Getting My Groove Back

As I type this my body feels completely exhausted of all energy, yet it is the good kind of exhaustion...the kind where you have given your best and at the end of the day can reflect that there's not much more you could have done in that 15-16 hour time frame to make a difference. Such are my days since I have started my new job as an elementary librarian....they are busy, fast-paced, demanding, and action-packed but I find myself loving every second! Every now and then the grass IS greener on the other side! This has been such a refreshing change in my life and now that the first six weeks are almost gone, I really find myself settling into my "groove." My creative juices are flowing again, my excitement for what I do is back after a long hiatus. For four years I thought I didn't like being a librarian...why didn't I switch to elementary years ago?? It is so FUN!! I am bursting with ideas and plans and projects to make this library a truly wonderful place for kids to visit and the best part is...I feel supported! My administrators let me actually be a librarian! It makes a world of difference when your hard work is appreciated and received warmly by your peers and colleagues as well as kids...and I must add that my principal is just awesome. She has revived my hope for education again. I am just so thankful that this door was opened to me...I needed this and I do believe they needed me. Word on the street is that they have had a series of terrible librarians. It is amazing how much that feeling of being where you are supposed to be can energize a person. I used to go to the Boys and Girls Club for my after school tutoring job and have to force myself to go through the motions with the kids. Now, even though I've had a much more tiring day at school, it's like I can find the energy and a second wind to enjoy those kids too and give them the attention they deserve. So in short...I LOVE MY JOB! :) Life is just really good right now...I am enjoying what I do again, I'm finally really getting to know people and get more involved at church, I'm going to be blessed with a wonderful living situation in a couple of months (I have the opportunity to purchase a beautiful, brand-spanking new townhouse for a very affordable price---so excited!), my favorite time of year with absolutely awesome weather has arrived...what more could a girl want or need? God truly gives us more than we can ask or think. I know my blog posting is sporadic but I just wanted to share a positive update!

Our Future??

Well, Duh!

Texas’ standardized tests a poor measure of what students learned, UT-Austin professor says

Um, they really didn't need an expensive study for this discovery to be made!  Teachers in schools have been saying this for years!!!  

Summer 2012

Who Said There's Not Money in Education?

Apparently I've been on the wrong career path...instead of collecting all of these master's degrees to become a better teacher and educator, I should be trying to become superintendent! Dallas ISD just hired a new superintendent and I've been reading the news stories that outline the details of his contract. This guy just came from a district in Colorado Springs of 11,000 students. He is coming to Dallas which is home to 157,000 students. His starting salary is going to be $300,000 per year. If he stays 5 years, that will be bumped up to $350,000 a year. His official start date is July 1, but he is already unofficially on the job and the district is paying him $1000 per day until his contract begins. He is also getting $10,000 to cover moving expenses (as if he can't afford to pay his own moving expenses making $30,000 per month), $2100 a month to cover renting an apartment until he can get fully moved, and even gets a car and phone allowance every month (once again, what is the $30,000 a month for if you can't pay your own rent, car, and phone bill?). On top of all of this, the guy can get two bonuses a year...$75,000 for meeting performance goals (whatever those are) and $125,000 if the district meets student achievement goals. Meanwhile, the district has done away with performance pay for teachers next year...but the superintendent still gets paid for student achievement? Wait a minute...aren't TEACHERS the ones who are most directly involved with student achievement? Aren't TEACHERS the ones who are coming in early and staying late tutoring kids, developing new interventions, figuring out ways to help struggling students, meeting with parents, delivering instruction, and coming out of our own pockets to buy the supplies and resources we need?? But Mr. Miles is going to be the one to reap the rewards for all of that? There are no bonuses for teachers, the ones in the trenches. We haven't even had a raise in 4 years. The reward for getting my master's degree? A whopping $30 increase on my monthly pay check. Last year, teachers didn't even get their step increase, much less a percentage raise. But this guy can walk in the door with the chance to make almost half a million dollars a year. The superintendent of NYC schools (with 1.1 million students) only makes $211,000 a year! I don't even know what a superintendent does. WHAT DOES HE DO?? I've worked in this district for almost 7 years and really don't even know what the superintendent does that is worth being paid that much every year. His job can't be harder than what your average classroom teachers deals with on a daily basis. I don't care what anyone says...classroom teaching in an urban district like Dallas is one of the hardest jobs there is. There is no amount of money that could adequately compensate for some of the things classroom teachers have to deal with every day. Yet we can't even get a 1 or 2 percent raise while they are extending our workday by another 45 minutes, but suddenly we can find the money to make this guy the highest paid public school administrator in the nation. (Even the NYC superintendent who oversees a district of 1.1 million students only makes $211,000 per year!). This is just leaving a pretty sour taste in my mouth and it's going to be hard to respect a leader who is more than willing to take such a large piece of a meager pie without doing a darn thing to earn it yet. If he came to my school and taught in one of these classes for one day....just one...and dealt with some of the things we face every day, then maybe, just maybe, he may have earned it. But as long as he's sitting in a plush office looking important and signing a bunch of paperwork and driving around in a Benz to act like he knows what to do to fix education....I can't respect it. There is plenty of money in education after all...you just have to be in the right place. And that place is most definitely NOT the classroom.

