Tie my Evaluation to Student Performance? Great Idea!!

Hmmmm....well I'll just keep one of the posts of gobbly-de-gook from texting my "mobile post" number....thanks Google...works really well (?)
Now to repost it, as it should have been. It was simply a post of thanks to the wonderful people in Santa Fe who probably have an average teaching experience of 0.2 months. Their "rheeforms" are fabulous.
Today I was out on the football field conducting my 2nd annual Tater Toss (think Punkin' Chunkin' on a smaller scale). A great way to understand the physics behind machines such as catapults, trebuchets, and air cannons (potato guns, actually) is to build them. And that is why I assign this to students, and they love the hands-on opportunities.
About halfway through the morning, I had a student (let's call her Jack) come up and give me a tardy slip. "Hey you," I said smiling, "Where ya been?" "Oh, just making up my Discovery Testing," she said. "Wow....just think, next year your performance on that test will determine part of your teacher's evaluation." "Really?" she said. "I'm totally going to bomb it now!"
Thanks Santa Fe....reform THAT.

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Maybe Teachers Should Import THIS from Mexico?

It’s hard not to take it personally: the idea that if we can just fire all the "bad" teachers, well, we would be awash in a sea of Rhodes Scholars. Teachers have always been mocked and devalued in the United States, but in the past months the intensity of the attacks have greatly increased. The only "race" in the Race to the Top (which I'm beginning to believe is quite possibly MORE punitive than NCLB ever was), is the "race" to fire more teachers, tie pay and evaluation to student test scores, close or reconstitute more schools (I like to call them "Schools Headed Into Transition), and bust teachers’ unions and destroy teaching as a profession.

What lies behind this unprecedented assault on teachers? And, even more important, what can we do about it? I am convinced that these attacks are part of an effort to dismantle public education and that there needs to be an effective, collaborative strategy to combat it.
Mexico teachers have a different idea of how to combat this sort of treatment, and I often wonder how much bashing American teachers will tolerate before such extremes are used here, too. 

But before I endorse open revolution, let’s start with what ISN'T going on in the U.S. This last weekend, I attended the NEA-NM spring conference and listened to Matt Montano, a surrogate for New Mexico Secretary of Education-Designate Hannah Skandera (she's called "designate" because can't seem to get herself confirmed, what with all of her ZERO years of teaching experience), again trot out his cherry-picked data. You see in New Mexico, and probably other parts of the country too, adminstrators, rheeformers, and other corporate hacks, have latched onto this claim that "research" shows that students who have three-years with an effective teacher make HUGE gains  In virtually the same sentence , and LITERALLY the next slide of his presentation, Matt stated: “But the achievement gap between white students and poor and minority students stubbornly persists.” It would be nice if politicians and the other policy makers with zero teaching experience were suddenly worried about how race and class affect student success. But then, that would mean that the attacks against teachers would have to be based in a commitment of equity, fairness, and logic.

I Was anti-Union

Yep, if you had asked me just a few years ago, I would have said, "Hey....unions are dinosaurs that were necessary to battle the post-robber baron era. They were an effective weapon against capitalism run amok to the extreme. But....people have legal options now to protect themselves and the union costs just aren't worth what little they do"
Now, as a shareholder of many publicly traded companies, I'm no anti-capitalist commie. I am, though, anti-CEOs-making-300-times-more-than-workers. Am I to believe that CEOs work 300 times harder than a welder? A secretary? A teacher? I'm gonna say no.
So, while I am not necessarily pro-union, I am anti-obscene salary.
Likewise, similar to labor unions vs. private industry, I felt that the legal options available to teachers were also more than adequate to make the need for unions...well....not needed. Teachers could protect themselves, if needed. Besides, who would attack teachers?
I couldn't have been more wrong. This weekend I attended the spring NEA-NM conference and learned, not from the association reps but the from the politicians, that merit-pay had been blocked as a result of union actions. Lobbying representatives, marching in Santa Fe, emails, snail-mail letters, and more ALL resulted in changing this heinous idea that I, and other teachers, have somehow been withholding our best teaching because of money. This idea fails because teachers are not motivated by a profit-incentive, something the corporate Rheeformers cannot possibly ever fathom. Preachers don't preach harder in the hopes of making more incentive pay. Soldiers don't fight harder for their country thinking that if they kill more enemy, maybe there will be a bonus in their salary. No, these jobs of civil service and others, like teaching, are built on awards that gluttonous corporate raiders will never experience: honor, commitment to an ideal, and personal sacrifice for the achievement of others.
And without unions, without our strength in numbers, the raiders win. So, if you are a teacher and you thought as I once did, you have a choice. You can continue to believe that your voice doesn't matter, and that the powerful are just TOO powerful and nothing you do will make a difference. You can continue to watch as those with little to no teaching experience completely gut American education in the name of Rheeform. Or, you can put down your foot and stand together to fight those destroying education in the name of profit and high-stakes testing. You can clinch your fist, and proudly exclaim, as the REAL commies did... "Not one step back"

