Rotten Apples

Education Nation Part 3: The LA Times is Full of Shit

2010-10-06T16:27:00.000-07:00

The reality of many American families...and do you realize how this affects our schools?

The LA Times jumped on the trendy bandwagon of bashing teachers through its publication of its article on standardized testing and publishing names of teachers in LA Unified by ranking based on current standardized testing.

The article is here: http://projects.latimes.com/value-added/

Of course teachers fought back against such one sided bias against them, as I said already, it’s the newest trend in education, among the administration and administration ass-kissers. Teachers are now being ranked according to test scores that were viewed as anathema by the educational institution a decade ago. This same educational system now touts these tests as a verifiable way to make themselves look good. We need a history lesson about standardized testing.

It wasn't that long ago that standardized testing was ridiculed by minority groups as unfair and biased against non-whites. These tests were recognized as not being representative of what a student actually knew. Standardized tests were regarded as biased in favor of white middle-class students. This up roar also coincided with the African-American push in California to accept Ebonics as a second language, so that students from poverty stricken black communities could benefit from additional assistance with formal English language acquisition.

The real problem remained undiagnosed or at least wasn't brought to the forefront of the debate about standardized testing. First of all, standardized tests are generated with the assumption that all students, regardless of geography, socio-economic status or race, were taught the exact same curriculum content and that all students have equal ability to learn. This is the area that bias flags were waved with great rigor.

It was soon recognized that students in inner city schools and schools that existed in poverty riddled communities weren't getting the same access to core curriculum in history, math, English, science or the performing arts due to lack of funds, staffing troubles and just general community struggles. Communities with socio-economic struggles came with societal problems that were an additional burden on the local classrooms: violence, broken homes, unsafe neighborhoods and likely inept administrators staffing their schools with less experienced teachers or teachers who hadn’t yet finished their teacher training.

The focus began to shift away from the testing bias when NCLB, introduced under former President W. Bush, began to control school funding and gained acceptance by administrators. The push for “test prep” began in earnest. You see, that was the answer: Test Prep. Teaching students “test readiness” is actually education lingo-jingo for “teaching to the test.” So, instead of dealing with the real issue of tests being unfair evaluations of all students’ learning, the answer was promised in the acceptance of the ideology that kids were just poor test takers and needed some extra “test taking skills.” This is utter and complete bullshit.

NCLB is a federally funded program that holds a lofty goal of pushing schools to get all students to proficient and advanced levels as defined by the test administrators’ themselves. Because federal funding is tied to NCLB funding and harsh penalties loomed as realities for some schools in the form of federal or state takeovers, schools opted to teach to the test through the thinly veiled guise of “test prep.”

This turning point caused by NCLB’s goals led to the singling out of schools by ranking and consequently, entire districts by rank. It’s not surprising that the schools which suffered from the former testing biases were the same ones that were now identified as low performing. Whatever bias had been present a decade earlier was still there. But, as certain schools now had a “numerical” ranking system that gave them bragging rights, these same standardized tests moved into the acceptable mainstream by those who benefited. Surprised? Not me. Standardized testing, once the demon of education, is now accepted as a valid measure of student and school success. To keep the scores up and to compete with each other for rank, school districts developed the new weapon: TEST PREP. This is where your child’s education goes…into the test prep classes for CAHSEE and CSTs.

Now these tests are being used as a measure to rank individual teachers. You have got to be kidding me! One test to measure what happens in any given classroom. All the problems that plagued standardized testing still exist and have a direct correlation to what any given teacher is able to do in any given class. Tests don’t filter out poverty, unsafe neighborhood, lack of parenting, and the general culture of poverty. Now, it is convenient to blame teachers for poor test scores. These “number” rankings label teachers as good or bad. There is only once measure that doesn’t account for all the emotional and social work that goes into a classroom, nor can any test. Until our nation and our state recognize that community and familial foundations affect classrooms there will be no fairness in education. Rankings will be biased. And teachers will continue to lose heart in an already stressful and heart-breaking career. Oh wait, the teachers of the rich don’t get heart-broken. Just the rest of us.

