Comments on: Three months in, new teacher tries to stay positive http://www.ibabuzz.com/education/2007/11/27/three-months-in-new-teacher-tries-to-stay-positive/ Katy Murphy's blog on Oakland schools Wed, 19 Jun 2013 21:34:11 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: teacher http://www.ibabuzz.com/education/2007/11/27/three-months-in-new-teacher-tries-to-stay-positive/comment-page-1/#comment-15351 teacher Wed, 05 Dec 2007 21:47:43 +0000 http://www.ibabuzz.com/education/2007/11/27/three-months-in-new-teacher-tries-to-stay-positive/#comment-15351 correction:

Sorry, i meant to write: “MAYBE have a couple intense…”

Going to fast. Shouldn’t be on here on my lunch anyway…

]]> By: teacher http://www.ibabuzz.com/education/2007/11/27/three-months-in-new-teacher-tries-to-stay-positive/comment-page-1/#comment-15350 teacher Wed, 05 Dec 2007 20:56:14 +0000 http://www.ibabuzz.com/education/2007/11/27/three-months-in-new-teacher-tries-to-stay-positive/#comment-15350 Concerned Oakland Parent asked: “If you could fix it – meaning specifically middle school at this point – what would you do to pave the way for high school commitment and learning?”

I’d LOVE to see middle school COMPLETELY overhauled. Nothing about it fits children at that age developmentally. Many have a couple intense academic hours in the morning and everything else be well-thought out curriculum involving group projects, mural-making, outdoors stuff (like Outward Bound), sports, conflict management, personal development, quiet work time, arts, music, dance, theater, etc.

Keeping kids that age cooped up in class all day toether with textbooks and overwhelmed teachers is nuts, I think. Too many hormones, not enough sophistication.

That’s pie in the sky, though, right?

]]> By: Katy Murphy http://www.ibabuzz.com/education/2007/11/27/three-months-in-new-teacher-tries-to-stay-positive/comment-page-1/#comment-15349 Katy Murphy Wed, 05 Dec 2007 18:20:32 +0000 http://www.ibabuzz.com/education/2007/11/27/three-months-in-new-teacher-tries-to-stay-positive/#comment-15349 Concerned Oakland Parent: Actually, I’m finishing up a story and video this week about Mr. Mesfun and Montera.

]]> By: Concerned Oakland Parent http://www.ibabuzz.com/education/2007/11/27/three-months-in-new-teacher-tries-to-stay-positive/comment-page-1/#comment-15347 Concerned Oakland Parent Wed, 05 Dec 2007 18:17:31 +0000 http://www.ibabuzz.com/education/2007/11/27/three-months-in-new-teacher-tries-to-stay-positive/#comment-15347 Check out what’s happening at Montera middle school – I think it’s the walk softly and carry a big stick mentality. I don’t know how it’s affecting student achievement, but more kids in the hallways are taking care of business, no more cell phone noise, no more MP3 / iPOD cords dangling, no more underpants showing (pants are pulled up to where they need to be, no more halter tops in the freezing cold.

There are more afterschool classes, and more participation in the classes after school that have existed before the new principal, there’s more cleanup and “beautification” by the parents and the community, and there are more parents considering Montera as a valid middle school choice.

So Katy is it time to take another look at the new principal in his first 12 weeks of school?

]]> By: Doowhopper http://www.ibabuzz.com/education/2007/11/27/three-months-in-new-teacher-tries-to-stay-positive/comment-page-1/#comment-15348 Doowhopper Wed, 05 Dec 2007 17:00:41 +0000 http://www.ibabuzz.com/education/2007/11/27/three-months-in-new-teacher-tries-to-stay-positive/#comment-15348 Teacher made some valid points. The problems in Oakland schools are systemic. The same hijinks, lax attitudes toward tardiness, obscene language and failure to exert any effort on the student’s part I observed in 1989 are in full swing almost twenty years later.
I seriously believe there ARE no real solutions. Teacher is quite correct when stating the law that we must teach ALL students and they must attend school the entire day. So bottom line is the whole system of failure will continue unabated.

]]> By: Concerned Oakland Parent http://www.ibabuzz.com/education/2007/11/27/three-months-in-new-teacher-tries-to-stay-positive/comment-page-1/#comment-15346 Concerned Oakland Parent Tue, 04 Dec 2007 20:14:19 +0000 http://www.ibabuzz.com/education/2007/11/27/three-months-in-new-teacher-tries-to-stay-positive/#comment-15346 Teacher:
How is the attitude about learning changed? If kids are looking for a way out, how do we change the attitude?

I also agree that many people believe grades do not matter. They don’t matter to me – although they mattered to my parents and my second grade daughter is dying to get the A, B, C type of grades rather than 5, 4, 3 type of grades. So, in your humble opinion what would constitute being suspended? In a previous post there was mention of a middle school student suspended for swinging his friend around in the hallway causing a broken nose. If behavior interferes with other students or safety is it a suspension offense or not?

How do we let students of varying types of backgrounds feel safe at the same school? My daughter, for example, feels unsafe if there is a lot of yelling that she can’t determine is anger or not. She’s just not a noise kid. But that may not necessarily be unsafe, just not her favorite environment. Also, I don’t believe kids should just shuffle quietly down the halls, either.

If you could fix it – meaning specifically middle school at this point – what would you do to pave the way for high school commitment and learning?

]]> By: John Willson http://www.ibabuzz.com/education/2007/11/27/three-months-in-new-teacher-tries-to-stay-positive/comment-page-1/#comment-15345 John Willson Tue, 04 Dec 2007 08:40:45 +0000 http://www.ibabuzz.com/education/2007/11/27/three-months-in-new-teacher-tries-to-stay-positive/#comment-15345 The (original) state administrator, Randy Ward, came to Oakland from Compton where he had the same gig and where he focused on hiring cheap inexperienced teachers and getting rid of the expensive experienced ones – in the name of getting rid of dead (& more expensive) wood. His focus there and here was more on dollars than academics. Replacing a lot of experienced credentialed teachers with struggling young teachers without credentials is good for a district’s bottom line and bottoming academics. But hey! Whatever it takes to get the district out from under state control. And I must say the Tribune’s young struggling inexperienced teacher series makes for some interesting reading, a lot more interesting than reading about some old tenured teachers who getting dumped and treated like raw sewage to save the district some bucks.

]]> By: teacher http://www.ibabuzz.com/education/2007/11/27/three-months-in-new-teacher-tries-to-stay-positive/comment-page-1/#comment-15344 teacher Mon, 03 Dec 2007 18:41:17 +0000 http://www.ibabuzz.com/education/2007/11/27/three-months-in-new-teacher-tries-to-stay-positive/#comment-15344 … or empirical study, either!
;-)

]]> By: teacher http://www.ibabuzz.com/education/2007/11/27/three-months-in-new-teacher-tries-to-stay-positive/comment-page-1/#comment-15343 teacher Mon, 03 Dec 2007 18:40:39 +0000 http://www.ibabuzz.com/education/2007/11/27/three-months-in-new-teacher-tries-to-stay-positive/#comment-15343 Caroline: Sure. These are just my observations, of course, not the results of empiracal study!

]]> By: Caroline http://www.ibabuzz.com/education/2007/11/27/three-months-in-new-teacher-tries-to-stay-positive/comment-page-1/#comment-15342 Caroline Mon, 03 Dec 2007 14:30:20 +0000 http://www.ibabuzz.com/education/2007/11/27/three-months-in-new-teacher-tries-to-stay-positive/#comment-15342 Teacher, could I get permission to re-post your comment (immediately above) on my blog, http://www.sfschools.org , anonymously of course?

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