Why I Can't....and WON'T...Quit Teaching

What is Teaching?

As tempted as I was to post a cliche April Fools joke (as just about EVERY website known to exist did today) I've actually been saving some student papers for a special occasion.
Each year, I take one unit and I practice what I preach. What I mean by that is that during my teacher preparation program, my classmates and I were instructed to choose a motto that we felt best exemplified "good teaching." I chose the Latin aphorism, "Docendo discimus," which means, "By teaching we are learning." So, I assign small groups of students topics to research and become "experts" on. Then, they "teach" their findings to the class.
At the end of the unit, many students tell me what many adults tell me: "Wow...I'll never be a teacher Mr. Vlaun. You are crazy for doing this job."
Perhaps....perhaps. Maybe it is the wild swings of emotion and the love-hate nature of it....but it is difficult to imagine me being of any worth in any other capacity.
I learn a lot by teaching, and so do my students. Below are some of their writings from the end of their teaching unit when they answer the question, "What is Teaching?"

"Teaching is lerning (sic). Lerning should be fun. In reading if we read good storys I would be compeled to answer. In math, well I don't know how to make math fun."- J.B.

"Teaching is a hard thing to do. You have to learn about it first. Like football, you have to learn how to play. Then you can help someoneout on how to do it. Like having to run or tackle faster. Its always easier to teach when you know about it"- R.M.

"Teaching is when you tell someone or a group of people about something. When you teach you are explaining a subject, idea, or activity to someone so they can learn about it. When you teach someone they are gaining new information they might not have had before. Teaching involves a process of learning from knowledge you have to offer. Teaching also involves giving practice to give the person you're teaching an opportunity to soak in the knowledge."- A.K.

"Teaching is instructing and molding of the younger peoples mind. Teaching is also torture."- C.W.

"I think teaching is the act of trying to help someone learn a new concept. The teacher can't force them to learn, so the student has to try also. Teaching is explaining and helping a person and guiding them until they can do it by themselves. Teaching is helping other people. to teach is to help the other person learn completely."- D.M.

"Teaching could be in school or outside of school. In school, teaching is when you show the class of students something (new or old), how to do/use the skill, and then practicing the skill with them. You have to make sure everyone understands the concept, and if not, go back and re-teach it again. You should connect with the students and also show how they can use the skill in their future lives. It's the same out side of school, but the skill could be something like riding a bike, or how to work something. For example, when I taught the class Oceanography."- R.S.

"Teaching is not giving students worksheets everyday or watching movies. Teaching is making sure someone understands what you are talking about."- S.C.

"Teaching is when you try to teach someone something and that other person try's to learn from you. There are different teachings. There's good teaching, bad teaching, smart teaching, and dumb teaching. For example: a teacher tells the class to jump rope. One doesn't know how, the teacher show's her, and tells her to grab the rope like this then jump one foot at a time the rope has to go over your head then jump fast over again. A good smart teaching is when a teacher is actually teaching you and your learning. A bad, dumb teaching is when there is a bad, dumb teacher and hasnt taught you anything and you didn't learn anything."- J.R.

"Teaching is showing somebody how to do something, and making sure that they understand. I believe this is right because if you are trying to teach somebody something and they don't understand, you aren't teaching. Our teachers always make sure that we understand what they are trying to teach us because if we don't what will we do on the state test."- K.W.

"Teaching in general is telling or helping someone understand something old or new. A friend or an adult or even a family member could be a teacher. They could teach you about history or science or even how to play a new video game. Teaching can be really fun or it can be really foring. My favorite subject to learn about or can teach would be math. I like to teach new ways to find solutions to math problems."- T.W.