Education nation Part 2: Our Country, Our Future

2010-09-30T21:40:00.000-07:00

Tom Brokaw does a decent job laying out the ground work for the atrocious graduation rates, namely identifying the dismal fact that of 100 high school students about 25 drop out and of the 75 who manage to graduate only 38 are actually ready for college. WHAT? Is that not enough to wake students out of their stupor? Do parents feel any pressure from that statistic? Geoffrey Canada of Harlem Children Zone is all over the Education Nation videos and discussions and he says something rather significant, but VERY overlooked. He says we used to have the great students! He states rather passionately that we, as a nation, have lost our way. It's the "great student" slip that I'd like to focus on for now.

In the seventies education was peaking and what kids were getting was what we would consider old-fashioned plain old teaching. That was my generation in elementary school. So what went wrong between 1970 and 2000? That's only 30 years and we somehow got caught in a landslide and it's been shitty ever since. The humorous part about this video-info-gram is that teachers have known this for years and no one listens; not principals, not school boards, not anyone. Somehow the actual art of teaching got lost, the society got lost, people got lost...

Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education, says that American businesses are already lamenting the fact that there will not be enough educated Americans to fill the jobs within their companies. WTF America? Do we want more American jobs shipped off over seas or filled by foreigners on work visas because our kids are too stupid to do the job? That probably ruffled some feathers and I hope it did. I hope every parent gets a fire up their arse to do something. And you know what? It's about time. Geoffrey Canada made the correct statement: great students. Yes, where are they? Are you guys keeping them at home, hiding them in closets, or maybe you just opted for the private school, like our President.

It seems to me that kids are much more interested in being "cool" or "bad ass" or reveling in their own lack of intelligence by claiming anarchy and clinging to the popular culture of American idiocy. Look at what young people watch on television, track on tweeter and Facebook. Nothing but a bunch a out of control assholes and bitches talking smack and acting like their shit doesn't stink. Guess what you young people? Your shit stinks to high heaven. You just can't smell Snooki through the television, thank God! As a student, you need to bring something to the learning process. Not just a pencil and paper, but your freaking BRAIN! When you lay your head on your book because you're bored or tired from staying up till all hours on your computer, the words and information in the book don't jump into your head. Teachers for the most part do try many ways of engaging teens and younger students, but kids are not always bringing their best self to the desk.

If you're a parent of one of these kids, don't kid yourself that it's all the teachers' fault. The fact is there are so many reasons why the system is not working that there is no easy answer. I liked this thought about the "great students" because we used to have them. If you're 35ish and older you probably used to be one. If the thought of talking back to a teacher never occurred to you, then you went to school in an entirely different era. Your education might as well have been in outer space. Today's "Great Students" talk back, tell teachers and fellow students to "fuck off" and don't think twice about ruining a classroom environment for everyone else. They love the attention from their peers, you know the attention you don't give them at home. I tell you honestly, that if I could remove a few kids from every class (the ones who take up time with constant discipline, could-give-a-shit-attitudes, and the ones who just want to take a snooze) I would have a PERFECT learning environment in every period for all the rest of my students, and one of those might be yours!

Before you get ready to bitch at me for being honest, I would like tosay that I am one of the innovative, caring and work hard teachers. I really care about all my students and I am worried sick that so many of America's high school graduates are not prepared for college. Reality is what it is. There are kids who just suck the air and life out of a classroom. I'm sick of it, the other kids are sick of it and you should be making sure your kid isn't one whose absence is a blessing for the rest of us.

Our Country, Our Future

Education Nation Part 1: Tony Danza

2010-09-29T21:32:00.000-07:00

Watching Tony Danza talk about his experience teaching was probably one of the more reality based expositions for teachers. He hit the nail on the head when he said that in his several years of teaching 10th grade English he realized that respect for teachers is paramount. As an educator myself, I live with the daily struggle of surviving the sad home lives, the tragedies, the disparities and unfairness manifest in the home lives of the students I teach. Teaching is so much more than just lesson plans and the current "flavor strategy" administrators are salivating to see. Tony stated quite unequivocally that perhaps a "little respect would go a long way." He meant respect for what teachers must grind through on a daily basis.

In a class period (anywhere from 45 to 55 minutes)a teacher must teach the curriculum, instill values, develop character, teach self-discipline and self-control and counsel students all day, everyday. That was Tony Danza's take. He joked that perhaps he needed another period to squeeze all that in...I'm sure he didn't get it. This is something we teachers are all too familiar with.

