Harry Potter and the Urban School Nightmare

Oh Dear

2010-08-06T12:24:00.003+01:00

Anyone who's been a reader of my blog knows I've been M.I.A. for a while (and not the good kind). There are lots of reasons for this, but essentially it boils down to the fact that I wasn't enjoying blogging anymore. I felt that my (former!) school was just heading in such a wrong direction, and that the echo chamber in the comments was getting more and more negative. So I stopped.

I wasn't sure that I was going to ever come back. But then I got this comment on my last post:

Anonymous: Perhaps Harry has gone the way of two of his buds, Dee Does the District and DC Teacher Chic. They've shut their doors and hit the road. Typical TFA behavior, actually, to realize that it takes a lot more than enthusiasm to change things in DCPS and decide to quit for other "opportunities".

Well.

I haven't "hit the road." I've transferred to another DCPS High School in a low income neighborhood. So scomp on you.

BUT, I'd like to address this comment on a deeper level. When I was a first year teacher, I was terrified because I had no idea what I was doing. Do you know what I wanted the most? HELP. I wanted someone with experience to take me under his/her wing and give me guidance. Instead, from most of my more experienced colleagues I got polite disinterest, and from a few I got attitudes like the above commenter's. It wasn't until my second year, when the school was zero-based and half the staff was new, that more positive collegial relationships developed (the majority of the new staff were veteran educators, just new to the building).

The reason so many TFA and DCTF and new teachers in general leave DCPS isn't the kids -- it's the adults! A lot of us move to charter schools because we feel more confident that there we'll find administrators and staff that are professional and supportive. I'm lucky enough to have found that within DCPS. But if I hadn't found that here, and I had moved on to other "opportunities," that would not make me a bad person. And if you are a teacher who has moved on to another field, and people are making you feel bad about it, just remember:

Anyway, I don't know if this blog post means "I'm back," but I just wanted to update readers and stomp out rumors. Maybe I'll continue to post about what life is like in my new school. Hopefully the posts will be more positive. Enjoy the last few weeks of summer!

Paycheck Fail

2010-02-16T21:32:00.004Z

As many teachers who do not have direct deposit in DCPS are aware, our checks were not put in the mail last week and were instead delivered to our schools at the end of the day on Friday. We were all alerted to this fact via an email sent out on Thursday of last week. The email starts thusly:

"You are receiving this email because our records show that you have failed
to sign up for direct deposit and currently receive a paper check for your
payroll. Due to the inclement weather and resulting District closure for
business, payroll checks for Friday, February 12, 2010 (Group 2) did not
print on Wednesday and subsequently did not get to the US Post Office."

Now, I have no problem with the fact that the checks were not put in the mail. Snowly Cow (as I've taken to calling it) was a hardcore storm, and record snowfall means that some things just don't work perfectly. I get it, and I have no complaints. I was able to get my paycheck this morning, and all is well.

Some of you may be wondering, "Harry, why didn't you just sign up for direct deposit? It's so easy." Well, reader, allow me to tell you. When I first began working DCPS, signing up for direct deposit involved going to the bank, having something notarized, and physically bringing it down to 825. It was a major hassle -- a hassle I nevertheless endured because I wanted direct deposit. 825, in turn, mis-handled my paperwork. I never got direct deposit, but my paychecks stopped coming. I dealt with this issue, which took multiple weeks to get resolved, and determined that I would simply cash my own checks, thankyouverymuch.

So now I come to the main point of this post: I did not FAIL to sign up for direct deposit, DCPS did. How, in comparison to that, can I be said to have "failed" to do anything? Let me reiterate -- I have no problem with the delay in getting my paycheck. Snow happens. I bristle only at the assertion that this inconvenience resulted from my personal failure.

You'll all be relieved, I'm sure, to learn that I have just this moment signed up for direct deposit using the new PeopleSoft online program. It was, indeed, quite easy. Now we just have to see if it works...

Harry Potter and the Robocall of Fury!

2010-02-08T01:53:00.005Z

I've kind of been M.I.A. from this blog for a little while, but I couldn't let George Parker's Robodrama call tonight pass without giving it appropriate mockery. Did he not call anyone before sending that out? In case anyone is not aware, schools are closed tomorrow, a decision that was announced after initially declaring a two-hour delay. But this didn't stop Parker from sending out a robocall with belligerently inaccurate information. My personal favorite part was this little monument to run-on sentences:

"To all teachers who feel the mayor's decision not to close schools is ridiculous, I encourage you to put your safety first by staying home and calling in to your school to let them know you won't be in because you have the right to take leave and put your safety first."

Oh well. Can't be too pissed -- snow day!

UPDATE: Apparently we can be too pissed.

Somehow, commenters have interpreted my post as meaning that I don't think schools should be closed today. I do. It's too dangerous to get to school, and many teachers and students are still snowed in their homes. Schools should be closed. Schools are closed, so I'm not mad.

I wrote what I wrote because I thought the robocall from George Parker was ridiculous -- especially considering the fact that I received it more than an hour after I learned that schools were closed. I agree with his point -- schools should be (and are) closed today. But an angry call to action sounds silly once the other side has capitulated. If you'd like to be furious at Michelle Rhee for keeping schools open (which, incidentally, she didn't), then have at it. Personally, I'm going sledding.

Apparently Blame is Contagious

2009-12-10T17:50:00.002Z

I think I just solved Michelle Rhee's PR problems.

OK, not me so much as two researchers from California whose study argues that blaming other people is contagious. This article gives details about the study, which found that when people were exposed to articles by people who blamed failure on others rather than accepting responsibility, the subjects were more likely to blame others for their own personal (and totally unrelated) failures. I'm not sure I'm doing the study justice, so read the article.

I think this explains all the vitriol that we see against Rhee (whether you like her or not, we can all agree that there are people who say downright nasty stuff about her -- usually on blogs*). People feel (justifiably, in a lot of cases) that Rhee and her administration blame all of the problems in DCPS on teachers. Applying the results of the study, this likely makes teachers less likely to acknowledge their professional shortcomings -- we all have them -- and more likely to lash out against administration.

I'm certainly guilty. In numerous staff meetings, my administration has told teachers that our students are failing because we're not using engaging instruction or making meaningful connections. My response, rather than acknowledging that there are times when my lessons aren't engaging, is to blame student failure on others by saying, "the kids don't come and the administrators don't support us on discipline issues." Of course, the latter comment is true -- attendance is terrible and administrators at my school often do nothing with discipline issues that have been referred tot hem. But sometimes the former is true, too.

No one will be focused on finding solutions while other people are playing the blame game -- we keep passing finger-pointing around like a virus. So, Chancellor Rhee, my suggestion is to accept responsibility for the fact that sometimes DCPS administration does stuff wrong. Sometimes principals do their jobs poorly and sometimes downtown makes silly decisions that inconvenience teachers and students. My guess -- based on this research -- is that more teachers will start to accept more responsibility for what goes on in their classrooms.

* My favorite part of the article is this:

[The] experiment may explain why Internet comments so rapidly disintegrate into vitriolic name-calling—because blaming keeps getting passed on in different contexts. "If you read one comment by someone who is really being a jerk, you might not reply. But then you read another comment, then blast someone else entirely."

Ha. Guilty.

Does my insurance cover insanity?

2009-11-19T17:41:00.006Z

Yesterday we had our monthly staff meeting after school. Interestingly enough, the first thirty minutes of this mandatory whole-school meeting were dedicated not to raising test scores, preparing for IMPACT observations, or discussing important events coming up at our school. Rather, we spent time talking about all of the exciting ways Aflac insurance can work for us! Seriously?! I don't need to come to work to hear a commercial. This staff meeting is required - not some optional sales pitch - and the Aflac presentation went long, so we had even less time for the rest of the agenda (which consisted of such clearly unimportant topics as "How and when to report child abuse" and discussing our "school safety plan").

I don't know that I've ever seen a group of teachers more irate. Instead of lesson planning, collaborating, grading, or doing ANYTHING useful, they tried to sell us insurance. I was sitting next to one colleague who just kept saying, "I'm losing it. I'm just losing it." Personally, I used the time to write and solve my own polynomial long division problems. I felt this was more important that learning how much Aflac would pay me if I got cancer.

($5000, by the way.)

Harry Potter and the Totally Arbitrary Evaluation

2009-11-17T23:03:00.003Z

Last week I was observed by my principal and a master educator. I haven't had my meeting with the master educator yet to discuss my evaluation (sorry -- no juicy numerical details), but I did meet with my principal to discuss my scores and I left that meeting even more convinced that some administrators in this school system just don't have what it takes.

The lesson I got observed on went OK, but not great. I had split the class up into two groups based on their performance on a mini-assessment, and was doing differentiated lessons based on those groupings. While there were no major problems, the class wasn't terribly well organized. Essentially, whenever I left one group to work with the other, the first group didn't really accomplish much. Nothing terrible happened, but I hadn't set up structures to ensure that the groups continued working even when I walked away. All this to say that I expected my evaluation to be OK, but not stellar.

Wrong. I received a score of 3.8 (out of a perfect 4), which puts me in the "highly effective" category. Now, if I'd actually earned that score, I'd be pleased. But I didn't. My lesson showed me to be effective, but not outstanding. So why did I get the score I got? Because my principal has decided that she likes me. Of course, this isn't really a problem for me (except that I'm not really getting any feedback for improvement, I suppose). But it is a problem for the people she's decided she doesn't like. Some teachers at my school are unhappy with their scores, and for some I don't really doubt that it's because they're not based in reality.

I firmly believe in accountability for teachers. Teachers should be held to high standards of excellence. Someone should be able to walk into your classroom at any time and see what you're doing, and you should be doing your job reasonably well. I firmly believe that teachers who aren't meeting an acceptable level of performance should be put on an improvement plan and, if that doesn't work, transitioned out of the classroom (read: fired). Kids deserve that much. But I'm also coming to realize that such a practice won't ever happen fairly until we have administrators who are willing and able to do that job. If teachers are the single biggest factor in improving student achievement (as I -- and Michelle Rhee -- think they are), then aren't administrators the single biggest factor in improving teacher effectiveness?

(P.S. I think some will read this post and say, "That's just what we've been saying forever! Rhee is terrible! That's why the union protects us from arbitrary firings!" Well, I still disagree with those statements. There are way too many teachers in this system who are grossly incompetent, and I applaud Michelle Rhee's fervent attempts to rid our system of them. I'm just saying we won't be able to do that until administrators are on board with doing their jobs well. That is all.)

Harry Potter and General Malaise

2009-11-10T01:24:00.002Z

Frequent readers have probably noticed that I haven't been posting much recently. While I'd like to provide some ridiculous story about why I haven't been posting -- that I was threatened or told to be quiet or terminated or attacked by a pack of bees -- I cannot tell a lie.

I'm just frustrated. And burned out. And tired. I don't know if it's because of Impact (don't think so) or the forever stalled contract negotiations (maybe) or my administration (YES!!!), but I just feel really de-motivated. One thing I can say is that it's definitely not the kids. My kids this year are doing really well, and I've somehow managed to build a really positive culture in my classes. They try hard, and for the most part they're learning a lot. But damn if I'm just not satisfied.

It's getting to the point where I'm thinking about what else I could be doing, and trying to figure out if I want to stay teaching (or at least teaching at my school) next year. On the one hand, I don't like falling into the stereotype of Teach for America teachers who sweep in on a wave of idealism and then leave after we've worked that glassy-eyed naivete out of our system. But on the other hand, do I really want to continue working in a place where I feel unvalued, unengaged, and unhappy?

So anyway, I haven't been posting recently. However, in this week alone I'm being observed by my principal and a DCPS master educator. So chances are at least one person is going to say or do something bizarre enough to get a blog post. Stay tuned for that!

Where have all the children gone?

2009-10-19T21:59:00.002+01:00

Our school's enrollment is down, and attendance is lower than I've ever seen it. When I first started at my school, I routinely had between 25 and 30 students in my class each day. Now, I'm lucky if I get 12. Today, less than half of my students were in class, and last week the average was 55%. Now, the kids who are there every day are learning like FIENDS, but at this rate 45% of my kids are going to fail. So what gives?

Is attendance down at other schools? Anyone have any ideas? I've called home, posted notes in STARS (our student attendance and tracking system), and referred students to attendance counselors, but I'm not seeing much of a change. Is it some massive Rhee protest that no one's told us about?

I'm also getting a little annoyed with my students' parents. I've called the home of every kid in my classes, but haven't always had success in reaching parents. Apparently working phone numbers are a hot commodity. Even without a phone call, though, parents should be aware that their kids aren't in school. I've seen my students lie -- they aren't good at it. No homework, no assignments, no tests or grades or anything coming home -- you'd think parents would figure it out. So I'm frustrated, annoyed, and more than a little lonely. Where are my kids!?

What does PSAT stand for (part deux)

2009-10-15T00:18:00.003+01:00

Last year, when my blog was in its infancy and no one except for my wife and my mom (hi mom!) read it, I wrote a post about the PSAT. My thoughts on the matter haven't changed at all in the past year, so I'm reproducing the post in its entirety. Lazy? Sure. But hell, I'm tired.

What does PSAT stand for?

If you answered Practice SAT, then, OK, fine, you are technically correct. However, I think the real answer is "Pretty Stupid-Ass Thinking."

Today, every child in my school (and in most high schools in DC) took the PSAT. Every single child. Even 9th graders with learning disabilities who can't read. Even children who do not know their multiplication tables, let alone any form of algebra. Every child.

The PSAT should be optional for 9th and 10th graders (there are some who could really benefit from the practice). It should be required for 11th graders (because that is when it counts for the National Merit Scholarship). But it should not be required for all children.

Call me crazy ("you're crazy, Mr. Potter") but I don't think that children need to take a test that they have no chance of doing well on when it doesn't count for anything. I'm all for high academic expectations, but there are 9th graders who can't read, and therefore cannot answer reading comprehension questions. Forcing them to try to do so will not work for anyone. A teacher down the hall from me asked her students to write one paragraph to our principal explaining how taking the test made them feel. All of the responses were things like "it made me feel stupid" or "it made me think I won't go to a good college."

Also, the PSAT costs money. It was free to our students because it was paid for by DC taxpayers. So, good work DCPS. We just paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to make tens of thousands of students feel dumb. I bet we could find a cheaper way of doing that...

People don't actually get "race cards," right?

2009-10-06T00:26:00.007+01:00

So here's the thing about this RIF: it sucks. I get that there isn't money to pay people, but I think the whole thing went down in a way that can only be described as "icky." First, it was supposed to happen on Wednesday. Then it didn't. It finally went down on Friday, and I got the impression that my administration didn't have a plan for it. There was zero communication between admin and staff, which was disconcerting and unprofessional. The whole thing is gross and I don't like it.

Apparently, I'm not alone. The (admittedly small, egomaniacal, and usually bizarre -- myself included) DC teacher blogosphere has been blowing up with allegations that race and age were motivators for the RIF -- specifically, people are accusing the chancellor of using the RIF to get rid of African American teachers over 40.

Many people on many blogs have made the comment that the people who were laid off were "disproportionately" older Black teachers. Here's the thing: we don't know if that's true, and we won't until someone does some pretty complex statistical analysis on the numbers. Rather than wax philosophical on the nature of race relations, I'm going to unleash my inner nerd (OK, it wasn't on a very tight leash to begin with) and give a statistics lesson. *adjusts glasses* Here we go.

