In the post before this one the person complaines about the micromangement which I found a but funny because I always assumed you guys weren’t guided nearly often enough under the previous BOE. Maybe it feels like you are being micormanage because the previous managers were too hands off?

Congratulations on your appointment and best wishes! I have to concur with get-me-a-contract. As a teacher of 13 years, I still am idealistic about our profession and I look forward to going to work every day. However, it sickens my heart to see the state of education today. We have corporate raiders who know nothing about education treating us like garbage. I’m not saying that the old Board of Education was perfect; it was not. But, it won’t take you long to realize that the DOE (or is it the DOA?) is not working in the best interests of you or your kids.

Look at the sweet deal no-bid contracts (e.g. Snapple, West-Ed, the Aussies, etc.), the amazingly inexperienced administrators supervising us, the overcrowding, the micromanagement, the deteriorating infrastructure, etc.

We’ve been through scores of education du jour policies that change as surely as death and taxes. This does not mean that we are less than enthusiastic with our kids; it does mean, however, that we are keenly aware of the political winds that are driving policy and it all boils down to back door profiteering, incompetance, and a systemic disregard for the very kids we love. Hang in there! This too shall pass.

Actually I think you are wrong (see your post, two posts ago) and do not hink that is the “vibe” that get_me_a_contract and achien and giving off.

They both seem like level-headed, good, caring teachers to me who don’t need to be micro-managed to get their job done.

Are you a teacher? I question because you don’t seem to have any understanding at all about….well anything. What IS your point, anyway?

This is my 7th year teaching, and I asked myself the very same question over and over again.

I have to agree with “get me a contract”. My students are THE core reason I love what I do. I learn from them as much as they learn from me. I am SO proud of them when they succeed, both intellectually and as young adults. I really don’t mind staying late with them for tutoring, or thinking about them wee hours of the night to make their next learning day special. Juggling teaching and a personal life was a struggle at first, but like all jobs, we all learned.

What I am NOT proud of is the state of the education profession in this country. Education pretty much has been pushed to the back burner in America. The negative attention in the media make teaching sound like as if its a job for degenerates. Its no longer a noble profession – teaching is seemed as “easy” to the public, and apparently, a job that you can earn a quick buck.

But heck, if I really cared about what the public thinks of my job, I wouldn’t have one. My attitude is, if you think its so easy, why not try it yourself – then we can have a REAL conversation. Until then, my students and I will have fun making pinhole cameras and learn to develop their own photos in science class.

We are working for a vindictive system that treats its staff and its students like garbage (and worse). Students’ educational needs are ignored. Classes are overcrowded (hey, the mayor got the smaller classes initiative off the ballot in November), poorly funded and school buildings range from nice to awful (with most probably being awful).

Why are teachers cynical? Because we have seen politics infuse into the system like never before. I mean–a teacher is given a directive not only to post student work, but how to post the student work on the bulletin board and even what comments s/he can make on the post it notes we now have to use. It is the fifth day of class and we are expected to have publishable work on our bulletin boards (when most of the students didn’t even come last week and when program changes are constantly changing our rosters).

The DOE is clueless. Yeah, the kids are great. I love teaching my students. I love helping them and I appreciate that I have been able to make a lasting impression on so many. Like most teachers, I would sacrifice almost everything to help them succeed. This is how NYC teachers operate.

The cynicism comes when people who have never been in the classroom (like Bloomberg) or who haven’t been in a classroom in 30 plus years (like Klein) create educational policy that is ridiculous…and we all know what these policies are.

I don’t think they are laughing that you are proud. I think they are laughing because you are naive and still think that the DOE is a benevolent bureaucracy that is concerned about student welfare and student achievement. I am proud of all I have done. I am disgusted with my work environment and the new rigidness being imposed on us teachers. The workshop model is not a panacea. Four square writing is not the only way to teach writing. Some students don’t like to use graphic organizers…etc. etc. And most students like sitting in the now forbidden rows. Students, parents and teachers (but especially students) are completely disenfranchised from the DOE and have no say in their education under Bloomberg/Klein. Read this blog and other people’s blogs. You will understand the cynicism…..

I am so sad to feel this way because I was so idealistic. I am still idealistic about my students, but I just dread working in my school where the “suits” are always there looking to enforce their nonsense.