As a parent, do you ever wonder who your child turns to when you get a divorce, can't afford groceries, or get put in jail? When your dating life spills into your home and your kids are all confused, did it ever occur to you that your child might be coming to me for parental support that you should be providing? Teachers are second parents, away from home, and in some cases doing a better job at connecting with your children than you are.

When asked about how to get rid of bad teachers, Tony's comment was encouraging. He said that he wasn't sure there were bad teachers per say, just frustrated ones. He got that right. And yes, we do cry...sometimes it's the only way to get through the day. OK, a glass of wine helps:)

I'll be commenting on the Education Nation Summit every day. Keep posted. I wish Tony good luck and thank you.

http://news.bostonherald.com/entertainment/television/general/view/20100930whos_the_boss_in_the_classroom_tony_danza/srvc=home&position=also

Rotten Apples Book Release

2010-09-12T10:10:00.000-07:00

This week Rotten Apples is released on AMAZON! So excited. I want to thank my editor, Janell Chavez. Her help was invaluable. I also want to thank the dozens of teachers who contributed their real life stories--true life is always far more entertaining than fiction. The following is the first chapter for your previewing pleasure. My goal is to get this book in the hands of every teacher in California and across our fair nation. The emailing has begun:)
####################################################

No part of this book may be duplicated by any means and distributed without written permission from the author or publisher.

Copyright © 2010 Simone Santini

All views expressed are the author’s own based on personal observation, experience, and events in the lives of other teachers. The author takes full responsibility for altering the names and situations so anything could be taken as a coincidence.

ISBN: 0-9765192-4-0 EAN-13: 9780976519249

Simone can be contacted at: simonesantini@live.com
www.myspace.com/rottenapples2010 & Simone Santini @Facebook
& simonesantini2010.blogspot.com

The following contents are taken from real events in the lives of real teachers with real observational skills. Places and names have been changed to protect the innocent.

This book is intended for
MATURE AUDIENCES ONLY
Language & Radical Ideas

PREVIEW CHAPTER 1
Chapter 1
Who Needs Shakespeare?

BENVOLIO
What, art thou hurt?
MERCUTIO
Ay, ay, a scratch, a scratch; marry, ‘tis enough.
Where is my page? Go, villain, fetch a surgeon.
ROMEO
Courage, man; the hurt cannot be much.
MERCUTIO
No, ‘tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a
church-door; but ‘tis enough, ‘twill serve: ask for
me to-morrow, and you shall find me a grave man. I
am peppered, I warrant, for this world. A plague o’
both your houses! ‘Zounds, a dog, a rat, a mouse, a
cat, to scratch a man to death! a braggart, a
rogue, a villain, that fights by the book of
arithmetic! Why the devil came you between us? I
was hurt under your arm.
ROMEO
I thought all for the best.
MERCUTIO
Help me into some house, Benvolio,
Or I shall faint. A plague o’ both your houses!
They have made worms’ meat of me: I have it,
And soundly too: your houses!
--Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

