Score This

Dear Educators,

Generally speaking, teachers are conditioned (taught? Pavlov?) to take their victories where they can get them.  In fact, we have been known to celebrate even the smallest of victories.  And why not?  To Ms. Kunzmann’s sensibilities, there is nothing greater than watching a struggling student light upon the fact that he can now grasp a concept, an abstract thought, that just yesterday had eluded him.
Me:  “A noun is also an idea or concept or a state of being.  For example, ‘justice’ or ‘nirvana’.”"
Secondary Student:  “Huh?”
Six months later.
Secondary Student:  “Miss!  A noun is like ‘justice’ or ‘nirvana’!”
Nothing quite like watching the light flicker on.
And though sometimes imperceptible, it is these small victories that renew my vigor and shore up my strength.  Today dear Readers, I had a small victory.
Although I knew it was coming, I was shocked and deflated as I read my students’ quarterly reading and writing test scores on the report I had just pulled from my mailbox at school.  The average score in one of my classes was 16.4 out of 30 for Reading and 19.2 out of 35 for writing.  That is 54.7% and 54.9% respectively.  All in all, dear Readers, since 70% is proficient, only a grand total of 14 of my students passed either of the tests.  .09% of my students passed.
Let me just pause a moment to allow that to sink in, dear Readers.
So for all intents and purposes, it looks as though public education is a dismal failure and as their teacher, I have been complicit In the downfall of my students’ college and career readiness.  However, my faithful Readers know this to not be the case.  Last week, I went into detail, here on this post, as to why the tests were completely invalid.  I remain unchanged.  However, there still remained the problem of facing the administration with what I know to be a valid complaint.
“You want me to do what?”  Did I just hear my administrator correctly?  “You want me to include these grades in with my students’ final quarterly grades?  I can’t do that!  More than half, no, more than three-quarters of my students will be failing my class!  I can’t do that to them!”
“You mean you can’t do that to yourself?  Aren’t those grades a reflection of your teaching abilities?”
My what!?  I know I just heard that correctly.  “Ms. So-and-So, you know the tests are flawed, you even alluded to that fact last week.  Besides, I’m not the least bit concerned with how I look as an educator.  I’m concerned with how I would look as a human being!  It would crush my students’ spirit to include these tests with the rest of their grades.  I can’t do that.  This has nothing to do with me and everything to do with tests that are blatantly false and invalid.  I can’t include them, I won’t.”
Wow!  Did I just say what I thought I just said?  Yup, I sure did, and I’ll say it again, “There is no way I will include those test scores in with my students’ quarterly final grades.  I can’t and I won’t.”
So that is where I left it, dear Readers.  It remains to be seen if my administration will override my Pearson’s Gradebook and include the scores anyway.  But my students are aware of what is going on.  I had a little Come to Jesus meeting with my classes and explained to them what I was asked to do and what I had refused to do.  It was high time somebody stood up to them.
My students know their true grades, and even better, they know their true worth.  And that puts a smile on my face and a spring in my step.  In fact, dear Readers, it could quite possibly be said that I am in the state of nirvana.  Peace, ~v.

Teaching (optional)

Fellow Educators,

Do not let the blog title or the greeting fool you, this is not a blog for teachers only.  Although I am an Arizona teacher, I am also a mother.  As such, I am my children's first educator.  So, no, this is not a blog for teachers only.  This is a blog for parents, teachers, school administrators, school boards, and anyone else who is bored with the current news stories about today's education.  If this is you, then this is the blog for you.

The Common Core, standardized testing, teacher evaluations, schools are failing our children, the sky is falling, the sky is falling!  We've all read about it, we've all seen it on the nightly news, and most of us have turned a blind eye, because, after all, "That's not happening in my school!"  Well, you can hear me now and believe me later.  But, I'm here to tell you what is happening in our schools from a teacher in the trenches.

I won't bore you with statistics and I won't threaten you with scare tactics.  I will however, give you my honest, sometimes humorous take on what is happening in the classroom.  I believe that parents are oftentimes too far removed from what actually takes place in their child's classroom.  I also believe that teachers are too far removed from what actually takes place in other teachers' classrooms.  And gosh knows that most school administrators and school boards are too far removed...well, you get the picture.

I am a typical teacher.  That is to say, that what I write about will have more than just a few teachers nodding their heads in agreement.  I can continue with my credentials, but the bottom line is, I have my students' best interest at heart.  I can tell you that, but better to "show" than to "tell."  So, without further ado, I give you my first blog post.

