Rita Kramer is a free lance author who wrote Ed School Follies : The Miseducation of America's Teachers in 1991. She has written other books on a wide range of interesting topics. She travelled around the US to see various public and private teacher education schools. Ms. Kramer shared the history, the purpose of education and the rise of high school education since WWII. Her insights were valueable to me as a recently burned out defector.
In her research, she discussed how many teacher training institutions are inferior, spending way too much time on pedagogy and not enough time on practical knowledge acqusition. Ms. Kramer discusses the over-emphasis on politics in decision making choices within school systems. She wanted to find out trends for the future. Keep in mind that the book was published in 1991. She doesn't discuss nepotism in hiring practice. I plan to discuss this in a later blog post.
Kramer's basic premise is that there are too many HS graduates going into teaching that are not knowledgeable enough. Too many colleges accept these students, and they need remediation and the end product of an undergraduate program is a mediocre, unprepared educator.
She advocates for a liberal arts education with a graduate year internship (student teaching with a mentor) followed by a professional ladder and merit pay. She stresses that these are motivating reasons to stay in teaching long term.
The goal to equalize students is unrealistic. Too much time is spent on raising self-concepts and not on learning. I benefitted from knowing this topic is being discussed in educational circles. I would like to see teacher education programs improved and a universal core curriculum introduced nationwide.
Here's another opinion from Washington Monthly 1991 ( author unknown?)
" The Miseducation of America's Teachers. Rita Kramer. Free Press, $22,95.
In New York City's public schools, where I taught fourth grade this past year, every teacher is required to write a lesson's "aim," or objective--"To find the main idea of a paragraph," say--on the chalkboard before class begins. If a teacher forgets, the kids will shout out: "Hey! Teacher! What's the aim?" At some schools, a teacher who fails to supply the objective during a formal (often unannounced) observation cannot receive a satisfactory rating, no matter how well the lesson goes. In a system with very little accountability, knowing the aim provides two minimal assurances: that students know what they are learning, and even more important, that teachers know what they are teaching, I've seen classes in which neither has seemed quite certain.
For a year, Rita Kramer sat at the back of the class of America's schools of education and conducted her own informal observation of the lessons they teach. Her report, a scathing indictment of more than a dozen teacher preparation programs--from Michigan State University Michigan State University, at East Lansing; land-grant and state supported; coeducational; chartered 1855. It opened in 1857 as Michigan Agricultural College, the first state agricultural college. to Peabody College at Vanderbilt to Southern Texas University--reveals an educational establishment that has lost sight of the aims of its own profession.
Many of Kramer's complaints about ed schools are familiar: Undergraduate education majors, who end up learning more about how to teach than what to teach, graduate woefully ill prepared to impart even the basics of reading and math. Graduate programs, run by career academicians long removed from the realities of the classroom, pose unnecessarily high hurdles for those who'd like to enter the profession. Kramer concludes, "Everything [would-be teachers] need to know about how to teach could be learned by intelligent people in a single summer of well-planned instruction." As proof, she offers the success of New Jersey's alternate certification program, which requies a minimum of education courses and provides onsite training and support for first-year teachers once they've entered the classroom.
Kramer floats above the fray of the ed school classrooms she visits like Mary Poppins, pointing out absurdities with the tip of her black umbrella. Her attitude is invariably, in a nagging-nanny sort of way. The prudish air of Kramer's prose is unfortunate, for it undercuts the important argument that her accumulation of anecdotes makes. In classroom after classroom, Kramer learns that the professed aim of most graduating teachers is not to transfer knowledge or skills to their future students, but to foster "self-esteem." Because there are no objective standards of accomplishment, to assess achievement through tests or by observation, or even by less traditional means, is considered meritocratic--a pejorative in ed school parlance that suggests the oppressive, hierarchical society it is the teacher's job to undermine. Consequently, the "self," the only standard of reference, becomes a kind of educational prefix, attaching itself to more traditional aims. An art lesson, Kramer relates, encourages not expression but "self-expression." A math lesson illustrates not concepts but "self-concepts." A social studies lesson develops not awareness of the world but "self-awareness." A student gains not knowledge but "self-knowledge." As one professor at California State University at Long Beach explains to her students: "More important than content or thinking are the students' feelings. You are not there to feed them information but to be sensitive to their need for positive reinforcement, With all this talk of positive and negative feedback, education is getting short-circuited.