"I think teaching is about helping yourself and others to learn. Teaching can be about video games, learning how to read, write, talk. Teaching can even help the teacher learn. Sometimes the teacher will have to study something so that he/she can teach to the students."- R.M.

"Teaching is helping a person develop a skill or make their skills better. Good teachers will work with you to find your strengths and weaknesses. They will also work hard to learn and make themselves better in that subject. I've had good teachers that know what I'm bad at, and help me get better at it. They teach in ways I would understand best, and they try to make it interesting. I've had bad teachers too. They just give worksheets that don't help me learn and they yell a lot too."- K.O.

"Teaching is the act of passing on knowledge to other people. It is more effective if the teacher does well. When someone is taught something they should be able to solve any problem that they were taught to solve or compose an act that they were taught. Teaching can be done through examples and experience. A teacher must know about the subject they are teaching. An example of giving an example is like showing someone how to weld or play a game. An example of experience is letting someone attempt to weld."- A.C.

"Teaching is explaining or showing someone how to do something. One example is if you have a math problem such as two plus two, you would not just give the answer of four. You would show or explain how you got the answer."- J.H.

"Teaching is telling/showing someone or an group how to do something, how to solve something, how to play something, etc. When you are teaching you have to have knowledge about what you're teaching because when they ask you a question about what you're teaching you have an accurate answer for them. You have to have confidence in what you teach. When I taught in class I had to learn what I had taught because when they ask about something on a assessment I can help them. To do that I had to research, read, and look into what I'm doing."- D.N.

"Teaching is explaing the topic very well. That doesn't mean just throwing assignment after assignment. It is a lab, or written notes. You have to mix it up or kids get bored. It is also encouragement and help."- S.S.

"Teaching is giving someone knowledge. Teachers give you knowledge about a subject. You can only teach something after somone else has taught it to you. You can learn more by teaching someone."- K.P.

"Teaching is when the teacher tries to load important information into the students. The teacher's main goal is to have the student's learn"- K.R.

"Teaching to me is someone who is a licensed person who has the skills to teach you what you need to know there has been some cool teachers and some that are really mean. But if you just get through the year, you can get away from those teachers."- D.N.

"Teaching is ok I guess. It is kinda fun because we get to learn new stuff and we get to teach new things to other people. It is kinda hard to because you have to explain all the instructions and if people don't understand them or are just goofing off, then you have to say them again and again. Some people don't follow instructions you tell them."- J.D.

"Teaching is basically transfer of information from one person or thing to another person or thing. For example, in our daily life we visit schools. When we are at schools the teachers take the information they have learned from college and through life experiences and teach it to us. Another example would be if you were to take your dog to an obediance class or teach it a trick. In this experience it contains the same principles just instead of a student you are transferring knowledge to a dog"- R.B.

"Good teaching is when someone is learning from you, you make not much mistakes and neither does the person learning. Bad learning is when someone makes a lot of mistakes and gives up. Teaching can sometimes be hard, easy, good, or bad, but it all depends on the person who is learning and who is teaching."- C.R.

"Good teaching is were you help a person to understand and if that doesn't work help them through. Go peace by peace by peace and don't get frustrated just slow down if they don't understand.. Bad teaching is were you just throw it out of nowhere and don't understand the subject."- A.G.

"Teaching is opposite of learning. Teaching gives examples and shows you something or tells you how to do something. Teachers teach you mathematics, wrighting. Teaching is the way of learning something without being taught you would spend forever trying something and would fail."- R.C.

"Teaching is giving kids information with hands on learning or notes. Teaching is having labs to learn exactly how things work. Teaching can be many things. Teaching can many things because not every teacher teaches the same way. some teachers do labs. Some do notes. Lots and lots of notes."- D.C.


Indeed, teachers do NOT teach the same way. I hope that I am one of the good guys. Time will tell

We've Pretty Much Had Enough

I really enjoy reading Diane Ravitch's blog. If you are an educator and you do not read it...you should. Often, her blog is so well written, it makes me think, "What am I doing this for? She says everything I think and feel and often times even better than I could!"

