Teaching

The Dream

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / Leave a comment

The decision to be a teacher was born from my experience working in a residential facility teaching special education.  There was something about connecting with the kids and helping them.  There was something awesome about the camaraderie of the staff–all of us working together.  All of us dedicated to the same end goal.  I didn’t realize how much that camaraderie meant to me.  There was something about the “family” spirit that lead me to teaching.

My first job after I finished my teaching certificate was at a urban high school, but at the 9th grade center.  So, it was just the 9th graders and we were divided up into 4 teams.  Everyone knew each other and again there was this amazing sense of family and camaraderie.   There was a cohort of 1st and 2nd year idealistic teachers who were going to change the world.  I still get together with many of them on a regular basis 11 years later.  There is something so powerful about being “in it” together.

I then moved to a bigger district and a bigger high school.  The school was also divided up into academies and we worked in groups–but there was much less of the togetherness.  There was a wide range of teachers and a wide level of commitment to the students and to teaching.  This was where I first realized that there were people who really chose teaching because of June, July, August.  I spent much of my time dealing with discipline issues that were bread in a system that didn’t really “care” about the students.  Our superintendent was arrested for embezzlement.   It was a broken system at the highest levels and that really trickled down into every building and sadly into many classrooms.

I left teaching to stay home with our newly adopted son and then with our daughter.  But I missed teaching.  I missed connecting with students.  I taught at the university and then found myself working with charter schools–not as an educator but as an evaluator and supporter of sorts.

I then decided that it was time–time to get back in the classroom.  I missed students and realized that an office job was not for me.  I need interaction.  I needed students.

Once I made the decision, I had to really think about where I wanted to teach.  What type of environment did I want?  I applied to very few jobs–3 to be exact.  I had two interviews.  I had an interview at a large (2000 student) public high school in a high performing district and 1 interview at a smaller (650 students) private all boys schools.  The difference was stark.  The large public high school talked mostly about standards and test scores.  There was no feeling of collegiality among the 140 staff members.  There was little talk about the students and only focus on data and test scores–“We are 95.4% proficient/advanced but we need to still get better.”  I left the interview knowing it was not the place for me.  I wanted to be able to focus on teaching.  I wanted to be able to focus on students and not test scores.

The minute I left the interview at the small private all boys schools, I knew I wanted that job.  I felt the family atmosphere the minute I walked into the building.  It felt like home.

I have just finished my first semester and I could not be happier with my choice to take the job.  I have been able to teach. I have been supported.  I have been part of a team.  The biggest discipline issues I have had is boys who rebel by not shaving or tucking in their shirts.

I have found my home.  I have found where I belong.  I have found a place where I am valued as a teacher and a member of the community.  Where I am respected for my contributions and students thank me for challenging and pushing them.  I wish all teaching jobs were like this.  All teachers should feel valued, respected, and supported.

I have my dream job.

Pure Exhaustion

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / 1 Comment

I just finished my first week (okay 2 days) of teaching.  And let me say, I totally forgot how exhausting teaching is.  I teach 3–85 minute classes a day with one 85 minute “plan” period.  I also forgot how much work it is to be on your feet most of the day as opposed to vegging out at my desk for 8 hours.

I have been up at 5am and ready for bed by 8 (although, we have had plans each night this week–keeping me up until 10 or so).

It amazes me how tired I am.

My first two days were pretty good.  The students are awesome.  They are teen-aged boys, but I am amazed at how much we get done in 85 minutes.  They do what they are asked to do–with minimal complaining (I admit that I am teaching honors students so that might contribute).

After my first day (which I was so nervous and anxious for), I sat at my desk and this feeling of success and satisfaction washed over me.  Then reality sunk in and I realized that I had to do the same thing again tomorrow and for 176 or so more days.  This year is going to be tough.  But I couldn’t be happier.

 

Transition

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / 1 Comment

Transitions are hard.  Transitions are exciting.  Transitions make you question every decision you have every made.

