Saturday, October 6, 2012
Are your class sizes getting larger?
I've been hearing from a large number of my peers, and what they are saying is that their class sizes are increasing dramatically. The result of the cut back from a year ago, and from two years ago has raised class sizes to 30-34 and classes in physical education in some schools are in the 40's. Children aren't products, they are people. They can't be educated on an assembly line. There is no 'point and click'. They are young and even the brightest child needs to be able to receive individual attention at some point during the day. Every child wants the teacher to look at the work they have taken such care to produce and give them some praise. When you have 40-45 minutes per class, it's almost impossible to do that, but we are professionals and we do our best. Our students are the reason we do all the work that we do, and they are worth it. This year teachers in our district have joined with parents to put up yard and window signs that tell the children that we are united in supporting them toward their future. I hope the message gets across. At least we, the teachers, know who is important- our students- and what is important - their education. KEEP TEACHING!!
50-90 thousand education positions are in danger
Look up the Budget Control Act of 2011. It was signed in August of 2011 and is law. The sequester (pulling back of money) by the federal government may mean the loss of 50-90 thousand educational positions across the country. There will be 2 million pink slips going out on January 3, 2013 barring some miracle. Many defense positions, many federal positions, and about 800,000 non-defense jobs are predicted to be removed from the work force. let's get ready to adjust our budgets and our attendance books. Please look up Sequester of 2013. There are 2 million pink slips being prepared right now. Apparently this is something that must happen. I thought that the education of children was the thing that must happen. Well, while those of us who truly care about children are fighting for their future, like the teachers in Chicago, there are people who are fighting to keep their dollars in their millionaire, high budget pockets. While they blame us for test scores, they make class sizes larger and greatly malign our profession. Like my current principal (who is awesome by the way), I have always liked working with children. I have loved the process and result of learning, and I have received great joy from seeing a child grasp a concept which they once felt was impossible. I challenge those who are attacking teachers and teacher unions to work in a classroom for a month. I don't think they have "the right stuff". I know we all do. KEEP TEACHING!!
Friday, May 25, 2012
Don't believe the hype!
Can you believe the ads you are seeing today? Christie saved my pension? Christie saved the schools? The schools have smaller classes and more supplies and more money because of Christie's reform? I must be in an alternate universe. I've got to go look out the window...I'll get back to you.
The truth of the matter is....
I was watching some political analysts a few months back and they were commenting on the change in politics in the last few years. i would hate to think that the politicians we are electing are playing a race game and are so involved in it that they have forgotten "we, the people". Well, they are attacking unions and public workers. Yes, by they, I mean the Republican party. I think it is an unwise thing to do, because our communities need firemen, policemen,contractors, teachers. It seems that after some of the politicians handlers (Christie's for example) got hold of them, they changed their tune and began charging after the unions. The teacher's union NJEA is a favorite whipping boy of Governor Christie. It turns out that the republican party has decided that if they attack public workers and cause the elimination of jobs, the unions will get less money, and therefore be unable to give financial support to the Democratic candidates. You see then they can run everything. Then they can have deregulation on a large scale. Wait....didn't that just happen in 2005-2007? Oh yes...that's when the whole "too big to fail" situation went critical. We can't afford more deregulation. Every entity, every person has to have some rules to follow. PRESS FORWARD!! BELIEVE!! BE BLESSED
BEWARE The IDES of January 2013
The super committee didn't find a way to balance the federal budget.
Did you know that a bill was passed in August 2011 that would create massive budget cuts across the federal spending board? It's called the Budget Control Act of 2011. Please read it. It is designed to cut gfederal government spending. This will greatly affect many services such as Medicare and guess what else? No kidding...that's right...education. The NEA says that there could be as many as
55k to 89K jobs in the education field that are eliminated because of the budgetary losses. That could mean as many as 1,000 per state, it could even mean more. Be Aware so you can Prepare! PRESS FORWARD!!
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112s365enr/pdf/BILLS-112s365enr.pdf
Did you know that a bill was passed in August 2011 that would create massive budget cuts across the federal spending board? It's called the Budget Control Act of 2011. Please read it. It is designed to cut gfederal government spending. This will greatly affect many services such as Medicare and guess what else? No kidding...that's right...education. The NEA says that there could be as many as
55k to 89K jobs in the education field that are eliminated because of the budgetary losses. That could mean as many as 1,000 per state, it could even mean more. Be Aware so you can Prepare! PRESS FORWARD!!