In order to say that there is statistical evidence that Rhee's team (and her principals) are racist, we need to know several things. In each school, what are the demographics of the staffs in each competitive rating category? What are the demographics of the people who were laid off? If we can then compare those proportions, we can get some answers. (DORK ALERT) This is called a chi-squared test for independence. Here's what I mean:

Imagine that I wanted to know whether or not race was a factor in the layoffs for teachers. First, I'd need to know the proportion of teachers in each ethnic sub-group. Then, I'd need to know the proportion that was laid off. In general, we'd want the proportion laid off to be the same for each ethnic group -- this would mean that race and layoffs were independent of each other. Make sense? Well, it gets complicated.

For example, let's say we wanted to know whether or not race was a factor in the layoffs of educational aides. In my school, 100% of the educational aids are African American women. Therefore, 100% of the educational aides who were laid off were African American women. The chi-squared test would show us that the proportions are the same and there was no evidence of racism here (note that I say "no evidence of racism", not "no racism" -- statistics can't prove the absence of something).

Next, let's say that we want to look at teachers. Well, each teacher was rated within his / her department. The principals had to decide whether or not they could afford to lose an English teacher, for example, and if they could then the lowest rated English teacher was let go. In order to see if race played a part in that decision, we'd need to look at the racial makeup of the English department. At my school, most English teachers are White. One English teacher was laid off -- a middle-aged Black woman. While the proportion of African Americans in the English department is only about 40%, 100% of the people in the English department who were laid off were African American. This means racism, right? Not necessarily. When the sample size is one, as it is here (only one English teacher laid off, remember) then we can't really conclude anything. 100% of the English teachers laid off would have been some race, after all.

If you're still reading, here's my point: it's too early and the statistics are too complex for anyone on any blog to be accurately declaring that racism was involved. Certainly, we're entitled to our opinions, but it's irresponsible to make assertions -- especially using specific terms like "disproportionate" -- when facts and evidence are as murky as they are here. One thing is certain, though: this RIF blows, and it blows hard.

It is my opinion that DCPS is a pretty racist place, and that we live in a generally racist society. One only has to look at the glaring inequality of opportunity on one side of the river and the other, or on one side of the park and the other, for evidence. But I don't think it's responsible to declare as fact that Michell Rhee is racist because we notice a trend in some of the people laid off. We need to give this issue proper investigation and analysis.

That is all. Please go back to your previously less nerdy lives.

This made me laugh

2009-09-29T01:54:00.002+01:00

If, like me, you're anxious about the firings this week, you probably need something light-hearted to help you relax. So read this. Enjoy!

I'm rallying for a pony

2009-09-28T02:26:00.005+01:00

Today I received in the mail a letter from my union informing me that we will be rallying on October 8. Then I got a robocall. I'm sure that if the WTU had responded to any of my seven requests to actually get a WTU email account (which they did not) I would likely have received an email. "A rally," you might say. "At least they're planning to do something." Wrong again, loser.

The goal-oriented union leaders are calling this a "Rally for Respect." BUH. We're facing layoffs, there's a new evaluation system that many are mad about, and we've been in negotiations on a contract for like fifteen years. But the intangible "respect" -- that's what we're rallying for.

Real leaders have actual, measurable goals -- voting rights, increased wages, new parks. We could have picked any of the dozens of problems facing DCPS teachers and rallied about that. But that would have involved decision making, and we shy away from decision making. Of course, the actual goal of this rally is that Candi Peterson already had a rally, and George Parker can't be seen as doing nothing, so we're having a rally. Go team!

Now, I do agree that the lack of respect for the profession of teaching is a problem, and it certainly contributes to the many challenges we face in our schools. But the solution is not to rally, it's to change the way teaching is perceived through public relations, education, and -- oh, I don't know -- an actual change in the way teachers are trained and evaluated.

Instead, we "Rally for Respect." Ugh. At least the name is alliterative.

Is it possible we don't actually need administrators?

2009-09-23T01:28:00.006+01:00

Seriously. We should give this some thought. Allow me to illustrate my point with a story.

This morning was our regular Tuesday staff meeting in the library before school. It started, like they always do, at 8:10. Curiously, our administrators were nowhere in sight. Turns out, our principal was late in getting to school, and didn't actually arrive until about 8:30. At that point, she made an announcement that the meeting was canceled. This, of course, was news to the entire staff, as we were actively in the meeting. The woman who was presenting (not a teacher at our school) just kept on going, and it was one of the best morning meetings we've ever had. She gave us great resources, communicated lots of useful information, and even ended early.

Food for thought: we've got to lose several positions at my school, and things seem to work better when administrators aren't around. I'm just saying...

Teacher Reductions and Budget Shortfalls, Oh My!

2009-09-17T02:01:00.005+01:00

Today, DCPS educators got this email in their inboxes from Michelle Rhee:

September 16, 2009
To all DCPS staff members,

As you know, at this point in the school year, we are engaged in the annual equalization process -- adjusting school budgets, staffing, and other resources so that they align to actual student enrollment. Equalization adjusts resources based on an individual school's actual enrollment. It can mean a plus or minus in a school budget, depending on that enrollment. As you also know, we make these budget modifications every year.

This year DCPS faces an added complication because, due to DC Council budget reductions over the summer, we are facing a budget shortfall for Fiscal Year (FY) 2010. Central office will absorb this shortfall to the maximum extent possible. But because we have pushed as much funding as possible out from central and into school budgets, the single greatest expenditure in DCPS is now school-based personnel. Therefore, there is no way to effect a reduction of this magnitude without impacting positions at schools.

Accordingly, many of our schools will be losing positions as of September 30, 2009. These funding adjustments will be consistent with current enrollment at each individual school. We will utilize a Reduction in Force (RIF), which will allow principals to consider several factors, including the needs of the school and the performance of staff in order to determine which positions will be eliminated and which positions will be retained. This RIF will be implemented
consistent with the requirements of 5 DCMR Chapter 15.

Every school reduction will be made in the best interest of students. We are committed to minimizing the impact that any reductions will have on the quality of academic programs, and we will work tirelessly with principals to ensure a smooth transition for all of our students,
schools and personnel. Our students and their achievement are, as always, our priority.

Sincerely,
Michelle Rhee

Hmmm. Well, isn't that interesting. Kind of scary, no? Personal fears of termination aside, I'd hate to lose staff from our school. From what I've seen so far this year, everyone seems to be doing really well. This is certainly a bummer.

Of course, I would be remiss if I didn't snarkily mock the rumor mills and fear mongering that have already begun in full. Some are already accusing Rhee of fudging numbers so that she can eliminate certain teachers. According to some, Rhee is lying about enrollment numbers, unfairly penalizing certain schools, and plotting to target certain people. She probably also personally manufactured the recession so that a budget shortfall would ensue. She's so crafty! If Michelle Rhee were smart and powerful enough to mastermind all of the things she's been accused of doing, she'd be a Google supercomputer.

Michelle Rhee certainly isn't perfect, but there's no way she's as much of an evil genius as some people claim. If she were, she'd either be making millions in private industry or running the Korean mafia.

I didn't see that coming

2009-09-12T13:33:00.003+01:00

According to an article in the Washington Post, enrollment in DCPS is actually close to the targets set by administrators when negotiating the schools' budget for this year.

You may remember the hullabaloo (that's a fun word, eh?) about Rhee's enrollment projections for this year. People called her crazy, stupid, and misleading. (Personally, I thought she was just being overly and foolishly optimistic.) Turns out, she and her team got it pretty close to right. We are only a couple hundred kids away from the predicted (and budgeted) enrollment. This is significant, because it may represent a stabilizing of the years of rapidly declining enrollment in DCPS. And (if previous years are any indication) when some charter schools* start kicking kids out and sending them back to DCPS, this year's enrollment might actually exceed last year's.

*Some charter schools. Not all. I know those of you who teach at charter schools might go into a tizzy without that qualifier. And no one wants to see teachers it a tizzy.

Why can't I get paper?

2009-09-02T21:26:00.004+01:00

Seriously. Is there some run on paper that I'm not aware of?

At my school (and at most others in DCPS, it seems) paper is locked in a storeroom to which teachers have no access. The only person I know with a key is a business manager who is -- how shall I put this? -- difficult to get a hold of. Frequently she's "too busy" to give out paper. She'll decide (maybe once a month) to post a sign (usually handwritten and barely legible) on some random door somewhere that says "I'm giving out paper today at 8," but if you miss that sign and don't get paper that day then you're SOL.

I was recently in my wife's office and I stumbled upon a supply closet with (GASP!) paper, office supplies, binders -- everything you'd need. My eyes glazed over like a kid in a candy store. "You just come in here and get what you need?" I asked with astonishment. Why does this not exist in DCPS? Are teachers so untrustworthy? What do they think we'll do if given access to the paper supply? Just run the halls throwing paper every which way, laughing and screaming like crazy people?

I can see the Capitol Building from my classroom window, but I can't get the basic supplies that are needed to function in my school. In the words of Homer Simpson: "That's not America. That's not even Mexico."

How long can this last?

2009-08-27T01:38:00.003+01:00

This is a rough first week.

My students are beautiful and great. Of course, some of them are challenging, but that's the point of this job and I love it.

The adults, however, are slowly (or quickly, in some cases) driving me insane. Without going into too many specifics (I'm a weird combination of egotistical and paranoid enough to suspect that I have readers at my school -- spies are everywhere!) I can just say that I am tired of the power plays, illogical decisions, and general lack of spiny-ness of my administrators. This school is a ball of dysfunction, and the most dysfunctional are at the helm!

I'm growing weary, ladies and gentlemen. And it's only the third day. Either they're going to have to change, or I'm going to explode in a blaze of fury (and by that I mean be passive aggressive for the rest of the year and then transfer to some other dysfunctional DC school where I like the administration). Only time will tell.

Are you ready?

2009-08-21T23:34:00.003+01:00

This precious weekend is the only thing standing between us and a brand new school year -- and I do not feel ready quite yet. But the good news is that I don't feel ready for very good reasons.

In previous years, my class has been my class and everyone else could do whatever they wanted. We didn't really collaborate, and no other adults ever came in my room. So I knew that if I wanted to wait to lesson plan until the night (or hour) before, I could. If I wanted to rethink my unit plan half-way through, I could. If I wanted to totally change the way some system in my class works, I could. This year, the Algebra teachers are all working together, I have two special education co-teachers, and a student teacher intern. All of this is great -- it will mean tons of support, collaboration, and help for the kids -- but it means I have to get my stuff done early, get buy-in and feedback, and really step up my game. In short, I have to learn to play well with others. And I am nowhere near ready for that yet.

That lack of readiness aside, I'm happy with the way things are coming together. I know I'm generally a negative cynical old coot, but I'm feeling quite positive about this year. We'll see how long that lasts.

First day back

2009-08-18T00:11:00.001+01:00

Today was the first day of teacher professional development at my school. They spelled our school name wrong on the board.

This does not bode well.

Rhee and Fenty Announce Specialty Schools

2009-07-29T18:55:00.002+01:00

There certainly is a lot of bad going on in DCPS-land lately. Huge numbers of firings (some of which seem to have been based on little more than personal dislike of a teacher), budget shortfalls, and delayed DC-CAS scores -- to name only a few. But it's summer, I'm in a good mood, and other bloggers have already covered those things well. So I'm going to post about something good for a change.

Today, Rhee and Fenty announced that 13 DCPS schools would be starting specialized programs -- from music education to science and technology to Chinese language and culture -- in the 2010-2011 school year. The coming year will be spent on the planning and recruiting.

I love so much about this. First, the specialized programs will (for the first time) be available at neighborhood schools that do not require applications or portfolios to enroll. Second, the programs will allow educators to develop curricula that they are passionate about, which will likely lead to happier (and more stable) staffs. Third, and most important, since we all are sure that Chinese and photography aren't going to be assessed on the DC-CAS, this is a clear and incontrovertible statement that DCPS at least recognizes the need to focus more on actual learning and less on test scores. And that's a big deal.

There are some problems here, to be sure. For one, these programs were born of a desire to increase enrollment, and not necessarily to help kids learn. Additionally, the money to fund these programs is only guaranteed for the next three years, after which the schools will have to continue funding them from their own (hopefully larger, due to increased enrollment) budgets. We'll have to see how effective these programs really are. But in the meantime, I'm willing to give the Chancellor's office some credit for carrying out a good idea.

Union Forces NY Schools Fire Teaching Assistants?

2009-07-20T14:22:00.006+01:00

I read this article in the NY Times today about schools being forced to fire parent-paid teaching assistants all over the city. This seems like one of the most egregious cases of union idiocy that I've ever seen.

Essentially, top public schools in Manhattan have raised funds from parents to provide teaching aids to over-full classes. The aids are not unionized, and make far less than unionized paraprofessionals. They also seem to have different responsibilities -- they help escort children to the nurse, tie shoes, hand out papers -- than paraprofessionals. The article describes these lower-paid assistants' roles as non-instructional.

The union filed a grievance and got the school system to agree to stop employing these people because they are not union members and because they have not undergone the system-level background checks (the principals were conducting their own hiring and background checks). Here is the quote from a union official: "'It’s hurting our union members, and to some extent it could be hurting kids because we don’t know how qualified they are,' said Ron Davis, a spokesman for the United Federation of Teachers."

Well this sentence pretty much sums it up. "It's hurting union members, and that's more important than kids or families." Clearly, the union doesn't care about preserving jobs, it cares about preserving union jobs. The union is all for the working man, as long as he pays into union coffers. (Also, "to some extent it could be hurting kids"? That's as damning as he can get? Someone needs to send this guy to debate class, because that's not going to convince anyone of anything.)

The parents are, not surprisingly, outraged:

“The reason the teaching assistants are here is because they’ve been stuffing so many kids in these classes,” said Patrick J. Sullivan, co-president of the Parent-Teacher Association at the Lower Lab School (P.S. 77), where parents spend $250,000 a year on the teaching assistants. “Nobody wants to break any rules, but 28 is just too many kids for one teacher.”
“How much do parents have to put up with?”
“This is not like the movers and shakers of Wall Street; this is a middle-class school,” said Emily Heckman, whose 7-year-old son will be entering second grade. “We’re doing this because we’re stuck — we have kids coming out of the windows.”

Now, clearly there is an equality issue going on here. The more affluent parents can afford to pay the salaries of these assistants, while schools in poor communities have to deal with over-enrollment without the help. But the solution isn't to take resources away from the wealthy schools, it's to bring those resources to the poor schools as well. Additionally, doesn't it make sense to expand the staffs the high-functioning schools and therefore allow more children to attend? Then more kids get a better education.

I don't claim to be some kind of expert in the world of NY schools, and I can admit that I may be missing something. If anyone has some plausible explanation for why the schools should be prohibited from hiring these people, I'd love to hear it. Otherwise, it seems to me that the UFT just cost 290 people their jobs because they weren't getting a piece of the pie.

Maybe firing people doesn't make things better...

2009-07-14T02:27:00.003+01:00

Michelle Rhee has talked a lot about how she's cleaned house at 825 and gotten rid of a lot of people who were just wasting time and not really doing their jobs. I had no doubts that there were plenty of people downtown who were incompetent -- my first year of teaching I had to submit four change of address forms before I finally started receiving my paychecks -- and assumed that firing some of that dead weight would improve things. My most recent experiences, however, leave me wondering.

Last summer I went to a training that my principal said would be paid for by DCPS. I filled out the necessary paperwork two months ahead of time, and attended the training in Philadelphia. I returned to school in the fall only to find out that no one at my school had ever done anything with the paperwork. After months of wrangling, and finally emailing the chancellor, I got the forms signed and submitted to 825 in May. Since that time I've waited, emailed, called, offered (threatened?) to come down and sit outside people's offices, and I still don't have the reimbursement check. Everyone I've talked to has been very nice and helpful, but apparently getting DCPS to pay for things requires like 47 signatures, the blood of a virgin, and a jade monkey statue.

