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Saturday, October 19, 2013
The public needs to know
Mayor Jon Mitchell and several members of the School Committee choose to ignore what Dr. Durkin is doing to our students, teachers, and administrators but the truth is getting out to the public.
21 comments:
Anonymous
said...
I agree. I'm tired of being observed once or twice a week and then having to meet with the principal for a review of the observation, at the end of the week, only to receive NI. This is a 5-10 minute observation and it is judged? Twenty-five years of teaching and in a Level 1 school and every teacher has been getting NI at least once a week? I'm sick of having that finger point to the RIGOR chart and told this is where you are, but I know you can be here! Maybe, if you leave us alone and let us continue what were doing, that got us to a Level1 school, we might remain there! At this rate, kiss Level 1 GOODBYE! Too much stress for students and teachers!
We are now being told by our principal which students to focus on. Whatever happened to teaching the whole class? Should I only teach the students Dr. Durkin considers the 40%? What will happen to all my other students?
When Mr Sea became the super no one was complaining about the "climate of fear". King John Mitchell said the school system was improving under Mr Shea and he had nothing but praise for him.
How did we going from a pleasant work environment to a prison camp? What's changed since Mr Shea left?
Did Mitchell Chester and Jon Mitchell cut a deal to declare NBHS a level 4 school? The timing is rather curious and I don't believe it's a coincidence.
Giving everyone needs improvement is a scare tactic. Start standing up to it in large numbers. if we stand together, she will not overpower. our students deserve our full attention. These review sessions for the observation are demanded but occur after or before the work day. we need to unite and stand with. Lou!!!
I witnessed the insanity yesterday of teachers spending their prep time writing mastery goals for children who can't read them..this is f....... Crazy. Stop the insanity..
She would say to the parent that although this child attacked, he falls within the strategic yellow group. The much needed middle students who can hit that 40% so we will ignore the behaviors.
Kids at Normandin who get into fights are being congratulated by classmates the next day when they show up at school. What a Nice message were sending.
I see students at Normandin telling staff to shut up and the administration doesn't do anything about it. Its all about happy twitter posts from the principal.
Anonymous blogs about alleged incidents are worthless, especially when they are non specific and refer to students, plural, and fights, plural, within one post.
There was more than one student congratulated? Two or more students said, "shut up"? The two or more incidents were reported? And the documented reports were not acted on?
This blowing off steam is all well and good but we can't win battles without focusing on real cases and causes.
Without focusing on real cases and cases and causes? What are you talking about? These ARE real cases and causes, more than one. There is a pattern of ignoring the safety of teachers and the leanring environment for students.
FYI for the principal telling teachers to focus their attention to median students, you are breaking the law!
If new reforms do not address race- and income-based gaps in achievement and access to effective teaching, they risk perpetrating or exacerbating historic inequities that stand in stark contradiction to our nation’s values of justice, democracy and opportunity.
I'm sorry to say that the median student is at the lower end of the scale. Once upon a time there was a struggling learner, an "average" learner, and an advanced learner. The breakout of these groups may have followed more of a traditional bell curve. Today the average learner, which is a very small group has been pushed into the advanced learning group. The gap between the struggling learners and the true advanced learners is huge, incredibly larger than many are willing to acknowledge. Year over year the gap is getting larger. I have witnessed it first hand. Student behaviors continue to get in the way of learning. Promoting students who have not earned the credits to move to the next grade is grinding the educational conscience to where we are today; in a mess. Our operating system in New Bedford has enabled students to learn that lethargic behavior is acceptable and that effort doesn't really matter because he or she won't be kept back. Ask them, they'll tell you, straight up. The students are willing to take the risk because there's summer school as the worst case. Attend summer school and you pass. Again, ask them, they'll tell you. Sure, maybe one or two don't pass, but seriously. The students have it down to a science. They get it, and we as the adults need to get it soon. As long as we as a district keep promoting students who need some tough love in the way of repeating a grade level, good luck in improving MCAS scores. For some, repeating a grade is no big deal, but we need to combine programs that encourage student efficacy. The student that fears repeating a grade needs to be convinced that repeating grades in New Bedford is a reality and immediate possibility. It needs to be an administrative rubic to students. I know that keeping a student back is a controversial subject, and there are educators that say it does not work, but the way I see it right now is that the students are running the show, and the adults need to start showing some gumption and lead by creating and enforcing some basic steadfast rules.
