This semester I have the undeniable schedule of teaching 5 courses in a school day divided into 4 periods (one of which is my prep period). Doing the math? Crazy, huh? Impossible you say? Nope. I teach 2 split level courses. During a day where I'm supposed to be teaching 3 courses and preparing for those three during the fourth period, I'm teaching a total of 5 courses during 3 periods and attempting to photocopy, mark and plan during the remaining period. This inevitably flows over into my own time after my official work day is ended by the school bell.
I admit, there are undeniable benefits to my schedule. For instance, teaching two 11/12 splits means that those grade 12 level courses are running, instead of being cancelled. This means that I am able to help my grade 12 students develop artwork so they can prepare for their post-secondary portfolio interviews. It also means that I have the possibility of growing a program by allowing the students within them to show off to their peers what they are now able to produce.
I am trying to remind myself of this, and of the fact that as a school we lost a number of teachers to surplus. We are down students; everyone is down section (class) numbers; there are new teachers coming out of teacher's college who have been looking for up to 4 years and still don't have a full time teaching job. I should be happy to have a job. I should be happy to have a job with at least more job security than many others in today's economy. I should be happy I'm teaching art. I should be happy to be doing what I love. I am...but it's hard to remember my new mantra at the end of a very long day when Tim Hudak calls my home with a recorded message telling me that he wants to "let teachers teach".
Background: Ontario (the province in Canada in which I live and teach) is having an election to decide who our next premier (leader) will be. There are 3 forerunners. The first is our current Premier, Dalton McGuinty - he's a Liberal and has done well for Education during the recent years that he's been in power. The second is Andrea Horwath, of the NDPs - the last time the NDPs were in power there were some shake ups within education and they were quickly voted out. Please note that the NDPs have recently been promoting themselves as the 'vote for the other guy' party. The third choice is Tim Hudak, the Conservative leader. He is an interesting character who always has interesting things to say...He has put education at the forefront of this election.
He makes it public that he's an ex-teacher, so you'd think his education plan would be positive and helpful. Having had an inside view on what a teacher's daily life is like, he'd be able to meet and provide for the needs of schools and teachers. I feel that there's a secret he's not telling us - something along the lines of why he got out of teaching (I keep expecting him to drop the bomb that he actually hated teaching or left the teaching profession because he got kicked out), which would help to explain why he's come at education with his guns blazing and his spin team using their finest editing skills. His line is "let teachers teach".
Now that sounds great! Instead of overwhelming teachers with needless minutia and paperwork, let teachers teach! Let us make our own judgements as to what our students will be captured by. Let us focus on giving our students the opportunity for more 1 on 1 time by lowering class sizes. Let us spend our time teaching the next generation the skills they need with updated technology. Let teachers have the resources they need to properly capture the students' imagination and creativity - like textbooks, supplies and budgets that meet our needs. Let teachers, who are in our schools' classrooms, be the best judgement as to what they need to teach. Let teachers teach...period.
Instead, "let teachers teach" means something QUITE different to Tim Hudak...what he's not telling us is how he finishes the sentence. "Let teachers teach" is followed by a lot more than a period. It means that instead of teaching 3/4 classes a day, teachers will go back to teaching 4/4. That means no prep period. The last Ontario Conservative government that tried to do that saw thousands of teachers walk away from the job and saw many more made redundant because less teachers were needed to teach the same number of students. Teachers were exhausted. Teachers were literally dying on the job from exhaustion. Teachers stopped being able to use their prep period to mark, copy and prepare for their classes and had to do these things after school. Teachers were forced to choose between teaching and coaching. All extra-curricular activities (sports, dramatic productions, choirs, clubs, etc.) were all put on hold because teachers had to use the time they have previously set aside for supervising these extra activities (many of which have been proven to motivate those students who are at risk of failing and/or dropping out of school) for what they would normally do on their prep period...and had to prepare for an additional class as well. Teachers suffered, students suffered, education suffered. Hudak, an ex-teacher, wants to re-instate this policy and everything it brings with it.
Additionally, Hudak wants to increase class sizes (that means that what little time a teacher has in 75 minutes for each of their 28 students, will now have to be divided even further). He has not said where he will cap class numbers. He wants to change the ability that the teachers' union has to negotiate for pay raises, so that they cannot bargain for even cost of living increases (not to mention anything beyond than that). If Hudak wants to do that to the teachers' union, I ask you which union is next on his list for eliminating wage increases as a bargaining tool?
This is all only the tip of the iceberg. To continue with the analogy, the majority of an iceberg's mass is unseen, under the water. I make the same comparison with Tim Hudak. Much of what he has in store for Ontario is yet to be seen. If he is allowed to rise to power within our provincial government, none of us know what is truly in store.
My solace for my 5/4 timetable is that once first semester is over, my schedule goes back again to 3/4. I am teaching 3 straight classes and my fourth is a prep period. If Tim Hudak is allowed to govern, there will be no respite for anyone until he is taken out of power. Just as it was too late for the Titanic after it hit the iceberg, I say that it will be too late for us and for education if we are hit with Tim Hudak.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
First day's glance to the last
I've always found it interesting to watch students the first day. Each group of students reacts totally differently to their first day of school.
Grade 9s are often shell-shocked. I usually describe them as "deer in the headlights". They are worried about getting lost, they're overwhelmed and they're trying to be cool all at the same time.
