a tale of pink slips

[thehallway]

how sad and pathetic is it that i have to pay for my own workshops/professional development if i want it to be of any quality or relevance to what i do in a classroom. now granted, i really like being in a classroom, in a learning environment with other people who like learning and see its value. and i love being on u of m's campus.

so i'd registered for this two-day workshop on china before being told i wouldn't be teaching world history for the next two years and i was looking forward to it. the presenters are fun and informational, everyone treats you like they're glad you came and not like you're a hamster running on their wheel, and they feel you all day long. really good stuff that's based on whatever area of the world you're working on that day.

so i had a good day. the really sad/funny/ironic part of it is that in that room full of educators with all that dedication and experience is this:

in my section of the room there were six teachers sitting in three rows, two to a table. i was on one end of the middle table. the girl next to me had been pink slipped by her district and had not been called back by the deadline, so she didn't think she was going to be called back.

they stopped calling back one person ahead of her on the list, her friend that had one month more seniority than she did. these two teachers had written and implemented the new world history course at their school to align to the new state standards and now wouldn't be teaching it.

the guy in front of me turned around at her story and said that he could get her a job teaching at a school...in china. she said she's got a family and couldn't go, but her friend was single and loved to travel, so she'd be thrilled to go.

the girl to my side at the table behind me had just gotten pink slipped again in her district, and the girl directly behind me had just gotten pink slipped by hers.

we talked about how professional development for our districts has got 'expert consultants' coming in and telling us that we should put fifty percent in for grades when students do nothing so that we can sustain hope. and that we shouldn't grade tests with anything lower than forty percent regardless of how many wrong answers a student guesses at.

we talked about axing programs to help kids read when they come into our high school world history classes with second grade reading levels.

i just couldn't listen to anyone else's story of pink slips.

Comments

[ex_beautyofgr925]

OMG, L. (my mate) is a high school chem/physics teacher, and their district started with that "no lower than a 50" crap, with I think a 25 for work that's never turned in (!!!!) It created a *huge* uproar and was eventually overturned, but it was quite possibly the most upsetting thing for him. Even hearing it as a parent, I thought it was a little incredulous. If my child's not turning in work, they don't deserve ANY credit!

[dechant]

They have that standard? For serious?

Because in college, a zero is a zero is a zero, even at the crappiest school going. I guess some special snowflakes are in for a shock...

[ex_beautyofgr925]

Well, not anymore. It only last a few months of the 08-09 school year, I think before several district board members were voted out.

[thehallway]

major props to you guys for standing up and showing some common sense. you should be very proud of yourselves.

[thehallway]

you would think, wouldn't you? thank you.

and that is exactly what colleges complain about us doing. sending them students who have no idea what it means to be in a classroom or how to do even minimally acceptable work.

because in life, a zero is a zero is a zero.

it's about entitlement and instant gratification and the idea that you can be/do anything/any time you want to and it's ok.

what is really insane about this is that while we're being pressured to go with this fifty percent thing to help ameliorate our failure rates, we're being beaten over the head to include rigor, relevance, and relationship building in our teaching. we're hammered with this as if we as teachers don't understand any of those concepts.

of course the board gives us twelve week trimesters to build relationships with a hundred kids at a crack. the state gives us more standards and material than we can address in the time frame allotted. as for rigor? well, that whole fifty percent thing kinda negates that.

[thehallway]

i'm jealous that l seems to work for a district that managed to realize what crap that idea is and did something about it. :) my district has been cramming this idea down our throats for the last two years. the last pd i sat through was a two hour indoctrination on the benefits and fairness of not giving zeroes and putting fifty percent credit in for nothing since 'it's still failing, but gives kids hope since teachers giving zeroes, don't you know, kills grades.'

uhm, no. what kills your grade, and just about anything else, is choosing to do nothing over and over and over again. and expecting that you will get something for it.

it is the most ridiculous thing i've heard, and that's saying something in this current educational climate. teachers have rebelled against this for the last two years, but in my district it hasn't gone away. they just think if they keep recycling the old pd and force us to listen, we'll eventually give in. or leave.

props to l and props to you. i've said it before and i'll say it again, your kids teachers must love you for your sense of responsibility and accountability and for working with them. parents in my district are good with this policy. for years we've had them coming in with their kids trying to change grades by turning in late work (work from the previous trimester/semester/year for credit). one teacher was just taken to the board by parents trying to force her to change their kid's grade. we've had lawyers in the building threatening to sue over grades.