Thread: Scripted "programs"

Originally Posted by Kelley_the_Gardener

Here are some of the comments made by teachers using it in the SFA "enforced" schools:

"Our principal has publicly stated that all of our doors should be open. When she walks down the hallway, she better hear the exact same thing happening in every room at the same time, or someone will be reprimanded for not following the script."

(A figure clad in black wearing a black mask with a flaring black helmet stalked into Kelley's cyber-room).

Whoooo-sheeeeeee

Whoooo-sheeeeeee

Whoooo-sheeeeeee (breathed the figure) as he held out a black gloved hand to Kelly.

"Kelly - embrace the dark side and feel the power of the 'Force.' Together - using the SFA, we will rule the world."

Whoooo-sheeeeeee

"Let these words guide you in the use of the SFA ... 'David of Houston is wonderful ... we love David of Houston ... we want to send David of Houston our allowance and lunch money .... we love David of Houston ... it is important that we all love David of Houston ... (especially if we are attractive single women) ... David of Houston is an Asian Adonis ... we want David of Houston to become dictator for life ... we love David of Houston ... David of Houston is all wise, all knowing, all seeing ... his merest word should be law ...'"

heh-heh-heh

Ah yes my friend - in our brave new world, "teachers" will teach lessons like home cooks use Betty Crocker recipes.

The certified teacher will fall by the wayside - replaced by a car crash dummy with a cassette recorded lesson ...

"Today we are going to talk about - addition facts. Can you say, 'addition facts?' (pause) Very good. Do you know what addition facts are? (pause) Yes - addition facts are numbers that we add. Can you add '3+5?' (pause) Yes - '3 + 5' = 8."

David

That was deadly....both accurate and funny. You're having too much fun at culinary school!

Originally Posted by Kelley_the_Gardener

That was deadly....both accurate and funny. You're having too much fun at culinary school!

The sad thing is that my school last year used scripted lessons. The administrator told me that everyone on my grade level should teach the same thing, the same way, at the same time. Like your colleagues, we were told that our doors had to be left open so that she, (the administrator), could confirm that we were following our scripted lessons.

I really hated last year.

It was bland - boring - and impersonal.

There were times when I really DID feel like a crash dummy wearing a tape cassette player.

And then there was this year. Different district. Different school. Different demographics - but guess what? We had scripted lessons. The powers that be decided that scripted lessons would pull our low performing elementary school out of the failing zone. All we as teachers had to do was to all teach the same thing, the same way, at the same time. The district even provided instructional planning guides that specified what instructional objectives should be taught each week.

Thematic instruction - went out the window.

Remediation? HAH! We were told that we couldn't remediate because we were supposed to be teaching "4th grade level instructional objectives."

The only problem is - how do you teach compound multiplication to a child who doesn't know his multiplication facts or his addition facts?

The instructions made no sense ...

To make things worse, we (the teachers) were told that if test performance didn't improve by year's end, we would all be out of a job.

(Talk about a morale buster) ...

Anyway - it didn't take me long to see the writing on the wall.

There was no way we could achieve the district objectives WITHOUT remediation ... and come the end of the year, the teachers would become the sacrifical goats. The superintendent was going to point at us and say, "They're the reasons the school didn't move ahead. The teachers are at fault."

(sigh)

This is why I decided to throw in the towel.

I resigned in December and enrolled in a culinary school.

I am having more fun - and suspect that I will eventually be able to make more money - as a Chef - than as a teacher ... which is a sad commentary on our funding of education since a culinary graduate with an ASSOCIATE'S DEGREE can potentially make more than I was making as a teacher ... and I have two college degrees!

Extreme case in point - a graduate from our culinary school last year was hired as a personal chef for a multi-millionaire in upstate New York. He receives an annual salary of $50,000 with health benefits. He has a rent free house on the rich guy's estate, and a company car. Sheesh ...

David

I just wanted to reply to this so that it would be put back at the front of the forum. Powerful words from two of the smartest people I've found on this forum. Thank you both for all the wise words you have given us all over the years.

It's talk like this that makes it so frustrating to want to be a teacher. We Learn all this cool stuff in college like, differentiating the curriculum, Best Practice techniques, Responsive Classroom techniques, Readers/Writers Workshop Models(Harwayne/Caulkins), learning theory...(I could go on forever). Then it all gets pushed aside once your actually working in a school, with things like scripted programs, AR, NCLB(AKA No Child Left Untested), strict adherence to a district mandated curriculum, ability grouping(OMG do I especially hate that one!) and so on. I really didn't want this to be a venting post, I kinda feel like I've been doing that here lately.

Oh well, here's to another year of just closing the door, and doing what I know works best for kids.

I just wanted to reply to this so that it would be put back at the front of the forum. Powerful words from two of the smartest people I've found on this forum. Thank you both for all the wise words you have given us all over the years.

I'm not sure how far into the ECE forum you found this, but I appreciate seeing it again.

Three years later, David is no longer in Houston, and is, hopefully, happily cooking and entertaining people at his new place.

I am no longer in CA, and am happily no longer hampered by scripted curriculums, working for a district undergoing changes but holding firm to keeping students and teachers empowered in their classrooms.

I've undergone yet another grade level change, and am now teaching 6th - 8th grade, and enjoying it.

I certainly miss hearing from David, and wish he'd pop in to say hi every once in awhile!

Originally Posted by Kelley_the_Gardener

So far I get to teach my class; textbooks are just tools available to me in the job of delivering curriculum, but I decide how (or if) they are used. Where do I go to teach when the standardization monster has swallowed my school, as well. Will there be any place in public ed for me?

Hey Kelly!

Long time, no post! It's me ... David of Houston. I'm now a B&B innkeeper of a Victorian inn.

