tirade tuesday 9/26

i don't have much to tirade about that will interest most people, but allow me to step onto my soapbox for just a few moments.

today we had a professional development day at school. it's always fun to sit in monotonous meetings for hours and listen to your colleagues tell you shit you already know or shit you could care less about. shit, regardless.

so today, three teachers present from a meeting they attended yesterday. let me take two steps back and say that the hand-picking of teachers to attend such meetings is complete bullshit. it's about who can kiss who's ass more. and the caliber of these choices is, well, poor. okay, so anyway...they are talking to us about curriculum mapping, assessment frameworks, blah, blah, blah. and one of the teachers makes the comment (coming from our area instructors) that "the standards need to be followed. basically, the cutesy, fun, thematic stuff needs to go." um, try again.

school is not fun. teaching is not fun. there will be no fun. books need to be followed. no color, only black and white, will be allowed. students will only use pencil and paper. scripts will be distributed. in a dramatic summary, it seems this is what's being passed down.

i will not follow these demands. i will continue to do the fun things that my kids enjoy. isn't there such a thing of having kids enjoy learning to create lifelong learners?!

the bottom line is that states, filtering down to the school districts, are getting scared. they're scared that federal funding is going to decrease more than it already is due to 'no child left behind'. it's ridiculous.

i expect to see a generation that is flat. they won't yearn for knowledge because boring instruction has been crammed down their throats.

i wish there were more people that would speak up and explain the damage that is being done. we will have many children left behind if we don't make some changes NOW!