Virginia has expressed its intention to seek a waiver (made available in an exectutive action by Obama) from parts of NCLB, in exchange for higher standards, and the use of test scores to evaluate teacher effectiveness. What do yall think?
With no child left behind waivers, Obama turns some powers education back to states
"Mr. Obama’s blueprint for rewriting the law, which Congress has never acted on, urged lawmakers to adopt an approach that would encourage states to raise standards, focus interventions only on the worst failing schools and use test scores and other measures to evaluate teachers’ effectiveness. In its current proposal, the administration requires states to adopt those elements of its blueprint in exchange for relief from the No Child law."
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Post from September 5, 2011
I wrote this the night before the first day of school and ended up not posting it.
September 5, 2011
So on the eve of my first day in the schools, I just wanted to write a little bit about what I was feeling.
I’m nervous because this is the first job I’ve had that I think I will stick with. When I taught freshman composition at Emerson, I knew it was just for the time I was a graduate student. I expected to move on to a different school in a different state. But I’ll be in Richmond for at least the next four years, and probably for a long time after that. It feels like more is at stake.
I feel conflicted sometimes about the program’s high expectations for us. I know that we’re going to be inexperienced student-teachers, and then next year, inexperienced first-year teachers. Yet, sometimes I feel like we should be ready to “revolutionize” RPS from the get-go. To me, this seems unrealistic and, in my opinion, a bit arrogant. I’m coming to RPS to learn, as a student first. Yes, I'll be a co-teacher, but I need to learn from those who have more experience.
I’m worried about the demands that teaching, as a profession, will place on me. I just read an amazing zine called TruckFace about a teacher's first year experience in Chicago’s public schools. She writes:
“A Typical Week: Monday. Wake up at 5:40 a.m. Coffee, bagel…Carefully plan out bathroom time throughout the day…Eat lunch at my desk during ninth period. Get home at 6:30 or so…Plop down on the sofa. Watch TV. Cry. Occasionally talk to roommates but usually don’t want to talk to anyone at all. Eat dinner. Take shower at 9. Try to go to bed around 10:30, if lucky. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday: repeat all.”
Is there time for a family, time for my husband? Does it all get postponed to the summer? I sometimes feel selfish to ask this question because aren’t teachers supposed to be selfless, totally dedicated to the calling? But the human development text we read seemed to cast teachers as social workers, psychologists, guidance counselors, surrogate parents. I’m very curious to see how many hours per week a teaching job is.
And I’m excited about learning through experience. We’re teaching three different classes and I know that it will be difficult and busy this year. But I can’t wait to dig in, and see what it is really like.
September 5, 2011
So on the eve of my first day in the schools, I just wanted to write a little bit about what I was feeling.
I’m nervous because this is the first job I’ve had that I think I will stick with. When I taught freshman composition at Emerson, I knew it was just for the time I was a graduate student. I expected to move on to a different school in a different state. But I’ll be in Richmond for at least the next four years, and probably for a long time after that. It feels like more is at stake.
I feel conflicted sometimes about the program’s high expectations for us. I know that we’re going to be inexperienced student-teachers, and then next year, inexperienced first-year teachers. Yet, sometimes I feel like we should be ready to “revolutionize” RPS from the get-go. To me, this seems unrealistic and, in my opinion, a bit arrogant. I’m coming to RPS to learn, as a student first. Yes, I'll be a co-teacher, but I need to learn from those who have more experience.
I’m worried about the demands that teaching, as a profession, will place on me. I just read an amazing zine called TruckFace about a teacher's first year experience in Chicago’s public schools. She writes:
“A Typical Week: Monday. Wake up at 5:40 a.m. Coffee, bagel…Carefully plan out bathroom time throughout the day…Eat lunch at my desk during ninth period. Get home at 6:30 or so…Plop down on the sofa. Watch TV. Cry. Occasionally talk to roommates but usually don’t want to talk to anyone at all. Eat dinner. Take shower at 9. Try to go to bed around 10:30, if lucky. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday: repeat all.”
Is there time for a family, time for my husband? Does it all get postponed to the summer? I sometimes feel selfish to ask this question because aren’t teachers supposed to be selfless, totally dedicated to the calling? But the human development text we read seemed to cast teachers as social workers, psychologists, guidance counselors, surrogate parents. I’m very curious to see how many hours per week a teaching job is.
And I’m excited about learning through experience. We’re teaching three different classes and I know that it will be difficult and busy this year. But I can’t wait to dig in, and see what it is really like.
I'm not missing, just buried.
Well, this past couple of weeks have been exhausting, to say the least. Everyone told us we would be exhausted, but I guess I didn't really expect how tired I would be. For me, it's been hard to balance a full time job in the schools with full time classwork. I've been annoyed at simple time-wasters in ways I usually wouldn't; posting things to Blackboard aggravates me to no end, traffic is interminable.
I guess a good example of the stress I've been feeling is my reaction to something small that Main Street Realty did this week. We used to have a beautiful grassy spot outside of our window, with flowers in it. We chose this particular apartment for the windows and for that grassy spot. I loved having our own private green space right outside of our window, especially in the manicured atmosphere of the recently gentrified Bottom. I came home from school and class on Thursday--I got up at 5:45 a.m. to finish a lesson plan, was teaching/observing till 2:15, faculty meeting till 3:00, VCU classes from 4:00-7:00p.m.--and then came home to find that they had put grass killer on the spot. It's now a brown patch. I was so upset at our lack of autonomy. That we have to live here. That I have to work from 6am to 7pm. I was definitely at a low point.
So one of the reasons I haven't written on this blog is: should I just write about the "high points" of this program? Or should I be real and write about the frustration I felt coming home after that long day, hungry and tired, and having something so small set me off? I think it's good to be honest about the highs and lows of RTR.
Being in the schools does make RTR worth it. I've already received a lot of valuable experience. After talking to some of the regular Master's students about how much observation / teaching they do, I've realized how different the residency model is--I've already received more experience in the past two weeks than a Practicum student would. I'll be ready in a year for my own classroom in a way I woudn't have if I had chosen the regular Certificate/Master's program. So it's worth it. I hope I can get settled into this schedule this week.
I guess a good example of the stress I've been feeling is my reaction to something small that Main Street Realty did this week. We used to have a beautiful grassy spot outside of our window, with flowers in it. We chose this particular apartment for the windows and for that grassy spot. I loved having our own private green space right outside of our window, especially in the manicured atmosphere of the recently gentrified Bottom. I came home from school and class on Thursday--I got up at 5:45 a.m. to finish a lesson plan, was teaching/observing till 2:15, faculty meeting till 3:00, VCU classes from 4:00-7:00p.m.--and then came home to find that they had put grass killer on the spot. It's now a brown patch. I was so upset at our lack of autonomy. That we have to live here. That I have to work from 6am to 7pm. I was definitely at a low point.
So one of the reasons I haven't written on this blog is: should I just write about the "high points" of this program? Or should I be real and write about the frustration I felt coming home after that long day, hungry and tired, and having something so small set me off? I think it's good to be honest about the highs and lows of RTR.
Being in the schools does make RTR worth it. I've already received a lot of valuable experience. After talking to some of the regular Master's students about how much observation / teaching they do, I've realized how different the residency model is--I've already received more experience in the past two weeks than a Practicum student would. I'll be ready in a year for my own classroom in a way I woudn't have if I had chosen the regular Certificate/Master's program. So it's worth it. I hope I can get settled into this schedule this week.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)