In many schools, PD (Professional Development) has become big business.
Just like any business, PD organizations want to make big money. Some PD coaches make thousands of dollars a day when they visit a school. They convince the school that they are not just wanted, but NEEDED to improve a school.
Principals sometimes give PD coaches a lot more power in the decision-making process in their schools that they give to their own teachers who are in the classrooms every day. PD coaches are considered to be the "experts." Teachers' opinions are frequently not taken seriously.
But when power in decision-making is taken away from teachers to such an extent, teachers cannot use their considerable wisdom, knowledge, and creativity to help make the curriculum vibrant to the students within their classrooms.
There is a big price to pay for ignoring teachers as creative and wise human beings.
New teachers leave the system after they see that they have no creativity in their own classrooms.
Older teachers become increasingly frustrated, disgruntled, and disengaged from their teaching.
Considering all of this, where do we go from here? Will teachers be given a place at the table of decisions as to the future of education?
If they are not given voices, great teachers will walk away from the system. The alternative? Alternative schools are blooming all over the country. Also, if an ex-teacher wants to have a voice and creative input, he or she can be very successful in any private industry where incredible work ethic, flexibility, cooperation, and new ideas are lauded. He or she will make hundreds of thousands of dollars and be promoted every two years.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Why are schools all about control?
In most instances, kids respond to a request from adults that takes in to consideration their needs and wants. Kids are pretty simple -- they want to be liked and treated with respect, just like everybody else.
I guess my problem with school is that the culture of school immediately assumes that kids NEED to be controlled the way wild animals need to be controlled. Or kids need to be manipulated to do what we want them to do.
Kids have always been a little dubious of school because it's not mandatory; it's compulsory. School is compulsory because school districts know that kids don't want to show up every day to a building with a prison-looking facade, bars in the windows and uncomfortable straight-backed chairs in order to do mindless, boring, uninspired activities for frowning and judgmental adults all day long under uncomfortable asylum lighting.
Our society has turned the wildly wonderful process of learning in to the most boring and unexciting thing you could possibly be doing with your time!
That's why kids love field trips and snow days. Tomorrow is a possible snow day in NYC and everybody (kids and teachers alike) is totally praying we get one. That's because a lot of the time, kids don't like to be at school.
Teachers know kids don't want to be there and it's REALLY HARD trying to inspire people to want to be in a prison of anti-learning.
Human being children have strong passions and interests that get squelched in school. Kids just start to realize, "Oh, so I never get to learn what I want to learn at school." And it becomes drudgery.
Classroom management is a big issue in schools. I am not really sure why because learning is like eating -- it's totally natural. Kids WANT TO LEARN just as much as they want to EAT. Where did we go wrong?
I read John Taylor Gatto's book Weapons of Mass Instruction this Fall. I highly recommend it to anybody who senses that there is something really fishy about the history of schools within the last century in America. Believe me, it's an eye-opener.
Schools are a product of a society where we have been taught to OBEY, BEHAVE, and DON'T BE TOO SMART FOR YOUR OWN GOOD. Schools keep human curiosity and inventiveness down to a minimum so that the status quo never loses their place at the top of the powerful economic pyramid.
You might be thinking, "But no way! Schools have taken the poor, huddled masses of ignorant people and turned them in to functioning, thriving members of society!" Let me ask you something -- Would you seriously call the adults of our present-day society "functional" or even close to "thriving"?
Case closed. We need to rethink how we educate human beings so that we are taking in to consideration each individual's stellar gifts and curiosities. We need a curriculum that is flexible, adaptable, and student-directed. A democracy needs democracy modeled in its schools.
I guess my problem with school is that the culture of school immediately assumes that kids NEED to be controlled the way wild animals need to be controlled. Or kids need to be manipulated to do what we want them to do.
Kids have always been a little dubious of school because it's not mandatory; it's compulsory. School is compulsory because school districts know that kids don't want to show up every day to a building with a prison-looking facade, bars in the windows and uncomfortable straight-backed chairs in order to do mindless, boring, uninspired activities for frowning and judgmental adults all day long under uncomfortable asylum lighting.
Our society has turned the wildly wonderful process of learning in to the most boring and unexciting thing you could possibly be doing with your time!
That's why kids love field trips and snow days. Tomorrow is a possible snow day in NYC and everybody (kids and teachers alike) is totally praying we get one. That's because a lot of the time, kids don't like to be at school.
Teachers know kids don't want to be there and it's REALLY HARD trying to inspire people to want to be in a prison of anti-learning.
