Trying to find a job!
So I’m not the world’s most consistent blogger, but it’s not like I had the time while I was student teaching. I had wanted to write a kind of commentary on my student teaching, but I couldn’t find the time between student teaching and working a couple of jobs. By the way, if anyone ever tells you teachers only work during the school hours, they haven’t the slightest clue what they’re talking about. Needless to say, my internship was hard work and I’m glad it’s over.
I’ve spent the summer trying to find a job and working at A&B Lumber, which has me more and more grateful that I went to college to do something I love. I’ve been lucky, I had the same summer job through all four years of college.
I couldn’t believe how busy I was, I spent a goodly amount of time planning after school and making copies in the morning. If you frequent Boarders you probably saw me in the café working away while nursing a coffee and a snack. Some college students get addicted to alcohol, I got addicted to coffee. Not caffeine, but coffee.
Down to business.
We hear a lot of talk about the problems with schools, and how we can fix them. Some people talk about parents, some about money, others about teachers, and still others want to demolish the public schools entirely.
While each of these points has valid parts, none of them really get at the problem as I see it. What we really need to fix the problems with education is a paradigm shift in society that places real value on education, and well, values. I first noticed this while I was at Plymouth, students with an utter lack of respect for the school, the buildings, the staff, or the professors. Not everybody, but it doesn’t take many. While I was at Plymouth students rioted twice because the Red Sox won the World Series, and I was embarrassed. People steal and vandalize and don’t care, and I was angry because I went to college to get away from people like that.
I told you that story so I could tell you this story. Those traits don’t just show up when kids take off for college, they are seeded, nurtured, and grow while kids are in elementary, middle, and high school. While I was student teaching I could pick out he ones who would become those vandals, thieves, and riot leaders. These kids get satisfaction and recognition from their actions, which are only encouraged in the media. This is one of those things that’s going to offend some people, I know, so just think about it, and ask yourself why it is that the majority of us (I hope) are so silent when it comes to these things.
I like your point about
I like your point about needing a paradigm shift. I would like to see society shift towards learning, not necessarily education as we know it. Kids by nature love learning, how do we drain it out of so many by the time they reach middle school? Not all kids are academics. These kids start school with the same desire to do well as every other kid, find out it's hard and they are not good at it and when they don't "get it" after a few years, tire of trying.
Being a person who had things come very easy to them academically (most things), and the mother of the nicest kid in the world with a reading disability, I understand this now. I watched that kid struggle every day for years, but as an adult, he still can't read comfortably. He didn't finish high school yet, by that time, he quit on the inside. He stayed until his senior year, and left to do a night school program, where he is going back.
When he was taking the night school class, I walked in on him and his friends who were also taking the night school class, and they were talking about the class. Not school, not who did what that day, not which teacher gave them a hard time, but WHAT THEY READ IN CLASS. And their homework - not how much they had to do, BUT THE MEANING OF WHAT THEY WERE READING. I was so excited for them all. I don't really know why, but they were reading an interesting story, not babyfied so they could read it, they didn't have to structure sentences, or find subject/predicate, noun/verbs, just read it and write about it. And they did it. And passed. And even though he has one more class to take to get his diploma, it is more important to me that he had that one class that he liked. Because earning your high school diploma means nothing if you can't read. But liking one class can make you want more, and once you learn something, once you enjoy something, it is yours forever.
If we focus on teaching the kids to learn, they will do so much better. I remember working with him on history - 5th grade, 8th grade, 11th? grade, US history. I remember memorizing all those explorers, dates, etc., when I was a kid. I got A's on all the quizzes and tests, it meant nothing then and means nothing now. In college, I took a history class, we read newspaper articles from the Revolutionary war era. Real articles, real stories, real people. We understood why things happened. Memorizing things doesn't teach you to think, to understand. A's are easier to get when memorizing, but thinking is mind broadening and useful.
Our elementary schools are so focused on facts we miss teaching our kids to think. I don't think schools are to blame for all that is wrong with society - the example of the students at Plymouth is perfect. These are kids who have more than mine ever will, but my son and his friends have a respect for others and kindness for those less fortunate that some of these kids will never have.
And now I know - the day is close when he will want to learn again. I just wish he had never lost it. Good luck on the job hunting, it is a great learning experience.
Welcome Aboard!
How non-PC you are!!
I have grown weary of a society that seemingly as a whole thinks it's every man for themselves and that it doesn't matter how you get there or who you mow down to make it and for every bad behavior there is an excuse.
These are learned behaviors. Learned from parents who believe it's too much work and/or too harsh on the children to educate them on the value of hard work, taking responsibility for ones decisions and treating others with at least some decency if not respect. Learned from a public school system that is forced to push kids through school because it's damaging to their fragile egos to "fail" them, and who are also forced to use weak, ineffective forms of discipline because of fears of lawsuits and accusations of cruelty. Learned by celebrities and the media who cover them that bad behavior and strange antics will make you famous and probably even rich. Be an a... and you too can be on TV!
Our kids are bombarded by this everyday in just about every aspect of their lives. Maybe I'm not the world's greatest Mom, but I do think it's vital that my children learn to be decent, productive members of society where thier behaviors do speak volumes about who they are. Maybe we're in the minority, but thankfully, I don't think we are alone.
Critical Observations
Greetings Young Sir,
To my mind it is impossible to comment on just about any aspect of current society from any sort of reasonable, adaptive, set of morals and ethics, without offending large portions of the population. We are in very much more trouble than people would like to consider. It is refreshing to hear your voice on this subset of the overall problem, and definite encouragement to the maintaining of some modicum of hope for the future of society. The challenges facing a young educator today are certainly daunting. I encourage you to maintain your critical observation, and find efficient ways to communicate it to effect change. There of course is the challenge, for offense is generally not taken kindly, nor does it lend its’ self to modifying behavior. The only thing I might advise it that, when offense is unavoidable, let it be the content and not the delivery that offends. To that end this post of yours is commendable. Good luck, good sir.
By the way a video I’ve been recommending to all educators that I come in contact with… "Did You Know?"
Bravo, Alex. I am an alumnus of Plymouth and I will tell you that it was the same story when I attended.
Many would say that you are stereotyping people on your judgment of which students would become vandals, thieves and not leaders. I would say that your instincts are probably right on.
The media and moral relativism (or as you called it, 'values'), the important things are blurred by political wrangling on both sides of the spectrum.
You will offend people with your comments but it is refreshing to hear a different perspective and a little honesty. I do not envy you at all when it comes to teaching. Mainstreaming has muddied the waters of learning as teachers take so much time to deal with issues related to the "attention deficit" that you mention.
Good luck with your search for a position.......keep working hard and you will get there!