BigSmooov's Blog

Smoovie...good teachers can get a job any where....on the other hand...slugs have always gravitated to the District.

ooops, true, oh so very true!

Sorry looonnnngggg day.

BigSmooov, it's never fair when excellent people are fired. But "fair" doesn't have much to do with this, any more than it applies in big business. Most boards of education are following business models now, and what matter to the administrators are quantifiable results.
DC's results have not been up to the standards.

Ms. Rhee may regret firing some of her teachers eventually. New hires should understand that a resume which looks great on paper won't get them anywhere unless they can make the kids care.

Unless Mom and/or Dad in DC wake up and start parenting, none of these changes will matter. I believe you are in the minority when it comes to good parenting in DC, and I say that from the perspective of someone who has tutored in DC for a long time.

Unfortunately, Mom can't be fired and so it goes on and on and on.

Don't get me wrong. I'm with Red_Dog1 on his opinion.

Let us be real here though. I'm speaking from a person that tutored for 3 years (so far) in an after school program for DC/VA kids. I've met some great teachers. Unfortunatly, they feel as if their hands are tied when it comes to educating in certain counties. My friend "Mrs. Ross" taught in DC schools for two years. I would question her teaching methods because she would always complain to us about how her students were falling behind because she would have to waste time trying to settle down these middle school students to get the lesson across to them. It really got on her nerves when she was teaching algebra she would literally have to back track to teach the kids basic math (they should've been taught in the elementary level) in order to bring them up to par with the algebra lesson. Last year, she "finally" recieved her certification to teach in the Prince William County area (where she lives) so she doesn't have to commute as far. BIG DIFFERENCE! Kids will be kids of course. She still has to settle the kids down at the beginning of class...but once the lesson gets rolling...the kids are on the ball! So it wasn't how she was reaching out to the kids, it was the area!

So my question is, should good teachers like her be blamed?

The schools are supposed to have help in the teaching process FROM THE PARENT(s). where is that? PARENTS FAULT!!! The administrators, and teachers haven't made a dent in the attitudes either. Why is is ONLY the DC kids that are having such problems though? How poorly do the black kids in Montgomery county, and PG county compare?

What constitutes good teachers? Because you receive a teaching certification does not make for a qualified teacher. When my daughter entered 1st grade ,this was in Georgia many years ago I was amazed at her teacher's grammar. She was saying things like " cut the lights" instead of turn off the lights. She was cetified and was given this free pass due to affirmative action. After many complaints to the school board she was reassigned to another district...to become someone else's problem. Parents need to be active...not all teachers are good ones just because they have a certificate/degree.

I believe the education process itself is seriously flawed and obsolete, to include the curriculum, teachers approach to teaching, parental involvement, and distractions such as TV and the computer itself. In Fairfax County the school board insists that there is ONE method of teaching kids to write..the "plan", draft, the hook sentence must be the first or second sentence in the first paragraph, three sentences that explain the content...and so on. There is no recognition that there are children who are not talented writers, but those same children may be history geniuses or mathematical prodigies...and each praised and encouraged for their abilities. Each and every child DOES HAVE talents wherein they naturally excel. Teachers are forced to teach to pass tests and only pass tests...kids are not robots...and we wonder why they are dropping out of school right and left.

AveMaria I agree with you that the educational system is seriously flawed. The main problem is that the system is designed to squash independent thinking and self-study.

When my son was in the 8th grade we removed him from the insanity of Fairfax's public school system and entered him into the world of homeschooling mixed with classes purchased thru and monitored by universities. My confused and failing (in math) son was tested at the end of his senior homeschooled year by his university and scored so high that he was recommened for all honors classes. He currently has a 4.0 average and is an Architectural major...with eyes on engineering as well. We made certain that, for instance, when he learned about the civil war, we read about Andersonville and went to the site, walked it off and talked about Miracle Springs, the crumbling escape tunnels, the stories of the men inside the horrible prison and the residents of the community outside that prison. We read and walked battlefields locally and in Pennsylvania...we walked the sites and relived the battles. His history grades were perfect scores. We approached writing from a different slant. I scrapped the rote method of Fairfax County and simply turned him loose to tell me a story...a creative made up ANYTHING he wanted to tell me. It was fun, it was awful...but something happened...he's a wonderful writer whose only problem lies in spelling...the public school just grades kids down so badly that the "story and creativity" of the child are lost. Teachers should be turned loose from the "teach to tests only" thinking...and it is not their fault...it is a nationwide view of education that is flawed that loses our kids to TV and computer gaming. Life is exciting and wonderful ...that is the

And one more thing...I believe too much emphasis is placed on blaming kids for their language skills...I am from the deep south and when I hear a child say, for instance, "My friend is hiding in back of the tree."....I know that I need extra time to translate that sentence in MY mind to, "My friend is hiding behind the tree." My way is grammatically correct, however, I must recognize that we all use patterns of speech used by our parents and communities...and, regardless, we are saying the same thing. Allow our children to learn from THEIR minds and hearts with gentle guidance...and his/her "southern" speech patterns are part of him/her. We sweat the small stuff too much.