In An Attempt to Assuage My Bitterness

How ya doin'?

 I've spent the summer reading quite a lot. I've also been drinking too much expensive craft beer and saving the beautiful bottles for an art project, as well as sleeping over-quota. In short, my unemployment has been rather pleasant.

 With that said, I have been near misery nearly every day these past two months, and, if not miserable, bouncing off the walls in a kind of manic bitterness that extended my own self-doubt across the face of the globe and to all of humanity, all business and public endeavors, all creativity and recreation.

 What plagues me is my reception from 2 public schools in Tulare County over the past 2 years. It is difficult for me to recall my own value, having been so stiffly shut out from practicing my new profession by such a few powerful and small individuals.

 Withholding some of the less significant details, I felt I worked alongside coaches to develop a familiarity with a wide variety of traditional and creative structures and strategies to agitate and compel students towards investigation, discovery, and adventure within the paste-board and fluorescent confines of my public school classroom at each location. Admin in each district didn't seem to care about my own feelings and achievements and thorough self-reflections and positive growth reports from coaches. I was released at the termination of my first year contract in both instances. On both occasions I was made free agent without any discussion of the cause for non-reelect, nor given any significant or meaningful final summary assessment of my work over the year with 150+ students in each case. I was simply released.

Highlighted here: my clear sense of optimism...

 Some of the books I've been reading--plus the many homeless kittens scuttling about the creek beside my driveway--have reminded me that I'm doing alright. That things aren't that bad. That life could be much worse.

 I don't wish to complain about my situation. Instead, what I want to do is offer a possibility: Why don't we provide new teachers with the opportunity to complete a multi-year residency upon obtaining a state teaching credential just like a doctor or lawyer? Why don't we professionalize Teaching?

 This is not really my idea. Countless others have pointed out that the professional Teacher is made to deal with a significant amount of demoralizing abuse as a prerequisite for employment. Much of this is avoidable.

 The idea has been proposed that Teaching is an "over-feminized" profession. I take this to mean under-professionalized. I take this to mean that Teachers are simply expected to put up with a great deal of nonsense, to suffer without support, to take on more work than is possible or reasonable, to be silent and obedient, to undervalue ones role, and to play the victim or scapegoat.

 Essentially, Teaching is associated with women's work, and women's work is less than professional work.

 Meanwhile, American public education seems to be moving steadily ahead with teacher dismissal as the Common Core rollout shows, if we agree with Frederick Hess. He makes a compelling assessment of how swift, dogmatic hawkish politics have resulted in a dialogue about education in which the professional voices of teachers have been effectively closed out.

 For new teachers, like me, who have endured more than enough testing, credentialing, professional development, and induction assessments it is demoralizing and deflating to be simply released, left out in the rain, and given the high hat by a school district without cause, reason, reflection, or development. Indeed, this seems a colossal disservice to everyone involved, and to the spirit of American education in specific.

 "JOIN YOUR COMMUNITY!" "BE A MENTOR AND A HERO!" "SERVE THE UNDERSERVED!" "WIN THEIR HEARTS AND WIN THEIR MINDS!"

 To summarize how I feel after two years in public school teaching, I would say that I feel like a piece of trash thrown away. A beautiful piece of trash, yes. A special piece of trash, yes. A valuable piece of trash, yes. In the eyes of two high-needs Central California school districts, though, just a piece of trash. That vision sticks to a new teacher in ways I find unpleasant but largely unavoidable. Yes, my imagination is my reality, in many ways. This is also coupled by two unconnected years during which time I was, in the end, left ONLY to my own reflection and understanding to grow as an emerging educator.

 BTSA is more or less unconnected from my actual teaching because everyone knows it's a huge waste of time and treats it as such. CSETs support edubusiness but don't actually support teachers in the classroom. Where is the structure to support and foster new teachers into sustainable professionals? On-site? No, I didn't find it there, at all. On-site a new teacher is dealing with an administrator who doesn't want to violate the collective bargaining agreement, and is under legal advisement to refrain from statement beyond official observation reporting duties.