(The following post was first published on September 11, 2013 on My [redacted] Journey http://vakunzmann.wordpress.com/2013/09/11/teaching-optional/)

I am sitting in my classroom, at my beloved teacher desk, with tear-stained cheeks.  At every school I have ever had the privilege to teach, my teacher desk was (is) a symbol of the person in my life I am most proud, Teacher Vickie.  Today however, I am saddened and a little bit ashamed of Ms. Kunzmann.  Let me explain.

It is nearing the end of the first quarter at school, and as such, it is time to assess our students to see if they have reached certain benchmarks.  In layman's terms, the students take tests to see how much they've learned.  Already this quarter, my students have taken 7, mandatory, curriculum based, district assessments to graph their progress in my class.  For those of you keeping track, that's one test every week.  Now, at the end of the quarter, the assessment is a culmination of all of the previous district assessments, at least that is what we, along with my students, have been led to believe.

My first class arrived at the computer lab, ready to test, ready to be compliant.  As my students began to read the first questions of the test, I heard grumblings.  "Typical," I thought.  "They always have to let off a little steam before getting serious about a test."

"Miss!" one of the more vocal of my students shouted.  "We didn't learn this!  What's passive voice?"
I stopped short.  "Did I just hear her correctly?  Did she say 'Passive voice?'"  You see, not only does the District mandate and secure for us the tests we must administer to our students, they dictate the curriculum.  In fact, they dictate the what and the when of all of the Language Arts curriculum.  I see the road that education in this country is traveling.  I am aware that teachers are standing at a precipice.  And I know that I could never affect change if I am on the outside.  So, I choose to stay a teacher so that I may fight the good fight.  "They can tell me what to teach and when to teach it, as long as I get to decide how I'm going to teach it."  I believe that leaving me free to decide the how of teaching, leaves me free to interject creativity and free thought into an otherwise Big Brother-esque curriculum.  Look at me, still fighting the man, sheesh!

"Did I miss something?" I panic as I peer at the questions on my student's computer screen.  Nowhere on my District mandated, curriculum map for the past 7 weeks is there even so much as a hint that I must teach passive voice.  Ok, don't panic, tests always throw students a curve ball.  And as I casually and nonchalantly eye the questions on the District mandated benchmark assessment, I realize that not one of the questions has anything whatsoever to do with what my District has mandated me to teach these past seven weeks!

I'm looking at questions on sentence revision and organization pattern.  Meanwhile, I've been instructed to teach inference and author's purpose.  Whereas the test asks students to combine sentences and support claims, I've been teaching main idea and summary.  While the students answer questions about persuasive essays and refuting evidence, I've been happily turning my students on to informational essays and citing sources.

My students are crushed and I am livid.  I prepared my students for this test by first, informing them that they would be tested only on what I had taught them, because that is what I had been told.  "As long as you have stuck to the curriculum map we provided you, your students will do just fine on this assessment."  Big, fat liars.

My students trusted me.  And it is with no exaggeration that I admit to you that it has taken a fair amount of time to earn that trust.  And in one fell swoop, poof!  The trust is gone.  The look of betrayal on my face must have been exacerbated, because it was reflecting into my students' eyes and it was almost too painful to endure.

So now, I am sitting at my beloved teacher desk with tear stained cheeks, cursing the day I ever thought I could trust 'the man'.  I don't care how my students' scores reflect on me as their teacher.  I don't even care that my evaluation and my job are tied to my students' test scores.  I care that I let my students down.  Oh sure, I could have a heart-to-heart with them tomorrow and tell them, no show them, that it is the District who is to blame; that it is the District that dictates what I teach and when I teach it.  And it is the District that creates the tests.  Sure, I could do that.  But, to what end?

No.  The buck stops here.  I am their teacher.  I am the one who they believe betrayed them.  I am the one they trusted.  So  I am the one who will fall on her sword.  This is not false bravado and I am not a martyr.  I sincerely take full responsibility for my students' learning.  I won't try and assess blame, I know where it lies.  I won't try and shirk responsibility, I know who is responsible.  I will simply wipe off my tears, throw back my shoulders and face my students with a renewed vigor, a renewed sense of purpose.  They will come to trust me again.  They will open themselves up to learn from me again.  This, I know.

But whatever happens, one thing is for certain.  My students will never forget one of the most important lessons I have been trying to teach them since day one:  Question Authority.  Ouch!  Peace, ~v.