COME ONE, COME ALL! Share your "you can't teach that" story. Share what caused a curriculum complaint. Perhaps it was a book, a unit, a topic, or a method of teaching.

 
By Tom

I've only had to use it once, and man was I glad it was there.

It was parent conference time, a fall tradition since before chalk. I was setting the stage; grown-up chairs, regular table, student files, notepaper, pencils, and of course the obligatory Box of Kleenex.

The first conference that afternoon was with Anthony's mom. Anthony wasn't doing well. He was behind in reading, math, writing, science, everything. He even had trouble with lunch. In fact, the only thing Anthony was doing well at was art. In art he was amazing. The rest of the class would line up at his desk to get him to draw the people in their pictures. I had to put an end to it, because it got to the point where he was doing most of everyone's art.

So my plan was to begin the conference by telling Anthony's mom what a wonderful artist he was and then move from there to the trouble he was having with everything else. The old Good News/Bad News device.

I applaud the authors of this funding proposal, a group of legislators involved with the Joint Task Force on Education Funding, for acknowledging, “One of the most pernicious failings in education is the divergence in educational attainment between children of modest means and those with more money.” I’m just not sure that remediation is the answer.

It's about time someone finally looked at our state's constitution (or at least the preamble) and then looked at how we actually execute the "paramount duty" of educating our children.

And then explained how to make up the difference.

That, in a nutshell, is how I view the plan by a new task force on school funding. It's quite a document (Thirty pages! With no pictures!) and it goes a long way towards describing what this state needs to do. It doesn't tell how we're going to pay for it, but that's probably a topic best tackled after the election.

The part of the plan that particularly caught my attention was about how teachers would be assessed in order to receive additional compensation commiserate with improved classroom skills.

As I read this I recalled one of my earliest evaluations.

Teachers can teach anyone, anything. Last week I taught my neighbor's son how to ride a bike. Being a highly trained teacher, I used widely accepted educational practices, current trends in education, and data based analysis. Read about our week through my daily notes . . . .

Like many places around the nation, the funding of education is a hot topic. Is funding adequate? Are the limited state / federal educational resources being allocated efficiently? How can a state budget be ‘rewritten’ to better meet the needs of education? Recently, a few state legislators looked at this issue and want to know what you think…

According to OSPI, “The Professional Certificate (ProCert) is designed to help teachers demonstrate they have a positive impact on student learning. It is an individualized, classroom-based process that focuses on increased skills to impact student learning rather than credits. ProCert expectations apply state-wide, focus on student learning, and emphasize closing the achievement gap and reaching student learning goals. It is fully aligned with Washington’s expectations for K-12 student learning. Through ProCert, teachers demonstrate their competency in the 3 standards of Professional Certification: Effective Teaching, Professional Development, and Professional Contributions.” http://www.k12.wa.us/certification/Teacher/procert-program.aspx

Beginning in 2001, new Washington teachers have had to complete the ProCert program (or National Boards) to be able to apply for continuing certificate. Isn’t a university-educated and trained teacher “professional” enough? Isn’t holding a Washington state certificate “certificated” enough?

Yes, the bloggers on Stories from School: Policy Meets Practice are wonderful. Yes, the posts are a great mix of classroom practice and state policy. But you want to get more? Excellent. Are you aware of common blog features? Read on to get the most from Stories from School.

I do not usually have a newspaper in my house. I usually do not read the newspaper. However, on this cold, wet Sunday, I read the newspaper. You see, it was left there by a guest and I am glad they did. I was able to read about Measure 60 in Oregon. Not our state you say, well, it is only one state away from Washington, and not too many away from the others.

By Tom

I found myself at a district technology workshop yesterday. I was sitting next to my friend Taylor, who teaches third grade across town. We spent the day planning ways to incorporate technology into our curriculum. Taylor’s a smart teacher and she had some great ideas. I learned a lot from her, and she might have learned a few things from me. Or maybe not. The point is, we came from different schools and spent the day sharing ideas and working together to improve our teaching practice. There was no competition. I may or may not have been helping Taylor’s students outperform mine, and I couldn’t care less.

From time to time, I checked the internet to see how things were going in Congress. That’s right; I was off-task. And as it turned out, Congress was in the process of letting the administration buy up lousy loans in an attempt to save the US economy.

I hope it works. But as I was switching back and forth between my curriculum and my country, I couldn’t help but notice something. We’re going to spend $700 billion bailing out a system that is supposed to deal with failure in a Darwinian fashion. And at the same time, many of the same clowns who ruined the very economy that they’re supposed to manage are trying to get public education to act more like private enterprise.

Not everyone should go to school. Not everyone needs school. School is not for everyone. Not every one has the ability to do well in school. In general, schools just are not for everyone!