 A vice superintendent sat with the principal and told me they were under legal orders to tell me absolutely nothing at any point ever about how I'd done over the course of the year, and why I wasn't being asked back, and how I should develop as an educator. Earlier that year, my Principal had asked me to tell him about myself while he turned, gave me the back of his head, and began frantically typing up my observation discussion notes so he could as quickly as possible get me the hell out of his office. I stopped talking almost at once, because I don't usually talk to the back of someone's head. I don't think he appreciated the position of silence I took after completing one or two sentences. I think he really expected me to have a warm conversation with him about my life while he swiftly typed up a report.

 This is the person who was responsible for developing me as a professional for a 10 month contract. I spent maybe a total of 12 minutes speaking directly with him all year long. He was in my classroom for a combined total of probably less than 1 hour all year long. The closest he ever got to advising me was when he commented that "He wasn't seeing what he expected from a 2nd year teacher," and that "[I am] not a good fit." At meetings with staff he regularly spoke as little as possible.

 Those warm, expectant, smiling looks on student faces that I had received all year long did NOT factor in anywhere. Their notes, letters, art cards, presents, Best-Teacher-Ever declarations, and thanks did NOT factor in anywhere. Their pleas for me to return again and instruct them anew did NOT factor in anywhere. The warmth and elation of my coaches to see me trying new strategies and integrating new learning modalities into daily and weekly lesson structures based on district trainings and personal research did NOT factor in anywhere. My interdisciplinary outreach, resource sharing, and planning did NOT factor in anywhere. My completion of BTSA Year One did NOT factor in anywhere.

 And what is right about this?! Why is site-specific cronyism better than planned and sustained integrated professional development? What is better about this High Noon Free Agency style of teacher rearing than, say, a 4 or 5 year residency with daily and weekly development and mentor coaching/feedback? How am I to truly develop given the mixed results of student and coach praise spiked with steely cold silence and dismissal from Administrators and District Hammers?

 I gained my own confidence, awareness, knowledge, and growth, and these are valuable. It just seems rather simple to me to build a structure that allows me to retain some of my momentum, vitality, and academic community connection that would be offered through a sustained, review-based, growth- and success-oriented residency period.

 Allow me to end on a different note, and one to add some humor.

Frakes on Frakes on Frakes...

 Using Star Trek: The Next Generation in the classroom can be rewarding and engaging for students. It can also lighten the mood and provide teacher relief, because Jonathan Frakes is, well, Jonathan Frakes.

 I want to illustrate how episode 22 of season 1, entitled "Symbiosis," could easily be used to address the topic of the Drug War and International Drug Market Economics. This could even be used to teach more broad and basic concepts like supply and demand, elastic and inelastic goods/price, or concepts like tyranny and liberty.

 This episode features a ridiculously great little after-school styled anti-drug speech from Lieutenant Tasha Yar to the sweater-wearing nerd prince Wesley Krusher! Can you even imagine anything better?!

 It's a classic. Beyond this, the episode unveils how one society can SYSTEMATICALLY benefit from the mental enslavement of another culture via drug addiction and narcotic distraction. This has relevance when considering American urban history, international economic history and foreign sovereignty violations by the US throughout history.

 Yes, this is a terrible episode! But it's value in the classroom can certainly be explored.

 I wish us to consider this episode and this issue of the Drug War to again highlight how ridiculous it is that America is addicted to shutting out the voice of teachers in redefining American Education and the Teaching profession as an integral role in the fabric of this society and local community. Corporations, media outlets, and politicians have us addicted to top down policies heavily utilizing assessments built of bad science and conflicts of interest (Pearson I'm looking at you) where the teacher alone is responsible for student learning failures. The narrative reads that teachers are infected by the disease of low performance and must be controlled and silenced. I call shenanigans.

 Using "Symbiosis" in the classroom addresses California History Content Standards 10.10.1, 10.10.2, 10.10.3. (analysis of nation-building in the contemporary world in either the Middle East, Africa, Mexico and other parts of Latin America, or China.) As well, California History Content Standards 11.11.2, 11.11.6, 11.11.7 (reflecting the major social problems and domestic policy issues in contemporary American society), 12.9.5 (having to do with the rise of dictators) along with California Economics Content Standards 12.1.1, 12.1.5, 12.3.1, 12.4.2, 12.6.1 (having to do with the relationships between government, economics, trade fixing, and liberty).

 And so many more!

 The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one. / The needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many.