tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5113479300897983388.post302090059133169942..comments2024-01-06T06:09:29.140-05:00Comments on An Urban Teacher's Education: The School Day, Part III: Second Periodjames boutinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09625944306253098621noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5113479300897983388.post-90657545902792208502010-03-12T17:44:41.103-05:002010-03-12T17:44:41.103-05:00I'm getting to the point where I put the motiv...I'm getting to the point where I put the motivated ones into 1 or 2 groups and the rest just aren't going to get it. I've found that very occasionally, one of the students in the dud group will ask to move and start doing something.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5113479300897983388.post-1504884306470253182010-03-12T19:28:14.688-05:002010-03-12T19:28:14.688-05:00Anon 5:44It seems like you are giving up on the &q...Anon 5:44<br><br>It seems like you are giving up on the "duds" (which by the way is very offensive to refer to any student as a dud). I think you shouldn't teach at an inner city school if you are no longer trying to motivate them. Move to the suburbs and teach there if you want every kid to be motivated. Either teach in the city and do your best to motivate the "duds" and don't whine about it, or go teach in suburbs.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5113479300897983388.post-70599970715323887132010-03-12T22:36:00.814-05:002010-03-12T22:36:00.814-05:00Anon at 5.44 .While I think dud is a poor choice ....Anon at 5.44 .<br><br>While I think dud is a poor choice .. the teacher was not unmotivated. Nice try... <br>Try mrteachbad blog.. if dud makes you quirms, teachbad will make you screamAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5113479300897983388.post-64215387447960756672010-03-13T08:10:44.980-05:002010-03-13T08:10:44.980-05:00"unmotivated" seem to be an acceptable e..."unmotivated" seem to be an acceptable euphemism for "dud" but they mean the same thing and everybody knows it. <br><br>The time will come when "unmotivated" will be just as pejorative as "dud" and the educational establishment will come up with a new word. What will it be? "Unreached," perhaps. Something to blame the teacher, I'm pretty sure.<br><br>I support using descriptive language that connotes the possibility for change. I'm also in favor of teachers talking frankly and informally among themselves without being chastised by the word police.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5113479300897983388.post-41143418620789946662010-03-13T10:11:41.978-05:002010-03-13T10:11:41.978-05:00Get over it, please. Let's be honest for once ...Get over it, please. Let's be honest for once Anon 5:44, using politically correct language doesn't mean anything. I can speak using the correct language and be a crap teacher and treat my students like garbage. It's pretty clear the Reflective Educator cares about students and the truth about what really goes on inside DCPS.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5113479300897983388.post-51940866343917230902010-03-13T10:20:07.183-05:002010-03-13T10:20:07.183-05:00you mean anon 7:28you mean anon 7:28Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5113479300897983388.post-46565015277183921922010-03-13T11:13:30.817-05:002010-03-13T11:13:30.817-05:00Yep.Yep.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5113479300897983388.post-18581391855030751712010-03-13T11:26:35.223-05:002010-03-13T11:26:35.223-05:00This is Anon 7:28 again,This has nothing to do wit...This is Anon 7:28 again,<br><br>This has nothing to do with political correctness. Thinking of your students as duds does nothing to help the situation in the classroom. Thinking positively does. If I went to work everyday and thought of half of my kids as duds, that would suck. You have to get past that. <br><br>Realize that the duds don't see tangible benefits of succeeding in high or middle school. The people they look up to in their neighborhoods often are people who didn't succeed at all in high school. <br><br>You have to get past the fact that these kids don't show up motivated to be successful. Stop thinking of them as duds, and start thinking of them as people who need to be challenged somehow. <br><br>It's not easy. In fact it may be the hardest job out there. No one said it was easy, that the administrators are the least bit competent, or that the standards are attainable. But the reality of having to do something for the duds exists. Either do your best to get through to the duds every single day, or go teach in the suburbs.