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112s365enr/pdf/BILLS-112s365enr.pdf
It's been such a long time
We all need to be on our knees with our eyes lifted to heaven as the New Jersey legislature prepares to bring the new teacher tenure and seniority bill to the floor for a vote this June 2012. I'm told it will pass. Principals across the state are preparing to 'set up' teachers with whom they hold a personal grudge. Their personal grudges will eventually catch up with them though. God doesn't like ugly, and He won't tolerate it for long. By the way, how long will WE tolerate it? We need to keep logs on everything that is happening. Don't let a thing pass. It could mean the difference between you having a job and not having a job. The last I heard, principals are given a lot of power in this evaluation scenario. Half of our evaluation will be based on the test scores of our students, part of it will be given by our peers, and the rest by our administrator. Too bad it couldn't just be a collaborative effort between the principal or supevisor and the teacher....oh yes, collaborative like the Professional Growth Plan that teachers were strong armed into signing. What a set-up. We all know there is something behind it, we just aren't sure what it is. Perhaps the superintendent has given a challenge to the administrators that holds their jobs or positions in the balance. It's just a supposition on my part. I don't really know, but I do know that "something is rotten in Denmark". Yep, something is wrong and we can all smell it, but we can't see it...yet. Stand strong teachers. WE SHALL OVERCOME!!! We shall yet prevail over the tyranny that seeks to destroy our profession. The unknowing stand in the background applauding our demise while they are being secretly outwitted. Their children will know a very different educational system by the time "THEY" are through. Overcrowded is only the tip of the iceberg. We who are public workers must stand up before we have no legs to stand on. Be Blessed!! PRESS FORWARD
a letter in response to "Unsatisfactory Attendance"
Mrs. Lauren J. Cooper
Belleville Middle School
Belleville, New Jersey 07109
May 15, 2012
To whomever it may concern,
There comes a time in the life of every person when a choice must be made. The situations that are dealt to us in life aren’t always the ones that we might choose, but we handle with them in the best way that we are able. Sometimes handling situations means that a teacher may have to be absent every now and then. I know that each day we are absent is counted and stored, and I wonder to what end. I am concerned that the number that is written for days absent on an annual report certainly do not reflect the character, dedication to the chosen art of teaching , or the heart of a teacher. What it does reflect, however, is the struggle that goes on in the heart and head of a dedicated teacher who finds him or herself being forced to choose between those whom they love at home, the profession which they cherish, and the children they find themselves dedicated to as they teach them in school each day. Of course, the illness of a beloved family member does win out in the end if there is no one else to care for them on that particular day, but this choice cannot be interpreted as a frivolous one made without consideration for the students in a teacher’s class. It is, after all, the heart of a teacher that draws them to the children, and ties them to their wants and needs and dreams. It is this heart that makes heroes out of the teachers who come to work despite being ill, sometimes gravely ill, or having a parent or child at home in that same condition. It is the heart of a teacher that makes this profession noble and worthwhile.
We who stand in the trenches as teachers understand what is required of us. We do not take our duties lightly. It is with great concern that we take our sick and personal days. It is not concern for our administrator, but for our students. It must therefore be understood that we take our days frugally and with great care. It is why you find that so many of us have so many days left over when we retire.
Perhaps in the future, someone will recognize that it is with almost agonizing pain that we remove ourselves from our rooms for a day or so, and why we return so quickly, ready to work harder and faster for our students. Perhaps in the future, someone will not find it necessary to give an unsatisfactory paragraph for attendance to teachers who do their utmost for their students, their community, and their district. We are after all, human, and we work in an environment that is made more and more stressful by those who do not sit or stand before our children working with them in classrooms until they find success. We are the people who cheer their every small achievement and notice even a little growth. We are the ones who encourage them to reach beyond their grasp and to follow their dreams. We are the ones who show them that all things are possible when you remove your own barriers and work hard. We bring about a changed society because we work diligently to raise the standards, the heads, and the hearts of our students in our classrooms. We may be absent a few days out of the 181 that we are given to work, but we are here because we love what we do. We are here because we are called to be here. We are here for them. Remember that when you see us hurrying down the halls carrying far too many books and papers that we will be working on late into the night. Remember that when you go to a graduation and see the joy in the student’s faces. Remember that each day when we come to work, we bring something new. Our schools work and our children learn, because we are here.
Sincerely and without regret,
Belleville Middle School
Belleville, New Jersey 07109
May 15, 2012
To whomever it may concern,
There comes a time in the life of every person when a choice must be made. The situations that are dealt to us in life aren’t always the ones that we might choose, but we handle with them in the best way that we are able. Sometimes handling situations means that a teacher may have to be absent every now and then. I know that each day we are absent is counted and stored, and I wonder to what end. I am concerned that the number that is written for days absent on an annual report certainly do not reflect the character, dedication to the chosen art of teaching , or the heart of a teacher. What it does reflect, however, is the struggle that goes on in the heart and head of a dedicated teacher who finds him or herself being forced to choose between those whom they love at home, the profession which they cherish, and the children they find themselves dedicated to as they teach them in school each day. Of course, the illness of a beloved family member does win out in the end if there is no one else to care for them on that particular day, but this choice cannot be interpreted as a frivolous one made without consideration for the students in a teacher’s class. It is, after all, the heart of a teacher that draws them to the children, and ties them to their wants and needs and dreams. It is this heart that makes heroes out of the teachers who come to work despite being ill, sometimes gravely ill, or having a parent or child at home in that same condition. It is the heart of a teacher that makes this profession noble and worthwhile.
We who stand in the trenches as teachers understand what is required of us. We do not take our duties lightly. It is with great concern that we take our sick and personal days. It is not concern for our administrator, but for our students. It must therefore be understood that we take our days frugally and with great care. It is why you find that so many of us have so many days left over when we retire.
Perhaps in the future, someone will recognize that it is with almost agonizing pain that we remove ourselves from our rooms for a day or so, and why we return so quickly, ready to work harder and faster for our students. Perhaps in the future, someone will not find it necessary to give an unsatisfactory paragraph for attendance to teachers who do their utmost for their students, their community, and their district. We are after all, human, and we work in an environment that is made more and more stressful by those who do not sit or stand before our children working with them in classrooms until they find success. We are the people who cheer their every small achievement and notice even a little growth. We are the ones who encourage them to reach beyond their grasp and to follow their dreams. We are the ones who show them that all things are possible when you remove your own barriers and work hard. We bring about a changed society because we work diligently to raise the standards, the heads, and the hearts of our students in our classrooms. We may be absent a few days out of the 181 that we are given to work, but we are here because we love what we do. We are here because we are called to be here. We are here for them. Remember that when you see us hurrying down the halls carrying far too many books and papers that we will be working on late into the night. Remember that when you go to a graduation and see the joy in the student’s faces. Remember that each day when we come to work, we bring something new. Our schools work and our children learn, because we are here.
Sincerely and without regret,
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