IS THAT WHERE YOU WANT YOUR MONEY TO GO?

I have always been against the idea that my union dues go to causes that I fundamentally disagree with. If anyone wants to make a donation to any of those causes, more power to them. Just not with my money, my union dues. Because of the spiteful and brutal manner that they routinely and smugly operate with I am hesitant to go through the process (I attempted it once). 

Neil McCabe  wrote a pretty good article on this. Give it a read and tell me what you think. http://townhall.com/columnists/neilmccabe/2013/05/12/chalkboard-rebellion-in-the-golden-state-n1591943/page/full

Have a great day! 

PTVoice

Common Core or just another con?

Common Core standards. Another "gift" from the federal government. As an educator anytime someone out of the classroom comes up with an idea, I get nervous. The further they are away from the actual classroom with real live students the more dangerous the directive. Common Core Standards fits right in with all the other "great ideas" from those who don't know or should know better. Rachel Alexander has written a great peace entitled 

"Common Core: What's Hidden Behind the Language".

"Conservatives are in an uproar over Common Core, an educational curriculum being forced upon the states by the Obama administration, which is scheduled to be mostly implemented this year in the 46 states that have adopted it. Common Core eliminates local control over K-12 curriculum in math and English, instead imposing a one-size-fits-all, top-down curriculum that will also apply to private schools and homeschoolers.

Superficially, it sounds good. It creates universal standards that supposedly educate all children for college. But along with the universal standards come a myriad of problems, which the administrators of Common Core are disingenuously denying. The American Principles Project released an analysis last year of Common Core, exposing the duplicitous language. Common Core describes itself as “internationally benchmarked,” “robust,” “aligned with college and work expectations,” “rigorous,” and “evidence-based.” None of this is true."

http://townhall.com/columnists/rachelalexander/2013/03/18/common-core-whats-hidden-behind-the-language-n1537017?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl

The more I read about it the less I like them. What's the old saying, "Beware of Greeks bearing gifts"? How about beware of your federal government taking over your state and local governments choice to teach your students as best as you see fit.

OK my fellow educators, do you know what the common core standards really are

WE NEED AN ALTERNATE UNIVERSITY SYSTEM

I am deeply concerned about the state of our American educational system. I have been in education of over 23 years now and I have seen quite of few exceptional educators teaching in some very difficult situations. I have one son who is now part of the working class. One son who is putting himself through college. A daughter in middle school and a son in elementary school. Education is all around me. 

What is raising the warning flag for me is the Department of Education and it's current influence. I believe it is a financially silly practice to send money to the federal government to have them redistribute it where they see fit. To do so assures that a certain percentage of local tax dollars will never see a school or a classroom because it will be used to finance the people who redistribute it. That is just a plain waste of taxpayer money. 

Candice Lanier in her article Government Information Documents Replace Traditional Curriculum as Feds Seize More Control of Schools (http://redpillreport.net/2012/12/17/government-information-documents-replace-traditional-curriculum-as-feds-seize-more-control-of-schools/) describes how teachers are having to sacrifice some classic texts for what I can only describe as government propaganda. The race to the top has turned out to be trap. It is not about teaching to standards and test score which has been a source of discontent for many educators for the last decade, it is about teaching a very narrow indoctrination. That is where I am afraid this government is now headed. 

Now I am going to get down to my real concern. This is not about Democrats opposed to Republicans, this is about the American ideals opposed to socialist ideals. It is no secret that most universities are run by left leaning (to say the least) elitists. They use revisionist history to rewrite history to suit their political agenda. They have swallowed the media by training journalist to be liberal propagandists. High school teachers feel the need to push their opinions on children with brutal force. I know. I fought it even 30 years ago. Now it is only worse. 

In Los Angeles they are naming Elementary schools schools of social justice! Are you kidding me? Social justice!? I taught through the whole multicultural charade. What it produced was culturally aware illiterates who could not think by themselves but were easily manipulated by emotional pleas. You know, "the rich people don't pay their fair share!" "Those tea party people are bigots!"It is just like being on a schoolyard when some manipulative punk plays a sucker with the old "Did you here what he/she said about your mama?" maneuver. It was very successful politically. The last two elections demonstrate this to the tee. 

I have come to the place where I think our educational system is hopeless. I don't think that the universities can be won back over. I believe a new group of universities need to be formed. I think they need to be financed by the business community. I believe that they must be cost effective. Meaning affordable and well run. America needs places of higher education where the constitution is taught with respect and an understanding that it is no simple compilation of ideas. There must be an alternative to the current university system because if we don't be just be another socialist state. 

The Accidental Teacher: One line, three days and welcome to the program!: Chapter 1

The line was long. Not around the corner long. More like around the corner and out into the parking lot long. I had just received my CBEST results and the two week long strike finally ended so I went down to The District to apply to be a substitute. That would allow me more time to volunteer at my church. I figured I would be done by lunch.

