Punk Teacher - September 11th, 2009 in Sandbox 1 votes Vote Up! Vote Down!

Well, I  became a teacher to save the world. 

I became a teacher because unscientific, mooshy, subjective thinking dominates the world. I want to teach kids to be driven by reason and critical thinking. 

I became a teacher to give youngsters, especially those who are less likely to succeed academically, an edge in life. 

I have a science degree with a great deal of primary scientific research experience. 

I became a teacher to save the world. 

But so far my first three weeks of being a teacher have consisted of being given too much secretarial work to properly prepare my classes or even grade work. I have to have 12 grades by Monday. Actually, technically they are 3 days late on Monday, but thats when the administration starts paying attention. 

I would love to have my grades. I have been gauging what my kids know from class work and discussions that I can watch, but their independent work is what will really show me what they are getting or not.

I need to spend my time assessing student mastery of what is being taught. 

I need to spend my time designing creative lessons and classroom activities that will maximize my student’s  interest and mastery. 

I really want my kids to succeed. I want them to be smarter than anyone ever expected them to be, I want them to be life long learners and leaders. 

My students are 100% latino, they are what is referred to as a “bilingual” class which means (where I live) that Spanish is the language spoken at home. 

On CNN Lou Dobb’s talks about my kids like them and their parents are pests who should be dragged off into camps for stealing jobs, healthcare, and the education that I am trying to provide. 

My kids are seen as “beaners, greasers, wetbacks,” and “spics.”

I became a teacher to save the world. 

By school district mandates, passed on to me by my state legislation I am required to track, process, maintain and write so much paperwork that I have been working 12 hour days to maintain a mountain of this inane secretarial work. 

I need to figure out how to make sure my kids see the links between critical thinking and science. Logic and math, and math and science. 

I get to go through four years of records and make sure that papers that their parents fill out (or often don’t fill out) are turned in and organized. 

I need to figure out how much math my kids missed as it was not properly emphasized since it was not a required state standardized test in 3rd or 4th grade. 

I get to go to dozens of hours of “development” meetings in which former kindergarden teachers treat me and a room full of adults like kindergardeners and call it “modeling.” In these meetings I am taught to use software so basic, as an experienced behaviorist, I am confident I could teach rats to use it.

I need to have individual time with each of my students so that I can help them iron out their academic weaknesses and come up with engaging strategies that I design with them to maximize their potential. 

Instead I have individual time with ” new teacher liaisons” who eat up time and space so that I can meet some criteria decided in a boardroom somewhere by people who haven’t been in a classroom for a decade. 

I became a teacher to save the world.

• Comments
• RSS
• Digg!
• Stumble
• Tweet