To answer your question, "ALL HOPE IS LOST!" (WHOOP! WHOOP! WHOOP! sounds a claxon.) Over the PA shouts a voice, "ABANDON SHIP! ABANDON SHIP! SINGLE PRETTY WOMEN AND INNKEEPERS INTO THE LIFE BOATS!"

Seriously though - after teaching at elite American schools in Saudi Arabia and Beirut, Lebanon, I came back to the states and found that I couldn't readjust.

Nobody seemed to valued instructional creativity in central Texas. With 16 years of teaching experience and a Master's degree, I felt like a first year newbie. I had to write lesson plans with my grade level. All teachers at my grade level taught the same thing, the same way, at the same time. I felt as though I were in a parody of Oliver Twist, dispensing educational gruel to students in my public school.

During my last year of teaching (2001-2002), my administrator told me to not waste time teaching kids who were severely academically delinquent. I was also told not to waste my time with kids who were on or above grade level. My instructional focus was reserved for students with "marginal" scores.

What kind of teaching was this? Was I now an educational accountant?

I used to dress as a Conquistador to teach "the age of exploration" in social studies. I had custom fitted thigh high leather boots, a steel breast plate, a combed morion steel helmet, and Renaissance clothing.

My administrator told me that I couldn't do this any more because "it wasn't fair" to the children of the other classrooms.

Since I had to teach the lessons written by the grade level, we bascially taught units that were geared towards the instructional ability of the weakest teacher. Everything was drill and practice. Read the text, answer the questions, complete the worksheet, take the quiz ... B-O-R-I-N-G!!!

I finished the school year and opted out.

I attended a French culinary school and developed the skills needed to become an executive chef. I subsequently opened a Victorian B&B inn in Pennsylvania and am now an innkeeper and working chef.

Now ... four years later, I'm dusting off my credentials and I'm taking the Praxis I and II for state certification. I should be recertified by January of 2007.

Amazingly enough, I've been told by local teachers that teachers like me are "prized."

I find this interesting - especially since the average teaching salary up here in Pennsylvania is about $15,000 - $20,000 more than down in Texas.

So - to go back to your question - the answer in part depends upon where you are. Some states, like Texas where GB used to be governor, have really embraced the entire concept of "standardized instruction." Other states seem to be a bit more reasonable with their instructional approach.

It could also well be that you may need to do what I did. Take a year off the job and see what's on the other side of the fence.

I guarantee you that after three years of "Do you have any decaf?" and "I lost the keys to my room" and 3 AM phone calls from insomniacs who want to make reservations for next month ... teaching will seem a lot more attractive.

As an innkeeper, I work every day that we have guests. Last year I worked an 84 hour week. I literally worked from Feburary 1 through December 31 with no days off, no weekends, and no holidays. On top of that, I'm also a volunteer firefighter, so when the borough siren sounds, I drop what I'm doing, jump in my car, and head towards the fire station.

At the fire station, I kick off my shoes, shove my feet into my boots, pull my bunker trousers up by their suspsenders, grab my bunker coat and helmet, and board an engine.

It's rather exhilirating to ride down Main Street to the sound of a howling siren and flashing lights ... but after the excitement is over, it's back to the B&B inn.

Quite frankly, after three years of innkeeping, I'm bored stiff. I'm ready to go back to teaching ...

David

P.S. After posting this I abruptly realized that I was responding to a post dating back to 2003. How'd that happen? Talk about digging into the archives.

There's even an earlier response from me during my former "incarnation" as "David of Houston." Hah! How times have changed. Cooking was fun! Innkeeping was fun also but I miss teaching.

I'm so glad to hear from you, David the Pennsylvania inkeeper, firefighter, and teacher. Truly a "renaissance man." We need a "waving" emoticon.

So - to go back to your question - the answer in part depends upon where you are. Some states, like Texas where GB used to be governor, have really embraced the entire concept of "standardized instruction." Other states seem to be a bit more reasonable with their instructional approach.

I've found this to be true; I taught in CA all those years, a state who came to the standardization "movement" early under Pete Wilson, while it was being incubated in a few other states like TX & FL as well.

My current state has come to the table well behind the standardization curve, which is not necessarily a bad thing. On the dark side of the situation, much of what I see happening here now is a distinctly uncomfortable Deja Vu. On the bright side, my district has formal statements declaring a balance of power between state and district admins and the instructional decisions made in the classroom by teachers. Something like, "we all have these goals (standards), but it's the teacher's professional knowledge and knowledge of the individual students that decide how we reach them." At a "staff development day" on literacy earlier this week, our sup of curriculum opened the session saying that "no program teaches kids; it's what teachers do, not the program they use, that makes the difference." A lot of support for actually engaging kids! Our "literacy" staff development consisted of a wealth of research-based strategies that can be used with, or outside of, any text. No consultants teaching a commercially published program, which was refreshing.

Oregon standards and benchmarks are also better, imo, than CAs in that they are fewer and more developmentally appropriate. There is, again, a dark as well as bright side to my move. While the teaching environment is much healthier and happier for teachers and students alike, I had to take a big paycut. I'm making a full 1/3 less than I was before, the benefits are costing me more, and the local cost of living is no less. Ouch!

I wonder how things went so wrong in California.

California was once touted as "the model" of what public education should be like in the United States.

In February of 2004, PBS ran a documentary about the decline of schools in California. THe documentary was called, "First to Worst."

Here's a link to an article by W. Norton Grubb entitled, "California schools: Decades of decline: 'First to worst' for California schools." This article first appeared in the Sacremento Bee but may now be found at this PBS site.

[url]http://www.pbs.org/merrow/news/sacbee.html[/url]