All this to say that while I generally agree with Rhee that firing some under-performing people in DCPS will improve education, I don't have much evidence to suggest that firing people at 825 has made things run any more smoothly there.

Bollocks.

Green Dot Schools Coming to DC?

2009-07-02T13:00:00.003+01:00

I was intrigued by this article in the WaPo today, which says that the founder of Green Dot charter schools, Steve Barr, was in DC to meet with Michelle Rhee to discuss running one or more DCPS High Schools. I've read about Green Dot before (there was a great article in the New Yorker, but you can only see it if you register), but only in the national news, which has a tendency to gloss over some things. It sounds as though this organization has done a great job turning around Locke High School in L.A., but, as the article mentions, the test scores are not yet in.

Green Dot does some interesting stuff. They take over larger failing schools and break them up into smaller and more manageable academies. Its founder, Steve Barr, is by all accounts kind of insane -- he once called the L.A. Union leader a "pig fucker." And yet they work with unionized teachers -- a real rarity among charters.

What really intrigued me is how Green Dot forcibly took over Locke High School -- without approval from the school district. Essentially, as a result of a California law, a school can divorce itself from the district if there is enough support from teachers and community members. This is what happened at Locke. Not bad, if you ask me. Why don't we have a law like that? How many of us wish we could divorce our schools from the preposterous stupidity that is DCPS?

Yes, please.

Sometimes people get fired

2009-06-16T23:04:00.002+01:00

The administration at my school (and lots of other schools around DCPS) handed out termination letters to several teachers today. I know of 4 at my school, and have read that there were 6 fired at CHEC, as well as many others. Now, I don't agree with all of the terminations at my school. There's one teacher -- a first year DCTF -- who was really working hard and trying her best; she may not have been good, but I think she deserves the chance to improve. She was fired. And then there's another teacher -- a 25 year veteran -- who is never on time to class, shows movies at least once a week (not educational movies -- Shrek 2), and sits in the back of the room and reads the paper while her kids copy vocab words out of a text book. Oh, this is a physics class by the way. She was not fired. So, needless to say, I disagree with some of the firings.

However...

Sometimes people get fired. Sometimes, your boss doesn't think you're doing a good job, and so you lose it. Sometimes this happens. Usually, the person deserves it. Sometimes, he/she maybe doesn't deserve to be fired, but still wasn't performing very well. Rarely is the person doing a really great job. Now, if someone is fired who really is doing their job well, and was fired for political or arbitrary reasons, then I'm glad we have a union to fight it. But honestly, if the person in question just wasn't performing well -- was showing up late and giving the kids busy work and not properly managing the class -- then I guess I don't feel that bad. They should have been using all that free time to update their resumees. Heartless? Maybe. But we don't have an absolute right to a job.

Poo poo PPEP

2009-06-08T19:11:00.005+01:00

Last week we had our final conferences with our administrators on the PPEP (Professional Something Evaluation Something? I don't know what it stands for, but it's how we in DCPS are evaluated as teachers). I'm sure that someone could write a book about the flaws of that system, but it is what it is. And it's out of our hands. What is not out of our hands, however, is how the PPEP is applied. And in my school, it was applied in a manner that can be summed up in one word: crap.

A couple of weeks ago we were given the evaluation form to fill out for ourselves. I'm pretty sure this is not how the PPEP is supposed to work -- my understanding is that the principal is supposed to fill it out with us there -- but whatever. We were then directed to come to the principal's office at a given time to submit the evaluation and conference about it.

The way I see it, teachers are divided into two groups at my school. One group (mostly -- but by no means exclusively -- newer teachers) is desperate for some kind of support, so they see the evaluation as an opportunity to have an honest conversation with our principal about ways they can grow. They spend time filling out their evaluation, and give themselves some "needs improvement" ratings on the areas where they think they do want to get better. They end up ranking themselves probably lower than the principal would. The other group, (mostly -- but, again, by no means exclusively -- veteran teachers) has been trained by DCPS to avoid honesty in evaluation. These teachers fear that any admission of weakness could be an opening for administrators to fire them. They fill out mostly "exceeds expectations" even if they don't believe (or deserve) it. They end up ranking themselves probably higher than the principal would.

Here's where it gets crappy. The principal spent literally 45 seconds reviewing each of our evaluations. She said, "OK, keep it up," signed my form, and sent me on my way. Gee, I'm glad I poured all that reflective energy into it. And, even better, I'm glad that the principal reaffirmed for everyone that it doesn't pay to be honest. Why don't principals use the evaluation process as a tool to help teachers grow? Teachers will never be honestly reflective if administrators aren't willing to actually support and lead them. The truth is that administrators want these dishonest evaluations. No hard thinking, no lengthy paperwork, and no responsibility. This school is ridonkulous.

But it was excused!

2009-06-04T21:04:00.002+01:00

Yesterday one of my "favorite" (and by "favorite" I mean loudest) students was conspicuously missing from class. It was weird because she's almost always present, and we had a test. I thought nothing of it and assumed that she was just sick. Then she came in today. The following conversation ensued:

Mr. Potter: *Student*, you missed a test yesterday. You need to make it up.
Student: But Mr. Potter, I have an excuse!
MP: Well, you still need to make it up -- what's the excuse?
S: I was in court!
MP: For what?!
S: Stealing form Target.

Oh, OK child. No test for you.

Does Reconstitution Work?

2009-06-02T19:05:00.004+01:00

We're hearing a lot lately about the different restructurings that will be taking place at schools all across DC this summer -- specifically, faculty and staff at several schools will undergo reconstitution, meaning that everyone is fired and has to reapply for their jobs. The concept of reconstituting a school -- shutting it down and hiring all new employees for the next year -- was also discussed in a recent article in the NY Times. Reconstitution might seem to make a lot of sense -- it shakes up the school and provides a catalyst for change. But there are definitely problems. The article writes,

Randi Weingarten, president of one of the unions, the American Federation of Teachers, said Mr. Duncan’s focus on the worst schools was “the right strategy,” but added, “What I’ve raised with Arne is, wholesale firing of staffs, pretending that if you just close a school and open a new one it will solve all the problems — that’s the wrong way.”

Holy crap, I agree with Randi Weingarten.

My school underwent reconstitution last year, and I definitely do think that it has made an improvement in the quality of teaching and learning going on in our building. That said, my school has not made the kind of rapid turnaround that the article talks about. Like most comprehensive DC High Schools, my school is still chaotic and violent, and children are not performing as they should. I think a lot of that has to do with the leadership involved, at both the school and district levels. My principal does not do as much as she should to support teachers -- she's rarely in classrooms or the halls. For her part, Rhee does not seem to be effectively prodding her principals to adopt better practices. She mostly just seems to be firing principals over test scores.

While reconstitution can be helpful, it demands an incredibly strong and radical leader -- someone who is really willing and able to do things differently. Until we have such leaders in place, we're just shuffling around teachers, causing chaos for students. Unless our principals are highly effective, committed, and armed with clear visions, reconstitution will just be for show.

Pay your phone bill!

2009-05-28T19:31:00.003+01:00

Today my third period went off the reservation. Of the 14 students in attendance, 6 of them earned phone calls home or referrals in our behavior management system. I really believe it was all because of two kids -- one of whom has a 0.6% in my class for this advisory -- who have realized that they cannot pass this semester, and are hellbent on taking as many other students down as they can. These two exhibited appalling behavior in class, and they managed to get a lot of other kids off task with them. Of course, we're in high school, and those other kids are responsible for their actions. So I settled down to make my phone calls.

6 parents. 6 phone numbers. 4 disconnected. 1 rings into infinity. 1 has a full voice mail.

BUH.

Teaching for America

2009-05-20T21:04:00.003+01:00

I've been having an ongoing conversation over the last week or so with a colleague about the merits and drawbacks of programs like Teach for America and DC Teaching Fellows. I am a TFA alum, but my colleague went to school to get a legit teaching degree. She's a first year teacher, but she is in her thirties and this is not her first job out of college. She's an outstanding teacher who has made huge academic gains with her kids this year, and I really respect her opinion.

As a TFA-er, I am obviously a proponent of the "mission," as it is referred to in TFA parlance. But I'm also not a drone, and I accept that there are shortcomings with Teach for America's model. In my discussions with her, I've identified three main criticisms of the program.

First, many people feel that alternative route certification programs undervalue the teaching profession by giving the impression that anyone could do it. This criticism seems weak to me, because I don't think anyone affiliated with TFA would tell you that they think teaching is easy. But I can understand how a person outside the world of education might look at alternative certifications and say, "well why would anyone go through teacher school?" For this, though, I think the fault lies with university education programs who have by-and-large done a poor job getting enough people to commit their careers to the education of low-income students. Alternative certifications, to me, aren't born from a disrespect of teachers, but from a desperate need for people willing to teach in difficult schools.

Second, many people doubt the efficacy of Teach for America's teachers. Trolling around the internets (as I'm known to do) looking for information on the effectiveness of TFA will give you studies that range widely from extremely positive to extremely negative (sorry that the second link is just an article about the study -- I searched for a bit on google for the real thing, but then got bored). Whether or not Teach for America teachers are effective obviously differs on a teacher-by-teacher basis, but I can tell you that, in my experience, I've never seen a TFAer fall asleep during class, curse at students, or be generally incompetent. We might not all be great, but at least we're trying. There are some veteran teachers (definitely a small minority of them) about whom this cannot be said. Compared to those teachers, I bet TFA teachers rock it out.

Third, and probably most important, many people are bothered by the fact that Teach for America is only a two-year commitment. Although I'm a relatively new teacher, I have decided to make education my career, and I think more TFA alums should do the same. I whole-heartedly agree that two years is not enough time to become a great teacher. Also, in high schools, kids see a revolving chorus of teachers coming in and out every year, and I think this is hurtful both to their psyches and to the school community. Leaving after two years also decreases veteran teachers' willingness to help you -- why invest their time in supporting someone who's going to leave for Goldman-Sachs in two years?

All these are fine points. But I also want to push back against this criticism for a second. A lot of Teach for America teachers leave not because they were planning to leave all along, nor because their kids were so poorly behaved, but because their schools are total ass. My first year, I was placed in a room without a white board, with only 12 desks, and with no textbooks. It wasn't until November that I got a computer, not until April that I got a printer. I still don't have a phone. The only other teachers in my building who offered any assistance that first year were other TFA and DCTF teachers. I admit that I strongly considered leaving after my second year of teaching to go work for a high-performing charter school (as many TFA alums do), but ultimately decided I wanted to stay with my kids and watch them graduate. Although I didn't enjoy many supportive relationships with veteran teachers, I also didn't encounter many problems. I've heard horror stories about the ways other corps members were treated at their schools by their colleagues and administrators. Perhaps more TFA teachers (and new teachers in general) would stay longer if their workplaces weren't so toxic. Maybe if more established teachers were willing to help out the new teachers, fewer of us would go running for the hills. While the two-year commitment is problematic, I think it's important to understand the ways in which schools themselves exacerbate this problem.

Time to Rethink Parent Teacher Conference Days?

2009-05-14T00:28:00.003+01:00

Today is the final installment of the DCPS parent-teacher conference days, and schools all over the District are eagerly awaiting parents so that teachers can discuss their children's progress. The problem with these days is that they don't work. They serve mostly as a colossal waste of time for teachers (who have to be here from noon until 7 pm), students (who miss an instructional day), and parents (who come up to school and spend 5 minutes either being praised or denigrated by teachers, depending on their child's performance). So maybe it's time to rethink conference days.

Obviously, parents and teachers should spend more time (not less) discussing student progress. For parents and teachers who really take advantage of these days, a lot of good can come from them. My objection to parent conference days is that they are applied all in the same way throughout the district, as though the needs of high school students are the same as the needs of kindergartners.

My thought is that conferences at the high school level should be drastically different from conference days in the elementary schools. In high schools, students should be required to discuss their progress themselves along with teachers and parents. The conferences should be spread out so they are ongoing throughout the year, on the off chance that an issue arises some time other than the four prescribed conference days. And, the conferences should be done on an as-needed basis. Perhaps this could be accomplished if schools could have the authority to modify their schedules or introduce half-days every other week to accommodate these types of meetings.

The reality is that teachers who are really doing a good job are in contact with parents throughout the year to discuss issues in the classroom. In general, the only parents I see on conference days are the ones I don't need to see -- the ones whose children are earning A's and are star students. Perhaps if we rethink the way we structure conferences, we could focus our time on helping parents and students solve problems. Until then, though, I sit in my room and wait for the parents to come.

Ginny Weasley-Potter v. Weingarten

2009-05-12T02:21:00.005+01:00

One of the best things about being Mr. Potter is being married to my wife (for the purposes of this Harry Potter blog, we call her Ginny). Today we were talking about all of the hullabaloo about the 90 day plan, and she was expressing confusion about why so many teachers are freaked out about it.

Her question was "I hear so much from the WTU, the AFT, and Randi Weingarten about how Rhee's proposal and the 90 day plans are bad because they mean teachers will be fired arbitrarily. But certainly not all firings can be arbitrary. Some must be legitimate. So isn't the union there to protect good teachers from being fired arbitrarily? And if the union leaders are competent, then shouldn't they be telling teachers to not be concerned because they'll protect them from arbitrary firings? So why would you be concerned about being fired arbitrarily if you've got a union to protect you? Unless you don't think the union is competent enough to actually help you."

Pretty and smart. Sorry, folks, she's taken.

Obviously, teachers don't think the union leaders are competent enough to help them. And the union leaders, for their part, seem to agree. If the leaders felt they were themselves competent, wouldn't they just be against arbitrary firings instead of against all firings?

Harlem School closes the Achievement Gap(?)

2009-05-11T19:05:00.003+01:00

I'm sure that many people read the op-ed piece in the NY Times last week by David Brooks about the Harlem Children's Zone. It's an article that is worth a read, whether you agree with Brooks' opinions about education reform or not.

The piece is about Geoffery Canada and his network of charter schools, specifically Promise Academy in Harlem. A new study is claiming that Canada's schools are substantially reducing and in some cases closing the achievement gap between black and white students.

I'm sure that there is a ton of room for debate, and of course I haven't read the official study -- just Brooks' interpretation of it. However, I do want to focus on one specific part of the piece. Brooks writes,

"These results are powerful evidence in a long-running debate. Some experts, mostly surrounding the education establishment, argue that schools alone can’t produce big changes. The problems are in society, and you have to work on broader issues like economic inequality. Reformers, on the other hand, have argued that school-based approaches can produce big results. The Harlem Children’s Zone results suggest the reformers are right."

My question: is Brooks correct in his assertion that the "education establishment" argues that schools cannot have a big impact while "reformers" argue that they can? I hesitate to make such generalizations, but then again they make a lot of sense. The "establishment" -- colleges of education, public schools, and teachers unions -- had for decades a monopoly on the education of low-income students. Now, charter schools and alternative certification programs have come along and are challenging the establishment. It only makes sense that the people who feel they are being attacked -- the establishment -- would say that schools alone can't have a big impact on closing the achievement gap, since the achievement gap developed on their watch.

To me, it seems like Brooks may have hit the nail on the head in a way that really helps in the debate. He doesn't say that public schools caused the achievement gap. He doesn't say that bad teachers are to blame. But he does say that the problem can be solved by excellent schools with excellent teachers. Whereas reformers are usually portrayed as "anti-teacher," this analysis celebrates the teachers and the huge impact they can make.

To Improve My School

2009-05-05T02:38:00.005+01:00

As this year is drawing to a close, I'm beginning to think about the things that I want to be different about next year (probably most teachers do this -- at the end of my first year, I recall thinking, "well, I don't want to do any of that again"). And one of my new-school-year's resolutions is to be more active in helping to improve my school. It's all too easy to sit in my classroom and not think about what goes on outside my four walls, but I don't think I'll ever see the results I want to see unless the whole school climate improves.

