A reminder as to why I no longer teach high school

A few people still ask if I miss teaching. No, I do not, and I am seriously reminded what I don’t miss when I read blog posts like this one from Ricochet who is still teaching high school math.

 

Unfriending on Facebook

Over the years a number of former students have found me on Facebook and asked to be friends. In almost all cases, I have agreed. Sometimes I agreed because I saw that they were friends with other people whom I admire and care about. In most instances, these friendships have been okay as the former students have gone on to lead successful lives and it’s been fun to see the progress. However…

I have recently seen, played out on Facebook, the unraveling of lives. Some of the former students have small children, and the tragedies of failed lives are involving those children. I can hardly sit still and not give advice. Well, most of the time I don’t sit still but let my feelings be known. I can see the terrible mess they are making of their life, much like the life of the parents before them, and it makes me so angry that they did not learn from those mistakes. And, they seem to have forgotten what we taught them in class.

Today I started unfriending those who make me the most upset. It seems cruel to drop them, but I cannot keep watching the train wreck as its happening. They aren’t going to listen to my advice to get out off the track and out of the way of the speeding train. It all makes me feel like a failure. So, I’m going to look away.

Clever infographic

I like this infographic. Not only is it cleverly done, but it’s got some good information. I would love to have students present their research finings in such a manner.

Teacher retirements save money

I have been following another teacher’s blog, an art teacher in Arkansas. Just as with so many other teachers out there, she too is having a bit of an upset with what and where she will be teaching. She, at least, still has a job; as we know there are so many who have been pink-slipped and then given final notice. Here is a quote from her blog:

…my job is changing next year.  I will no longer be the art teacher in my building.  It’s tough to give that one up.  I have really enjoyed these last three years of teaching art to grades 3-6.  There are four of us who are instructional facilitators in our two buildings, primary and elementary.  Two are math facilitators.  The other two of us have been half art teachers and half literacy facilitators.  Well, the new administration decided that wasn’t working, so we were told that three of us would be kept on as facilitators and one would have to choose another open position.  The other art/literacy person decided to take the art job.  She will be teaching 29 classes per week over seven grade levels in two buildings.  I didn’t want such a strict schedule.  She will barely have time to pee each day!  So, although I will really miss teaching art (really miss it!), I will be full time facilitator next year.

After reading this post, I commented about the way my district is handling things this year:

I am assuming you work for a school district that did not offer buyouts for their employees? Only reshuffling of positions? My district offered veteran teachers a full year’s salary if they would retire this year. Instead of the usual 200 who would retire, there are closer to 600 who took the deal this year.

One of the commenters left this message:

Wow, what kind of school district has 600 people retiring?! Our whole district only has 70 teachers TOTAL.

 

That made me smile. The district for whom I worked for 21 years is the biggest employer in our city, after the IRS which has an outpost here for the west coast tax collection. There are over 10,000 employees for about 76,000 students in this big district, the fourth largest in the state. I have honestly lost count of the number of schools, but I think it’s 110.

Budget woes have caused the district to scramble to find a way to cut costs, like $71 million. Getting rid of veteran employees who have high salaries is the easiest. Teachers with the district for over 20 years are making about $70,000. With benefits hitting $17,000 for each employee, you can see that it would be cost efficient to hire two new teachers at $35,000. More bang for the buck.

The inner city high school where I taught all those years has 20 staff retiring this year. A few others have been shuffled, sort of like the art teacher in Arkansas, to other positions at other schools. Next year will be interesting, to say the least.

One last time

The 19th Marketing Academy graduation was last night. Since many of the graduates had been my students in multimedia, I had promised to attend their ceremony. Terry has taken the photographs of this event for more years than I can count, so he went along, too, to record the event.

