared by Justin Norris on 18 Nov 10 - No Cached
  • Justin Norris on 18 Nov 10
     
    TEACHERS GONE WILD!! VERY interesting/shocking video. Check it out. Thoughts??? Feelings???
  • Kyle Dodson on 18 Nov 10
     
    Teachers be actin'.... Wild. Seriously though, I have seen other documentaries/ newsreels of New York teacher unions... lets just say the speaker eerily reminded me of the public speaking tactics of a man whose name rhymes with Madolf Thitler. I wonder how the teachers have felt after their thoughts were exposed in this piece.
Jennifer Flores

Teachers fight scripted curriculum - SFGate - 1 views

articles.sfgate.com/...chool-districts-middle-schools

While many compromise by using an anthology these teachers fight for novels.

shared by Jennifer Flores on 19 Nov 10 - No Cached
  • Jennifer Flores on 19 Nov 10
     
    This article is about teachers who are fighting for literature in the classroom.
  • Ryan Williams on 19 Nov 10
     
    wow this article really makes me reconsider becoming a teacher. In fact this was a nightmare of mine, teaching no complete books and novels. How can students question texts critically if they cannot even finish the book. I find this new age teaching style insanely counterproductive because like the article stated some text provide a spark for the students to begin to question critically. If we continue to only use sections of full texts then the students are missing out on more possible discussion. The future seems darker for not only the students but for the teachers that once had to read a whole book and think.
Eric Wheeler

EUSD iRead - 1 views

sites.google.com/...home

ipod ipodtouch iread audio reading itunes itouch

shared by Eric Wheeler on 11 Jan 11 - No Cached
  • Eric Wheeler on 11 Jan 11
     
    From their page: iRead is a group of teachers in Escondido Union School District dedicated to the idea that digital audio can be a powerful learning tool for all students. iRead will give you a chance to create meaningful, curriculum-centered audio projects with your students. Teachers are using digital audio tools (iPods, mics, Garageband, iTunes, Keynote, etc. and various accessories) to improve reading processes. Teachers meet on a monthly basis to exchange ideas and strategies. We started in 2006-07 by collecting data about fluency rates - this has been very promising.
Anthony Logan

Discipline hearings for tenured teachers lengthy, costly - 1 views

poststar.com/...34-11df-9b61-001cc4c002e0.html

tenure Teaching teachers

shared by Anthony Logan on 02 Nov 10 - No Cached
    • Anthony Logan
      Anthony Logan on 02 Nov 10
       
      That's a ton of money!  What kind of school district can afford that...oh wait, one with a lot of laid off teachers, furlough days, and a lot of under served students.
  • Anthony Logan on 02 Nov 10
     
    A look at just how costly it is to remove a tenured teacher.
Shannon George

A Brief History of Tenure - TIME - 1 views

www.time.com/...0,8599,1859505,00.html

shared by Shannon George on 09 Nov 10 - Cached
  • The problem with tenure, Rhee and other critics say, is that it inadvertently protects incompetent teachers from being fired.
  • Each state has its own stories: A Connecticut teacher received a mere 30-day suspension for helping students cheat on a standardized test; one California school board spent $8,000 to fire an instructor who preferred using R-rated movies instead of books; a Florida teacher remained in the classroom for a year despite incidents in which she threw books at her students and demanded they referred to her as "Ms. God."
  • And despite more than a century of social progress, the need to protect teachers from the whims (or the tyranny) of the community remains as important as ever
  • Shannon George on 09 Nov 10
     
    The article includes the ways in which teacher tenure began, as well as a brief synopsis about the conversation it enters.
anonymous

Teachers can't be judged by tests  | ajc.com - 0 views

www.ajc.com/...ers-cant-be-judged-539080.html

shared by anonymous on 03 Jun 10 - Cached
  • anonymous on 03 Jun 10
     
    Teachers TeacherPrep
anonymous

Weblogg-ed » "Disposable Reform" - 0 views

weblogg-ed.com/...disposable-reform

shared by anonymous on 27 Aug 10 - Cached
    • anonymous
      anonymous on 27 Aug 10
       
      This is fascinating. I agree that "real" learning is self-motivated and directed--and yet we've trained students to think that the only thing that is valuable is what the teacher says. I do a lot of group work in my classes, and one of my colleagues asked me recently if I got bored since I wasn't on stage, so to speak, all the time. I do sometimes, but I don't think my class is about me, it's about helping my students learn. And I believe they learn more if they are actively engaged . . . which is more likely to happen in a smaller group than in a whole class discussion.
  • “What % of teacher ed programs prepare teachers NOT to be the focal point of the classroom?” and the responses were telling. Most said 5-10%, and my sense is that’s pretty accurate.
  • But I also found it striking that she connected our difficulty in sustaining change with what she termed our “disposable culture” here in the US. We try one reform and dispose of it, then we try another and dispose of that one, and then we try yet another. And I can’t help ask, whose fault is that?
  • ...1 more annotation...
    • anonymous
      anonymous on 27 Aug 10
       
