30 Seconds= 1.5 Million

So my intentions were to recap my last two weeks as ATR but then I find this.

The New York Daily News tells us about the 1.5 million dollar, 30 second spot that our leadership has come up with to celebrate “the passion and promise in our public schools”.

Did they forget to mention a few things? 

Those of us who are in the trenches say YES, a resounding YES!

Those of us being bullied and denigrated by our administrators say YES!

Those of us having been found Ineffective by a vengeful and incompetent administrator say YES!

Those of us having been made ATRs for no reason whatsoever say YES!  A resounding YES!

Where are those millions when we spend our own money to buy supplies that our measly Teacher's Choice does not cover? Oh wait, the Unity Union is using it for a 30 second slot on TV. Where are those millions when we could use them to hire better lawyers to assist the membership when they are brought up on 3020 made up, trumped up charges? You know where they are!

They have no shame. They parade themselves on TV and show the audience that all is good with our schools today. That our students love taking all these extra tests that show nothing. That our teachers are happy with an evaluation system that is made to get the strong teachers out. The teachers who are creative and don't follow a script to get the most out of the students. The teachers who build rapport and discipline with their kids.

There are many, many more things that they forget to mention, many.

No, they have no shame and it embarrases me to be lumped together with our Unity Union.

I Already Knew This: Cuomo is Dangerous for Our Children

Sometimes there is no reason to state what has already been said eloquently. I can totally say these are my words but why plagiarize. 

I came across the NYSAPE page and read the article The Message of 220,000 Opt-Outs Has Not Been Heard:  Elia Calls Opt-Out Parents “Unreasonable” and Cuomo Continues Trampling on the NYS Constitution. The following is an excerpt.

"Parents know that Andrew Cuomo is not part of the solution.  Cuomo is the problem. 
It is Cuomo who forced his unproven teacher evaluation system down parents’ throats.  
It is Cuomo who slashed and underfunded the State Education Department staffing.   
It is Cuomo who accepted 'Big Donor' campaign money and enabled the build-up of a privatized, unaccountable shadow government within the State Education Department –The Regents Research Fellows—who created the “Implementation” mess Cuomo now blames.
It is Cuomo who repeatedly tramples on the New York State Constitution--which gives a NY Governor NO authority over education policy—with his serial habit of forming pro-corporate education reform stacked panels, complete with Washington lobbyists salivating to eliminate parental consent for data profiling of children."

This is in response to Cuomo's latest press release where he states, "I believe the implementation (Common Core) by the State Education Department (SED) has been deeply flawed. The more time goes on, the more I am convinced of this position."

Really? How is that possible? You have berated teachers, put students through excessive test taking, called on parents to not opt out of these tests and now you believe the CC is flawed. I could have told you that a long time ago.

While I am not against the Common Core as standards, I am against a system that expects teachers and students to strictly abide by them. There is the flaw! I know my students and I know when the standards are appropriate or when I need to tweak to help the students meet them.

However, because the CC is coupled with the Danielson Rubric, which in it of itself does not allow for creativity, this is a match made in hell.

Add to this, evaluators (principals and APs) that use them to fulfill their own agendas. It is a recipe for disaster; not a vehicle for the betterment of education here in New York. 

Now, of course, I'm speaking from my own experience. 

I was thrown into this without any professional development. (I sought it on my own!) 

I have a vindictive administrator. (Used Danielson and the Core verbatim and did not leave any room for creativity.) 

It isn't like this everywhere, for sure.

I spent four weeks working in a different school this summer. The administrator basically said, "Do what you need to do. I want them to write. Whatever it takes."

Let me tell you, this experience was a vindication of sorts, one that I truly needed to get my self esteem back.

The kids who came regularly to class all passed the English Regents. Some even passed the Common Core as well. My face hurt from smiling. My body was numb from all the hugs and pats on the back I received when the REDS came in. Oh, and these were English Language learners.

So, this is testimony that as long as a teacher is allowed to be creative and use her own personal library of ideas and strategies, students do learn and meet the Standards.

This experience will also look great when I sue the pants of the DOE and my administrator for the Ineffective I received after 28 years.

The Lies People Tell

On May, 18, parents, teachers and  education advocates attended a “Fight for Their Future” forum. Also in attendance was city School's Chancellor Carmen Fariña. She heard many complaints, and real life issues the DOE faces. Many of the attendees came prepared with important questions.

Fariña addressed many concerns and responded with her "big-picture plans" and added that these reforms would "take at least two years from when she was appointed to see meaningful improvements from her changes."

She admitted that the system needs revamping and answered all the questions posed. When some parents said their special needs children were not receiving the services mandated by their IEP, Fariña told the parents they should email her with their concerns. She made the statement several times yet, she did not give out her email.

You see, the email for the chancellor is right on the DOE website. It is not hidden, nor do you need a special code to get it. I should know. I have been writing to the Chancellor's office for four years now.

Yet, I have yet to receive a response. I haven't even received an automated response acknowledging receipt. I have no idea how to get in touch with the Chancellor. 

Yeah, I can't reach my boss.

Errol Louis, the moderator prompted her to give her email address, but Fariña avoided the question.

For the full article Fariña.

Wow, I Feel So Much Better Now

I want to thank Governor Cuomo for having his priorities straight. I was very worried that he would forget about the 1% of his constituents who are in dire need of his support. I should not have worried. He has taken care to include these constituents in his latest budget.

NY Sales Tax exemption

I can finally go and purchase my yacht, as long as it is at least $230,000. I will only have to pay taxes on $230,000 no matter how much more my yacht costs.

Worried for nothing...