The 2011 graduates: 

 

 

 

 

 

Not all of the Academy teachers were present last night, but those of us who were got together for one more picture. The two ladies in the middle are retiring this year. Please note that I am NOT WEARING BLACK. When in Fresno, I wear pastels!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A note to make my heart sing

I received this wonderful note today. It made my heart sing:

Oh Mrs. Zody, how I miss you dearly. I am doing quite nicely. Working at Michaels Arts and Crafts while pursuing my AA in Journalism. You always told us that one day we would appreciate all the things you were teaching us early on, and I must say you were so right. I know how to type and my indesign and photoshop experience is already coming into play. You prepared us very well, therefore the transition into college was smooth. So thank you for that. I hope you are doing well too.

It makes me so glad to hear from my students and to know they are doing well out there in that big world.

Teaching gets harder a la Facebook

Somehow I missed the story about the student in the Sacramento area that called his teacher a “fat ass” on Facebook and was suspended for it. The ACLU stepped in and said it was okay for the sophomore to do this; students have called their teachers names for all these years and they have a right to post it on Facebook. The suspension could not stand and the student’s record was expunged.

You can read more about it here.

Another great business partner

Marketing is a little theory and a whole lot of application, and that’s how I always taught it. I gave as few lectures as possible, and used textbooks only when absolutely necessary. Instead of paper-pencil tests, my students had to actually DO something to get a grade. I called it project-based curriculum.

One of the units I taught in Marketing I was sales, and after a few weeks of learning about selling, the students had to actually “sell” an item of their choosing. In the weeks leading up to the actual sales presentation students learned how to approach a customer, question the customer about their needs, make a features-benefit sales pitch, get the customer involved with the product, ask for the sale, and reassure the customer after the purchase and invite them back. Once I felt the students were ready, I brought in REAL customers, and I just sat back and watched the action.

One particular business partner, Bennett Frost Personnel Services, always came through with a number of “customers” who would come to the classroom and go through the 40 or more sales presentations over a three day period. Cathy Frost, the owner of Bennett Frost, came onboard with the Marketing Academy just about the time she started her business and we were starting the Academy. She offered great advice, listening with sympathy to our pleas for help and always coming through with assistance like sending her employees to be customers. Some of our students got to intern in her office, and she gave guest lectures about job seeking.

When Cathy moved into bigger offices with a conference room she invited our department to meet there for planning days. She often popped in with advice and ideas for our classrooms. It helped make us better teachers. And, I hope it made our students better learners. My former students still remember those sales presentations I “made” them do.

January 3 picture-a Christmas card comes for the view

While teaching, I pursued a number of businesses to be partners with the Marketing Academy. One of the best partnerships I was able to arrange was the one with Dumont Printing.

A fieldtrip to Dumont Printing

Larry and Susan Early, the  owners, gave lavishly of their time and resources to help our students do well. They sent guest speakers to the classroom, allowed the students (and teachers) to job shadow at the printing offices, arranged field trips to show the students how a business operated, and offered advice and counsel on curriculum and equipment purchases. Any time we called on this company, they were right there, ready to help in any way they could.

Another nice thing Dumont Printing did was include the Academy teachers in their annual holiday party for clients and important people in their operation. We felt so honored to be included in this yearly extravaganza. As the economy went south, the party was curtailed, but a lovely card was always sent, a sort of engineering/printing feat. This year’s card arrived at the tiny apartment, and since we have been in Fresno for two weeks, I only opened it today. It seems to like the view:

The card and view.

What a nice reminder of such nice people and all the nice things they did for this school teacher and her students. I think it makes a great picture of the day.

What the best teachers do, according to their students

AOL published this survey.

The top things students say the best teachers do are:

• Know us personally, our interests and strengths
• Let us know who they are as individuals
• Smile at us
• Encourage us to participate in school activities
• Spend time beyond class time to help us be successful in their class
• Give us descriptive feedback on assignments
• Tell us why
• Share how what we learn is connected to real life
• Apologize when they make mistakes
• Give meaningful work
• Are energetic, enthusiastic and enjoy their job

I would have to agree.