Reality Check

At the end of every summer, I have a recurring nightmare. It is the first day of school, the kids walk in, and I realize I have planned nothing. I freeze, no syllabus, no roster, nothing. Kids get restless, and the year is over for me. I hate that dream. Not only is it unrealistic and annoying, but the fact that I can't get rid of it despite knowing how bogus it is. Perhaps it is merely a reflection of the anxiety I feel going back to work.

Today, summer is officially over, the first day back at school. As usual my next week is taken up by 36 1/2 hours of meetings, and 3 1/2 hours of working. Perhaps I won't get a syllabus done. I don't mind meetings if they are productive, but so far the meetings have been preaching about how teachers can make a difference, and if you only did this, this this, and that, you too could be teacher of the year. I find speakers and topics like that to be quite insulting. What is this amateur hour? Wait, you're selling a book... I understand. The next week will be sit, share, sit, share, eat, sit, leave. I will have to stay late to get any real work done, but how is that any different than the rest of the school year.

This year we have 20% more work, and 33% less plan, plus extra duty. I feel like we should have more time to prepare our lessons before students come in the door. The stress is hitting me already. However, I am reminded by the 14 bullets shot into my neighbors house last night, and the pulsing rotors of the flight for life helicopter skimming our roof that some people don't have it so good.

Teach for America

I have been following the conversations and debates raging around the value and contributions of Teach for America to the public education system. Like all teachers, they are a mixed bag of success and failure. I discovered that my school participates in the program, and has a number of TFA teachers. What I don't understand, is how my "poor, urban, and needy" school developed a shortage of qualified and motivated applicants. Quite to the contrary, I've never worked with a better staff, and for every opening we have numerous applicants. We don't need TFA, but the program is billed as putting teachers in schools where teachers don't want to be.

This New York Times debate sums up the arguments pretty well. I havn't been terribly impressed with what I've seen from our TFA teachers, that is why I happen to agree most with Patrick Welsh. I also somewhat resent the thought that Ivy League graduates think they can take a short course on teaching, and outperform more experienced and serious teachers. However, it is a mixed bag, and each TFA graduate should be evaluated independent of the program.

Dear Democrats,

In 2006 and 2008 my students and I were excited for you. George Bush turned out to be a failure in all things, including education. As a result, teachers and young adults backed you, the Democrats, assisting in your ascendancy in the House and Presidency.

However, its not like you earned it. During Bush's tenure you voted for tax cuts to the wealthy, No Child Left Behind, the Patriot Act, and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We were fed up though, and you promised change. In 2006, you captured the House. You laid low. Obama captured the hope of my students, and myself. Ever since, we have been breathlessly awaiting change. That is why you were elected, and that is what you have not done.

In education, you have championed Race to the Top. A thinly veiled attack on teacher unions and tenure. You wrapped your program around "reform" and "accountability." It is terribly ironic that you are unable to demonstrate either of those yourself. You have been unaccountable to those that put you in office, and you have reformed nothing. Race to the Top turns states into prostitutes, whoring themselves out for a one time lump sum. How does that bring long-term reform and change?

In health care, you gave insurance corporations over 30 million new customers. The cost controls you put in were mediocre at best, giving big Pharma and HMOs the ability to plunder the peoples bank accounts, and restrict consumer spending. How can I support our consumer economy when 19% of my income goes towards unused insurance. Most of my students are on free and reduced lunch, how can low income families afford a health care mandate? Who's interests have you been looking out for, the corporations, or our people? Now that our corporate citizens are free to spend at will (Citizens United v FCC) I expect more of the same: no accountability, no reform.

