7 REASONS I TEACH

7. Summer, Spring, and Christmas Break

6. Job security

5. It's my ONE natural talent

4. Freedom to act like a know-it-all (i.e. nerd)

3. To inspire others

2. I really enjoy it (most days)

1. I feel it's my calling

10 REASONS TEACHING SUCKS

Being a teacher can and will totally suck rocks if you...

1. only do it for the summers off.

2. got into it for job security

3. don't like other people's children

4. think "common sense" is common

5. actually think you'll be given appropriate TOOLS to do your job

6. can't keep your hands to yourself

7. don't have a "game face"

8. can't ACT (i.e. act like you care, act interested, act like you are happy to be there, act like an adult, etc.)

9. Don't have eyes in the back of your head

10. aren't willing to learn from your students

"F" SUMMER READING LISTS ! ! !

My son and I go to the same school each day (when school is in session). He attends as a student, and I as a teacher. After a very (and I mean Very) stressful school year for both of us, summer couldn't have gotten here quickly enough.  We wasted no time developing our daily routine. We'd stay up late, and sleep in even later. Then, we'd  awake, eat breakfast, watch a t.v. show then lay down again for a quick nap. The sloth life wasn't bad at all, except when the headaches would come for having stayed in bed soo long. That was easily remedied by doing some morning chores, and grabbing a snack to munch on while we the SAT UP to watch more t.v. or surf the internet for ungodly long stretches of time.

Now, before you give me the bad parent of the month honors, we did do more than lounge all day (sometimes). You see, after lunch there was usually an activity to do-swimming, park playdates, table games, reading and math workbooks, or other free, or near free activities. And, for the first time in years I was able to read books that I like.

 You see, I usually spent my summers past running a mini daycamp from my home, or tutoring neighborhood children (for pay of course). My more relaxed, less structured summer really afforded me the chance to reawaken my love for reading. And read I have done! Sometimes I'd stay up to 4 in the morning often tuning out all media, and my kids too as I got totally engrossed in some drama queen's fictional life story. You see, when I have a good book, only two things can tear we away from it; a headache, or hunger. My two kids, finally tired of being tuned out one time too many, decided if they can't beat it, they'd join me. So, the next time we made a trip to the library or bookstore, I noticed they spent A LOT MORE time trying to pick more books they could get into. They did a lot more browsing, and reading the first few pages (or chapters) of a book before settling down on one. And, I noticed they were choosing much longer books than the usual short reads they usually haphazardly deshelved just to appease the minimum household reading requirements.

My 6th grader read some really good stuff. He read Barak Obama's "Dreams From My Father", "Think Big", by Dr. Ben Carson, and some children's books. Unfortunately, not one of those books was on the shcool's mandatory summer reading list. You see, all the schools in our district require that middle school students read atleast 3-5 books from the summer reading list, and do the book report summary with it. The booklist and report form were mailed to the parents along with the final report card after school was  out. This assignment must be turned in to their new reading teacher during the first 3 days of school, and shockingly, this is a graded assignment too.

I guess my son will be getting a zero right out of the gate because he hasn't read any of their books, and I'm certainly not going to pressure him to do so. You see, as an "eduparent", meaning I am an educator as well as a parent, I only have a few main concerns when it comes to this whole summer reading thing. 

1. That my child reads each day.

2. That he reads both fiction and non-fiction works.

3. That he sees reading as desireable, and not a chore.

4. That atleast half of what he reads is written at or above his independent reading level.

With all these criteria being met, why should it matter that he read self selected books, instead of the districts required reading?

And does anyone else see a problem with a school dictating how he spends his summer, and then having the nerve to give academic punishment for actually using summer vacation to....vacation!?   To me, this is like giving a teacher a stack of required professional reading to be done only while school is out,  and saying their pay will be docked if a composition is not written on each one and turned in by the first days of pre-planning.  Hell, I'd be calling my local news media and my educator's association to protest, contest, and detest such dictatorship. Needless to say, I think this practice is intrusive, and very ballsy. Parents can't tell teachers what they ought to do during their summer vacations, muchless punish them for not doing it. So I don't think it's right for teachers to penalize a student for work not done during their summer vacation.