“Why do we need to study Shakespeare?” I thought I would start this chapter with a real life example. I can’t name names…but most teachers have run into this kind of idiocy (aliterate questioning) from administration at some point or another. The more educated and widely read you are, the sillier the question actually is. But, sadly it was asked by my high school principal. Yes, one of the leaders of our pack actually asked that question. I know right now thousands of literature teachers just cringed or laughed. Really? Why? How about because Shakespeare’s works speak of the universal nature of humankind? Or that his knowledge of language and grammar gave us words like: amazement, premeditated, and lackluster. He could even use nouns as verbs. We all know that the word “fuck” can be a noun, a verb, an adjective, an answer to a prayer...but I digress. Shakespeare could call you a pussy with flair: “You should be women, and yet your beards forbid me to interpret that you are so” That’s from MacBeth, but our principal wouldn’t know that. Now I can’t name him, but for the sake of this book, let’s refer to said administrator as Mr. DuMass.
What makes this real life scenario even more disheartening is that Mr. DuMass doesn’t even realize that by proposing said question (trying to look smarter than the English teachers with whom he was speaking) he revealed himself as an aliterate (not illiterate) whose credibility and intelligence took a major dive from an Olympic high diving platform into an empty pool. By the way, aliteracy means you can read, but you just don’t like it or do it [reading] very often. Aliteracy leads to stupidity and poor words choices or ridiculous questions.
Mr. DuMass is a typical administrator. He has a degree in a particular area that he taught for less than a decade. He has a Masters Degree in Education Administration which means he learned how to crunch numbers, examine data, and somehow got the idea that a super hero symbol should be his personal moniker of leadership capacity. A color photocopy of it was actually taped to his office door. Our principal was a big sports guy in high school and college. Why do I say Mr. DuMass is a typical administrator? Because he has the privilege of evaluating EVERY teacher and subject matter taught on campus, but LACKS the actual content knowledge to be a credible evaluator. This is the sterner stuff administrators are often made of: sports and airs. In the words of Will Rogers: “There is nothing so stupid as an educated man if you get him off the thing he was educated in.”
Back to the original theme of this chapter. All administrators, principals in particular, are supposed to be experts in education. Fair enough assumption the layperson (general public who doesn’t teach) might think. The principal is the leader, the top dog, the top warthog or fox of the entire staff. They lead and all the teachers follow, that is, only in their administrative nocturnal emissions. There I said it. Now all you teachers reading this can laugh as you sip your wine or vodka-cranberry, which I hope you’re doing because we both know you need it. Hell, even you parents out there need it. Just pick your jaw up from the table or your chest and take that well-deserved sip of your chosen libation. Breathe.
So what is an “educational expert” anyway? With that simple question, we begin the convoluted journey into America’s educational quagmire. Fasten your seatbelts this is going to be a bumpy ride. I don’t know what an “educational expert” actually is. No one does. There are as many educational experts out there as there are diet gurus. I don’t even know what qualifies any one person as an “expert” in education. It certainly isn’t the Master’s Degree in education or administration. The joke at the university was that people who got any degree in education were the ones who couldn’t hack it in any other real academic discipline. For example, this is sadly real, a Master’s thesis, the actual researched proposal and report, in history or English takes about two to four years to complete. A Master’s thesis in education takes about three weeks to write and a pretty bulletin board display. You do the math. You can be an expert in only so many things at one time. For example, I am an expert at getting reluctant kids to listen to me. One of my colleagues is an expert at reading legal mumbo jumbo and translating it to teacher-ease so we don’t end up fucked by the Downtown Inquisition (the District Office or D.O.). Another of my colleagues is an expert at organizing large events that would make most people throw up. Another teacher is an expert in graphic fantasy art which no ones knows about because he’s afraid of being fired for his special gift. A retired teacher of thirty plus years knew so many quotes and had such a sharp tongued wit that I’d have to say her expertise was that she was a walking thesaurus and dry joke stand up comedian. Yet, another is probably more talented as an artist and more passionate about the art than teaching English. Brand new teachers are experts at keeping their heads above the administrator infested waters. I admire them because they are like seals; they don’t all make it safely to shore unscathed by the hunting sharks, oh, I mean administrators. Also because they provide the rest of us with front rows seats to the craziest non-contact spectator sport ever created. Even Spartacus would be entertained by what poor untenured teachers have to go through.
The point is this: all teachers are experts in some areas of teaching, but very few would propose they are experts in every area of teaching or even in their own discipline. I am educated enough to teach Ancient History, World History, Medieval History, Renaissance History, History of Religion and U.S. History. I have taught these courses over the last fifteen years in colleges and in the K-12 public education system. But every time I hear Victor Davis Hanson [VDH], a world famous Classicist, speak or read any of his prolific writings, I feel like I don’t know much at all. That I know nothing but “a scratch of history,” deep enough to make worms meat of me if I stick my head out too far and claim to be an expert. For surely, I’d be mortified if someone were to compare “my claimed expertise” to VDH…yes, the next day, you’d look for me and find me a grave man (woman).
Now back to the principal being the supposed educational expert. Receiving an M.A. in Education Administration doesn’t make a person more content knowledgeable, it doesn’t make one well-educated, well-read, nor does it make one more intelligent. (You made a fucking bulletin board for crying out loud!) It does mean an administrator got a certificate that the state mandates so that he or she can work in the front office and be a part of the school site policy making machinery. If you are one of the vice principals you can be a cog in the wheel of the principal’s agenda (meaning you know whose ass you must kiss to keep your little office.) I think there is more ass kissing and cock sucking in educational politics than was present at a Roman orgy. Suetonious would have a field day writing about this. Any teacher on campus can tell you who the ass-kissers (AKs) are. And if they can’t name drop the AKs at their school site, they’re probably one of them. The only group who has any leeway in the ass kissing department are the untenured teachers. You can excuse some of their collective or individual ass kissing, but not all of it. No one likes AKs and everyone who engages in the pucker, will end up getting screwed.
The principal evaluates all teachers, makes all policy and has total control over every teacher on the school site. So when a principal begins to make content and curriculum policy outside of their area of specific study, they usually come off sounding ridiculous unbeknownst to themselves. A smart leader knows his or her own intelligence level and seeks to fill in the gaps by deferring to teachers who have proven their mastery in any given content area. This can become problematic because educational leaders are not all like Abraham Lincoln. Our late president surrounded himself with people who DIDN’T share his same point of view so that he could make the best decisions based on the respected opinions of his entire cabinet. Lincoln truly respected those cabinet members who didn’t agree. He knew it gave balance and credibility to his presidential decisions not to be surrounded by sycophants. Principals do the opposite; they surround themselves with soothing sycophants who willingly give massages with happy endings.
So, our principal is knowledgeable in his content area, but doesn’t know how to teach high school kids how to read. He hates reading and says so (aliterate). He makes it a point to let us know how much he really didn’t like school, that it was boring…his conclusion was that his teachers weren’t entertaining enough. Really? He even blatantly groaned in a colleague’s classroom, in front of students, because the teacher was teaching…Shakespeare. Of all the idiotic superfluous literary junk to be teaching in high school…Shakespeare. Mr. DuMass’ educated literary suggestion was to focus more on Gary Soto, a Mexican-American local writer, because he’s more relevant to our kids’ lives (over half are Hispanic) than waste energy and time on trying to teach Shakespeare. Mr. DuMass doesn’t understand why English teachers would focus on some dead white guy who lived hundreds of years ago. And this is the typical kind of attitude from a typical administrator who gets to evaluate all the teachers in all their areas of content experience and education. One wonders what the teacher is being evaluated on exactly. By virtue of Mr. DuMass’ personal weaknesses and likes and dislikes in higher education, he gets to impose his aliterate ideas on literate and more knowledgeable instructors. The opposing nightmare is a principal who has a degree in a particular area and believes his M.A. in education makes him more intelligent than everyone else with the same degree. Maybe you’re right Mr. DuMass, who needs Shakespeare?
I sum it up with this, from Timon of Athens, Mr. DuMass: “Were I like thee, I’d throw away myself.” Thank you Mr. Shakespeare for providing me with a literary way of telling Mr. DuMass his pithy sayings and heroic symbols of caring are nothing more than goatish dizzy-eyed flap dragon jargon. Who needs Shakespeare? We all do.