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5113479300897983388.post-61380259837271216642010-03-13T13:23:46.873-05:002010-03-13T13:23:46.873-05:00Using the word "dud" does not necessaril...Using the word "dud" does not necessarily mean that you think the students are hopeless. Agree with all you say, but using that word does not necessarily imply that the teacher thinks the students are "duds" as YOU choose to use and define the word, hence the reference to political correctness. I think you have to give the writer a lot more credit than that.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5113479300897983388.post-64556962834937893042010-03-13T15:05:20.373-05:002010-03-13T15:05:20.373-05:00sorry anon 7:28 - it still sounds like an argument...sorry anon 7:28 - it still sounds like an argument over a word. <br><br>Also, it would be nice if you stopped telling people you disagree with to go teach in the suburbsAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5113479300897983388.post-77017458622533361662010-03-13T17:21:38.030-05:002010-03-13T17:21:38.030-05:00Everyone refers to teaching in the suburbs like it...Everyone refers to teaching in the suburbs like it's a bad thing. I teach in a low income Montgomery County HS. Teachers everywhere have challenges. While I don't neccessarily have the same challenges as DCPS teachers (no IMPACT eval and a contract thanks to our very strong union), I still struggle. Every teacher has difficult students (or duds if you will!) and every teacher has students who deserve better. Why are we attacking each other!Nicole from MCPSnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5113479300897983388.post-30606204897057118522010-03-13T23:57:35.190-05:002010-03-13T23:57:35.190-05:00I'm the first Anon. Dud was a bad choice of w...I'm the first Anon. Dud was a bad choice of words and I should not have used it. Sadly, we are blurring the message due to my unfortunate choice of words to describe unmotivated students.<br><br>I work my tail off to try to get through to these kids and get them to do basic work. I am ridiculously positive in the classroom. However, when every day for 5 months I see the same kids doing the same things (doing no work, not bringing pencils or pens, coming two thirds of the way through class, refusing to make any effort at all) then yes, I think at some point you have to cut your losses and work with the kids who will try.<br><br>No one wants to say this, but it is a form of triage. I've spent 5 minutes with a student, trying to get him to do the least bit of work. He finally just turned to me and said "I'm not going to do any work, why don't you go help someone who wants help". 1 teacher, 29 students with 10-12 students who want help, yeah, I'm going to help the students who want it. <br><br>I'm always encouraging students to try, even those that honestly have no chance of passing at this point, but when I have to make a decision about where to put my energy, it's going to be with those who want helpAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5113479300897983388.post-22978486590313082722010-03-14T01:31:24.973-05:002010-03-14T01:31:24.973-05:00Anon at 544 and 1157: I also used the term in the ...Anon at 544 and 1157: I also used the term in the post, so it's not all on you. I appreciate your explanation in your second comment but really don't think it should be necessary. Those of us who are committed to this work and deal with the kinds of things we deal with on a day-to-day basis should be able to share stories and ideas with each other without being worried about the kind of criticism we see here. I understand why someone on the outside might see the term as offensive, but it's not meant to be. We care about all of our kids, regardless of their dudness, dudability, or dudatutde. Unfortunately, it's a fact of life that there will be unmotivated kids in our classrooms. We may want the best for them, but no matter how hard we try, there will always be students who need so much more in their lives than a caring teacher (especially when you only see a kid for fifty minutes five times a week).<br><br>I also agree with Nicole. While teaching in the inner-city poses significant challenges, many "suburban" schools pose different challenges that may be just as significant. I recently heard on CBC radio that familes with incomes of more than $150k per year often deal with higher rates of drug abuse than those living in urban ghettos. Also, dealing with uppity parents who think that teaching isn't a true profession - no way in hell...<br><br>By the way, my favorite politically correct term for a dud: reluctant learner.The Reflective Educatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09625944306253098621noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5113479300897983388.post-58764362938644071732010-03-14T08:28:03.582-04:002010-03-14T08:28:03.582-04:00Thanks RE.Perhaps there are some who don't kno...Thanks RE.