Am I missing something here? You see, it's practices like this that make me feel like a twisted teacher. It's this,  and other nonsense that has made me question if I am too inexperienced, or in fact, too enlightened to keep teaching in the Public School System. I guess I'm leaving now to go google what the "experts" have to say. And for now, my son accepts that he'll have an "F" for the the summer reading list assignment. My response- "F" to you too reading teacher!

TEACHER DVD/VHS YOU GOTTA WATCH

MOVIES THAT INSPIRE TEACHERS

1) Stand and Deliver The classic teacher movie whose message is very important in today's society: never believe that students are unable to learn. Instead of teaching to the lowest common denominator, Edward James Olmos in a true story as Jaime Escalante sets his sights much higher, getting them to pass the AP Calculus exam. Excellent, enjoyable choice.

2) Dangerous Minds Michelle Pfeiffer is excellent as real-life former marine Louanne Johnson. Teaching English in a tough inner-city school, she reaches the "unteachable" through caring and understanding. Very true-to-life, Dangerous Minds does not fall into sentimentality but instead teaches us of the importance of making our own choices and not allowing circumstances to rule us.

3) Lean on Me Morgan Freeman plays Joe Clark, the real-life bat-wielding Principal whose goal was to bring discipline and learning to Eastside High School in New York. While he was not always the easiest on the teachers, it would sure be nice if more Principals stressed the importance of discipline and learning in their schools as he did. This film shows the importance of having strong leadership at the top.

4) Mr. Holland's Opus This memorable movie gives all teachers hope that they truly have an impact on their students. Richard Dreyfuss is wonderful as a musician/composer who must take a teaching job to support his family. In the end, Dreyfuss' character realizes that he has had as much if not more of an impact from his teaching as he would have as a composer.

5) Dead Poet's Society Robin Williams gives an awesome performance as an unconventional English teacher in a very conventional (read conservative) private school. His love of poetry and his inspiring teaching methods have a great impact on his students. The central message of the movie, to live life to the fullest everyday, is not lost. Further, Williams' poetry recitations are awe-inspiring.

6) To Sir With Love Produced in 1967, this film with Sidney Poitier as a novice teacher has a lot to teach us today. Poitier takes a teaching position in the rough part of London in order to pay his bills. Realizing that his students need to be taught important life lessons more than the curriculum he has been handed to teach them, he throws out the lesson plans and makes a real impact on their personal lives.

7) The Miracle Worker The ultimate teaching miracle, Anne Bancroft is awesome as Annie Sullivan who uses 'tough love' to get through to the deaf and blind Helen Keller played by Patty Duke. Very few people can watch the famous 'water' scene without experiencing a feeling of triumph and relief. Excellent portrayal of the importance of perseverence. Both Bancroft and Duke won an Academy Award for their performances.

8) Renaissance Man Danny Devito's performance as a teacher of the 'Double-D's' is both humorous and inspired. What appears to be a light-hearted comedy truly has a deeper meaning. Further, Devito's character proves that William Shakespeare still has much to teach our students today. Surprisingly clean and somewhat corny at times, Renaissance Man in the end teaches important life lessons on responsibility and character.

9) Music of the Heart This film shows the influence that one person's drive and vision can have on others. Meryl Streep plays real-life Roberta Guaspari who moves to Harlem as a single-mother and becomes a violin teacher. Working through racial and other barriers, Roberta creates an acclaimed music program in an area where many would have said it was impossible. Definitely a heart-warming movie with excellent performances all around.

10) The Karate Kid While not normally thought of as a 'classroom' movie, The Karate Kid has much to say to teachers: Sometimes we have to have our students do things that they will not understand until much later. The basic skills are the most important things to teach. Honor and integrity are central to character. Students need to see us beam with excitement over their achievements. Definitely a fun, nostalgic and inspiring movie to relish.

11) Remember The Titans - Probably both the best football movie and a great teacher movie in one. This true life story of two segregated schools/teams learning how to deal with the issues that faced them in 1970. These two men/coaches taught their players and each other more than just how to win a game. Favorite Scene: When he takes the boys to Gettysburg battlefield and explains how they are still fighting the same fight.

12) Freedom Writer's- Teacher gets a group of disenfranchised urban youth to be heard by getting them to write and tell their personal stories yielding therapeutic like results. Raw and real; a tear jerker at times.

13) The Great Debators- A true story about the first black debate team to compete nationally during the Jim Crow era. Stars Denzel Washington.

