An Atta-boy and an Anagram For Otto

In the Tribune today, we find:

Did District Belly-Flop Off SpringBoard?

and there is this:

Tampa Tribune 09/08/2008, Page M02
Column Is A Springboard Revealing Depth Of Teachers’ Dissatisfaction
FROM THE BLOG


Funny how this works: You ask a simple question, and you don’t get a simple answer.
The question I asked last week was about the new $30 million math and English teaching program known as SpringBoard now in effect in Hillsborough County middle and high schools. I had heard a few complaints from just a few teachers, and so I asked whether anybody else had any thoughts.
The response was sort of like that stampede you get when the school bell rings. There are problems out there. Most of the teachers responding didn’t want their names used.
Some even said they had been warned not to say anything negative.
In fact, the program managers are so uptight they sent out a memorandum to teachers: “Since Steve Otto is only hearing from the anti-SpringBoard folks, it would be nice if he also heard some of the positive aspects of the program. If you have any teachers who have positive comments to share and are so inclined, please ask them to send in their positive thoughts. We would like him to be inundated with the other side. Maybe things kids are saying about their English classes this year.”
The memo was from a SpringBoard program coordinator, who naturally ended with an incomplete sentence. So far, I have been inundated with one positive letter. It’s a little long, but I’ll share it in a moment. It’s from a Plant High English teacher, certainly one of the strongest programs in the county.
Dogg Tired … And Retaliation Worries
Most mail has been more like this: “The premise of SpringBoard requires you to accept this generation’s inability to be successful in the culture that expects a certain entry level of understanding. I guess we have given up on a common culture. Diversity reigns. “I want my kids to understand Shakespeare, not Snoop Dogg. I want my kids exposed to the greats, not the celebs. I want my kids to be comfortable with the upper end of society and the experience it provides.
They’ll be able to rap, note camera angles, watch pop culture movies and understand street slang on their own. I will encourage and help them with the hard stuff. It will be done in and at a private school. There is now a two-tier educational system.”
This one came not from a teacher, but from someone not sweating losing his or her job.
“The article you wrote on SpringBoard has touched a sensitive nerve.
My fiancé is a Hillsborough County high school teacher. I have had her tell me of the new curriculum, and I am nauseated. As soon as your article was published she showed me e-mails from the district asking for teachers to write to you. I am writing to you because she is afraid to write because of possible retaliation.
“She tells me other teachers feel the same way. Thanks again, Stanley M. Thomas, M.D.”
1-Man Glee Club For Pedagogical Trends
The lone letter for the defense of SpringBoard comes from Derek Thomas, the Plant instructor.
“I am extremely disappointed by the one-sided coverage you gave the SpringBoard program in your article.
“…Let me clarify a few things.
SpringBoard does not, nor was it intended to ‘replace the old math and language arts programs’ in place in our middle and high school programs. It is designed to provide a foundation for teachers to utilize in their classroom.
“…Personally I use SpringBoard activities about 50 [to] 60 percent of the time. I have the flexibility to pick and choose the activities that I think best prepare my students for the more demanding language arts classes in their remaining high school years, college and beyond.
“The activities in SpringBoard are fantastic, and any language arts teacher who follows pedagogical trends and student interests would be hard-pressed to argue against its effectiveness. Yes, SpringBoard uses music and film. Today my students studied the lyrics, rhyme, and meter of a rap song to learn about voice, incident and persona. Guess what?
They were engaged, reflective and willing to discuss both their opinions and mine.
“Finally Mr. Otto, I’d like to address the unnamed English teacher who has spent over 25 years developing a solid curriculum with ‘results.’ I raise the question, ‘Isn’t it part of our job as teachers to continue to modify our curriculum to meet the needs of our students?’ Shouldn’t we embrace new strategies and mechanisms that might help our students become better prepared for college?”