Grade 10s walk with a bit more assurance...with a bit of a swagger. They aren't the bottom of the totem pole anymore. They know their way around the school, but are still a little anxious about what grade 10 will hold and whether they are going to get those really great teachers they liked (or, gasp, those teachers they didn't like) for their classes this year. Grade 10s are a little trickier because they are a mix of wanting to show you they aren't those 'grade 9s', but they're trying to start the year on a good note.
Grade 11s are a little more self-assured. Grade 11s can walk into a class and still not be too sure - grade 11 is when a lot of their optional courses kick in. Many new optional courses open to them mean that they're happy to be in your class because it's THEIR choice they're there. Many new optional courses open to them also means that these are brand new subjects so they are also a little overwhelmed with new information.
Grade 12s are an interesting bunch. They walk into your class understanding that it's okay if they're excited to see you; they'll ask you how your summer went and actually be interested in the answer. Grade 12s are also (usually) focussed on the year ahead because they feel that their marks matter more than last year. In fact, they do, but since our government has granted universities and colleges freedom to look at an applicant's grade 11 marks, they don't stand alone.
Either way, most students (regardless of grade) all usually start the year with good intentions and with good motives. Talk to them in a week, in a month and inevitably there will be students who tell you that they don't know what happened, they are failing.
There's something I say to all my classes each semester's first day; if they attend class regularly, submit their assignments and listen to my feedback throughout the year I promise them that they will not fail my class. It is the truth and, for me at least, it's obvious as a path for success. The students often feel differently. They treat my promise with something akin to disbelief. It's as though no one has sat down with them and said that attendance, submission of your best work and bettering each assignment by listening to teacher feedback are the keys to success in school.
In truth, I don't remember anyone actually sitting my down and TELLING me these things would lead to my success. I just knew that if I didn't skip class, tried my hardest, listened to constructive criticism and tried to incorporate it in my work, I'd do just fine. In fact, I did very well indeed. Where has that common sense gone today in a group of students who seem to think I'm letting them in on some secret to success? Why don't students know these things?
Maybe our expectations have been lowered. Maybe we aren't holding the students to a high enough standard. Maybe the problem is that we are being proactive instead of being forced into reactiveness.
Instead of giving students an opportunity to recoup lost credits after bad choices were made throughout the semester, we let them in to the 'secret' of success right from the beginning. Maybe we shouldn't just hold them accountable for their bad decisions, but show them ahead of time what happens if they make smart choices and EXACTLY what those smart choices look like.
Let them succeed (or fail)...but let them do it with their eyes wide open. Let the end result clearly show which path is preferable as well as exactly how to get there. Let us not just outline how to fail, but how to pass!
Grade 9s are often shell-shocked. I usually describe them as "deer in the headlights". They are worried about getting lost, they're overwhelmed and they're trying to be cool all at the same time.
Grade 10s walk with a bit more assurance...with a bit of a swagger. They aren't the bottom of the totem pole anymore. They know their way around the school, but are still a little anxious about what grade 10 will hold and whether they are going to get those really great teachers they liked (or, gasp, those teachers they didn't like) for their classes this year. Grade 10s are a little trickier because they are a mix of wanting to show you they aren't those 'grade 9s', but they're trying to start the year on a good note.
Grade 11s are a little more self-assured. Grade 11s can walk into a class and still not be too sure - grade 11 is when a lot of their optional courses kick in. Many new optional courses open to them mean that they're happy to be in your class because it's THEIR choice they're there. Many new optional courses open to them also means that these are brand new subjects so they are also a little overwhelmed with new information.
Grade 12s are an interesting bunch. They walk into your class understanding that it's okay if they're excited to see you; they'll ask you how your summer went and actually be interested in the answer. Grade 12s are also (usually) focussed on the year ahead because they feel that their marks matter more than last year. In fact, they do, but since our government has granted universities and colleges freedom to look at an applicant's grade 11 marks, they don't stand alone.
Either way, most students (regardless of grade) all usually start the year with good intentions and with good motives. Talk to them in a week, in a month and inevitably there will be students who tell you that they don't know what happened, they are failing.
There's something I say to all my classes each semester's first day; if they attend class regularly, submit their assignments and listen to my feedback throughout the year I promise them that they will not fail my class. It is the truth and, for me at least, it's obvious as a path for success. The students often feel differently. They treat my promise with something akin to disbelief. It's as though no one has sat down with them and said that attendance, submission of your best work and bettering each assignment by listening to teacher feedback are the keys to success in school.
In truth, I don't remember anyone actually sitting my down and TELLING me these things would lead to my success. I just knew that if I didn't skip class, tried my hardest, listened to constructive criticism and tried to incorporate it in my work, I'd do just fine. In fact, I did very well indeed. Where has that common sense gone today in a group of students who seem to think I'm letting them in on some secret to success? Why don't students know these things?
Maybe our expectations have been lowered. Maybe we aren't holding the students to a high enough standard. Maybe the problem is that we are being proactive instead of being forced into reactiveness.
Instead of giving students an opportunity to recoup lost credits after bad choices were made throughout the semester, we let them in to the 'secret' of success right from the beginning. Maybe we shouldn't just hold them accountable for their bad decisions, but show them ahead of time what happens if they make smart choices and EXACTLY what those smart choices look like.
Let them succeed (or fail)...but let them do it with their eyes wide open. Let the end result clearly show which path is preferable as well as exactly how to get there. Let us not just outline how to fail, but how to pass!
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