Comments on: Goals And The Gullible http://www.edwize.org/goals-and-the-gullible Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:46:25 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: Anthony Wansor http://www.edwize.org/goals-and-the-gullible/comment-page-1#comment-66877 Anthony Wansor Fri, 12 Feb 2010 02:26:49 +0000 http://www.edwize.org/?p=6208#comment-66877 Well Leo, Finally, it seems from watching the interviews with Mulgrew and now with you writing some stuff that actually means something to our lives, we may get somewhere with this union. We have been compaining about this nonsense for years now. Lead your people. They are young and have not been educated about their union. Get off your duffs and get into the schools and lead these young teachers. That is what you are all getting paid to do. That is why we call you the UFT Leadership. Lead. Lead. Lead! Well Leo,
Finally, it seems from watching the interviews with Mulgrew and now with you writing some stuff that actually means something to our lives, we may get somewhere with this union. We have been compaining about this nonsense for years now. Lead your people. They are young and have not been educated about their union. Get off your duffs and get into the schools and lead these young teachers. That is what you are all getting paid to do. That is why we call you the UFT Leadership. Lead. Lead. Lead!

]]> By: Arlyne LeSchack http://www.edwize.org/goals-and-the-gullible/comment-page-1#comment-66869 Arlyne LeSchack Wed, 10 Feb 2010 19:10:23 +0000 http://www.edwize.org/?p=6208#comment-66869 I had to turn the TV this morning while listening to Joel Klein say with regard to possible teacher lay-offs that wasn't it terrible that he to lay off the last people hired. It seems to me that that would be standard practice, and it's only a matter of money and power that he would want to do otherwise. I had to turn the TV this morning while listening to Joel Klein say with regard to possible teacher lay-offs that wasn’t it terrible that he to lay off the last people hired. It seems to me that that would be standard practice, and it’s only a matter of money and power that he would want to do otherwise.

]]> By: Paul Winston http://www.edwize.org/goals-and-the-gullible/comment-page-1#comment-66865 Paul Winston Wed, 10 Feb 2010 04:18:47 +0000 http://www.edwize.org/?p=6208#comment-66865 Leo: Spot on, once again. If there is any justice in this world, history will not be kind to BloomKlein. Leo:

Spot on, once again.

If there is any justice in this world, history will not be kind to BloomKlein.

]]> By: Richard Skibins http://www.edwize.org/goals-and-the-gullible/comment-page-1#comment-66852 Richard Skibins Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:44:45 +0000 http://www.edwize.org/?p=6208#comment-66852 We should be focusing on ways to end this ridiculous goalsetting garbage instead of providing for time to perform it. The ball was dropped when ECLAS was introduced. Time was not provided, and the answer was that it was a systemwide problem. Now we have data binders, inquiry binders, running records, baseline, midline, conference notes, group goals, and now individual goals. Why was none of this ever fought? We should be focusing on ways to end this ridiculous goalsetting garbage instead of providing for time to perform it.

The ball was dropped when ECLAS was introduced. Time was not provided, and the answer was that it was a systemwide problem. Now we have data binders, inquiry binders, running records, baseline, midline, conference notes, group goals, and now individual goals.

Why was none of this ever fought?

]]> By: Bob Calder http://www.edwize.org/goals-and-the-gullible/comment-page-1#comment-66846 Bob Calder Sun, 07 Feb 2010 18:15:31 +0000 http://www.edwize.org/?p=6208#comment-66846 Have you tried to build a model for how a hypothetical school would deal with this in a successful manner? For instance, how many students would you be willing to teach in this way? How much money would be needed to cover the teacher's time competing this paperwork? Perhaps a school could have a student evaluation and discipline coach for every so many students, taking paperwork and discipline away from the classroom teacher so you don't have to pay them more or hire more of them. This person could be positioned to take ALL discipline off administrators' desks as well. You cold probably hire two of these people for every administrator let go in a high school. Stanford's recent decision to have an counselor for every 1,000 students points to some interesting speculation. My high school has one part-time counselor for nearly twice that number. It should probably have two full-time counselors who only do social work. If the hypothetical discipline cum goal coach job title were to be added, the needed number might rise to five or six. Of course if you aren't interested in improving education, you could just put in a database with five drop-down choices for student goal administration that regenerates automatically if the student's grades are not above a cut score. I think I can put a couple of my students to work building a database solution next week... Have you tried to build a model for how a hypothetical school would deal with this in a successful manner? For instance, how many students would you be willing to teach in this way? How much money would be needed to cover the teacher’s time competing this paperwork?

