LA Politics Jindal and Common Core

Three things you can do:
1. LEARNZILLION.COM: these are short <6 minutes, by teachers, that are aligned to CCSS. I use them all the time. This web site is Free and the lessons are fantastic. I have applied to be on the "dream team" the people that write and check lessons, but have not been selected.

2. IXL.COM: this is a paid site (cheap, well wort it) that are problems aligned pretty closely with CCSS by grade and topic. I use this for homework and in room practice all the time. Children get immediate feedback, there are zones and little prises. Seems a bit childish, but kids eat this stuff up. I often make assignments covering two weeks, couple days per assignment. Since I am to crazy to be senile, I often forget to put the downstream due date. FREQUENTLY, students attack the problems even if we have not covered the material. I got our district to purchase licenses for the entire district, but you can purchase as a parent, too. You can work 20 probs a day free, but there is minimal tracking.

3. Review early and often with your student the "released" end of grade assessments that are available on many states Dept of Ed sites. I don't know if LA does this, but many other states do. Yet ANOTHER ADVANTAGE of CCSS. NC DPI has released tests, all grades, in math and reading.

Hope this helps. The big issue with 8th grade CCSS is the amount and breadth of abstract thought that is required by 13 year olds. Unfortunate, frontal lobe development, varies wildly by age (12 - 25) and has nothing to do with intelligence, but is crucial for success in algebra. Generally, students that "get it," "get it" quickly, and those that don't, just don't and probably won't. Highly dependent on frontal lobe development.

 

After you recommended those before, I did use IXL with my son. I liked it. Sometimes jumping in for 20 questions is all we have time for and it's still a good reinforcement. He did better than I expected.

My daughter is obsessed with grades. When there is a test, she's on her iphone before she gets to the car looking to see her score. She often initiates grade conversation with me before I have a chance. My son....well....he likes to talk about other things.

Hopefully we'll get lucky and get another great math teacher. One of the things I loved about her teacher this last year was the reverse method. She recorded the lessons on video and the kids watched them at home on whatever device. At home they don't have classroom distractions, noise, upcoming lunch, etc. Once they get to class, they work on the homework lesson as a group. She also came up with some real life scenarios to teach concepts.....Baby in the Pool taught them to properly invert negative fractions.

You should be selected.....where do I vote?

 

I would say it's a bit different. For history's sake...."The first tenure laws in California were enacted in the 1920s to defend teachers against capricious firings. Before the tenure laws' mandate of due process, teachers could be fired on the spot, for any reason. With women comprising a solid majority of the teaching force in California, the laws were at least partly the result of the women's rights movement of the time. Before the laws, women could be fired for such violations as wearing pants and being seen out on the streets after a certain hour."

After laws changed, for termination we ended up with...."The rules regarding the termination of tenured teachers in California are complex, unwieldy and expensive, say district officials. For example, an adjudication hearing on the matter must proceed before a three-member Commission on Professional Competence, which also includes a state administrative law judge, a representative from the district and a representative for the teacher. The hearing, which was established by California law in the 1970s, is considered by the California School Boards Association --- a group of lawyers and school board members --- to be needlessly complicated and time consuming."

For tenure in general...."By law, teachers in California gain tenure after a two-year probationary period. After acquiring tenure, a California teacher may only be fired for poor performance or misconduct. Under California tenure law, students' inferior scholastic ability does not qualify as "just cause" to dismiss a teacher. Additionally, tenure law mandates that a governing board give teachers written notice of intent to dismiss for unsatisfactory performance. The notice must contain references to the behavior in question and must be given to the teacher three months before charges are filed. The teacher can ask for an administrative hearing within 30 days of notification."

