SPS Teacher On Tavis Smiley Show
Shout out to Northgate's Zac Stowell and the radio report on his classroom that aired on the Tavis Smiley show recently. It's a great 9-minutes of a day in the life of Mr. Stowell's classroom.
Tuesday Open Thread
The speaker list is up for the Board meeting tomorrow; not as packed as I thought with just four people on the waitlist. The majority of the speakers are speaking on high school boundaries (with several wanting to talk about Ballard High). There are only three of us speaking about the Green Dot resolution asking the City to not grant the zoning departures that Green Dot has requested. It's me, long-time watchdog, Chris Jackins, and the head of the Washington State Charter Schools Association, Patrick D'Amelio. (I knew Mr. D'Amelio when he headed the Alliance for Education and Big Brothers and Big Sisters; he's a stand-up guy.)
Comments
...in certain environments, you can put a robot in front of the kids and the kids are going to be successful. They have all the parts in place; they have the afterschool piano and the violin, the karate and gymnastics and soccer. You know, our kids don't have that...these students need the best teachers and some of the not as effective teachers should be in schools that don't need as effective teachers...
All kids need effective teachers. Period.
you're exhibit #1 of 1 of the big reasons why teachers don't go in front of the public - who needs your kind of nit-picking after spending all day focused on teaching / herding 25+ little kids or 150+ adolescents?
maybe he should have used different phrasing - such as you need a different skill set at his school than at a school where all you do is hand out As, Bs, gold stars and trophies to keep the helicopter parents off your back!
by the way - do you have any ideas to get your ideas paid for?
AttackThePhraseHerding!
Please don't suggest he said something that he did not say.
listen again
They talk about degrees of effectiveness, not effective and ineffective. Less effective does not equate to ineffective.
If that were the case then every teacher but one, the most effective, would be ineffective.
(hey, even captcha wants me to prove I'm not a robot...)
Helen Schinske
Thank you for listening to a day in my life. I would like to clarify my statement. I agree 100% with you. Yes, ALL STUDENTS DESERVE EFFECTIVE TEACHERS. But in reality that is not the case and there are many ineffective teachers teaching in positions that leave children with huge deficits. The point that I was trying to make, and I did a poor job doing so, was that teaching in a failing, poverty stricken school has the neediest students and they need the best and most effective teachers to help them cover their achievement gaps. Some other schools have so many systems in place and family involvement that help with student success. I feel that certain kids can be successful no matter who teaches them because of those systems that are in place. My students don’t have those same opportunities and that is why I give them my all. I am not alone. I work with a core group of teachers that eat, sleep, and breathe school. I believe in my heart that all of my students are “Too important to fail” just like the name of this series. This segment took 7 hours of audio and crammed it into 10 minutes. There are bound to be some questions unanswered. I am always up for great discussion.
zwstowell@seattleschools.org
Thank you for your input and support your local schools.
Zac Stowell
Northgate Elementary
I was amazed at the vitriol. Be respective!