Perhaps a school could have a student evaluation and discipline coach for every so many students, taking paperwork and discipline away from the classroom teacher so you don’t have to pay them more or hire more of them. This person could be positioned to take ALL discipline off administrators’ desks as well. You cold probably hire two of these people for every administrator let go in a high school.

Stanford’s recent decision to have an counselor for every 1,000 students points to some interesting speculation. My high school has one part-time counselor for nearly twice that number. It should probably have two full-time counselors who only do social work. If the hypothetical discipline cum goal coach job title were to be added, the needed number might rise to five or six.

Of course if you aren’t interested in improving education, you could just put in a database with five drop-down choices for student goal administration that regenerates automatically if the student’s grades are not above a cut score.

I think I can put a couple of my students to work building a database solution next week…

]]> By: Phyllis C. Murray http://www.edwize.org/goals-and-the-gullible/comment-page-1#comment-66844 Phyllis C. Murray Sun, 07 Feb 2010 16:41:27 +0000 http://www.edwize.org/?p=6208#comment-66844 "Faced with the proliferation of paper work goals that detracted from education and the unwillingness of Tweed to rein it in, the UFT filed grievances which demanded that time be provided for this work, so that it not continue to detract from the real work of education."Leo Casey Leo Casey is correct. There is a proliferation of unnecessary paper work that detracts from education. Plus the preparation for "the visit"by state/city evaluators goes beyond the duplication of lesson plans for folders. There are ritualized common preps by grade; creation of new folders for all content areas (which house rubrics, plans, flow charts, standards, etc.; and the formulation of brand new ongoing case studies of students. Add to all of this, a rigourous testing schedule, a student's daily schedule , as Jimmy Margulies illustrates for the Record, might resemble the following: Period 1 Test taking Period 2 Teaching to the test Period 3 Test strategies Period 4 Test prep Period 5 Test scoring Period 6 Multiple choice test Period 7 Essay Tests Teacher: Do you know your schedule by heart yet? Student: Why, are you gonna test me on it? Visit: Jimmy Margulies,cartoonist,for The Record(Hackensack, NJ) Surely, as Casey mentions,"the mindless production of volume upon volume of meaningless paper in a quest to satisfy what they(principals) see as the insatiable gods of the school quality review volcano." has to end. We must find our way back to basics. We have to return to teaching so that we can ensure that the mandated 180 days of instruction can take place... before the bell tolls! Let Teachers Teach! Phyllis C. Murray, UFT Chapter Leader “Faced with the proliferation of paper work goals that detracted from education and the unwillingness of Tweed to rein it in, the UFT filed grievances which demanded that time be provided for this work, so that it not continue to detract from the real work of education.”Leo Casey

Leo Casey is correct. There is a proliferation of unnecessary paper work that detracts from education. Plus the preparation for “the visit”by state/city evaluators goes beyond the duplication of lesson plans for folders. There are ritualized common preps by grade; creation of new folders for all content areas (which house rubrics, plans, flow charts, standards, etc.; and the formulation of brand new ongoing case studies of students. Add to all of this, a rigourous testing schedule, a student’s daily schedule , as Jimmy Margulies illustrates for the Record, might resemble the following:

Period 1 Test taking
Period 2 Teaching to the test
Period 3 Test strategies
Period 4 Test prep
Period 5 Test scoring
Period 6 Multiple choice test
Period 7 Essay Tests

Teacher: Do you know your schedule by heart yet?
Student: Why, are you gonna test me on it?

Visit: Jimmy Margulies,cartoonist,for The Record(Hackensack, NJ)

Surely, as Casey mentions,”the mindless production of volume upon volume of meaningless paper in a quest to satisfy what they(principals) see as the insatiable gods of the school quality review volcano.” has to end. We must find our way back to basics. We have to return to teaching so that we can ensure that the mandated 180 days of instruction can take place… before the bell tolls!

Let Teachers Teach!

Phyllis C. Murray, UFT Chapter Leader

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