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This is incredibly naive, bordering on some of the worst teaching advice I have ever seen. Please, untenured teachers do not ever do this. You WILL lose your jobs 9 times out of 10.
You are ignoring the FACT that higher expectations leads to more students meeting those expectations. I suggest you go and read up on some educational research because lowered expectations has a clear correlation with lack of success for the vast majority of students.
Also, aren't you from Missouri? Isn't the bar for students sort of low there anyway? Based on test scores lowering the bar any further should be an absolute last resort, IMO.
Thanks for watching out for us. I've already been warned. I'm just stuck for the next 9 weeks with a class I can't control and I have to stop sending kids to the office. I would love to get advice from some of you who have been there.
I agree on higher expectations yeilding higher results. My expectations are high. At the charter school, where I taught for two years, passing scores on the state science test jumped from 39% to 50% the first year I was there then to 55% the second year I was there and then dropped to 40% the year after they fired me. I was unpopular because I had high expectations but those expectations helped my students.
What irks me is that they told me they were hiring me to raise the bar. IMO, raising the bar, in part, means holding students to doing their part.
I have taught at three public schools ranging from inner city to uber elite in a state known for its strong union. That being said, anyone untenured who rocks the boat IN ANYWAY is asking to be RIFed.
At one school every single untenured teacher except me (and I was shuttled off to the middle school) was let go when a new principal was hired so she could hire people "loyal" to her. Many of them where good teachers in high need areas.
Principals do not act in a vacuum either, they are the buffer between teachers and the higher up administrators. The system is based on the idea that no one can every admit fault, not the students, not the parents, not the admins, not the boe and not the teachers. It is frustrating in the extreme. Its hard to improve when no one is ever wrong. Prinicipals likewise cannot afford to be "wrong" in the eyes of the admins.
That is one of the strengths of the school I am at now. We are "allowed" to be wrong. Our admins from principal up to our old super wasn't about punishing but supporting. The beauty of this system is evident in the districts success. But we have a new admin structure and multiple people in it are of the old "no mistakes allowed" style of management. It is destroying morale and is beginning to trickle down to the kids. Its a shame.
This is incredibly naive, bordering on some of the worst teaching advice I have ever seen. Please, untenured teachers do not ever do this. You WILL lose your jobs 9 times out of 10.
You are ignoring the FACT that higher expectations leads to more students meeting those expectations. I suggest you go and read up on some educational research because lowered expectations has a clear correlation with lack of success for the vast majority of students.
Also, aren't you from Missouri? Isn't the bar for students sort of low there anyway? Based on test scores lowering the bar any further should be an absolute last resort, IMO.
I'm not naive. I've butted heads with my administrators on a few occasions. I also taught in the same district, at the same school for 6 years. I've always received very positive reviews. You have to know how to communicate with people. If you have your documents and facts and you present your case as way to help students then the administrator would look like a fool to ignore you. Are there some administrators that are power hungry morons? Maybe. I've never worked for one though.
This might be semantics, but I see expectations and standards as two separate things. I have standards that I hold the kids accountable for. I do not lower those standards. An example would be that I have a standard that no one gets out of their seat, for anything, without first getting permission from me. I do not expect that I will never have a student get out of their seat without permission all year. My standard is firm, my expectation is that I will have to remind or instill consequences to those that don't meet the standard. The problem I see is that too many teachers make their standard and expectation the same thing. Then they are filled with frustration when their students don't meet it.
I just moved to Missouri, and have not taught here yet. I'm not familiar with comparisons by state, which are almost impossible to do since most states don't take the same tests. What you are basing your information on?
Thanks for watching out for us. I've already been warned. I'm just stuck for the next 9 weeks with a class I can't control and I have to stop sending kids to the office. I would love to get advice from some of you who have been there.
I agree on higher expectations yeilding higher results. My expectations are high. At the charter school, where I taught for two years, passing scores on the state science test jumped from 39% to 50% the first year I was there then to 55% the second year I was there and then dropped to 40% the year after they fired me. I was unpopular because I had high expectations but those expectations helped my students.