Human being children have strong passions and interests that get squelched in school. Kids just start to realize, "Oh, so I never get to learn what I want to learn at school." And it becomes drudgery.
Classroom management is a big issue in schools. I am not really sure why because learning is like eating -- it's totally natural. Kids WANT TO LEARN just as much as they want to EAT. Where did we go wrong?
I read John Taylor Gatto's book Weapons of Mass Instruction this Fall. I highly recommend it to anybody who senses that there is something really fishy about the history of schools within the last century in America. Believe me, it's an eye-opener.
Schools are a product of a society where we have been taught to OBEY, BEHAVE, and DON'T BE TOO SMART FOR YOUR OWN GOOD. Schools keep human curiosity and inventiveness down to a minimum so that the status quo never loses their place at the top of the powerful economic pyramid.
You might be thinking, "But no way! Schools have taken the poor, huddled masses of ignorant people and turned them in to functioning, thriving members of society!" Let me ask you something -- Would you seriously call the adults of our present-day society "functional" or even close to "thriving"?
Case closed. We need to rethink how we educate human beings so that we are taking in to consideration each individual's stellar gifts and curiosities. We need a curriculum that is flexible, adaptable, and student-directed. A democracy needs democracy modeled in its schools.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
When will I graduate?
I had a very funny dream last night. I was seriously talking to my parents about why I was still in school. "I already went through middle school and high school and I didn't like it then. Why do I have to do it again?" I asked them.
They responded, "Yes, it's true. You finished your school years."
"Yeah! I have a high school diploma to prove it! Why am I in school again in NYC?!"
"What are you? A junior now?" they asked.
"I'm in 11th grade. I don't want to be in school anymore. I've had enough suffering."
"Well, ok, but you are one year away from graduating. Think about this..."
Then, I was left to make up my own mind about whether I would finish my senior year or not....
This dream really makes me laugh. I am in my fourth year as a public school teacher. I have one year left before I reach my five years (which is when a teacher is "vested" in the pension and I will be tenured, as well.) I still frequently feel like I am still a student with compulsory responsibilities. There are highly structured days with no room for stretching out a meaningful activity or taking a creative rest or having an important conversation about a big idea. Things often feel restricted and controlled, and I am watched over like a hawk. If I break a "rule," I am punished. Teachers in public school just have to deal with this system. It's a very antiquated way of learning and being. School feels more and more like a prison these days.
I have been researching new methods of education and alternative schools since 2007. I first heard about a different kind of school on an on-line radio show. It was about Sudbury Valley School in Massachusetts, where kids have the freedom to structure their own days and figure out what THEY want to learn. I immediately joined AERO - Alternative Education Resources Organization. I began finding out about all alternatives to traditional public schools. It opened my mind so much and I realized it was my mission to help kids and teachers find schools where we are teaching in the 21st Century the skills and values that human beings need NOW. There are many people like me out there now, questioning the system and trying to formulate educational alternatives for our society.
They responded, "Yes, it's true. You finished your school years."
"Yeah! I have a high school diploma to prove it! Why am I in school again in NYC?!"
"What are you? A junior now?" they asked.
"I'm in 11th grade. I don't want to be in school anymore. I've had enough suffering."
"Well, ok, but you are one year away from graduating. Think about this..."
Then, I was left to make up my own mind about whether I would finish my senior year or not....
This dream really makes me laugh. I am in my fourth year as a public school teacher. I have one year left before I reach my five years (which is when a teacher is "vested" in the pension and I will be tenured, as well.) I still frequently feel like I am still a student with compulsory responsibilities. There are highly structured days with no room for stretching out a meaningful activity or taking a creative rest or having an important conversation about a big idea. Things often feel restricted and controlled, and I am watched over like a hawk. If I break a "rule," I am punished. Teachers in public school just have to deal with this system. It's a very antiquated way of learning and being. School feels more and more like a prison these days.
I have been researching new methods of education and alternative schools since 2007. I first heard about a different kind of school on an on-line radio show. It was about Sudbury Valley School in Massachusetts, where kids have the freedom to structure their own days and figure out what THEY want to learn. I immediately joined AERO - Alternative Education Resources Organization. I began finding out about all alternatives to traditional public schools. It opened my mind so much and I realized it was my mission to help kids and teachers find schools where we are teaching in the 21st Century the skills and values that human beings need NOW. There are many people like me out there now, questioning the system and trying to formulate educational alternatives for our society.
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