I am preparing for a major transition.  I am returning to the classroom.  I will be teaching high school English in the fall at an all boys catholic high school (that is all the details you’ll get).  I haven’t taught high school since July of 2006.  That is a long time ago (7 years if anyone is counting).

I am excited.  I am nervous.  I am anxious.  I am scared to death.

My teacher friends have assured me that it is just like riding a bike.  I am not so sure that I agree.  Not only has it been 7 years since I have taught, it has also been 7 years since I have written a lesson plan.  And, if I am honest, I have to acknowledge that I am not getting back on the same bike.  All of my high school teaching experience has been urban.  I am not teaching in a relatively affluent high school with an extremely rigorous academic program.

I’m going to be teaching novels, etc that I haven’t read or thought much about in 7 or more years.   I have 9 weeks before I stand in front of the room before 25+ eager students.  I have a lot of preparation to do.  It’s a bit like being back in graduate school and reading a novel a week.

I have been fighting the pull to return to the classroom for years and am excited that I have this amazing opportunity to return.

 

How To Make It Better

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / 4 Comments

Education that is.  There is ALWAYS talk of how bad education is and there are ALWAYS politicians talking about ways to improve it–highly qualified teachers (this means degrees and certification only–no measures of effectiveness), testing every year, mandating that all students (regardless of English proficiency or IEP status) will meet or exceed expectations.  Those of you tired of Education talk please stop reading now.   Because I am just getting started here.  Education reform is my cause.  It is why I am working my ass off getting my PhD while raising two kids and trying to be a wife.  Teacher training is my cause because I believe and know that the single most important factor in student success is teacher effectiveness.  Am I blaming teachers?  No.  I was/am a teacher.  Is it our fault?  No it is the systems fault.  The entire system has failed everyone.  The system has broken many of us and it drives away 50% of us in the first five years.  We need to look at the system–we are all part of the system.

Diane Ravitch has a new book out–The Death and Life of the Great American School System:  How Testing and Choice are Undermining Education. You can check it out here or read a review of it here or here.  Those of you in Education have possibly heard of her.  She is a renowned Education Historian and has been involved in education through Presidential administrations.  You can find our more about her by reading her CV.  She was a proponent of NCLB before it was called NCLB.  She now loudly states her realization that is is/was a colossal failure.  In the last 12 years reading scores have not budged according to NAEP–which is the national testing that is given every 2 years to random students–this is seen as the TEST when comparing American students to others as it is a test that cannot be prepped for or taught to as no one knows what will be on it or who will be taking it.

I agree very much with her. Our school system has become one that teaches to a test.  Test companies are creating curriculum aligned with individual state standards and state tests.  The curriculum are canned or boxed and a one size fits all–Education as become all about outcomes/results but not about the students.  We have gone from teacher-centered classrooms to test-centered classrooms.  Where are the students?  How can they possibly be engaged in an education that is all about teaching them facts, etc. for a test.  How can teachers be passionate about their jobs when they are expected to produce test scores as opposed to students who can think for themselves.

She writes:

It solves no problems to exclude parents and the public from important decisions about education policy or to disregard the educators who work with students daily. Public education is a vital institution in our democratic society, and its governance must be democratic, open to public discussion and public participation.

Schools do not exist in isolation. They are part of the larger society. Schooling requires the active participation of many, including students, families, public officials, local organizations, and the larger community.

I couldn’t agree more.  We have an education system that is run from the top down and no one else has a voice–not the teacher, not the parents, not the community, not the students.  Kelly over at Mocha Momma wrote about parental involvement and this is key.  The education system doesn’t allow for parental involvement.  it doesn’t clearly communicate the values of the school nor does it reflect the values of a community or society at large.  The top down running of schools and the arbitrary use of test scores that are disconnected from students’ lives have helped crumble the school system.

