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Budget Cut Victim – Textbook Adoption

heather — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 14:08:35 +0000

We just got word that we will not have our scheduled textbook adoption for ELA this year as planned. I have to admit, it is disappointing. I mean, yes it meant I was going to be out of the classroom for a number of days over the course of second semester. But when I think about how damaged our current textbooks are, and the new content we’re missing out on, it’s just no wonder the achievement gap widens.(...)
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Post tags: audit, blog, budget, Ed Tech, education policy, ELA, firing, internet literacy, learning, middle school, textbooks, Title I

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How To Get a Job in Education That You Love

heather — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 04:37:08 +0000

The Pre-First Step in How to Take Control of Your Teaching is actively seeking out the right school for you.

GOAL: To love where you work and enjoy what you are doing

Too many teachers are miserable. Some of that can be attributed to the difficulty of the job, but a lot can be blamed on the fact that many teachers take what they can get because they are so grateful to have a job. That’s no way to be happy, and that’s the teacher’s fault.

OK, kiddos, it’s not too early to start the process of looking for a job. Whether you are unhappy in your current position or you are a newbie looking at the world of education with wide-eyes and bushy tails, you are entitled to work in a place that “gets” you, and wants what you have to offer.

In fact, the springtime is perfect for those who are looking for the best positions out there. So if you’re interested in being the one in control of the interviewing situation, start now. Looking for a job in education in the spring signals to a potential employer that you are NOT the bottom of the barrel. Yes, there are great teachers out there who get hired two days before the start of the fall semester, but if you want choice yourself, get going now.

Here’s a step-by-step guide in how to get a job in education: (Note, this is not for the faint of heart or for those who need to follow the system set up by the districts. This guide is only for those maverick job-hunters out there.)

(...)
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© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2008. | Permalink | 10 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 2008, achievement gap, blog, btsa, budget, Careers, Character Education, competition, computers, credential, curriculum design, curriculum development, differentiation, Ed Tech, education, employment, firing, interviewing, jobs, teaching

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An Honors Student Does Not a Critical-Thinker Necessarily Make

heather — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 03:06:08 +0000

So my colleague who currently teaches 8th grade Language Arts tripped on a cord, flew to the corner of a table and was momentarily knocked unconscious behind her desk today. It was during her Honors class.(...)
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© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2008. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: budget, character, critical thinking, education, education policy, ELA, employment, equity, firing, honors, jobs, k-12, k12, learning, life long learners, performance pay, teaching

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Teacher Observations: Principals vs. the Union

heather — Sat, 24 May 2008 22:40:03 +0000

Teacher Magazine has an article today about Idaho’s progress in developing a standardized teacher evaluation that could be a stepping stone for developing an acceptable pay-for-performance legislature. The article didn’t get me thinking so must about the concept of a standardized teacher evaluation that might be more effective then our current process. I mean, let’s face it, what’s the controversy? We all know it should be a better process.

But it did get me thinking about an incident that happened last year at my school where the union was brought in to protect a teacher from being observed beyond the allowed contracted hours after complaints had been waged against the teacher. (...)
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Post tags: credential, cta, data, education, employment, firing, k-12, k12, merit pay, new teachers, performance pay, reform, tenure, union

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Don’t Knock the Less Experienced Teacher

heather — Fri, 23 May 2008 17:41:59 +0000

Look, we all know the statistics. Many of the hardest-to-teach classes are being taught by the least experienced teachers. According to Education Week, a study was recently conducted in Philadeliphia evaluating 9th graders, “the make-or-break year for many students on the path to dropping out of school” which found that “students are more likely than their upper-grade peers to be taught by inexperienced, uncertified teachers.”

While I understand the argument, I also know that these young teachers have an advantage that I will not have years down the line: energy.

When I was in my early years of teaching in my mid-twenties, I was hired to teach at an inner city school. It was, in fact, the under-funded alternative school for those students kicked out of the other schools. We had broken glass in the halls, police tape from the weekend still strewn over the kindergarten yard come Monday, and no textbooks. A classic Michelle Pfieffer/Hilary Swank/Morgan Freeman movie in the making.

I actually jumped into the deep end of the pool, and there wasn’t any filter, so there was moss on the top and calcium deposits coming from the cracks in the bottom, but it was there that I learned to swim. (...)
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Post tags: 100% accountability, 2008, achievement gap, ASCD Brief, ascd community, btsa, budget, Careers, character, collaboration, credential, curriculum development, education, employment, failing, firing, free, induction, integration, jobs, k-12, k12, Language Arts, learning, life long learners, merit pay, middle school, NCLB, new teachers, peer teaching, performance pay, PI, Proficiency, reform, school accountability, school funding, student safe, Title I

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Bad Teachers are not Tenure’s Fault

heather — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 04:54:17 +0000

OK, I know this flowchart is old, but it is always important to go back to effective reminders of the inadequacy of our broken system. The only ammendment, or challenge, I’d make to this contortionist-like system of firing a tenured teacher is this: it’s still the administrator’s job to muck through the bog of steps, to brave the system in all its time-sucking irrationalities, and fire the damn teacher. (...)
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© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2008. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: education, firing, teaching, tenure

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