The aims of teachers, Kramer asserts, have gone fuzzy--as in warm fuzzy. Classes resemble encounter group sessions in which students are encouraged to share feelings, air grievances, and bandy about mostly unexamined ideas as if they were Nerf footballs. The more elite the university, the more egregious the fuzziness. Here, for example, is a typical exchange of non sequiturs from a lecture at Columbia's Teacher's College:
PROFESSOR: [W]hat if we could make a difference in human stuctures? There is a moral lack of care in this society.
A STUDENT: I sort of think we've got to make ourselves happy first.
ANOTHER STUDENT: Most business people have no real commitment.
ANOTHER STUDENT: We are a society notoriously bad about funding poverty programs because we link them with work.
THE PROFESSOR: I am disgusted by the reliance on philanthropy instead of federal and state government responsibility.
STUDENT: An artist should be paid for doing what he likes, even if it's sitting on the porch and playing the guitar.
ANOTHER STUDENT: Malevolent market forces ...
THE PROFESSOR: That's true. [She says this after almost every comment.]
As with most therapy, the discussions Kramer overhears seldom emphasize abilities, but instead focus on character. A class at Seattle Pacific University compiles a list of qualities a good teacher should possess. They include "patient, calm, praising, accommodating, sense of humor, trusting, firm but kind, flexible, cares about and loves each kid." As Kramer dryly notes, "There is not one mention of knowledge of any kind, or even of any special method of imparting knowledge."
To Kramer's claims for alternate certification, I can only add my own testimony. In the spring of 1990, I joined Teach For America . My reason for joining was simple: I had always wanted to teach public school in New York City and Teach for America promised to negotiate the labyrinthe Board of Ed for me. (I had never been able even to get the right person at the Board on the phone.) I would not be circumnavigating standard certification procedures, but, like thousands of teachers in the city, I would teach on a "temporary, per-diem" basis. To prepare us, Teach for America provided an intensive two-month training program at the University of Southern California. Corps members took courses in pedagogical theory and practice and student-taught for five weeks in surrounding neighborhoods. The theory was for the most part irrelevant to my subsequent experience in the schools. Far more useful were classes that addressed practical matters of classroom management--such as what to do the first day, how to write a lesson plan, tips on where to place troublemakers in a classroom. (Put them in the four corner desks of the room--not in the four corner desks of the room--not in the corner, but on the corners--so that they are out of eyeshot of the rest of the class.) Student-teaching was the most valuable preparation of all, although even that did not prepare me for my own classroom experience.
I eventually got a job teaching fourth grade to Dominican kids at the top of Manhattan. As in the New Jersey alternate certification plan, I was assigned a mentor teacher in my school. It was she who taught in my school. It was she who taught me most of what I needed to know. Education is in the details, and most of the challenges of my first year were peculiar to my particular school, which was on a "split session." Mine was the most overcrowded elementary school in the most overcrowded district in New York City. To accommodate all of the students, we were forced to have two full sessions of school every day. I had to share a classroom with another teacher who taught the morning session from seven a.m. to noon. I taught from noon to 5:30 straight. Tips from the summer about how to prepare my classroom before my students' arrival were now irrelevant. I couldn't enter the room until they did. I could not plan my lessons around natural breaks in the day, as I did as a student teacher, because there were no natural breaks--no lunch, no recess. Rather, it was my mentor teacher who showed me how to fill out the red roll book, who explained how to assess my students' skills, who demonstrated lessons and showed me what would and would not work with the class.
