Considering we have had a
lot of “time off” from school it has allowed for a lot of time to “tune in” to
the local news and hear all different perspectives on our current
situation. I find it very interesting to
hear all the levels of pro and con teacher’s union strike and the passion that
goes along with people’s opinions. As
every story goes there’s two sides to the coin, but being particularly biased
and affected by this situation has made my (and I would assume all my fellow
interns) experiences fairly difficult to see both sides.
I do completely understand that the school board and
Mayor Emmanuel are in a tight position with tax payers and the rest of the city
to consider in their decision making.
However, I just don’t see how it’s that hard to ensure that at the very
least all classrooms have air conditioning or livable circumstances to conduct
classes. In our first four days of
school I experienced firsthand how heat in the classroom really affects
especially, in my opinion, elementary students.
You ask a bunch of six and seven year old children to sit cross-legged
on a carpet for read-aloud, in an extremely hot room, and expect them not to
fall asleep? They’re already getting
used to the longer school day which takes some stamina building, and on top of
that they have prime time conditions for a nap.
In my mind this is a fairly easy fix for the school board to accommodate.
The
issues of teacher evaluations and testing is where my opinion becomes a little
more on the fence, if you will. I do not
agree with the current proposed system of merit-based pay for teachers. I believe just as much as the next teacher
that standardized tests are not an accurate portrayal of what our students are
capable of. The pencil and scantron
completely disregard all of the most rewarding “ah-ha I get it” moments for
students as well as teachers in the everyday classroom environment. The teacher’s strike came up while I was at
my doctor’s office the other day and my doctor had a really interesting
perspective to offer. On the topic of
teacher evaluation he said, “I wouldn’t like it very much if my pay was based
on the success of my patients. I can
prescribe Mr. Jones diabetes medicine to help his condition but I can’t control
whether Mr. Jones takes his pills or not.
So you’d tell me that if his diabetes doesn’t improve it will come out
of my pay? Not fair.” I had never
thought of the system working in another profession and once he brought it up
it solidified in my mind how silly of an idea it is for our profession. Now, with all that in mind, I struggle
because I’m not really sure what the best way to test our students would
be. The reality is that at some school,
state, or national level we do need to know how our students are performing,
but how do we monitor this is the question.
It is
without a doubt an extremely interesting time to be a student teacher and
entering the teaching profession as a whole.
Being able to watch and listen to this strike happen has really opened
my eyes to a lot of issues within the system that I never thought of
previously. It is surely an experience I
won’t forget as I move forward with my career.
No comments:
Post a Comment