Judi
Joel,I agree with most of what you say however I can rebeemmr when teachers were fired because they refused to wear a dress or skirt to school (taught kinder and first and were on the floor a lot and pants made more sense). That was not fair and the unions helped change things like that, maybe they aren't all good or aren't all right however they have done a lot so that you can teach and not be harrased or worried about other things except doing your best. Our union is actually fighting for good curriculum while the district is going for the curriculum that tests best. Unions aren't always right but I have seen our union stand up for our teachers when the administration has tried to railroad us. They, along with all of education need to be flexible and adjust to the changing world. It is hard to do my best for each child when I have over 30 children in my class and only 2.5 hours with them each day. When I have 5 children with communication disorder so they can't understand a sentence with more than 8 words in it and have no social skills. And while dealing with these issues I have to have every child reading at a level 4 by the end of kinder no matter what. Math, science and social studies are no longer a part of our curriculum because we have to pass the DIBELS test (a timed test) even if many children aren't developmentally ready to read. Now I am rambling so I'll stop. I do have students who are homeless, split time between mom and dad's house on a weekly basis and parents who are working more than one job to keep their home and food on the table. We need politicians who will help these families who are really struggling in these difficult economic times.
Judi Joel,I agree with most of what you say however I can rebeemmr when teachers were fired because they refused to wear a dress or skirt to school (taught kinder and first and were on the floor a lot and pants made more sense). That was not fair and the unions helped change things like that, maybe they aren't all good or aren't all right however they have done a lot so that you can teach and not be harrased or worried about other things except doing your best. Our union is actually fighting for good curriculum while the district is going for the curriculum that tests best. Unions aren't always right but I have seen our union stand up for our teachers when the administration has tried to railroad us. They, along with all of education need to be flexible and adjust to the changing world. It is hard to do my best for each child when I have over 30 children in my class and only 2.5 hours with them each day. When I have 5 children with communication disorder so they can't understand a sentence with more than 8 words in it and have no social skills. And while dealing with these issues I have to have every child reading at a level 4 by the end of kinder no matter what. Math, science and social studies are no longer a part of our curriculum because we have to pass the DIBELS test (a timed test) even if many children aren't developmentally ready to read. Now I am rambling so I'll stop. I do have students who are homeless, split time between mom and dad's house on a weekly basis and parents who are working more than one job to keep their home and food on the table. We need politicians who will help these families who are really struggling in these difficult economic times.