What Makes An Expert An Expert?

 

This question came up in one of my classes this past semester and has been brewing and stewing in my mind since so, I thought I would ask you. 

What makes an expert an expert,  particularly when it comes to children and all things pertaining to kids?  Is it having kids of your own?  Is it having a degree in Psychology or in Education?

One so called expert who recently visited the school where I teach encouraged us to let a child, who is cursing because he or she is upset and angry, “curse it out.”  The kid just needs to get it off his or her chest.  However, another expert who visited about a year or so ago stated that not only is it unacceptable to allow a child to curse out a staff member, but that a child should not be allowed to swear at peers and should be taught to respect him or herself and others as well.

Two years ago, the teaching staff along with several aides and administrative staff members attended a day long conference with several workshops and break out sessions.  During one of those sessions, an “expert” told us that we should pick and choose our battles with the kids.  This “expert” told us that ignoring a curse word or two and turning a blind eye to certain harmless behaviors, as long as the kid’s general behavior is good, is completely acceptable and he encouraged it.  The school Assistant Principal (A.P.) even printed copies of this “expert’s” handout for all the teaching staff and discussed it the following afternoon at a staff meeting.

The day after said conference,  one of my students was sitting in class with the hood from his sweatshirt pulled over his head, quietly doing his work.  Although it is against school policy for students to wear hoods indoors, I didn’t saying anything.  Afterall, why would I want to do battle with a kid on pyschotropic meds, who also has behavior issues who is quietly working for a change?  Well, Mr. A.P. walked by my classroom, noticed this kid and his egregious act, entered the room and loudly stated, in front of the student and his peers, that the kid was violating school policy and that he needed points docked for wearing his hood in class.  The kid blew up and the situation quickly went downhill from there.  So much for picking and choosing battles.

And then, in addition to the myriad of so called experts that have been paraded in front of us at meetings and workshops, my colleagues and I have to deal with our resident psychology staff. 

In Honor and Remembrance

In honor and remembrance of those who bravely gave their lives for the cause;

Thinking of all the active and veteran military personnel who, thankfully, are still here with us (including you Dad ).

Much love, respect and gratitude to you all.

School Teacher

If You Had To Do It All Over . . .

Calling all current teachers, I want to hear from you.  

As the school year winds down across the country, the anticipation of Summer Break is the only thing that motivates many of us to get out of bed most mornings. 

I was wondering, as some of us reflect back over the school year and school years past, if you had to do it all over, would still go into teaching?   Or would you choose a totally different career?  Do you see yourself still teaching 1, 5 or even 10 years from now?

I had tried to create a poll months ago that would allow participants to immediately see the results, however WordPress would not allow it.  Anyway, please leave your comments and thoughts here and visit the poll over at Vizu.com .

Thanks!

The Great Big Show

 

Last week, the school where I teach was paid a visit by the Los Angeles Unified School District and will be visited by the California Department of Education (CDE).  Why such an honor you ask?  Well, it’s review time of course.  These great visits, which occur roughly every four years, is to make sure that the school and staff are in compliance with local and state standards and for the big wigs to make sure that we’re doing things by the book.

Hold on.  I’m laughing so hard right now, I think I’m going to cry and wet my pants . . . at the same time.

So many things have taken place over the last month or so, in anticipation of these big events, I don’t know where to begin.  For starters, we, meaning staff, have basically been coached on what to say, how to dress, and heaven knows what else for this site review, which will take place over the course of a few days.  The Exective Director has sent out an e-mail telling us to be “at our peak performance” on those days and her last e-mail prior to the LAUSD visit told us all to “dress professionally” and to “remember that first impressions are often lasting and bias some people’s perceptions, so dress nicely.”  Thank you mommy for that reminder.

In addition, we have formed committees to create clubs and programs that, at this very moment, do not exist.

But guess what folks?  Evidently we put on one hell of show.  The LAUSD reviewers sung the praises of the Executive Director who was featured in a Los Angeles area newspaper (not the L.A. Times) a month or so ago, with pictures of her spending one on one time with kids.  The kids laughed when they read this paper, which the ED had distributed to all the rooms.  When she does walk into a classroom, it’s usually to show someone (with some influence, deep pockets or both) around.  Even then she rarely, if ever, speaks to the students or the staff.

What the LAUSD reps don’t know and didn’t get a chance to see is how terribly understaffed we are, how most of the staff is looking to leave as soon as they get a chance because the morale is so low and none of the administrators seem care as long as the students (meaning money) keep coming in.  What they don’t know is that I, aloing with a couple of other teachers, started off the school year without an aide (with a roomful of gang members and other juvenile delinquents).  When I did get one, the DoE (Director of Education) picked on him about his shoes inspite of more pressing concerns and he along with another aide quit about two weeks ago.  I’ve since gotten a new aide, much to my surprise and now they want to move her!  District officials don’t know and didn’t get a chance to see that most of us teachers don’t get our legally mandated lunch breaks and have to find a way to use the restroom throughout the day (I’ve gone all day without going on more occasions than I care to remember).  What the district officials don’t know is that we aren’t given planning periods and therefore must take home most of our work because there is no way to get it done during the day. They probably don’t know that I’ve been threatened, cursed out, screamed at, hit and kicked by kids and that the Executive Director-along with her pet, the administrative manager-routinely talk down to, and even yell (the administrative manager does this frequently) at other staff members.   They can be worse than the kids!  But most importantly, what the district reps don’t know is that what they saw when they arrived was all a facade.  It is NOT how the school normally operates.  It’s a petty and poisonous, gossipy and backstabbing environment to the point where many of the students can see this.   What’s worse, is that the state officials most likely won’t know or see any of this as well when they arrive in a few weeks. 

It’s all a bunch of smoke.  Fake, fake, fake.  But, I guess that what you get here in Southern California, home to Hollywood and everything else that isn’t real.

I Survived!

Sorry, again, for the long and definitely unplanned absence.  But, I am happy to report that I survived my first semester of graduate school as a fulltime working, professional.  I’ve always worked while in college and I’ve taken graduate courses while working as well, but whew was this different.

In the beginning, it was great.  I had a handle on the reading for two classes (which I recently discovered was fulltime student status), along with frequent (weekly) papers in one of those classes.  But then, somewhere after midterms, with grades due and job related stresses, along with those weekly papers for a professor who was extremely critical and very demanding (can we say prick?), oh and throw in health issues (the doc ruled out fibroids thankfully) it became a bit much.  But I’m back.  The semester ended last week, and finals are this coming week and I’m finishing up my final and primary paper for the prickish professor.  Wish me well folks. 

In the meantime, there is soooo much to fill you in on.  We’ll start with my aide quitting and the school’s recent and upcoming site reviews, which should be up shortly.