Choice and Consequence

Yesterday evening I gave a three-minute "comment" at my board meeting to try to make a case for protecting students, staff, and faculty, while slowing community spread, by maintaining digital learning until scientific data shows the time is correct for opening schools. It is hard to fit all of that into three minutes. I have embedded and linked a video of my speech below, and beneath that is a full transcript of the speech for the hearing impaired or those who prefer to read.

View on YouTube Here

Thank you for hearing me. My son is a Gwinnett senior this year, and he has worked very hard to create his perfect senior year. Starting in his Freshman year, he has taken extra classes so that he could create a schedule with room for two musical courses, Latin, and an environmental engineering course that he has been excited about since January. Seeing his senior year ruined is enraging. My son has repeatedly made hard choices to arrive here.

You have made choices to arrive here too. Some have made me proud—such as the bus-based food distribution program—and some have shamed me. Throughout the entirety of the summer, you chose not to address the county’s virtual infrastructure so we could teach digitally with success. You chose not to purchase enough chromebooks for students without home devices to provide equal access to digital learning. You chose to sit and hope that instead of increasing, the cases of Covid would decline, and you could simply open the schools.

You chose inaction.

And you chose to justify your inaction with two-month old surveys, outdated research, pandemic advice from an OB/GYN, bully tactics, and an increasingly incredulous obliviousness of the experiments already running in Paulding and Cherokee County.

By opening schools, you are making a new choice. A choice to ignore the current science. A choice to ignore the CDC’s recommendations for—not even the “best-case scenario,” as it is worded in your own reopening plan—but the bare minimum for safely reopening. A choice to put teachers and their families at risk. A choice to put bus drivers and school staff at risk.

But most importantly, and the reason I cannot comprehend how you can claim to care about the well-being of the students you govern, this is a choice to put children at risk. A choice that will result in child illness.

Yes, there is risk in everything. But there is a difference in driving a car with the knowledge I might someday be in an accident and driving a car knowing today is the day.

Statistics are clean. They are faceless. But know that in this room are people who have lost family members to Covid-19. Look at our faces and tell us you choose us as your sacrifice. You choose our families.

You choose our children.

My son’s senior year should have been his best. But I choose his life over his convenience and momentary happiness. I choose people over politics. My hope is you can choose the same.

Thank you.

Covid 19 and Me: A Reflection

Where do I start with this? Right now it is cool for a summer evening on account of the storms that are rolling through. The sun is setting within an hour and I am sitting at my computer with a bottle of water playing video games and writing this post. I have dogs at my feet and cats in the cat tree behind me. Sounds like an excellent evening. And yet, I am terrified. 

To say that I did well during quarantine is an understatement. I am a solid introvert and in addition to chronic conditions like asthma and extra bones, I have both generalised and social anxiety. And... to just add a big ole cherry to that, I broke my foot severely in the fall and hadn't been able to walk for 6 months. Quarantine allowed my foot to heal, gave my anxiety fried nerves much needed rest, and allowed me to reset myself. I haven't had a really bad panic attack since February/early March. And yet, I am terrified. 

And... I am sad. I was in a trailer this last year and we were essentially told via automated phone system that we shouldn't return to school... at all. I finally got the okay to come clean out my trailer to move back into the building and I was met with a classroom ready to pick back up on a "next day" that never happened. I was greeted by unfinished artwork, tests that were never made up, and a list of notes of things to check in with students about. It felt like walking into a frozen scene where you expect things to start again any second. I remember packing up my room thinking, "at least next year I'll be in the building and I can start again.. right?" Now, I'm not so sure. 

And... I am angry. I am angry that we weren't better prepared. I am angry that this is still a joke to so many. I am angry that, back in March/April/May, people said teachers "needed a raise" but they were the first thing considered for budget cuts. I am angry that teachers were given little to no support (again) and expected to figure it out... and WE DID. Overnight, literally. We did everything we could to support the students we love with whatever support and guidance we could get. And now we are literally being given no real, viable options for the new year for our safety or our students safety. Options vary across the country, but the message is clear, "Get back in the classroom, with fewer resources, and do more". Any "lessons learned" during quarantine are gone it seems and it's "back to business as usual". And that's it isn't it? Business. Teachers have to go back and sacrifice their health and their students' health because business won't support families during this time. 