Summer school?? Summer school has always been a joke! Certainly more of a punishment than actual learning, trying to compact a year's worth of education in a few short weeks. And the "repeaters"?? How many times have I seen students being put back into their previous grade in September and then being pushed ahead in November for "good behavior"? This has been going on for years. It is no wonder that standards slips little bit as time goes on. The administration has had a hand in the "dumbing down" of America!!!
Teachers, sadly very good teachers, really are walking out of Normandin every single day on the verge of either having a mental breakdown or wanting to rip the doors of their own cars off the hinges. It really is true. It is absolutely that bad. At this rate I cannot fathom what it would take for a student to get expelled at Normandin. Honestly? What. Would. It. Take? Because dangerous and abusive children who thrive off of fighting and who verbally trash honest and hard working teachers day in and day out - students whose only incentive to pick up a pencil is to try and throw it across the room and hit someone (preferably in the eye) - are 150% allowed, and I will repeat myself, ALLOWED to do so. There is no consequence. If you think a few 30 minute detentions and a 2 day vacation - I'm sorry, "suspension" is really doing anything then you are not living on the same planet I am. The fighting at Normandin is a badge of honor. It is a way to make a name for yourself, the only way to settle even the slightest of disagreements. And yes, it seems like the more you actually do it the less consequence you ultimately get for future infractions, of which then translates over to more validation from your peers because hey, whether you won or lost you're back the next day to rehash it all. It is truly at the point where it is a hobby, and I personally didn't let it get there nor do I tolerate it, but if I pick up my phone to call for assistance that is an automatic secret strike against me for simply calling for assistance. Thumbs up administration. "Thank you for letting us know two students were punching each other in the teeth, but you did call us and ask for our help, so you may want to work on your management skills in the future," is basically what it is broken down to. Lucky us. Administrators are absolutely refusing to see it. Top to bottom.
From last year to this year I truly wanted to believe that there might be a shred of hope for change. Well, it started with Pia showing us all a very nice clean cut film of students proclaiming that they wanted their teacher to "challenge them" and "make them think". Thats all well and dandy but if you looked you'd see they were interviewing kids from MILTON. Because Milton and New Bedford as a whole just have strikingly similar cultures, atmospheres, aspirations, etc. I see so much we can take and bestow unto our students because hey - it works for Milton. Pia, that is the moment you lost me. You don't show a video of Milton school systems to an a entire body of teachers that are attempting to teach in an impoverished, violence ridden, gang affiliated, drug dealing and street-life mentality driven urban city. I'll bet you my salary that in the time it took me to write this more fights were posted to Facebook from New Bedford students than Milton has had in the past decade. Rule #1 - Know your surroundings. So to be quite honest, the only change I see this year is "rigor rigor rigor - or you're fired - and by the way, we're going to bump your class sizes up, give you no support and if your scores don't rise look elsewhere for work" - (In a nutshell) Again, lucky us.
So here we are, clawing into the month of November, feeling like its March, apparently just a bunch of emotional and physical punching bags who get either RIGOROUS or NOT RIGOROUS stamped on our foreheads, which gives us permission to either continue our lessons or rethink our career paths. I sometimes wonder. If I had a master key, and if I did a random walk through into Pia's office - what would her mastery objective be? Because so far this is exponentially worse than last year. And you'll only see a mass exodus of teachers who are tired of putting up with being beaten down.
