10/03/2011

Let's go a few rounds...




I don't know any boxing lingo... and I am too tired to look up any so that I could make a pun... it was a long day at work... LONG day...

I don't even know where to begin... this week our school is participating in standardized testing... the kind on which our school is rated... whose results are used to tell us if we suck... if we suck less than we did last year, or if we are not quite sucking... I hate them.  I don't feel that standardized testing gives you information on which one can decide if a school is teaching its students well.  I think it is a pretty damn good business though.  I bet if you look up the companies to print these tests... they are doing pretty well.  It's a way to make education about money... which it shouldn't be about... but that's actually not why the day was long and frustrating...

Teachers... MOST teachers are very invested in their career, in the kids they teach... but there are other teachers who just don't get it... There is a woman in my building... who has been teaching for over thirty years... she is a great teacher for kids who are gifted... but for kids who struggle... well.. it's a different story... amongst other things.... she doesn't think kids with disabilities need accommodations in the classroom, that we are not helping them get better... for example... kids who have identified reading disabilities may have the classroom accommodation of having tests read to them.  (Unless their reading skills are specifically being assessed.)  So... for example... in 8th grade here,  kids study physical science.  They need to know terms like heterogeneous mixture, homogeneous mixture, velocity, electromagnetic...etc... and this teacher thinks that when given a test on this subject, students should have to read the test independently, saying how are their skills going to improve?... Take a kid with this kind of disability who has been very engaged in the classroom, who can tell you, when asked, what those words mean... put that kid in a room with that test in front of them and he is working so hard just to read  the 20 or more definitions to which he has to match a term.  That kid is expending so much energy on reading... that his knowledge about science is not being assessed.  And really? During a test is the time to work on reading skills? I think not... She does not get kids... no matter how many years she has been teaching... She is close to 5 feet tall... if I told her to change the light bulb in my bathroom ceiling without giving her a stepladder or a chair and 18 phone books to stand on... there is no way she could do it.  It's the same thing.  It's like telling a kid who has diabetes that they can't go to the nurse to get his insulin because he needs to teach his body how to produce it on its own... With a diabetic you teach them to manage their condition... the same is true for kids with learning disabilities.  But she doesn't see it... Kids need to be able to show what they know... and why does it have to be a paper and pencil task? Why not ask the kid with a writing disability who Edgar Allen Poe is  as part of a conversation instead of as an essay? 

Why? Because, as this woman told me... she doesn't have an extra two hours to do those kind of accommodations.  Really? Really.  So... I am working my butt off trying to develop ways for kids to use technology to access these accommodations... and I need to teach the teachers... because they don't know.  Remember, all the kids in Maine middle and high schools have individual laptops... the laptops have a feature where the kids can highlight text and the computer reads the text aloud to the kid... it is a great tool, not just for reading questions to kids, but also as an editing tool, for kids to have the computer read to them what they have written... and they hear their mistakes or hear where things do not make sense.  But asking the teacher to email the test to a kid ahead of time... is too much to ask? Truth is... this teacher.. does not know how to attach anything to an email.  AND the other problem is that she is still giving the tests that she gave 30 years ago... and those mimeographed copies do not scan easily and she can not take time to retype or reformat them to meet the needs of kids... she doesn't have the time.  Really? Really.  And no matter how much technology she is expected to use, she doesn't... because it is hard for her... yet she expects kids to do things that are not just hard... but often impossible... daily...

It is a battle that special ed teachers have to fight all too often.  I have asked the powers that be if this year my professional goals can be about this topic... classroom accommodations.  If I can develop strategies to efficiently implement accommodations and create 1-2 page handouts to show teachers how to do it, especially if it is a technology thing... I create great directions for doing things on the computer... I include screenshots and step by step directions because that's what people need... and because I want people to be able to use them...  we'll see if they say that is a worthwhile area on which to focus my goals... there is a bit of ulterior motive here too... things I create I can use when I apply for other jobs. and take with me to a new staff where I will expect accommodations to be made, and will hold people accountable when they are not. 

One of the things I adore about Betty, Dad's girlfriend... is that she has been teaching for a long time... remember she was my sixth grade teacher... and she still works hard at learning new ways to help kids.  She is passionate about it... open to new ideas and tries so hard to know her kids and what works for them.  And I know from talking to her, she still spends hours outside of the school day planning, correcting, and thinking of ways to help kids... I know that every year I spend many hours outside of school doing the same... this year I feel like that time has increased... I do not yet feel like I am in a routine... and I thought it was just me... but tonight I talked with a couple of co-workers, also spec. ed. teachers... and they feel the same way... stretched to the limit... doing hours of work nightly and on weekends just to stay close to being on top of things... forget about getting ahead. 

I work so hard to get to know the kids I work with... how to help them... I try things and if it doesn't work I try something else... I thought that is what teaching was about... I guess it's been one of those days where I needed like 5 of those parent emails reminding me of how what I do works... and it is worth it...

The saddest part... It is never, NEVER, the kids who make me feel discouraged... the kids I work with have to work so hard, so so hard, to do what many of us so take for granted... the kids... inspire me... the teachers... well... I sometimes fantasize about jumping in the ring with them and going a few rounds....  and if the teachers discourage me this much... how must the kids feel? THAT is the issue...

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