Available @ Amazon.com NEXT WEEK!
Finally a book for teachers!

High School Graduation

2010-08-30T05:53:00.000-07:00

The NEA (National Education Association) posted an article a while ago about the why kids drop out of high school: http://www.nea.org/home/19351.htm

The realities of life without a diploma are truly abysmal and disturbing. The data itself should be alarming.

“According to estimates, about 30 percent of high school students drop out before graduation, meaning about one million students fail to graduate from high school every year.” The thought that one million kids drop out should stop every dead in their tracks. Many of them will be headed for poverty, struggle and jail. As about 80% of all inmates are high school drop outs. This is why across the board prisons keep growing. It’s also why the repeat offender rates are high, up to 60%. If they enter prison without education, they exit the same way. And now compounded with a jail term life gets more difficult.
“Only five in 10 Black and Hispanic students graduate on time with a standard diploma, and less than one-half of American Indian and Alaska Native students complete high school.” The fact that only half of Black and Hispanic students graduate with their high school class is stunning, but not news to the eductai0on community. If you teach, particularly in a poverty stricken area, you know this already.
“Studies show that each class of high school dropouts costs the nation more than $200 billion in lost wages and tax revenues, as well as spending for social support programs.” The welfare system is tied to high school drop out rates. It is also a source of debate and a leaking sieve in our economy.
“A 2006 study by Civic Enterprises shared dropouts' insights on why they left school before graduation. They cited a number of factors that would have kept them in school: enhancing the connection between school and work; providing real-world learning experiences; making school more relevant and engaging; and providing more help to struggling students.”

