Entre les Murs (The Class) – too real?
It’s movie season (for me, at least – almost two weeks of break and I’m not going out of town). First up? A new, French teacher movie: The Class.
The film starts with a few people in cars and on trains – teachers on their way to the first day of school. It’s a tough middle school in Paris. The new and old teachers introduce themselves, all chitchat, try to trade classes, ask about what books to use, look at each other’s class lists. And we meet François Marin, who teaches French to a class of roughly 8th or 9th graders. And for the rest of the film we stay in school, between the walls (the French title), and with M. Marin.
The class is mostly immigrants and children of immigrants: from Mali, from Morocco, from China, from the Carribean (probably from other places, as well, but we don’t learn where everyone is from). The kids are rowdy at times, focused at others. Their French is laced with slang, foreign words, and, occasionally, profanity. Some participate, you know the posture, leaning forward, arm fully extended, up and forward (but they don’t say “me me me me me”). Some lean back, laugh, don’t pay attention. (continues beneath the fold) Read more…
Teacher Pay from far away: Chicago
Chicago is big. Living in New York, many of us are accustomed to huge – Chicago’s not that. But with almost 3 million people (in the city itself) and millions more in its metropolitan area (which is still growing), Chicago is the largest city between the Coasts and north of the Rio Grande. It’s also the home of our next president.
What do teachers in Chicago make? At the beginning, just a bit less than teachers in New York City, it turns out. But with no raises after the 14th year, the top lags. This year starting is 43k, with a bachelors, a 5 year teacher with a masters makes 56k, 10 years Masters + 30 makes 70, and 14 years with a doctorate (top of scale) makes 87k. Step 14 is new this year. Steps 15 and 16 (for 20 and 25 years, respectively) will phase in 2010 and 2011.
Now, that’s for 38 weeks. They also have scales for 42 weeks, 46 weeks, and 52 weeks. I don’t really know how many teachers work in which categories. But the website treats 38 as typical (although they quote higher numbers than I did here: they include “pension pick up” as salary, which it really is not.)
Full scale, beneath the fold:
Do Not Apply: The Bronx High School of Science
There are good schools, bad schools, mediocre schools. But in New York City we have a handful of schools that are so poorly run, so out of control, with administrations that are so incompetent, mean, arbitrary, or vindictive, that getting a job in these schools often means ending your career before it starts. These schools are DNA: Do Not Apply.
tests worth 100 points were banned
And, today, Bronx Science is not as nice a place to work as it once was. But, more than that, and this is why I am writing, it is a place that new teachers should avoid coming to.
insisted that anytime we had to use the bathroom facilities, we had to make a announcement to the secretarial staff
Once…
The Bronx High School of Science was one of the best places to work in the entire Board of Education. It, along with Stuyvesant and Brooklyn Tech, are New York City’s original three specialized high schools (there are now several additional small specialized high schools). It has graduated an enormous number of Westinghouse (now Intel) winners, students who have gone on to impressive careers in science, medicine, etc, Nobel laureates…
How did Bronx Science end up on this list?
A few events/conditions/changes/chain of events came together over the last few years. Taken alone, they don’t seem like much. But their total/cumulative effect was great:
- New principal, immediately unpopular, reflexively autocratic
- Staff, student body unafraid of showing contempt
- Tradition of extra-contractual temporary hiring
- Slightly elevated turn-over rates
- Department chairs who mediated between administration and teachers were replaced
The short story is that the administration, frustrated by teachers who feel free to question that which should be questioned, and not having much leverage over senior teachers, has crashed down on newer teachers, in often unpredictable and erratic ways, making job security an issue.
Let’s try a slightly longer version of the story. (below the fold) Read more…
Gotham Leaning?
Gotham Schools is really the source today for NYC school news. When they don’t write it, they link it. The Rise and Shine segment links the stories from all the area papers. It’s become for many of us, a first read. And now there’s a Nightcap, too.
But there’s been shifting. Gotham Schools started as a hybrid blog/ed news source. The blogging aspect seems to have faded out. The posts have become less varied, dominated today by news coverage. And a faux-neutral voice now predominates.
