From the PG:
"...educators at Allderdice, Brashear and Carrick high schools received a
total of $169,660 in bonuses -- 70 percent from federal funds and 30
percent from the district -- as a result of success in the Promise
Readiness Corps, in which teachers work with the same students in grades
9 and 10."
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11 comments:
It is interesting that the focus is on teachers who "work with the same students" in grades 9 and 10, but on the team that got really significant bonuses 3 or the 7 teachers did NOT work with the same students. And science teachers are usually not part of the plan. So is there really proof of looping being successful here? And what happened to the 3 teachers who did not continue, anyway?
Isn't it possible that the next time the same group of teachers get a new group of 9th graders with whom to loop, they might not get so lucky or be as successful? It all sometimes seems like a crap shoot to some of us outsiders.
"Crap shoot" is so appropriate for this post. As a teacher of an elective, you are also not included in this money grab. You are however, expected to support the programs/teachers that are. So much of my time I am expected to incorporate reading, writing, math into my daily class activities to support those programs. Our kids are NOT stupid. They see right through the smokescreen. They know when a class activity is not related to the content and will ask. Why are we doing this? "This aint math class!" So many problems have been caused by students who do not want to do this type of work in an elective class. Especially to a senior who has already passed his tests, presented his project, cleared every hoop and hurdle to graduate. Crap was certainly the right choice of words.
As a teacher in the Pgh Public Schools who received these bonuses, I never agreed with this policy and would rather have had additional help for the kids, field trips that enriched their education, etc. When I expressed these ideas, I was met with outright hostility by the administration. Again, this is another Mark Roosevelt corporate practice.
Annon 1:37 If you did not agree with this, you could at least have returned the money. (Just as you are expected to return the jury duty pay. $10.00 after you paid $15.00 to park.) Annon 11:46 was right. As a technology teacher, I had to incorporate math, reading and writing to support English and math. My students hated it. I hated the task of having to go into every students test results and find areas of weakness to plan lessons aimed at improvement. All this while still providing experiences in graphics and maintaining equipment. AND at the same time, I had to teach students how to read a ruler since they never mastered it in elementary grades. No big surprise there though. Elementary benchmarks were not focused on reading a ruler. Those teachers have other concepts. Or, no one wrote the script on ruler reading
Yes, you are right. I should have
taken an even bigger stand on the issues of bonuses and returned the money. I'm sure NO One in the administration would have HELD it against me even more than they already did. I had three children to support on my own, but your right, that could not have been a consideration. I have taken more stands with the administration and with the leadership of the union than most of the teachers I've ever known.
This is yet another example of teachers attacking other teachers instead of teachers sticking together and supporting each other. It sounds like your blaming the reading and math teachers for taking the bonuses rather than the Board and administration who created these
foolish policies.
One of the biggest casualties of Broad/Gates has been freedom of teachers and other staff to question or disagree. The opinions expressed by teachers and principals in less controlled districts would be unthinkable here.
Yes dear Tech teacher-- you did have to teach elementary concepts, because elementary teachers are expected to "deal with" every disruptive student acting out IN the room--while 27 others sit and wait for their teaching to happen. No one degrades hs math teachers because they request that a student who is totally acting out to be removed until the student regains composure. In fact, in the "normal years" in PPS-- I actually had principals tell me--- you should have gotten him out faster!
Yes, I have become one of those looking to the good old days-- pre 2006!
It has been my experience that a child who has been disruptive in elementary school, usually stays that way well into high school. There will always be 27 (or more) students waiting to be taught while the teacher deals with the one.
11:53 I do not see you but rather the system as being attacked. You can't blame someone for being upset because their content area has been minimized. The folks at Bellefield did this. They put in place a system that puts one group of good people against another. I say good people because at the end of the day, my co-workers are good people. It is the system that corrupts. And when your union is part of the corruption, it gives one the feeling of hopelessness and disgust.
Clarification please. Only Carrick, Brashear and Allderdice have PRC teams, correct? If so, if a teacher becomes eligible to be a PRC member at only those schools, other schools become "hard to staff" as a result, or no?
No Brashear is a "hard to staff" as is M. L. King-- seems being a kinda teacher academy causes this.
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