CoonTownYT
09-28-2017, 02:05 PM
This isn't the same stories you've seen before. Good article on Amren.com.
https://www.amren.com/commentary/2017/09/failing-schools-atlanta-public-schools-teacher-memoir/
such happy ending seems likely for the anonymous author and self-publisher of*What It Is Like to Teach in Failing Schools.*“A. Teacher,” as he signs himself, is a white man in Atlanta who has been teaching in bad, mainly non-white, public schools for more than 10 years. Like the man in the gray flannel suit, A.T. hangs on from day to day, agonizing about his mortgage payments and his failing marriage, while drinking himself into a stupor every night. And this is not a novel; it is real life.
A.T.’s job in a slum school is a never-ending hell of violence and personal abuse. His middle-school “pupils” are bad enough—lewd, thieving, and destructive, mostly with names like Shaquon and Jamone—but they’re not the worst part of the job. Most of A.T.’s day is consumed by administrative minutiae, such as meetings in which teachers and administrators review things such as the “Response to Intervention worksheet.” This is a form on which teachers are supposed to document each instance of “objectionable misbehavior,” and the disciplinary action taken. A typical example: “On way out the door, Justin simulates giving oral sex to the male gender, and points at me, smiling.” A.T. notes his remedy: “Isolated to Mr. Teacher’s room; written up.”
A.T. describes “planning” sessions where nothing is planned, and sessions with “academic coaches” who are supposed to improve teacher performance, but only distract and demoralize. He is burdened with redundant teacher reviews, and is then forced to attend probationary meetings and classes when these expert outside “coaches” decide he “needs improvement.”
https://www.amren.com/commentary/2017/09/failing-schools-atlanta-public-schools-teacher-memoir/
such happy ending seems likely for the anonymous author and self-publisher of*What It Is Like to Teach in Failing Schools.*“A. Teacher,” as he signs himself, is a white man in Atlanta who has been teaching in bad, mainly non-white, public schools for more than 10 years. Like the man in the gray flannel suit, A.T. hangs on from day to day, agonizing about his mortgage payments and his failing marriage, while drinking himself into a stupor every night. And this is not a novel; it is real life.
A.T.’s job in a slum school is a never-ending hell of violence and personal abuse. His middle-school “pupils” are bad enough—lewd, thieving, and destructive, mostly with names like Shaquon and Jamone—but they’re not the worst part of the job. Most of A.T.’s day is consumed by administrative minutiae, such as meetings in which teachers and administrators review things such as the “Response to Intervention worksheet.” This is a form on which teachers are supposed to document each instance of “objectionable misbehavior,” and the disciplinary action taken. A typical example: “On way out the door, Justin simulates giving oral sex to the male gender, and points at me, smiling.” A.T. notes his remedy: “Isolated to Mr. Teacher’s room; written up.”
A.T. describes “planning” sessions where nothing is planned, and sessions with “academic coaches” who are supposed to improve teacher performance, but only distract and demoralize. He is burdened with redundant teacher reviews, and is then forced to attend probationary meetings and classes when these expert outside “coaches” decide he “needs improvement.”