Your stimulus was a joke to everybody but road construction workers. Big banks and too big to fail live on. Glass-Steagall is still gone, banks continue to make record profits, derivatives reform is dead, and CEOs continue to have golden parachutes. Meanwhile in the Congress, the unemployed are losing their assistance because the Democrats are too weak to make a stand and demand Republicans fillibuster on TV. I thought that making a Republican defend pushing the poor off welfare in a time like this would be politically advantageous (see Jim Bunning). Are you really that dumb? All of your "reforms" remind me of the 1890 Sherman Antitrust Act. Small reforms designed to get the people to believe the status quo has changed, when in reality nothing has. Big corporations backed the Sherman Antitrust Act, and they back current proposals. It concerns us, shouldn't that concern you?

BP continues to pollute, and greenhouse gas emissions are uncontrolled. The lesser of two evils defines you well. A broken clock is still right twice a day, but that doesn't mean you're getting my vote anymore. You could have reformed, created a dominant Democratic Party for decades, and brought our country back from the brink of irrelevance. Your base of low income and middle class voters, minorities, and teachers are fed up with your inaction. I see through your smoke and mirrors. You demand accountability from others but cannot reform yourself. Its not me, its you. Goodbye. See you in November.

Power Off

Teaching takes over your life. You work long, think about it at home, and work over break. It is a never ending burden or blessing, depending on your mood. I had a fantastic year, and I hope next is even better. Every break from school is different, and it takes you different amounts of time to fully embrace that vacation. If I forget about teaching, I'm on vacation. Sometimes that never happens during winter or spring breaks. For this summer, it took 3 weeks. Now I have 5 off.

My 'illegal' students

How many people in the US can claim they know an illegal alien? How about 20? Teaching Law and Civics exposes you to a huge number of 'illegal' students. I doubt most Minutemen and Tea-Baggers (that used to be sexual) know any. The human stories of my students would change their outlook.

Most of my 'illegal' students have compelling stories. They share their story with people they trust. Others out themselves with their line of questioning, the nervous look, and the fact that they only ask immigration questions when we are away from other students. "Mister, what do you think of the DREAM Act?" "Do you think the government will do anything about immigration?" "What do you think of illegal immigrants?" "How does somebody get papers?" "Why do Republicans hate us?" Every time I hear one of those questions it breaks my heart. I've heard so many stories. The recent Arizona Stasi law has made all of them uneasy. I thought I would share a few of their stories.

Mayra, One of my female students came out of the closet in her family history assignment. She told the story of her mother, who was smuggled across the border by a coyote, jumped off an overpass, rolled away from incoming traffic, and rode to safety in the trunk of a car. Her family is illegal, and worries everyday. Her family's history has instilled in her a respect for the standard of living they now enjoy, and a love of our country. She struggles with language, but has more perseverance than a dozen native born white kids. She takes nothing for granted. College is available, but money is not, especially if you are "out of state."

A freshman student of mine, Javier, outed himself after asking me nervously about the DREAM Act. I gave my honest opinion, how it should be passed, and how it would benefit our country. He is an A student, speaks 3 languages. He wants to be an engineer. His family fears being pulled over, being arrested, and returning to Mexico. They come from Juarez.

Daniel, one of my graduating seniors was born and lived in Mexico one month. He has spent his entire life in the US. Daniel is also an A student, and speaks 3 languages fluently. In my law class, he taught constitutional law to Somalis, Iranians, and native students. The other month he was pulled over and his car impounded. His family no longer has a car to get to work. College is an option to him also, but he cannot afford "out of state" tuition. Daniel would like to be a lawyer or teacher. Daniel says he may have to go to Mexico for college, and get stuck there. What a loss for our country.

All of these students are more American than Mexican. They embrace our culture, take nothing for granted, and want nothing more than to live the American dream. My 'illegal' students are more accomplished, and want to rise higher than the vast majority of my native students. For these kids, being deported would mean being sent to a foreign country.