      Again, I totally agree. After teaching here in Fresno for 11 years, I've seen so many initiatives to create collaboration between high school and the university. I worked with a great project when I first arrived here, a literacy center at Fresno High. CSUF students, many of whom wanted to be teachers, would tutor high schools, sometimes in the classroom, sometimes in the Literacy Center's room. Everyone involved in the project loved it . . . but after three years, the funding ran out. Now there's discussion yet again about another round of university intervention in high schools . . . I wish we could just develop a great program that would receive long-term funding, instead of just a "flavor-of-the-day" approach to education.
  • anonymous on 27 Aug 10
     
    Interesting blog about how we repeatedly introduce "new" programs and ideas in schools, only to abandon them for the next wave of "new" ideas.
Stephanie Flores

Dealing with so-so teachers - Quality Teaching | GreatSchools - 2 views

www.greatschools.org/...mediocre-teacher.gs

shared by Stephanie Flores on 25 Oct 10 - No Cached
    • Stephanie Flores
      Stephanie Flores on 26 Oct 10
       
      I found this comment interesting. It was from my experience that kids didn't want to be "on the teacher's radar." Also, don't you think that, depending on the teacher, that might pose a problem for the student if you have a parents that is too involved?
    • Stephanie Flores
      Stephanie Flores on 26 Oct 10
       
      Scary!
    • Stephanie Flores
      Stephanie Flores on 26 Oct 10
       
      How would one dress up as Mars?
  • Elvira Ledezma on 25 Oct 10
     
    What to do if your childs teacher is not so good
Anthony Logan

Firing teachers can be a costly and tortuous task - Los Angeles Times - 1 views

articles.latimes.com/...me-teachers3

tenure collection Teaching

shared by Anthony Logan on 02 Nov 10 - No Cached
    • Anthony Logan
      Anthony Logan on 02 Nov 10
       
      The most chilling part of this is that he kept his job after taunting this child (who already has issues of his own to deal with) and allowing others to join in on the taunting,
  • Anthony Logan on 02 Nov 10
     
    This is a very long collection of articles about tenure in California, and how difficult it is to fire a tenured teacher, even in the face of misconduct.
Elvira Ledezma

AFT - A Union of Professionals - Weingarten Column Challenges School Reform 'Manifesto' - 0 views

www.aft.org/...101610manifesto.cfm

shared by Elvira Ledezma on 08 Nov 10 - No Cached
  • But such standards are meaningless without training and assessments aligned to them and, crucially, without time for teachers to prepare for them and for students to achieve them.
  • Jonathan P. Raymond, the superintendent of the Sacramento public schools, wrote recently: "We have to stop blaming teachers for problems that have multiple causes, ranging from poor administrative oversight and accountability to a lack of parent engagement. I know how hard teachers work to educate every child and challenge students at their ability level. We need to work equally hard to give our teachers the tools and supports they need to be successful. Let's stop scapegoating and come together to find solutions that work."
anonymous

Teacher Effectiveness, Defined by NCTE | Kevin's Meandering Mind - 0 views

dogtrax.edublogs.org/...-effectiveness-defined-by-ncte

Teachers TeacherEffectiveness

shared by anonymous on 05 Jan 11 - No Cached
  • anonymous on 05 Jan 11
     
    A blog entry that includes NCTE's list defining teacher effectiveness.
Benjamin Caulder

The High Cost of Low Teacher Salaries| The Committed Sardine - 1 views

www.fluency21.com/...blogpost.cfm

teachers

shared by Benjamin Caulder on 24 May 11 - No Cached
  • Benjamin Caulder on 24 May 11
     
    A great analogy and analysis of teachers' plight.
anonymous

» I'm Not Waiting Bud the Teacher - 0 views

budtheteacher.com/...im-not-waiting

Teachers

shared by anonymous on 29 Sep 10 - No Cached
  • anonymous on 29 Sep 10
     
    Loved this blog entry (09-27-10) on teaching.
Stephanie Flores

Is Teacher Tenure Still Necessary? - 1 views

www.npr.org/...story.php

shared by Stephanie Flores on 26 Oct 10 - Cached
  • Stephanie Flores on 26 Oct 10
     
    Alan Greenblatt explains how teacher tenure has changed in different states and whether or not teachers still need protection.
anonymous

MinnPost - Why all the fuss over value-added teacher data? - 1 views

www.minnpost.com/..._over_value-added_teacher_data

Teachers ValueAdded

shared by anonymous on 29 Oct 10 - No Cached
  • anonymous on 29 Oct 10
     
    This article is more positive about value added measures of teacher performance than many other sources I've seen.
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