<br><br>Perhaps there are some who don't know that "go teach in the suburbs" is a favorite line of Chancellor Rhee directed at teachers who complain about the challenges of urban teaching. My feeling is it's meant to deflect the failings of the system (not the kids) and try to shame teachers into taking all the responsibility for matters way beyond their control but within hers.<br><br>I'd guess the person who made that remark is either a teacher who bought that idea or someone in the administration who's here to reinforce it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5113479300897983388.post-10695208611709233842010-03-14T10:05:10.217-04:002010-03-14T10:05:10.217-04:00What makes me laugh the most, is that the Chancell...What makes me laugh the most, is that the Chancellor and the poster who referenced working in the suburbs never think that the teachers come from the same environment as the kids. Why is this? Because none of the new recruits, or few of them do. So "Anon - suburbs", I know exactly who these kids are because I come from a similar environment, except I don't have to preach the text book response, I've lived it and I don't buy it. Don't come into my environment and try and tell me that I don't care about my kids, you weren't there; living in DC when everyone thought DC was a war zone, when it was the murder capital of the country, when the police would not come out to your neighborhood when you called them. This whole rhetoric makes me so angry, we believed when nobody else did, when there wasn't a job attached, when there wasn't a thriving downtown and a hippie vibe to the city. Don't tell me I don't care - you wrote my neighborhood off as the ghetto for a long time!!!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5113479300897983388.post-4886502452058980932010-03-15T10:27:21.743-04:002010-03-15T10:27:21.743-04:00Part III is as true as Part I and II. What bothere...Part III is as true as Part I and II. What bothered me the most is when this would happen in my classroom i would try to come up with a new strategy, change seats,.. a number of different things, which included asked our administrators for feedback. Because as we know when your IMPACT evaluator comes into a situation like this your going to get burned. And even in the IMPACT evaluation, still yearning for some sort of suggestion or anything. But no, like spend 45minutes of your hour long IMPACT follow up reminding you to use World History For Us All. And not even mention the observed lesson and whether or not it seemed like the students were learning. <br><br>I realize that the administrators dont have all the answers. And I dont think that they should either. But as our leaders, and especially when they are "acting" as our department chair, i expect them to at least provide something when asked every now and again. Especially if a new teacher, or a teacher that truly just wants to become better to improve student learning. It would be in their interest, the school's and the students interest to support the teachers. But at that school, the admin is too busy i guess. Doing what, i dont know. <br><br><br>Can't wait to read school day part IV.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5113479300897983388.post-28667985088689291332010-03-15T21:17:52.634-04:002010-03-15T21:17:52.634-04:00They have nothing to say cos they know it a load o...They have nothing to say cos they know it a load of crap that' why - IMPACT I mean. Sure there are good parts but overall, this say the objective 3 times, stand on your head and sing a song business is amateurish and does very little to assess the quality of teaching and learning going on in DCPS. Me again from the HOOD. You wouldn't teach this way in your neighborhood so why subject my kids to this crap, and experimentation while dismantling public education. You say you care, use rhetoric that is designed to say all the right things, but I can see through you - as can the kids. It's all one big game and the kids are the losers.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5113479300897983388.post-88386098289457049502010-03-17T22:41:35.681-04:002010-03-17T22:41:35.681-04:00Just got an IMPACT score of 2.22, really sucks. ...Just got an IMPACT score of 2.22, really sucks. All this hard work and stress and thought I put in amounts to basically crap. Damn.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5113479300897983388.post-44503314339549981242010-03-21T22:07:59.455-04:002010-03-21T22:07:59.455-04:00Hang in there Anon at 1041. Try not to measure yo...Hang in there Anon at 1041. Try not to measure your success as a teacher strictly by what your administrators say. IMPACT has a lot of holes. Easier said than done, though.The Reflective Educatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09625944306253098621noreply@blogger.com