It's on. I'm overwhelmed with paperwork. The school is under the gun with making AYP and I don't see how we're going to do it. Our state test scores continue to drop instead of rise. This is the law of diminishing returns that I warned would be the result of NCLB. Anyway, raising our test scores is our mantra and I'm going to do it one ream of paper into the copier and then into the file cabinet at a time.
My new crop of kids aren't going to be setting the state tests on fire, unless they use a lighter. I will do everything once again to help them succeed. I hope it is enough. Everything is still the same, however. The kids are the same sullen mess. The parents have high hopes but have already disappeared after the first flurry of detention slips. I'm not sure how I'm going to do it. It's looking bleak as I grade the first math test of the year. Almost everyone bombed it - except for the kid who's repeating the grade.
On a brighter note, I'm mentoring a new teacher. I'm sure that I'll be better than my mentor. I don't ride a broom to work (rim shot).
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I agree that NCLB has been detrimental to education. I wish someone would tell Washington. It does me no good to email my Senator, (McCain) because I understand he doesn't know how to use computers. I don't know the answer to getting kids interested in school either. But, I do know that I have high expectations and that is supposed to be the secret of my success. However, I have never figured a way to get to the kids who just don't care.
Hang in there, my friend. I was thinking of you when talking to The Professor's aunt this weekend who teaches kindergarten. Yours is a noble profession, and those kids are lucky to have you.
Your sense of humor will help you through the tough times. Hang in there.
I well remember the early days of my teaching career.
I taught school in Flint, Michigan for almost 20 years. Now I write a weekly newspaper column about education, from an insider’s point of view. My column, Inside Schools, has appeared on the op-ed page of The Flint Journal every Sunday for six years.
My first book, Kids, Classrooms, and Capitol Hill: A Peek Inside the Walls of America’s Public Schools, was just released by Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group.
Kids, Classrooms, and Capitol Hill is a funny, edgy, poignant look at life in the classroom. Using anecdotes from my teaching career I explore the issues, both big and small, facing educators today. The book honors teachers, acknowledges the challenges they face, and takes policymakers to task for not including educators in the reform conversation.
It’s funny. It’s political. It’s real.
Kelly Flynn
Author, Columnist
Kids, Classrooms, and Capitol Hill
Link to Book:
http://rowmanlittlefield.com/ISBN/157886822X
Link to Column:
http://www.mlive.com/flintjournal/voices/index.ssf/kelly_flynn/
Kelly's Website:
www.kellyflynnonline.com
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