First of all, Civic Enterprises is an organization dedicated to providing initiatives to help solve the problems of our nation. That is noble. However, their data only focuses on the rate of dropouts, who is dropping out and then they interviewed dropouts about why they dropped out and drew some conclusions about how schools could be changed—based on the reasons provided by said dropouts.

Lets’ examine these reasons. First off, the group they interviewed said that they would have stayed in school if there had been a better connection between school and work. What work? The homework? So, it’s the teachers’ fault for not helping them find the relevance between classroom time and homework time. They also sited they didn’t feel like there was enough real-world experiences in high school and school should be more fun (relevant and engaging). These dropouts also think there should be more help for struggling students.

The reality is this: the kids who drop out are the ones who DON’T come to class in the first place. They already have a pattern of ditching with parents excusing their multitude of absences by the time they are freshmen. Not a single reason was placed at their feet or their parents’ feet. Every single factor that would have kept them in school was an EXTERNAL factor. Where is their own personal accountability and where the hell is the accountability from parents? There isn’t any. It’s this kind of liberal drivel that pushes school reforms and forces teachers to do not only their job, but that of the parents as well.

There is a strange notion about what high school is supposed to be: an all encompassing system that trains young people for their life. The problem with dropout rates has as much to do with poverty, lack of leadership in the home, lack of parent modeling positive behavior. For example, they come to school yelling at staff in defense of their poor little 16 year old, who got his cell phone confiscated for texting during class, but NEVER show up on Back to School Night. What are you parents teaching your children? Nothing of value.

Teachers are taking the brunt of society’s burdens on their shoulders. They are the ones trying desperately to make it through each day, handling the disrespect of students and their parents, and their administration. Believe me, teachers don’t want kids to drop out or fail. They do want and need complete parent support and administrators to work with them not against them. Companies like Civic Enterprises are not in the field of education and have no business drawing conclusions, and the NEA is just a part of the bigger machinery of creating reasons to stay in the money draining reformation of education cycle.

Simone Santini

Author of Rotten Apples: Educational Insights

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2010-08-29T18:41:00.000-07:00

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Thankful for My Job

2010-08-29T18:12:00.000-07:00

This is a response to the ever increasing bullshit spewed at teachers everyday: be thankful you have a job. If I hear that comment one more time, I think I'll throw up.

I am thankful that I have no control over the thermostat in my room: I can handle freezing and sweating while the front office is always comfortable.

I am thankful that parents don't show up at Back to School Night: I had to actually miss my own family to sit around and wait for yours to be a "No Show."

I am thankful that I get to pee once a day: Administrators get to go whenever they want and get a private bathroom.How uncouth is that, I ask?

I am thankful that parents can blame me for their mistakes: it's easier to think your kids with no respect or work ethic picked that up from me.

I am thankful that I have to go outside and be an extra target for gang activity: I think I missed the combat training course, but what the hell.

I'm thankful that the principal can yell at me: I must need that, because he would never be anything less than professional, right?

I'm thankful for being told that I should be thankful for my teaching job: After all, education really isn't more than reading, writing, and math. Anyone could teach that, right?

I'm thankful that administration wants to treat me like an idiot. I love being degraded like that.

The truth is parents can't handle their own children and send them off to school with the mind set that it's actually MY job to teach them manners, respect, morals, etc. Administrators are so afraid of parents, they don;t have any balls to stand up for what's right. A kid can tell you to "fuck off" and you have to just take it or send them to the office, who then sends them back or to the counselor to find out why they are having a bad day. Really? If I had a bad day and told the jerk off in my class to "shut the fuck up" the principal would crucify me. The reality is teens behave badly all the time. It's not unusual for this scenario to happen. If you aren't a teacher, you have no idea what really goes on in a classroom. Bottom line is parents have a hard time handling a few teens at one time. I can handle over 35. I am sick of hearing how teachers make too much money or get summers off. We deserve it.