I'm also beginning to think about ways that I can engage with / challenge my administration at times. (For starters, I won't EVER do that test-prep baloney again -- and I've decided that if I'm asked to do it next year I'll simply refuse. It's not fair to me and it's not fair to kids.) I've decided that I'd like to write a memo to make some suggestions of things my school leaders can do -- little things -- that would really improve the quality of life for teachers and, by extension, students. Here are my thoughts..

First, I want a teacher work room. Do these exist in DCPS? It certainly doesn't in my school. I want a place where I can get some very basic supplies, without having to go through some cantankerous business manager who yells at me. Why can't there be a room with pens and folders and -- gasp! -- paper that I can just go and get when I need it. You know, like EVERY OTHER WORK-PLACE IN THE WORLD. When I have to spend my own time and money securing basic materials, it leaves less time for planning instruction, helping students, or calling parents. Or watching Law and Order.

Second, I want to use email (and not the intercom) to communicate. Seriously, is it 1974? Is there any adult that still hasn't mastered the technology of email? If there is, we work in a building full of people who have expertise in explaining things, so my guess is someone could teach you. The lack of email (and general communication) is really starting to get to me. I generally find out about meetings I'm supposed to attend when someone makes an announcement 3 minutes after they've already started.

Finally, I want keys to the building and the library. It sucks when I get here early but can't make photocopies because the library (where we keep our copier) isn't open. It sucks equally when I try to come in on weekends only to discover that the whole building is locked. When I worked as an accountant, I was given keys to the building on my second day. If we're trusted professionals, we should be allowed to have keys.

Those are my ideas for little things my school could do that would make my life much easier. Obviously, addressing these issues won't fix my school. But they would sure make me less cranky. Any other ideas?

The end is nigh

2009-05-04T19:42:00.003+01:00

Today during my second period Algebra class, a student asked me when the Final Exam for my class will be. "June 10th" I responded, knowing full well the ire that this answer would produce. And I wasn't disappointed -- the wrath was significant. They felt that the 10th was far too late, and made such feelings known (loudly). I, of course, didn't care.

I was shocked during my first year of teaching when I told students that the final exam would be the last week of school, and they informed me that they "don't come to school in June." I was so confused. You don't come to school in June? But you must! I asked come colleagues and heard from them, "yeah, no kids come in June." Turns out they mustn't.

Where on earth did people get the idea that students don't have to come to school in June? Perhaps their parents told them, perhaps they got the idea from other students, perhaps they've just realized over the years that many teachers stop teaching in June. Or perhaps they just don't want to come to school in June, and thought that if they presented it to me as a fact -- "I don't come in June" -- I'd just say OK. Whatever the reason, they maintained that no one would show up if I held the final any later than May 31. I stuck to my guns and gave the final the last week of school. Lo and behold, all of the students who had a mathematical chance of passing the class (which was most) showed up for the final.

So today, when kids pitched a fit and told me that they don't come to school in June, I had my snarky response all ready: "Sounds good, see you next year." They didn't think that was funny.

You know you've screwed up when...

2009-05-01T19:20:00.003+01:00

... you've made me feel bad for Nathan Saunders. (Our beef goes back to last summer when he told me that, because I'm a relatively young white male, I won't stay in DCPS. Racist and moronic. But I digress.)

The Washington Teacher has got a whole slew of emails and letters showing how WTU President George Parker is abusing his position and essentially forcing Mr. Saunders to return to the classroom or face dismissal from DCPS. It's obviously a little silly that the district is allowing Mr. Parker to do this, and other bloggers have posted about how this situation really boils down to a competition to see who can be a bigger douche.

Here's my real problem with this: the fact that, everywhere I read about this story, being sent "back to classroom" seems like such a punishment. If it sucks SO HARD to go back to the classroom, doesn't that mean that the union leaders aren't doing a good job? I get that it's unfair / maybe illegal to stop the union leaders from doing their jobs, but I also think that the union leaders have a lot to answer for in terms of their consistent inability to do what's right for teachers. Maybe Saunders, Parker, etc. should be sent back to the classroom for a while.

So apparently swine flu is a thing now?

2009-04-28T17:33:00.003+01:00

I had a kid tell me today that he almost didn't come to school because of swine flu. Several other kids echoed this. Seriously.

Now obviously, what most of them mean is that they told their parents, "I don't want to go to school" and their parents asked, "why not?" and the kids responded, "umm..... swine flu?" because the mostly just wanted some excuse. And of course, swine flu is a big deal in Mexico.

But it's amazing to me the things we care about and the things we totally ignore. 20 people in the U.S. have been diagnosed with swine flu (none in DC, Maryland, or Virginia) and only one has required hospitalization. And think about how many news stories have been written on this topic. Now this question: how many DCPS students have been killed this year alone? Which problem deserves a press release?

Update: I tried looking up how many students in DCPS have been killed this year (or any given year). Couldn't find it. In fact, the only urban school district that I could find the information for was Chicago Public Schools, which has seen 28 students killed so far this school year. It's interesting (sad? infuriating?) to think about which types of numbers make news, and which don't.

Another Update: So after school today I was watching TV at the gym (don't be impressed -- I walked at a fast clip for like 20 minutes before going home, drinking a beer, and eating ice cream) and I saw that there are now like hundreds of cases of swine flu. So apparently this thing is a big deal. My bad. Still, I'd like to think that there's a point to be made in asking why the flu gets more coverage than the violence the plagues our city. Right?

The problem with DCPS

2009-04-23T21:07:00.002+01:00

I've become convinced over my (relatively short) career in teaching that the real problem with education reform is not the kids, it's the adults. As we were finishing up testing this week, I became acutely aware of this.

First, our administrators made the decision that for the entire month of April, our 10th graders would be in special tutorial classes, which basically means that they do reading and math all day every day. They do not go to any other classes at all for a full 4 weeks. All this in order to help them "prepare" for the DC-CAS. Ridiculous, of course, but we "need to raise test scores."

Second, as anyone in DCPS knows, one of the hardest parts about making AYP is that you absolutely have to test 95% of your students, and you must test 95% of the students of each ethnic subgroup. Getting 95% of kids in our school to do anything is nearly impossible, so getting them all to come take a test that lasts a total of like 7 hours is quite a challenge. You might think the problem here is the kids (and I suppose at the high school level, you could argue that it is). However, when calling parents to remind them of the test, I was informed by one mother that her son is "sick." When I pushed further, I discovered that he is in fact on vacation for two weeks in New York. What parent lets their kid go on vacay for two weeks in the middle of the school year?

Third, our kids were promised a series of things as a reward for going through all of the testing hooplah. Example 1: a barbeque at the end of the week to celebrate the end of the test. The barbeque has been put on hold indefinitely for indeterminate reasons. Example 2: the kids were supposed to be given a special breakfast and lunch during testing. They go downstairs for breakfast on the first morning and are greeted with little mini cups of cereal. Lunch was left-over sandwiches. Special indeed.

The most heartbreaking part of this whole thing was watching how hard my students worked on that test. They all tried their hearts out and put forth a lot of effort. I'm very proud of them. (Even though I'm not technically their teacher; I was one of the poor saps that was recruited to teach these special tutorial classes). It makes me so sad when I think about all of the ways that incompetent adults -- either purposefully or through their own ineptitude -- stop them from really succeeding.

'Tis the Season...

2009-04-18T13:39:00.005+01:00

...for educators to freak the hell out and go bonkers getting kids "ready" for testing.

My school, like most around DC, is doing some pretty bizarre-o stuff to help kids do well on the tests. (Parenthetically, it seems to me that if we put that energy into, I don't know, planning and executing a curriculum that really taught kids the skills they need at high levels, we'd do a lot better on these tests...) This article in the Washington Post outlines some of the things that schools are doing.

The debate on testing is extensive, and most ideas have been hashed and rehashed by people far smarter than I (there's a great book called "Many Children Left Behind" which raises some good criticisms about testing --- this coming from someone who generally supports it). So I want to bypass the debate about whether or not testing is good, and draw your attention to a specific quote in the article:

"Way too much emphasis goes into getting those few kids to score better, while the entire rest of the student population is just put through useless paces," said Virginia Spatz, a schools activist with a son at School Without Walls High School and a daughter at Woodrow Wilson. She said the tests left her sophomore son's schedule "completely whacked out for two days each time."

Two days?!? This proves my point that at schools that actually teach -- School Without Walls, Banneker, etc. -- testing isn't this huge issue. The kids at Walls have to take the test for 2 days, show how much they know, and then get to go back to learning. My kids have to sit in special testing group classes all day long for FOUR WEEKS. That isn't accountability. It's crazy.

What are your schools doing to get ready?

The best part is the title

2009-04-16T00:11:00.003+01:00

This article in today's Washington Post seems promising. For starters, Rhee, Parker, and Weingarten were able to agree on a mediator. So at least they're capable of not being petulant.

The best part is the fact that the article is titled, "Howard Law Dean to Mediate Schools Beef." Specifically, "beef." When I think of "beef" I think of immature, irrational, and pointless hostility. All of which seem appropriate in this contract negotiation. Excellent word choice, WaPo.

I mostly can't wait for this contract dispute to be over so that 1) I can get paid more, and 2) Randi Weingarten will go away.

In other news, did anyone else see this? It's kind of interesting to see Michelle Rhee -- the tough-as-nails wicked witch of DC -- being so warm and engaging with students.

A Quick Post

2009-04-10T03:13:00.002+01:00

I'm leaving to go back home for Easter at like negative 4 o'clock tomorrow, so I have to post quickly. However, I defo have something to post.

Today one of my AP Statistics students had the following question:

"Why are we working so hard to prepare for this AP test? I don't even care about this test, I just want to learn."

Breaks my heart. Obviously, the AP test is a very important test, in that it determines whether or not the kids get college credit for the class. The worst part is that I spend the rest of my day working with 10th graders trying to get them to be functional enough to pass the DC-CAS. And those kids don't even realize that they're being denied real education in an effort to raise their "test scores." As an apologist for standardized tests, I have to say: this is not what testing was supposed to be about. Yech.

Research Shows Poor Children Don't Remember Things

2009-04-06T22:21:00.002+01:00

OK, the research doesn't exactly show that. But, as the article in today's Washington Post explains, it does show that the stresses of living in poverty can lead a decrease in working memory. That means that children who grow up in poverty have a more difficult time remembering new information and making connections with it. For teachers, this is really important in helping us understand how to help children who live in poverty. It also helps to explain the achievement gap.

What concerns me about this research is that I can just hear the way some people will interpret it. Some will say (and have said already on some other blogs) that this research shows that we can't make the kind of significant gains that are required in DCPS. I hear (too many) teachers in my school saying things like, "Until we change the socio-economics of the community, we can't turn around the school" or "I can't teach a kid who doesn't show up ready to learn" (both are direct quotes).

Here's what I say: suck it up. Is teaching in DC difficult? Yeah, definitely. But if you can't hack it then go work somewhere else. If teachers make excuses for why we're not succeeding with our students, then they shouldn't be teachers. Now, I don't think that teachers who don't raise test scores should be fired, and I don't think that all teachers should be expected to be martyrs. I personally am not confident that I could get the most difficult 10th graders at my school to pass the DC-CAS, even if I had two years with them. But I do think it's possible, and I intend to continue to seek out resources, development, and constructive criticism so that I one day will be the type of teacher who can make those gains.

The effects of poverty make it more difficult for children to remember things. Having a family life that does not value education might lead students to be apathetic. A long history of low-quality teachers will make students angry. Teaching high-needs children is difficult. But we're paid to be teachers to everyone, not just the kids who don't have issues.

Phew, that was quite a rant. I'm going to go eat a cookie.

10th Graders are Hilarious

2009-04-02T20:39:00.003+01:00

Today began the great (dumb) experiment of throwing our school into turmoil and having all the "good" teachers teach the 10th graders for the month of April in preparation for testing (see previous post). After one day, I have this to say: 9th graders are ridiculous. I didn't realize how bonkers 9th graders were until I got to work with these older children. I'm working with the group that has been assessed as being "below basic" in terms of skills, and they were still light-years more capable than 9th graders. What happens in between that first and second year of high school that turns a totally dysfunctional mess into a reasonable person?

While you ruminate on that question, here is a conversation that took place between me and one of my 10th grade tutorial students.

Me: Make sure you hand in your exit slip on the way out the door.
Student: What happens if we don't.
Me: I'll freak out. And you don't want to see a nerdy white math teacher freak out.
Student: Yeah, he's probably all (in robot voice, as she starts shaking hands above head and twitching) Does. Not. Compute.

Hi-larious.

Spring Broken

2009-03-30T19:10:00.003+01:00

Testing season has begun, and it is sucking my will to live.

Starting on Wednesday, and continuing for the entire month of April, all of our 10th graders (those being tested) will be participating in day-long tutoring sessions to prepare for the DC-CAS. All day, nothing but test prep. Of course, these students will still be enrolled in art, music, foreign language, history, and science classes. They just won't actually be taking them. Unless it's math or English, it doesn't matter in April.

This bothers me as a teacher for two reasons. First, kids can't just focus on only math and reading for a month without going bonkers. Second, since I'm one of the teachers who will be leading these testing sessions, I have to abandon my classes to go teach these other kids. What will my children do while I'm gone? Fester in some other classroom (with a teacher that is less than competent)? Yes, exactly.

The dumbest thing is that students could be learning engaging and appropriate math and reading in all of their classes if we as a school just planned better. You can't do social studies or science without reading. You can't do physics, chemistry, or music without math. So what we need are curricula that are standards-based and make sure that kids actually know things while still exposing them to a wide range of topics. Such things wouldn't be that difficult to create, except that getting teachers to collaborate and work on a common goal is like getting dogs to walk on their hind legs.

I've written before that I think standardized testing is not all that bad. In theory, if kids know things, then taking a test shouldn't be a problem. And we do need reliable and easy-to-collect data on our schools. If run well, testing shouldn't be an issue. In good schools, no one freaks out about testing because the tests are easy. We don't have to stop everything to teach to the test because we've already taught beyond the test. That's the way it should work. It's just that pesky word "should" that gets us into trouble every time in DCPS.

You Have the Right to Shut the Hell Up

2009-03-18T19:03:00.006Z

What are government teachers teaching?!

Today I had no fewer than 3 students say to me that they didn't have to do something because they "have rights." "I don't have to sit in my assigned seat, it's a free country." "You can't tell me to be quiet, I have freedom of speech." "You can't make me do that if I don't want to. It's a free country." My response was, "Yeah, it is a free country. Do what I ask, or you'll be free to take this class again next year." They weren't impressed.

I started thinking about the fundamental lack of understanding my kids must have about the constitution and their rights. Our rights are tremendously important, but they only work for us if we understand what they are (and aren't). For the record, here is what the First Amendment actually says:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the
free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of
the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of
grievances."

As I thought about this, and looked at my blog and some of the other blogs I follow, I realized that misconceptions about our freedoms are not limited to children. I can't tell you how many times I've read that people who comment on a blog have a "right" to express their opinion and that the blog operator can't censor their thoughts. These conversations usually go something like this:

Person 1 says something dumb and / or controversial
Person 2 says that they think Person 1's opinion is dumb, racist, inappropriate, whatever.
Person 1 declares that they have a right to their opinion and that Person 2 shouldn't be censoring them.

OK, here's the thing Person 1: no you don't. You have a right to an opinion, and the right to voice that opinion and not get arrested or put in jail or censored by the government. But you do not have the right to have an opinion and not get criticized or have your comment deleted. Too often we forget that there are governments in this world that actively suppress ideas, and we equate "freedom of speech" with "freedom to say whatever I want at all times."