I don't want this post to turn into a rant that is angrier than it already is, so I want to look at a few things that are going to happen. Some are pulled from things I've seen online or things being "offered" to teachers. 

• Those masks being given to teachers? I can tell you what we'll do with them. We'll wear them until someone comes into our room who needs one. Someone who is sick. Someone who needs protection. Then, we'll give them our mask. 
• Those safety precautions? Those self checks? They'll work until someone is running late for work, gives their child some Tylenol and sends them to school. 
• Those self isolation guidelines? Those will work, except... what happens if the schools aren't notified about illness and contamination? Where will we get the subs? I have some sick days built up, but the sick days teachers get every year don't even last for one full quarantine period. 
• Buses are NOT going to be staggered, distanced, etc. That means that we are looking at 50+ students being exposed at any given moment on the bus. Those students then go into a room with 30+ others and a teacher. At the high schools, they'll meet 30+ new people in second period, and so on. 
• Those "one direction hallways"? They'll work until J needs to talk with Mrs. X or with B. They'll work until Q needs to go to the bathroom, but it's behind them in the hallway. They'll work until the halls bottleneck and all of a sudden the bell rings and students are risking tardies and discipline. And that's NOT the kids fault. But... they'll bear the consequences. 
• Those socially distanced, same way facing desks? Those are great... except C needs to fidget and H needs to stim. L needs help reading. Your teachers will have to choose to either let students work without help or break social distancing to help them make progress. That is not a fair position to be put in as a student or a teacher.
• Oh, and all those things you KNOW we'll need to keep the kids safe? Hand sanitiser, gloves, masks, disinfectant spray, extra supplies so students don't share. That will most likely be provided by the teacher themselves, as usual. The difference now is that in some places, budgets are being cut and teachers will get no assistance.

And, on top of all that, many of us will be figuring out how to teach in person AND online, if we go back as planned. 

Do I want to go back? Yes. I want to see my kids. I want to teach, to do what I love. That is also what makes this so hard for us teachers. We WANT to be with the kids. We also want the kids to be safe and healthy. We can't teach your students if we are fighting for our lives. We can't support your students if we are stuck behind a glass wall six feet away. It isn't ideal, but we can try and support them online and we have been. I can do more for my kids on a computer and with a camera and my phone then I can wearing a mask, staying 6 feet away, in a classroom. Do I want to... NO! I want to be with your kids. I want to see their faces every day, give them high fives when they have successes, and, yes, I want to be there to listen to their woes and help them through their struggles.... But... Health comes first. 

I'll close with this. Everyone should take a look at Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Before we can meet their academic and creative needs, we must meet their basic needs of safety and health. We are woefully failing as a country right now in doing that. We have to start there. 

Preserve the Classics: Don't Allow the Alt-Right to Define Us

I just returned from ACTFL, where I celebrated languages and cultures from all over the world along with another 8500 teachers. I returned excited and energized and ready to share what I learned and the things that I am currently thinking about. And I will, in another post.

Instead, this post is a call to action. There is a group of white supremacists, calling themselves the "Alt-Right," who are using a shallow understanding of the Classics and of Greece and Rome to justify their self-importance and racist propaganda. You can find excerpts on their general stances here. Donna Zuckerberg, editor of Eidolon, a Princeton-educated Classicist, published "How to Be a Good Classicist Under a Bad Emperor" yesterday, eloquently outlining the Alt-Right's interest in and use of the Classics and the reasons we should not allow it. 

She writes, "This is my call to arms for all classicists. No matter how white and male Classics once was, we are not that anymore. In spite of the numerous obstacles that remain, our field is now more diverse than ever, and that is something to be proud of. These men are positioning themselves as the defenders of Western Civilization. Classicists, when you see this rhetoric, fight back. We must not allow the Alt-Right to define what Classics will mean in Trump’s America." 

She's right. 

Zuckerberg describes several ways in which, "when we see Classics used to support a hateful politics, we must push back — unless we want to live through a second wave of fascist classical reception." Read her article. It is important, and part of an important dialogue we need to start now.