Obviously, the weak link in this system is the mentor teacher. Mine was excellent, but what if one's mentor stinks? Expectations for alternate certification should not be too great. As one administrator in the Los Angeles Unified School District told The New York Times about Teach for America members employed by that school system: "I don't think they did exceptionally well or any better than fully credentialed teachers." Perhaps. But, like those in New Jersey's alternate certification program, they did it at far less expense and wasted time. That, as Kramer's book insists, is defense enough. "
Monday, December 13, 2010
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Educational and Sports Opportunites for all women
The other day I was reading USA Today at work during lunch time. I happened upon an article concerning a Muslim female swim hour at George Washington University in DC. I support this effort 100%!!!
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2010-11-10-IHE-Muslim-student-female-swim-GWU11_ST_N.htm
Later I came home and re-read the article online and saw the large volume of commentary on this topic. Opinions ran the entire spectrum. I was surprised at the hateful comments and surly manner in which some people were reacting.
There were comments about males not getting equal time, about reverse Title IX issues and Islamphobia. I was ashamed to be an American!! I am still shivering over the hatefulness I felt being promoted. I can only imagine what the Fox "News" "ladies" had to say about this 1 hour a week swim time at a private university. Thank goodness I don't watch FOX.
I know several Muslim women who don't get many opportunities to learn to swim, learn to ride bicycles or participate in sport teams. Learning to swim is a safety issue and a life skill. At least two public colleges; UNC and UMW both have swim requirements for undergraduates.
Making this accomodation for women is important, liberating, healthful, and the right thing to do. Please get over yourselves and stop the bickering. All women need opportunities for physical exercise and I'm proud that the GWU Muslim Student Association asked for this opportunity. Who is it hurting?
http://womensrights.change.org/blog/view/university_creates_female_swim_hour_for_muslim_women_anti-muslim_alarmists_freak_out
As an almost 55 year old women, I never benefitted from Title IX. It was still being fought about in the courts in 1973 when I graduated from public high school. I could probably file a lawsuit over the opportunites not allowed to my peers and me; because we were discriminated against our entire school careers!
"Let it be~~Let it be! Let it be~~Whisper words of wisdom...Let it be!!!!"
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2010-11-10-IHE-Muslim-student-female-swim-GWU11_ST_N.htm
Later I came home and re-read the article online and saw the large volume of commentary on this topic. Opinions ran the entire spectrum. I was surprised at the hateful comments and surly manner in which some people were reacting.
There were comments about males not getting equal time, about reverse Title IX issues and Islamphobia. I was ashamed to be an American!! I am still shivering over the hatefulness I felt being promoted. I can only imagine what the Fox "News" "ladies" had to say about this 1 hour a week swim time at a private university. Thank goodness I don't watch FOX.
I know several Muslim women who don't get many opportunities to learn to swim, learn to ride bicycles or participate in sport teams. Learning to swim is a safety issue and a life skill. At least two public colleges; UNC and UMW both have swim requirements for undergraduates.
Making this accomodation for women is important, liberating, healthful, and the right thing to do. Please get over yourselves and stop the bickering. All women need opportunities for physical exercise and I'm proud that the GWU Muslim Student Association asked for this opportunity. Who is it hurting?
http://womensrights.change.org/blog/view/university_creates_female_swim_hour_for_muslim_women_anti-muslim_alarmists_freak_out
As an almost 55 year old women, I never benefitted from Title IX. It was still being fought about in the courts in 1973 when I graduated from public high school. I could probably file a lawsuit over the opportunites not allowed to my peers and me; because we were discriminated against our entire school careers!
"Let it be~~Let it be! Let it be~~Whisper words of wisdom...Let it be!!!!"
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Public Libraries
You might ask, "What is it like for a teacher/school librarian to transition from the classroom to working in a public library? "
Working in a public library is fascinating! Everyday is different and patrons keep it interesting. In the course of a day, I have checked out very personal books without making direct eye contact, performed "Reader's Advisory, listened to kids tantruming, asked/guided teens to leave promptly at 9 pm, checked books, music, and movies in and out, collected fines, counted money, cleaned a coin machine for printer fees, listened to loud neighborhood gossip, been told that the men's bathroom has no toilet paper, watched mentally challenged adults do crafts, sold transit tickets for the disabled, given out library cards, gone to the bank with the deposit and helped volunteers find things to do. I have seen meetings of sewers, knitters, drama clubs, bipolar support, mental health professionals, and even the locval tea party group, who shall remain nameless, as they annoy me and haven't reserved a meeting room since they pulled the "gun" stunt.
