Comments on NYC Educator: Is it Real, or Is it Corporate Media Crap?

>>> A supervisor will work with you on im...

2012-01-22T20:08:11.272-05:00

>>> A supervisor will work with you on improving your lesson beforehand, assuming the supervisor is good, or capable of constructing a decent lesson or controlling a class. I would assume none of the above, but I always hope for the best.>>>>>Our supervisors are classroom illiterates. None has been in front of a class for a long, long time.

What our union has to do is get much smarter. Why ...

2012-01-21T22:34:12.964-05:00

What our union has to do is get much smarter. Why can't we argue that we should base on system on the best in the nation and the world? We need to take the offensive with our own "revolutionary" proposal that will put the Mayor and Governor on the defensive. Those most successful systems, like Gaithersburg MD, all allow TEACHERS to evaluate TEACHERS. Take at least half of the Danielson rubric back. Professionalism is best judged by a team of colleagues. Walk-throughs can be done by ANYONE once they are properly trained to not form opinions based on only one section and one day. Parents and students should also be part of the evaluation process. After P/T conferences, you can have parents evaluate the teacher in an exit interview way. There are many voices to consider that, if combined, will make discrimination and vindictiveness much more difficult. And test scores, if included, must be statistically verified over a period years rather than one snapshot that results in dismissal.

"Principals are powerless to fire bad teacher...

2012-01-21T10:24:04.310-05:00

"Principals are powerless to fire bad teachers."

No way. First of all, just because teachers don't show up as "fired" doesn't mean they don't leave the professions. Being U-rated and dismissed dooms one forever, so teachers are often counseled out ("Teaching isn't a good fit for you, and I know you're trying hard, but it isn't working out, so if you agree to resign, I'll S-rate you so you can come back in a few years and try again if you want") or encouraged to transfer ("Our philosophies aren't compatible, so if you agree to transfer, I'll S-rate you so you can find a new job").

Then, if a teacher really is bad enough that that teacher should never teach again, a string of grounded-in-reality U observations is certainly enough to U-rate a teacher and dismiss him or her. Sure, s/he can appeal and that process can be dragged out, but that's not the individual teacher's fault. If appeals were processed in 90 days or less (during which time, if I'm not mistaken, the teacher cannot teach), as they're supposed to be, that very poor teacher would be off the public payroll in short order.

because of the taylor law walking out is almost a ...

2012-01-20T16:57:27.804-05:00

because of the taylor law walking out is almost a non-starter - for each day a teacher is on strike, they lose two days pay.

This is exactly the point....since the ravenous &q...

2012-01-20T14:25:22.051-05:00

This is exactly the point....since the ravenous "vampire squid" has devoured and destroyed everything else in the economy, and the world economy for that matter, now it must gorge on the public sector's tax dollars. There IS NO economy left here, stupid! The 1 % has dismantled it all over the last two decades. So now since the American consumer is tapped out, the squid is so hard up that it now will grab tax dollars for its coffers, at the expense of middle class jobs. Companies like Pearson, K-12, and the rest will feast on the public ed. dollars now.

If this assessment goes through, we are meat. Funny, if you compares the reactions in Florida last year when the same type of test based assessment plan was poised to be rammed through, the teachers rose up en masse and did a large job walkout. Then Gov. Crist changed his vote from Yea to Nay hoping to grab the teacher vote. As far as I know, they have not passed that rigid assessment bill there.

Yet here in NY, other than a small number of brave souls, we have done nothing....and seemingly will die like a fart in the night...scratching our heads in a few years, as we cash our unemployment checks...even the "newbies" won't last long under this plan...but the UFT will do just fine...collecting just as much or more dues from the new sheep being led to slaughter...

"teachers make too much money"

2012-01-20T07:22:38.514-05:00

"teachers make too much money"

"Poverty is not destiny" - Despite the f...

2012-01-20T06:54:51.266-05:00

"Poverty is not destiny" - Despite the fact that, in this socially mobile U.S. of A., the single biggest determining factor of the socioeconomic class one reaches in life is the class one was born into. Deformers have blamed teachers for this stratification. In reality, the economic policies foisted upon the government by these very same deformers is the culprit.

"Tenure means a lifetime job" - The deformers paint us as lazy and unmotivated because we somehow cannot be fired. It is like the deformers do not see the same stories upon stories of principals destroying teachers for the most trivial reasons. Tenure, which only means teachers are entitled to the farce of "due process", has become a symbol of teacher laziness. They have already made tenure meaningless in NYC, sometime around the last contract.

And, of course, every other word out of the mouths and pens of deformers.

Why principals can't differentiate between goo...

2012-01-20T06:49:05.590-05:00

Why principals can't differentiate between good and bad teachers is the reason schools have failed. Principals who can't help or get rid of the bad ones and KEEP the good ones is the problem. This Danielson crap is simply to train principals how to do their job which they should have been doing a log time ago. Too bad teachers need to be vilified in the process. My hat off to those old timers who have made good schools.

Do not forget to mention how Bill and Melinda pont...

2012-01-20T06:29:33.688-05:00

Do not forget to mention how Bill and Melinda pontificate about helping poor kids by firing "bad teachers" in the same week that Microsoft employees in China threaten suicide because they've been screwed out of their wages and benefits.

What other lies about teachers and public schools ...

2012-01-20T05:35:35.285-05:00

What other lies about teachers and public schools have we seen in the media?

Everything the deformers say is a lie, including the words "and" and "the."