I'm going to add to this. Bob Patrick pointed out today that we are also teachers in a field that has long been dominated not only by white teachers but by white students. Our field has long been thought of as elite, exclusive. This also helps the Alt-Right build a white image of Classics and Classical studies.

So Miriam and I are making our own call to action. Comprehensible Input and Communicative teaching are naturally inclusive methods, reaching all skill levels, races, and economic backgrounds. Creating a safe classroom culture means that all types of students feel welcome with you as you celebrate ancient people. We can change the face of our student population as we change the nation's understanding of our field of study.

If you teach inclusively, present. If you know how to create a safe classroom culture, share your knowledge. 

We won't have to take back the Classics because we won't let them be usurped.

An Open Letter on Testing and Education

Dear Congressman or Congresswoman; Dear Mr. President; Dear Bill and Melinda Gates; Dear Arne Duncan; Dear Anyone Who Has Touched and Impacted Education in the Last Decade:

I'd like to try an exercise with you. Close your eyes, block out all outside distractions, and think about your favorite teacher. I want you to picture that influential man or woman, and remember why that teacher was your favorite. Was he especially good at creating connections to you emotionally? Did she encourage you to explore your interests, even when they diverged from her lesson plan?

Or did that teacher, your favorite, win your heart because he or she got great results on standardized tests? Do you remember this person because he was especially good at following the prescribed curriculum?

I have several teachers that stand out in my past. Ms. Jeanne "D" DeVilliers gave up night after night of her own time to meet with us and work with us on competitive speeches, student congress, and our debate cases. To meet the demands of a subject area that requires creativity, intense research, and heavy practice, she led an unusually-structured class, with students moving between her room and the library, hall, and theater, to conduct their own personal research and rehearse until each gesture had been refined into perfection. We did not cram for standardized tests, and she did not employ traditional assessments, yet there was no question whether she was one of the best teachers in the school and the state.

Mr. Charlie Dugan, world history teacher and track coach, inspired students with his enthusiasm and passion for ancient cultures. He loaned students books from his own library when they sought to learn more about world religions and cultures. He drew comics for every handout and used science fiction to help us understand the impact of history on the modern day. It was his assignment to interview an older relative or friend about his life that gave me access to one of the most meaningful and impactful moments of my life and taught me the true meaning of living well.

I've had teachers who weren't afraid to be goofy--some of whose antics I use in my own classes because they were so effective for my learning. I've had teachers who weren't afraid to find out why I was withdrawing to the corner of the room and teachers who allowed me to work ahead when I was inspired.

These teachers built a foundation in education for me which remains with me, woven into my identity, and I remember them all because they were great teachers.

I don't remember the name of my reading teacher in the fourth and fifth grades, who had us complete innumerable practice readers to prepare for the Iowa State tests. In fact, the readers are the only thing I remember about that class--which became a problem when I changed schools a year later and was expected to know how to analyze literature. I couldn't explain the theme of a story, but I got top marks--99th percentile--on the Iowa test.

To tell the truth, I don't remember the names of any of my teachers in that school, a school that was known throughout the area for its outstanding test scores. We spent weeks every year preparing for standardized testing, and I got very good at multiple-choice tests.

But I didn't know the material on a deeper level; I hadn't learned to use information well, how to analyze ideas and evaluate them myself. And I did not form any lasting relationships with the teachers there. I was never inspired.

When I enter my classroom and greet my students, when I read brain research to learn how students' minds learn language best, when I ask my students about their lives and really listen, when I show I care in the lessons I create and the relationships I build, I am not following a prescribed curriculum. I am not working to improve students' test scores.

I am working to improve students' lives.

I want my students to know I care and I want my students to care, not just about Latin, but about learning. I want my students to embrace and love education. I want them to feel safe being themselves in my room and to pay that safety forward by standing up for each other's rights. I want my students to know that every inch of curiosity pays rich dividends of information and I want them to learn how to find that information.

I want my students to be healthy, happy, and lifelong learners.

How can that happen in a nation where the discourse about teachers is so negative that the legislators have decided it would benefit their future campaigns to dictate to teachers what and how they should teach in their classes, without one year of experience or one experienced consultant? How can students learn to love school when a billionaire turns his ambivalent feelings into bitter rhetoric that has no source in research?