Worse is the lean. Lean? Look, for example, at the sources on this story on the reaction to Duncan’s appointment from early last week. Half the quotes are essentially Bloomberg’s Chancellor (himself, the Learning Project, and the Equity group).
Sift through the latest articles. Blog voices are good for knitting. Gotham School’s relies on more prominent voices. And caters to them. And features them prominently. The editorial choice is self-reinforcing; many articles quote prominent voices, or are actually about them, and Gotham Schools avoids voicing opinions that might affect access. And so the editorial bent, now becoming discernable, matches the voices they speak to. Overall affluent, liberal, but not too liberal, powerful.
I was excited this summer when they started out. I thought there was lots of energy, lots of potential. They were creating a new type of internet space. What has emerged is bigger than I anticipated, and perhaps more valuable. But less interesting. And not really a new type of space at all. It’s a wide-audience daily trade publication, without a print version. Eh. The news digest is still important to read. But I thought there could have been more than a repackaging of standard MSM reporting on a single issue in a new medium. I am disappointed.
Diploma Mills – no good for teachers, ok for admins?
Picked up from “NJ Community” an otherwise talk-radio quality conservative NJ blog. To give you an idea, they are pushing the Obama-not-eligible nonsense (thoroughly debunked by Ed Darrell at Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub)
But this story is good. Freehold, New Jersey. Four people have credentials from a diploma mill (Breyer State University). A teacher, a teacher/consultant, a superintendent, and two assistant superintendents. But looks like the school board treated them differently.
The Freehold Regional High School District has cut back the salaries of two more staffers because they had received doctoral degrees from an unaccredited diploma mill.
DoE blocked from firing RTRs today
This year the NYC Department of Education overhired teachers. I think they did it purposefully, to sow instability in the system. But whatever, that’s just my opinion. Some of the Teaching Fellows they hired did not find placement. They are called RTRs, assigned to schools to sub and cover classes. And the DoE has been trying to fire them. And the UFT has been fighting them. [edit (left out imp. 1st step): We filed a union-initiated grievance earlier this fall] We went to court last week, and got an injunction against December 5 firings. We went back Tuesday, and got the injunction extended. And on defense today, we stopped a DoE attempt to void the injunction.
There are two negatives to point out:
- the mess, in part, was our own doing. We blundered badly on a previous contract, modifying the transfer provisions. The contractual change alone did not cause great immediate harm, but a series of small separate changes in DoE fund allocation, accounting, etc, combined with the contractual change to cause the current nightmare. We can’t make that many concessions without some of them having ramifications. Our leaders should have known.
- the UFT communication with the RTRs (and frankly all the Fellows) was inadequate through the summer and fall. Also, regular members should have been better-informed about what was going on. The DoE was threatening to fire members; that’s a big deal! It seems that the UFT leadership did not want to release information unless there was something either a) positive or b) concrete to report. This is a mistake. Information should flow freely. An informed membership works to our advantage. It fosters unity within our ranks. And it leads to easier mobilization, better pushback on the school level.
However, now that we have something positive, our leadership has been excellent about getting out the information swiftly. This is the third update Chapter Leaders have received since last week. (see the two links above). The “keep you posted” attitude is especially appreciated. Here’s Randi’s e-mail:
Randi Weingarten
UFT President
Court delays RTR firings again; UFT arbitration continues
I just received the following message from the UFT (the text is a letter sent to the RTRs; I’ve omitted the little explanatory preamble to Chapter Leaders). This is the second temporary victory on the RTR front within a week.
Go here to view the press release we issued today.
Randi Weingarten
UFT President
Follow Republic workers on PREA Prez and Small Talk
Republic Window and Door workers occupied their Chicago plant when the company tried to shut without paying severance. The company was relocating, but was still sneaking assets out of the facility. Occupying the plant was a bold move, and against long odds. But the workers have gotten some favorable press, and verbal support from President-elect Obama.
Bloggers Fred Klonsky (PREA Prez) and Mike Klonsky (smalltalk) have provided good coverage, with both actually coming by to show support.