Now, I'm a pretty big egomaniac (most bloggers are), but even I'm not conceited enough to think that I have the authorities bestowed upon congress. So when others complain that they have rights -- whether in my classroom or on a blog -- they're demonstrating clearly that they do not understand that the constitution limits the actions of government, not individual people. You can argue that a blog operator shouldn't censor, that I shouldn't make my kids sit in assigned seats, that I should value all opinions equally -- but you can't argue that you have rights.

Right?

Rhee's Teacher Sessions

2009-03-15T23:23:00.003Z

I've been thinking about writing this post for a little while -- I attended one of Rhee's teacher Q and A sessions at my school a while back, but didn't want to post on it immediately (mostly because I'm just egotistical enough to think that maybe someone at my school might read this blog, and I would prefer to remain anonymous). However, I can put it off no longer, thanks in large part to the idiotic comments made by Randi Weingarten recently. This woman is the Lord Voldemort of DCPS.

The comments come at the tail end of the article. Ms. Weingarten is quoted as saying the following about Chancellor Rhee: "Perhaps, instead of choosing to publicly negotiate directly with teachers, she should take the time she's set aside for 'Q&A sessions' and spend it at the bargaining table."

OK listen, jerkface. How self-important do you have to be to think that it's more valuable for a leader to spend time talking with a third party than to spend time talking with the very people she leads? Rhee shouldn't be speaking directly with teachers? On what planet does that make sense? From whom should we be getting our information? The union? Please. The union, which does little to nothing to engage its membership, suffers from a Sahara-like drought of information. I thought union was about having a voice. Apparently not. Apparently it's about Randi Weingarten having a voice.

Now, I agree that negotiations should be proceeding more quickly than they are. But sometimes a leader needs to get out and speak with the people she's leading. And that's what was needed in DCPS.

Personally, I was reassured after the session with Rhee at my school. She seemed intelligent, caring, and dedicated. More importantly, she seemed genuinely concerned about what we teachers had to say. She had articulate and well-reasoned answers to our questions, and she dispelled many myths about her and her office. I'll write more about some of what she said later, but I can say that I walked away from the meeting far more confident in her abilities and agenda than I was when I walked in.

Why are Weingarten and Parker so pissy about these meetings? Because the meetings are working. Teachers are becoming more supportive of the Chancellor, or at least more confident in her abilities. Rhee is circumventing the intelligence vacuum that is the WTU, and is engaging directly with teachers. Perhaps union leadership should take this idea from Rhee's play-book.

Obama says some hopey stuff

2009-03-11T00:51:00.005Z

President Obama gave a speech today in which he outlined the important parts of his education policy. He said a lot of good stuff, but one quote in particular stands out as relevant to my school: "if a teacher is given a chance but still does not improve, there is no excuse for that person to continue teaching."

Damn yes. There are teachers in my building who have been given a reasonable level of support, but they just aren't improving. Obama says get them out, and I agree. He goes on to describe lots of other policies that I think are just peachy (increased pre-K, merit pay, longer school days and school years, and improving state standards and tests), but I have this teacher quality bug stuck in my craw, and I need to vent.

There is one math teacher that I "work" with (I use quotes because, while I would describe my actions as working, I can certainly not say the same for his) who comes into my classroom to get my lesson plan every morning -- he never writes his own. The best part? In my department we send lesson plans out via email, but homeboy still needs to come take a hard copy. This guy doesn't get the emails because he "can't remember his password."

This man is, in almost every professional capacity, a moron. The following are just some of the bone-headed things he has done this year, all while getting paid:

He left his classroom unattended earlier this year and a student threw a textbook out the window -- it caused $3000 in damage to a parked car
He doesn't lesson plan EVER therefore doesn't live up to his contract
He "didn't understand" how to fill out his PPEP form and he copied the Spanish teacher's verbatim

Why is anyone interested in preserving his job? He -- and too many other teachers like him -- is damaging children every day in his classroom. But we can't fire him because the union will throw a hissy fit. If the union were half as interested in doing good things for children as they are in holding informational sessions and sending me robo-calls, then this guy would be long gone. Hopefully Obama lives up to his rhetoric and actually smacks the unions around so they'll release their vice-like death grip on the jobs of idiots.

DC's Got Talent

2009-03-09T21:23:00.003Z

This weekend I was talking with a teacher from a different school (a public charter, as it turns out). We were talking about how we love our students (usually), but how the adults in our building can drive us insane. I thought DCPS had the Bat-Ass Crazy People award on lock-down, but it turns out that there's a charter school that may have us beat.

This teacher said that one day a couple of weeks ago the administration decided to cancel school. They didn't tell anyone until the day before, and announced to the kids, teachers, and parents that school would be canceled for a teacher in-service day. Then, when teachers came, they decided to have a -- get ready for this -- Faculty Talent Show. Duh. I don't know why I didn't think about that. Of course, the answer to fixing urban education isn't accountability or teacher quality -- it's an increased frequency of teacher talent shows!

According to my friend, the talent show lasted like 4 hours. Teachers just sat and watched each other perform. All day. This was instead of doing collaborative planning or analyzing test data or -- heaven forbid -- teaching children how to do things.

Maybe one of my readers knows more about this situation -- I was too flummoxed to ask any clarifying questions, of which I have plenty now. This definitely is the wackiest thing I've heard of administrators at any school doing...

Rhee says her plan is sustainable

2009-03-03T22:59:00.003Z

An article in the WaPo today has Chancellor Rhee asserting that her pay plan for teachers is sustainable. Rhee had a consulting firm construct some economic models, and they say that there should be enough money to pay for the raises with district dollars in five years.

Of course, not everyone will take the Chancellor's statements at face value. The documents related to the consultant's research are confidential, as they are part of the contract negotiations. Chancellor Rhee has declined to name the private foundations that are going to fund these raises, and that has a lot of people worried too. There are others who think it's just generally bad news to fund public schools with private funds.

I personally think Rhee's pay plan makes sense -- teachers in DCPS require a special set of talents and skills, and simple supply and demand says when you need something that's in short supply to have to pay more for it. But Rhee's plan went nowhere with the union, and who knows if it ever will. The biggest problem, of course, is that teachers don't want to give up tenure, which is what Rhee was asking for in exchange for the increased pay.

I know a dicussion of "Rhee" and "Contract Negotiations" usually devolves into unbridled craziness (from both sides), but I'm willing to brave these waters anyway. Here's my question: what exactly are we, as teachers, willing to give up in order to receive higher pay? Is the answer, "nothing" and we want to remain on the same pay scale? Is the answer "tenure rights" and we want Rhee's scale? Or is there some in-between point that we'd be willing to settle on?

For me, I say screw tenure. This isn't Tennessee in 1926 and we're not going to get fired for teaching evolution or being agnostic. I do my job well, and I'm not concerned about getting the axe. The increased salary would allow me (and many other teachers) to afford to own property in DC -- something that is pretty much out of the question right now. So my vote is to go with Rhee's pay plan. Of course, that's just one vote.

Possible snow day?

2009-03-02T01:41:00.004Z

As I write, there is a big storm rolling into DC, and it's very possible that there might be a snow day tomorrow. It's not very likely, unless this storm is particularly bad (I've blogged before about why Michelle Rhee doesn't like to call snow days, and I still think she's got a pretty good reason). Of course, despite the fact that I like my job and love my kids, I'm definitely hoping for a snow day. Who doesn't like a day off?

In thinking about the possibility of having a snow day tomorrow (I keep telling myself that if I think about it too much I'll jinx it... which is a special kind of ego, I guess), I've made the following lists. Feel free to add your own in the comments.

Things I Tell Myself I'll Do on the Snow Day:
Lesson plan
Read
Finish grading tests
Research field trips

Things I'll Actually Do on the Snow Day:
Watch like 15 episodes of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit

That AFT President Annoys Me

2009-02-27T01:34:00.005Z

An article in the Washington Post yesterday cited American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten saying that Michelle Rhee's recent Op-ed piece was an "apology" to teachers.

In case you missed Rhee's piece, it essentially said that she does not blame teachers for the poor quality of education in DCPS. She writes that though teachers are not the cause of the achievement gap, she thinks they are the only solution. This is seen by some as a contradiction to her claims that a "significant share" of the DCPS teaching corps should be transitioned out. Personally, I think she's right on both counts -- teachers are not the biggest cause of the achievement gap, but there is a loud and obnoxious minority of teachers in DCPS who are contributing to that gap and damaging children.

So then Randi Weingarten says that Rhee's letter was an "apology, basically." And Rhee's spokesperson says it wasn't an "apology, but a clarification." You can read the entire story, I won't bore you with the details.

What I will bore you with is my take on this situation. Randi Weingarten is being a terrible leader. When she calls Rhee's letter an apology, she is doing so to make people believe that Rhee was wrong, and that she is apologizing for it. This, of course, means that Weingarten is right. It's politics, plain and simple. Weingarten -- who was a contender to fill Hillary Clinton's senate seat -- is using her public position as AFT president to promote her own career. This woman has the opportunity to play a substantive role in the reform of one of America's most troubled public school districts. So what does she do? She engages in childish junior high drama. These actions lead me to conclude that Weingarten doesn't consider the AFT presidency to be anything more than a stepping stone in her career. She has her eyes set on bigger and better things, like national political office. By saying that Rhee apologized, she is claiming a personal political victory for herself.

This wouldn't be so terrible if she were promoting herself while still helping the WTU and its members. However, Weingarten's actions are harming the tenuous situation in DCPS. Weingarten knows that Rhee won't simply roll over. The chancellor's spokesperson was quoted as saying, "The chancellor took the chance to communicate her thoughts on teachers in full, which had previously only been reported partially. Her position has not changed." In declaring the letter an apology, Weingarten is making relations between the union and chancellor more strained. Not exactly a great thing to do if you are actually committed to facilitating negotiations.

Whether you like Rhee or don't, I think we can all agree that the Chancellor's office and the WTU need to work together. Weingarten's comments bug me because it indicates very clearly that she isn't committed to facilitating anything but her own career advancement.

A Cake Inspired This Post

2009-02-24T00:37:00.003Z

I was inspired to write this post by this cake over at one of my favorite blogs, Cake Wrecks. They essentially show pictures of cakes "gone horribly, hilariously wrong." The "Congrats on your Teen Pregnancy" cake is certainly something gone wrong, but unfortunately not all that hilarious.

I have often been puzzled by the pregnancy rates among my students. I teach 9th graders -- so students between the ages of 13 and 15 -- and this year alone I have seven female students who either are pregnant or already have children. Out of my 60 9th graders, seven are pregnant or have a child. Seven. I'm no mathematician (wait, yes I am) but that's like 12% of my 14 year-olds. Yikes, right? The high school I went to -- a public school in a relatively wealthy suburban area -- had a pregnancy rate nowhere near this high. I can only remember two or three members of my graduating class (about 550 people) having kids.

I've tried to come up with reasons for this, but nothing I can think of completely explains it. Part of the problem, I think, is that many women (and, therefore, girls) in low-income communities do not have as much reproductive autonomy (in terms of using contraception) as their more affluent peers. Part of it seems to be that abortion is less common among my students, which means that more babies are carried to term. Good or bad (and that's one issue I don't even want to come close to discussing on this blog), it means more babies. These issues explain some of the discrepancy in pregnancy rates between affluent and low-income high schools, but I don't think it comes anywhere near explaining the entirety of it.

The biggest issue that I see is that teen pregnancy at my school -- and likely at schools across DC -- has simply become normalized. There is no stigma, there is no "shame," and so there is no problem. Of course, I don't think shaming people is a good thing to do, but it is definitely an effective deterrent. When you are concerned about what people might think, you're more likely to spend more time thinking about your decision. On the other hand, when you see dozens of other pregnant students and/or students with children around you, it seems like having a baby in high school (or, heaven forbid, middle school) isn't all that big of a deal. Well, I think that's wrong. I'm a grown up and having a baby scares the behoozits out of me.

Obviously, having babies all comes down to sex (sorry if anyone out there wasn't aware of that yet -- ask your parents). Although I certainly don't seek out conversations about sex with my students (ew), I do from time to time overhear things. It seems like sexual activity is way more common among my students than it was when I was in 9th grade. Whenever I make comments indicating to my students that maybe they're not mature enough for such discussions (or such actions), they act like I'm some old fuddy-duddy. I'm sorry, but when you freak out about getting a sticker on your quiz, it probably means you're not ready to be a parent. Maybe that's just me? Probably not, though.

The Argument over Class Size

2009-02-19T21:08:00.003Z

The New York Times today ran an article about class size in New York's public schools. The average class size at every grade level in NY has increased. Although the city does not have data for the overall average increase (the data would be meaningless because class sizes are different depending on the grade) the largest increase was at the 3rd grade level. Last year the average class size was 20.9 students. This year, the average 3rd grade class is 21.8 students.

Teacher's Unions frequently argue for reduced class size as one of the proven ways to improve student achievement. This makes good sense -- smaller classes are easier to manage and allow more one-on-one time between teachers and students.

The question I have is this: to what extent does class size impact student achievement? Does it help more to have moderately smaller classes than it does to have art and music teachers? Does it help more to have smaller classes than to have school psychologists and counselors and special educators? Not being an education researcher, I don't know. But my guess is that it would be better for kids to have the additional resources than it would for them to be in smaller classes. Obviously, there aren't infinite funds, so if we hire more teachers we have to cut something else.

At my school, class sizes tend to be between 25 and 30 (at least, my ninth grade classes are that size -- except for the brief period last year when I had 45 on a roster, which resulted in me throwing quite the hissy fit until they moved kids around). However, on a given day it is rare if I have more than 20 in the room. Now, it is easier to manage a class of 18 than it is to manage a class of 30. However, I would much rather have all 30 kids there every day than deal with the truancy issues. So my point is I'd rather keep the large class size and hire some attendance counselors and psychologists to help kids get to class. I'd rather keep rosters around 30 and hire art, music, and theater to allow our children to creatively express themselves. Hiring an extra math teacher to get my rosters down to 20 would be relatively useless because many of my children would continue to struggle with issues that I can't help them solve.

School Violence

2009-02-16T12:18:00.007Z

This past week there was a series of fights at Cardozo High School, which led to 16 arrests and a few students being hospitalized (only one for serious injuries, and my sources at Cardozo tell me that the student is going to be fine). There are plenty of places you can read about the actual fight (news articles, The Washington Teacher, DCist) so I won't bore you with the details. My friends who teach at Cardozo say that the "brawl" was not as bad as the descriptions in the media. One teacher I spoke to said that the day after the article ran in the Post, she and her students had a discussion about the fight. Most students agreed that the media was just hyping things up to sell papers and increase ratings. But that is another post for another day.

This whole situation makes me mad. It makes me mad that news crews will show up at Cardozo to film kids beating the crap out of each other, but can't be bothered to report on the institutional violence that takes place every single day in our cities poorest schools. When poor children from abusive and dysfunctional households come to school, they should be able to come to a place that will nurture, care for, and educate them. Instead they come to holding pins where many teachers give them worksheets and ask them to be quiet until 3:15. Instead of reaching their full potential, students become bored, angry, and violent. They lash out.

The fights that took place at Cardozo technically stemmed from some altercations that had happened outside of school. What the newspapers won't tell you is that these fights would have happened whether an altercation had happened outside of school or not. They would have happened, maybe not with these specific students or at this specific school on that specific day, but they surely would have happened. Our children are desperate for control, and fighting is something that allows them to, for some period of time, feel powerful. They see violence not only as a part of life, but as a legitimate channel through which they can increase their social standing. Whereas more affluent students believe they can achieve power and respect through educational success, many of our students believe these things can be achieved through fighting and physical violence. Who can blame them? They are victims of violent oppression at the hands of their parents, their communities, and their schools.