When did accountability begin to mean micromanagement? Teachers are told when to test and how to test and what they should teach on the way and how to train students to produce the correct form of the correct answer and there is no space left in this crowded syllabus for teachers to innovate, create, or personalize learning.

"No Child Left Behind" became "Race to the Top" but the baseline is the same: test scores for money. So schools put teachers in boxes and punish them for stepping outside them.

No matter that students learn to hate school. No matter that there is a nation-wide epidemic of teen anxiety that is endangering young lives. This has never been about what is best for students. This is about appearances and votes and seeming like you're doing something. No matter that it's the wrong thing.

No matter that you're strangling education.

Dealing with History in a CI classroom

One of the struggles I've had this year in my CI classroom, in which we are untextbooking, is covering history and culture. These things can be compelling, but so often can be tedious as well. This Spring, my Latin I classes are reading Magus Mirabilis Oz as I write it and I decided to include "brain breaks" (if you will) from the text to cover history and legend. We are covering two major topics with some smaller points as well:

1. Caesar's De Bello Gallico - geography of Europe, The Druids, relationship with Egypt
2. Vergil's The Aeneid - geography of Africa and Asia Minor, Dido, basic Roman African history

In part, I am choosing to focus on these because this is where my area of research has been drawn and it is compelling to me. In a much larger part, I am considering the following things:

• In giving students a choice between AP Latin and Latin IV, covering these two items helps prepare them for that choice and creates a spiral effect in the curriculum. Students who study Vergil and Caesar further already have background knowledge in the matter. 
• These stories are key to understanding other aspects of Roman history and culture. By looking at these, students are better prepared for higher level discussions later. 
• These essential pieces of Roman history paint a truer image of what the Roman world looked like. Rome was diverse and Roman ideas were uniquely different than our idea of diversity. 
• In covering stories like these, I can get more repetitions of the current vocabulary we are learning.

When deciding how to start these stories, I was given assistance by national Black History Month and Women's History Month. I chose, specifically, to start Dido's story in the month of February and am continuing it through March. It was incredibly easy for me to do this and to focus on Africa's role in Roman history because Africa played an important role in Roman history that is often overlooked by many people, teachers or not. Here are the points I considered:

1. Egypt's role as a trade location and as a connection between the Greco-Roman world and African peoples
2. Dido's role as a female leader in Africa considering her origins and her husband's death
3. Carthage's role in the Punic War and as a powerhouse before the war
4. Two African emperors
5. Ethiopia as an unconquered land
6. The presence of diversity in Rome

After starting with a basic geography presentation in Latin, I wrote three embedded stories that told Dido's Story. Each was accompanied with images that ranged from classic paintings to modern interpretations. The stories were no longer than a page each, with images. Each lent itself to a specific discussion and we used specific activities with each.

Dido's Story: regina Carthaginis - We meet Dido on her journey to Carthage. She has just lost her husband, but wants to be a good queen. The other kings in Africa want to trick her, but she ends up creating a large city and is loved by her people. This story ends on the cliff hanger that Aeneas is on his way to Carthage. 

This passage lent itself to a discussion about the important of Carthage historically along with the implications of Aeneas' arrival. 

Activities Used:

1. Read and Discuss
2. Choral Translation
3. Geography Review
4. New vocabulary reviewed

Dido's Story: Ira Iunonis - This story gives Aeneas' back story and follows him to Carthage. The focus of this story is the storm created by Juno. It follows what Vergil writes, but in an embedded format. 

This passage lent itself to discussion on fate and free will. We also discussed Vergil's imagery and some rhetoric devices. 

Activities Used:

1. Read, Discuss, and Draw (including a video I made so that students could check their work) 
2. Culture Discussion
3. Student map building (Aeneas' Journey)

Dido's Story: Mors Amorque- This story picks up with Aeneas in Carthage. We learn of their love and then we learn about Dido's tragic death. We also see Aeneas go to the Underworld and see Dido, where she meets her husband, and true love, once more. 

This passage lent itself to discussion on pietas (duty), fate, and love. We talked about Dido's death and what it meant for Aeneas. This passage also ended up being the most compelling. Students loved and hated this (in a "I want more hate"). They wanted Dido to get real revenge. See more responses. 