One day recently, I check out books on suicide, divorce, sexual prowess for men, miscarriage, biographies of Adolf Hitler and child abuse. Another good reason to have self-checkout computers. I really don't want to know all of this information about you. TMI~~TMI~~~TMI!!!!!
In terms of differences in careers, not teaching is less stressful. Certain library workers are quite anal and OCD. Teachers deal with many more people during the course of a school day and must be very quick on their feet and decisive about unacceptable behavior and immediate consequences. Teachers also are assigned to committees and have to deal with report cards, parent conferences, testing, and admin, plus bus duty, lunch duty and anything else that can be dumped on them.
My favorite part of being a school librarian was collection development; spending county money on books and materials that I felt would be most beneficial to the school. I also enjoyed storytime with the youngest students mixed with songs, puppets and an occasional parade or craft activity. One school system had a good budget and I was also in charge of ordering AV equipment and cleaning it! I miss the sweet students and seeing all different ages.
As I ramble, I will share that I also ordered numerous educational videos; a somewhat controversial topic. Educational videos can be so beneficial if not overused or misused. When I reminisce about the black and white filmstrips and reel to reel movies of my elementary school days, I really marvel at Bill Nye The Science Guy offerings now available to the younger generations. Educational videos can offer another type of learning opportuniity that taking notes from books or Power Pointless don't offer.
One of the reasons I don't believe in K-12 teacher tenure is that some teachers do get too set in their ways and can't/won't grow and change with the times. Many teachers do wear the golden handcuffs. It is not fair to the students!
When you read about the Dallas Cowboy coach getting canned for not winning enough games, it just makes sense to let people go who are not up to snuff.
Even though I do believe in teacher's unions, I have misgivings about them in the same way I have misgivings about the UAW in Detroit. I disapproved of Ronald Reagan's firing of the Air Traffic Controllers in 1982. He put passenger safety at risk to prove a point.
We have homeless patrons, patrons who have been incarcerated and patrons who are demanding and grumpy. The library is a gathering place for everyone. Little children come to storytime with their parents and grandparents. Artists diplay their work. Symphony music greets you at the doorway. It has been conjectured that this music is to deter the skateboard crowd.
We have demanding people who want to check out without their library card, without ID and have no interest in learning about computers. Classes are offered for free in excel, e-mail, and Word.
Your tax dollars at work. I know you are getting your money's worth! Come on in!
Working in a public library is fascinating! Everyday is different and patrons keep it interesting. In the course of a day, I have checked out very personal books without making direct eye contact, performed "Reader's Advisory, listened to kids tantruming, asked/guided teens to leave promptly at 9 pm, checked books, music, and movies in and out, collected fines, counted money, cleaned a coin machine for printer fees, listened to loud neighborhood gossip, been told that the men's bathroom has no toilet paper, watched mentally challenged adults do crafts, sold transit tickets for the disabled, given out library cards, gone to the bank with the deposit and helped volunteers find things to do. I have seen meetings of sewers, knitters, drama clubs, bipolar support, mental health professionals, and even the locval tea party group, who shall remain nameless, as they annoy me and haven't reserved a meeting room since they pulled the "gun" stunt.
One day recently, I check out books on suicide, divorce, sexual prowess for men, miscarriage, biographies of Adolf Hitler and child abuse. Another good reason to have self-checkout computers. I really don't want to know all of this information about you. TMI~~TMI~~~TMI!!!!!
In terms of differences in careers, not teaching is less stressful. Certain library workers are quite anal and OCD. Teachers deal with many more people during the course of a school day and must be very quick on their feet and decisive about unacceptable behavior and immediate consequences. Teachers also are assigned to committees and have to deal with report cards, parent conferences, testing, and admin, plus bus duty, lunch duty and anything else that can be dumped on them.