I think I will get

Letter to Cuomo

If you are a NYS teacher or support the efforts of the educators in our state, 

sign this letter. It will tell Governor Cuomo to open communications and 

listen to what those who know education are saying. 

I JUST DID.

nyteacherletter.org

Danielson

One of the many reasons I started this blog was to let everyone know about the inequities that are occurring in NYC public schools on a daily basis. But, one of the major reasons was to share my experience in the system.

Those of you who have been following my blog know that I have been teaching for 27 years and that it wasn't till I came to work at my present school, four years ago, that I had ever been given an unsatisfactory rating on a classroom observation.

That all changed. Since my tenure in this school, I have been harassed, yelled at, called incompetent, and literally made to feel like a failure on a daily basis. All this while the principal smiled at me. I have grieved. I have written the chancellor several times and have had no response. I have written several superintendents, all to no avail.

When Danielson was all but a rumor, this principal began rating our lessons using the rubric and telling us how to write our lesson plans, which components she wanted included and if any were missing, it was an unsatisfactory lesson.

One day, just to prove a point, she walked in  and I performed a lesson that the AP had observed and rated satisfactory. It was on elements of fiction so I switched the element for that lesson. She rated it unsatisfactory. When I showed her the satisfactory lesson she responded, "Well, I don't know what he saw that would make this a satisfactory lesson." By the way, the AP was sitting right next to her.

Last year when Danielson was finally instituted, I received many ineffective and developing ratings according to her interpretation of the rubric. She went as far as to tell me that I did not know my students. And, even better than that, "You have knowledge of your content area."
I was humiliated!


On a daily basis, I work with English language learners who are new to the country, as well as learning and emotionally disabled students. Sometimes several students fall into all these categories at the same time. I worked without the support of an experienced special educator or at least a paraprofessional who could help when I had to differentiate instruction. When I asked her why this was the case she said that the special education teachers needed to be in the classrooms that ended on a state test. I didn't need one because the English regents doesn't happen till junior year. I was appalled.

At the end of the year, after all the tallying and the Danielson equation was computed, I received a rating of developing. I cried all the way home that day.

From Developing to Effective
Teachers work with the least amount of resources and yet are expected to work miracles. Well, I guess I did because after all was said and done, my final rating was effective. Part of the evaluation equation is student success on their tests. I was connected to what is called a MOSL, measure of student learning. All of my students exceeded expectations. Part of my connection was also the state English regents and the majority of the students passed. I had been their teacher two years prior so I had a hand in their success.

This evaluation system makes no sense and what Cuomo wants is even more nonsensical. I think Diane Ravitch said it best when she said, "...excellent teachers will be rated ineffective because they teach slow learners, and mediocre teachers may get high ratings because they teach in wealthy districts. Many teachers who are rated ineffective one year may be rated effective the next."

I know I am a Highly Effective teacher. If not, I would not have the relationships I have established with students who have graduated or with the parents who thank me for their child's progress. I know I am Highly Effective despite Danielson saying otherwise. My principal chooses who she deems effective and also discriminates against those of us who have experience (ARE OLD) and who she cannot manipulate.

Alarming!!! How did Cuomo get reelected?

Andrew Cuomo to New York State: Your Teachers Stink. I Will Fire Them. I will Break Their Union.

How dare he! The comments of this man are offensive and detrimental to the low morale that already exists in the school system of the city of New York.

Like Bloomberg before him, I invite you, Mr, Cuomo to take a week, if you can last that long teaching in one of our public schools. Choose anywhere: the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens... I want to see how long you will last trying to reach every single student regardless of reading level, new to the city with no English and some having received no formal education from the country they come.

I would love to see you constantly going to new professional developments where the only thing we are learning is to follow an impossible Danielson rubric and are being ripped apart because of it.

No development to help with those needy students that require special attention and cannot receive it because there is one teacher to 30, all of whom have learning styles that differ from one another.

Our measly paychecks go into professional courses that actually help in finding new solutions to reach every student, The DOE nor the state Department do not facilitate this for us. It comes from our pockets. And, guess what, I have two children a mortgage and a car note. I also have to feed and clothe them. 

Yet, I still take online courses devoted to the Common Core, differentiation, and Danielson. Whoever found her to be the end all be all is insane and not an educated person.

Let me continue with the fact that I sponsor underprivileged students who cannot even afford a notebook or a pen. This year, I am sponsoring a graduating student who not only hasn't got the means but who lives in a shelter. I had never spent so much money since my own two girls graduated.

Don't get me started on Teacher's choice. Every year it dwindles. Last year was a joke; this year we received $77. This is meant to supplement the hundreds we already spend on our students.

My favorite line form the article was: 

"Governor Cuomo’s teacher evaluation plan is set to punish teachers for not graduating vastly more students ready to succeed in college, as measured by one test score, than currently attend college."

Not all students want to go to college. Do you want to do the right thing: bring back specialized schools that allow students to earn certificates and upon graduation enter the work force. I had a great student several years ago with a 3.50 GPA. Guess what was her dream? She wanted to be a mechanic!

My next point of contention shows how little you know about the inner city:

"Following Governor Cuomo’s logic it is not that these schools and their teachers struggle with the long established deprivations of poverty upon their student population and would benefit from aggressive plans of economic renewal and integration; it is that their teachers are ineffective and need to be fired.

Have you ever heard of gaps? Gaps that need to be closed so that Black and Latinos can catch up to their suburban counterparts. Even in the suburbs you will find these disparities!

You are so out of touch, Mr. Cuomo, You really need a reality check! I am personally inviting you to my high school; if you dare. Come in as a visitor, not as the Governor of the State of New York. Maybe then you will see how hard we work reaching every student and giving the best of ourselves.

For the full article, follow the link: http://danielskatz.net/