After three hours in line and just getting a view of the front door, I was seriously thinking about coming back another day. But, by that time it had become more of a quest than just applying for a job. So I hung in there. We hadn’t quite reached the state of delirium yet so no one was really in a talking mood.

Just before lunchtime I made it to the front. No one had been able to confirm for me that this was actually the line to apply to become a substitute. When I asked the lady a the first desk, she said, “No, this is the line to apply for the District Internship Program. Next week is for substitutes.” I almost screamed. But, the nice lady asked to see my paperwork. She suggested I apply for the program. If they hired me I could teach with an emergency credential and then take the NTE (National Teachers Exam). Plus, I would get full benefits right away. I figured I had stood in line for three plus hours already, so why not spend a few more minutes filling out the rest of the paper work. God works in mysterious ways.

Three day later I stepped out of the building a District Intern. One week of training and two weeks later I was teaching my very first class.

The Natives Are Getting Restless

So, today we had the beloved grade level teams meetings. I have this theory that the farther someone gets from the classroom the less they want to do. Which means that when a directive is given to teachers the result is that there is more for the classroom teacher to do and less for anyone else outside the classroom. 

This leads me back to todays' meeting. The purpose was to come up with a plan as a team to deal with student's who are behavior problems. That's sounds great except if you can't even send a student out of class to take a few minutes to calm down or get themselves together what can you do?  For resources we were given our wits and prayer. Well, not prayer because you're not allowed to pray in schools these days. 

One of the questions on the worksheet asked what the "Trigger" for the students behavior was. The idea being that if the teacher can avoid the trigger, the negative behavior should be at least minimized. The problem is that the trigger for some of these kids is simply being instructed, asked or told what to do. I like to use what I call the drive by instructions because it is not confrontational and sort of disarms the student. But, if a student is agitated or just not in the mood, it is shall we say problematic. 

My fellow teachers are getting agitated. The difference is that it may be getting easier to remove a teacher from the classroom than a student.

Election Day

I can't believe I slept as well as I did last night! I am pretty nervous about the elections today. I think Romney's going to win, but, I live in a state that was "bright" enough to re-elect Jerry "tax you" Brown. I work with a bunch of people who believe what they are told without checking in on the reality they live in! 

Follow the link for the rest...http://thussaithme.blogspot.com/2012/11/ptvoice-on-election-day.html

The Right or Privilege of Instructional Time

If you're a teacher you know this no-win scenario all too well. If you're a parent, it's what you can't image a school would allow to be inflicted upon students in their care, specifically your child. It is the latest policy of a district in a death spiral. No student should be denied instructional time. 

The theory is that no student should be denied access to instruction. Therefore disruptive students can not be sent out of classrooms. This of course includes student's with physical disabilities. Students with cognitive disabilities have a right to mainstream classrooms too. Now, the kicker, students with behavior issues, no matter how severe, have a right to access all instructional time. The result of these policies is that all children, no matter what their issues may be are placed into a room together.

The reality is that some students learn best in different environments and some students flat out refuse to learn. Student's with disabilities are now being thrown into larger classrooms even if that means that they receive less actual access to the curriculum in a mainstream classroom. All in the name of "least restrictive environment". When least restrictive makes learning least effective, it's just another dumb idea that no one has the guts to say, "Hey, boss, I don't think that's going to work." The real problems start when entire classrooms are held captive to the clowns, the terrorists and the thieves that populate classrooms and teachers are left without recourse to defend their teaching time or the students they sincerely want to teach. My fellow teachers and I were actually told that we can not send a student out of the class unless, according the the California Education Code, it is a suspendable offense! The reality is no one leaves the room unless they are going to be suspended!

Do students who are obstinate have a right to learn when they feel like it and act however they want to without repercussions? I don't think they have a right to make other students  endure their clowning, terrorizing and stealing behavior. If a student refuses to learn and chooses to talk and play around teachers and teachers are left without any real recourse and the result is that the rest of the students suffer the real loss of instructional time. These students are a cancer and in my view thieves who are taught to disregard others and rewarded for their selfish behavior by not being punished quickly and with brutal severity. Their parents should be punished too. But, I find that the blockhead doesn't usually fall far from the cliff, so trying to deal with them and their child is like beating your head between two brick walls. 

An education is not a right, it is a privilege and as soon as you call it a right you start down the slippery slow of valuing the rights of an individual over the rights not of the group but every other individual. That of course is lunacy. Trying to teach in a classroom where the right of a child to act out as they please is more valued than the right to learn without being harassed is stupid beyond belief. Yet, it is happening in classrooms everyday.