My favorite part of being a school librarian was collection development; spending county money on books and materials that I felt would be most beneficial to the school. I also enjoyed storytime with the youngest students mixed with songs, puppets and an occasional parade or craft activity. One school system had a good budget and I was also in charge of ordering AV equipment and cleaning it! I miss the sweet students and seeing all different ages.
As I ramble, I will share that I also ordered numerous educational videos; a somewhat controversial topic. Educational videos can be so beneficial if not overused or misused. When I reminisce about the black and white filmstrips and reel to reel movies of my elementary school days, I really marvel at Bill Nye The Science Guy offerings now available to the younger generations. Educational videos can offer another type of learning opportuniity that taking notes from books or Power Pointless don't offer.
One of the reasons I don't believe in K-12 teacher tenure is that some teachers do get too set in their ways and can't/won't grow and change with the times. Many teachers do wear the golden handcuffs. It is not fair to the students!
When you read about the Dallas Cowboy coach getting canned for not winning enough games, it just makes sense to let people go who are not up to snuff.
Even though I do believe in teacher's unions, I have misgivings about them in the same way I have misgivings about the UAW in Detroit. I disapproved of Ronald Reagan's firing of the Air Traffic Controllers in 1982. He put passenger safety at risk to prove a point.
We have homeless patrons, patrons who have been incarcerated and patrons who are demanding and grumpy. The library is a gathering place for everyone. Little children come to storytime with their parents and grandparents. Artists diplay their work. Symphony music greets you at the doorway. It has been conjectured that this music is to deter the skateboard crowd.
We have demanding people who want to check out without their library card, without ID and have no interest in learning about computers. Classes are offered for free in excel, e-mail, and Word.
Your tax dollars at work. I know you are getting your money's worth! Come on in!
Monday, November 8, 2010
Teacher Tenure K-12
So, here I am, no longer working full- time in the public schools having made a side stepping career move to work part-time in a public library. After a 20+ year long dream of becoming a school librarian and being "under-appreciated" by 3 different administrators in 3 different school districts, I decided to call it quits. After 7 years in public education in VA and 3 years in MD, I had enough of the favoritism, abuse of resource teachers and general status of working in a public school system. No, I chose not to wear "the golden handcuffs". And luckily I didn't have to.
There are many positives for being a teacher and yet there are also many comprimises of philosophy to be made. New grads come out of college very idealistic and energetic. The reality is not what most are prepared for.
In the K-12 world I do not believe in merit pay based on test scores nor do I believe in teacher tenure after 3 years of service. Being a teacher is a calling. Not everyone has the patience for all of the challenges a teacher must face on a daily basis.
I began teaching in 1977 as a new graduate of a state university in Maryland. I was 21 years old. OMG- what a naive baby I was, but didn't know it. I had lots of energy, enthusiasm and empathy for the kindergarteners I taught", but no office politics saavy.
The world of education has changed dramatically in the past 33 years. I thought I was high-tech when I bought a red plastic Sony tape recorder and used it in my car and classroom. Considering i-pods, youtube, 3D video games, TIVO, cell phones, I-phones, wifi and other technology advances, maybe I should be laughing at myself. Except, I am not laughing.
Overly high expectations and the extreme testing atmosphere has made the educational world a place I can't quite stomach. Maybe it started when Ronald Reagan tried to label catsup as a vegetable in school cafeterias. Things are not what they seem, are they?
As a society, it is important to have public schools available to all. I NEVER thought I would come to this conclusion, but homeschooling doesn't seem so bad to me anymore. It has become more mainstream and is not so "weird". The public schools are not babysitters for your children. Parents need to participate and be partners in education. There is no free lunch.
In regards to office politics, it never occured to me that I would be faced with difficult colleagues or people who weren't honest and caring. Manipulative, self-serving adults were not a part of my awareness. But, they are now!
