The problem is "HOW" to desegregate" them. The voucher system is a JOKE.
The kids with the fewest resources are still going to be left behind because
a voucher is not going to cover it all OR provide transportation. The only
ones the vouchers help are the kids whose parents can already afford it and
have a way to provide the transportation. I teach in a rural school
district (on top of a mountain, I might add-throw in snow/winter driving)
and in order for parents to "select" a better school they better be willing
to drive 30 minutes each way everyday.
Education is a 3 legged stool- teachers, admin students and parents. Take
out one leg you get a wobbly stool! I am so sick of teachers getting ALL the
blame for students not performing well.
I read a wonderful article once that compared teaching and an auto mechanic.
It said even if you take your car to the BEST mechanic but at the end of the
day, the mechanic rolls your car out front and allows anyone walking by to
work on your car until the next day...you might get lucky and have a great
running car or you might not. Teachers do not have their students 24 hours
a day.
--------------------------------------------------
From: "Mena" <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, July 14, 2010 11:17 AM
To: <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] a professor's reply
I don't think the problem is the fault of teachers in urban schools..I
think it is the system and segregated schools. I don't blame the students
for failing and I can't blame the teachers...we all need to take
responsibility for the same or even worse segregation of schooling since
before Brown ..even before that...since he 1900s. Things just don't seem
to change. Even with the election of our president who campaigned for
change. Value-laden teaching is more of the same thing. The following
column was from 1980s:) I love the sentence..."They must be flexible and
able to bounce back after sixty-three defeats--ready and even eager to try
again." I think we need to bounce back and try something different...I
still believe separate but equal is not equal.
From Susan Ohanian Column:
The education managers who hand out competency tests and who write up
official classroom observations make a critical mistake. They insist that
prospective teachers should prove what they know. But we veteran teachers
realize that the hard part of being a teacher has nothing to do with
facts. Yes, teachers need to know where the apostrophes should land, but
more important, they need to be nurturing human beings. They must be
optimistic and enthusiastic about the possibilities of the children in
their care. They must be flexible and able to bounce back after
sixty-three defeats--ready and even eager to try again.
I'm not much interested in seeing how a teacher carefully structures her
lesson so that the kids stick to the objectives and the bell always rings
in the right place--just after she makes her summary and gives the prelude
for what will come tomorrow. I want to find out if that teacher is tough
and loving and clever and flexible. I want to be sure she's more nurturing
than a halibut.... What does she do when a kid vomits (all over those neat
lesson plans)? Or an indignant parent rushes in denouncing the homework?
Or the worst troublemaker breaks his arm and needs special help? Or the
movie projector bulb burns out, and the replacements have to come from
Taiwan? Or somebody spots a cockroach under her desk?
A teacher's talents for dealing with crises aren't easily revealed on an
evaluation report or rewarded on a salary schedule. And neither are those
special moments that a teacher savors. So don't yield to the number
crunchers--even when they dangle a golden carrot in front of you. Remember
that the most wonderful joys of teaching happen in the blink of an eye and
are often unplanned and unexpected. You can miss their importance and lose
their sustenance if your eyes are glassily fixed on the objective you
promised your principal you'd deliver that day. When you maintain a sharp
eye and the ability to jump off the assigned task, the rewards are
many--when a child discovers a well-turned phrase; or a mother phones and
says, "Our whole family enjoyed the homework. Please send more"; or the
shiest child in the room announces she wants to be the narrator in the
class play; or the class bully smiles quietly over a poem. Our joy is in
the daily practice of our craft, not in the year-end test scores or the
paycheck. When outside experts ignore this, then we must stop and remind
ourselves. We must talk, not of time on task but of the tantalizing
vagueness and the lumps in the throat, the poetry and true purpose of our
calling.
Philomena Marinaccio-Eckel, Ph.D.
Florida Atlantic University
Dept. of Teaching and Learning
College of Education
2912 College Ave. ES 214
Davie, FL 33314
Phone: 954-236-1070
Fax: 954-236-1050
-----Original Message-----
From: Randal Lichtenwalner <[email protected]>
To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group
<[email protected]>
Sent: Wed, Jul 14, 2010 10:38 am
Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] a professor's reply
Agreed...one of the reasons the attrition rate is higher among TFA and
Teaching
Fellows is because (a) they didn't imagine it would be their career
forever
(they did TFA instead of CityYear or the Peace Corps) and (b) they have
less of
an investment in
it (2 years of schooling, no expectation of it being their career). I
applaud
any teacher who leaves after finding that teaching isn't for them. The
real
problem are the teachers who stay even after coming to that realization...
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Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
_______________________________________________
Mosaic mailing list
[email protected]
To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to
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Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
_______________________________________________
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.