14) Akeelah and the Bee- Talented but stubborn kid is coached to compete in national spelling bee against he mother's wishes.

15) Major Payne - Comedy about a war vet turned military academy teacher. Absolutely hilarious and has some warm fuzzy moments too.

16) The Marva Collins Story

OTHER MOVIES ABOUT TEACHERS (ah hem...not so inspirational but defintely entertaining)

• Ferris Bueller's Day Off-
• Good Will Hunting
• The Faculty
• The Substitute
• Notes on A Scandal- Extremely captivating story about a very scandalous teacher and her very bad extracurricular activities.
• Half Nelson
• In and Out - very funny movie starring Kevin Klein.
• 187 - starring Samuel Jackson as a fed up teacher.

GRAD School is for FLUNKY Teachers...

Said the teacher without an advanced degree. Or maybe I'm just jealous. Let's see.

 As is customary at the first staff meeting of the school year, each teacher is asked to introduce themselves. We are told to say our first and last name, and how many years of teaching experience we have, along with any educational background we wanted to share.

I did my regular intro. "Hi, My name is Courtney Baskill, This is my nth year of teaching, and my 6th year at this school.  I teach content area and I am also the department head."  The young lady next to me, was new, so I looked forward to hearing a little about her."Hi my name is Sophie More."  I have a B.A from GSU, I graduayed last year with a Master's in School Policy and Reform from Nova, and I am only one semester away from finishing my Specialist degree in Special Ed at GSU.  Everyone nodded their heads in in approval at her strong academic background. Immediately, you could see the department heads, and other teacher leaders scrolling through their mental  list of committees and special projects to ask her to be a part of - you've gotta getthe new staffers on board early. I leaned over and asked, "How long have you been teaching?" She replied, "This will be my first year."  "Oh - really?" I said, trying not to look as surprised as I sounded.  I know I am no educational guru, but I actually thought that for a person to earn 2 advanced degrees in education, make more money than a experienced 10 year veteran teacher, and earn the title of Master Teacher, that one might actually...err have atleast been a teacher for any period of time.

So  the next day - I meet the teacher I am to team teach with the the rest of the year. A very nice sweet lady who had been teaching for as long as I had. I learned that she was in the midst of a working on her Ed.D at a local university. She had been teaching about 7 years. What surprised me most about this woman, is that in the five years she had been at this school, she

had constantly been moved from department to department, from one grade level to the next because of poor teaching and classroom management. Everyyear she had a major disruption of some kind, her students were always running amuck or talking back, and after observing her teach for 5-10 minutes, one would get the impression that she was brand new to teaching. For all her degrees, and research the bottom line, was thats he could not teach. But she obviously didn't let such little details thwart her pursuit of higher education and higher teacher salary. I guess I would have to get my own advanced degree to see this benefit in a different light.

Finally, this summer, I met a really smart, passionate (almost militant) educator. he was militant in the sense that he had very dogmatic opinion about the current educational ills, and a definitive plan on how to remedy it all. This guy, Dr. Noah Itall, was an assistant prinicpal at an Atlanta Public highschool. I asked him how long he'd been in education, and he told me 7 years. I though this was a short period of time for a soon to be principal, but then again - some people are just on the career fasttrack because they are truly gifted and talented teachers, reliable, and above all, they get results. "So how long were you teaching before y ou became AP?" I qeried. " He told me, "I've never taught in the classroom. I spent those seven years as a school psychologist and counselor." Truly, I was at a lost for words. To think that a man would principal a highschool in a major public school system without ever havingbeen a classroom teacher just sickened me (although, some would say it was the hater-aid I was sipping on).

I guess these three instances of very learned people with no, or low teaching experience or ability helped me realize that I had some lessons yet to learn. It showed me that experience isn't necesary to be a master at a profession. You simply needed a piece of paper called an advanced degree to be part of the  elite. And further more, who the heck needs to actually be a teacher at any point in  their career to qualify to hire, supervise, or evaluate teachers.  Yet , teachers like me, with a dozen years of experience, having been nominated and/or elected teacher of the year more than once, and consistently receiving the highest possible evaluation year to year will always be passed up for promotion. The reason is simple. Georgia schools value the quantity of grad school hours over the quality of  practical teaching experience. I guess I need to join the bandwagon and become a flunky too. 