Activities Used:

1. Circling discussion and prediction in Latin with images from previous and current story.
2. Choral Translation
3. Culture Discussion

Conclusions

This was incredibly compelling and comprehensible to the students. They loved the idea of reading what the uppers were reading and they appreciated being trusted with content considered this heavy. They really appreciated my taking time to honour Black History Month and that I chose a woman as our protagonist. They loved the imagery, the language, and the story. They even loved the ending... even though it was sad. 

This has set them up for success (as this is the content on the midterm) and has made them excited to read about Caesar and the Gauls and Celts (who are the same people, but in different areas). 

Did you (and how) incorporate Black History Month into your lessons? 

Update: My Letter to the Governor

     Back in November I sent a letter to my governor's office. I anxiously awaited for a response from him and got one shortly after.

      Let me begin by saying that I haven't been avoiding an update, but rather, I've been considering how exactly to update.

     Governor Deal did send a reply via mail to me. He thanked me for writing him and acknowledged my work in education, but regretted that he would not be able to meet with me and said he would continue working with "forerunners in education".

     My consideration in responding has been difficult. I want to say so many things, but I also continue the conversation in a productive way. I should admit that I was disappointed in his response, but not surprised, especially with the state Congress' continued focus on incarceration (although more transparency is a good thing) and the proposal of continued cuts to teacher benefits.

     There have been a lot of posts on the work teachers do - the hours we work, the quantity of work we have, the amount of work we take home, the kind of work we do with students, etc. My arguments to Governor Deal remain the same. I hope he takes what I said seriously, especially with the recent protests in Atlanta from teachers and other school support staff.

     At the risk of "preaching to the choir", I'll use this post to, hopefully, dispel some of the of the commonly misunderstood things about teachers. These are based on things that have been said to me, or my friends/family, or things that I've recently read on other blogs and comments.

Teachers get paid a full year's salary for only doing 9-10 months of work.
- While the school year is 180 days, teachers do get (or have the option to get) a paycheck for each of the 12 months of the year. That being said, those summer paychecks are just money that was held back during the school year. Teachers may get a paycheck in June/July, but it is for work they did from August to May. Teachers also only get paid for the hours they are required to be at school (8 hours or so). However, many teachers arrive before they are required or stay after for clubs or tutoring. They do not get paid for this, but it is expected that they do these things. Teachers also don't get paid for advisement classes (roughly 20 minutes each day in some schools), lunch hour tutoring (or any other tutoring), duty stations (before school, during lunch, or after school). These are all considered part of the expected work. This doesn't include the extra time teachers spend at home grading papers, reading emails, making parent phone calls, or coming up with lesson plans.

     Rachel wrote about this in 2012 in detail. She totaled her hours spent working; you may be surprised.

But, after the first year, don't teachers have all the lesson plans written or downloaded? I mean, what do they really do during planning?
- Some teachers do, yes. You'll find, however, that teachers who love their job, and really care about their students are always updating and editing plans. The plans that worked in one class/last year, won't necessarily work the next year. Similarly, information that was good the previous year won't be good in the coming years. For example, while I know what a VHS is (along with a cassette tape, an 8-track, and a boom box), kids in my class have almost never seen a VHS. Any lessons that talk about VHS or cassettes or a floppy disk are all out of date. If I simply download lessons off the internet, or use my textbook, then I'll be teaching outdated information. Good teachers write their own lessons every year AND download lessons and materials AND refer to textbooks and print materials AND collaborate with teacher in their building, or in their discipline and outside. That is what we spend that planning hour doing. That... or grading...

Teacher salaries are competitive and they have tenure! Bad teachers can't be fired!
- The average starting salary  is about $39,000. The average starting teacher's salary is around $36,000. The Washington Post gives a nice little visual for what this might look like across the country. With years experience, and higher degrees, teachers can move up the pay scale. In Georgia, teacher salaries top out (with years experience and doctorates) around $100,000 a year. Payscale gives a nice little chart about various doctorate salaries in different professions. You can see that professorship and education are at the bottom of that chart. Teacher salaries can be and are in some places competitive, however we are not paid bonuses (hiring, or otherwise), are subject to raise freezes, and furlough days, and are limited on the amount we can claim on taxes for expenses.