21 comments:
I agree. I'm tired of being observed once or twice a week and then having to meet with the principal for a review of the observation, at the end of the week, only to receive NI. This is a 5-10 minute observation and it is judged? Twenty-five years of teaching and in a Level 1 school and every teacher has been getting NI at least once a week? I'm sick of having that finger point to the RIGOR chart and told this is where you are, but I know you can be here! Maybe, if you leave us alone and let us continue what were doing, that got us to a Level1 school, we might remain there! At this rate, kiss Level 1 GOODBYE! Too much stress for students and teachers!
We are walking on eggshells.
Teachers are leaving Normandin everyday in tears. The principal refuses to see it.
We are now being told by our principal which students to focus on. Whatever happened to teaching the whole class? Should I only teach the students Dr. Durkin considers the 40%? What will happen to all my other students?
When Mr Sea became the super no one was complaining about the "climate of fear". King John Mitchell said the school system was improving under Mr Shea and he had nothing but praise for him.
How did we going from a pleasant work environment to a prison camp? What's changed since Mr Shea left?
Did Mitchell Chester and Jon Mitchell cut a deal to declare NBHS a level 4 school? The timing is rather curious and I don't believe it's a coincidence.
So we do a nationwide search for a superintendent and the best we can find is a woman who was bounced out of Attleboro? Another coincidence?
Id love to see Durkin try and teach a class at Normandin with 28 kids in it.
Giving everyone needs improvement is a scare tactic. Start standing up to it in large numbers. if we stand together, she will not overpower. our students deserve our full attention. These review sessions for the observation are demanded but occur after or before the work day. we need to unite and stand with. Lou!!!
I would love to see Durkin explain to the parent of a kid who has just been beaten up why the attacker is in school the next day.
I witnessed the insanity yesterday of teachers spending their prep time writing mastery goals for children who can't read them..this is f....... Crazy. Stop the insanity..
She would say to the parent that although this child attacked, he falls within the strategic yellow group. The much needed middle students who can hit that 40% so we will ignore the behaviors.
Kids at Normandin who get into fights are being congratulated by classmates the next day when they show up at school. What a Nice message were sending.
I see students at Normandin telling staff to shut up and the administration doesn't do anything about it. Its all about happy twitter posts from the principal.
Anonymous blogs about alleged incidents are worthless, especially when they are non specific and refer to students, plural, and fights, plural, within one post.
There was more than one student congratulated? Two or more students said, "shut up"? The two or more incidents were reported? And the documented reports were not acted on?
This blowing off steam is all well and good but we can't win battles without focusing on real cases and causes.
It's like he's on Tech Xanax...what's up with that guy? He must feel untouchable because the mayor fawns all over him.
Without focusing on real cases and cases and causes? What are you talking about? These ARE real cases and causes, more than one. There is a pattern of ignoring the safety of teachers and the leanring environment for students.
FYI for the principal telling teachers to focus their attention to median students, you are breaking the law!
If new reforms do not address race- and income-based gaps in achievement and access to effective teaching, they risk perpetrating or exacerbating historic inequities that stand in stark contradiction to our nation’s values of justice, democracy and opportunity.
I'm sorry to say that the median student is at the lower end of the scale. Once upon a time there was a struggling learner, an "average" learner, and an advanced learner. The breakout of these groups may have followed more of a traditional bell curve. Today the average learner, which is a very small group has been pushed into the advanced learning group. The gap between the struggling learners and the true advanced learners is huge, incredibly larger than many are willing to acknowledge. Year over year the gap is getting larger. I have witnessed it first hand. Student behaviors continue to get in the way of learning. Promoting students who have not earned the credits to move to the next grade is grinding the educational conscience to where we are today; in a mess. Our operating system in New Bedford has enabled students to learn that lethargic behavior is acceptable and that effort doesn't really matter because he or she won't be kept back. Ask them, they'll tell you, straight up. The students are willing to take the risk because there's summer school as the worst case. Attend summer school and you pass. Again, ask them, they'll tell you. Sure, maybe one or two don't pass, but seriously. The students have it down to a science. They get it, and we as the adults need to get it soon. As long as we as a district keep promoting students who need some tough love in the way of repeating a grade level, good luck in improving MCAS scores. For some, repeating a grade is no big deal, but we need to combine programs that encourage student efficacy. The student that fears repeating a grade needs to be convinced that repeating grades in New Bedford is a reality and immediate possibility. It needs to be an administrative rubic to students. I know that keeping a student back is a controversial subject, and there are educators that say it does not work, but the way I see it right now is that the students are running the show, and the adults need to start showing some gumption and lead by creating and enforcing some basic steadfast rules.