Library: Do Not Enter!

You would think that there is a sign on my library door that reads:

"Danger! Do Not Enter! All Who Enter Here Will Waste Time and Fail the STAAR Exam!"

My administrators have pretty much forbidden anyone from coming to the library this entire semester because they want everyone in the classrooms prepping for the upcoming STAAR test. Not just a week or two before the test, but the WHOLE semester!! Apparently, the library is not useful because I don't check out test prep packets to the kids. I actually provide real, authentic reading materials for the kids...oh, horrors! Something that doesn't contain multiple choice bubble answers?? Not allowed!! Despite the stacks of research that I provided to my principal regarding the impact of strong library programs on student achievement and despite the hours of professional development that reading/language arts teachers have participated in that emphasize the importance of students' having the freedom and choice to select reading materials that are on their level and of their interest to enhance reading comprehension, our school leaders are so test-obsessed that we can't do ANYTHING that doesn't have the name STAAR on it. It is so counterproductive and damaging to the kids that it is ridiculous....how can anybody with a doctorate in education not realize the importance of providing access to reading materials, research resources, and information literacy skills for this digital, information age that we live in? How can anyone who works in this print-poor community not realize the importance of kids having access to the books in this library? There is not a Barnes and Noble bookstore on the corner. There is not a public library within walking distance. Most homes don't invest in magazine subscriptions, newspaper subscriptions, or other print materials. What in the world could be wrong with allowing the teachers to invest 45 minutes every other week to bring their students to the library? I can guarantee you that the kids who sneak in here between classes or before school or during lunch to get books are going to be the highest scorers on the test anyway...why? Because they've been reading...really reading! Not boring themselves silly with test packets but really engaging in compelling, authentic, challenging texts. Unfortunately, only the most determined readers find time to make the trek to the abandoned third floor to visit the library....there are many other students who may not be as dedicated but still deserve the opportunity to have access to the materials and to be encouraged to read by the educators in this building. I just don't see visiting the library for 45 minutes twice a month is going to make anyone fail the STAAR test but apparently it is a waste of perfectly good instructional time (never mind that I do develop lessons and provide instruction to the classes when they come to the library) and we just can't have that!

It is a sad state of affairs when this is the kind of thinking and mindset that is leading our most challenged schools. What is best for kids has long since been tossed out the window and what's best for maintaining an illusion of "success" for the principal's image is now what we apparently work for.

Like one author eloquently titled a book...."Makes Me Want to Holler!!"

Teachers for Change: A Letter to the Parents

A well-written letter on behalf of teachers in Dallas ISD....

Teachers for Change: A Letter to the Parents: Dear Parents of Dallas ISD- I hope you do not believe some of the rhetoric.  I hope you know that the vast majority of teachers in Dallas I...