Fred:
- Chicago UE workers seize plant, deman share of the bailout
- Friday night at Republic Windows and Doors (photos)
- Labor and religious support for Republic sit in (photos)
- Want to support the Republic sit-ins? Here’s how
- Obama supports Republic workers
Mike:
- Chicago workers seize plant
- More on Chicago plant seizure
- At rally Saturday afternoon (photos)
- Obama supports republic workers
UE:
Contact UE for donations, etc.
And part of Obama’s remarks:
“When it comes to the situation here in Chicago with the workers who are asking for their benefits and payments they have earned, I think they are absolutely right,” Obama said Sunday…
False A
Miss Cornelius sent me to play a little “quiz” – Could you pass high school?
Now, sounds like fun, but also sounds like they didn’t really have it right – pass math, graduate high school? (Or is it, be graduated from high school?)
Anyhow, and sure enough, 10 light-weightish questions, but take a look at this one:
Jennifer has 2 skirts, 3 tops, and 3 pairs of shoes. How many outfits can she make?
Their choices are 8, 12, 18, and 24. I know they wanted 18. But how am I getting 119?
UFT stops December 5 firing
I just received the following message from the UFT (the text is a letter sent to the RTRs; I’ve omitted the little explanatory preamble to Chapter Leaders)
Randi Weingarten
UFT President
Mac is back
my computer, not the maverick.
Got it from the Apple store. Took it home. Couldn’t reset it. Finally got the keyboard recognized. Then the mouse. Was it this hard to set up in the first place? But the internet? No. No. Just wasn’t happening. All the plugs in the right places. Fiddled, fiddled. Turned off, and on. Set, and reset. Finally I hit the right combination. Must have taken two hours… But the last was the worst. Couldn’t print. Couldn’t see the printer. This was the scariest, because it was so unexpected (stupid of me, right, not to expect everything to be wrong?) but the next day a fresh download of the drivers, with HPs installation software, took care of it.
OK, so what was originally wrong? Idk. But when I started up, I saw an almost empty desktop (horror? surprise?) Only two icons: “Macintosh HD” and “Too Much Stuff on the Desktop!!!!”
Too Much Stuff on the Desktop!!!! is a very very full folder…
Blog visitors
Sometime this weekend the number of visitors to this blog went over a third of a million. And earlier this month, the number of page views broke half a million. Back in May 2006, I couldn’t have predicted that.
Thank you for coming by. I hope you found something interesting here.
Jonathan
Maugh laugh
(shouldn’t we make fun of ourselves?)
Visit Blig Blug and Friends. Philosophy and Math, Union and Laugh.
And vegetables and small animals.
Thanksgiving Combinatorial Puzzles
In Combinatorics today I will give students 6 puzzles to work on. The rules and puzzles are printed beneath the fold.
All of these puzzles have appeared here at least once before: last Thanksgiving. Sorry.
Click for my worksheet —> Read more…
I was once in a math war skirmish… (Part 2)
In the late 1990s the Math Wars, ignited in California, were spreading across the country. I was a witness (participant?) in a skirmish in the Bronx. Read Part 1 of my story.
Summary of Part 1: In 1999 our superintendent forced schools to pilot a choice between IMP and Math Connections. My school went for MC, as did about two thirds of the Bronx. The following year we faced full adoption, without seriously examining how the pilots ran. The first group of teachers involved got jobs with the publisher, and became (in many instances) unpleasant enforcers of the publisher’s will. All the Math Connections classes went to newer teachers (with, generally, poorer classroom management) Training was lousy (trainers focused on constructivism; teachers needed content.)
Senior teachers had believed themselves safe. But the chaos got worse and worse, they found themselves unable to assist newer teachers, the trainers got nastier and nastier, and the senior teachers started counting the terms before they would be forced to teach the crap. At a UFT event in October or November 2000, a math teacher asked Randi Weingarten about math, math teachers from other schools joined in, I got shoved into the conversation, the Bronx HS District Rep came over, and we walked away with a commitment to meet and see what we could do.
The DR was Dave, a science teacher, loads of years in the system. Real hands on guy, and with an intellectual curiosity. Dave was a smart teacher, and was used to arguing the pros and cons of pedagogy, content, policy.