Recently, I've been battling with the idea of quitting teaching. Teaching isn't going anywhere, and I can go and make real money for 10 years or so while these imbeciles try to repair the variable that isn't broken. Then, as an older man in my 50's, I can return to the classroom and not have to worry about laboring away in the elements. As I continue to struggle with my decision, I stumble upon many "I quit" letters from teachers. The disturbing part is, we are all experiencing the same events and attitudes that make us say, "Screw this!" Teachers are the bad guys, teachers have it easy, teachers are lazy, teachers are the only thing in the way of poor little students and their learning. The parents and the students have done everything they can (actually, nothing at all) ....but it's the mean ol' teachers that stifle them at every turn. Boohoo! *sniff* The following is a letter from a colleague. Yet another who has had enough. It echos my sentiments, and, I think, pretty much the sentiments of any teacher:

I feel that we as teachers have really had enough, and that someone needs to finally speak up. My name is Abby Breaux and I have been teaching for 25 years in Lafayette Parish, yet no one in this room knows me because no one here has ever come to the schools in which I’ve taught and just asked me, “What do you as a teacher think?”

I keep hearing statements that only ineffective teachers are leaving the system. This upsets me. Many, and I mean many, teachers like me who have been evaluated as effective and highly effective for many years by their administration are leaving the public schools. These are teachers that have been elected Teacher of the Year, LEF [Lafayette Education Foundation] winners, and many have received other awards. Even more than that, we have played a part in hundreds of thousands of students becoming great citizens and grownups! Teachers have also been criticized for leaving during the year, for interrupting the students learning. But, these teachers have had enough, and many are actually getting physically sick and can’t make it to the end.

Teachers are not the bad guys here. You tell society that we have three months off in the summer and get off at 3:30 in the afternoon. Well, I can tell you for a fact that we work at least 10 months a year. What about all the teachers that either get to school early or stay late? We give up a lot of time for our school children- sometimes our students are getting more time than our families. What about all of us who still after 25 or more years, are working all day and then are working more hours at night? What about all the hours we volunteer to coach, chaperone dances, plan field trips, and sponsor clubs? We stay late after school for meetings and programs, and we are constantly grading papers, at night, on weekends, and even on vacations. We attend in-services for either no or minimal pay in the summer or on weekends. Not to mention all of our OWN MONEY we spend on students. I can’t tell you how many THOUSANDS of dollars I have spent over the years for science and social studies supplies for my classroom alone.

Buying our own paper and ink, team celebrations, class rewards, incentives, classroom decorations, primary sources, books, etc…. And if you think that doesn’t happen. Again, ask a real classroom teacher! So don’t tell me that teachers don’t care!

No one ever really asks us what the real problems are, nor do they ask US how to solve them. You’ve hired people from a state that is #50 in the rankings to fill our positions. I could almost understand if you got someone from a state ranked in the top 10! We have plenty of experience and highly qualified professionals right here in Lafayette Parish. If they are not applying for the job, then the question needs to be asked. WHY?

You make us pilot all of these new programs year after year that have been tried already (just under another name), not worked-and tried again. We keep reinventing the wheel! I hear often that teachers don’t teach any more. We don’t!

You have made us information pushers, test givers, and paper passer outers. LET US TEACH!!! You have taken all of this away. You give us a new common core curriculum that is almost impossible to finish in a year, and now you slide in Compass, new evaluations, JPams, and On Course all in a single year, and all which require more time that we just don’t have. You are setting teachers up to fail. Teaching was once a noble and creative profession. Learning was once fun! If you want kids to stay in school, make them want to come!!!

Our jobs should not depend on two lessons a year. Principals should be able to walk into a classroom any time and do a true evaluation. To tell children that OUR jobs depend on them-well you are giving the students the “upper hand”!

They now have the power and they know it. I have heard some students say that they are not even going to try on the standardized tests. They are even “out” for some teachers and are going to score low on purpose. Many students won’t do their homework or study for tests-WHY? They know they won’t fail because of your policies. You have made it all about “what the teacher needs to do” instead of “what the student needs to do!” HOLD them responsible! Would a doctor lose his job if his diabetic patient didn’t follow their recommendations for losing weight when that patient is hospitalized for his/her choices? Of course not! The educational system is no different. We should not be held responsible for apathy and wrong choices!

