One body, two teachers! It makes perfect sense

I always suspected that the forms our administrators fill out with such wanton glee were pretty much meaningless. Just this week I got absolute proof that I was right.

We have a new Vice Principal. Like anybody new to a building, he started out gung-ho, getting those feedback forms to us teachers in record time.

I was a little taken aback when I saw lots of “almost meets standard” check marks on the lesson plan form I ‘d been using for over a year.

I cringed. This hurt! Crikee, thought I, I better make some changes!

But what? Things had always been ok in the past. Plus I had no idea what exactly was wrong with the last lesson plan. It’s not as if he gave me any advice. Just feedback.

So when it came time to write up the next week’s lesson plans, I changed . . . . nothing.

Weeks passed. I wasn’t getting feedback of any kind, so I kept writing lesson plans in the same old way. I was a little nervous about getting more of those “almost meets standard” check marks, but what the heck. Let’s see what happens, right?

You know what happened? Today I got my new feedback checklist and voila! all were “Satisfactory. Meets standards.“

Two teachers! One good, one bad: same methods! By doing absolutely nothing I had turned my half-baked teaching performance around completely. Sure. It all makes perfect sense.

Yeah, I’m going

Rally at the District offices this afternoon (after school of course.) Be there, wear red. Booyah!

I <3 Diane Ravitch

and Jon Stewart.

Here they discuss how teachers have been singled out in what amounts to an education witch hunt. (I wish they’d let me do a direct embed :/

http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:cms:item:comedycentral.com:376268

The Daily Show
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

I hope they’re available to come over my house for dinner. I can’t think of anyone I’d rather have as guests.

This Math hurts the kids

Disclaimer: Everything in this post is public knowledge; all information has been previously published in newspapers or online.

Arlene Ackerman is one of the highest paid superintendents in the country. Her salary is $348,000 a year – more than the mayor of Philadelphia and the governor of Pennsylvania combined.

She is also entitled to huge bonuses. Last year it was a $65,000 gift. The reason for the bonus has been hidden from the public. This year she could have gotten $100,000 just for hanging on until the end of the school year. Dr. Ackerman has deferred taking that bonus but don’t worry, Philly. You might still end up paying it since she hasn’t declined it entirely.

Our district could have a shortfall of 400-500 million dollars for the coming school year.

Dr. Ackerman’s plans to cut costs?
Ackerman said the belt tightening will start close to home.

“The first thing we are starting with is anything that appears to be redundancy in services, programs, and people,” she said.

Sell the schools, cram some more desks, layoff a lot of teachers and support staff and voila! Budget magic!

Too bad about the kids. And now I hear that Ackerman’s contract has been renewed.

Like I said: too bad about the kids.

Laying Low for Now

I want to lay low for a while. Philadelphia Public Schools apparently do not like teachers to be outspoken. Even if I speak from my own experience, not talk about kids or never mention names, there’s a good chance they’d go after me and any other teacher who dared to criticize The District, its Queen Regent or any of her minions.

So here’s what’s going on in Philadelphia schools. I regret deeply that I couldn’t be at yesterday’s rally for Hope Moffett.
Fighting for a High School Community’s Right to be Heard

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Amazing words on Gay Marriage

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Get Tested

Nothing to do with reading or thinking.

At New High School, entire English classes are sent to the auditorium to watch a brief video about STDs before then sent to the bathroom with a test kit. Whether they actually urinate in the cup and turn it in for testing is up to the kids. I saw a lot of the students nodding as the presenter ran through statistics and symptoms, so it’s very likely that many of them decided to go ahead and get tested.

I understand that every year they find multiple cases of diseases among the kids. How far they get with treatment, I can’t tell. But at least they’re getting informed.

When I was in high school, all we got was vision screening. I wonder if the suburbs have school-wide programs for STDs?

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