I have met some dedicated marvelously talented teachers along they way. I have met a few excellent administrators in my time, but they seem to be far and few between. Being the one to "put out fires" is no piece of cake.
I created Lavender Chalk to express my feelings and concerns about current events in public education; from my perspective as a trained professional with two license endorsements and a parent of 3 young adults who went through one particular school system in Virginia.
There is a book called White Chalk Crime describing Karen Horowitz's very negative experience with initiating reform in a public school system in Chicago. I decided to call this blog Lavender Chalk, because I am not a whiner nor malcontent, just disenchanted with many aspects of how public schools are currently being run.
http://www.whitechalkcrime.com/
I plan to see Waiting for Superman soon and have commentary to follow.
http://www.waitingforsuperman.com/action/?gclid=CPn-x-DlkaUCFeh25QodlzZlPw
I will point out that Davis Guggenheim, creator of Waiting for Superman is sending his own children to private school.
Remembering that there are often more than 2 sides to every story, I will explore some of the main points made in Waiting for Superman and explore the ramifications of NBC's Education Nation,
http://www.educationnation.com/
As one of my favorite angry comedians Lewis Black says... (Listen to this)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/06/lewis-black-education-daily-show_n_752234.html
More later~~~~~
There are many positives for being a teacher and yet there are also many comprimises of philosophy to be made. New grads come out of college very idealistic and energetic. The reality is not what most are prepared for.
In the K-12 world I do not believe in merit pay based on test scores nor do I believe in teacher tenure after 3 years of service. Being a teacher is a calling. Not everyone has the patience for all of the challenges a teacher must face on a daily basis.
I began teaching in 1977 as a new graduate of a state university in Maryland. I was 21 years old. OMG- what a naive baby I was, but didn't know it. I had lots of energy, enthusiasm and empathy for the kindergarteners I taught", but no office politics saavy.
The world of education has changed dramatically in the past 33 years. I thought I was high-tech when I bought a red plastic Sony tape recorder and used it in my car and classroom. Considering i-pods, youtube, 3D video games, TIVO, cell phones, I-phones, wifi and other technology advances, maybe I should be laughing at myself. Except, I am not laughing.
Overly high expectations and the extreme testing atmosphere has made the educational world a place I can't quite stomach. Maybe it started when Ronald Reagan tried to label catsup as a vegetable in school cafeterias. Things are not what they seem, are they?
As a society, it is important to have public schools available to all. I NEVER thought I would come to this conclusion, but homeschooling doesn't seem so bad to me anymore. It has become more mainstream and is not so "weird". The public schools are not babysitters for your children. Parents need to participate and be partners in education. There is no free lunch.
In regards to office politics, it never occured to me that I would be faced with difficult colleagues or people who weren't honest and caring. Manipulative, self-serving adults were not a part of my awareness. But, they are now!
I have met some dedicated marvelously talented teachers along they way. I have met a few excellent administrators in my time, but they seem to be far and few between. Being the one to "put out fires" is no piece of cake.
I created Lavender Chalk to express my feelings and concerns about current events in public education; from my perspective as a trained professional with two license endorsements and a parent of 3 young adults who went through one particular school system in Virginia.
There is a book called White Chalk Crime describing Karen Horowitz's very negative experience with initiating reform in a public school system in Chicago. I decided to call this blog Lavender Chalk, because I am not a whiner nor malcontent, just disenchanted with many aspects of how public schools are currently being run.
http://www.whitechalkcrime.com/
I plan to see Waiting for Superman soon and have commentary to follow.
http://www.waitingforsuperman.com/action/?gclid=CPn-x-DlkaUCFeh25QodlzZlPw
I will point out that Davis Guggenheim, creator of Waiting for Superman is sending his own children to private school.
Remembering that there are often more than 2 sides to every story, I will explore some of the main points made in Waiting for Superman and explore the ramifications of NBC's Education Nation,
http://www.educationnation.com/
As one of my favorite angry comedians Lewis Black says... (Listen to this)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/06/lewis-black-education-daily-show_n_752234.html
More later~~~~~
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