If you really want to change one thing in our school system-start with discipline: SIMPLE nothing else, just DISCIPLINE. Follow through from first grade on up to twelfth grade. Be consistent, give consequences. Teachers should not be repeating rules to the same students over and over again. If you would listen to experienced teachers who have good discipline, it works and learning is going on. No fancy programs, no bells and whistles, just the teacher in charge. Stop moving students from school to school. This just dilutes other schools!

You are hiding the problems-NOT solving them! The same students that we saw get away with the “little infractions” over and over, and over again, are the same students that end up in the paper under “local arrests”. We are not here to be popular or please parents, we are here to teach children. Small things like uniforms, gum chewing, and tardies may seem small to you, but to a classroom teacher they are the small things that lead to larger problems like disrespect. If you don’t back us up on these issues, the students know it and lose respect for us. Don’t give in half way through the year, or keep changing things. Follow through. Back your teachers up! You have taken our “power” away. No Discipline=No Teaching-Period!

You have basically taken “morals” and work ethics out of ours schools, yet now our tax money is paying for students to go to private schools where they teach morals and work ethics. I believe we should bring BOTH back to our schools, and this will bring our students back as well.

You want to save one child by not removing them from the classroom or campus because you don’t want THAT child to miss out on learning, but you are doing a TOTAL injustice to the average and above average students who want to learn and know how to behave. The others are NOT learning because teachers are spending their time repeatedly correcting, constantly documenting, meeting one on one, and conferencing with the one child who chooses not to behave. I have about 10 daily behavior plans with only 2 out of the 10 working. Why is this? There is no follow through at home! Teachers work harder than the parents and the child to help that child succeed. If you do not think this is true, again, just ask a classroom teacher!

All teachers are different and that is what makes public education so special. Students get the affection, nurturing, life lessons, and education from each of them over their twelve years. Some experiences will be good, some not so good, but that is called life!!! Children need to learn to cope! They need this skill for the rest of their lives, so they can become good problem solvers on their own and not have everything catered and changed to their every desire. Having their parents just being able to call the central office and have teachers give in to “solve the problem” to make it easier for the child is not a coping skill. You are doing the students and parents a total injustice.

Computers have been an asset in the classroom as a learning tool for students. The school board and state however seem to have incorporated them as tools for teachers to do more meaningless work! We should have computers and laptops for the students to use as resources, not for teachers to type and retype and retype again. You would not want us asking students to redo a project three times and then never grade it. Why do you keep giving us surveys and paperwork that you will never read? A perfect example is our VAM [value-added measures] Evaluations! All of this is taking away from our teaching time!

Is there a reason why we in Lafayette Parish (a parish that has MONEY compared to most) still cannot get enough books for our students in the classroom, yet we have money to waste on silly job positions and in services. This is not just this year or last year; this has been an ongoing occurrence. Teachers should not have to scrape and scramble for books and paper every year! To you this might be minor, but for us, the classroom teachers, this is a major issue and affects morale.

If you think getting rid of experienced classroom teachers is the answer, then shame on you! It takes experienced teachers to help new, inexperienced teachers with the overwhelming burdens of classroom management, helping with background knowledge of the information being taught, and learning how to build relationships with the students and the community that these students come from. There is SO much more to teaching then getting in front of a class and giving a lesson!

Personally, I was hoping to teach for at least 30 years, but because of all these new evaluation policies, fear of retirement issues, and feeling constantly threatened that if I don’t do “this or that” I will lose my job, I and many others have had enough and feel the need to leave. I LOVE TEACHING and never thought this day would come. I love working with kids. You have basically pushed me and many excellent, effective teachers out of the education field or into the private sector with all of your useless paperwork and lack of follow through. I know I may get some “recoil” for what I am saying today, but what I am saying is the truth, and it is something that most teachers say and think every day. Many are afraid to speak up and this is something that I too have been holding in for years because of the same reason. Please, sit down with the CLASSROOM teachers and work with them. But above all, GO TO A CLASSROOM! Don’t choose a “favored, high scoring” school. Go to a struggling school and observe a classroom. Better yet, since you are supposed to be people of “service”, substitute in a classroom. Your eyes will be opened to how difficult it is to do this job on a daily basis.

I am very proud to have worked with the many amazing and hardworking teachers, administrators and staff over the years in Lafayette Parish. We want a positive system and a system that continues to improve as much or even MORE than you. We would really like for you to not only hear us, but make some necessary changes.

Thank you,

Abby Breaux