Our schools certainly don't directly cause the violence -- they don't teach kids how to kick and punch. But they do nothing to stem its tide. Schools should be a place where the most disadvantaged children can become empowered through education. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen. So students fight, the newspapers take pictures of it, and the people with the power to change it sit their clicking their tongues and complaining about "those violent kids."

Sorry if this post is depressing. I'll be back to posting snarky comments about the union or the way my students dress tomorrow.

Uh, thanks?

2009-02-09T22:14:00.006Z

In addition to navigating that shark-filled waters of teaching 9th graders, I also have one section of AP Statistics. AP students are awesome. They do whatever I ask, they participate, and they're old enough to be actually funny (and not just fart jokes funny). So this class is like the shining beacon of glory in my day. That's not to say I don't love and value all of my students, blah blah blah. It's just that sometimes it's easier to love kids who don't curse at you for trying to teach them (the nerve of me!).

Anyways, this was how one of my AP students described our class to another teacher.

Student: AP Statistics is pretty fun. It's hard though. Mr. Potter gives out a lot of work. Also, he's like really really nerdy. Like, but in a good way. He gets really excited about math problems. It's kind of sad, but it's good too.

Meh, probably true.

(Disclosure: OK, it's totally true. Today I spent 40 minutes after school trying to solve a stats problem that I'm assigning for homework tomorrow. When I finally got it right, I turned on that M.I.A. song "Paper Planes" and strutted around my room. PS, did you see her at the Grammys like 12 months pregnant? Bananas.)

KIPP School Teachers Unionize

2009-02-07T16:14:00.004Z

Today, while I was putting off going to the gym by trolling the interweb, I came across this NYTimes article about the teachers at a KIPP charter school in Brooklyn. The article essentially describes the unionization efforts of the teachers at KIPP AMP, and the response that the school's administrators have had.

For those of you not familiar with KIPP, it is a nation-wide network of Charter Schools that operates in some of our nations most dysfunctional education systems (including DC), and generally gets some pretty great results. It was founded by former Teach for America corps members, and usually hires TFA alums.

Charter Schools are sometimes able to achieve better results than regular public schools because they are able to circumvent the grossly inefficient bureaucracy that surrounds public education (that bureaucracy, in my opinion, is caused by two equal and yet opposite forces of failure: 1) policy makers, who are more interested in pleasing their political base than doing good things for kids, and 2) teachers unions who are more interested in pleasing the vocal minority of teachers than doing good things for kids). Given the traditionally bad relationship between unions and Charter Schools, it is surprising that KIPP teachers are trying to unionize.

This article leaves me with two questions:

First, if teachers say that there were no problems with administrators before (which they do in the article) then why unionize? If you don't have problems with management, if your school has only 22 teachers, if your administrators are available and open, why do you need a collective voice? I'm not criticizing (yet), I just don't understand.

Second, if administrators were happy with the teachers' performance before the unionizing efforts (as administrators say they were), then why freak out about it? Why haul students in to bad-mouth their teachers? It seems that doing so only creates an environment of hostility, which of course will be damaging to the students. For a system of schools that is generally well-regarded, it seems like a bizarre step.

It seems like people get a little stupid whenever unions come up. Some get stupid in their freakish support of all things union (even the bad things), while others get stupid in their angry tirades against all things union (even the good things). So my question is this: are the people at KIPP (teachers and administrators) catching this disease of stupid, or are there other reasons for their actions?

Are you kidding me, G. Park?

2009-02-03T02:06:00.003Z

Apparently the WTU did manage to send a contract proposal to the Chancellor's office this past weekend. Of course, the WTU membership has no idea what is contained in that proposal. Click here to read the half-witted non-information that members were presented with.

I go absolutely bonkers when the union does this. Whenever I complain that the union is moronic, and that it doesn't accurately represent me, I get some cock-and-bull story about how I am the union, so I need to make my voice heard. Crap.

I send emails and make phone calls all the time, I attend the meetings at my school (when they occur, which is once so far this year), and I try to go to the WTU meetings (no one ever seems to know when they take place, and they seem to be cancelled every other week), and the letter I get from my union is two full pages of nothing. Their proposal supports "the overarching goals of the DCPS five year plan," with no more detail than that. Wow. Insightful.

The people that run this union are not smart. They are bad at leading and accomplishing things, and they have no desire for people who are good at leading and accomplishing things to be involved because then there would be good leadership and stuff would get accomplished and that doesn't work for these lot. They prefer gross incompetence. I think they believe that if they just keep doing a poor job of things in a hard-headed manner, maybe Michelle Rhee will just quit and leave them alone.

Buh.

WTU: Feel my wrath

2009-01-31T23:29:00.005Z

Candi Peterson over at The Washington Teacher has a post asking about where the WTU teacher contract proposal is. Apparently yesterday, January 30th, was the day it was supposed to be presented to Michelle Rhee. I've heard not a peep about it.

Now, I'm no union insider (although I'm a member, I don't receive emails, have a union card, or generally know what's going on, despite having sent numerous emails asking the WTU to resolve these problems). But if Candi Peterson doesn't know what's up, then my guess is our union leadership has said / done nothing. She generally seems to know what's going on, being on the board and all.

So my question is this: what do our union leaders do all day? I pay quite a bit every two weeks to have the union represent me, and besides getting awkward robo calls (is there seriously no way to not have those phone messages start with like 20 seconds of silence? can we really not crack that technology?) every Sunday, they don't seem to do much. From what I've observed, George Parker and Nathan Saunders (ugh, don't even get me started on Saunders... he and I have some beef) seem to spend most of their time not liking each other and writing down the vaguely inflammatory things that the other says for use in the media, which of course has learned to stop calling them since they don't actually do anything.

On another, related note: have you seen the WTU website? What the hell is that? Seriously, my mom has a better website than this, and she once thought that if I checked my email while I was away at college it might tie up their phone line at home. And yes, I'm showing my age; I once used dial-up.

Semi-Snow Day

2009-01-28T19:47:00.002Z

Today was a complete and utter waste of an educational day, but I still don't blame Michelle Rhee for not canceling school.

Yes, there were only about 100 kids in school today (out of around 900 enrolled). Yes, more than 25 teachers called in sick. Yes, we did not have any classes, and kids spent most of the day (which started late, at 10:45) watching movies or playing games. Yes, the teachers and students who did come to school had to brave some pretty treacherous conditions (I personally slipped like 15 times on my walk to school -- thankfully no falls).

But, as Chancellor Rhee has said before, there are many children in this city who only get two meals a day: the free breakfast and free lunch provided by their schools. A day off would have been nice, but where are those kids going to get food? Perhaps the Chancellor's office should look into instating some sort of inclement weather task force that will help distribute meals to students even if school is canceled. But that doesn't exist yet. So, for the time being, I'm satisfied with the decision to keep schools open today.

On Desegregation

2009-01-27T00:40:00.002Z

I'm currently working towards getting my master's degree, and for one of my classes I had to read Shame of the Nation by Jonathan Kozol. In general, I didn't think it was the greatest of books. He makes some good points, blah blah blah, but I wasn't blown away. Kozol's argument essentially comes down to money, and I think that money is not the biggest thing.

However, it got me thinking about what the biggest thing actually is. And I think the biggest single policy we could adopt to fix urban education would be desegregation. I teach in a school that is 100% minority. There are literally no white children. Similarly, there are many schools in affluent parts of this country that have literally no black children. Kozol cites several statistics stating that the vast majority of black and hispanic children go to schools that are majority black and hispanic. Our schools are incredibly segregated.

We are living in a multiracial society with a black president and a relatively colorful congress, and yet black children and white children do not go to school together. Rather than focus on the newest "reform" agenda, the latest program, or the biggest expenditure, we should end the segregation of American schools. Diversity is a good thing, and we should create public education policies that encourage it in our schools. If that means busing students to different schools or providing incentives for children to go to different schools, then so be it. Our children would all benefit.

That's my two cents.

Oh my.

2009-01-14T19:15:00.006Z

I just submitted the following discipline referral to my grade-level administrator. I present it here for your reading pleasure. The names have been changed, not to protect the innocent -- because there are none -- but to protect me from getting sued.

"R's journey into insanity began at the beginning of class when students were asked to take a practice final. R asked for help on it, and I told him to try his best and that we would go over the practice test afterwards. He got very upset that I refused to help him, saying, “These motherf***ing teachers won’t help you, they just say to try my best. F*** that.” R then, unbeknownst to me, took the disposable camera that was provided by DonorsChoose to document the use of the donations we received off of my desk. He walked out of class, along with J and D.

The story does not end there. With 10 minutes left, these gentlemen, along with a newly found stranger I do not recognize, came into my class interrupting the review activity we were doing. R took a pair of dice out of his pocket and said, “I want to shoot these in front of Mr. Potter.” He then rolled the dice on the ground in front of me. As far as I know, no money exchanged hands. I asked R (and his cronies) to leave my classroom, and he eventually did. However, he left screaming and banging on every surface he could find, including Mr. M's door next door to mine."

I'm definitely saving this one.

Update: When the student described above came to my class today, I sent him to the assistant principal to discuss the referral. He returned to class with a note that read, "Please admit -- We conferenced and promised he will be better."

Oh, hell no.

On standardized testing

2009-01-13T19:24:00.004Z

With the confirmation hearing for Arne Duncan today, I have some thoughts on the standardized testing that is such an integral part of No Child Left Behind. As some context, I administered the DC-BAS test (essentially a practice test for the DC-CAS in April) to my ninth graders today. It was not what I would call a joyful experience, but that's really irrelevant.

The three points I want to make are:
1.) Standardized testing is a good and useful thing.
2.) Standardized tests need to be truly "standardized," meaning that they are based on standards that we expect students to have mastered.
3.) Standardized testing only means "teaching to the test" when teachers aren't very good.

First, despite the fact that many teachers hate standardized testing, I think it's good. We need to have some system of assessment that objectively lets us know where our children are. It's fine for me to say that a student is making great progress, but we need quantitative proof. Standardized tests give us that in a way that nothing else can. We need to make sure that standardized tests really are as objective as possible (example: probably not a great idea to have black urban youths answerring questions about golf) but I think it's possible to have a set of knowledge we expect all students to have, and to assess that knowledge in a systematic way.

Second, standardized tests are only acceptable if they accurately assess what students are supposed to have learned. Today, I gave my students the DC-BAS test, which is nearly identical to the DC-CAS test that is taken at the end of the 10th grade year. My students could not do most of it, because they have only taken one semester of algebra and have taken no geometry. The test was not written to assess what they are supposed to know now, it was written to assess what they are supposed to know in 18 months. So, obviously, it was a waste of time. This is not the first time that I have seen standardized testing like this, and it bugs me. It was designed this way so that the adults who wrote it wouldn't have to spend time thinking about what the students were supposed to know. A test for 9th graders given in January should cover the first half of the algebra curriculum, and nothing more. A test for 10th graders given in October should cover all of Algebra and the very beginnings of Geometry, and nothing more. The way that the tests are designed now, we are teaching our children that this test is a thing that is supposed to make you feel stupid, and that is the message that they will carry with them into the real test. When we set up a system of assessments that is designed to assess what students are supposed to know, it will be acceptable to me.

Third, standardized testing does NOT mean "teaching to the test." I am so tired of hearing teachers complain about "teaching to the test." First off, if it's a well designed test, then teaching to the test means just regular good teaching. Second, just because creativity isn't on the test doesn't mean you don't teach it. I personally strive to teach beyond the test. Of course, that's a lot tougher said than done, but it's a goal that we should all share. We need to continue to pressure district and state administrators to refine the assessments so that they are fair and valid, but we need to stop whining about the notion that a test limits what you can teach.

To close, this quote from my student, J, regarding standardized testing:
"I know they gotta give us these tests, but for real these tests be making me want to steal somebody in they face."

Testify!

2009-01-10T15:46:00.003Z

Yesterday I had a volunteer from Howard University come into my second period class (I guess Howard is starting a program where they will be mentoring at-risk high school students, and they were just looking to get some face-time with students in various classes). She is a 19-year old architecture major, and she knew how to lay the smack down. I want her in my class every day. First, she latched onto the kids who are the biggest challenges and stayed with them the entire class. Second, she had some great words of wisdom. Like this conversation, which took place with a male student who has had plenty of struggles academically.

Volunteer: *Student*, how are you going to get girls if you can't add?
Student: I get plenty of girls now!
Volunteer: Yeah, high school girls. High school girls are stupid. But once you get out of high school, all a girl cares about is your college GPA and what your 401(k) benefits are like.

I nearly peed my pants.

The genius of my students

2009-01-08T19:19:00.003Z

I know I talk a lot on here about some of the stupid / ridiculous things that my students do. But today I was reminded of how brilliant and creative my kids can be.

My algebra students have been working in groups to make presentations to the class for a final exam review. I split up the topics we have covered and assigned them to various groups -- one group had graphing, one group had solving equations, one group had writing equations, etc. Today was the first day of our presentations, and, although not every group was amazing, I was very impressed with some of the work they did.

One group (a group that had not been doing much work in the class, which caused me some frustration) had an amazing power point presentation. They made a jeopardy game, and connected various slides with hyper links. I've saved it on my computer and plan to use it next year.

Another group wrote a go-go song about graphing equations entitled "the slope beat," and performed it live in the class. It was a pretty good song, and the lyrics showed really great understanding of the concepts. Also, it was hilarious. It featured this slant rhyme: "B is the intercept and m is the slope / if you don't understand you better check your notes." I was dying. I'm going to get a video camera and make them do it again so I can record them for next year.

It's great to have reminders of how amazing our students can be. If only I could figure out how to get them to be that way all the time...

Rhee's Five Year Plan

2009-01-07T22:55:00.003Z

An article appeared in yesterday's Washington Post describing some specifics of Michelle Rhee's 5-year plan for DCPS. It represents the same mistakes that Rhee has made time after time with regard to teachers in DC.

Ignore for a moment the ideas you might already have about Rhee, and read these quotes from the article:

"Rhee wants more teachers who share her central belief about education reform: All children can become high academic achievers, regardless of the disadvantages they face outside the classroom."
"Rhee plans to move the District away from the regimen of courses and workshops that have defined continuing education for teachers. Borrowing from best practices in surrounding suburban districts, she is building a system of school-based mentors and coaches to help instructors raise the quality of their work."
"[Rhee] also wants to import a nationally prominent Massachusetts consulting firm with a reputation for improving teachers' skills."
" She had hoped to winnow out poorly performing teachers by weakening tenure protections in exchange for higher salaries."
"Rhee has dropped the school system's direct support for instructors seeking certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, a rigorous one- to three-year teacher development program, citing a lack of evidence that the training improves student achievement."

All told, it doesn't sound half bad. I don't know much about the efficacy of National Board Certification, but if there really is no evidence that it helps student achievement, then we probably shouldn't be paying for it. A system of effective teacher development sounds great, considering the incredible lack of support that many new teachers experience in DCPS. Getting rid of poorly performing teachers (we all know that they exist, and should not be in the classroom) is good, as is paying teachers higher salaries. I'm not thrilled with the idea of giving up tenure, but if it will help remove those truly awful teachers (the ones who sleep during class, use racial slurs against students, and show movies 3 days a week -- things that have all been done by teachers I personally know who are still teaching in DCPS) then I'm okay with it. To me, the plan sounds reasonable and, in fact, fairly smart.

