Bill,
One can also add the first week of school needing to make sure all of
the children understand district rules such as not bringing guns, bombs,
knives to school. It was suggested (teacher sarcasm) that we begin the
school year with a weapons unit. Also, and this really sucks, support
staff working up to 20 percent free in order to meet basic services that
their contreact does not fund.
N
Bill Barowy wrote:
>A former student of mine who teaches kindergarten sent this along. It
>beautifully captures the contexts and tensions of teaching.
>
>bb
>
>
>
>>Thought you might like this...
>>
>>Subject: Teachers Application
>>
>>
>>
>>21st CENTURY TEACHER APPLICANT
>>
>>
>>Let me see if I've got this right. You want me to go into that room with
>>all those kids and fill their every waking moment with a love for
>>learning. Not only that, I'm supposed to instill a sense of pride in
>>their ethnicity, behaviorally modify disruptive behavior, observe them
>>for signs of abuse and T-shirt messages.
>>
>>I am to fight the war on drugs and sexually transmitted diseases, check
>>their backpacks for guns and raise their self-esteem. I'm to teach them
>>patriotism, good citizenship, sportsmanship and fair play, how and where
>>to register to vote, how to balance a checkbook and how to apply for a
>>
>>
>job.
>
>
>>I am to check their heads occasionally for lice, maintain a safe
>>environment, recognize signs of potential antisocial behavior, offer
>>advice, write letters of recommendation for student employment and
>>scholarships, encourage respect for the cultural diversity of others,
>>and, oh yeah, always make sure that I give the girls in my class 50
>>percent of my attention.
>>
>>I'm required by my contract to be working on my own time summer and
>>evenings at my own expense toward advance certification and a master's
>>degree; and after school, I am to attend committee and faculty meetings
>>and participate in staff development training to maintain my employment
>>status.
>>
>>I am to be a paragon of virtue larger than life, such that my very
>>presence will awe my students into being obedient and respectful of
>>authority. I am to pledge allegiance to supporting family values, a
>>return to the basics, and to my current administration. I am to
>>incorporate technology into the learning, and monitor all Web sites
>>while providing a personal relationship with each student. I am to
>>decide who might be potentially dangerous and/or liable to commit crimes
>>in school or who is possibly being abused, and I can be sent to jail for
>>not mentioning these suspicions.
>>
>>I am to make sure all students pass the state and federally mandated
>>testing and all classes, whether or not they attend school on a regular
>>basis or complete any of the work assigned. Plus, I am expected to make
>>sure that all of the students with handicaps are guaranteed a free and
>>equal education, regardless of their mental or physical handicap. I am
>>to communicate frequently with each student's parent by letter, phone,
>>newsletter and grade card.
>>
>>I'm to do all of this with just a piece of
>>chalk, a computer, a few books, a bulletin board, a 45 minute
>>more-or-less plan time and a big smile, all on a starting salary that
>>qualifies my family for food stamps in many states. Is that all? And you
>>want me to do all of this and expect me
>>
>>NOT TO PRAY?
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
>
-- There is no hope of finding the sources of free action in the lofty realms of the mind or in the depths of the brain. The idealist approach of the phenomenologists is as hopeless as the positive approach of the naturalists. To discover the sources of free action it is necessary to go outside the limits of the organism, not into the intimate sphere of the mind, but into the objective forms of social life; it is necessary to seek the sources of human consciousness and freedom in the social history of humanity. To find the soul it is necessary to lose it. A.R. Luriavygotsky@charter.net http://webpages.charter.net/schmolze1/vygotsky/index.html http://marxists.org/subject/psychology/index.htm
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