The first meeting was in December, at Lehman HS. There were maybe 8 – 10 teachers there, though I can recall only 7: from Evander, and Walton, Columbus and Truman, Kennedy and Lehman, and Jane Addams; there must have been a few others. And at the first meeting, the teacher’s talked.
much more below the fold Read more…
Rally in Support of ATRs
The details have changed. The need to show good numbers remains. We have a victory, and need to press the point. Please come. Please bring people with you. And if you cannot come, please recruit someone to stand in your stead.
New 4 p.m. informational meeting for ATRs before rally on Nov. 24
We reached a side agreement with the Department of Education on Nov. 18 that should result in many more excessed teachers securing permanent assignments. The agreement creates financial incentives for principals to hire ATRs while continuing to safeguard all the rights in the existing contract, including the job security of ATRs. That means millions of dollars can be saved and thousands of kids get the benefit of these great educators.
Our rally for the ATRs is still on – but it is no longer starting at 4:30 p.m. First up on Monday, Nov. 24 is an informational meeting at 52 Broadway at 4 p.m. for excessed teachers and chapter leaders who have questions about the agreement. Then come join UFT President Randi Weingarten as we march from that meeting to the rally outside the DOE’s headquarters at the Tweed Courthouse, 52 Chambers Street in Manhattan to show our support for ATRs and remind the DOE that we’ll be expecting full compliance with their part of the agreement. Please sign up and bring your members.
June 2001 letter about the Math Wars
I wrote this to my District Rep in preparation for our Professional Reconciliation hearing in June 2001. It was the most I’d thought about teaching math to that point; I was just completing my 4th year. And I don’t know that I love everything I wrote. But I’ll stand by it as in the main correct, and an honest, thoughtful attempt to find a place for teachers…
Those of you who have read posts here over the last 2½ years will recognize some similar thoughts, but in formation. You may even recognize early elements of my Outlook on Teaching Mathematics.
June 14, 2001
David,
There are some things I didn’t say and we didn’t really cover in those math meetings. First, like it or not, battles similar to ours are being fought throughout the country. Second, when we got to what program(s) we want, we were fairly vague.
(Personal note here: I will be teaching Math Connections 3 next year. I will “fix” lots of stuff along the way. I have a feeling that that is what has happened in many places where it seems to be working. But this requires a certain skill/experience/mathematical ability level, requires hands-off or cooperative supervision, and wouldn’t it be better to start with a better curriculum in the first place??)
Let’s start with the “Math Wars.” It makes me damn nervous to be on the same side as what I would call right-wing kooks. It started as a California thing: “Back to basics” vs. “Constructivists” along roughly the same fault lines as the anti-Bilingual, and the anti-Affirmative Action fights there. There are big differences among these, but in each case the Education or Liberal or whatever establishment, in my opinion, took something that was decent, ran way way too far with it (to the point of abuse), and gave the right wing an easy target.
(much more beneath the fold)
ATR Deal – comments, no post
I’ve read the document, but only discussed with a couple of people. And it’s hard blogging without a computer. Quick thoughts:
The RTRs (Teaching Fellows who never had a job and are threatened with firing December 5) are not helped, not harmed, and still in desperate shape.
ATRs really are helped here, and seemingly without cost (although I never trust the DoE; they could try to pull something sneaky. You should never trust the DoE. And if your colleagues, or your representatives, your Chapter Leader, District Rep, Borough Rep, VP, or President ever trusts the DoE, you should reprimand them. Sharply. We are too smart for this.)
Anyway, if the DoE doesn’t have some nasty trick in store, we won. Nice, clean, clear victory, and we get too damned few of those these days.
Will the rally go on Monday? I sure hope so. Little celebration? We deserve it.