Of course, this plan is not being evaluated by most educators on its merits because most educators that I've talked to in DC (especially older teachers, but teachers of all ages and races) think Rhee is out to get them. And they think that because Rhee continues to give them evidence that it's actually what she believes. Her plan might be great, but no one gives it a chance because it is couched in phrases like, "She promises to 'identify and transition out a significant share' of instructors, through buyouts or dismissals," or "Those who don't improve could face termination by the end of the school year." Simply put, she's not nice and people don't like her.

This is what Rhee should be saying in every interview when she talks about teacher quality:

"All research shows that teacher quality is the most important factor in determining how well low-income students will perform in school. Research also shows that students who experience 3 years of bad teachers will never recover. We have thousands of dedicated, intelligent, hardworking teachers in DCPS, but the work of these brilliant educators is being undone by those few teachers who are not doing their jobs well. For too long, these teachers have been allowed to remain in the classroom. We need to create a system that develops good teachers, rewards exceptional teachers, and gets rid of bad teachers."

Isn't that nicer? Doesn't that make you think happy thoughts? Rhee has said numerous times that she isn't interested in making people like her. Well, guess what: she should. When people like you -- when you're nice to people and they feel valued -- they do what you want. Every good classroom teacher knows this -- students will do whatever you want if they believe you care about them. My guess is this is one of those teacher best-practices that carries over into good management as well.

Happy New Year

2009-01-06T20:36:00.003Z

Unfortunately, I got more than I asked for this Christmas -- specifically, a cold that is kicking my butt. But I wanted to write one quick post before going home and taking a nap.

My nerds (Yes, I call them nerds. To their faces. They're always like "we are NOT nerds!" to which I respond "yes you are, you're just not good at it yet.") are working on presentations this week. They'll be leading the review for our final exam which is next Thursday. Anyway, I wanted to share this interaction between two (admittedly, less than stellar) students who are working in a group together:

Student 1 (whiningly): We should, like, make the presentation really good and stuff.
Student 2: You gotta shut up because I made a New Year's resolution to be good, and you're making me want to smack you.

At least she made a New Year's Resolution to be good?

Merry Christmas --> Hall Fight

2008-12-20T04:21:00.000Z

Today was the last day before Christmas Break (or, if you're PC, winter break). Of course, not much learning happened today. But that's fine -- it's to be expected on the day before a two week break. We had holiday parties and played games and all was well.

That is, until third period when rando girls started walking into my classroom and picking fights with my students. Apparently there were two girls who were fighting over some guy -- I asked around, and the guy is a real douche who never does any work and is already repeating the ninth grade... good choice, ladies -- and they decided to bring this disagreement to my room. In all my time teaching I have never had a fight break out in my room, and I wasn't about to break that record. So I pushed two of the girls out and called security (on my cell phone, because why would my school provide teachers with in-class phones that actually work). This delayed the fight for a while, but then my student walked out of my room and went and found these girls and got into it later. So now, on the last day of school of this year, kids are getting suspended and parents have to come up for meetings. So stupid.

The worst part is the girl that was fighting is a good student. She's been getting A's and B's on all of her tests, and she recently applied for a summer program at Howard University (for which I wrote her a recommendation). Why couldn't she control herself?? At least wait until tomorrow when you won't get suspended for fighting. Kids...

Needless to say, me and the other teachers got a drink after school. We needed to upgrade to some Holiday cheer. Merry Christmas!

Truancy Problems in DCPS

2008-12-18T19:42:00.001Z

Thanks to reader Daniel L. who brought these reports on WAMU to my attention. The city council is proposing new regulations regarding student truancy, which is definitely a huge problem in DC. The reports cite a statistic that 20% of the students in public and public charter schools have already racked up 15 absences or more. In my school, the percent is definitely higher -- for my students, it is around 40%.

This problem was brought to my attention even more as I was giving an end-of-unit assessment yesterday. Of the 82 students on my rosters, only 40 came to take the test. I know some children take off early before the Holidays, but this is ridiculous. And I know I was not the only teacher with a test or other important project today (the 9th grade English teachers had a major paper due today).

Currently in my school, there is very little being done to address truancy. We (like all of DCPS) have a computerized calling system that places a phone call to parents any time their child misses a class, but many parents just ignore the computer system because it's not a real person. I personally can't call every time a student is absent, or I would be making 42 phone calls today alone. DC schools require full time attendance support staff that can be available to call the parents of absent children so that parents can be kept aware. Most schools already have one attendance assistant, but our truancy rates are so bad that this is usually too much for one person to handle and do a good job.

The proposals seem fine enough -- if a child misses a day of school they get a phone call, if the child misses more than 5 days an intervention team is assembled to work on the problem, and if these steps fail CPS and the courts get involved -- except for those schools that already have functional attendance systems. If schools have already found a way to address these problems, they should be left alone. Working schools should not be interfered with. But these proposals are great for schools that do not have working systems.

The problem with these proposals is that it requires a lot of time on the behalves of people who do not have a ton of time to give. The proposed intervention team includes a teacher and counselor -- when will I have time to meet with a team to discuss the 30+ students that are routinely absent? And what about the counselors, whose case-loads are even larger? Again, the proposals are great ideas, but we have to remember that there are real people who are going to do this work, and without extra staff there is no way they will be able to do it well. Of course, DCPS isn't about doing things well. It's just about compliance.

WAMU also reported that some charter school officials are very against these new proposals. It seems to me if children are not coming to school, it doesn't matter whether or not they go to a public or public charter school. Kids need to be in school -- end of story. Charter schools with high truancy rates need to take steps to reduce them. The only exception should, again, be for charter schools who already have a working attendance system that happens to be different from those proposed by the city council.

These sorts of top-down mandates are problematic because they assume that the things that work in affluent schools will also work in poor urban schools with the same level of financial commitment. This is simply not true. Urban youths from low-income communities can learn at the highest levels, but they often require extra support along the way. Attendance, like anything else, will only improve when we make education of poor minority students in DC an actual priority.

Why Arne Duncan is a better choice for Secretary of Education than Michelle Rhee

2008-12-17T17:09:00.000Z

Obama announced this week that Arne Duncan would be his choice for Secretary of Education, and I think this is a great decision. A lot of people in DC were hoping / fearing that Michelle Rhee would be picked. On paper, the two seem very similar. However, I think Duncan is a much better choice than Rhee, at least at this point.

Duncan and Rhee are both reformers. They have both closed schools, both supported out-of-the-box programs that have a history of success, and both have fired numerous teachers and other staff that were not performing adequately. They both support pay-for-performance among teachers, and they are both data driven leaders. So why is Duncan a better choice?

First, Duncan has been schools' chief in Chicago for seven years, and has shown that he actually can do the job. Rhee is less seasoned, and while I think many of her proposals are on the right track, we don't have the kind of success here that Chicago has enjoyed in recent years. If Rhee left after only 1.5 years on the job -- and after causing all of the shake-ups she's caused -- I would be PISSED.

Second, Duncan is well-liked by both sides of the education debate. Randy Weingarten (whom I cannot stand) thinks he was a good choice, as do more reform-minded groups. You don't have to be well-liked to be effective, but it helps.

Third, and most importantly, Duncan is not as polarizing a figure as Rhee. I've mentioned before that I think Rhee is pretty great, but I also think she goes about things in a totally wrong manner. She talks too much about bad teachers. She criticizes and uses fear to motivate. Any classroom teacher can tell you that celebrating the good is a lot more effective that shaming the bad. Why doesn't Rhee do this? Her proposals and ideas are right on the money; we should close under-enrolled schools, pay teachers for performance, and hold everyone accountable for good work. But the way she presents herself -- and the way she makes enemies with people -- is not constructive, and it's not good leadership.

Rhee might be a good education secretary someday, but she's too immature to have the task now.

Conference Day Strikes Again

2008-12-09T01:52:00.000Z

Today was parent teacher conference day in DCPS, and these are always interesting days. My favorite thing is when parents come in with the kids. All of a sudden the kids who, in class, are like "Mother F-this" and "I'm so thuggy, G-Unit!" are instead like "Yes, ma'am, I'll do better." (I was talking with an administrator about how why it is that our kids are perfectly behaved in the classrooms of older black women, and he had this to say: "Well, it appears to me that black men are scared to death of their mothers. So any teacher that reminds them of their mothers is automatically terrifying." I don't know if it's true, but it makes some sense. Also, I think the effect is multiplied generationally because whenever a kid's grandmother comes in there is sure to be an ass kicking. Those old broads don't play around.)

On the whole, today was good. I got caught up on some organizational stuff for my class, and I met with a good number of parents. And not just the parents of really well-behaved kids, but I actually got to meet with the parents of kids who really need some help. The best, though, was a parent whose kid is very smart but who sometimes acts up in class and causes problems. She gave me her cell phone number and said, "Call me whenever you need to -- call during class even. My daughter isn't here to look cool, she's here to learn. Feel free to embarrass the hell out of her." Yes, please.

Anger Management Issues

2008-12-05T19:56:00.000Z

My third period class is a little, let's say, rambunctious. Some might say crazy. I've developed a plan to deal with the crazy, and it seems to be working better.

Even so, I was pretty shocked today when a student, during the middle of my lesson, lept out of his seat, put his pencil to the neck of the girl behind him, and yelled "I will f*ing stab you in the neck if you don't leave me alone!" Yikes, right? I removed the child from my room, and he began to punch lockers in the hallway. An assistant principal heard the commotion and came to take him away.

After school, I had this conversation with the administrator:

Administrator: Mr. Potter, I talked with *crazy student* and he said that the girl was poking at him.
Mr. Potter: OK, well, that's not really an excuse.
Aministrator: Well, that student has anger management issues.
Mr. Potter: You think???

Am I too hard on this kid? It seems to me, if you hold a pencil to someone's neck and threaten to stab that person, you maybe shouldn't be in a classroom with people. Should it matter that you have anger management issues?

Michelle Rhee in Time magazine, needs to get a new communications team

2008-12-01T20:17:00.001Z

So, I'm a relatively big fan of Michelle Rhee. I think she's smart enough to tackle some of the issues, I think she's ballsy enough to make unpopular but needed decisions, and I think she is generally right that teachers need to be well paid and held highly accountable. Can you sense the "but" coming?

BUT, I think she and her team have done a terrible job marketing their message. Instead of saying things like "teachers, administrators, and students need to all be held accountable for their performance" she says "teachers need to be held accountable." Administrators and students already are held accountable (principals are dropping like flies, and students get grades), but when you say all three it makes it sound like teachers aren't the bad guys. Much better messatge. Or, instead of saying things like "we have a small group of ineffective teachers who are damaging children, and we need to take steps to remove them from the classroom so our really incredible teachers can do their jobs" she says things like "if you're ineffective, you will be fired." See how much nicer the first one sounds? I really believe that if she just changed the way she said things she would earn a lot more friends among teachers. She needs to stop saying teachers are the enemy. First off, we're not. Second, it's annoying.

Also, who in the world let Time use that picture? Does she really need "wicked witch" comparisons?

I'm about to cut someone

2008-11-26T19:45:00.001Z

One of the little freakazoids that was in my classroom third period (not one of my students -- since it's the day before Thanksgiving, half of the teachers in the building are gone (because it's not like this is a real job with expectations or requirements) and so I've been asked to take in rando kids all day, and it was one of them that did this (also I wouldn't call my children freakazoids. I like my children and have a vested interest in helping them feel good about themselves. But I don't know these other people's kids, and so they are freakazoids) (is this too much for a parenthetical statement? meh.)) took the bag of candy I was using as prizes during my math bingo game. Seriously dude? You come into my room - uninvited - and take the candy that I was giving out? I was GIVING IT OUT! You could have had some! If I ever find out your name I am going to make sure that you end up in one of my classes every year for the rest of your high school career so I can play games and no matter how many times you win I will NEVER give you candy because you stole - STOLE - candy from me today. This is my version of revenge.

Happy f-ing Thanksgiving, douchebag.

Mr. Potter is in Ravenclaw. Allegedly.

2008-11-25T02:50:00.000Z

After my school's evaluation turned out to be a lackluster experience, I decided to undergo some more rigorous testing. Here are the results.

(NOTE: My wife -- we'll call her Ginny -- was placed in Hufflepuff. She says this means that the test is flawed. I say it means she's a ninny.)

The sorting hat says that I belong in Ravenclaw!

Said Ravenclaw, "We'll teach those whose intelligence is surest."

Ravenclaw students tend to be clever, witty, intelligent, and knowledgeable.
Notable residents include Cho Chang and Padma Patil (objects of Harry and Ron's affections), and Luna Lovegood (daughter of The Quibbler magazine's editor).

Take the most scientific Harry Potter
Quiz ever created.

Get Sorted Now!

Obamas choose Sidwell

2008-11-24T20:18:00.000Z

Barack and Michelle Obama announced this week that Sasha and Malia will attend Sidwell Friends schools in Upper Northwest / Bethesda. There were some that were hoping that the Obamas would choose a DCPS school. I, for one, was hoping that they would not.

I don't have any children, but if I did they would be enrolled in the best school I could get them into. Obviously, the President of the United States can get his kids into some pretty good schools. If the Obamas had chosen a DCPS school, they would have been playing politics with the future (and, likely, the security) of their children. And that would not have been OK with me.

In related news, a student told me he had figured out what he was going to do instead of graduating from high school. He's going to wait until Malia Obama is old enough (which, judging by the number of students I have with kids, is 13 years old) and then get her pregnant. Then he'll just live at the White House with the Obamas. Good plan, kid. I see bright things in your future.

Harry Potter and the Evaluation

2008-11-21T19:36:00.000Z

My principal officially observed me on Wednesday, and I had my debrief with her today. For those of you who don't know how evaluations work in the idiocracy that is DCPS, let me give you the lowdown.

The teacher picks the day and time that the principal comes. This means that teachers who might normally, for example, hand out a worksheet and fall asleep all of a sudden have spectacular lessons. Also, in secondary schools, the teacher gets to pick the period -- and of course most teachers pick the best one. So essentially teachers get to make themselves look as good as possible.

In addition, since my principal NEVER is out of her office going into classrooms, the kids are flabbergasted to see her and are terrified. So they behave perfectly.

Essentially, the principal has NO idea whether or not good teaching is going on in a classroom based on her observation. In the two years I have worked in my school, my principal has been in my room exactly twice -- both times to observe me in a situation that was totally inorganic. But I digress...

I went in to discuss the observation with my principal, and she basically said she thought everything was perfect. I received "Exceeds Expectations" ratings in every category, and she said that she had no suggestions for improvement. I can't disagree with her rating -- my lesson was very good and my kids were extremely well behaved. But as a teacher, I know I am not outstanding. I'm solidly good, but definitely not great. I'm relatively new at this, and there are lots of days where I really struggle. I'm happy to have the excellent ratings, but this type of observation and discussion doesn't help student achievement and it doesn't help improve teacher quality.

A much more valuable process would be one where the principal pops in for mini-observations more frequently. The teachers might not know she was coming, and the kids would get used to her presence. Then, she'd be able to see a "regular" day instead of a dog-and-pony show.

In-Class Competition

2008-11-21T17:03:00.000Z

My favorite days are the ones where we play games in class. Today we played a game called "Review Ball" where the kids are in groups and get a math question to answer. The group works together to solve the problem and groups with correct answers get to take a basketball shot (disclosure: the ball is a tennis ball, and the basket is the trash can with a clean bag in it) for a certain number of points. The team with the most points at the end wins. The kids generally get into it.