   There is a process for firing a teacher, like in any organisation. Public school teachers do not really get tenure and contracts are year to year. In the state of Georgia tenure means that once you've taught for four contract years they get the expectation that they will get a new contract each year unless just cause is shown. It is not a permanent position with no chance of termination. When a teacher is presumed to be "bad" there are steps that are taken. Data must be gathered and a plan produced for how the teacher can improve. This happens in most professions whether through re-training or "probation". If the teacher doesn't improve according to the plan he/she can be let go. However, teachers can be fired immediately for all sorts of things, just like in any other job.

Teachers get every weekend off AND two months in the summer and they get done at 3:00 pm every day! 
- I want to answer this, not from the perspective of a teacher, but from the perspective of a daughter of two teachers. I know the things I do every year, but I think this question is better answered differently. My parents have been teachers as far back as I remember. My dad started out as a minister, but I was an infant then. My mother taught elementary school and my dad taught high school. Let me preface this by saying that I loved my childhood and my parents. While there are things that upset me as a child, I would not have had it any other way, knowing what it prepared me for as an adult.

   I spent a good majority of my weekends and summers at my parents' respective schools. At one point, I would ride with my dad to his school in the morning to carpool with someone else to my school. At another, I would carpool with a student to my mother's in the afternoon, and wait for her, and then go home. When my mother because a computer technology teacher, I spent even more time with her at her school, either helping, where I could, or staying out of her way, and most of the time failing. I remember following my dad around his school and spending time with other teachers or in administrators' offices when he had meetings. To me and my siblings, my parents' schools were like second homes to us. We mostly enjoyed "hanging out" there and I learned lots of skills that have become handy as an adult (like how to fix a broken copier).

     I also remember how often one or another parent was absent. My parents could never drive on school field trips or come to performances/class parties during the day. As a kid, I was upset by this, especially when other parents and kids couldn't understand why I couldn't bring in baked goods, or my parents couldn't volunteer to chaperone this or that. I remember weeks and weekends when my parents were at conferences or taking students abroad. I also remember my parents working very hard for many years towards higher degrees (they have their doctorates now) both for their own learning and to make our lives better.

   My parents brought home grading every night. I remember my dad grading essays and my mom figuring out how to make her walls useful to her students. Their jobs didn't end at 3:00 when the kids left. They were constantly working and making sacrifices for their students and it was difficult as a child sometimes. However, if it weren't for them, I wouldn't be a teacher today.

-----

     Teaching is not an easy job, and there isn't a teacher out there who expects it to be. Good teachers become teachers despite all the difficulties and problems because they want to work with kids and help them become adults. My hope, through my letter to the governor, and through this post, is that the dialogue can continue. With transparency (on both sides) and discussion, maybe we can begin to fix the problems with education policy. 

My letter to the governor

I am 27 years old and have never missed an election. I consider the "right" to vote a responsibility and it is one that I take very seriously. This past election was no exception. I have decided to write both the newly reelected governor, Mr. Nathan Deal, and Georgia's new senator, Mr. David Perdue. While my letter is typed here, I hand wrote it and mailed it (as evidenced by my picture). I decided to write it and mail it because, in the past, when I have emailed senators or representatives, I have only once ever gotten a response and it was from an aid who never followed up after I responded a second time.

I want to ultimately let the letter speak for itself, but my reasoning behind these letters was based on a few things:

• What I've experienced as a teacher under Governor Deal
• What I've experienced as a teacher under the new testing and evaluation systems
• What I've experienced as a foreign language teacher in a world of common core and athletics
• Mr. Perdue's most recent statement regarding the "clear message" he feels that Georgia has sent to Washington

Dear Governor Deal,

My name is Miriam Patrick. I am 27 years old and I have never missed an election. While I did not vote for you, I feel that it is important that I make my voice clear because you represent all of us in Georgia. I come from a family of teachers. Both of my parents teach in the state of Georgia and have taught for many years along with other family members in other states, so today I write to you as a teacher, in a family of teachers, and as a citizen who is very concerned when it comes to matters of education. Please also allow me to say that I am writing to you as an individual citizen, who is also a teacher, and not a representative of my school or school system.