In civics, one of my test questions was to examine the Arizona law, and argue whether it was or was not a likely violation of the14th Amendment Equal Protection Clause. Because my native students know 'illegal' students, they knew better than the government of Arizona. Not only is it likely illegal, but wrong. If you are exposed to people who are demonized for no reason, reality wins over fallacy. For some people, citizenship is something given and taken for granted. For my 'illegal' students, it is something dreamt of, and used to its fullest. These are Americans in every sense but the law. Our country should embrace them. They are the American dream.

Irony

"Mister, how do you spell incompetent?"

Federal Prostitutes

Barack Obama rode into the Whitehouse with the backing of teachers around the country. He has taught, he has seen poor schools, he understands our issues. Little did we know that George W. Bush would turn out to be a better education president. With Bush, reforms were half-hearted, underfunded, and not taken seriously. Obama's reforms have one important difference, money. The federal Race to the Top fund is causing states and districts to whore themselves out for a share of the money. The effect on education will be tremendous.

As stated by the Race to the Top website, $4 billion dollars is available:

Through Race to the Top, we are asking States to advance reforms around four specific areas:

• Adopting standards and assessments that prepare students to succeed in college and the workplace and to compete in the global economy;
• Building data systems that measure student growth and success, and inform teachers and principals about how they can improve instruction;
• Recruiting, developing, rewarding, and retaining effective teachers and principals, especially where they are needed most; and
• Turning around our lowest-achieving schools.

Awards in Race to the Top will go to States that are leading the way with ambitious yet achievable plans for implementing coherent, compelling, and comprehensive education reform. Race to the Top winners will help trail-blaze effective reforms and provide examples for States and local school districts throughout the country to follow as they too are hard at work on reforms that can transform our schools for decades to come.

Essentially what Race to the Top is asking states to do for a share of the money, is to adopt the charter school model. All of this despite the fact that charter schools show no significant improvements over public schools. Charter schools who do perform better than their public counterparts succeed for reasons unrelated to their model. Charter schools are allowed to be selective in whom they take. If you only accept English speaking, non-special education, and moderately proficient students, of course you will outperform a public school who must take anybody.

One major component of the charter school model is "teacher accountability". Charter schools hold their teachers accountable to student growth on tests and assessments. Obviously, teachers must be able to demonstrate real growth and success with their students. The devil is with the details. How do you measure growth, and is the data valid and reliable? Testing 101 requires that assessments be valid, test what is taught, and reliable, no variables. Charter schools can guarantee reliability because they control who attends. Public schools do not. My district went from 20% non-English speaking, to 60% in 10 years. Our test scores leveled off, did not decline. I doubt a charter could match that. The validity of state and district tests is an obvious issue. My school is 80% non-white, whereas another in the district is 30%. What is taught in one school, may not be relevant in another. I chose to teach about homosexuality and the law. I felt as though that would be enriching and relevant to students growing up in such a diverse society. The other school chose to teach about Reagan and macroeconomics. No schools are the same, what is taught is not the same, and the students are not the same. How can the state use one test to guage growth for all schools. The assessments are not valid or reliable for the students, and teachers should not be held captive by the test taking abilities to teenagers.

Union busting is a major hidden reward in receiving Race for the Top funds. States that have stripped their teachers of tenure protection have won the first round. Tenure guarantees due process to teachers before they are fired. The problem is that administrators come and go as frequently as El Nino. One may like you, others won't. Tenure is meant to protect teachers from arbitrary reprimands or firings by administration. It allows teachers to take risks in the classroom, try new methods, and experiment. Tenure also attracts people such as myself to education. You are not paid well initially, and professional development, licensing, and education come out of pocket, but are required to keep your job. Tenure makes the stress and initial hardship of teaching much more bearable. If they are serious about attracting the best and brightest to education, stripping tenure is not the way to go.

More testing, and teacher busting is not the answer. This will drive away teachers, and take more time away from learning. What is the answer? Each school is different, but reducing class size, parent and student involvement, teacher training and development, and teacher-led reform and instruction always get results. Does this cost money? Yes. However, if states are willing to whore themselves out for money, why can't they do it for something that works.