The best part of my day is making up rules as I go along. Invariably, children will find some way of being annoying. A kid takes too long to shoot, so I declare "each team has ten seconds to shoot or you forfeit." A kid misses his shot but then insists on taking a second, so I inform the class "if you take a second shot, you lose all your team's points." Kids start yelling about not getting their points or me adding wrong, and I state, in my best teacher voice, "if anyone speaks to me above a whisper, they automatically lose." Kids are so desperate to win that they will put up with my most capricious rules. "When you write the answer for this one, it must be in pig latin." "I don't like the number 7. If your answer has a 7 in it, replace it with a triangle." "I will not accept your answer unless you include with it a sentence about how Mr. Potter is the best teacher you've ever had."

Rhee proposes a "Parent Academy"

2008-11-20T19:27:00.000Z

For a while there my edu-crush on Michelle Rhee was waning. She's been replacing principals fairly frequently, and in some cases has brought in people who are worse at managing schools than the people they were hired to replace. But in general I am supportive of her contract proposals, her critiques of the teacher's union, and her overall focus on student achievement.

When I read the article in yesterdays WaPo about Rhee's future plans (also discussed on DC Teacher Chic's blog), I was pretty impressed. It's the first major comment we've heard from her publicly about student discipline, school security, or parental involvement. What I really like is the idea of the Parent Academy, specifically because it will be focused on addressing the fact that "Too many of our students' parents are uninformed consumers of public education who blindly support the District's public schools without full knowledge of the significant deficiencies of the schools."

I can't tell you how many times something has happened in my school that has made me say, "well this would never happen in a White school." The reason, of course, is that if White middle-class parents heard that their students' teacher fell asleep in class (actually happened - the teacher next door to me last year would regularly fall asleep) or that there was no paper at the school (actually happens,like, bi-weekly), then they would freak out at the principal or the chancellor and someone would get fired.

And, really, this is what is important when we talk about parental involvement. When I think back to my own education, my parents were not terribly "involved" in my schooling (at least in high school). Most days I woke myself up, got myself to school, did my homework myself, and worked on projects without the aid or prodding of my parents. And I certainly never suffered from it. But I know that if a teacher ever did some of the stuff that bad teachers get away with in DCPS, my parents would have raised holy hell. And what's more important, my teachers knew that.

Our schools are in a shambles, and certainly part of the solution has got to be parent involvement. But that doesn't just mean parents helping kids with homework. Ideally, we should be educating our kids in High School so well that their parents can't help them with their homework. Parent involvement should mean parents recognizing that their kids are getting short-changed and demanding change. If every parent in DC whose kid was being under-served started yelling, things would change very quickly. And if it takes a Parent Academy to get parents to realize the extent to which our schools are failing, then I'm on board.

Merit Pay

2008-11-19T20:30:00.000Z

I've been reading on lots of other blogs about the various benefits / problems / issues with merit pay for teachers. Here's what I think.

First, teachers should get paid more for doing a more difficult job. It is more difficult to work in an urban school where the majority of children are below grade level. So I think we should get paid more for it. Take for example this scenario of two teachers. Both teachers are highly qualified under NCLB. Both teachers have been teaching for 5 years. One teacher works at School Without Walls teaching Honors Algebra 2 to 10th and 11th graders. The other teacher works at my school (i.e., a school with a whole mess of problems) teaching remedial Algebra 1 to 9th graders, many of whom live in group homes, have criminal records, are diagnosed with emotional disorders, and are several years behind. Which teacher deserves more money? Under the current system, they get paid the same. (Disclosure: the second teacher is me. Yes, I want more money for my job. My job is hard.)

Second, I think teachers should be paid more for doing a good job. "Doing a good job" can be interpreted in a number of ways. I think we need to look at a "Value-Added" system where we assess students at the beginning and end of a year to find out how much they grew academically. If the students made one year of improvement in one year, then the teacher did his/her job. If the students made less than one year of improvement in one year, then the teacher needs to be put on some kind of improvement plan (and if that doesn't work, removed from the school). If the students make more than one year of improvement in one year, then the teacher gets a bonus. The bigger the improvement, the bigger the bonus. Will this system of bonuses solve all the problems we face in public schools in DC? Of course not. But it's a start. And it might inspire some teachers to think outside the box. For example, I have one class this year that is a real struggle every day (my other classes are fine -- good test scores and good behavior). Right now, I have no external motivation to improve my difficult class. I am internally motivated to help them do better, but there are frequently days when their behavior is so disrespectful that I don't want to help them. There are honestly days when I think, "I can just wait this out until the semester when classes change and they'll be someone else's problem." Now, if I thought that the poor results in this class could prevent me from receiving a bonus at the end of the year, I would probably have more motivation to work to improve the class.

Third, principals need to be involved in the merit pay system, because they can provide input regarding the challenges the teacher faced in the classroom. A teacher who has a large number of students with learning disabilities, for example, might have a lower bar for a bonus than a teacher who had no students with learning disabilities. It is possible to work really, really hard and still not make huge gains with students. Principals know this, and should be able to provide input.

In every other industry in the world, a job that requires more expertise, skill, and training pays higher. In every other professional organization in the world, supervisors have yearly performance reviews with their staff, and usually this results in a new salary in the new year. A system like this will require both administrators and principals hold themselves accountable for results, and help inspire teachers to go the extra mile for their students.

DonorsChoose.org is my homeboy

2008-11-09T20:05:00.000Z

I just got word from DonorsChoose.org that two of my proposals have been funded, in part due to the Amgen Foundation and Teach for America (a trifecta of rockstar non-profits). My class will be getting an LCD projector, algebra tiles, ten copies of the book "Flatland," ten huge dry-erase boards with the coordinate plane on them, markers, graph paper, and some resource books! I am pumped.

Being a classroom teacher can be tough sometimes - you're in the classroom all by yourself with students who, frequently, do not demonstrate much happiness about being there. It's really nice to know that people out there support our work.

OK, no more tenderness. Back to mocking DCPS.

Is it wrong to use Obama's victory to manipulate students?

2008-11-08T15:51:00.001Z

I don't think so. But let me tell you this story and see what you think.

Many (if not most) of my students are extremely excited that Barack Obama is the new President. And good for them for taking an interest. I don't remember being much into politics when I was in high school, so, you know, get excited. Several students are wearing buttons that have a picture of Obama and say "The First Black President." Cool.

But yesterday a kid walked into the room 10 minutes late, yelling obscenities, and singing a song. I asked him to come over to me so we could have a chat. This is the convo that ensued.

Me: Hi, *student*. Nice button.
Student: Thanks. (loudly) OBAMA!
Me: Yeah. How do you think Barack Obama walks into a room?
Student: Huh? Oh. Yeah. Sorry.

Problematic? Maybe. Meh.

But you're white

2008-11-04T17:26:00.000Z

Today, in every class, students have asked me, "Who did you vote for?" After I tell them that it's kind of a personal question and that you shouldn't just ask someone that, they wheedle out of me that I voted for Obama. A couple have said, "Oh, cool." One said, "you should have voted for McCain." Most have said, "No you didn't. You're just saying that because we're black."

Then one girl in my first period said, "If McCain wins, tomorrow I'm just going to start attacking white people." I politely reminded her that many white people (especially in DC) are voting for Obama. She told me I was lying. So then my class informed me that no white people were actually voting for Obama, that we're all voting for McCain. "Interesting," I said, "because white people are the majority of the country. So if none of us voted for Obama, then McCain would definitely win."

So then (and this is my point, really) I asked my kids what percentage of the population they thought Black people made up in America. The answers: 50, 70, 30, 45. When I told them that it was more like 12%, they were in disbelief. A couple told me I was wrong. One called me racist.

How do children get to high school and not know that African Americans are a minority in America? What are geography and American history teachers doing?

This is ill

2008-10-22T19:25:00.001+01:00

I'm feeling a little under the weather today. Nothing too bad, just a head cold. A student noticed that I sounded a little off, and offered these, um, kind words:

Student: Mr. Potter, are you sick? Because if you are you should probably go away. We'll be ok, we'll just sit and talk.

So sweet.

Yikes

2008-10-21T23:30:00.000+01:00

A student said the following to me today whilst I was trying to teach:

"Shut up, boy. Suck my d***!"

I've been told a lot of inappropriate things by students, but this is the first time that a student has been so overtly and unabashedly awful. The only thing I could think of to say in response was, "No. Ew."

Although, I think I made up for my lack of snarky comeback when, in third period, another kid was acting crazy and I went over to make him calm down. He stood up in my face and was like "What?! Say something to me!" and I was like "ok, 'something.'" He started laughing so hard that he actually sat down and finished the assignment. So, I guess that makes me 1-1 for today?

I count!

2008-10-20T18:10:00.000+01:00

Today is the annual audit at my school. For those of you unfamiliar with the gross bureaucratic incompetence that is DCPS, allow me to explain the audit process. All of the students go into their homeroom classes. Then they sit and wait. And wait. Wait some more. Finally, someone from DCPS central office comes in to - literally - count them. This is how they decide how much funding a school gets. Apparently there are no forms we could fill out that would do this better? There's no way to use enrollment forms or computers or the fact that we live in the 21st century and it is ridiculous that decisions are made because someone went around and literally counted everyone?

The best part is that once the auditors count the students, each kid gets a sticker that says (no joke) "I count!" What an upper for the kids. If DCPS were really being honest, though, I feel like they should have added, "Although, you don't count enough for us to give you a proper education or to not waste your time by having someone come around to LITERALLY COUNT ALL OF YOU. But, yeah, sure, you count!"

Harry Potter and the Public Embarassment

2008-10-18T00:47:00.000+01:00

After school, I was walking out and I saw that a former student was carrying Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Being that I, essentially, am Harry Potter, I was STOKED. I told her that the book was AMAZING and that she should come and talk to me about it once she finished reading it. I asked her if she'd read the first six books and whether or not she LOVED them, because I did. She was pretty mortified that I was being so nerdy to her. Also, she was with like five of her friends. Whoops. Was that embarrassing? My bad.

A Prize for Minnie Ripperton

2008-10-18T00:43:00.000+01:00

Today, during the announcements, they played a part of the song "loving you" and said that any student who knew who sang this song should report of Mr. G.'s room to collect your prize.

WHAT?!?

Learning Circle

2008-10-17T19:02:00.000+01:00

The experiment continues. I told my 3rd period class (my largest class with 11 students who have emotional disorders and 13 that have learning disabilities... the degree to which that is illegal is astounding) that I wasn't interested in teaching anyone who didn't want to learn. I sat in a desk on one side of the room and told students that if they wanted to learn they ccould come over and join me and I'd be happy to help them. At first, no one came. Then one. Then two. Pretty soon half of the class was over there. And the other half of the class was sitting looking SO bored and upset. At the end of class I was like "we're going to continue doing this until we have the entire group on board with learning." We'll see how that goes, but I'm optimistic because today I felt - for the first time in this class - that I was actually teaching children how to do things. Of course, half the class was learning nothing. But I'm hoping that eventually the half that is not learning will see that the kids who are learning are enjoying themselves and feeling good about how smart they are becoming. Fingers crossed!

2 things that are amazing in VERY different ways

2008-10-16T20:00:00.001+01:00

First thing (amazingly bad) - this conversation I had with a hall-walker during my planning period:

Mr. Potter: *Student*, why aren't you in class?
Student: Hi Mr. Potter. This school is boring. I want to transfer to Dunbar.
Mr. Potter: But Dunbar doesn't have walls. What do you think is going on at Dunbar that's so different from here?
Student: There's, like, stuff. And classes. I would go to classes at Dunbar instead of just walking the halls.
Mr. Potter: But there are no halls in Dunbar.
Student: Exactly.

Of course he's bored here! He doesn't go to class!

Second thing (amazingly good) - I tried a new management technique with my classes today that I heard about from a colleague. Essentially, you say that everyone who wants to learn sits in one half of the room, and everyone who doesn't want to learn sits in the other. Then you only teach the half that wants to learn. The great thing is that nobody is going to say, "Oh, I'm stupid. I don't want to learn." Because of course they do actually all want to learn. So then all the kids sit on the good side. But if they start talking or not working or putting their heads down, you say "I thought you wanted to learn? Which side do you want to sit on?" REVOLUTIONARY. I had children who have not done work all advisory actually learning! Of course, they could learn all along, but they weren't because they didn't ever have to make that choice. I'm going to keep this up.

Yes, thanks. I know.

2008-10-15T21:15:00.000+01:00

Today, one of the new Assistant Principals (they're all new) came to me during my planning period and said, "Mr. Potter. I was working with a student in your algebra class, trying to help her with math because she said she was struggling. I showed her a problem with decimals, and she didn't know place value. I asked her which was bigger, 1 or .2, and she said .2. I asked her to do 56 - 93, and she said it wasn't possible. She's really far behind."

You think? He then asked if I could come up with a list of like 15 kids that were at a 6th grade math level or below. I asked if I had to limit my list to 15. Way, way, WAY too many children come to high school not knowing the multiplication tables or that fractions involve division.

The good news is that, for the first time, a person in the leadership of my school seems to want to do something about it. He offered to pull children out to help them get caught up, which is, like, amazing to me. An assistant principal in DCPS who isn't afraid of children?! That sound you just heard was my chin hitting the floor.

What does PSAT stand for?

2008-10-15T17:51:00.000+01:00

"Starbucks is where white people ... go"

2008-10-15T01:14:00.000+01:00

I live pretty close to my school (about a mile away), and so I frequently see students of mine on the street while I'm walking around the neighborhood. Today I saw a student on my way home from work. I was walking right by the new Starbucks by the metro when I bumped into her, and we had the following conversation.

Student: Hi Mr. Potter! Are you going into Starbucks?
Mr. Potter: Hi *student*. No. I'm not. Why?
Student: Oh, you know. Starbucks is where white people ... go.
Mr. Potter: It's where we go?
Student: Yeah. Or, like, I don't know. You know?

According to this blog, my student is correct. In the interest of full disclosure, I did go to that particular Starbucks this morning. Also, see here.

On Lock Down

2008-10-14T21:25:00.000+01:00

Today during fourth period (the last of the day, since we're on the much debated block schedule) our school went on lockdown. This means that all teachers are supposed to lock their doors and students are not allowed in the hallways.

I can sense your alarm: "Mr. Potter, are you safe?" "What happened, Mr. Potter?" "Was there a shooting nearby?" "Was there some sort of gang fight?" Calm yourself, reader.

While issues of safety (like nearby violent crime or gang activity) are supposed to be the causes of lockdowns, that is not how they're used in my school. Rather, my administration decided that there were too many children lollygagging in the hallways before class. So we went on lockdown so that those children would be trapped in the hallways, unable to enter class, and be caught by the assistant principals.

Now, there are two chief problems with this approach:

First, these children are not in class learning. They are being locked out of class so they can get in trouble. Of course there needs to be a consequence for hanging out in the hallway instead of going to class, but it needs to be consistently applied (that is, not decided arbitrarily by some cantankerous assistant principal) or else children will continue to try their luck and meander the hallways.

Second, it's like crying "wolf." What if there is some serious emergency and we need to be on lockdown for safety reasons (not out of the question in the neighborhood in which I work)? Everyone is going to assume that it's a ruse to get kids into classrooms, and no one will listen.

So, deal with my frustration.

My First Post

2008-10-14T20:27:00.000+01:00

So, I hate blogs. Hate them. But - like a violent car crash or an ugly person in too-small clothing - I just can't look away. I decided to start my own blog about the trials and tribulations of teaching in a public high school in the District of Columbia for two reasons:

High Schools in many low-income communities are so fantastically awful that we need more people complaining more loudly if we ever hope for anything to be accomplished. Thus, my loud complaining.
I realized that without an outlet for my frustration I might actually burst into flames.

You can expect all kinds of anecdotes from my classroom and my school, along with links and comments about the state of secondary education in our nation's capital.