Based on those laws, here is an example of the worst of it...."In a paper at the California Department of Education website, reporter Sigrid Bathen points to the case of a San Bernardino teacher as an example of the damage caused by tenure laws and the frustration some administrators feel when trying to rid their classrooms of incompetence. Even after doggedly documenting the teacher's behavior, which included leaving her classes unattended, playing R-rated movies for fifth graders and calling some male students "gay," the San Bernardino district still had to spend $100,000 in legal fees and $25,000 to settle the case and persuade the 20-year veteran to leave."

And that was for a truly piece of shit teacher. Think of how many crappy, unmotivated teachers there are out there under the radar. And again, thank goodness on the recent ruling which puts a stop to last in, first out for teachers.

 

They couldn't marry, either. Some of those laws were still on the books in some places, somehow, not that long ago. Relatively speaking, of course.

Louisiana uses a 5 member pool. At least some Parishes do.

Two parts here. On the first, it was 3 years in Louisiana.

Then they screwed up somewhere. Due process or something. That's what I was referring to when admins choose to use other tactics cause a case like that clearly falls under misconduct, alone.

 

Agree but you'd be surprised how many teachers (of the few who go that far) take it JUST UP TO the hearing then don't back out at the last minute and resign.

 

Sorry, I did not konw I had done that here before. I recommend that stuff all the time, it is so good. That concept is called flip classrooms. Makes all the sense in the world, but PARENTAL support is required, otherwise the children come to class unprepared, and then you waste a day. Since parental support, IMHO is about 95% of education, it either works or it does not. Good luck.

OH, one more thing, IXL is for practice, it does not really teach (until you get one wrong) and LEARNZILLION is teaching. I may have mentioned KHAN ACADEMY before too, it is also superbe, but not as structured toward CCSS...all the material is there, it is just there by subject, not objective or whatever the things are called

hwr

 

Yes, this is the point. First of all, parents shouldn't be expected to do homework with their kids. I assign minimal homework as a middle school English teacher, but I don't want the parents doing it at all. It's for the kids, and the most useful instruction they receive is in class with me, so I'm not a big proponent of homework because 1) many times, it's just busy work, and 2) today's kids are over-scheduled enough outside of school and are plenty "busy" anyway.

Secondly, learning has changed as technology has changed. Some years ago, the staff and administration at my school stopped trying to stifle kids from being on their phones, and instead of not letting them be out in class, we have worked to incorporate them into our lessons. Since information is readily available at the touch of a button, so to speak, we encourage the kids to use resources available to them. Memorization is very much de-emphasized. In my class, for instance, many kids will read or write a paper while listening to music on their phones. I could fight this--or realize that many of my students' brains are more activated by the music playing, and it makes them more, not less, productive.

That's just one example, but in short, educational philosophy is constantly evolving, and we teachers can either evolve or pull our hair out. Having taught in both Texas and Louisiana, I can assure you that Louisiana is very slow to make changes. It took me two full years to get up to steam teaching here, as the standards were decidedly higher (but again, I work in a public district that sends dozens of kids a year to the Ivy League.) What Louisiana public district is a pipeline to the Ivy League?

 

The administrators at my school have made firing ineffective teachers into an art form. You can expect 2-3 to be dismissed each year. Now, I've been at the same school for the past 17 years, and I don't know if other schools experience the same thing, but I do know in Texas, that tenure doesn't mean someone cannot be fired; it's just easier to fire teachers within the first 3 years of their contract. Any time I hear of a teacher our admin has put on an "improvement plan," I know that's code for them having one foot out the door.

@uscvball Young teachers are great, too, but each school needs a healthy balance of young and experienced teachers. The older teachers, however, have to be willing to make changes to the way they instruct. In the 22 years that I've taught, the ways in which kids learn have drastically changed.

It's essential to be entertaining, for instance. And strong-arm teaching by acting like a dictator is not at all effective. In my classroom, I'm a relationship builder; in fact, my nickname is Mama O, even my administrators use it.

 

Even back when I was in school I needed music or even a TV in the background to study. I could never concentrate when it was too quiet. If I went to the library to study I would end up not getting much done and leaving because it was just too damn quiet.