Educational Jargonese


OK -- I read The Bitchy Waiter last night and, once again, laughed my tail end off.  That
guy knows how to put a sarcastic spin on anything, and while I tend to be far more pollyannish about life (most of the time), it is extremely funny to read someone's prose who says what we have probably thought for years.  As a former waitress, I can relate to his many insights regarding the service industry.  It's why I couldn't hang in there for that kind of abuse.   Great Job, Bitchy Waiter.


I am enjoying yet another snow day.  I have a hunch there are many more to come this year.  With our school in such dire straits due to our inability to meet Annual Yearly Progress (We are  below the expected proficiencey-and, of course, the state raises the number of expected students at proficiency even though we didn't meet the last bar - so now we have to double and triple our kids' reading and writing skills by the end of the year.  Have you ever seen a kid who reads at a 3rd or 4th grade level increase his reading skills to 7th or 8th grade in 9 months?  If you have, PLEASE share your ideas.

 Example only

The only things that I see that truly help are small groups, one on one tutoring with instructors who truly know how to teach reading, regular practice at reading and summarizing, content teachers who focus on reading skills such as subheading, reading for a purpose, etc.  Oh yeah - it would really help if parents expected their children to read, do math, and write at home - but I digress into the areas of which I have little or no control.
(I already call three of my students nightly to ensure they are doing homework and going to bed at a decent hour, so I am trying)

We currently have targeted the students in 7th and 8th grade who are reading at least two levels below grade level but above a 3rd grade level, and they are in a class called Reading Revisited (heavy on the vocabulary with additional skills like main idea, details, etc. thrown in).  The students reading below a third grade level have been placed in classes that focus on more basic skills in the hopes we can raise their level to 3rd grade and get them into Reading Revisited.  Finally, at this ridiculously late date, we might be able to pay for a reading interventionist who will work will students below 3rd grade level for about 10 minutes a day to work on fluency using the Great Leaps program. (a good program and 10 minutes really does work if it's done daily)

With all this being said, the threat has been issued.  Increase the scores or lose the principal and half the staff (if the state can still afford to do that).  If that happens, I wonder where we will go.  Will we get hired by other schools facing the same sanctions?  Will we give up and draw unemployment?  Will we get hired on at Walmart and become greeters (That is undoubtedly my future job when I retire since I have no money - Ah but I digress yet again - sorry)

We were very "lucky" to get a highly specialized educator in our school this year.  She costs our school about $400.00 a day when she visits.  She spent the first two months telling us how much we sucked.  Then she shared ideas (with a hostile audience - and yes - I was one as I don't take too kindly to being told I don't know what I am doing after 16 years in the classroom - uhhh, my scores went up, not down - yes, my ego again, I know) that contradicted each other and therefore canceled each other out, and she still does that. 

Cases in point?  Use journals (1st meeting), don't use journals - teach to the test (next meeting), don't teach to the test - we need to look beyond the test if you will be successful with the new standards (last meeting).  AAARRRGGGHHHHH!

At any rate, I have come to the conclusion that, if I am truly reflective about what I teach and what my language arts team teaches, we will improve.  Ensuring that we teach only to standards, I create the summative assessment prior to instruction and use formative assessments to gage how well students are grasping the concepts, and  I design  congruent activities to teach students the student learning targets (more educational jargonese), then I am sure to improve their scores.

Sad thing is -- that's what I have always done!  OK, Bitchy Waiter, maybe some of your sarcasm has rubbed off on me just a little bit, although I could never write it the way you do.