Getting Started

Tomorrow I say good-bye to my 5th group of 8th graders. My first group of 8th graders graduated this past weekend. Well, at least 75% of them did. Usually,the last day is a day with mixed emotions - pride, sadness, glee, etc. This year I think I will add relief to that group of emotions. This year I have been blessed with some of the most incredible students a teacher could ever ask for - then on the other side of the coin, I’ve been “blessed” with the most disrespectful group of 8th graders I’ve encountered in my 5 years at this school. And, I wonder what I did wrong. Of course, this goes along with my wonderings about what I did wrong that they scored so poorly on the LEAP this year. Or maybe it’s that I’m carrying over the disrespect I feel from my administration because they didn’t notice how poor our scores were in social studies and science since we had seen such large increases in math and ELA. Maybe it’s a combination of all of the above - the students don’t have to respect me or my profession because it “doesn’t count.” The administrators don’t have to respect me or my profession because they will not be judged by my test scores. And the public doesn’t have to repsect me because we’ve raised a society that believes teachers are the enemy.

Something has to change. I have to change. I don’t believe in standardized testing and I need to teach to that belief. I need to trust my own professional knowledge and teach what my students most need to be successful at the next level so that far more than 75% of the walk across the stage 4 years from now to receive their diplomas.

One of the coolest things about teaching is that we are blessed with the ability to start over. I am relieved to have that opportunity once again. We can all do better, and it starts with me.

While I am quite new to the world of blogs and twitter, other than lurking that is, I am not new to having strong opinions about the world of education.

Raised in a family of teachers and right wing Republicans, you can imagine that family gatherings could often get loud when the topic of education came up.  I still remember by aunt, a professer at Southeastern Louisiana University, my uncle, a hard core Republican CPA, my mom, a 7th grade ELA teacher, and my granny, a retired elementary school teacher arguing over what was the best way to educate children. The Republican uncle of course thought he knew best, he still does, and thought that all of the teachers, the ones who actually were in the classroom, knew nothing about what was best for school children.

I remember just as clear my father trying to convince me to go into business in college instead of pursuing the education degree I had every intention of earning.  I used to think that he just didn’t want me to be happy, but as I got older and eventually got into teaching, I understood why he had said the things he did.  It had nothing to do with not respecting teachers or what they do.  As a matter of fact, I don’t know that there is anyone as proud of me for being a teacher as my dad is.  I do believe he tried to convince me otherwise because of how incredibly hard my mother worked to be the great teacher that she was for the measly pay that she received.  As an accountant himself, he could see that the hours spent working to make sure that every child received the best possible education did not match up with the salary received.  My mom never complained about the money or the lack thereof, but I know my dad just wanted me to be okay when I was off in the world on my own. 

I also vividly remember my professor, Dr. Turner at the University of Northern Colorado, telling us how if the teachers union ever got its act together it would be the most powerful union in the United States.  I remember that almost as vividly as him telling us that on average, only $.06 of every tax dollar for education ever made it into the classroom.  This includes teacher salaries.  That was in 1992 and I have not checked recently, but I can’t imagine that that has changed significantly over the past 19 or so years.

I remember all of these things to explain my support of unions and their right to bargain for the benefits of their members.  I have always wondered where the other $.94 goes if it’s going to education and not to the classroom.  People can say that unions protect the bad teachers and they don’t serve a purpose anymore in our country, but I beg to differ.  We train the future doctors, lawyers, and presidents of the United States.  We all have at least 4 year degrees and we all have to take professional development and/or continuing education after we are teaching, and most of my co-workers either have or are working on Master’s Degrees.  We deserve more than $7 an hour for the work that we do.  We have earned the right as professionals to be able to provide for our families and not have to work two jobs in order to do that.

As I told one of my soccer players tonight, “you play too nice.”  Teachers, we play too nice.  We have let the politicians and the business men push us around for far too long and it’s time we truly unite and do something about it.  If we truly join together, with all of our wonderful differences, we can make the difference we started out to make.

The Union is far from dead.  As a matter of fact, I believe we are just getting started.