And One More:
“Please don’t use my name, as I may need to get another teaching job to supplement my retirement. I am a National Board-certified teacher. I taught in Florida for 23 years. …After four days of training in July, I retired three years earlier than I intended to. “Why? Because the seventh-grade curriculum teaches no content. It is ‘choices,’ and seventh-graders don’t need more opportunities to sit around discussing which fast food place is better or which sneakers are better or what foods in a clip from ‘Hook’ were being tossed around in a food fight. They need to learn literature and grammar and how to read more thoroughly and express themselves correctly in writing.
“When I asked questions in the training concerning how to implement this program in my school and how it fit into differential instruction and how it would impact what I knew to be effective with my students, I was called out into the hall and chastised by my middle school supervisor and told there was no option over what I would be teaching. SpringBoard was the curriculum and deal with it.”
Keyword, Otto Graphs, to read and comment on Steve Otto’s blog.

OTTO GRAPHS

WITH STEVE OTTO

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©2008 Media General Inc. All Rights Reserved 09/08/2008

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What does this have to do with an anagram, you ask?

Otto and Toto.


Both of them are pulling the sacred curtain that hides the "great Oz". For me, the system is the "Oz". While there are indeed people who run the system, they have created something bigger than themselves for different reasons. "The system" must now deal with "this creation" instead of education.

"The system", and it's creators, must now deal with a paranoid work environment.

And the word "retaliation" is nothing new. Read the "first Whitehead Case" and read the history of Doug Erwin. It's all there.

Wheelchair Policy May Have Prevented Sex

Oh I Think I'm Going Out of My Head-

"I must think of a way
Into your heart
There is no reason why
My being shy should keep us apart" - Little Anthony and The Imperials


Thanks for "The Gradebook" for this link: "Sex to Cure Shyness".

After reading the article, I am sure everyone is as stunned as I am. Perhaps this is another one of those incidents where there may be another side of the story, according to the public comments.

What should have been a major concern, although I did not see mention of it, is whether or not the teacher had a Dr's note authorizing the use of her wheelchair on campus. According to the story, this is how the student took advantage of the teacher. The 8th grade student used the old ruse,similar to helping an old lady across a street, to push the teacher's wheelchair only for the purpose of extorting sex from the teacher for his wheelchair support service, and added the sly shy act just to nail the victim teacher.

Where is the outrage? I am shocked that the School Board did not address this issue in the same manner they did this one. If there is no policy that says teacher's need a Dr's note, then this issue must be addressed so more students don't have sex with teachers.

A Crutch, A Crutch -My District for a Crutch

I have put off making comments about this latest incident for a while. There is a chance that the reporter was negligent, unprofessional and simply wrote an irresponsible article that painted a biased picture about the local school system.

That slim chance keeps me from jumping on the band wagon and bashing the system one more time based on false information. Because that would mess up my credibility about my perception of how "the HCDS" is rampant with arrogance and ignorance and abuse of power.

Once again, my comments are not about individuals. But maybe, just maybe, if one has read all of my rants and raves about how I perceive the District as dysfunctional because of some of those who are in power are arrogant, ignorant and abuse their power, this story, if true, fits my template.

It is my hope that those who understand what I am talking about and are in a position to bring about positive change, it will give them insight. And for those who are not in a position of power, it will give insight into how your current job situation is compromised because of other's actions.

For those who want to argue that I haven't heard the whole story, I will say "you are right". And I will leave it at that, and wait for the next story and we can go through another "isolated incident" again.

So here it is: Mother: School Took Girl's Crutches

If you read the public comments, I am "RLH".


What got my attention about this article was this statement:

"We ask for a doctor's prescription or a doctor's note, but there's nothing that says take away the crutches," Cobbe said.

Again, if this is all true, this statement should be used in every professional training program the District uses.

I have had the finger of authority in my face. I have been threatened with trespassing. The day after I wrote a letter outlining serious concerns that had been ongoing. I dealt with "intimidation" and "obfuscation" in several different settings over several years. It was not "isolated incidents" and I do not use a "broad brush".

It is what it is. For those who want to say I am a "malcontent", I say one thing: Prove me wrong.

If this story is true, it fits the template of an employee who perceives their job as "controlling" as opposed to "administering". Whether it be in the classroom, the health clinic, the office, the front secretary's desk, the locker room, the lunchroom, the Velasco building or the ROSSAC, when a person sees their job as maintaining "power and control" vs "professional administration", these stories will continue to be told.