This is something that private schools do (those that are good–don’t get me wrong there are bad private schools).  But private schools are not slaves to the test and test scores.  Parents and the community are an integral to the functioning and the decision making process.

Now to the crux–how can we fix it? Stop all the excess testing–we certainly need some measure of where students are and if they have moved.  Stop punishing teachers for test scores on tests that don’t measure what students have learned but what they can do in 45 minutes on one given day.  Don’t threaten to fire teachers and close schools.  Vow to reform schools and provide teachers with training and tools to help them be more effective. Ensure that educators are running schools and that educators (those who have risen up through the ranks) are the ones making decisions. Teachers often do the best they can–we need to improve professional development and help districts and buildings create a learning environment not just for the students but also for the teachers.

Take the “for profit” companies out of education.

Don’t tie pay to test scores.  You can tie it to evaluations, performance, professional development activities.  But not to test scores. This pits teachers against teachers and creates an adversarial community.

Obviously, there is much more to the problem than I can write about here.  But it is something that is so important to me and pervades everything I do in my life.

to be continued…

Some Things I Just Can’t Get Past

/ Dawn Kasal-Finley / 1 Comment

I have tried not to spend to much time lamenting about the urban educational system and suburbia’s perceptions of those who they decided to label as urban.  It is something that really upsets, angers and bothers me to the core.  I know I posted a while ago about stereotypes in education and how the accepted stereotypes of minority students determines the substandard education they are give in within an affluent school district.  Something really must be wrong with an educational system if black and Latino and native American kids don’t score any better on standardized tests in these affluent districts than they do in the miserably failing urban schools.  In some cases the minority kids in urban schools score better than those in suburban districts.

When I broach this subject with those in and even outside of education–what I so often get spit back in defense of our educational system is this:

“Well are they residents (of these richer districts)?”

“There is a lot of low income housing around those schools.”

“Most of our behavior problems are from deseg students (kids bussed in from the city)”

“Kids can’t learn if they don’t have all of there basic needs met”

“If mom and dad aren’t educated their kid are going to have a harder time”

These comments make me want to scream and they totally make my argument for me.  Do we really think/believe/accept that all blacks are poor?  In reality 24.7% of blacks live below the poverty line (for those reporting only a single race category to the census)  That is a high percentage but considering blacks make up only 13% of the overall population–approximately 38.4 million and then based on the percentage living below the poverty line there are roughly 9.6 million blacks living in poverty (as defined by the government–I fully accept and understand there are many more who do not fit the poverty numbers but are in essence pretty poor).  Compared with whites–non-hispanic who still make up 66% of the population–approximately 201 million whites non-hispanic and with 8.9% in poverty that makes 17.9 millions whites in poverty.

This means as teacher we are nearly as likely to have a poor white student as we are a poor black student (or close to just as likely–there is a slightly higher chance in urban areas that your black students are going to be poorer but not as much in the suburban areas.)  I taught in a suburban black community and at least half of my students were from middle class families and some of them from upper middle class families. Many of their parents were educated and held degree or in other cases multiple degrees.  But the assumption was often the same–before poor kids can learn they need their needs met, etc.  This is so damaging to students.  Skin color is not the same as socio-economic status.  I am tired of us making excuses for the failures we have let happen when it comes to our educational system.  I think the same can be said for health care. Those who are no affected–rich/white–are quick to point out that it isn’t the system that is failing but the people.

That is so often the argument in education.  I am sick just thinking about the amount of time we spend blaming students for the inability to learn or their lack of desire or interest.  I am tired of the excuse we make for not doing our job to the best of our ability.  I will admit here that I have been guilty of that–I think it is easier at the high school level to write kids off–especially those who have been beaten so badly by the system that they have completely lost hope.  But it is our job as teachers to give them that hope back.  We have to stop with the excuses.  We have to challenge the stereotypes that we have allowed to determine the type of education we were given access to.  We must stand up for change.  The status quo just cannot be allowed to remain the same.  Rhetoric cannot replace action.