Mr. Perdue recently said that Georgia has sent Washington a "clear message". I find this statement alarming because a 52% majority is not a clear victory and, if anything, should be a message to you as well as him that the state of Georgia is changing. As our elected governor, I would hope that you could best represent and make decisions regarding all of the people living in this state and not just those who agree with and voted for you. It is in light of this that I am writing to you today. 

I have been a public school teacher for five years. I teach in Gwinnett County where 20% of the population speaks something other than English at home and 15.9% of families live at or below the poverty line for a family of four in Georgia. In my county, 55.46% of students receive free or reduced lunch plans. 

When I look around my classroom, I see that my students do not fit neatly into one category or another. I have students of every race and ethnicity, and economic station; I wouldn't have it any other way. Given all this, I think it is clear where my concerns play a role in regards to your views on education as well as your track record. 

While you have increased the amount of money the state spends on each student by $400 since 2012, the enrollment has increased, along with class sizes, and teachers are not being relieved of cuts made in 2003 while other areas of government are receiving major increases, like the 186 million dollars the department of corrections has seen. What I wonder is why you are willing to increase the budget to deal with offenders, but are not providing adequate opportunities that help prevent incarceration. Education plays a direct role, as you state on the governor's website, in making sure Georgia has a stable future, and you state that your goals are to make sure students are prepared for college, life, and the job market. In order for this to happen, shouldn't we be investing in our students and their future rather than the consequences of budget cuts, economic inequality, and lack of support?

On this same note, you recommended not only, initially, cutting the pre-k program in Georgia to half days, but you then recommended cutting the program to 160 days and also cutting over 300 classes and programs as well. While you did also bring back the 180 day program, the cuts on teacher salaries, program cuts, and increases on class size remained, forcing pre-k teachers into the same situation k-12 teachers face every day. We know that class size makes a difference in regards to teacher and student relations, individual instruction, and individual needs of students (whether they are placed in gifted programs or special needs programs). Why would you continue to increase the demands on teachers while not supporting them to ensure that our students can do the best they can? You say that you want to increase the percentage of students who are on level by the third grade. How can this be done, at any grade, when neither teachers nor students are supported in these areas?

Much of your focus on schools has been to increase science, math, and technology, as well as to increase spending on charter schools. As a foreign language teacher in a public school, I have a strong reaction to this. Based on the cuts and changes you've made, foreign language has taken a back seat and must now fight to keep their programs alive and student numbers up. Given the fact that 1/5 of my county speaks something other than English at home (and that this does not include people who simply speak another language), how can you not include foreign language in this vital set of skills students should be exposed to? You have discussed the importance of math and science, as well as language arts, but you have forgotten how important it is to be able to work with, communicate with, and understand the people we live with and around. 

Georgia is losing teachers. Georgia is gaining students. This system cannot maintain itself at the rate it is going. Having shared with you my thoughts and concerns, I'd like to invite you to spend a day with me in my classroom. I want to extend this invitation to you so that you can see what a day is like for a teacher like me and so many others in the fields of arts, languages, and other specialties, including technology and engineering teachers. I would like this conversation, which I view as one of the most important, to continue, and not end with my letter to you. 

Thank you for your time and I look forward to your reply,

Miriam Patrick

A Very Short Open Letter to the President

Let me open by saying that I have read a lot of Stephen Krashen's work (but not nearly all of it!) and I find inspiration in his writings. I cite him in my presentations and I often refer to his work when putting together my own work. This is a letter that he has given open permission for educators to share, and I'd like to share it with you all. ~Miriam~

A very short open letter to President Obama
November 26, 2012

There is enormous frustration and dissatisfaction among professional educators about current educational policy. Many, especially those in the classroom and closest to the children, feel that current policy, one of closing public schools, encouraging privatization, and imposing more testing than has ever been seen on this planet, is ba

dly misguided and will lead to tragic consequences for our children, damage that will take decades to repair.

Professional educators feel that government is not paying attention to their expert opinions, and is paying far too much attention to non-experts. The voices of respected scholars are not being heard, and highly competent professional research done over the last few decades is being ignored.

The US Department of Education must stop demoralizing professional educators and free them to teach with passion.

Rather than submit another long open letter detailing these concerns, here is a simple suggestion. Please hold a private one-on-one meeting with Dr. Diane Ravitch for a serious conversation about education.