Summer school?? Summer school has always been a joke! Certainly more of a punishment than actual learning, trying to compact a year's worth of education in a few short weeks. And the "repeaters"?? How many times have I seen students being put back into their previous grade in September and then being pushed ahead in November for "good behavior"? This has been going on for years. It is no wonder that standards slips little bit as time goes on. The administration has had a hand in the "dumbing down" of America!!!
Teachers, sadly very good teachers, really are walking out of Normandin every single day on the verge of either having a mental breakdown or wanting to rip the doors of their own cars off the hinges. It really is true. It is absolutely that bad. At this rate I cannot fathom what it would take for a student to get expelled at Normandin. Honestly? What. Would. It. Take? Because dangerous and abusive children who thrive off of fighting and who verbally trash honest and hard working teachers day in and day out - students whose only incentive to pick up a pencil is to try and throw it across the room and hit someone (preferably in the eye) - are 150% allowed, and I will repeat myself, ALLOWED to do so. There is no consequence. If you think a few 30 minute detentions and a 2 day vacation - I'm sorry, "suspension" is really doing anything then you are not living on the same planet I am. The fighting at Normandin is a badge of honor. It is a way to make a name for yourself, the only way to settle even the slightest of disagreements. And yes, it seems like the more you actually do it the less consequence you ultimately get for future infractions, of which then translates over to more validation from your peers because hey, whether you won or lost you're back the next day to rehash it all. It is truly at the point where it is a hobby, and I personally didn't let it get there nor do I tolerate it, but if I pick up my phone to call for assistance that is an automatic secret strike against me for simply calling for assistance. Thumbs up administration. "Thank you for letting us know two students were punching each other in the teeth, but you did call us and ask for our help, so you may want to work on your management skills in the future," is basically what it is broken down to. Lucky us. Administrators are absolutely refusing to see it. Top to bottom.
From last year to this year I truly wanted to believe that there might be a shred of hope for change. Well, it started with Pia showing us all a very nice clean cut film of students proclaiming that they wanted their teacher to "challenge them" and "make them think". Thats all well and dandy but if you looked you'd see they were interviewing kids from MILTON. Because Milton and New Bedford as a whole just have strikingly similar cultures, atmospheres, aspirations, etc. I see so much we can take and bestow unto our students because hey - it works for Milton. Pia, that is the moment you lost me. You don't show a video of Milton school systems to an a entire body of teachers that are attempting to teach in an impoverished, violence ridden, gang affiliated, drug dealing and street-life mentality driven urban city. I'll bet you my salary that in the time it took me to write this more fights were posted to Facebook from New Bedford students than Milton has had in the past decade. Rule #1 - Know your surroundings. So to be quite honest, the only change I see this year is "rigor rigor rigor - or you're fired - and by the way, we're going to bump your class sizes up, give you no support and if your scores don't rise look elsewhere for work" - (In a nutshell) Again, lucky us.
So here we are, clawing into the month of November, feeling like its March, apparently just a bunch of emotional and physical punching bags who get either RIGOROUS or NOT RIGOROUS stamped on our foreheads, which gives us permission to either continue our lessons or rethink our career paths. I sometimes wonder. If I had a master key, and if I did a random walk through into Pia's office - what would her mastery objective be? Because so far this is exponentially worse than last year. And you'll only see a mass exodus of teachers who are tired of putting up with being beaten down.
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