Hold My Chalk

I don't care who you are or what teacher prep program you went through, undoubtedly you have made a statement like that at some point.  If you were completely honest you would probably admit to having said that multiple times.  The sad truth is that no teacher prep program can truly prepare you for what you will face when you have your own classroom. In this state, as in many others, the education system has a tendency to receive some bad press.  Often times publicized in the state newspapers, both in hard copy & digital versions.  Many times when that happens, the digital version has an open comment section.  Last year I made it a priority to read many of those extra comments, but this year I have chosen to ignore most of those.  Why? One main reason, there is always someone that makes a comment similar to "Any idiot can teach."  These comments deeply offended me, and any entry year teacher quickly figures out how inaccurate that statement is. ...

One thing I try to do is learn from as many people and circumstances as possible.  Two days last week I worked alongside principals from districts across the state.  One of those principals happened to have the distinction of being the administrator of a school that recently received an A on their report card. I took some time to find out what distinguished his school from mine.  I quickly discovered that our socio-economic status was very similar, both schools in the 80% or higher range.  His school has about 70% of the students that speak a language other than english at home, which is higher than my school.  At this point the similarities begin to disappear. His school is a charter school and subsequently has some different requirements & ideals that can be enforced.  His school is considered a college prep school and students must apply for admission.  At his school, there is a required amount of parent support, as well as an attendance require...

It seems that every politician and billionaire knows the way to the Emerald City, the home of the great and mighty Oz.  When we get to the city, the gatekeeper gives us our emerald glasses to wear the entire time we are there.  Without them the majesty and splendor is unable to be seen. Dorothy wake up! This dream of an all knowing, all powerful wizard wielding power from a utopian metropolis is just that, a dream.  For those that know the story, the Wizard of Oz was nothing more than a snake oil salesman.  He was no different than any other person when the glasses were removed and the pageantry died down. The political experts and billionaires are modern day wizards in cities of emerald.  Just like Dorothy was forced to follow the yellow brick road to a destination only appreciated with colored glasses, teachers and students are forced down the road of testing and "rigorous" standards. The trip down that golden road was never necessary, because Dorothy held the...