Good Morning my friends!

First - let's get the technical stuff out of the way.  Some of you have told me you can't post. I changed the settings. Let me know if it helped. I just haven't had the hours it will take to sit in one place to work out the kinks!

Let's just say I was inspired by the Presidential debate last night. Inspired by both candidates' drooling leers over RTTT (or Race to the Top for those of you residing under rocks).  Isn't it wonderful when candidates can cross the aisle and agree on the destruction of our children's education?  Now that's the kind of bi-partisanship we need! It just warmed my heart.

And of course it inspired my post for today...

Opt Out. 

Just do it. It's not scary. It's not difficult. Yes, it requires you take a stand. I am hearing from my contacts that more and more people aross the country are opting their own children and grandchildren out of these tests. I will be attending the Opt Out Occupy rally in Washington DC in April.

In NYS parents are finally moving a bit, so it's time to jump on the bandwagon!

If I had kids still in school here's what I would do. On the testing dates I would begin a new tradition. The test day would become a day of real education in my household.  Yes, I would have had to take a personal day or develop a sudden cough.  Think of all the things we used to be able to do in school and make a day of it with your kids!

A museum. A youth concert (you know, the kinds we used to take our students to on field trips). Take a nature walk with your Ipad. Have your children identify and categorize insects and plants. Take a walk and do some creative writing or poetry. Sing songs. Make time for physical movement.

I know what some of you are going to say...I CAN'T stay home with my kids- I'm giving the same test on the same day! Well, a spouse? A sister? A mom or dad? You lay out the lesson plans. 

You can do it and you can spread the word. If each person reached out to 5 parents, that would be a tremendous accomplishment. And your children would thank you for it. I'm sure many of you can also find ways to give this info to parents if they express displeasure with the tests.  Some of you might have advice for others. Feel free to post your positive and negative experiences.

Here's the information:

http://unitedoptout.com/state-by-state-opt-out/new-york/

 http://www.nystoptesting.com/

http://changethestakes.wordpress.com/

     First of all a heartfelt "thank you" to all who viewed my post.  In answer to some questions, I am in the process of figuring out how to allow people to "follow" this blog.  Also, some have expressed an interest in posting and are not having luck without a gmail account. I WILL do some homework to get this resolved.

     I never have to think about what I'm going to write - information seems to come at me from all fronts.  Two unrelated scenarios really got my wheels turning tonight.  First, I heard on the local news (out of Albany, New York) that a fairly affluent school district was once again going to have trouble coming in at or under the mandated 2% property tax cap.  For the past 2 years they have let many teachers, administrators, and support staff go.  They are a district that takes pride in the quality of their program. The Superintendent stated, "you can't cut your way to excellence".  The story went on but for this post, that is the salient piece of information.

    Then I read a post from a Facebook "friend".  Quotation marks because we have never met yet we share a profound concern over the lack of respect shown to teachers throughout the US. Bear in mind, this "friend lives in North Carolina. I live in New York. I'm paraphrasing, but this person, a teacher with a Masters' Degree makes $15.00 an hour. The family qualifies for assistance. When I read that I truly wanted to cry. Why should a teacher, in a state that is anti-union and where teachers do NOT have the right to unionize, have to work for $15.00 an hour?  My nephew, a high school dropout, makes $15.00 an hour. So I asked, "How on earth do you get teachers?" The reply, "3 letters...TFA..." (TFA = Teach for America).

    It all makes sense, doesn't it? New York State teachers - watch out. The goal is to ALLOW schools like the one referenced above to fail.  This district won't fail because of test scores. No, we'll save failure from test scores for those districts with high poverty rates.  So how to force failure on an affluent school?  Easy.  The community, which is already paying very high school taxes (perhaps some of the highest in our area) will say "ENOUGH!!  We can't pay any more than what we are already paying!" At that point, the door is open for privatization of a district.  The parents want great programming for their children.  They want excellence. I don't know at what point frustration over loss of programming for AP courses, sports, music, and the arts outweighs concern over whether or not the school district is run by a company.

    And so, I will now remove the quotation marks from the word friends.  You truly are my friends. The folks that I have met through political action on Facebook share a common ideal.  We know each others' hearts. We know the passion that we have for the profession.  We didn't go into it for the money, but we are tired of being made the scapegoat for all that is wrong with society by our politicians. And we darned well believe we are are worth more than $15.00 an hour.

     What are we going to DO for my friend in North Carolina? What are YOU going to do to effect change? What are YOU going to do to hold on to the right to unionize and to maintain collective bargaining rights? The time has come for more than idle chit chat. Spread the word. Get involved. Write letters. Opt your own children out of testing. Call politicians every single day. Join a phone bank to support those few politicians who stand up for unions and for teachers. Create a data base of all the home e-mail addresses of the teachers in your school and send them newspaper articles, internet articles, and so on. March with signs at your State Capitol. Organize a rally even if you have to start with a few people. If you can think it, you CAN do it.

   

   

Monday morning musings of a retired teacher

October 1, 2012        

Monday morning musings of a retired teacher

      The Faculty Lounge.  A place where I used to be able to go to collaborate with teachers and let my hair down. A place where we could go to laugh. Talk about our families. Eat lunch together. Vent.  Learn new strategies. Be a mentor or get mentored.

       I won't lie.  Being retired is amazing. Strange. Mostly good. Sometimes not. After all, I started teaching when I was 21 years old. I was in the profession for 34 years.  As I refine the direction that my life is headed, I can't get away from my passion for teaching and for teachers and so in addition to working one morning a week teaching a baby and toddler music class I am creating a place for teachers to "go". I don't care what side of the political aisle you're on. It doesn't matter who our next President is. We are going to have to unite and figure out a way to get our collective voices heard. We are going to have to work together to take back our public schools and bring along those who teach in charters or private schools. Teachers are not the "bad guys". Unions are not the enemy. The people and corporations behind the privatization of our public schools are the same ones who seek to demoralize our nation's teachers through negative media hype and lobbying political candidates. 

      My goal is simple- to give you a place to figure out ways to build your own school community. To give you pointers on solidarity, based on my 12 years as Union President. We can't advance as a profession until you allow yourself to become empowered and to release yourself from fear. Fear of not achieving on flawed standardized tests. Fear of speaking out. Fear of losing your job because you dare to take a stand. Stand strong. Unite with your brothers and sisters across the nation. Do ONE positive thing to speak out for your profession every single day. Break out of your comfort zone, even if that means simply attending a union meeting or working on a behind the scenes committee. I'll be taking suggestions from my colleagues in "right to-work" states on how to remain strong in this negative culture.

     Bear with me as I learn about this blogging thing.  After all- I'm ancient and it takes time to figure all this technology out.  And kudos to my husband who came up with the title for my blog :)