As you may know, Dr. Ravitch is a very highly respected and dedicated professional educator, a distinguished scholar, a very clear writer and speaker, and extremely knowledgeable about the major issues in education today. She does not represent any special interest group other than our teachers and our children.

We hope you will be willing, and eager, to meet with Dr. Ravitch, who has become the spokesperson for educators in America concerned about current policy.

Stephen Krashen
Professor Emeritus
University of Southern California

How Many Hours Does a Teacher Teach

As an experiment, I decided right before school started this year to start keeping track of the hours I spend on school.  I wrote about this earlier this year to celebrate the half-way point, and I'm writing now to celebrate the end of school.

I will say that results didn't surprise me, and I'll give a basic rundown after I post the chart below.  I am happy to note that I improved as the year progressed--in that I spent less time working on a weekly basis and I made a concentrated effort not to work during breaks so I could be a decent member of my family.

Month	Hours Worked	Normal Salary Hours	Difference
August	290.18	184	106.18
September	258.15	168	90.15
October	230.78	168	62.78
November	188.69	160	28.69
December	127.32	160	-32.68
January	222.61	160	62.61
February	211.69	168	43.69
March	261.12	176	85.12
April	195.36	168	27.36
May	192.23	184	8.23
Total	2178.13	1696	482.13

Overall, I worked around 12 weeks more than I should have worked over these past ten months (that's right, teachers work ten, not nine, months), and of course didn't include anything I got paid separately to do (SATs, one of my professional development opportunities) or random side projects that are education-related but not exactly class or class recruitment-related (i.e. this blog).

The "Normal Salary Hours" represent all the hours someone might be expected to work as a salaried worker during those ten months.  These include spring break, fall break, and winter break hours, all of which have been counted into those totals.  The problem with that comparison, though, is that those are actually not the hours I have been paid to work.  I have been paid to work 188 days, or 1504 hours.  This is clearly stated in my contract, which also lists my daily pay rate and my yearly total pay (which equals my daily pay times 188 days).  Therefore, I have actually worked 674.13 hours more than I was paid to work.

So, what does all of this mean?

From August 1, 2011 to May 31, 2012, I worked 2178.13 hours.

This is 482.13 hours (or 12.05 weeks) more than a normal, salaried, 40 hour week would entail.

It is, moreover, 674.13 hours (or 16.85 weeks) more than I have actually been paid to work.

And, though the hours should only slowly accumulate now that school is out, I'm not done.  There's still June and July.

Amazing.  Again.

Working Hard for My Money: January's Totals

I have been keeping track of my hours this year.

Not just the hours I am supposed to be on the clock and in the classroom, though of course those are included.  

The hours I spend grading, planning, and at professional development opportunities are also included.

The hours I spend answering student e-mails, working on education-related side projects, reading and writing educational blogs and listservs, and generally researching my profession are not included.

Which means that I am only including hours that directly affect my practices inside my classroom on a day-to-day basis.  The hours I put in to succeed as a teacher.  The necessary hours.  The required hours.

I have been doing this for exactly six months now.  It's a good time to check in.

Month	Hours Worked	Average Worker	Difference
August	290.18	184	106.18
September	258.15	168	90.15
October	230.78	168	62.78
November	188.69	160	28.69
December	127.32	160	-32.68
January	222.61	160	62.61
Total	1317.73	1000	317.73

I have been using a pretty simple system.  I record my activities (generalized) on an Excel spreadsheet.  I record my start and stop times, then calculate the hours those times included.  At the end of each month, I use the amazing "sum" ability from Excel to calculate how many hours I have worked in total.

To calculate the hours an "Average Worker" would be putting in--and by that I mean an average salaried worker, not someone who makes money when he or she works overtime--I total the days in the month during which a salaried worker would be expected to work (i.e. no holidays) and multiply that number by the generalized 8 hour work day.

As you can see, I usually work more than my fair share of hours.  In total, including November, when I had a week off for Thanksgiving, and including December, when I had two weeks off for winter break, I have worked 317.73 hours more than the average salaried worker.  That averages to 7.94 weeks (if work weeks are 40 hours long) extra.  Almost two months of time.

Which basically means in six months' time, I have worked enough hours to fill eight months.  With three weeks off, I still have managed to work an extra two months.

Amazing.