>>>In reality I know (and read here) that many of our colleagues are being corralled into addressing the basal and only the basal and it is such a sad commentary on the complacency of our profession that we are not kicking and screaming louder at some of the atrocities (like removal of all books but basals?).<<<
My old principa would see my 6th graders reading a real book. I would get one of the dreaded "see me" notes in my box. After she informed me my kids were faking their reading, I would be lectured about how HM was to be the focus of my teaching. I could quote any statistics, authors etc. It made no difference to her. She towed the company line. After three years of going back to my room in tears, listening to mediocre evaluations, my hair falling out, antidepressants, gaining 60 pounds and wondering what my next career would be, I decided I had had enough. She made a comment as I was walking by her office one day about how we needed to get the "most bang for our buck" and HM is the only focus, I blew. I slammed the books I was carrying onto the table. I yelled at her telling her she didn't now what she was doing. Those kids are the focus. The standards are the focus and she had no business being in education! Interestingly, my district reassigned (read ad FIRED) 19 principals last year. She was one of them. >>>Instead this list works to talk about the classroom and to help each other out in the classroom the best that we can despite whatever roadblocks we each have within our teaching systems.<<< >>>That way our talking would not interfere with the purposes of the list, but we could keep talking about this and people could bypass these posts if they are not interested? I do not know if this would appropriately address the issue of staying focused versus the issue of free conversation or if it is even needed, but I thought I would jump in and ask the question.<<< We can just mark it OT, so those who don't want to discuss it can delete the conversation. We also don't want to drag ourselves down. This group is a very positive and supportive group. Many of us are in difficult situations, but many of us have been there and can offer suggestions to help. Kim ------- Kimberlee Hannan Department Chair Sequoia Middle School Fresno, California 93702 Laugh when you can, apologize when you should, let go of what you can't change, kiss slowly, play hard, forgive quickly, take chances, give everything, have no regrets.. Life's too short to be anything but happy. [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