What irks me is that they told me they were hiring me to raise the bar. IMO, raising the bar, in part, means holding students to doing their part.
You can have high standards and still do the other things that are imperative to being a good teacher. These things include connecting with students and working with parents. Communicating in a clever way that you are working as a team does wonders. I've had some difficult parents. In each case I was able to communicate/manipulate the situation into a workable solution. Being stubborn about it serves absolutely no purpose except to stroke the teachers ego.
This is incredibly naive, bordering on some of the worst teaching advice I have ever seen. Please, untenured teachers do not ever do this. You WILL lose your jobs 9 times out of 10.
You are ignoring the FACT that higher expectations leads to more students meeting those expectations. I suggest you go and read up on some educational research because lowered expectations has a clear correlation with lack of success for the vast majority of students.
Also, aren't you from Missouri? Isn't the bar for students sort of low there anyway? Based on test scores lowering the bar any further should be an absolute last resort, IMO.
So would they be better off taking the advice of someone that has taught successfully in the same school, with multiple administrators for 6 years, or the advice of someone that has jumped from teaching job to teaching job, and is so disgusted with the profession that they are leaving it?
Not saying that you have done the latter, but some other posters that you seem to agree with have.
I feel your pain and you have my deepest sympathy. My best friend is a New York City teacher so I know what you are up against.
I'm sorry to say that until parents learn that their children are not the perfect angels they seem to think they are nothing will change. I don't advocate violence however a swat on the backside with an open hand does show who is the boss. Parents today think they can rationalize with a child, sorry to say for the most part you can't. You can't talk rationally to a child that is having a tantrum and expect that child is even remotely listening to you because they aren't. The result is all these little monsters growing up to be big monsters which is evident in today's society.
It is not the teacher's responsibility to teach these children how to behave, it belongs to the parents.
My best friend has one year left and believe me she is thrilled at the prospect.
I wish I had some words of wisdom for you but nothing comes to mind except to change your career or purchase a suit of Armour for safety sake.
I have a general question regarding lowering standards. Our jobs as teachers is to help the students learn. The grade they receive is really secondary. So if I altered my teaching such that more students learned more material, but at the same time altered my grading so that more students received A's and B's versus C's and D's am I really lowering my standards?
Here's an example: Let's say I kept all my material the same from the previous year. I used the same tests, same lessons, same homework. But the second year I allowed some more out of class research opportunities for extra credit. Clearly my grades would improve due to the opportunities for extra credit, but I would have taught the same material in the same way, so what my students learned would be the same. Have I lowered my standards? Grades would be better, and students would still be learning. It's kind of like allowing corrections on quizzes. I allow corrections to be made on all quizzes (not exams, just quizzes). I only allow the students to gain back half of their lost points, so their is still incentive to study for the quiz the first time around. If I did not allow corrections, my grades would be much lower than when I do. But I'm also having my students go over the material a second time. So I'm actually increasing learning, by making it easier to get a higher grade.
I think I'm safe for next year. We're losing our physics teacher. I would think it would be difficult to replace both your physics and chemistry teachers in the same year...
I think I'm safe for next year. We're losing our physics teacher. I would think it would be difficult to replace both your physics and chemistry teachers in the same year...
Do you really think that they would care? If the parents' only concern is their children's GPAs and not their education, they might be thrilled to have a long-term sub in the allotment of not-highly-qualified teachers for, especially for these really difficult classes.
There is nothing wrong with long term subs. Don't feel too safe.
It seems like some teachers never "get it", and always have classroom discipline issues. I never had problems, kids sat in their seats, and did their work. Isolated issues were taken care of quickly, I always found modeling was the best plan, and "problem", kids were identified, and placed front and center.
I would analyze, when do you lose the class? Is it all classes? Just a few? What are you doing when the class loses control?
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