Just Remember, Someone Always Has it Worse

I post this without comment.


http://nypost.com/2015/10/18/principal-forbid-teachers-to-sit-so-she-threw-out-their-desks/

Comments

birdy said…
That could never happen here because SPS teachers have to buy their own desks! (I did, anyway.)

But this is just another example of out-of-touch administration that have no idea what really goes on in a classroom or what it's like to be a teacher. I have no doubt that thousands of equally brilliant innovations are rolled out in schools across the country every year.
Anonymous said…
Welcome to the World of Reform ED => 21st century learning ....

It’s the 21st century — you don’t need desks, Connelly said, sources told The Post.

Connelly told teachers she does not want them sitting, an insider said, although no chairs were tossed.

Figure it out, she snapped when staffers asked where to store their supplies, a source said.

As to where teachers should grade papers, Connelly answered, Use the lunch room, sources said.

==============================

So where has this strategy been used effectively to increase student achievement?
Show me the data.

Will this effort maximize the learning opportunity for each student?

Will classroom instruction be significantly improved?

Do these teachers believe they are being treated as education professionals?

If NOT then why was any of this done?
I guess this is alignment with 21st Century thinking.

=======================

As bizarre as the above action seems it happened at only one school.

So now consider the undercover abandonment of the "Math in Focus" scope and sequence at every SPS elementary school. Ask the same questions

So where has this strategy been used effectively to increase student achievement?
Show me the data.

Will this effort maximize the learning opportunity for each student?

Will classroom instruction be significantly improved?

Do these teachers believe they are being treated as education professionals?

If NOT then why was any of this done?
I guess this is alignment with 21st Century thinking.

YIKES!!!

-- Dan Dempsey
Anonymous said…
Ok. I'm going to counter with (woohoo) Justin Trudeau. Just elected the next Canadian PM. Was a school teacher. (Yeah, yeah, IKR- only in Canada.) A gal can only hope.

reader
n said…
Thank you, Reader. That gives me hope for Canada. Harper - oh man, I'm glad he's history.

You know, I took a class from Marva Collins whom some of you might remember from 60 minutes and other media events. She was a great teacher who taught in very poor neighborhoods. She had a private school for black kids. She believed teachers should never sit but circulate, circulate, circulate. Of course, in those days, teachers were teaching far more basic than now. Our plates are much, much fuller. And she had a shorter day. I liked her idea then.

Some teachers do sit more than they should. But this woman has an anger management problem or she is narcissistic. Something like that. To throw out medical devices is asking for law suits. Honestly, they ought to remove her from the school because she is a problem and I think that school is in danger of her outbursts. Her behavior is just not normal or even rational. Scary.
Eric M said…
I also had to buy my own desk. After making big hooey about teachers not bringing any personal furniture into the new exciting remodeled building, so that it could be a showpiece of greatness, my new room didn't have a teacher desk. The promised one finally arrived 6 months later, and the assistant principal in charge of desks seemed a miffed that I'd already got my own from Ikea.

Working in the trenches in SPS is kind of like being self-employed.
Does the principal have a desk? If so, maybe it should go as well.
Patrick said…
I should forward this to a UW HR trainer I know as a great horror story. Hostile workplace environment much?
Jan said…
Patrick -- that was my thought as well. What a hostile work environment. I have known folks like this -- bullies engaging in constant fits of theatrical pique. Total unwillingness to listen, or reason, or listen TO reason. My heart goes out to the teachers and students of that school. They deserve MUCH better.
n said…
Eric M. - I've considered myself "self-employed" ever since I started teaching. I've said that to soooo many parents over the years. Funny. That's actually what I used to like about teaching.

When we got our new building, we got huge, heavy office bookcases. Brand spanking new. 12' deep. We had to get rid of our old school district customized bookcases which were efficient, less deep, made of hard wood, and narrower. Much better for classrooms than these behemoths we have now.

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