Finally, here’s some ATR-posts I’ve commented on over the last few days:
Firmware Fried
Not really sure what that means, but the IMac is under warrantee, and I know what that means. Dragged the tired puppy to an Apple Store last night, and after much grimacing and gnashing of teeth they told me to go away, they would call. So it’s back to regular blogging, not now, but in 7 to 10 business days…
Mac won’t restart
So posts are delayed for a couple of days. I never write about my IMac because it is just there, doing what it’s supposed to. I try hard not to treat perfectly ok students the same way! But when the computer is all better, look for:
- “Math War skirmish Part 2″
- “Bronx Science Follow up“
- “ATR Rally November 24“
- “ATR agreement – which I haven’t been able to look at yet”
- “Teaching Parabolas Differently…”
- “A new puzzle”
Surprise addition to Do Not Apply list
The Bronx High School of Science.
There are good schools, bad schools, mediocre schools. But in New York City we have a handful of schools that are so poorly run, so out of control, with administrations that are so incompetent, mean, arbitrary, or vindictive, that getting a job in these schools often means ending your career before it starts.
How did Bronx Science, specialized high school with a rich history and fantastic student body end up in this group? I’ll be writing about the present conditions (but not the history) later this week.
For now, understand this: it would be a mistake for a new teacher to walk into that building. But unlike the other schools on the Do Not Apply list, I expect Bronx Science to, at some point, recover and become once again an amazing place to work; for its proud traditions to reassert themselves over the shameful practices of its current administration that have brought disrepute to such a fine institution.
A few geometry games worth playing
The eyeball game has reached me through a few e-mails and blogs…
The taxicab pearl search game called Shinju got courtesy of Ξ at 360.
Then there’s planarity, which I linked long ago.
Which is most addictive? (The correct answer is either “none” or silence)
Ouch! Looking at a NYC Teaching Fellow’s check
Gross: $2142 (starting with a master’s equivalent)
- Taxes (Fed, State, City, Social Security): $675 (we all pay them…)
- TRS414 STD: $64 (that’s pension)
- TRS 55: $39 (that’s the extra deduction for 55/27)
- UFT: $47 (why do we pay flat dues and not a fixed per cent? Why should beginning teachers pay 2% when senior teachers pay 1% ?)
- UFT: $5 (that’s COPE. Good guy. But same thing. We should be soliciting larger contributions from teachers who have larger incomes, right? Maybe 50¢ times your years? But we don’t…)
- Tuition Fee: $150 (that’s to pay for a masters course. And it’s outrageous – more below)
So his net is $1160.
Look, beginning teachers make less than the rest of us. Shouldn’t their deductions be less as well? Shouldn’t they be progressive? Instead, he pays pension that senior teachers don’t, he pays a flat rate for the TRS 55/27, the same rate as all other teachers who elected to pay for 55/25. He pays the exact same dues as teachers making twice as much. A percentage would be fairer. A progressive scale would be even fairer. We ask for the same COPE contribution from all teachers, and hand out cards with preprinted amounts – expecting all teachers to give equally, even though we are not paid equally.
But the kicker is that tuition fee. NYC Teaching Fellows have to pay for a grad course – and it is deducted directly from their checks. In June they will receive Americorps checks, a few grand, that can only be used for educational purposes. Why not take the money then? Why not wait until June and have them sign over the checks? These are beginning teachers, loads of expenses, at the bottom of the salary schedule. Many of them are new to NY, coping with big rents, high costs, etc, etc.
Some of this is unavoidable. But where the option exists, why not take less from those who can least afford it? We should be judged on our ability to protect our weakest and most vulnerable members, and right now, that includes our newest teachers.
See also:
What issues matter for new teachers?
Organizing Teaching Fellows as Teachers
Using Fellows for what they were not intended
Puzzle: Clarence the Clever Contractor
No, no relation to Joe the Plumber.
Clarence the Clever Contractor cleared a rectangular plot of land and covered it with gravel. Then he purchased 9 square wooden sections of side-length 2, 5, 7, 9, 16, 25, 28, 33, and 36. By placing the squares on the gravel with no two overlapping, Clarence built a patio which exactly covered the graveled surface. Find the perimeter of Clarence’s new patio.
If you find this easy to solve, why not leave hints, or comments instead of the answer? And if you don’t find it so easy, please, ask questions, share the directions you are exploring.
I took this from my graduate class, years ago, and then dropped. A colleague brought it back to me, and I started using it again. I don’t know where the professor borrowed it from, but I am certain it was borrowed.
JD2718 