It seems like a pretty sweet deal. For one year you drive yourself crazy with a schedule that sucks all of your time and energy in order to earn your teaching certification. You even get paid a “teacher’s” salary as you do it. However my friends there are a few things made purposefully unclear in order to use, abuse and then eventually let the majority go.
1.) THEY DO NOT PAY YOU A DIME. During the five week training where they demand all of your time, energy and enthusiasm they do not pay you a cent and you will not receive a cent not only until you complete training, which includes a 3 week field experience of teaching summer school (free labor), but complete training successfully (earning the necessary scores on their arbitrary, subjective rubrics); a point not made clear in their ridiculously long, useless orientation (hmm wonder why?!). Plus wait until people start dropping out like flies because of the insane workload and have them give you another class to teach (which they call an opportunity) but in reality screws you out of more time you don’t have and gives you more work than other trainees. Also do you receive double compensation for this “opportunity”? NO. Which begs the question, who does? (This was the straw that broke this camel’s back!)
So let me break it down for you, you could work your butt off for five weeks and at the end get nothing for all of your time and effort!
2.) THEIR SCORING SYSTEM IS A JOKE. During your field experience you are scored on what they call four fast start skills and they are all molded towards: what would Doug Lemov teach? Seriously, the guy is like God to them. You can get one of three scores in each fast start skill: ineffective, minimally ineffective and developing. Now let’s just take a moment and reflect on the fact that teachNOLA has actually already hired you based off of a teaching sample you delivered in the interview. How is anyone who is put through such a “rigorous, selective” hiring process ineffective?
That isn’t the kicker however, the kicker is your coach who evaluates you literally shows up in your classroom at the same part of your lesson every time (for me it was this ridiculous thing they have you do called threshold which has nothing to do with the actual content of the lesson), stays for 5-10 minutes and gives you one of these scores that is looking for a percentage like “the teacher does x 95% of the time.” How, if you are in my classroom for a maximum of ten minutes are you going to honestly give me a score that has me doing something 95% of the time? You are only there 5% of the time!
3.) DOUG LEMOV IS GOD. Heaven forbid you have a critical mind and don’t agree with what Lemov is selling wholesale. When you bring it up you’re met with the look of a Catholic nun in whose presence you’ve just taken the Lord’s name in vain! Seriously, the people teaching Lemov don’t interpret nor teach Lemov in the same way. For example there is this theory of “normalizing error” in the classroom so that an incorrect answer can be met with a solid “no” from the teacher and not feel like a punch to the gut. Yet when I responded to an answer that was halfway correct with an “almost”, I go the feedback to just say “no”. Thus I retaught and when presented with a wrong answer simply said “no” and a different coach told me that was too harsh and plus the answer was almost right (at which point I think I popped a blood vessel in my neck!). Bringing me right into my next point.
4.) THEY FIND MORE WAYS TO WASTE THE TIME THEY’RE NOT COMPENSATING YOU FOR THAN THE DMV! We had these things called “diversity sessions” where grown adults had to sit down and come up with the different ways in which “New Orleans” school children may perceive us because of our identities and vice versa. Or even more idiotic, after taking hours of lessons on Teach Like a Champion and not to mention teaching all morning (7 am-1pm) they make you act out classroom scenarios for hours on end that are so unrealistic it is ridiculous. Also by the time you are doing this all you’re thinking is: Good God how much more of this can I take? Seriously, they take over your life and fill it with idiocy.
5.) WHITE MAN’S BURDEN? As an organization it baffles me how you can purport to be trying to close the “education gap”, yet continue to talk about it in color. It also baffles me that there are NO African Americans in executive positions in an organization that is targeting African American communities in New Orleans. There is an education gap everywhere in this country and I addressed it in my earlier post, it is due to curriculum or a lack there of.
However, we were made to sit through presentations where regional statistics were placed on the board and presented as if they were the facts across the nation. The only conclusion you can come to after such a brainwashing is that minority kids are the only ones who are underperforming. The fact is the majority of our kids in America are underperforming. Again there is an elephant in the room they aren’t addressing. Let’s talk about how minorities and since they were so focused on African Americans, specifically how African Americans have just recently fought their way and in some regards are still fighting their way out of the slave mentality that our forefathers brainwashed them with. It doesn’t take a psychology degree to figure out that if you think of a person in a certain way and tell that person that is who they are, that a self-fulfilling prophecy is set up.
I agree there are some problems that are more prevalent in certain populations than others, but would white people take well to a bunch of African Americans coming into their po-dunk town to help their poor, downtrodden selves out of their drunken trailers in order to reach their full potential? Certainly not and what’s more is I’m sure they’d be called racist. I don’t think it’s helpful or constructive to continue to put up statistics that are a.) not truly representative b.) paint a negative image of minorities c.) set up a white standard that minorities are compared to. Talk humanity, talk education reform, preach equality and freedom and all of these wonderful things, but most importantly believe them!
And that folks is the tip of the iceberg. I could go on and on, but I am trying to gear up for a positive Ramadan even though chances are I won’t be fasting this month and for a very good reason. Let me add that I think all of the people who stuck out the idiocy and made it into the New Orleans public schools are amazing and have my respect for their endurance.
Bottom line is we are wasting money and resources that NEED to be better spent or the education gap between American children and the rest of the world is going to continue to grow. Oh, if only the powers that be would read a post from someone in the trenches! Take care and be sane you poor, overworked, underpaid teachers!
JAK,
Christen