If ONLY Teachers Could Be More Like Hitler

So I was watching a program on CNN late the other night. I was hoping to find a program that would bore me into the land of Nod. Luckily I came across a special hosted by Soledad O'Brian. I like her, and surely this would be interesting. It featured a panel of noted and accomplished guests discussing the state of the Blacks in America. The host stated some stats and identified some problems and one thing led to another and the next thing I know- the lack of quality education was being cited as one of the principle problems. Well, a grassroots organization determined to reenroll inner-city highschoolers who'd dropped out during their junior or senior year had embarked on a door-to-door campaign to round up these youth and personally walk them through the re-enrollment process. Kudos to them.  Upon greeting one shirtless saggypants youth at his front door the well meaning strangers explained the purpose of their visit. This young man appeared to be between 18-21 years old and had obviously been roused from his sleep upon their arrival. The incredulous look on his face showed just how much he appreciated it. He quietly allowed the small group to attempt to champion him back to school. All the while he rubbed his sleepy eyes a few times, shook his head, and twisted his locks.  Finally he turned and slowly went inside, slamming the door on the people and the cameras. He uttered not a single word the whole time.

Now flash forward to the panel of prestigious noteworthy experts, and community leaders. They shook their head in disappointment as they viewed the clip of the unsuccessful mission. Then,with no warning a panelist said "See, there's a fundamental problem with the schools in his community that he would have such an attitude about school and his education."

GASP!! At this point, I had jumped off my bed and gotten up in the speakers face (as they sat in tvland) and began to hurl insults and rebuttals about what I had just heard, and seen as an indirect personal attack. "many of those parents are on drugs and alcohol, and can't be expected to do the schools job," another panelists said. At this point I was feeling a rage blackout coming- and my spouse would need to call 9-1-1 to revive me. SURE, blame it on the schools again.

His mother never taught him to wear a shirt when leaving the house, or speak to adults, then let him lay up in the house after becoming a drop out- and somehow it's the school's fault. Of course mom is providing a greater incentive (free room and board - with no hard work involved) - yet, why should we allow the public to think his parents had anything to do with this behavior?

Johnny doesn't like to go to school, because there are some rules there, and he'd have to act like a civilized person--- blame it on the schools. How dare they actually make 'rules' that protect others and inhibit his expression of his God-given personality and impulses.

Johnny would rather hustle on the streets for cash than get a legitimate job--of course that's the school's fault too. Somehow, if we were better teachers, we'd have  invented "new math" and shown Johnny that $6.00/hr. times 40 hours a week at Generic Burger really does equal more than $200.00/hr. times 20 hours a week at HustleCorner.

And even though Johnny's mother was his first teacher, who reinforced her importance in his life, with food, clothing, affection, shelter, and love (or solidarity)- Schools get the blame, for not being able to be more important and influential in a child's life than the parent. Schools get the blame for not being able to undo and reprogram corrupt ethics, low morals, indifference about the future, and disinterest in education inspite the fact that studies show that schoolsare not, nor have ever been the greatest  influence on a child's life.

I guess, if there were more highly qualified teachers who gave a damn, we'd be able to command blind obedience and cooperation from our pupils and make them learn, even if they didn't want to. The critics would have the public to believe that if schools and teachers were doing their jobs correctly, no factor or issue prevailing in a child's life would prevent him or her from attending school and earning academic achievement  at or above grade level. I wish I could be this suprteacher. I wish all the other teachers of the U.S. wouldn't be looked upon poorly because nature and teacher training did not give them the edge of extraordinary psychological control over the will, and obedience of man that evil geniuses like Hitler and Professor X seemed to possess and use so freely. I guess most of us will never rise beyond being the caring, kid friendly, do-gooders, who believe the children are our future, seek to inspire, and hope for the best for our students (we're such simpletons huh?)

But, I'm willing to bet that if the time comes in which teachers and schools do have a greater influence on the thinking and behavior of a child than his parents or upbringing, that'll be the day that A- Church and state are no longer separate entities in public education, and B-Schools and teachers will then be accused of implementing cult-like practices over the poor innocent minds of the babes of America. Either way, I've lived long enough to notice that when it comes to successful children parents will always get the credit. And when it comes to failing unsuccessful children- schools will always get the blame.

No more late night CNN for me.